Ti Marick - Soon it’ll be Hawaii, and then California

Who: Marie, Patrick, Erwan
Where: Tuamotu
Multihull: Outremer 4X
www.followingsea.net/blog/ Ti%20Marick

Back on our Ti Marick, at last! We were anxious to get back into sailing mode, with watches, maneuvers and keeping an eye on the sky and the clouds. From France, we first took a flight to Papeete. After a few days in Tahiti, we took another flight to Arutua, an atoll close to Apataki, which only has one airplane a week. We then had to take a two and a half hour poti marara which is a typical Polynesian fishing boat. The tropical squalls got us in the mood right away. We had finally found our boat! We had to start working on the hulls before launching the boat. Unfortunately, the ten months that she had spent in the hot and humid atmosphere of the tropics had taken their toll on the two starter batteries. A DIY solution allowed us to start our two engines, and we had just enough time to anchor in the lagoon before dark, as we needed to avoid the outcrops of coral. We had to order batteries in Tahiti and have them delivered, which took four days. Once the batteries were in place we left for Papeete. Because of the lack of wind, we had to motor the 200 miles. After dinner in a restaurant in the Taïna marina in Papeete, we carried out a big supply operation on board. A new adventure is taking shape, after these long and uncertain months. For us, it has been a long and unexpected break, with all the pleasure of getting back to life as landlubbers in the Vendée region in Western France. Our goal now is to head for Hawaii, and then California. Later we plan to head to Panama and the West Indies.