As you may be aware we’re hoping to head across the Pacific starting this March. But, one thing that we’ve been asked on a number of occasions is how these exotic places all relate to one another and when we’ll get to each one.
A sailor’s plans are supposedly said to be ‘written in the sand at low tide’; this means that we are in the luxurious position of being able to say quite happily that this may all change if we fall in love with a certain spot.
Having said all that the loose scheme is as follows:
- Leave Banderas Bay, Pacific Mexico – mid March 2014
- Month at sea – 2,700 nautical miles
- Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia (Fatu Hiva, Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa etc) – approx early to mid April
- Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia (Rangiroa, Fakarava, Manihi, Toau etc)
- Society Islands, French Polynesia (Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Bora Bora etc) – approx May
- Cook Islands (Atiu, Aitutaki, Rarotonga etc)
- Niue (one of the world’s smallest self-governing states)
- The Kingdom of Tonga (Vava’u Islands, Tofua Island and Tongatapu Island etc)
- Fiji (Vanua Levu, Viti Levu, Gau, Kadavu etc) – approx August
- Opua, Bay of Islands, New Zealand North Island – approx October
Some of the places in brackets you will have heard of and others are more obscure, they won’t necessarily be stops en route, but are the main islands in each group. The actual route after French Polynesia becomes slightly more sketchy as the Cook Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga are fairly large island groups so whether or not we take a northerly, middle or southern route through them is still to be decided.
But, it’s at least a rough idea of our movements for the time being and an overview of the year to come.
