We returned to Mexico on February 28th after leaving Zoe out of the water for 9 months at the Opequimar shipyard in Puerto Vallarta. In preparation for the crossing to French Polynesia, we had planned about fifteen days of maintenance work, but as of…

Wednesday, April 10th: The departure day has arrived. After completing the formalities at the port authority to leave Mexico, we hoisted the sails and set off for French Polynesia! The boat is packed with food and supplies for the next month of saili…

We arrived at the island of Socorro at the first light of dawn. This island, as well as Clarion further ahead, is a paradise for scuba diving; there are giant manta rays, whale sharks, tiger sharks, and definitely whales, as one came to greet us u…

Departed! This morning at 8:30, we left the island of Socorro heading towards Hiva Oa, the first stop on the route of the Marquesas Islands, one of the three archipelagos of French Polynesia that we plan to visit. The route from Socorro to our destin…

Tomorrow we will have covered about 1/3 of the distance from Puerto Vallarta to Hiva Oa. As we hypothesized in the last post, the new weather forecasts have led to a significant update of the route, which had to take into account unexpected wind hole…

Today is Sunday, but it won’t be a very different day from the others. Sunrise is around 7:45, often hidden by thick clouds on the horizon; sunset is around 8:15 PM, also obscured by clouds. The hours mentioned are purely conventional, as we have mai…

Since yesterday, Hiva Oa, our destination, is closer (as the crow flies…) than Puerto Vallarta, where we departed from. We are “only” 1400 nautical miles away! Also yesterday, we officially entered the ITCZ, and immediately experienced one of its p…

Hurray!!! We’ve exited the ITCZ and “officially” entered the trade winds, or at least it seems that way! We have a 15-knot wind from the southeast, and we’re proceeding at an average speed of over 6 knots. The forecasts indicate this steady wind, per…