En Route from Marqueses to Tuamotus 29 May 2010 15.0710S 140.2412W

I think visions of the Marqueses Islands will linger long. When we left the Sea of Cortez, I remember thinking one could easily spend a year exploring it’s islands and bays; I left the Marqueses thinking it would take years to soak it all in. As we sail away, it has moved from our must-see-one-day list, to our return-again-someday list.

Over 40 days, and it all felt rushed. Compared to the crossing I’ve left so much unsaid. If you have a list of must visit places, I’d encourage adding these islands, but with the caveat that I think you may need a boat to really see it all. Or you could take a sabbatical year, pick an island, and come stay for awhile.

For the archaeologists in the crowd, every valley has a wealth of unexplored ruins, you could pick a valley and explore for years, but there’s lots of forest to fight back in getting to the sites higher in the valleys, and lots of local politics in getting there too. I believe that the archaeological finds here get automatic public access rights, which to a land owner means the potential of lots of tourists traipsing across your property, and not always with the respect one would hope for in experienced travelers to remote places. So I would not be surprised if some discoveries do not get announced broadly by the locals.

We’re getting closer to our first atoll, there are lots of tricks to getting safely through their passes. I’ll share those once we’ve safely made it through a few. For now we have lots of wind and we’re pointing a little higher than I like, into it. If we don’t arrive at a slack tide tomorrow, we’ll have to ride a sea anchor in the lee of the atoll until the following day.

After a couple weeks here in the Tuamotus, our destination is the Australes for a couple weeks before heading back up to Tahiti. We’ll only get to visit a couple of these atolls and their motus. Few cruisers visit the atolls this far east in the Tuamotus, and even fewer make it to the Australes south of here. So we’re expecting some quieter anchorages in the next month. Hopefully we’ll find a good deserted island to abandon Logan on for a day.

xoxomo