It’s 2020, the world is on Covid lockdown. What’s your escape plan? A friend of mine had the idea to buy a boat in Tahiti and sail away with it. But life got in the way and he couldn’t get the boat out of Tahiti so he called me and Zach again, along with another friend we recruited along the way, Mallorie and we hopped on a plane and flew down to Tahiti to get s/v Enfants Terribles, a Fontaine Pajot Salina 48 cruising catamaran to bring to Hawaii.
This was to be my first time visiting Tahiti and my impression when I got there… Tahiti is way underrated. I mean, Tahiti is way more awesome than it sounds! Words can’t describe how beautiful this place is and if you’re someone like me who loves tropical paradise, -and- Europe, then Tahiti is truly magical. Unfortunately we didn’t get to explore much, just a a day trip to Morea on the ferry and then we had to get the boat ready for the trip. The owner was there and helped us as much as he could to prepare the boat with everything and introduced us to another friend, Nicola who we met and joined us as our 4th person on the boat.
s/v Enfants Terribles is fully kitted out. The boat has 4 private cabins and heads so we each have our own private space. The boat is very technically equipped too with all the best electronics and alternative energy generation, i.e. a really cool hydro generator that makes more than enough power while we’re under sail. The twin Yanmars will come in handy though when we cross the equator where there’s typically very light variable wind. This will be an interesting experience to see how the Polynesians came from Tahiti to Hawaii.
The voyage plan is to sail straight up the Line Islands of Kiribati. The owner doesn’t mind if we stop along the way but we won’t really be able to since it’s a world pandemic right now and we can’t get country clearance to visit the country’s inhabited islands. It was hard enough flying to Tahiti, having to get a Covid test and quarantine.
Departing in ideal conditions, s/v Enfants Terribles sails like a dream and feels like a floating condo. The three week trip goes by very fast, cruising within view of the uninhabited and jungly Caroline Island, where we attempted to stop and explore but couldn’t find an anchorage and Zach was almost attacked by sharks swimming around checking out the reef. Lesson learned: one waving arm means distress if you’re using the other arm to fend off with a speargun. Another island we passed, Maulden island was mysteriously barren and we learned later that it was the test site for a British atomic bomb blast in the 1960s, still only a few pathetic looking palm trees and ruined building on the island.
Crossing the Equator was an opportunity for a Crossing The Line Ceremony. Nicola and I were Shellbacks, myself having crossed the Equator in the Navy, Nikola helped me induct Zach and Mallorie into the realm of King Neptune’s court. Something to do while crossing the Equator and the International Date line twice! Look at a map, Kiribati does this weird shape so in this part of the ocean you don’t really know what date it is for awhile. The Equator is in the part of the ocean also known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which has stalled prevailing winds, the Doldrums are really a thing and we had to motor for about 200 miles. I don’t know how the ancient voyagers did it.
Once we crossed into the northern hemisphere things seemed to start to speed up. We caught the biggest tuna I’ve ever caught, hardly put up a fight but fed us for a while. Wonderful trip overall and I was very fortunate to have an opportunity to travel and sail like this while the world was going crazy with Covid.
