Tomorrow Bravo and crew depart for the Marquesas, along with five other vessels hoping to ride this upcoming norther into the trade winds. Preparing for this 2800 mile journey has been years in the making, and we are excited as can be to see this dream through.
The last few weeks in la Cruz have been a mirror image of our pre-departure prep in the Bay. Insurance quotes, boat maintenance, re-supplying, customs and immigrations errands, communication checks, new guide books, new charts, and a bid farewells to a new place that had become our temporary home. We are trading the familiar for the unknown, and are incredibly excited for the anchorages, new foods, new cultures, new language and new smiles that await.
We have provisioned with the precision of an engineer and the appetite of a giant fat man. Bravo is once again sitting low but in this case it’s not a overstock of Trader Joe’s but a well thought out supply of nutrient dense staples and carefully selected massive amounts of produce (and a little bit more chocolate). There’s a lot of cabbage in our future.
This thread is to test if our remote posting tools are working; we are hoping to use our Iridium Go email service to automatically post to WordPress. Our passage is anticipated to take anywhere from 20 to 30 days. We are hoping to issue periodic check ins online (hoping the Iridium works well!) in addition to participating in the daily puddle jumpers radio net via SSB and will send our parents and emergency contacts our daily status. You can follow us along here and through our tracking page.
This is also a test for us. If costal cruising was our warm up run, this upcoming passage is the big leagues. We are ready, so bring it on.
Last night my sister shared with me that the Dutch don’t wish each other luck, rather they wish you success, so she wished us success. I like that. Success is earned through your hard work. For this we have worked tremendously hard. It will be a privilege to experience this journey in all it entails, seeing the southern cross, being attuned to the cosmos, connecting with the rhythm of the ocean and winds, seeing un disturbed starlight, crossing the equator (becoming trusty shellbacks)… experiencing the first sights and smells of Polynesian land.
So, success, fair winds and following seas to us and ours.
Yours truly,
Andy, Meli and Matt
Sailing on SV Bravo 