It is early evening on Wednesday, May 12. Oso Blanco is 292 nm from our destination in the Tuamotu Islands and 230 nm from Nuku Hiva, where we left yesterday afternoon. It has been a perfect passage, so far, with 10 - 15 knots of wind and gently rolling 4' - 6' seas pushing us along. The sun has just set, not with the blazing glory of many ocean sunsets, but, like our day, it gently slid over the horizon behind some distant clouds. The darkness comes quickly at sea and soon we will see the Southern Cross pointing at the southern pole star and in the other horizon the Big Dipper, but Polaris is not visible from here at 12* south latitude.
Since our landfall in the Marquesas 3 1/2 weeks ago, we have been in a blur of new islands, new friends, hikes in beautiful valleys, hours snorkeling, and reconnecting with our cruising friends that also came over from Mexico. The Marquesas have been our goal for the last 2 years' planning. It was hard to look past the islands far out in the Pacific, as we focused on the "crossing". It seems strange today, having left what had seemed like the destination, as we move on to the next South Pacific paradise. French Polynesia is a huge area larger than all of Europe. For some reason, the French limit our visas to only 90 days. It would have been easy to spend months in the Marquesas, but our adventure continues as we look forward to 3-4 weeks in the Tuamotus and then on to Tahiti and the Society Islands.
We expect to arrive in the Tuamotus early Friday morning.
E
