A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 9/01/2024 – 9/08/2024

Hello and happy Sunday! We’re getting back into the groove of cruising after a short break to address some health issues and source supplies for Sabado. Our latest video is a Patreon exclusive, you can watch it here. 🙂 

Last Sunday, we spent time cleaning the boat, inside and out. We’ve let some of our regular chores slip through the cracks recently, and it felt good to catch back up. Our guest cabin was still in disarray from our Pacific crossing, with canned corn and spare parts on the bed. We haven’t had guests since we went through the Panama Canal! I converted it back to hosting mode, anticipating our friends Nick and Megan’s arrival. Unfortunately, it has been so wet here that we haven’t done laundry in a while for fear it will never dry, so their cabin got some mix-and-matched pillowcases/towels- whatever we had left that was clean. We moved to a more convenient anchorage to pick them up the following morning. 

The four of us spent the day chatting in the cockpit while the wind howled. Nick and Megan are currently in the market for their next ride, so they filled us in on the latest developments of their boat-buying journey, and we reminisced on the last time we were all together, this time last year in Grenada! Man, we have sailed many, many miles since then! 

Tuesday morning, we took a group trip to the grocery store to load up on produce and snacks before pulling our anchor and moving to a quiet anchorage just 5 miles away. We took the dinghy to the nearby reef and snorkeled until we were all shivering. The water temperature here doesn’t feel too cold initially, but if you stay in long enough, you will get goosebumps! 

We headed home for hot showers, a steak dinner, and an incredible sunset. 

By Thursday, we were ready for a change of scenery. Once everyone had their fill of coffee, we set sail for Moorea. Conditions started out calm and glossy. Ray pulled the main up by hand at anchor, putting in a preemptive reef. We exited the pass and worked our way around Tahiti. The wind began to pick up an hour in, so we hoisted the gennaker and shut off our engine. With a reef in the main and 11kn of wind, our SOG was 7-7.5kn! 

The sea state began to build, rolling us from side to side. We adjusted course to put the waves behind us, keeping the trip as comfortable as possible. We swapped out the gennaker for the jib as the wind began to creep up, gusting toward 20kn. With the headsail switch, our SOG was still over 7kn. 

As we came out of the shadow of the island, everything escalated. The sky grew darker, the wind shifted onto our nose, and the boat slammed into every wave. It wasn’t ideal, but we weren’t unsafe. Everyone held on as we dropped the sails and motored the last hour into Moorea. 

There were only three boats in the anchorage when we arrived, and we were able to settle in a great spot. We still had substantial winds, but Megan and I jumped in to check the anchor anyway. The water was crystal clear! Our anchor was buried in sand, so I gave a thumbs up to Ray, who was standing on the bow, keeping an eye on us. The water was choppy at the surface but calm below thanks to the protection from the reef ahead of Sabado. We took a moment to swim with an eagle ray we had spotted nearby before climbing back aboard. By Friday morning, the wind had died, and Megan and I took advantage of the calm conditions and went for a nice, long snorkel. The reef was teeming with life! We saw lots of white-spotted pufferfish, whitetail dascyllus, and blue-green chromis! 

We had noticed a local freediver towing a board with a large box attached. As we swam closer to see what he was up to, we noticed more and more sharks circling… it became obvious that he was catching and killing something (clams, perhaps?), attracting the sharks. We decided that was enough information for us and promptly redirected our swim to the other end of the reef.

We took the dinghy to shore for lunch that afternoon, filling up on pizza and burgers. This was the third restaurant we’ve been to since arriving in French Polynesia, and it was the best so far! By the time we were headed back to Sabado, the wind had returned. It was a wet and bumpy dinghy ride home. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing board games inside. 

Saturday morning was serene. The water was flat, and there wasn’t a breath of wind. We spent the morning basking in the sun in the bean bag chairs on the bow. The wind began to pick up after breakfast, and I jumped in the water to clean the hulls before it got worse. I scrubbed away, periodically checking on the curious sharks. It was all soft growth just along the waterline, and it was an excellent workout treading water while scrubbing in the wind/current! 

We ran the generator and filled our water tanks as the clouds rolled in. The wind continued for the rest of the day, but we haven’t gotten any rain since we arrived! 

As I post this, I’m curled up with a blanket and my coffee opposite Megan in the cockpit. Nick and Ray are in the saloon chatting. We have no plans for the day- just how I like it! What are you up to? ❤️