The Whirlwind of 2024 ~ Cyclone Threats, Travel Interruptions, Passages, Projects and Sailing to New Countries.

In this post, I am stepping back to the beginning of 2024 so I have a record of all that has transpired. Ultimately this blog is an opportunity for us to record our travels, so read on if you are interested.

Well, so far 2024 has been a whirlwind! On January 8th we sailed from the Marquesas back to the Tuamotus. Frank and I spent a delightful few weeks in the Tuos once again enjoying the clear water and abundant marine life.  During this time we arranged for Amelia to take care of TTR in February while we traveled back to the States for the usual round of doctor, family and friend visits.

The plan (do you hear laughter when I write “plan?”)  was to leave Ticket to Ride in Apataki where Amelia and Thiago were working on s/v Good Run which was being removed from the water and placed in a boatyard for some work. We thought this arrangement could be positive for all involved; Amelia and Thiago would have a comfortable place to live while working on Good Run and TTR would be in good hands while we were away.  To that end, Frank and I sailed Ticket to Apataki, arriving February 3rd.  We had flights scheduled to take us to Papeete, then we were flying out of Papeete on February 8th to the U.S.

2024 being an El Niño year, a few circulating weather systems developed and Cyclone Nat appeared to be headed our direction; so, the four of us decided that TTR would be safer and happier in the Marquesas while we were away.  We arrived in Apataki on February 3rd and on February 5th, the four of us upped anchor and pointed TTR toward the Marquesas once again.  Amelia and Thiago were willing to have a “caretaker vacation” aboard Ticket to Ride and Frank and I would try to salvage our trip to the U.S.

We quickly canceled our flight to Papeete and took off for Nuku Hiva on what was probably the messiest passage we have experienced in our nine years of sailing. The passage was poor through no fault of our own or TTR’s.  The weather spoke (read threatened) and we listened; which meant we took off in non-favorable conditions, and sailed upwind for three days, arriving in Nuku Hiva on February 8th…exactly one month after we had left.

The sail from Apataki to Nuku Hiva is approximately 544 nm or 630 miles. On this sail, our true wind angle was never deeper than 55° and the true wind speed was consistently 16-20knots with seas between 2 and 3 meters. For the record, these are not horrible conditions and TTR is very capable of handling these conditions and more. However, this is one of those passages where we did not have the luxury of choosing our weather window and we had to leave immediately before conditions worsened.  On the positive side, we had four capable sailors on board, so we had plenty of rest between watches and we arrived quickly; covering 630 upwind miles in three days.

After a noisy, quick passage, luck turned our way and we were able to salvage our travel plans. Originally we would have arrived in the States on Friday and our next flight was scheduled for Monday. However, we were able to get seats on the plane from Nuku Hiva to Papeete and reschedule our flight out of Papeete to arrive in the U.S. on Sunday night instead of Friday night.  Our initial schedule would be compressed, but we would still be able to maintain our U.S. itinerary – which was a huge blessing since we had already arranged several flights and a myriad of doctor appointments.

We landed in L.A. and immediately caught our next flight bound for Sioux Falls, SD where we had to renew our drivers licenses. Since my DL was expired, I was required to take a written test,  while Frank just had to prove his residency.  In South Dakota, you can obtain residency by staying in a hotel for one night, which we obviously did, thereby solidifying our residency once more.

I had a 7:30 am test scheduled at the DMV followed by a noon flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth. I had one chance to pass my drivers license test because you cannot repeat the test on the same day. Needless to say, I was determined to get my license and not rely on Frank to be my chauffeur!

I stayed awake studying most of Sunday night after we landed, though I wondered if studying after more than 24 hours of travel and very little sleep would be very productive. 

Thank the good Lord, I passed my written test and we both received our new licenses right there at the DMV. It is very nice to go to a DMV that is not super crowded and gives you your DL right away.

Once we landed in Dallas, the whirlwind continued with visits to doctors and friends. It was pretty crazy, but we had fun with the few friends we were able to see and thankfully, we had good reports from doctors this year.

Next up was a visit to Baton Rouge to see Frank’s sister, Emily. Then on to Mississippi to see Frank’s mom. Both Frank’s brother and sister kindly scheduled a visit to their Mom while we were there so we were able to see them while in Mississippi.

After Mississippi we headed to Northwest Arkansas. After nearly 10 years of having only a floating home, Frank and I are beginning to search for a place we might want to live part-time.

We are NOT giving up TTR, but we are thinking about having a land base where we can begin to establish some land community. One never knows what health issues or desires might require a residence, so we are beginning our search.

We spent a few weeks in Arkansas taking advantage of the biking trails, which are world class, and getting a feel for the area. We were very favorably impressed!

Last year during our travels, we visited a few other areas we would consider living part time: current considerations include North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas and Colorado. 

Ironically, I learned that a dear sailing friend, Laura of s/v Zephyr, would be in Brevard, NC during the time Frank and I were driving through on our way to visit Hunter. So, we met for breakfast and made plans to meet again in Nuku Hiva as her husband, Chris, and their boat would arrive in the Marquesas by the time we returned to Ticket to Ride! The world is crazy small sometimes!

We had an awesome visit with Hunter in North Carolina and a productive one. Hunter is a busy guy with quite the list of projects going on, so Frank asked if he could take on the organization of Hunter’s garage. After a resounding yes, Frank went to work planning and having supplies delivered in advance of our arrival. The before and after shots are a testament to Frank’s organizational and handyman skills. In about a week he transformed the garage.

AND, we had an “oops” moment when a couple of rotted boards on the ramp to the garage broke. So in true “Stich Fashion” the necessary lumber was delivered the next morning and by the end of the day the three of us had removed the original ramp, built the new one and taken the old lumber to the local dump.

But it wasn’t all work. We managed to have plenty of fun including playing a bit of tennis. Wow, it has been years since I have played tennis. Although the racket felt a bit foreign in my hand at first, things improved and Hunter and I had a great time rallying and just spending time together. I did realize that I really need to incorporate some strength training into my workouts on TTR.

Next we packed up a load of boat supplies, including 8 replacement solar panels and StarLink then prepared for our next flight. This one took us all the way across the country to Alaska where our youngest, Clayton, is living.

We waited until the end of our trip to visit Clayton and Biz, hoping it might be a little warmer in Juneau toward the end of our trip. Well, it was warmer, but it was still cold to these two tropical travelers! We had a great time hanging out and hiking with Clayton, Biz and Gidget. 

We even had a chance to experience a local music festival that had a very wide variety of performances. Some of the lyrics assured us that satire is alive and well in Alaska!

Then it was time to say goodbye and prepare for our 38 hours of travel back to TTR. We flew from Juneau all the way to Nuku Hiva, taking four different airplanes. It was a long trip!

We landed in Nuku Hiva around 2 pm on Thursday, April 11th. Amelia picked us up at the airport and as usual, she had taken awesome care of our floating home. Sadly, Amelia had injured her hand while spear fishing and she needed to seek medical care since it was not healing properly. 

Thankfully Amelia was able to get flights back to Hawaii on Saturday and set up an appointment with a hand specialist.  As of this writing, Amelia has undergone surgery and her hand is healing well.

2024 continued to move at a rapid pace because our two year stay in French Polynesia was quickly coming to an end and we needed to prepare TTR for passaging. So on Monday, four days after our return, we upped anchor and set sail for Tahiti. Theoretically we could stay in French Polynesia more than two years, but the boat must be imported after two years and we want to continue to explore countries west of French Polynesia.

The sail from Nuku Hiva to Tahiti was much, much nicer than our dash back to the Marquesas. Sadly we had to motor sail for about 36 hours of our trip, but we arrived safely, so all is well.

Once back in Tahiti, we dropped anchor by the airport and began full departure planning mode. We had four weeks to prepare ourselves and Ticket to Ride to sail west, but we were watching for a good weather window and we wanted to be ready.

As always, our return suitcases were filled with project necessities and we used our time in Papeete to accomplish many tasks. In just two weeks we managed to clear off the “necessary” items on our list. 

~removed 8 old solar panels and 

~installed 8 new solar panels 

~replaced an engine starter battery that suddenly quit

~fixed the VHF/AIS which have been giving us issues for quite a while

~completed maintenance items: checked EPRB, tested bilge pumps, engine oil changes, refilled diesel and gas tanks, etc

~cleaned the bottom of TTR to insure smooth, quick sailing

~major provision runs to resupply our canned goods and long term food storage

~install StarLink

Frank and I brought StarLink back from the U.S. with us this trip. In the last two years we have watched StarLink become the standard communication method on most boats. In May 2022, when we arrived in French Polynesia, we did not know anyone using StarLink on a boat. By May 2023, several boats arriving in French Polynesia had StarLink and reported good results. By January 2024, we were the dinosaurs of boating – one of the few boats who were not using StarLink technology.

Frank set up StarLink and we used it for a couple of weeks before finalizing the installation. I admit, it is very convenient to have connectivity as we travel across the ocean. It is fabulous to be able to download large weather gribs in just minutes rather than waiting 20 minutes for a smaller grib on IridiumGo. 

It is so easy to arrive at a port and have connection – no need to get to town, find an internet location and buy a local SIM card. 

We love the convenience of StarLink, but we are trying to remain present and not allow constant internet availability to prevent us from living in the moment.

Between projects, we did manage to visit with friends and toss in a tiny bit of swimming and even one scuba dive with our friend Léo. While Tahiti has much to offer, in our minds, it is associated with availability of goods and a place to complete projects.

Finally, we worked on our departure paperwork for leaving French Polynesia. During our two years here, some changes have been made to the check in and out process so we had to make sure our paperwork was in order and updated.

We also wanted to take advantage of duty free alcohol purchases before we left. In FP, we can buy duty free alcohol within 24 hours of leaving as long as we promise not to consume it before leaving French Polynesian waters.  Alcohol in FP is expensive and duty free alcohol saves a lot of money. For example, one bottle of gin normally cost us $50 and that same bottle was $10 when purchased duty free.

I do not know how it is possible to have such a big difference in cost but we wanted to take advantage of the duty free option. We prepared our purchase list with Kim Fa and once we knew our departure date, we scheduled a delivery to the dinghy dock.

All together we spent almost exactly two years in French Polynesia and visited the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, the Society Islands and the Gambiers. We had an amazing time and are so thankful for the myriad of experiences we had exploring land, meeting lovely people and encountering fabulous beauty under water.

As I said at the beginning, 2024 has been a whirlwind. As I write this, it is June 6th and we have traveled from French Polynesia to the Island of Niue, to the southern part of Tonga and to the middle of Tonga. I am happy to report that it does feel like we have slowed down a bit since leaving FP.

The chart above show our miles on board TTR since December 2023, which is quite a few considering we were gone for eight weeks in March and April.

The chart below shows more detail of our travels in French Polynesia between December 2023 and May 2024.

For those interested, here is a rough estimate of the miles for each trip:

• 1 = Makemo to Amanu: 193nm
• 2 = Amanu to Tahuata: 487nm
• 3 = Tahuata to Nuku Hiva: 92nm
• 4 = Nuku Hiva to Amanu: 529nm
• 5 = Amanu to Tahanea: 219nm
• 6 = Amanu to Apataki: 137nm
• 7 = Apataki to Nuku Hiva: 512nm
• 8 = Nuku Hiva to Tahiti: 719nm
• 9 = Tahiti to Moorea: 54nm
• 10 = Moorea to Huahine: 66nm
• 11 = Huanine to Niue: 1110nm
• 12 = Niue to Tongatapu: 296nm
• 13 = Tongatapu to Haapai: 76nm

The chart above is a little more detail about our route from Tahiti to The Kingdom of Tonga with a stop at the Island of Niue.

So yeah, 2024 has been a little busy. But FUN too.

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