A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 10/20/2024 – 10/27/2024

Hi, guys! Did you see our most recent video? 

We spent all week preparing for our last-minute passage to New Zealand before cyclone season begins in the South Pacific. I thoroughly cleaned the bottom of the boat and took photos to comply with New Zealand’s biofouling regulations while Ray secured us a spot on the haul-out facility’s schedule a year earlier than we had planned. Everything was coming together. We topped off our fuel and food supply, caught up on laundry, meal prepped, and secured all our belongings for what we anticipated would be a rough sail. We stopped by the gendarmerie and were officially stamped out of the country, only for the forecast to change mere hours later. Our weather window had disappeared, and there was not another in sight. 

This was a tough pill for us to swallow. We could wait and still make it to Tonga in time, but the weather windows for a trip from Tonga to New Zealand are few and far between, and we don’t want to get stuck sailing uninsured during cyclone season. The reality is that we waited too long to decide we wanted to leave French Polynesia this year. So, we’ll be staying until April. 

To be honest, we spent the rest of the day pouting. The sun was hidden behind a thick layer of gray clouds, and the wind was howling. In our never-ending quest to stay positive, I’m not sure how our time here has been perceived online, but it has been hard for us. We were looking forward to getting to New Zealand. Thankfully, we have each other, our health, and our beautiful floating home. Our new mission is to find a sweet spot in the Marquesas/Tuamotus to camp out for cyclone season. If you have any anchorage recommendations, we’re all ears! We dug out our foul weather gear and strapped on our PFDs for a spirited dinghy ride to town to check back into the country. 

The officials were far less kind than before and, frankly, unhelpful. We sat on wooden benches, soggy and confused, calling random numbers in Papeete in an attempt to fulfill their vague commands. They must have eventually taken pity on us because suddenly everything was fine, and they stamped our passports and shooed us out the door. 

We stopped by a nearby wine shop before enduring the long, wet ride home. We spent the rest of the day sipping pinot noir in the saloon and doing computer work. 

We are implementing some significant changes to our website. The transition has been rocky, and we apologize for the recent inconsistencies. Thank you for sticking with us while we work this out! It will be so cool once we’re finished! We published our latest YouTube video, which felt silly knowing what we know now, and watched the rain pour. We’ll stay here until the weather improves enough to start working our way Northeast. 

I hope you had a great week. ❤️