The first day

17 June 2024

The first day

As we prepared for the arrival of our new guests at Hanga Roa, the wind had turned to the northwest and big waves rolled straight into the small harbour. Getting out of the harbour safely with our dinghy among the breaking waves became a matter of not overloading the boat and timing it very well. Once that went wrong and a wave broke in the boat, filling it up and soaking everyone and everything. The rest of the time things went well and after several hours, everything and everyone was safely on board. That night, the skies clouded further and by morning it was drizzling. The authorities also had some trouble getting safely on board in the rather rough sea at the roadstead, but by 10.30 p.m. everyone still had a stamp in their passport, the ship was cleared and the sky cleared. To get one last great photo on Easter Island, we sailed to Anakena Bay, where cameraman Josh did his best from shore.  Finally, with all square sails hoisted, we sailed out of the bay and into the ocean.

Nevermind the whales we had already seen, the beautiful day and the feeling of being on the road again, in such beautiful conditions , we were startled by a fast boat of the Chilean navy that suddenly appeared next to us and summoned us to turn around and slow down. It turned out to be the drone footage that camera man Tom had taken from the ship.Illegal footage, as we had no licence to fly the drone in Anakena bay.After some back and forth, cameraman Tom stepped over to the naval vessel on the high seas to show what footage he had taken.After some stern words and the confiscation of the memory card from the drone, Tom was allowed back on board and we got off well.

Under now full rig we sailed on towards the setting sun.The fact that we also hooked a large Mahi Mahi was almost too much.If this is only the first day, what will the rest of the trip bring?