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New Zealand to Tahiti : June 7, 2004... Opua - Papeete As we sailed past Cape Brett, two Bottle nose Dolphins named Badjelly and Two Step swam out to say goodbye to Vanessa. She had made good friends with the dolphins over the years as part of her tourism business Carino Sailing and Dolphins aboard her beautiful red sailing catamaran CARINO. We departed the Bay of Islands, New Zealand the first week of June, with a five day forecast for rough seas, mostly swell from the Southern Ocean with some wind wave. We some good rides, surfs up to 18kn - bumpy, but fast! We approached Tahiti on a bright sunny day. Land Ho! was called when the mountain peaks of Moorea were sighted. Two hours later, the loom of the island of Tahiti was visible on the horizon.

New Zealand to Tahiti

June 7, 2004... Opua - Papeete As we sailed past Cape Brett, two Bottle nose Dolphins named Badjelly and Two Step swam out to say goodbye to Vanessa. She had made good friends with the dolphins over the years as part of her tourism business Carino Sailing and Dolphins aboard her beautiful red sailing catamaran CARINO. We departed the Ba ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 2:50pm PST

French Polynesia : June 23 - July 3 , 2004... Papeete to Bora Bora After a fast reach under our big reacher, from Taha'a to Bora Bora, we picked up a mooring belonging to the Bora Bora Yacht Club in the small bay just south of Point Farepiti. The full moon was rising in the cleft between Mt. Paihia and Mt. Oteman, the two highest peaks on the island, once again bringing us an extraordinary sunset. The Bora Bora Yacht Club is a funky, thatched roofed building with a dock for dinghys, a very welcoming staff, a lovely garden, and cold beers. The host and hostess recommended a good restaurant, called in our reservation, and arranged for the restaurant to carry us in their van to and from the restaurant. The four star restaurant, Top Dive, in a beautiful traditional style hatched roof building with soaring ceiling, white marble floors and azure swimming pool, provided us with a meal fit for a Polynesian king -- the best of France and Polynesia! A performance of Polynesian dance and song, by dozens of dancers in a large outdoor arena, part of a week-long festival entertained us on Thursday night.

French Polynesia

June 23 - July 3 , 2004... Papeete to Bora Bora After a fast reach under our big reacher, from Taha'a to Bora Bora, we picked up a mooring belonging to the Bora Bora Yacht Club in the small bay just south of Point Farepiti. The full moon was rising in the cleft between Mt. Paihia and Mt. Oteman, the two highest peaks on the island, once ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 2:59pm PST

Bora Bora to Hawaii : July 7, 2004... On the morning of July 7, we were still experiencing wind and rain from the cold front that had passed through overnight. The sky cleared, but when we departed Bora Bora at 1500 the true wind speed was 32 knots from the southeast. For ADAGIO, these were perfect conditions for a speedy passage. As expected for a crossing of the ITCZ we had iffy winds sandwiched by good winds at both ends of the passage. Our best day's run was 223nm, best surfs were a bit over 14kn. Except for the goofy squalls in the ITCZ this was a memorable passage!

Bora Bora to Hawaii

July 7, 2004... On the morning of July 7, we were still experiencing wind and rain from the cold front that had passed through overnight. The sky cleared, but when we departed Bora Bora at 1500 the true wind speed was 32 knots from the southeast. For ADAGIO, these were perfect conditions for a speedy passage. As expected for a crossing o ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 3:12pm PST

Hawaii to Alaska : August 5, 2004... We seemed blessed by fine weather for the beginnings and endings of our ocean passages. So it was for our final leg to Alaska. Departing Oahu we were soon more or less on the rhumb to Sitka, footing off slightly from close-hauled for crew comfort. We were likely to have some light winds for the middle of the passage - so we were fully loaded with 1600 litres of diesel. Even so, we knew wouldn't make our 'normal target' of 200nm/day average because we would want to husband our fuel for what might come at the end of the passage. As you can see from the photos, it was another memorable passage. The final third was aided by Rick Shema's routing assistance, as the Gulf of Alaska was spitting bullets at us almost faster than we could dodge (the lows). Even so, landfall brought bright skies and glacier-capped mountains.

Hawaii to Alaska

August 5, 2004... We seemed blessed by fine weather for the beginnings and endings of our ocean passages. So it was for our final leg to Alaska. Departing Oahu we were soon more or less on the rhumb to Sitka, footing off slightly from close-hauled for crew comfort. We were likely to have some light winds for the middle of the passage - so ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 5:48pm PST

Sitka : August 21, 2004... ADAGIO made landfall August 21st at Sitka, the most convenient US port of entry in Southeast Alaska (because one can enter Sitka directly from the sea, and can thus avoid playing dodgem in the dark with floating logging debris after dark transisting the inner channels to, say, Ketchikan). The 2004 summer in SE Alaska set records for sunny, warm, dry weather. We were fortunate to catch the last three weeks of this wonderful weather before the typical Alaskan "liquid sunshine" started to fall again. Our daughter, her husband, and our two grandchildren arrived during this first rainy interval. That offered the opportunity to do some Sitka touring whilst waiting out the rain - museums and such. Then on Aug 30, with a nearly full moon and some sun, we set off for some real cruising.

Sitka

August 21, 2004... ADAGIO made landfall August 21st at Sitka, the most convenient US port of entry in Southeast Alaska (because one can enter Sitka directly from the sea, and can thus avoid playing dodgem in the dark with floating logging debris after dark transisting the inner channels to, say, Ketchikan). The 2004 summer in SE Alaska s ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 5:38pm PST