Enroute Niue
Couple things from this video:
First off, that little scrap of paper with the photocopied hand drawn chart of the reef? It’s photocopied over and over and passed on from one cruiser to the next. It is literally the best and only chart available for Beveridge Reef. There may not be too many unexplored places left on this globe but there are at least some places less explored than others.
Two, did you hear those numbers? Again to remind you, these islands are both very tiny and extremely far apart in a vast ocean. It’s 120 miles to the next island, 500 back to the one we came from and the nearest land? It’s only 3 miles away…straight down. So a hand drawn map from who knows when along with rough weather and the fact that the nearest help was probably by boat and over 100 miles away were the key factors in deciding to not to attempt to enter the really cool reef that has absolutely no aids to navigation on it in the middle of the ocean. One of our friends got better weather and got in. They said it was awesome diving. We’ll take their word for it.
Though the transits are long, we are in the tropics and you get used to them. The watch routine becomes familiar and allows you to fall into a rhythm for your day that, since we are completely removed from all outside distractions, is really easy to keep. You catch up on your sleep and in the end, you learn to keep yourself busy. We still practice the ukulele, Greg’s listening to the Bible and writing the blog fills in the gaps between ice cream movie nights and our continuing culinary educations:
Like this article? For more about living underway check out our month long voyage from Mexico to French Polynesia by clicking on “To cross the Pacific”
About the authors
Greg and Tiffany are travelling around the world on sailing yachts and keep a video blog of their (mis)adventures. If sailing to Tahiti on a 44 ft sailboat, getting pooped on by seagulls, opening coconuts with dull machetes, sailing past tornadoes and ukulele Christmas carols are for you, then check them out at www.CoastGuardCouple.com!
