May 29, 2019
The annual migration to the tropics is on in full force. It’s that time when in this neighborhood, cruising boats leave the cyclone-safety of the southern latitudes (New Zealand and Australia) for the warm, clear waters of the tropics (Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia).
The little pink boats are all pleasure craft. A rough count shows a group of 28 boats that departed yesterday and 26 boats that left this morning. About ten days ago, a similar number left New Zealand.
But not us! We have different plans this season. We’re taking the season off and plan to spend time in Hawaii (we’re flying there – not taking Legacy!).
Truthfully, I feel a little angst at not being part of this group. We do love cruising the nearby tropical islands, but that’s more than offset at the joy of not making this difficult passage, especially this season. The weather for the passage has been terrible. The group of boats that left last week have been sitting out strong winds and rough seas at Minerva Reef. They may get weather to leave for Fiji and Tonga this Thursday or Friday. The group that left yesterday and today face 40 knot gusts, headwinds, and huge seas. So this is what schadenfreude feels like! Actually, I take no pleasure in their suffering, only in missing out on that suffering ourselves.
It’s not just migration season here but across the entire South Pacific with hundreds of boats leaving from the Americas bound for French Polynesia and beyond. Here’s what their migration looked like about a week ago…
That stream of boats has been going on for months, and yet when we tell non-boaters what we’ve been doing the past seven years, they can’t believe anyone would do this. Not just anyone. Just us and thousands of our fellow crazies.
-Rich
