We’re facing the final challenge of our voyage: a 500 nm sail upwind to the Marquesas, our sanctuary from cyclone season. Join us for an epic rollercoaster ride to one of the most beautiful anchorages in the world.

On our upwind journey to the Marquesas for cyclone season we hunkered down in Tikehau, waiting for squally weather to pass. It gave us time to reflect and see these moments for what they are, not interruptions, but life, real and raw.

Cyclone season has begun in French Polynesia and we need to sail 1,000 nm east upwind against the trade winds to get to the safety of the Marquesas.

Did we almost lose our mast is a question that arose after a series of unexpected events. The story begins with the simple decision to buy a new head sail which set off a chain reaction leading to the ultimate explosive question no sailor ever wants to face.

Swimming with humpback whales, black tip sharks and stingrays, diving beautiful reefs full of turtles, hiking by pineapple fields and through magical forests to incredible viewpoints. This was the Moorea we’d been promised, but there must be a catch.

We’ve been sailing the Pacific Ocean with our eyes wide shut, without a radar, for four months. Hit by unexpected squalls at night, not knowing which way they’re headed. Today that all changes, but not without a few bumps along the way.

What you’re about to see changes everything for us. Over the past 8 months we’ve hand steered our catamaran almost 5,000 nm but hopefully that is about to end…

Sailing flat water lagoons, diving with sharks, admiring beautiful coral, wandering pink sand beaches, eating from the land and sea; our time sailing the Tuamotus has been amazing and these islands are quite possibly our favorite cruising destination yet. But it seems we’ve tempted fate and lingered in paradise a bit too long…

The beauty, freedom and sense of discovery in the Tuamotus is addicting but sailing between atolls and navigating the passes to access the lagoons and their underwater world can be quite tricky.

Walking on pink sand beaches, snorkeling beautiful reels, diving with sharks + 1,000’s of grouper suddenly turned into disaster. Watch now to see what happened!

We’re sailing 175 miles from Raroia to Fakarava in the Tuamotus, which is a bit tricky as we have to plan to traverse each pass at slack tide and navigate around hard to see bommies once inside the lagoon.

Could you survive on coconuts and crab? If you were stuck in a remote atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that may be your only option.

We’re sailing 400 miles to the Tuamotus, a group of coral atolls in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but circumnavigators have stated this was the worst passage of their entire world voyage and unfortunately this trip turns out to top our worst journey list as well…

We were hesitant to sail across the Pacific with Yoda because we'd heard it was VERY difficult to import a dog to French Polynesia. But after extensive research and chatting with others we decided it was feasible.

If we knew these ten things BEFORE living on a boat we would have been better prepared, saved money, had fewer headaches, and more fun!

Most of the anchorages we’ve dropped our hook in the Marquesas have been challenging. Very deep, rocky bottom and crowded. But we have finally found what is probably the best anchorage in this archipelago.

This week we are sailing back to Hiva Oa, have a little hiccup along the way and upon arrival we realize there’s a reason for the anchorage’s terrible reputation.

We’ve been sailing + living on our Seawind 1600 catamaran for 3 years and wanted to share an honest review of our experience after purchasing a new boat, working through the warranty issues, what we’ve learned, loved, and what we would have done differently.

Parlay Revival and David Shih take me to a HIDDEN 200FT WATERFALL in Fatu Hiva but first we have to sail 50nm there from Tahuata in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.

Uncomfortable anchorages, difficult shore access, and sometimes BUGS are challenges we have to face living on a boat in the remote Marquesas islands. So we devised a plan to make life easier, or so we thought…