Secluded Waterfall Hike!
We had the opportunity to hike with several boats in our anchorage up to a waterfall. We didn’t realize we would be able to swim in the water so we didn’t wear our suits. That didn’t stop this crew. We jumped right in and took advantage of the refreshing, cool water of this secluded, hidden gem. We saw fresh water eels and shrimp swimming also. Then we continued the hike up to Manfred, the chocolate maker’s, house. He let us sample his chocolate and then select from about 12 varietals to purchase. 😋 Then he encouraged us to pick from the fruit in his yard. We loaded up on star fruit, passion fruit, lime, and pamplemousse. What a treat!!! We continued to forage from the trees along the path as we made our way back down to the boats. We learned so many tips and tricks from the kids from other boats since it has become such a way of life for them over the years. #boatlife #sailinglifewarriors #marquesas #frenchpolynesia
First there was one... and than another... and by the end of the day, there were 32 children (1.5% of the islands 2100 people) from the island of Ua Pou, Marquesas. It's days like this we've dreamed about when thinking about sailing. Interacting with the local community and sharing the love. It was such a great day seeing them have so much impromptu fun on the boat. They were such sweet, polite kids, just having fun the way kids should. Watch until the end! And thanks to Sailing Paradise Falls and SVChinook (Carl D'Amato and 8Minutes2Live) for taking part in the fun! #sailinglife #uapou #marquesas #sailinglifestyle #sailinglifewarriors
We had the amazing opportunity to go to a traditional feast at someone's home on the island of Tahuata. They cooked wild pig 🐖 and wild goat 🐐 in a pit overnight. As well as fresh fish 🐟 and octopus 🐙. The food was incredible as was the music by some of the host's family capped off a perfect experience!#marquesasislands #tahuata #frenchpolynesia #sailinglife #sailinglifewarriors
Although we arrived in the Marquesas on Saturday, we got off the boat for the first time today. We wondered how it would feel to put shoes on after not wearing them for a month AND if we would have sea legs. Thankfully we didn’t have any issues which was great cuz it was a 2 mile walk to check into customs/immigration. We paused for a moment when we saw this lovely bay. We could hear two people playing in the waves below and we were drawn to it. I’m sure it’s just one of many beautiful spots to come. #sailinglifewarriors #boatlife #frenchpolynesia #marquesas #uphillbothways
Thought you'd be interested in seeing our first anchorage in the Marquesas Islands. Reminds us of the TV show LOST (except for all the boats ⛵️). The last two days have been filled with boat projects. Changing oil and filters in both engines and generator; bottom cleaning; etc. Tomorrow we go to the big city though... #tahuata #marquesas #sailinglife #sailinglifewarriors
Anchor Down! The Warriors have arrived!! Now to catch some zzz’s before exploring. We’ll post more tonight with final trip deets. Thanks for following the journey. #sailinglifewarriors #boatlife #werefinallyhere #whatanadventure
GALAPAGOS TO MARQUESAS DAY 19 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024) - 9pm 9°14.045’S 134°3.500’W; 300nm to go This crew is thankful for Cap’n DaveO today. He has discovered some issues over the past few days that could have been potential hazards for us. One of them was a line that was coming loose and was hours away from coming completely off (and possibly ripping our pulpit seat off) as well as cause our sail to collapse into the water (which is a nightmare even in the day). Of course it would have happened at night on my watch. 🤪 Today it was our anchor chain that had a few links that appeared compromised. He cut them out so we won’t have any issues when we arrive in the Marquesas which may be after dark. Oddity of the day - Off to our starboard side is a glow on the horizon similar to a large city that you would see in the distance at night. We thought maybe large fishing boats, but none show up on our AIS (long distance). Hawaii maybe??? But that’s 2000 miles away. Your guess is as good as ours. Animals spotted - Once again, only birds. I only have a couple more days to see whales. I remain hopeful we can spot some before we arrive. General mood/outlook on board - High seas = high spirits for this crew. #pacificcrossing #sailinglifewarriors #boatlife #theendisinsight
GALAPAGOS TO MARQUESAS DAY 15 (Saturday, April 27, 2024) - 10pm 07°52.201’S 123°51.460’W; 914 to go (triple digits, baby)!!!! Fun facts - (1) We are 2/3 of the way to our destination (2) We set our clocks back another hour today. We will have one more time change (1.5 hour) before we arrive in the Marquesas. Animals spotted - we included this category at the beginning of the journey because we had such high hopes for all of the wildlife we “knew” we’d see along the way. What is going on? Why are we not seeing anything? We can’t take this category off the update, though. It would be like admitting defeat. 🤣 *** It was hilarious when Landon came up to tell us what she found in her shower. I guess this lil guy jumped on board so we’d have an animal to report. 😂 He did it just in time for the daily report. General mood/outlook onboard - super psyched to be 1 week away from land. #pacificcrossing #sailinglifewarriors #boatlife #theendisinsight
GALAPAGOS TO MARQUESAS DAY 13 (Thursday, April 25, 2024) - 10pm 07°25.195’S 118°36.870’W; 1227 to go I suppose just as you have banner days, there will be the mundane as well. We didn’t achieve any records, reach any goals, or have any significant break throughs today. We’re pressing on towards our goal but it kinda feels anti-climatic after our day yesterday. Much like land life, we tackled school, work, and chores. Fun fact - Magellan & his crew were the first to cross the Pacific. They called it the Pacifico which means “peaceful” because after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, they found these waters to be calm. We can’t compare it to Cape Horn but we wouldn’t classify it as peaceful (just look at the video). Animals spotted - quiet day for ocean life (even fish and birds). I keep thinking of all of the life underneath of us in the depths of the ocean (some that have yet to be discovered) and it thrilling and exciting. I just wish something would jump up in front of us or swim alongside of us. We even turned on the underwater lights in hopes of attracting some wildlife, but it didn’t produce any results. General mood/outlook onboard - everyone is feeling great. Landon actually finished a round of antibiotics today. She had a pretty serious kidney infection 4 days into the passage. 😞 She had been complaining of a back ache which isn’t unusual with all the movement on the boat. Heck we’re all sore at times. However when she developed a fever, more symptoms set in, and she grew more miserable we knew it was something more. This is why we have to carry extra meds with us. You can’t mess around with these things when you’re out here this far and for so long. We didn’t mention it before because her grandmothers follow us and we didn’t want to alarm them. 🤪 The statue of limitations is up so we felt safe to bring it up. 🤣 #pacificcrossing #sailinglifewarriors #boatlife
GALAPAGOS TO MARQUESAS DAY 9 (Sunday, April 21, 2024) - 10pm 06°7.000’S 107°29.730’W1898nm to go; *** Sorry for the delayed update but our internet was down for the last 20 hrs. Watch for two updates today! Think of it as getting an extra scoop of ice cream! 🍨Today was a productive day on Warrior. The seas were calm so we were able to make 2 hot meals, bake, clean, fill gas tanks with remaining Gerry cans, make water, practice guitar 🎸, and the captain gave himself a haircut 💇♂️; We are hoping to catch the meteor shower which should be around 3:30am our time. Animals spotted - 1 red footed booby 🐦 who has joined us for the night. He’s made quite the mess on the solar panels but that should be an easy clean up in the morning; General mood/outlook onboard - the crew is feeling very accomplished today! #pacificcrossing #boatlife #sailinglifewarriors #whatwouldwedowithoutstarlink
GALAPAGOS TO MARQUESAS DAY 8 (Saturday, April 19, 2024) - 8pm; 5°42.645’S 104°55.741’W; 2125nm to go; Today was a slow day meandering at 5-6 knots BUT we saw another boat for the first time since we left Galapagos. It’s funny how excited you get after not seeing another soul out here for a week (even if they were 5 miles away). 😂 We decided to shake things up musically on Warrior. Typically this crew likes to listen to Kenny Chesney radio or 80’s (or some type of random playlist) but I was trying to draw out the whales that I keep hearing other boats are seeing. It was classical all day, baby! What you hear is actually what we were playing through the speakers. I thought for sure they would surround the boat and hang with us for awhile but sadly no. Word on the street is they like Rhianna. Maybe that’ll be our next play. Animals spotted - It’s sad when the only animals we saw were a squid and a flying fish (both dead) on the deck. We were able to save one fish that jumped up right in front of us but the others must’ve jumped in the night. It happens daily. 😞 General mood/outlook onboard - everyone is happy, healthy, and excited to start week 2 of the journey. #pacificcrossing #sailinglifewarriors #boatlife
GALAPAGOS TO MARQUESAS DAY 7 (Friday, April 19, 2024) - 10pm; 5°53.085’S 102°52.586’W; 2264nm to go; We have been flying the parasailor all day and have decided to leave it up all night. It can be difficult to douse so we’ve previously made the decision to take it down before dark but it appears we’ve have ideal conditions all night to leave it up. We feel like we are getting the hang of it and know our roles when working with it. It took a few times of playing around with it to get it dialed in. Fun fact - today marks the longest we’ve ever been on a passage. 6 days is our longest to date so it’s a big milestone for us…only 15ish to go! Animals spotted - I get so used to seeing birds and flying fish that I forget to mention them each day. It’s actually quite impressive that these birds are so far from land. I used to worry about them when I’d see them 6 days into a passage but now it’s so commonplace I don’t give it a second thought. The flying fish are easy to spot jumping out of the water all day. They’re small in size and a beautiful blue color. General mood/outlook onboard - everyone is feeling strong and looking forward to more of these ideal sailing days. They’re the best!
GALAPAGOS TO MARQUESAS DAY 6 (Thursday, April 18, 2024) - 9:30pm; 5°48.911’S 100°24. 739’W; 2410 nm to go; Sailed all day!!! Now our issue is low batteries due to lack of sun. We’ve tried to avoid using the generator in order to conserve fuel but it was necessary in the wee hours of the morning as our batteries dipped to 20%. The sun made a brief appearance today but we’re still only at 35%. Our autopilot is working super hard to counteract the consistent 12-15 ft waves hitting on our beam (side) so we’ve turned off all non-critical things (including Starlink) in order to further conserve. What a treat to sail for 24 hours straight…finally!!! Animals spotted - where is the wildlife?!?! General mood/outlook onboard - holding steady!
GALAPAGOS TO MARQUESASDAY 3 (Monday, April 15, 2024) - 9:00pm; 4°03.043’S 95°03.435’W; 2705nm to go; 11am - finally able to raise parasailor (whoop whoop) for 5 hours. Motored late afternoon/early evening. 6pm - began sailing with main & genoa (hopefully can continue through the night); Animals spotted - one giant pod of dolphin from a distance; General mood/outlook onboard - playful (At lunch we took a small break to watch a downloaded show. All of a sudden I look up from my plate and see these two playing a game of throwing individually wrapped cheese slices at each other trying to get them to stick to their skin. I might’ve expected this on day 18 when boredom has set in, but day 3?!?! It’s gonna be a long passage. 🤣 Landon had square shaped marks on her skin where the cheese made perfect contact. I think D clearly was the clear winner of this game). #sailinglifewarriors #boatlife #pacificcrossing #myboatmatesarechildren
It has been our experience (in our short lived relationship with sea lions) that they are friendly, rather lazy, and uninterested in the humans around them. This was our only encounter that was typical of what you often times hear about them. We came home from dinner to find this guy had breeched our defenses and was lounging on our trampoline using one of the bean bag chairs as a pillow. We let him stay until it was time to go to bed and then decided he should go home. We’ve heard stories of people waking up to quite the mess after a full night of them wandering the boat. It’s not even that they poop everywhere (and they do). It’s the oil on their skin that won’t come off of surfaces. He was quite comfy and did not feel compelled to leave Chateau Warrior. He was unfazed by D’s whistle (which makes ME want to run the other direction). 🤣 When he seemingly became aggressive, D pulled himself up to the 2nd level and I ran down. We finally enticed him to leave with a cushion. We have laughed so hard over our interaction with our wannabe hitchhiker. I would’ve taken him with us in a heartbeat (mess or no mess). 😉 El Capitan did not share that feeling. #galapagos #sealion #sailinglifewarriors #boatlife #pleasemomcanikeephim
We went scuba diving today at a classic Galapagos site called Gordon Rocks. Visibility wasn’t great and it was cold at 68° F (20° C), but we saw tons of sea lions, black and white tip sharks, a few hammerhead sharks (who were shy to the camera), and a turtle. Unfortunately it was our one and only dive here in Galápagos. We now shift to prepping mode for our departure to French Polynesia end of this week. #gordonrocksgalapagos
Getting ready to go into the Pacific means checking your rig. We start at the top of the mast and check the lines for chafe, make sure all gear is running smoothly, no cracks or major rust. The last thing you want is a big head sail falling in the water because of a chafed line that could have been caught. The boat being a 2021 shouldn't have any major rig issues, but always critical to check. The top of the mast is just over 70 feet high. We use a safety device on the line that if it were to break while one of us is up there, would prevent us from falling. #sailinglife #climbingthemast #sailinglifewarriors
7 things we wish we would have know before buying a boat:⛵️It's a lot more expensive than “they” say. Can you do it less expensively? Sure. In the same way you can hitchhike across the globe and stay in a tent and eat leftovers. But that was never our intent. Expenses tend to go down after the first year (so we're told). ⛵️Constantly repairing boat. Now we knew this going in, but what we didn't anticipate is how frequently and how much it was going to cost. Every time we get lifted out it's nearly $1000. Saildrives are the worst invention know to man. lol. ⛵️Cleaning and repairing a sailboat means getting into tight spaces. You cannot be claustrophobic or afraid of heights. ⛵️On production boats there are a lot of sharp edges. Some of the much nicer bluewater boats design around this, but production cruising boats not so much. ⛵️Goodbyes are always hard. You make some amazing friends out here, but invariably they are going in a different direction or are at the end of their journey. Goodbyes suck, but the friendships are forever. ⛵️Marinas are expensive (and inevitable). Because we tend to go home once or twice a year for extended periods, we leave the boat in a marina. This is expensive. And boats aren't meant to sit still. They need a lot of cleaning and hull scrapping upon return. How things break while no one was there is even more confounding. ⛵️Groceries tend to be plentiful in Caribbean and Panama, but can be expensive. You have to go to multiple places to find what you want. You learn to eat new things never seen in your country. South Pacific? We will let you know. In the end, is it worth it? 100%! We wouldn't change too much. Maybe for another video we will discuss what we would do differently?
Happiest of birthdays, Captain DaveO!!! What an amazing start to a new year. You are worth celebrating every day of the year. Your pure joy for life and your commitment to our family are admirable. We adore you!!! #theadventurecontinues #56isntsobad
