As in all other parts of the world, the weather is changing every now and then, and apart from the temperature that is still tropical, the weather right now could almost resemble a regular late summer day on the more hjemlig latitudes. The sky is heavy from grey rain clouds and a couple of drops are falling here and there. The last day and night has been with powerful wind (sometimes gale) and lots of rain. Actually so much rain that it has been hard to find even the tiniest dry spot on board the yacht. But on the bright side, we have now rinsed of the thick layer of condensed salt that was sitting everywhere on the boat, making everything sticky and the ropes hard to touch.

A little beam of sunshine was when Morten, indisputably the most enthusiastic sports-fisherman aboard, finally had some luck with his fishing. The gear has been in the water the last 25 days with no other results than the inventory of hooks, lines and leaders getting smaller by the day. Then yesterday the fishing luck turned to Morten's advantage, and twice in a row a tuna was in the hook, and both times the fish was taken on board without loss of any more fishing gear ;-) We are talking about little tuna, when they are hauled on board while under way, but both were estimated to around 5-6 kg, just perfect to fill up the 10 people we are currently on board.

To celebrate the event, one tuna was sliced, marinated in lime and fried on the pan – I have to say, this was a dinner that was very far from the canned tuna we have been consuming in decent amounts on the crossing.

Geographically we are right now in the middle of French Polynesia, and later today we expect to drop the hook for the first time in a “real” coral atoll, which is probably what most people imagine, when they think of a “bounty island,” In other words, a very low lying atoll, which is what is left from a million year old volcano, where the crater walls are now little coral islands and the crater itself is a basin that you can sail into. The beaches should be filled with palm trees hanging over the edge of the water, and in the crater the water visibility should let you see details of the bottom at 50 meters depth, when the conditions are the best. The snorkel is out and the goggles are polished ;-)

The name of the atoll is Fakarava, and the name can roughly be translated to “Langeland” or “Long Island.”

We expect to spend a couple of days here, out of pure comfort (except for of course the daily chores), whereafter the voyage continues to the final destination, Tahiti. We are currently 1-2 days of direct sailing from Tahiti. Most likely we will have time for a couple of detours to other islands or atolls, but under all circumstances it is certain that Tahiti is the end station for most of us, since the crew of “Oceans of Hope” is rotating here, and most of us have flights out the 27th. In other words we are nearing the end of the Pacific voyage, though there are still a couple of experiences left before we get to the point of saying goodbye.

Report by Bosun Bertram:

Sporadic squalls and sporadic tunas! We have had an eventful 24 hours of sailing on the last bit to Fakarava. Now we are anchored inside the unimaginable atoll, with more sharks than you can count around the boat and less people than you would think possible on such a pretty place.

But hey, it's in the very middle of the Pacific Ocean!

We'll spend a couple of days here before we make our way to the main island of French Polynesia, Tahiti!

Local time on board is 16:00 and our current location is 16,31.8S , 145,28.31W.

Translation of Egon's Blog:

Vind og vejr paa “Oceans of Hope”

Og andre haendelser

Som I alle andre dele af verden skifter vejret med jaevne mellemrum, hvis vi ser bort fra temperaturen som stadig er tropisk kunne vejret lige nu minde om en almindelig sommer/efteraarsdag pa de mere hjemlige breddegrader, himlen er tung af graavejrsskyer og et par draaber falder undertiden. Det sidste doegn og natten har budt os paa kraftig vind (Undertiden Kuling) og masser af regn, faktisk saa meget regn at det er vanskeligt at finde en tor plet ombord paa baaden. Men intet er saa slemt saa det ikke er godt for noget, nu har vi nemlig faat skyllet den tykke hinde af kondenseret salt af som sad overalt paa baaden og gjorde at alt var klistret og stift at rore ved.

En lille solstraalehistorie er at Morten som er baadens ubestridt mest ivrige lystfisker, endelig havde held med fiskeriet. Fiskegrejet har stort set vaeret I vandet I de sidste 25 dage uden andre resultater end at arsenalet af kroge, liner og forfang er blevet kraftigt minimeret, Men I gaar vendte fiskelykken sig altsaa til Mortens fordel, 2 gange lige efter hinanden bed der en Tun paa krogen, og begge gange blev fisken hevet hjem uden yderligere tab af fiskegrejer ;-). Der er ganske vist tale om smaa tun naar de kan hales om bord paa en baad I fart, men begge fisk vurderes til at vaere I 5-6 kg klassen, altsaa lige passende til at een fisk kan maette 10 personer som vi er I ojeblikket.

For at fejre begivenheden blev den ene tun filetteret og skaaret ud I smaa stykker som blev limemarineret, og pandestegt – Skulle hilse og sige at det var en herreret, som smagsmaessigt ligger langt fra den daasetun som er blevet trakteret I rigelige maengder under turen.

Rent geografisk befinder vi os nu ca midt I Fransk Polynesien, og I lobet af dagen regner vi med at vi for forste gang kaster anker I en “rigtig” koralatol, som nok er det de fleste forbinder med en “Bounty o” Med andre ord en meget lavtliggende atol som er resterne af en million aar gammel vulkan, hvor kratervaeggene nu er blet til smaa koraloer og selve krateret er et bassin som man kan sejle ind I, strandene skulle vaere fyldt med kokospalmer som haenger ud over vandkanten og selve krateret har efter sigende vand med en sigtbarhed som goer at man kan se detaljer paa bunden paa 50 meters dybde naar forholdene er mest gunstige. Snorklen er fundet frem og dykkerbrillerne er pudset ;-)  Atollens navn er Fakarava, og navnet kan bedst oversaettes til “Langeland” eller “Long Island”

Vi forventer at bruge et par dage her paa ren og skaer oplevelse og egenomsorg (Bortset fra selvfolgelig de daglige pligter) hvorefter turen gaar videre mod det endelige maal Tahiti, vi befinder os I ojeblikket ca 1-2 dogns direkte sejlads fra Tahiti. Formodentlig bliver der tid til et par svinkeaerinder  til andre oer/atoller undervejs, men under alle omstaendigheder ligger det fast at Tahiti er endestationen for de fleste af os da besaetningen paa “Oceans og Hope” skal udskiftes her og flere har flybiletter med afgang den 27/3. Vi er med andre ord ved at naerme os afslutningen paa Stillehavsturen, selvom der stadig er et par oplevelser I vente inden det kommer dertil at vi skal til at sige farvel til hinanden.