June 10th – Fata Hiva

Hello to all

Two days ago we anchored at a secluded bay and began by swimming into
the yellow sand beach and diving around the boat at Tauahata. Yesterday
Paul and I found the problem with the voltage regulator, a ground wire
connection. When we finished it was after noon and we began our 50 mile
trip to the Bay of Virgins at the island of FATA HIVA. We arrived in the
dark and carefully anchored safely bow and stern amongst three other
boats. We’ve currently awoken to a breath taking view of majestic lava
rock spires along the green mountain cliffs lined with coconut palms and
continuous green vegetation from the surf line up to the mountain tops.
This is a the town of Hanavave which is the only place in the Marquesas
still making inked tapa cloth. About noon we are hiking to the waterfall
with the boat of two Norwegian policemen, Tom and Morton, next to us.
The warm rain showers have been keeping it at swimsuit or shorts and tee
shirt temperature. It’s not yet 9 o’clock and we still need to assemble
our dingy and row ashore to explore the town before our hike.
Aftrnoon
We managed to assemble the porta-bote and with the 3.5 hp outboard
motored ashore in a light swell. The hike to the waterfall was the most
continuous exercise we’ve gotten for weeks and the last 20 minuets was a
somewhat slippery up and down a rock strewn muddy jungle trail. It was
all worth it as the 250 foot waterfall was awesomely beautiful with all
of us taking swims in the deep refreshing pool its base. WE spent over
an hour swimming and sunning and finishing it off with late lunch
snacks. We stopped occasionally to sip the cool water from coconuts
lying around on the return hike.
After dinner we will go in to watch the Marquesan dancing and meet more
of the people of the village.

Love
Jim

Hi everyone-

This place is dramatically beautiful & rugged–sort of reminds me of a
‘tropical Alaska’, with the same feeling of pristine. It’s REALLY hard
to communicate from here, as our Sailmail is getting more restrictive &
getting off the boat is an ordeal at most places. Some places (villages)
you can only land by swimming ashore & not all villages have payphones.
Yesterday while enroute from Tahuata a large pod of dolphins showed up
to escort us for a couple of miles or so. I was ecstatic!

Love to you all,
Darla

Tuesday June 7th
Hello all-

We’re getting ready to set sail from Hiva Oa in the morning for a short
jaunt to Tahuata, where we’ll do some snorkeling & exploring. Paul
Elliott has joined us for a week and a half & will fly out of Nuku Hiva
after we explore sevaral islands along the way. Paul has been generous,
helpful, great company & has wonderful music to share with us. The
Marquesas islands are very rugged with steep terrain & rough roads. The
village of Atuona is pretty primitive & quaint–a real treat. We’ll keep
you posted on our explorations. We won’t be e-mailing as much as before,
as reception has become difficult.

Love to you all,
Darla

Hi to all friends and family from another beautiful day in paradise

With great help from Paul E we have been fixing things and solving
problems. Our biggest problem was our not getting our laundry done early
enough to leave for Tahuata this afternoon. So as you can see our
problems are not very great out here. The weather was sunny and warm
with the lush green vistas of rugged steep pointed mountains and
valleys. We are currently anchored just outside the harbor breakwater
ready to depart for the island at first light in the morning and a new
adventure.

Love
Jim

Day 24-Saturday June 4th–LAND HO !

Hi everyone-

We are ALMOST there & MAN, are we excited!! John & I are thinking we can
make out Hiva Oa at times. It’s hard to tell, as the horizon is shrouded
by clouds. First thing I’m gonna do is to jump in the ocean. It’s been
such a tease having her all around us, but never being able to get IN.
Sailing has been so SMOOTH for the past 24 hours or so. Both the winds
AND the tides have been super favorable & we be THANKFUL.

INTENTION, LITTLE MAGIC SHIP
AT NIGHT YOU BECOME MINE
ARABIAN STALLION, GALLOP SO FAST
AS I CLING TO YOUR MANE
TAKE ME WHERE I WANT TO GO
IN DARK SULTRY NIGHT
COME HERE, MY DARK ARABIAN LOVE
____________________________________
Love & light to you all,
Darla

Day 23 -Friday June 3rd

Aloha everyone-

We’re getting close now (less than 200 miles away!) and needless to say,
VERY excited. We’ve been blessed with good winds still, most of the
time. Today Jim & I were sitting in the cockpit during a squall in the
early afternoon. I was writing & trying to think of the right word. Two
words I was playing with were ‘delighted’ and ‘amused’. Suddenly I
thought I saw a fin in the water a few hundred feet away from the boat,
behind & to the starboard side. Squealing with delight, I kept looking &
saw it again. It came closer to our boat & then we saw TWO of them &
they began jumping out of the water, side by side. It was our first
dolphin sighting!!! John & I went to the bow, hoping they would show up
again to play with us, but alas, they did not. Maybe tomorrow. This is
what last night’s 1AM-4AM watch brought up:

SOFTLY SHROUDED INKY SEAS
OFFER UP MILLIONS
OF MINI LIGHT-BEINGS
AS INTENTION SLIDES
LIKE A KNIFE THROUGH BUTTER
IN EQUATORIAL HEAT
AMAZING CONTRAST OF EXPERIENCE
FROM ONE HOUR TO THE NEXT
JUST WHEN THIS WILD FRONTIER
THOUGHT HE WOULD CLAIM
THIS WEARY, BEDRAGGLED NYMPH
SHE IS AGAIN REVIVED
BY THE GENTLE, FEMININE TOUCH
OF MOTHER NATURE
SPREADING FORTH HER FINEST GIFTS
HEALING BODY AND SOUL
LIKE SLATHER OF SWEET SALVE
IMPREGNATED WITH INTOXICATING
HONEYSUCKLE, PLUMERIA, ROSE, GARDENIA
LACED WITH AMBER, SANDALWOOD, MUSK & MYRRH
SUCCULENT, LUSCIOUS & WILD
GRATEFUL FOR JOURNEY
OF SOFT, SURREALISTIC NIGHT DREAM
BECOME LUCID
OH, LET ME LEVITATE AT WILL
FAIRY BUBBLE NAUGHT
FOR IT IS WARM, SO DELICIOUSLY WARM

Much love to all,
Darla

Day 22- Thursday June 2nd

Hi everyone-

Another day of good winds, although it’s dropping off a bit right now at
5PM. We averaged apprx. 7 knots most of yesterday & last night. The
strong current here wants to take us to Tahiti instead of our first
destination, Hiva Oa, the Marquesas. The strong winds coupled with the
counter-current makes for a tiring, hairy-at-times ride. We heeled
completely over again last night, but amazingly (for me) neither Jim or
I woke up! If I didn’t have the netting & rope contraption to keep me in
‘bed’ I’d have flown across to boat to land on Jim. We’re starting to
fantasize about all the things we’re gonna do when we get there. (Like
SHOWER…for 2 hours!).

Warm aloha,
Darla

300 miles to go to our turn into Hiva Oa, the Marqueses so its coming
down to the last of the crossing maybe.

Day 20–Tuesday, May 31st

Hi again-

We crossed the equator late this morning & had a little ceremony to give
thanks and appease Neptune. John & I have now graduated from the ranks
of pollywog-ism to become official shell-backs. Captain Jim played the
part of Neptune & did a great job. It’s another perfect sailing
day–sunny & clear, with good winds giving us about 6-7 knots average.
At this rate, we should be arriving in Hiva Oa in about 5 days (KEEP UP,
winds!).

Warm, soft, velvety night
Backdrop to a zillion lighted jewels
Moonless & cloudless
Stars are the stars tonight
Everywhere I look
Horizon to horizon
Three hundred sixty degrees
Stars meet the seas
Southern Cross dances
Over our destination
Big Dipper reminds us
Of where we came from
As she slowly dips her dipper
Into frigid northern waters
Stars even grace the seas tonight
As Intention slips effortlessly
And oh-so-swiftly through
Exciting these dormant diamonds
Into revealing their brilliance

Thanks again for focusing your attention with us; it worked like a
miracle!

Much love,
Darla

Day 19- Monday, May 30th

Aloha to all-

Well, that windstorm continued late into the morning today, then it
finally calmed down a little. Amazingly, the winds finally straightened
out direction-wise, so we could reclaim our course while maintaining a
nice little clip of 6-7 knots, average. We did that ALL DAY LONG,
needless to say, it was yet another day of peeling ourselves off
starboard side (I’m not complaining–we want to KEEP it up!). It was
another beautiful sunset this evening–heavenly sunrays streaming down
through the clouds in many places, gracing the western skyline. Night,
Jim-Bob, night, John-Boy.

Night all-
Love,
Darla

Day 18–Sunday, May 29th

Hi everyone-

Sorry for the delay…it was a strange, interesting day & the ‘blog’
slipped through the cracks. Fridge broke. Ensuing spoilage, literally
and metaphorically. Fish chased our boat (for MILES–I kid you not). It
was SO cute! John called us up to port side, near the bow, exclaiming
there were fish swimming next to the boat. Sure enough, there WERE! Big,
fat, beautiful fish friends. Ranging from about 1 to 3 feet long, they
were brilliantly colored. I saw every color of the rainbow in those
fish. They swam gleefully alongside us for the longest time, sometimes
darting back & forth in front of the bow & sometimes jumping out of the
water. They were playing & showing off for us!

Winds slowly gathered momentum starting in the early afternoon, so we
decided to put up the spinnaker, with a mainsail accompaniment. (Thank
you all for your focused intention & powerful prayer. It worked **in
spades**). In the course of a few hours we went from ‘ho-hum in the
doldrums’ to ‘hang on, we’re goin’ for a ride’ to ‘HANG ON FOR YOUR
LIFE!!’.

Then, another ‘mystery ship’ appeared. This is the third such incident
on this trip; the others we didn’t write about, for some reason. It
first appeared as a distant glow on the horizon. Slowly, we got closer &
closer, until we could distinguish individual lights. We tried to call
them on the radio, but received no acknowledgement. They then turned in
our direction and came eerily close. They seemed to sit still as we
crashed on by in the raging wind storm.

Talk about wind! We were thrashing and crashing and careening until
2:30AM, at which point we all went up to pull down the spinnaker & raise
the staysail. The wind was gusting so hard and the boat heeling (lying
on it’s side) so violently, that it became a feat to just CLING, much
less trying to accomplish a job at the same time (but we did it). Those
winds were so bizarre; they’d move around and around the boat, trying to
blast us from every angle–so as to catch us off guard.

Love & light,
Darla

Day 17– Saturday May 28th

Hello, beautiful Family-

Wow….WHERE does the time go? What happened to May?? Okay, folks, we’ve
hit the DOLDRUMS & we’re OVER it already. (Please pray for WIND
again!!). Spinnaker’s up, awaiting some excitement. (Thanks to John &
Jim for repairing our pole today, which was damaged in our recent
‘upset’). We just had a sweet dinner together, watching an **unreal**
sunset. (Hopefully, photos will reveal a fraction of what we witnessed).

Many of us have learned by now that we do indeed create our own reality.
Let’s start by creating favorable winds to GET us to the Marquesas
A.S.A.P. Let’s also include the beautiful world reality WE want to share
& live in & pass along to our children & their children. Let’s remember
to keep our focus on the GOOD we want to create (and nowhere else).

In loving vibration,
Darla

Day 16–Friday May 27th

Hello everyone-

Welcome to the zone of intertropical convergence (which has become our
realm). ITCZ is a dazed and confused zone filled with an INTERESTING
array of weather phenomenon. Intention seems to like the challenge. It
began in earnest late afternoon yesterday. We navigated through a myriad
of ‘mini’ storms (called squalls), successfully dodging some & taking a
beating from others. It was my turn for night-watch (10PM-1AM). Jim
stayed in the cockpit with me, (since I’m a novice at this), lying down
across from me to sleep & rest his previously-tweaked back. A huge,
ominous dark cloud loomed to the east, quietly gauging it’s proximity to
us. This thing was an ENTITY & I could feel it’s presence. We sailed
slowly under it, while it’s moisture-laden mass began to snuff out the
stars & newly-risen moon. An occasional bolt of lightening amped it’s
intensity. It got darker & darker as the storm enveloped
us….beckoning, welcoming. It felt like we had entered a great cave,
the air feeling thick, damp & warm. Pleasant. The seas suddenly smoothed
out into a rolling calm, as the entity attempted to lull us with it’s
hypnotic spell. This was one of the most eerie, yet awe-inspiring
moments I have ever encountered. Then all hell broke loose. The thing
turned on us, intending to have it’s way, while once again whipping the
seas into a sudden fury. A startled Intention bolted, galloping faster &
faster; so fast as to create flying sparks amidst her churning wake.
Okay, Captain Jim…time to work your magic…
________________________________________________________________________
___________
BIRDS OF A SCALE
OR FISH OF A FEATHER-
OH, WHAT KIND OF CRITTER
DOES HERE FLOCK TOGETHER?
FLY, SKIM, FLY, SWIM
TRUE PARADOX AT SEA
SCHOOL OR FLOCK
FLOCK OR SCHOOL
WHAT KIND OF CRITTER
DO YOU BE?

Much love to you all!
Darla