Cental America
And Back
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Ashika's Coconut Milk RunNOTE; I published this blog under the Central America heading by mistake. Since I cannot figure out how to republish it under The South Pacific heading… it will stay until further notice.We expected our voyage to the islands of the South Pacific to be day after day of perfect 15 knots of wind to match perfect rolling seas. We envisioned long peaceful days with nothing to do but read, pull on the strings and eat all the delicious meals I had provisioned for the journey…errrr….eeeekkkekk screech!!!!! That film did not play. Our journey looked more like this; rain, high winds and horrifyingly vicious wave action. I know this picture does not look that bad. Pictures of the sea state rarely do. But trust me. We were tossed, smashed and wrenched across the Pacific Ocean. Doors were broken, the transmission took on salt water and the captain and crew endured their fair share of sea sickness. It was as unpleasant a voyage as one can even imagine… and then we hit the doldrums. The wind died and the waves took on an even more beastly presence. We had no engine to push us through to the other side, Ashika rolled from rail to rail for 2 days. There is no place to sleep eat or rest on a wallowing boat, we were in hell. That is in no way to say we did not have some fantastic days, we did. We sailed beautifully for a day or two between storms and we chased squalls to catch wind. The tradewind breezes that had lost their cold edge and we peeled layers off as we logged the miles. And the good was sometimes off the chart amazing. The first sunny day was after the first storm, a week into our voyage. The waves had been brutal at 15 feet or more, steep and punishing from several directions at once. When I woke up on the fourth day to sunshine and a swell that had had its edges smoothed, I was famished and headed for the galley. Trying to hold on to the makings for our first real meal in days, I glanced up to see three baby dolphin surfing a wave right by the galley window. I swept all the food into the sink and joined Dois and Ginger on deck to watch these incredible actors. Hundreds of dolphin were converging on us for a joy-filled party to celebrate the end of the storm. Many would reach the boat and greet us with a jump twenty plus feet into the air, flipping and showing off their athletic talent. Some would skip on their bellies across the wave crests while others surfed down them to join Ashika's path. The antics seemed meant just for us and a more appreciative audience would have been hard to find.. The second most amazing day was a night. Sitting up in the cockpit from 1 or 2 am until 5 or 6 am can be the most brutal moments of any long distance cruise. Often, even the moon has left you and its the most dark and the most difficult to stay awake. For about 10 days of the trip there was a bioluminescent glow in the water that was most visible in the bewitching hours after moonset causing any water movement to twinkle like Tinkerbell. You could see fish of all different sizes zipping in and out around the boat and I am wide awake, mesmerized by it by this beauty. One night, the bio was at its best and brightest when we sailed into a field of hundreds of manta rays. Flashing triangle shapes in blue twinkling lights set off with each stroke of their wide and graceful flippers. Fish were creating their tinker bell trails between the large blue flashes of triangles, and the show seemed to go on to the horizon and beyond. I was reminded me of the Beatles song; a magical mystery tour and I would submit to another 28 days of terror for just one hour spent in a sea of bioluminescent magic. Dois made the decision to jury-rig a by-pass on the failed oil cooler. He wrapped himself around the grease slimed engine in the hottest room for miles, while I steered in 8 knots of breeze. I did not envy our captain. Finally, after a day of twisting tubes in ways they were not accustomed to (for 20 or more years they had maintained their fine shape!) Dois finally climbed out of our personal sweat shop and said ‘start the engine!’. So I turned the key and pushed the starter and nothing … the engine wouldn’t start. It seemed the starting batteries were dead. Nuka Hiva, MarquesesThis was the way this trip was going to play out. Get one thing fixed and 2 more things went wrong. Dois told me once when I first met him that he wasn’t very handy. He used the generator to start the engine and we got through the doldrum belt with an assist from our gimped up motor. 28 days after leaving San Diego, 28 days of breakages and storms and the wops, 28 days of lost sleep and lost meals, several days of the most memorable events of our lives and we landed on Ua Huka, in the islands of the Marquesas, French Polynesia. I think Dois is very handy. Would I do this journey again? In a heartbeat. 💗 Peace.
4 Comments
Patty Hansen-Rhodes
6/16/2017 06:20:39 am
Well done you two!!! Now enjoy the Marquesas and relax. XOXO
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6/16/2017 06:35:57 am
I've been checking for signs of life from Ashika. Glad you made it and had more good than bad. Nature can do that. A most enjoyable read.
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Suzie Zupan
6/16/2017 07:54:19 am
More pix of the photographer, please. Love you guys!
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Paul & Judy
7/3/2017 09:11:27 pm
Yahoo!!! Good on you guys! Sounds like you guys had a difficult passage at times, I'm sure it seems worth it now that you're in Paradise.. Ginger's looking good! Wish we were there.
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