A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 1/12/2025 – 1/19/2025

Hello and Happy Sunday! Did you see our latest YouTube video? Crew & VIP members can watch it ad-free here. 

Last Sunday, we cleaned, polished the stainless steel, and baked a fresh batch of sourdough bagels. I haven’t seen cream cheese in a while, but surprisingly they have those spreadable Laughing Cow triangles here, which are the next best thing!

After snapping our splicing tool in half last week, leaving us unable to repair the furling line for our headsails, we were eager to visit the local chandlery Monday morning in search of a new one. We took the dinghy to shore bright and early to complete the errand before it got too hot. Unfortunately, they did not have what we needed. We began the walk back to the dinghy dock, stopping by the tourism office to arrange a rental car. We figured we could explore the island and check out a few other stores that might have what we need with a vehicle!

We spent Tuesday relaxing at home, researching sightseeing spots and hardware store locations. That afternoon, we had a video call with one of our VIP members who was having some generator issues on their boat. Thankfully, it was an easy fix! Sometimes, you just need another set of eyes on things… 

We caught the tail end of the fish market Wednesday morning when we went to shore to pick up our rental car. We watched as they cleaned their catch and fed the scraps to the sharks. 

We grabbed a map and climbed into our pickup truck. Good news: Ray remembers how to drive! It’s been a long time since either of us has been behind the wheel. My license expired over a year ago! There’s only one road on the island, so we picked a direction and headed out. Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands, with a steep, rocky coastline. 

The population is around 3,000 and is predominantly Polynesian, with a small percentage of Europeans (mainly from Metropolitan France). Although the island is not a popular tourist destination compared to Tahiti and Bora Bora, it is well-suited for cruisers, with plenty of bays, shore access, and an impressive produce market. They also filmed season 4 of Survivor here!

We stopped at an ATM, drove through the small villages, scoped out the other anchorages, and walked along a few beaches before making it to the hardware store. It was larger than we expected, and we scored some parchment paper (a rare find!) and a razor blade but no splicing tool. We reached out to the local “fix-it guy,” who agreed to try splicing our line using his tools, and he picked up the line later that day. Ray used the razor blade to clean up the teak repair we did a couple of weeks ago.  

We spent Friday on the boat, finishing up our latest YouTube video and chatting about our route for next cruising season. Cyclone season ends in late April/early May, and we plan to slowly make our way to New Zealand, stopping in the Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu… Let us know if you have any recommendations! We heard back about the furling line- he couldn’t splice it either, so we’ll be looking for a new one when the shops open back up on Monday. 

The wind has begun to pick up here, but the sunshine and blue skies have held strong. We’ve kept our bow and cockpit sun shades up to help mitigate the afternoon heat, but the steady breeze on the boat has made it quite comfortable. We won’t mind staying a while longer… 

I hope you had a great week. ❤️