After meeting so many cruisers who told us how gorgeous the Gambiers were — we decided we just couldn’t miss them out. Yes, try finding them on your world atlas… roughly middle of the Pacific Ocean about 22 degrees south of the equator. That tiny dot, that’s it. Unfortunately it did mean an 800 mile passage into the wind from the Marquesas islands to get there. We waited for a good weather window and headed southeast.

The passage started with bumpy seas and a strong opposing current but as time went by the wind changed and then stopped, completely. In fact over the seven day sail we had every configuration of wind strength and direction and associated sail set up, from fully reefed to spinnaker up, to stationary. We had limited fuel aboard so motoring straight through the lack-of-wind parts was not an option. Life took on a slower pace and we declared the KdF bakery open and made fresh bread, flapjack and a daily cake. We celebrated our halfway passage milestone with bacon and pesto pasta aka Paul’s Atlantic winning meal (rare expensive treat as you can’t really get bacon anywhere) and chocolate brownies. With 200 miles to go we had a Christmas music disco and a chess tournament. Try dancing on a moving deck in Christmas socks, how we didn’t go over the side I have no idea!

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We also went through a large electrical storm for a day and night which was slightly hair raising. Seeing lightening hit the water 200 yards from your boat is rather worrying. Luckily we managed to get through it all unscathed albeit soaking wet. The windows look nice and clean now though! We also saw some amazing cloud formations, this one is massive, ~10miles high, perfect circle electrical storm cloud, that we’d unfortunately just sailed through.

We arrived in darkness in the wee small hours so drifted around till first light at 4am. The first sight of land after a long passage is always magical and add the rising sun at dawn to make a perfect welcome.

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The Gambier islands are enclosed within a reef which protects it from ocean swell. We sailed slowly in, now very very low on fuel, seeing the reef very close to the boat on all sides. The channel was well marked and it was a surprise to see channel markers for once, they seem to barely exist in the Pacific. The water was stunning aquamarine and pearl farms where dotted everywhere. In fact the guide states that it’s harder to avoid the pearl farms than the coral!

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Time to drop the anchor, rest and explore the land (and pearls)!

Our last island stop in the Marquesas was at the breathtaking anchorage on Fatu Hiva — named the Bay of Virgins.

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Renowned for being quite windy as the wind ‘bullets’ down from the steep cliffs but the stunning scenery makes up for the hair raising gusts. The black stone cliff tops soar above lush greenery and the rocks appear to be in shapes of faces. It’s quite a dramatic place to anchor and a great place to spend a few days. We got to know the friendly locals and bought bananas, limes and oranges from their trees. There is a small shop in the tiny village and we managed to get a rare treat of ice cream to the boys delight.

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We also met up with another British family boat, s/y Belladonna, and together we hiked to the waterfall.

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The waterfall was impressive and it was a refreshing swim in gorgeous fresh water in the pools below.

The girls aboard s/y Belladonna had brought their violins and recorded a short video for their grandparents of them playing Christmas carols. It was great to hear them play and they did really well despite being eaten by mosquitoes!

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The boys clambered over rocks, collected wood and merrily built a bonfire whilst the girls delightfully played the violins. The difference between having two girls and two boys!! 😂😂

Our first overnight sail since crossing the Pacific, and Russell kindly did it solo whilst the rest of us ‘slept’ in the rock-n-roll motion. Trying to sail at 115 degrees when the wind is coming from 115 degrees, with the current directly against you, is interesting and with wind shifts meant constant trimming the sails to suit. Maybe we should have sailed here direct from Nuku Hiva, it would have been much easier, (but then there wouldn’t have been any chocolate from Ua-Pou…)

Anyway we arrived at dawn in the most breathtaking anchorage of Hane Moe Noa bay on Tahuata island.

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The water was transparent and as I let down the anchor I could watch it drop all the way down to the white sand 8m below. Perfect.

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If you are passing, I recommend to stop here. It’s the picture postcard of a Pacific island beach and we had it to ourselves for the three gorgeous days we spent there. It was a delight to swim in the clear waters and see fish, turtles, manta rays and even small sharks (well spotted by Chloe). The white sand was beautiful and spotless.

To be honest, the fact that someone grows and makes delicious chocolate on this island was a bit of a draw for our itinerary. But the volcanic island was also spectacular as we approached — with vertical rock pillars soaring from the hilltops into the clouds. There must be some great climbing and hiking here too.

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The small anchorage bays were less spectacular, with large waves surging against rocks and winds gusting over 30 knots. It looked like we might have to miss our chocolate excursion altogether. We sailed further down the west coast looking for a more sheltered bay. Third time lucky and we saw s/y Askari anchored in a lovely calmer bay. We joined them, in “cat bay” named by Carolyn for the sweet said cat on the beach. It was lovely to meet some Brits-turned-Aussies and we had a good few evenings exchanging notes on where to visit and admiring their pristine made-to-order Oyster yacht. The bay had a small ‘house’, outdoor ‘kitchen’ and balcony… great backdrop with our yacht anchored in the background.

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A few days later when the wind and waves had died down enough we sailed back to the “chocolate bay” and hiked to ‘Manfred’s’ place, which unknown to us, was basically at the bottom of one of those rock vertical spike things. A lot further up a mountain than anticipated for little legs in search of chocolate…Upon arrival it turned out Manfred was away but luckily his wife was there and kindly got some chocolate out for us to sample. It was delicious; the richest, darkest, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate imaginable and we were pleased to be able to buy some too. Phew!

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On the way back down the mountain we stopped at their waterfall which made for a perfect dip to cool off in gorgeous fresh water.

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We sailed back to Cat bay for the night as it was too rough at “Manfred’s” bay. This photo is the boat ramp there!

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You can imagine landing a dinghy with five people in was “interesting”! (If you are planning a visit here we used the inside of a small seawall instead, a lesser of two evils)!

Well apparently it was set here (Hakatea, Nuka Hiva) and we are now anchored off the said palm-tree -backed white beach. The backdrop is stunning as vertiginous mountains soar all around.

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Manta rays and black tip reef sharks swim around the boat and stunning shells wash up onto the beach.

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Just up the valley is the worlds third highest waterfall and we did a lovely trek to see it and swim in the fresh water pools which was gorgeous.

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If it all sounds too good you will be pleased to know that the beach has the most viscous sand flies known to man, so how the ‘Survivor’ contestants managed to put up with them I have no idea!

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There are a few local families who live in the next bay, there are no roads or electricity and it’s a two hour strenuous hike to town. The locals have to be the friendliest on the island, kindly giving us gifts of bananas, mangoes, papayas, grapefruit, pineapples and water (and a whole heap of fruit which we have never seen or eaten before!)

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Their home grown pineapples have to be the tastiest in the world and we have stocked up on ‘pamplemousse’ which is now a staple for us. The boys are great at picking them too. We baked a banana cake as a present in return which was gratefully received. Cooking seems to be mostly done in oil drums turned into bbq’s.

The local children come home on Fridays from their week away at school and the boys have had great fun playing with them. This photo is of a fabulous swing where you climb up a palm tree and swing into the river behind the beach. Not for the faint-hearted!

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It’s been a great place to stop for a few days whilst Russell has run some repairs and we’ve progressed boat school and a school outing to the waterfall.

After ten years usage, this is the first and only 🤞repair we are making to the mainsail. That’s how good Sanders sails are! Only one batten pocket end just needed sewing up. All sorted.

We’ve done a full lap of Nuku Hiva now exploring its stunning bays, beaches and mountains. Time to head to another island in the Marquesas. We are heading to either Ua-Pou (where they grow and make chocolate) and/or Fatu-Hiva, it depends on the wind direction. Next update when we next get WiFi…it might be awhile!

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To get more food we walked across the mountain, paid a local to drive us to town on the other end of the island, then back and a boat trip back to our yacht with all the groceries!

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The road trip up over the mountains was spectacular, if somewhat hair-raising, as the road zigzagged periously with sections washed away and trees all over the place.

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The driver stopped to show us ancient ruins on the way and we paused at the mountain peaks to admire the stunning views. This island has so much to see and it’s amazing to see the varied topography and vegetation.

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The climate varies so much around the island that you can get most local fruit growing all year round. We’ve managed to hit mango season in each bay so far much to the boys relief, and there is a never ending supply of bananas and pamplemousse.

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One of the fabulous things about sailing around the world are the wonderful and varied fellow sailors/ cruising yachts you meet. Amongst wonderful Spanish, French, Dutch, Swiss,American folk we have met since arriving we have just met some Brits aboard s/y Spruce who are veterans of 11 years sailing round the world.

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Sue and Andy kindly parted with wise advise and tips and I now have new baking recipes to try now too. Sue is an artist and previously an art teacher in schools and she kindly volunteered to give the boys a lesson in printing. All we needed was shaving foam, paint and paper…!

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Delighted, we welcomed her to our boat school and Felix and Hugo in their words, “had the best art lesson ever”.

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Thank you to Sue and Aunty Sarah (my sister) for the incentive, “we went to be like Aunty Sarah”.

We decided to hike to the next bay and explore the large windward beach there. What we found to our dismay was a 500m+ long white beach which was awash with waste plastic.

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You name it everything plastic was there, bottles, lids, shoes, cutlery, fuel containers, rope, lots of items with Chinese packaging, even car parts and the list goes on. We started making bonfires to get rid of it all. We worked all day, back breaking work, demoralising (the sheer volume to clear up) and bug eaten!

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Twelve bonfires later and a few hilarious coconut finds in between, the result was a stunning clean beach.

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We have done our bit today to make the world a better place. I’m now so bug eaten I will be scratching for weeks. If everyone could kindly please stop using plastic bottles tomorrow, forever, we might have a small chance of helping our oceans and planet.

We’ve now sailed over halfway round the world and seen beaches everywhere (if not cleaned by someone) covered in plastic especially the windward facing ones. It’s saddening to see and the level of micro-plastics you can see in the sand too is horrific. Time for everyone in the globe to take action (if you haven’t already ).

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As a new wave of COVID-19 lockdown hits Europe, the Polynesian islands also owned by the same nations tend to follow suit with their European masters. We anxiously awaited news of what it would mean for yachts as our intention was to cruise the Marquesas and head to the Tuamoto islands, Tahiti and onto the Society Islands. We found ourselves in a delightful anchorage surrounded by a lovely group of cruising couples and families and decided to stay put in this little part of paradise as a good place to be stuck if lockdown commences.

There are no roads or Infrastructure to the bay and there is a tiny hamlet of a local Polynesian village. No electricity or running water and certainly no WiFi or phone signal. In an hours hike along the stunning white beach and coconut backed coast and up into the next valley we can get to a small farm which sells home grown delicious local fruit and vegetables.

The villagers also grow a small amount too and will trade for items. The greenery shows the fertile land and we are able to pick and buy bananas, mangoes, watermelons, oranges, limes and the tastiest grapefruit ever.

The only way out of the bay is up over the mountain pass to the village on the other side which does have a road of sorts to it. It’s a strenuous steep uphill hike but the views are rewarding and on the other side is one restaurant and two tiny ‘shops’. If you arrived straight from the west you would not recognise these as shops as such, more a garden shed with a random assortment of a few items, mostly tins from China?! But we managed to find powdered milk, crackers and tinned butter. That has to be a first for us, tinned butter. It’s from New Zealand and apparently lasts for years (before opened). Looks like we can continue to bake then. The only slight set back is that you have to carry everything back up and down the mountain. It puts a new meaning to the word “popping to the shops”!

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Never mind, we have more tins onboard than we can poke a stick at and we can start to make a dent in our pasta and rice stores too. You soon learn how much you can live without.

Our days continue with school in the mornings and beach play/ paddle boarding and exploring in the afternoon. We are anchored off a coral reef off the beach and there are sharks, turtles and manta rays that swim around. Chloe and I had a magical snorkel with a massive manta ray and shoals of yellow fish. Hiking to the farm or village over the mountain keeps us busy too! That and avoiding the viscous sand flies and mosquitoes. Our French is improving too as we chat to the locals and the mostly French cruising yachts.

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Trying to organise children’s birthdays when you have no ability to buy anything or receive any post and you are living on a boat on a remote island in the Pacific is time for being creative. It’s also slightly terrifying as a parent used to the commercial trappings of the western world birthday merry-go-round. Luckily I had hidden away a few things from ages ago buts it’s amazing how happy the children were with only a couple of simple gifts. A book, some sweets and their first ever pen knife and they were ecstatic.

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Their requests were for a bonfire and beach bbq which we achieved in a couple of lovely anchorages.

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For Felix’s birthday on Halloween we found a gorgeous anchorage in Anaho and finally met some other family cruising boats. Time to switch languages from Spanish to French. We had a great party on the beach with fancy dress, pumpkin (aka squash carving), bbq, bonfire and cake. Knowing Felix’s fixation with fire one of the Spanish mother’s kindly did a fire juggling circus show for him as the sun went down. It was breathtaking. As we took the dinghy back to the boat afterwards Felix said, “it was the best birthday ever”. Perfect!