Panama to French Polynesia (Legs 4,5 and 6 amalgamated)

22^nd June to 31^st July 2022

On the evening of the 20^th June, Ally finally returned to Imagination after the super lengthy wait for the long stay visa for French Polynesia. There was no time for hanging around and early the next morning we motor sailed to Las Perlas where Shawn went in the water to clean barnacles off the hulls and propellers which were causing vibration through the engines – the result of being stationary for so long. Ally had spent much of the journey trying to unpack and also find homes for the mega provisioning that Shawn had done over the last few weeks, and that continued after arrival and into the evening! Shawn had also been busy over the last couple of weeks cooking and freezing various meals to make dinner times easy when conditions are not conducive to spending a lot of time in the galley.

We did have 4 crew booked to join us for this part of the adventure, but we ended up doing the crossing by ourselves. One crew member stopped responding to messages fairly soon after being accepted, so we’re not entirely sure what happened – Covid was a big thing at the time, so maybe that had something to do with it. We also had a couple joining us, but they had to drop out as she was having difficulties with visa requirements as circumstances meant it was too late for her to apply in time. Another older guy, a very experienced sailor, was also accepted onto the trip and he arrived bringing a much needed spare part for the watermaker and was very helpful with putting up our new main sail. Unfortunately, due to the delays around visa applications, a side to his personality was revealed that meant that we were not prepared to have him on board for the crossing so he was told to leave. This meant our other crew member, a lone young woman, decided to leave as she wanted a more sociable experience with a group. We decided at this time, not to look for replacement crew, but to experience the crossing together which would be a fabulous achievement for us both. We would be unable to visit Easter Island as, having contacted the Chilean tourist board about entry requirements, it was remaining closed until at least the 1^st August ( covid is still causing some travel disruption), so we would go straight to French Polynesia. Our saloon table was dropped and made into a big bed so that we could sleep there and be available to each other on watches – it turned out to be a very chilled and very informal, positive experience for both of us. Not that it wouldn’t have been with crew members, but watches would have been set, as would meal rotas and Shawn would have got less rest overall too.

The majority of the days were overcast and we did have a fair bit of rain. The sea conditions were variable too. We had some days of calmness, other days of swells up to 25 feet and others of just confusion, but it was nothing we hadn’t sailed through before and Imagination just sailed on through it all.

Ally was worried that a month at sea would be boring after the first day or so, but every day was different and there wasn’t time to be bored. Between keeping watch and setting the sails, we watched tv, read magazines and books, played games on our laptops, cross stitched ( not Shawn!), did crosswords, ate snacks and sweeties, listened to music, made read rolls, cooked fajitas, pizzas, pasta and sausages (amongst other things), and dealt with any “jobs” that cropped up. One mid afternoon on a relatively calm day, we were in the saloon watching a movie with one of the forward hatches slightly open when a freak wave came over the front of the boat and straight through the open gap. The shelf was awash, our soft furnishings were drenched, our bedding was soaked as the inrush of water also reached the galley. After mopping up, everything had to be stripped with cushion covers and bedding needing to be washed and seating foam put outside to dry out – what are the chances of one rogue wave coming over the bows ( when it was a following sea, too!!) shortly after we ( Shawn!) opens a hatch having had no waves over the boat all day? One of our reefing pennants snapped….twice, breaking the lazy lines that hold up the sail bag once on each side as it did so. Those were restitched and rehoisted, which meant Shawn going part way up the mast whilst the mainsail was up and we were sailing. We had interactions with Ecuadorian fishermen in their small open fishing boat 100 miles off shore showing us which way to go to avoid their long lines – they were given beer and biscuits for their help which were much appreciated. Despite that we still caught lines and buoys belonging to different fishermen on both our props a while later so we had to pull in the sails to stop the boat and Shawn went into 8000+ feet deep water in the middle of nowhere to cut the lines off…thankfully this was a quicker, easier job than expected and the fishermen that had caught up with us were pleased to get their gear back. Whilst topping up the diesel, it was noticed we had less fuel than expected and on investigation, a hole was found in the fuel line on the starboard engine and 140 litres of diesel was slopping around the engine room floor. The damaged part of the pipe was removed and the remainder reattached to the engine. We had a tear in our headsail and then another….and then another. The first time, we pulled it down and sat on the nets repairing it until after midnight. The second one we had to wait for the wind and waves to die down (a couple of days, during which we used our storm sail) before taking it down and making repairs. The third tear was much bigger than the other two, with all in the same area, and so we completely removed it, folded it up and put up our new sail. We tried to fly the spinnaker but conditions weren’t entirely good and it got wrapped around the roller furling ( head sail pole) and took 20 minutes to unravel before we took it down again. For the majority of the trip, we had ongoing issues with the port engine cutting out – the fuel pump and both filters were changed, but the problem remained. Over several days, Shawn located the issue that was causing a fuel blockage and after consulting with his brother who is a mechanic for the RNLI, the problem part was deemed unnecessary and so was removed. The engine is great again now.

It was very comforting knowing we were being “watched” by family and friends on our tracking page ( https://followingsea.net/track/Imagination) as we made our way across the Pacific Ocean. Being able to message/email and also phone home using our Iridium Go ( satellite communication unit) also made the world of difference in such remote circumstances.

After around the 3^rd July, we didn’t see any other boats at sea, but we did have encounters of another variety. We caught 2 Mahi Mahi, 2 tuna and 1 double lined mackerel as well as hooking into, but losing several other things. On the day of departure, we had 2 6ft long dolphins with us for just a few minutes and we had a couple of other visits later on. At breakfast time on the 28^th June, a seabird came and landed on the horseshoe ring on the port side and just sat there looking at us looking at him. He seemed ever so tame and really wasn’t afraid of us and allowed us to get very close…close enough to try and feed him some squid ( we had a variable number of squid and flying fish on the decks and nets each morning) as we wondered if he was sick. He moved onto the scuba tank holder and that’s where he stayed for the remainder of the day, with the occasional short fly around, until the sun started to go down and he was off. On that same day we also had the company of a pod of pilot whales. They came in super close to the boat, within 4-6 feet of the sugar scoops and had a real good look at us and followed us for around 10 minutes. We also had several visits by what we think were Minky Whales – they were a baleen whale with a slender frame, dark grey on top with a dorsal fin towards the rear of the back with pale grey bellies. The first time they came, they stayed for over 4 hours. We think it was a pod passing through and they all came in close, crossing in front of and behind Imagination, surfing down the large following waves beside us. What a truly magnificent sight…and the sound?! Incredible to hear that big sigh with the plume of mist being shot into the air. Amongst all that we saw one turtle just bobbing about, resting on the surface, not phased by us or the whales passing by. The next couple of times we saw the whales ( not sure if it was the same pod) they didn’t come in so close for so long, although we could see them around us for several hours. We did not take their visits to us for granted – we were blown away by their size ( the majority between 30 and 40 feet long) and peaceful nature and the fact that they had come to see us…we didn’t go looking for them. We feel very privileged to have seen so much. When we spoke to other sailors in Rikitea, they hadn’t seen anything at all during their crossing.

We spied land just after sunrise on 21^st July…..I cannot describe the feeling of seeing dark shadows getting closer and clearer on the horizon after a month of grey and blue! We still had a way to go and the weather decided to give us just a few more squalls with gusts up to 30kts and lots of rain before clearing in time for us to navigate through the reef systems and into the bay. After 29 days, 8 hours 55 minutes and around 4300nm, our anchor went down in Rikitea, Mangareva, Gambier at 11.55am local time. When we crossed the equator in the early hours of the morning ( I’ll add the date when I can refer to our log – we’re ashore right now!) we went from Summer to Winter. We had bubbles chilling in the fridge for the occasion, but didn’t feel it was right at that time of day, so we had them before dinner on arrival instead.

Gambier – 21^st July – 27^th Jul

The community in Mangareva is tiny and there is a small number of people living on the outlying islands, but the people are friendly, happy and helpful. Everyone says “bonjour” as they pass by, or if they are driving, gives a big smile and a wave. The only industry here is Black Pearls where there is big money to be made. There are several very rich families here that own the farms and employ others form here and other islands to work them for them. We didn’t get to see any pearls ( they don’t sell them on a private level) but we did see piles and piles of bags packed with the empty shells waiting to be shipped out for mother of pearl creations. Everyone appears healthy which is surprising because the cost of food is astronomical. The essentials are subsidised, but even those seemed expensive – we paid around 8US on around 3lb of onions. Mayo sells at around 16US dollars for 500g and corned beef is around 5.30US dollars. Gin is 70US for 70cl……thank goodness we bought some with us!

On the Saturday after we arrived, the supply ship came in early morning. I had wondered why the dock area was so large and now my question had been answered. We had been anxious to buy fuel after arriving, but were told the ship would “maybe”come in on Wednesday, so were very pleased to see it there when we got up. We went straight across after breakfast to buy 400 litres of fuel ( only sold in 200 litre quantities at 360US) and it seemed the entire population was there too. Of course, everything needs to be bought into the islands and so there were containers on the dock packed with store supplies and personal deliveries. Everyone was in high spirits and it seems everyone knows everyone. We bought our fuel which was pumped direct from the ship into 2 barrels which we then had to decant into our jerry cans and fuel tank. We started to do this using the vacuum pump we had bought along with us, but 3 ship crew who had been watching us, bought along a much more effective rotary hand pump and helped us complete the job ( which also entailed a trip back to Imagination to fill the onboard fuel tank so we could return with the empty jerry cans) and they were very happy and surprised to be rewarded for their help with 2 ice cold cans of beer each ( beer here costs around 3.20US).

Whilst walking around the island we saw mango trees ( out of season), bananas, guavas, aubergine ( eggplant), pamplemouse, limes, sweet apples, christophene, pomegranate, papaya, oranges and yukka all growing by the side of the road. All the info on line about these islands says you should not just take these produce as they all belong to someone and the locals get very upset if they are taken, so as tempting as it was, we left well alone. Shawn did a hike up Mount Duff with some others from yachts in the anchorage and up in the hills, he came across wild raspberries and asked a local family doing their weekly Sunday hike together if they were edible, and they all indulged. There were also copious amounts of pamplemouse so he had one and bought 4 back to the boat. Sweet, juicy, delicious and best of all….almost seedless. The citrus in the Eastern Caribbean is full of pips, so that was a real treat.

On the 25^th July, we moved to a beautiful area between Isle Agakauitai and Isle Taravai. It was a little nerve racking getting in there as the area is uncharted and there is reef everywhere – we went over some fairly shallow areas with reef very clearly visible below. Once anchored we took in the true paradise that we had arrived in and listened….no noise….at all. Just a gentle breeze and waves softly lapping onto the beach. Wow. There are only a couple of families living on one of the islands and whilst we saw a well maintained area with a heavily laden orange tree and wooden house on the other, we didn’t see anyone around whilst we were anchored there. We visited a small beach and looked for coconuts. We only found 1 intact one on the ground, all the others had been consumed by land crabs most probably, and Shawn climbed a tree to knock down another. We had taken a small machete, funnel and empty bottle with us, so opened them up and poured the water into the bottle for drinking on board. The flesh was soft and full of flavour – yum! We snorkelled in a couple of areas, me ( Ally ) in a 5mm wetsuit as the whole environment is cooler than we are used to. The first area was a bit murky but we did see a big grouper and some small reef fish as well as what seemed like hundreds of sea cucumbers of various sizes. The second area was much further out and was in deeper, clearer water where the reef came up like a wall to just a few feet. We had been worried that there didn’t seem to be much sea life around on our travels back and forth on the dinghy over the last few days, so we were so pleased to see life under the water here and that fish were able to grow big here ( they can’t eat reef fish here due to ciguetera). We saw some big grouper, unicorn fish, surgeon fish, parrotfish as well as many reef fish. Off in the distance we saw a turtle and then much closer, a 4 ft white tipped reef shark who circled us a couple of times, checking us out before disappearing.

On the morning of the 27^th we left Gambier for Hao, Tuamatus. We had some big waves again, but they were gentle enough that we didn’t get the crashing and splashing that we got on the pacific crossing and it was also nice and sunny and warm which makes a huge difference. No wildlife sightings on this sail. We had what seems to be an obligatory downpour with associated winds on approach, which cleared just as we arrived an the atoll of Hao. After negotiating the choppy entry pass caused by small standing waves created by tidal current in a flow against tradewinds, we arrived at the village of Otepa on 30^th July.