LAND HO!!!!!

Final Tally...

"Landfall at Hiva Oa", by Joan and Chuck of SV Tender Spirit

24 days 4hours 32 minutes.... 2811 miles. Phew!


"LAND HO!",
Cried Kai.
That's right... It was, Kai.
The very, same, unable to find his SOCK, in a drawer full of SOCKS, child...
who finally spotted the darker shade of darker shade, lying low on the horizon.

In the wee hours of the night.
Kai found us the land we had come so far to find.

"I think that's it" he said,
with the slyest and most understated of grins...
Cheeky bugger.

We looked at the compass...
there was no doubt.
HIVA OA
visible,
after 2800 miles of empty ocean.

'LAND HO!" he shouted to the dark and turbulent seas...
and his voice finally (actually) dropped.
Jon and I glowed with pride.

We cheered,
but the cheer was subdued by the dark and windy night.
Land was still 15 miles off...

The sea had not given us a full pass,
Not yet.
We had tossed and turned,
into a salty jelly these past few weeks...
and still needed to make landfall in an unknown anchorage.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you-
when we loaded our new electronic charts for the South Pacific...
into our  FANCY,  EXPENSIVE, USELESS, nav pod-
the one that shows us where we are and what the dangers of the new coastlines are...
It came up blank.
That's right folks...
BLANK.
Go ahead, open your ROADMAP,
on that journey you decide to take through the backroads of Missippissi...
and you get...
A totally BLANK napkin,
staring you in the face.

Ok. Add it to the list of surprises.
We weren't counting ANY chickens yet,...if you get my drift.

Jon and Kai went down to catch an hour of sleep and Hunter and I took the dawn watch.

Hiva Oa reared her Polynesian awesomeness from the Ocean and we were silenced into witness by her profound beauty.

"Oh my Goddess" said Hunter,
 as the first rays of Dawn cascaded across sheer volcanic cliffs rising, steep to, 3500 feet from the sea.

"Look..." I said,
something was following us.
In our dark and churning wake, was a short, fat,
curved, dorsal fin.
Big.
Bigger than a dolphin.
And not running with boat, but moving just aft of our starboard quarter.
It was joined by another and another, big and bigger fins...
A blunt, rounded, head broke the surface.

"False killer whales" I guessed and checked the book to be sure.

A pod.
Of whales.
Welcomed us to Hiva Oa.

Hello, Goddess.
Hello, destiny.

And then the sun came up.
And the skies cleared.

"I smell flowers!" Hunter shouted.
An island of dreams reared from the sea.

It was true.
You could smell.
Green.
Earth.
"Volcanic" said Jon.

And he looked lit up, 
like an angel.
Gabriel, with a sword of flames...
Only steering a boat and drinking coffee.
So, so handsome...
and deeply brave.

We did this.

It began to settle on us,
as the sun burst out in all its glory
and the island roared ahead,
white breakers crashing over black, sharp and broken rocks.
The stars laid down and gave us their blessings.
"Thank you" we said,
they had guided us well.

We pulled down the sails for the first time in 25 days and headed for shore.

We couldn't see the anchorage yet,
as it was, tucked behind the point...
But what's this?
Here comes a dingy...

A little, brightly painted dingy.
And a really, small, person is driving...

They wear a bright yellow life vest, as they rocket past the breakwater and into the big pacific swell to meet us...
We look,
We get the binoculars...
And then I see the tangle of white blond curls.

It is 6 year old TEDDY! from  SV. LOLO-
our friends from back in the Sea of Cortes.
They must have arrived a few days before us.

Teddy has been up since dawn to wait for us.
His parents heard our position on the SSB last night.

They see us flying our flags as we come into the anchorage...and Teddy races out to meet us.

Friends.
In Hiva Oa.

Teddy yelled and waved, gave us the thumbs up,
told us to watch out for some rocks,
asked if he could help with our stern anchor-
he's 6. Its bigger than he is.
...Boat kids.

His dad, Peter came out on deck, with gorgeous mama Rossanna and little cutey Poppy,
They blew a Conch horn for us
as we rolled into the anchorage,
all the other boats waved us a warm cheer and welcome...

We arrived.
and it was good,
glorious,
and love filled the air.

Kai and Hunter stared with wide-eyed fascination at the swaying coconut palms,
the sharp, volcanic cliffs towering over us.
"I love this more than anything," said Kai.

Roosters crowed  in Marquesan yards and the sounds of a village morning filled the air.

The anchorage was filled to the capacity with intrepid, wasted, resting, weary, grateful, travelers...

A boat that arrived just a day before us had been dismasted on the trip over.
We were not alone in thinking it was more than a challenging year on the "milk run".

As we puttered around, returning noble, trusty, Pura Vida to her non-crossing, cruising condition,
we hear smatterings and tales from fellow cruisers..
"Quite a show out there, eh?"
"We lost our...'"
"We had a hell of a time..."

A relief to know it wasn't just us.

But here we are.

We make the worlds strongest Mango screwdrivers and LOLO brings us freshly picked, pamplemousse- .
I fix up fresh banana pancakes and homemade organic spicy sausages and we listen to Taj Majal and soak it all in.

The love, the adventure,the great Ocean,
the enormity of what we all belong to.
Every single day of our lives,
even when we don't realize it.

Form the bottom of our hearts,
we thank everyone  who has joined us on this adventure.
Knowing you were with us and hearing your voices,
was being a part of something wonderful this past few weeks.
Many of you will leave us and go back to your lives and we wish you love and blessings and thank you for giving your time and thoughts and prayers,
to the ocean--and to us.

Today is both an end and a beginning for us.
One journey completed and another begins tomorrow.
We invite all Shellbacks and everyone else who wants to, to feel free to stay with us.
I probably won't blog on a daily basis (and I won't have the talented Emily helping manage the blog as I can now post when I get internet) but there will be photos and underwater photos and updates of all that we visit and the things we see as we continue to explore and learn more about our seas here in French Polynesia.

We especially appreciate the thoughts, open-hearted feelings, comments, poems and musings that you all have been adding to the blog.
We read every single word that you put out there and so do many other people.

There are too few places in the world were it's OK to participate from the heart and we feel blessed to have this small space to do it.
So by all means...
Keep on
chiming in.

Much love and gratitude and kisses and hugs from the crew of Pura Vida......
we bid you all adieu...
and we are off to......
SLEEP.

Xo,
Us.