As we whiled away our time in the Marquesas after the Matavaa Festival, Frank and I decided to circumnavigate Nuku Hive. We chose to travel in a clockwise direction and our first stop was Daniel’s Bay, just around the corner from Taiohae Bay. As on our first visit to Daniel’s Bay, we decided to hike to the waterfall. We remembered the hike as long but interesting, ending at a large pool under a waterfall. Plenty of pictures are on this post. That waterfall is still a long way off.We made it to the waterfall and pool. This time of year there was more water on the trail and tumbling down the wat ..read more

The rugged, mountainous islands of the Marquesas are referred to as Te Henua ‘Enata  which translates into “the land of men.” When we heard that the Matavaa Festival would take place on Nuku Hiva, in The Land of Men, we marked our calendar and planned to attend. Just as the expression “when in Rome” reminds us, we try to learn about the customs and traditions of the people whose country we are visiting and this festival was the perfect opportunity to better understand the Marquesan Heritage.  We probably would not adopt or emulate the traditions of these people but we certainly want ..read more

November 2023, we visited the atoll of Amanu for the third time since arriving in French Polynesia.  Many sailors skip this atoll because it is on the eastern part of the Tuamotus, but we consider it one of our top three favorites. Full moon over Amanu. Atolls are coral reefs that form a ring around a lagoon. Some say that originally the coral ring was on the outside of a volcano and that as the center area of the volcano eroded back into the water, the coral reef continued to grow upward and remains long after the volcano has disappeared.   Amanu was the first atoll in the Tuamotus ..read more

Anaho Bay on Nuku Hiva The end of 2023 found us exploring the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. That means less water time and a lot more hiking – with elevation. We are thankful for an adventure filled 2023 and we look forward to discovering new countries in 2024. Our goals for 2024 include visiting Tonga and Fiji and ending the season in New Zealand. We aren’t sure yet if other places will grab our anchor before we reach New Zealand. As always, these plans are written in chalk so they can be erased and revised based on whatever comes our way. Our wish for all of you is that 2024 is a y ..read more

Recently someone asked me what we eat on board Ticket to Ride. The short answer is, whatever we can buy in the country we are visiting. This post about shopping while in the Caribbean explains a lot about how we shop while traveling. I have sprinkled pictures of some of the food we have prepared on board Ticket to Ride…. no need to feel sorry for our taste buds; they are happy! This veggie meal is yummy! But here in FP we cannot find this variety of vegetables. In actuality, this question made me think about how our location affects our eating habits.  When we lived in Texas, we had a myr ..read more

After spending a decent amount of time in Fakarava, a famous scuba spot in the Tuamotus of French Polynesia, it was time to leave “civilization” and sail to the isolation available in Tahanea. Tahanea has no cell service or full time residents. No stores or supplies; only a pristine, undeveloped atoll. Though we have many events to write about, I thought I would share this short post about our sail to Tahanea. A quick peek into a lovely daysail. We upped anchor in the predawn light, which is 5 a.m. here, and set sail on the 80 nm passage to Tahanea. Our plan was to arrive in time to drop ancho ..read more

Like all homes, Ticket to Ride requires routine maintenance. Sometimes we have easy projects, but occasionally bigger projects must be attacked. Solar: A Big Project We have had a solar panel project looming over us for well over a year. Our solar panels had an issue with the top plastic layer coming detached from the panel and allowing moisture to gather under the plastic. The solar panels were suffering and underperforming. Streaks of moisture began growing under the outer layer of plastic. The problem occurred early in the life of our panels and the maker, Solbien, sent us replacement panel ..read more

Our friend and fellow sailor, Kevin, decided to hop a plane from his home in Hawaii and come visit us in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. We met Kevin and his wife, Katie, on the Baja HaHa in 2019. Since then, we have coordinated a couple of rather long passages with Kevin on his own boat, including sailing from Mexico to Hawaii and from Hawaii to Alaska. Kevin’s flight arrived around 11 one evening and Frank, Amelia and I recruited a couple of friends to join us at the dinghy dock to welcome him…. with water guns and bubble guns! Needless to say, Kevin was a bit surprised by his drenc ..read more

Returning from the States, Frank and I were very ready to be back in our own space and reconnect with TTR and the water. Our first order of business, after restocking the pantry, was to sail from Tahiti to the neighboring island of Moorea for a little relaxation before attacking any jobs. The view while anchored in Haapiti, Moorea Moorea has several very nice places to anchor, but our favorite is Haapiti on the southwest side of the island. We dropped anchor in a familiar spot and spent the next couple of days enjoying the quiet of living on the water with very few people around. While in Tahi ..read more

During out travels on board Ticket to Ride and Let It Be, Frank and I occasionally saw sailing schools/camps for children. This was especially true in the US and Mexico. TTR even boasts two tiny scratches from young dinghy sailors who weren’t quite capable of directing their sailboats. One is from an incident in San Diego while we were on anchor. The other scratch occurred while we were in a marina in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Sadly, since arriving in French Polynesia, we have seen very few recreational sailors and even fewer children on small sailboats unless they were from a cruising boat wit ..read more