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Eight Days in Suwarrow, Cook Islands

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"Prevention is, as in other aspects of seamanship, better than cure." --Sir Robin Knox Johnson Kia Orana , dear friends and family, We’re sorry for the long wait between blog posts. We’ve been distracted by the responsibilities of land life and the horrors unfolding here in the United States. But since we’ll return to lovely Tonga soon, we realized we needed to catch up. We still have so much to share. And even during political dumpster fires, people need stories! The Best Laid Plans… At 1400 on July 20th, we pulled anchor in Tapu’amu, Taha’a, and headed south for the pass. It would be 8-10 days to Independent Samoa. We heard about customs issues there, so we ensured all our paperwork was in order. Our lavalavas (Samoan sarongs) were clean and ready to wear for our clearance formalities. I even downloaded basic phrases and numbers in Samoan to study during the passage.     With a low-pressure system forecast to form south of our route a week later, it wasn’t ideal we...
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French Polynesia Part 3B: Leeward Islands

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If you're interested in the downsides of sailing into other countries by private boat, this is the blog post for you. If not, it will feel long and tedious...much like learning the bureaucratic red tape for every country we've sailed in. Feel free to just enjoy the pictures instead. We'll have a "Too Long; Didn't Read" [TL;DR] message near the end.  For those hoping to do a passage through French Polynesia, let this post serve as a reason to get a long-stay visa. We opted not to because we were already busy enough before we left Mexico earlier this year, and the process was ridiculously complicated. Although we had no intention of staying a full year in French Polynesia, having flexibility around our departure date would have made all the difference. The First Domino (by Denise) Once in a great while, this life is straightforward. Weather cooperates, the bureaucracy is simple, and nothing onboard breaks. It's like the universe conspires to give De Novo a b...
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