The Pacific Ocean
A magical place on Earth
The Pacific Ocean is nothing less than magical. But you need to get there first...
Panama Canal
4:05 AM: “Colon Canal authority, this is Silvi – OVER”
4:06 AM: “SILVI?! We have been waiting for you, get out of the marina, you are about to miss your canal crossing!"
By then we have been calling them for an hour already and that is when we found out the reception of our VHF is off and we can add another thing to our to-do list. In the meantime, in the dark of night, we move with exhilaration in our veins and sleep in our eyes towards the bay. There, our co-pilot jumps on from another boat, and off we go.
Tied to a fellow sailboat we entered our first lock.
We enter the first lock tied to another boat and behind an enormous car carrier which miraculously seems to fit with centimetres to spare on each side.
What an amazing team!
Our boat is full of friendly people who have all decided to help out for the day which is so nice of them so we need to repay them with amazing food and good vibes only.
Not sure if it is the sleep deprivation or something else, but when the big iron gates of the first lock close behind us, an emotional rush takes over and there we are at 4:30 in the morning, crying because the doors of the Atlantic are now closed and who knows when we will see our friends and family again…
Our co-pilot; Eduardo reveils himself to be a fantastic and funny tour guide and throughout the day he teaches us all he knows about the canal, the locks, the history of Panama, and the United States, while making sure the crossing goes smoothly. Our line handlers Juan, Julian, Laure and Enzo are in amazing spirits and make no mistakes, we are so happy and grateful of their help.
Chased into the locks by a large container ship.
Just before the last lock we hear there are webcams at the locks! In spite of the time difference we manage to reach some family members who are waiting patiently for us to arrive in the image. When we get to the last lock, an enormous tribune appears with platforms full of people all waving at us and cheering us on! This is unreal! We are the only boat there so we do feel very… watched…
The opening of the gates towards the Pacific is a spectacle, the crowd goes wild, our family is looking online, we see the skyscrapers of Panama in the distance, and the magnificent pacific blue. New adventures await! But first…..Party!
Our pantry after a week long shopping spree in Panama City.
Crossing the Pacific Ocean
After our time in Panama and Brazil we are finally ready to go. Our boat is full full full of food, but we also have a full treasure chest with presents and activities for Filise. Spending a full month at sea without interaction with the outside world is unreal – how to prepare for that, how will we feel, how will Filise feel? We had 2 possible crew members to help us, but they both bailed on us, last minute. Great. But we felt confident and relaxed about just sailing with just the two of us.
Right before we leave Panama, we need to attach our new gipsy which we do with the help of a very big hammer and a bag full of ice. We decide to try out our new anchor set-up and go outside where we will anchor for the night. Except, we don’t. The breeze just gently pushes us forward, which gave a good feeling, and then suddenly, we find ourselves starting the Pacific crossing.
On the road again.
The first 1,5 week of the crossing, sailing starts off very relaxed and tranquil. We celebrate Jaclyn’s birthday with a present and a chocolate cupcake that we share with the three of us. On the third day, Filise wants to go to the playground, which we can’t so time to open up her first present… The rest of the week is spent in 30 to 40 degrees tilt. One day it bothers Jaclyn, the other day it bothers Martijn (it becomes difficult to do anything such as opening a fridge without having all the contents all over our shoes, or cooking without burning ourselves or losing all ingredients in the sink…)
On Saturday, we are back to straight conditions again and we manage to prepare a cup to tea. Martijn and Filise re-enact all the stories from Peppa Pig so she doesn’t have to spend too much time behind the screen.
In the second week we exchange rough days with very relaxed days. We get company from birds mostly who shit all over our boat and mess with our wiring. So we come up with all kind of strategies to deal with them. Martijn makes some crafty Neptunes apparell that we wear on the crossing of the equator! We cross it exactly at 100 degrees west and it is the first time in 2 weeks we see some ships as well as a spectacular meteor! It is really early in the morning but against better judgement we decide to have our first alcoholic drink in two weeks and pour some red wine in the sea as an offering to Neptune.
Properly asking Neptune for his blessing.
In the third week we see a whale!! But not a day later we come across a fishing net that is at least 8! Kilometres long. What a loss of biodiversity and life! We can only hope the whale that was chasing us is not caught up in the net… Filise is getting potty-trained so the smells on the boat are becoming… interesting.
Crossing the equator on a nice longitute and latitude.
We are busy with chores, cleaning, fixing the bilge pump, the shaft generator is having some difficulties. We are not sure what it is, so Jaclyn takes a quick dip in the ocean! After eating our goulash (okayish), kroketfilling (blegh), babi pangang (great!) from cans, we have found our limit; canned albondigas -bleeeeeegh. Fortunately, not many of those cans left!
Filise remains cheerful and happy all crossing, just one afternoon with excessive crying because she lost her balloon! Of course she's very angry when Martijn does not dive after it and we don’t agree to send a helicopter to go get it…
On the same day she decides to help out with cutting onions, with the most innocent knife (impossible to cut ANYthing with it) she does manage to cut her finger which bleeds pretty severely. What to do in the middle of the ocean?! Aaargh! Fortunately, it’s just a minor cut but she isn’t allowed to hold anything ‘knify’ anymore.
Evenings are the best.
In the last week, spirits are still up! We enjoy everyday life in our family bubble. We think of friends a lot, we have some internet over starlink, and we celebrate Martijn’s birthday! We celebrate with movie night and popcorn and we even have a ‘dance-off’ that Martijn wins with his unreal breakdance moves. We finish our last fresh fruits ceremoniously, we lose a gigantic fish that slipped off the hook and we enjoy frozen banana shakes. Until… we finally reach FATU HIVA!!!
Wow wow wow, we’d almost forgotten we were on our way to somewhere. Arriving in this georgeous bay after being at sea for so long is straight up surreal. We were welcomed by a delicious smell of flowers growing all over the island. Slowly we move closer towards the shore. Continuously taking deep breaths.
It takes us hours to anchor but we finally succeed, we are immediately welcomed by Dutch sailors, we even manage to bump our boat into theirs, but it does not bother them in the slightest. Everything and everybody is relaxed. We have made it.
Champagne after a month long sail.
The Marquesas
Fatu Hiva is a magical place. It somehow makes you quite happy.
Spending time in Fatu Hiva feels like a dream. Although we are there, we have not fully processed the crossing yet. In the meantime, we are surrounded by the most beautiful cliffs, lush interiors, waterfalls, flowers and friendly people. We enjoy all of it. We hike every day, enjoy the vistas and swim in the waterfall.
Spending some time with the locals.
There is one very small shop where we can get a soda (Jaclyn), a beer (Martijn) or icecream (Filise) and we can get some fresh fruits like pomelo and bananas. It is nice to not be able to buy anything, but we are also still relying on our Panama groceries. Then, our French friends arrive! We celebrate with a feast at the house of a local lady, Angela, where we enjoy pork, rice and fish cru.
A local dinner with our long time friends.
Together we sail to Hiva Oa where we take daily hikes to the local village. There is a spectacular playground. Probably the most beautiful playground in the world, so we go often until dusk. Aside from some shops, the place does not have much. That is also what makes it so appealing. The opportunity to enjoy the interior, the spiritual places, picking fruits in the wild, getting rides from locals and just be there in the moment in that place. We see a turtle and stingrays and we spot our first shark in Tahuata.
Dinner on the beach, next to a bonfire.
We move to Nuku Hiva where we get some spiritual spots full of tikis all to ourselves. We enjoy a beautiful and free kindergarten where toddlers can experience different types of playrooms with a spectacular backdrop of green rugges mountains.
Happy Tikis.
With our touch to civilisation we get sick, of course. So after some miserable days, it’s time to go again!
Meet Harry.
Tuamotos
Where the Marquesas are rugged lush and green islands full of interesting pinnacles, hills and mountains, the Tuamotus are complety flat atolls mostly covered by palmtrees.
Hanging about in our street for the day.
Big ‘lakes’ surrounded by small islands called ‘motus’. We spend time on Raroia, Makemo and need to seek shelter for over a week on Tahanea together with a group of other sailboats and catamarans. We become a community together, making bonfires at night, going on treasure hunt with the kids and overall having a very pleasant stay.
At night many sailors meet around a bonfire, sharing stories about boat maintenance, the weather and their adventures.
Treasure hunting with the kids.
We made friends with a local squid.
The most difficult part is seeing or smelling a neighbour enjoying a specific product. For instance, Martijn ‘needs to sit down for a bit’ when our neighbour is having a barbeque. When we mention it to our neighbour he says, ‘I can smell pomelo on you, you have it in your boat, don’t you?!” hahaha, all in good spirits, we share a lot.
The best of times.
Our neighbours bring us yoghurt and bread, we bring them other bread, desserts and homemade bounties! But.. by the time we all reach Fakarava to get new supplies, we are like a bunch of hungry pirates!
Strike a pose.
Each of the Tuamotus deserves its own chapter, all these places are wonderful, magical, once in a lifetime places and we are just enjoing it all. Fakarava is like an aquarium.
A very shy fish.
Another world to explore
Thousands of sharks, and a current where you can just put your goggles on and follow the stream all the way over the corals, the fishes, and the sharks, which everybody does over, and over, and over again and we never get sick of it.
Ready to go.
Let's take a look down there.
What an amazing place.
He doesn't look very hungry.
A happy school of curious fishes.
Life on an atoll
Life here is slow paced and ultra relaxed. Our worries are limited to some minor boat maintenance. But when we realise there is no way to get parts anyway, we quickly let those last little worries fade as well and accept life has to do without these comforts. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Life here is what it is.
Harvesting and peeling coconuts.
Playing with the sharks.
We're not sure what it is that causes the wonderful feeling you get after being here for a while. A feeling we lost living busy lives in the city. Is it being submerged in beautiful surroundings or the faded consciousness of time?
Pure magic.
Tahiti
Tahiti is like a city within a collection of islands. We are there for repairs so we leave the Tuamotus a bit earlier than we like, but of course, being back in civilisation has its perks. There are baguettes, dried sausages and French cheeses. There are fresh and frozen strawberries which Filise gets until she permanently smells like one and slowly starts to become one.
Happy family.
We enjoy the festivities of Heiva (beautiful men and women who dizzyingly move their hips and knees in traditional clothes in natural settings). We are also in time for the festivities of the Olympics, festivities only, because actually watching the surfing competitions is impossible for anybody here. It does inspire us to finally use the surfboard that we’ve been carrying with us since Guadeloupe.
Tahitians celebrating Carnaval and the end of the Olympics.
Tranquillity at its finest.
We can’t surf. But we have attempted to surf! There are playgrounds to enjoy and declious plates of passion fruit tuna ceviche. We meet with old friends and make new ones.
Surfing!
Wasting time when there are no waves and the boards are waxed.
We are greeted by a turtle almost everyday, and on a lucky day we even see a humpback whale behind the reef! But, we are stuck. Waiting for parts, waiting for repairs, waiting for answers we spend over 1,5 month on Tahiti.
Our view for the last six weeks.
Moorea
From Tahiti we sailed to Moorea, an island close to Tahiti. After a day or two we met with a great community of parents with small kids.
Dinner show with our little participation.
We quickly learned Filise can go to an amazing kindergarten across the bay. For the past months Filise asked us over and over when she could go to school. With this opportunity we decided to stick around for a while and sign her up to join the lovely class full of local kids and a whole bunch of international kids from the local sailing community we joined!.
Go and explore, fishies!