Kosmos Travel Log

Wishing all of you and Happy, Healthy, Safe and Prosperous 2008!

We have been doing some reflecting on 2007. It has been the most amazing year of both our lives. The first four months we jumped hurdle after hurdle in trying to get ready to go. It seemed several times that obstacles might stop us, but then at the last minute we were able to overcome these obstacles, leaving a month behind schedule. We want to thank everyone who helped us overcome the various hurdles. We are so blessed to have had so many people help us along the way and we are thankful for your friendship, help, and support. We couldn’t have done it without all the help!

Since leaving we have been to 18 islands in the South Pacific, four places in Australia and one in Indonesia. We’ve been SCUBA diving in all kinds of amazing places, including beautiful reefs, caves, and shipwrecks. Of course, we have seen incredible amounts of sea life on our dives. We went swimming with dolphins and whales and sharks in the ocean. We have been to the rim of an active volcano and walked up a waterfall. We have seen many traditional Polynesian and Melanesian villages. We’ve done a lot of snorkeling, gone on many gorgeous hikes, and taken several island tours, including one on a go cart, one on horseback, and one in a helicopter. We have been to several big celebrations for a country’s local holiday, and twice gotten within a few feet of the country’s president at these events. We anchored on a sunken sailboat by mistake and had to handle getting unstuck very carefully or we would have sunk, too. We got our anchor badly stuck on some coral another time. In Australia we saw all kinds of crazy land animals and ate crocodile and kangaroo. We have been in very rough seas, and once we almost got hit by lightening. Those are all the biggies, but there is much more, too. Here is a list of some of the highlights since leaving home.

• Average speed: 5.94 knots
• Best Polynesian Food: Jenna’s Niuan Buffet, Niue
• Best Sea Animal Encounter: Tie between swimming with the whales in Vava’u, Tonga and swimming with the melon headed dolphins in Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia
• Best Polynesian Dancing: Society Islands, French Polynesia
• Best Tattoo artistry: The Marquesas
• Best Wood Carvings: The Marquesas
• Best Yogurt: Mami Nova brand (we found in Tahiti, imported from France)
• Cleanest Fuel: Thursday Island, Australia
• Days on land/days at sea: 141/70 = 33% time at sea
• Deepest anchorage: 100 feet in Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva, French Polynesia
• Deepest dive Christi: 130 feet in Luganville, Vanuatu
• Deepest Dive Eric: 102 feet in Niue
• Favorite Dive Spot: Fakarava, French Polynesia
• Friendliest People: Niue
• Least expensive destination: Timor, Indonesia
• Longest passage at sea: 21 days from San Diego to Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia
• Most amazing land destination: active volcano in Tanna, Vanuatu (found in blog under Efate)
• Most boats in a single anchorage: Tahiti, French Polynesia
• Most expensive destination: Bora Bora, French Polynesia
• Most expensive fuel: Cairns, Australia
• Most frustrating check in/check out experience: Fiji (we were unlucky. Most have no issues)
• Most remote from civilization: Suwarrow, Cook Islands
• Most Unique Land Animals: Tropical Dome, Cairns, Australia
• Restaurant with best value for the quality: Chef’s in Nadi, Fiji
• Restaurant with worst value for the dollar: Hotel Bora Bora, Bora Bora, French Polynesia
• Scariest Event: Getting the anchor stuck on the sunken sailboat in Apataki, French Polynesia
• Shallowest anchorage: 10 feet in Moorea, French Polynesia
• Strongest winds: 39 knots during a squall on passage from Australia to Indonesia
• Total distance traveled: 9,959 Nautical Miles (11,452 statute miles, 18,320 Kilometers)
• Total engine hours: 1676
• Total generator hours: 767
• Worst seas: Suwarrow to Niue passage (waves as high as 14 feet – not fun!)

It will be very interesting to see what 2008 has in store for us. We hope it is just as good – or even better – than our wonderful 2007.

One of the biggest tourist attractions in Port Vila is the Mele Cascades Waterfall, located a few miles outside of town. Jaime had gone to the Cascades before we arrived and he said it was worth going to a second time, so we knew they had to be good.

We caught a bus. The buses are odd for us. There is no regular route. You simply hail down a minivan with a “B” license plate. You tell the driver where you want to go and they eventually take you there, after a few stops along the way (and out of the way) to deliver other passengers.

The bus dropped us off at a nice park looking area. From the entrance you can see a nice footpath paralleling a stream. The path slopes upward gently and is nicely landscaped. As you walk up, there are quite a few small drops – little, tiny waterfalls — in the river that are quite pretty to look at. There are birds chirping. It is really serene.

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On Friday morning we announced we were leaving for Fiji on the morning radio net. A few minutes later, a fellow boater came by in his dinghy and told us that the top headline of the morning was that Fiji had just declared martial law and warned that maybe going to Fiji wasn’t such a good idea. Fiji has had ongoing bouts of political unrest since 1987. We read the news and decided that the situation wasn’t really that bad and decided to go as planned. (more…)

We awoke to gray skies, on again off again rain, and winds screaming at 10 – 27 knots. But, as promised, the water was relatively calm. It is probably rocky in some other anchorages, and rough in the ocean. Needless to say, it was a lazy day. We spent the majority of the day reading and playing “name that tune”. There are some hilarious quotes from the game, including “This is that girl band, Hansen!” and “I don’t recognize this song. Oh wait… wasn’t this our first dance at our wedding?” The crew of Far Niente, Eric and Gisela, had arrived in the anchorage the day before, so in the evening we went over to their boat and hung out with them.

Yesterday the sun came out. We were thrilled to see the sun after more than a week of gloomy days in a row. We went snorkeling in Point Maurell bay. The snorkeling wasn’t all that spectacular since a lot of the coral has died, but we still saw some cool stuff. There are a few pretty coral formations, and a lot of mauve coral that almost looks like antlers. There is a plant that tends to grow near the mauve coral that is light brown and fuzzy looking. (more…)

Over the last few days we have made banana-papaya-yogurt smoothies and banana-peanut butter smoothies for breakfast with the early ripening bananas. Today all the bananas are finally fully ripe and it is time for the banana fest to begin. Christi and Adrienne made banana-pineapple pancakes for breakfast. They baked a batch of papaya-banana-pineapple muffins and a large pan of banana chocolate chip cookie bars.

Unfortunately, it is yet another day of gray skies, cool temperatures and strong winds. The only days we have had good weather were the day we arrived and the three days Christi was in SCUBA class. While we have been eager to visit the anchorages around the Vava’u island group, we haven’t wanted to leave the highly protected mooring in Neiafu harbor to go to a more exposed anchorage. We were told Point Maurell was one of the most protected anchorages and that we wouldn’t be blown around there, so we took a break from cooking and moved to Point Maurell for a change of scenery. Point Maurell is near Neiafu harbor, so it was a short ride and we didn’t get blown too badly in the 25 knot winds. Here are the views from the front and back of Kosmos. Don’t ask why Adrienne was hanging out in the dingy. (more…)