So, remember how we were excited to visit the market in Hiva Oa, setting out to visions of scoring an abundance of fresh tropical produce? Well… it was a bit of a bust. No market that day, unfortunately. But all was not lost — we managed to gather a respectable haul of fruits and veggies from the various little shops around town.

The very next day, Morning Stars eagerly lifted anchor and we set sail for nearby Tahuata Island — a quick two-hour hop across the channel. Tahuata, the smallest of the inhabited Marquesas Islands, welcomed us with its breathtaking crystal-clear bays and beautiful beaches. It was like dropping anchor into a postcard.

Speaking of postcards…we hear the ones we sent have started arriving to their destinations! 🤩

The marine life in Tahuata was absolutely teeming. We swam alongside graceful giant manta rays and were frequently visited by a curious little reef shark who circled our boat like it was his own. Dylan, of course, named him Cupcake. Despite his regular appearances, Cupcake seemed utterly uninterested in us during our daytime swims. Nighttime, however… was a different story. Let’s just say Cupcake took on a slightly more sinister personality once the sun went down. We held to our rule of no moonlit dips.

One of our favourite things to do in the evenings is to drop our green underwater light overboard and watch the marine nightlife!

Shortly after arriving, we met a wonderful Canadian family from SV Elation! Onboard are Sara, Jay and their boys, Evan and James. Not only were they fellow Canadians but Jay sailed laser 2s (a laser 2 is a two person racing sailing dinghy) out of Gimli Yacht Club – our home yacht club back in Manitoba, Canada! That realization led to conversations starting with ‘so did you know…‘ and resulting in the discovery of many mutual acquaintances! What a small world we live in!

Unfortunately, around that time, Jas again began to struggle with a painful ear infection. Sara is a doctor and as soon as she knew he was struggling, she kindly offered to pull out her otoscope so she could thoroughly examine his ear. She quickly concluded that Jas had a strong outer ear infection. Fortunately we already had onboard the oral antibiotics and steroid ear drops he needed. Sara expertly got him started on his medication regime with strict instructions to stay out of the water for a month. That mean that Jas was not able to join us the day we all jumped in the water to snorkel amongst a massive school of giant mantarays! That was truly an unbelievable experience! Coming so close to us, they did not seem to mind us joining in on their swim. We loved spending time getting to know the Sara, Jay and their boys before they decided it was time for them to set sail towards the Tuamotus – a chain of nearly 80 islands and atolls south of us. We are planning to also head there towards the end of August. We hope our travel plans link up again!

Word had it there was a little village just a couple bays over, so we hopped in the dinghy and set off on a scenic ride through turquoise waters. We arrived in Vaitahu, where we picked up some fresh local produce and wandered the quiet roads of that very laid-back, tiny town.

Later that same day, we had beach plans with friends—starting with a hilariously eventful dinghy landing. Once ashore, we sparked up a fire, got some good tunes going, and settled into island time. The rest of the afternoon melted away as we relaxed on the stunning beach, frying up delicious Hungarian bread and soaking in the good company and sunset views.

We loved connecting with the family from SV Mpola Mpola. Literally, within minutes of them dropping anchor, their sweet boys, Charlie and Jack came over on their paddle board to say hello. That led to sunset drinks on their boat and the beginning of our next fast friendship! I am always in awe of the remarkable people the Big Trip brings us. People living extraordinary lives, coming from all over the world in search of the same peacefulness, freedom and adventure we seek. Charlie’s and Jack’s parents are Emma and Nathan Outteridge. Nathan is an Olympic gold and silver medalist, sailing world champion, and skipper for the New Zealand America’s Cup’s team. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8synaUC_9c Emma’s remarkable passions led to her writing the book Between Two Worlds which documents her journey to become the founder of the Kiwi Sponsorship Program, which funds scholarships for secondary education for children in Uganda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfMzEAszyUE Her passion for creating real change is inspiring and I cherished our precious few days together. We feel incredibly lucky to have crossed paths with them out here. I am currently reading her book and am overwhelmed with a feeling of wanting to do more with my life to help others. Lately I have been lost in my thoughts of how I can use my life to create positive change like she does – somehow, somewhere. I am humbled by the way her efforts have created a better life for so many. Oh, and Emma has the voice of an angel! We will never forget discovering that when she first put Dylan’s guitar on to her lap and sang to us one evening on Morning Stars. I was literally moved to tears!

Mpola Mpola was the next boat to turn their bow towards the Tuamotus. The night before they left they had us over for dinner. The conversations were non-stop as we enjoyed our sundowners followed by Emma’s homemade vegetarian lasagna and the banana cake I baked that afternoon. Too soon we all gave hugs and said our ‘see you laters‘.

I swear I could just stop our trip here at Tahuata Island and live out the rest of my days off this spectacular beach. But there is still so much to see and do on our journey. After a two week stay, we reluctantly pulled anchor and headed north to Nuku Hiva. Why are we not following our friends to the Tuamotus? Well, for the next several weeks we need to keep to the islands around Hiva Oa as we have a shipment arriving there soon. In that shipment are the critical gaskets we need to finally get our generator up and running.

Speaking of boat fixes…it was time for our dinghy to get some attention:

…well, turns out the other side WAS letting go as well. Very shortly we will be redoing that process to stop the leak on the port side of our rapidly aging dinghy.

A more serious concern for us was the sudden failure of our autohelm! During our initial sail from Hiva Oa to Tahuata, it simply stopped working—alarming – especially given how heavy the helm is on this boat. For any passage longer than a few hours, we heavily rely on the autohelm to manage steering. Replacing it would not only be incredibly costly, but sourcing one out here would be a major logistical challenge. Fortunately—as many of you already know —Jas is amazing. He quickly got to work troubleshooting and was able to trace the issue to the autohelm’s compass, tucked away beneath the galley floor.

In the picture below, do you see that tiny white spot on the top right corner? That is the power pin for the compass. It broke off from the male side of the plug and THAT was what shut down our autohelm.

With that work done we now needed to test the autohelm to see if that truly resolved our issues. We decided to do a one day quick run to Hiva Oa and back to give it a go!

Wahoo—it worked! 🎉 With that mission accomplished, we had a few more reasons to make the run to Hiva Oa. Once we arrived, Jas and Dylan tackled the fuel run, loading up on diesel and gasoline, while I set off into the village on a fresh produce hunt. We each had our quests—and somehow, we all came back victorious. With our errands complete and the boat restocked, we didn’t linger. Before we knew it, the anchor was up and we were sailing “home” to Tahuata.

Once back, Dylan enjoyed continuing to spend hours working on turning our paddleboard into a sailboard! Using garbage bags as sails he affectionately named his creation the ‘Trash Bandit’ and had a blast sailing it with his friend Nils.

…not fully satisfied with the performance of the Trash Bandit, he proudly added a roller furling jib! 😂

In my next blog, we take on the 14-hour sail to Nuku Hiva—a rugged, awe-inspiring island where we connected with more amazing people, including kids right around Dylan’s age. The town itself is vibrant and full of energy, a striking contrast to the remote anchorage of Tahuata. But most unforgettable of all… Jason and I finally did something we’ve talked about for years. Let’s just say, after thousands of miles under sail and countless memories engraved on our hearts, we decided it was time to mark the journey in a way that would last forever. 😉

✨ Note: I’m still shaping the direction we want to take with our YouTube channel. I have a clear vision—it’s just taking a little time to bring what’s in my head to life. I’m aiming for an official launch in August, and of course, you’ll be the first to know when it’s ready to set sail! 🤩