Category Archives: Cruising Life

Describes an experience regarding the boating lifestyle of our travel.

Special Blend and Getting Fuel

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May 23 to May 24, 2007 – Wednesday was a really mellow day. We had gotten in from dinner late on Tuesday, so on Wednesday we slept late. We spent most of the day tiding and doing some laundry. Tidying is another one of those chores that sounds easy enough, but is laborious on a boat. Putting things back often means pulling everything out of a storage area and repacking it all back in because it needs to be packed in a certain order. As we use up things, spaces open up that need to be repacked so things don’t move around within the storage space. We often need to shuffle things from one storage area to another, causing both areas have to be completely pulled out and repacked.

Around 09:30, “Special Blend”, another Nordhavn 43, pulled in and
anchored (translation: parked) near us. They came from Florida, through the Panama Canal, and departed for the Marquesas from the Galapagos. Eric took the dinghy over to visit them, and also went and introduced himself to some people on another nearby power boat. Special Blend is in the foreground and Kosmos is in the background and another one with Kosmos on the left: Continue reading →

Welcome to Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia

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To begin with, here are a couple photos from our days at sea. We didn’t get many nice sunsets, but the few we got were beautiful. We also had a huge rainbow around the boat the days it rained.

We dropped anchor at 6:00 am local time on May 19, just as the sun was coming up (8:30 am PST). The view of Taiohae was just as we had seen in photos. Continue reading →

San Diego to Nuka Hiva Day 17-18

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  • Position and Time: S 00-26 by W 136-26 at 1935 UTC May 15, 2271 miles from San Diego
  • Average Speed and Course: 5.1 knots, 204 degrees true, 1600rpm
  • Wind: 12 knots at 270 degrees relative
  • Waves: 3-4 foot swells at 10 seconds, 2-3 foot wind waves.

We crossed the equator! Yipee! The exciting event occurred at 5:52 am this morning, local time (one hour later than PST). It was still dark outside. It was a rare, clear night with the stars brilliantly shining. The stars are amazing out here. Our wake was sparkling and glowing with specks of bio-luminescence, which is stunning. It was a spectacular setting for our huge milestone. We gathered in the pilot house, watching the countdown on the GPS, then celebrated by Continue reading →

San Diego to Nuka Hiva Day 14-16

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  • Position and Time: N 03-02 by W 135-02 at 2200 UTC May 13, 2048 miles from San Diego
  • Average Speed and Course: 5.1 knots, 204 degrees true, 1600rpm
  • Wind: 18 knots at 310 degrees relative
  • Waves: 3-4 foot swells at 10 seconds, 3-4 foot wind waves.

We are in a convection zone near the equator. And we have a pretty big current against us right now, hence the slower speed.

No ships or other boats sighted, and alas no more fish caught. Although, almost every night Kosmos collects squid and flying fish on her decks. Kosmos is running smoothly and overall things are good.

Many people have asked us what life is like at sea. Continue reading →

San Diego to Nuka Hiva Day 11-13

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  • Position and Time: N 06-49 by W 132-58 at 1722 UTC, 1784 miles from San Diego
  • Average Speed and Course: 6.1 knots, 212 degrees true, 1600rpm
  • Wind: 15 knots at 270 degrees relative
  • Waves: 6-8 foot swells at 10 seconds, 4-6 foot wind waves.

On Tuesday evening, after we sent the last update, the seas became significantly rougher and it tried to rain. By “tried to rain” I mean that it would drizzle for a few minutes, stop for a while, then drizzle for a few minutes, and so on. That lasted for 36 hours. This meant we had to keep the boat all closed up. When we closed the boat up on Tuesday night it quickly became warm and uncomfortable without the ocean breeze to cool us off. So, Wednesday and part of Thursday we turned on the generator so we could run the air conditioner. We took advantage of the generator being on and did some laundry.

Oddly enough, after the rain started, Continue reading →