finally - day/night #18

we had (again) a great day and night sailing and covered a lot of miles.

06:00am - the wind eased off, the last 25miles to the waypoint just north of fatu hiva are going to be a bit slow (5,5-6,5kn). we are goose winging and maloo is rolling heavily and her sails are flapping noisily, but with an anchorage not that far away, it is bearable.
the first signs of dawn on the horizon....we should see land, when there is a bit more light!

07:04am - land ho! a massive lump of rock - coming up form over 2000m of depth, the tip of it is hiding in the clouds. can't wait to get closer!

08:14am - mhmmm, apple-cranberry muffins for breakfast. - another 12.84nm to the waypoint, then another 4nm to the anchorage. hopefully the anchorage is calm. after 18 days i don't fancy a rolly night without sails up ;)

10:17am - we passed our waypoint!!!!! exactly 18days and 47min after we left in Isabela, Galapagos.
an amazing time for over 3000nm - we are very very happy and proud of our maloo, who did more than just well! generally every trip without damage is a good trip....but also that fast!?
we've been pretty happy with our boat all along, trusted her and enjoyed sailing her...but after such a sail....what's to say! she's just the best ever!!! (and again, we also thank our friends Dieter and Monika who took more than just good care of her! without their preparations and maintenance things could have been very different!)

10:34am - we have arrived in the anchorage. pretty full here - another 15 boats maybe. the landscape is just amazing!


11:45am - after 5 times trying to anchor we found our spot. the anchorage is pretty deep (around 20-35m) - good we've got 100m of chain. it rained on and off, some gusts blow through this valley here - but it is very calm.
after 18 days of just horizon and blue it is quite a change to be surrounded by those massive high mountains - see goats grassing between coconut palms, cows and horses on the beach....the air smells a bit of campfire and wet moss - very nice!

2:25pm - maloo is cleaned up - we had a wonderful swim in warm waters and saw that we have grown a little reef on the back of the boat - lots of goose barnacles. a shame that we can't sell them here - they go for way over 200€/kg in spain.
we had a lovely cuppa and while doing another round we figured that we might have a tiny damage...the d1 shroud is making a bit of a noise - no visible damage though. we will check the rig tomorrow and just to be sure reinforce with a bit of spectra rope till we know whats going on.
worst case scenario is that we will have to replace it in tahiti...so really no big deal at all.

for now, we will enjoy a nice afternoon, have a good dinner and go to bed - can't wait to sleep more than 4h through!
we are very happy with the trip, had some rough days but mostly just a wonderful time.
great sailing, good fishing and a great time together....maloo must be the real "love boat".

thanks for crossing the pacific with us! the longest sail we ever did. from now on we will have nothing more than a 6-nighter.
we will go and explore the marquesas and update in a few days time when we have internet to upload pics.

big bussi to all of you,
mark &karline and maloo

PS.: sorry for posting this a day late - after catching up with chili cat that came in 3h after us, the bed seemed to have a magnetic attaction.