We are now into week two of our lovely visit to Maupihaʻa. This stunning atoll has been a great spot for natural beauty as well as protection from some nasty lows that have moved through the area. As we shared last week, our anchorage is on the uninhabited end of the atoll. There are a few structures, but all abandoned with the only resident being Meela, the dog. Our days have been quite nice. We have a nice routine of doing a HIIT workout on the beach followed by a walk to the out edge of the atoll, usually accompanied by Meela. We then return to the boat for coffee, breakfast, boat chores, and laundry. If the sun is out, we then go snorkeling. We found a sizable reef close to shore and a large bommie out by our boat that we have enjoyed visiting. We have seen quite a variety of fish and types of coral. The highlights from the week were definitely spotting a moray eel and some beautiful varieties of angelfish. And I got quite a surprise when a quite large white tip reef shark swam right by me, definitely the largest (and scariest) shark I have seen yet. Or maybe that was because we had just watched Jaws a few days ago to celebrate the 50th anniversary!! Maybe not the best boat movie to watch 😂 We had two days where we had the anchorage totally to ourselves which was the first time that has happened since we started our sailing adventure. But it filled back up again on Wednesday and we are now up to ten boats anchored in the south with us. Currently, the weather is looking like we will have a window to depart from here on Wednesday. We are hoping to head to Niue but the weather will dictate if that is possible or if we instead need to go to Tonga or American Samoa. Niue is basically an open roadstead anchorage – there is not a harbor for sailing vessels, instead there are 15 mooring balls in the open sea available for use as long as the sea state and weather conditions are calm. If things get rough, vessels must vacate the mooring balls and head out to sea. So if we visit there, we want to ensure we have a good weather window and don’t get caught in a situation where we would need to vacate in poor conditions. From our current location, it will take approximately seven days to get to Niue but our weather forecasts in the South Pacific change frequently so it makes it difficult to plan more than a few days ahead. So all that to say, we will likely head for Niue but may have to bypass it and continue to Tonga if weather conditions are unstable.

One of the things we are quickly learning as we head further west in the South Pacific is that the complexity and level of danger has definitely increased the further we have traveled. It is not all sunshine and snorkeling! Part of this is due to the complex weather patterns including strong fronts due to the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ). The other challenges include the number of small islands and reefs combined with chart accuracy being variable in the region. While some areas may be surveyed to high standards with accuracy within a few meters, other regions may have much lower accuracy, potentially off by hundreds of meters which can be catastrophic if you hit a reef. Satellite imagery is definitely an important part of our toolkit, but even with that we have heard of some challenges. We are part of a number of cruising forums and groups. The longer we have sailed, the more boats and crews we have become familiar with either by meeting in person or via social media connections. Sadly, we have seen a surprising number of boats and crews recently that have had major incidents including becoming dismasted, losing their rudder or steering , having a medical emergency onboard, or hitting a reef or other unknown objects that resulted in needing to abandon their vessel. Fortunately, all were safely rescued but it definitely has been eye opening and made us very conscientious about checking all of our safety gear. So we will wait patiently (for the most part) for a good weather window before continuing.

This week also brought difficult news out of Texas. We were so saddened to follow all of the news about the flooding in the Hill Country and the lives lost. We have visited those areas, our kids attended Camp Capers along the Guadalupe, and we have friends whose loved ones have been impacted directly by this tragedy. Our hearts go out to all the children, families, and first responders during this incredibly difficult time. We watched a video on Facebook a little while ago showing our old neighborhood and the creek behind our old house flooding. We pray that all of our Texas friends and family stay safe. 💛

Prayers for all impacted by the flooding.
Stormy weather holding us here.
Do you see the moray eel?