Who: Elodie and Julien, Violette and Lila.
Where: Gambiers, French Polynesia
Multihull: Privilège 465
Blog: www.lotusausoleil.blogspot.com
The assessment of the first year was positive, but what about after two years? Well, this new year surpassed the first! On the one hand, we have met some ‘boat friends’ with children. Between aperitifs aboard for the grown-ups and pajama parties for the children, we found this little ‘plus’ which was lacking in the first year. Talking about our respective problems, past and future stopovers, our lack of patience when it comes to school time (Particularly the French home-schooling program!), quick life-saving recipes, and good ideas for provisioning - all this gives you back your smile and cheers you up! Then, as for hassle, we have been quite lucky, apart from the mainsail headboard which broke while we were sailing, or the windlass motor which coughed and spluttered too often, and which we finally changed. As for routine maintenance, on the other hand, you need a large budget: between the scrub-off, changing the standing rigging, repairing the mainsail, purchasing a new spinnaker, changing the anchor chain, the dinghy (too heavy) and its motor (seized), the regular purchase of all the small parts that broke, it all ended up being very expensive; for the same price, we could have had a nice car. The highlights were also our last stop in Martinique, and the Petite Anse d’Arlet, which remains our favorite anchorage: an ‘aquarium’ rock, a superb beach, tame turtles, a good bakery. Or crossing the Silver Bank under spinnaker, with some whales jumping around us; passing through the Panama Canal, arriving at Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas, discovering the Tuamotus by arriving in Tahanea lagoon: crystal-clear water, blacktip sharks which passed peacefully while we checked our anchor…magic. Next year will be dedicated to Polynesia, where we are now; I already know that we are going to be amazed.
