By Victoria Hardy (ship's cook) The Kingdom of Tonga We passed Tongan islands for days before we reached our destination, Neiafu, the capital of the Vava'u island group. Although the international dateline is technically after Tonga, the…
By Victoria Hardy (ship's cook) Alongside again in sunny Avatiu, Rarotonga, the ship hooked up to shore power, and the crew relishing hot showers in the shore facilities – our first impression of the Cook Islands was a good one. On day o…
By Victoria Hardy Mangareva Three days of sailing west from Pitcairn brought us to the main island of the Gambier Islands group of French Polynesia. To the delight of the crew, upon checking into Mangareva, the local gendarme suggested t…
By Victoria Hardy (ship's cook) In the dark hours just before sunrise, Neptun arrived at the infamously perilous anchorage of Pitcairn Island. There is no port and no harbor – only one side of the island that is slightly more protected f…
A Crossing Marked in Salt and Tradition Somewhere in the deep blue vastness of the Pacific, a faint line stretches across the chart, a thin, invisible boundary that has divided sailors for centuries. The Equator. The crossing of that line…
By Ariunsanaa Ganbaatar 1 – Clove hitch on the Marlin spike It was 9 days since we left anchorage, it was also 9 days we continued with the 6-hour shifts. I was on the 12-6 watch. It was tough on all of us, we were so tired, at times it…