And that was our voyage..

After 13.000 nautical miles our adventure has ended.
We are sad but alive, mourning but relieved..
..it's hard to describe.
Fare you well, our companions of the seven seas.
We'll see each other again!
So long!

Yours Rainer, Jochen and SY Prins Henrik

Last port of call

 We were towed into the tiny harbour on Aitutaki by a barge loading and unloading containers from a container cargo vessel anchored outside the reef.

 Certainly one of the last fotos of our ship.

Aitutaki from the top.

Prins Henrik sold.

Well, it is true.
We have had several damages in the recent time, which, in the long run, made us more than usual concerned about our safety, when being that far out on the open Ocean.
And without the trust in the boat, the only thing that is around you and keeps you up on top of the big waves to all sides, hundreds of miles from any shore, sailing is not fun any longer.
We sold her on Aitutaki to the mayor himself. And we are happy with the decision!
In a way, we have reached New Zealand anyhow, as the Cook Islands belong to New Zealand.

For about 20 years Rainer and I have crossed the oceans on this tiny type of boat. Many of  our friends we have got to know by that. Part of our identity is connected to that.

In a way, an era is over for us. That gives space and energy for new projects, and together we will go for it.

You may expect some last pictures here on this site within the week to come.
We are looking forward to meeting all of you any time and any place in the world.

Regards from Rainer and Jochen

Brakers on the reef of Raiatea

This passage through the reef was one of the most spectacular ones, I've ever tried!

The captain was scared!

Bora Bora

At anchor on Bora Bora

 Sailing and swimming in the Lagoon

A starphoto of Rainer and our Prince.

SPOT-position and the big trip

In a few days we will start our big trip over the southern Pacific. Possibly we will be able to get ashore on 2 islands:
Aitutki after 500 nautical miles and then Rauol Island after ca. 1.600 nautical mile. Under many usual weather- and seaconditions it is hardly possible, but we might we lucky anyhow.

New Zealand lies 2.350 autical miles from here, but we have got the most favourable months of the year now. So, things should work out fine.

I'm not sure, if anybody will be able to find or recieve our position on the Pacific, while we are out. Neither the figuration of the transmitter, nor the coverage is entirely clear yet.

We will send and hope, that the positons will get through. Tahiti is not covered.
Possibly the position can be found on this site under: My complete profile.

 And once more in German:

Weiterhin ist mir nicht klar, ob diese Positions-sende-geschichte klappen wird. Es scheint, als wären wir hier in der Gegend von Tahiti noch immer nicht im Empfangsbereich für unseren GPS-position-sender, genannt SPOT.
Wir werden das also irgendwann, wenn es zur grossen Tour losgeht, anfangen, und erst wenn wir in Neu Seeland ankommen, herausfinden, ob auch nur eine position weitergeleitet ist. Möglicherweise findet man die ja dann auch hier auf unserem Blogger www.prinshenrik.blogspot.com wo jetzt ja nur ein paar Inselbilder liegen.

Unter Umständen werden wir an 2 Inseln landen können, wo das aber alles andere als wahrscheinlich ist, bei normalen Wetter- und Seebedingungen: Aitutki nach 500 Seemeilen und dann Rauol Island nach ca. 1.600 Seemeilen.

Neu Seeland liegt 2.350 Seemeilen von hier bummelig nach west-süd-west, und wir haben für diese Passage die am besten geeigneten Monate erwischt. So sollte alles wohl fein klappen.

R&J

Raiatea

We are still finding and catching gekkos from Apataki on deck of our Prince. They hide, we don't know where and survive the waves, washing the deck, and winds and rain.

We made it from Tahiti to Raiatea and are considering to continue to Bora Bora either today or tomorrow.

 Here a sunset in Papete Marina Taina.

Moorea, where a Cruiseliner has found itself a spectakular bay to anchor.

The entrance of Raiatea from the inside lagoon. (Maybe the automatic colour adjust is exaggerating a bit?)

We got our Zarpe!

It took its time, and the usual chauvinistic office desk generals had nearly overstressed some of our crews impressing temper, but we won at last!
Even though we did not get back our own ships papers (they were possibly lost in some beurocratic back door chambers) we have, what we need, to clear in in New Zealand. (we do have different ships papers issued in Denmark AND  in Germany).

Now the way is open for us to Bora Bora, Raiatea, maybe Rauol Island, (try to GOOGLE that!) and then New Zealand.

Best whishes
Rainer & Jochen

The crossing from Apataki to Tahiti

 Our first reunion with gusts and squalls.


 

Briefly before our departure from Apataki.

Prins Henrik back on the Sea again

Prins Henrik is back in her element. We came by air, even the last few hundred miles from Tahiti to Apataki.

 Landed on apataki.

 Rainer is waiting on the pier of Apataki for the people who would take us the remaining 12 miles to our Prince, lying in the other corner of the atoll.

 The boat was in good shape, overpopulatet by thousands of tiny bills, filling every cupboard and spimply any spacce below deck, digesting whatever was left on board, and there was a lot.

No hungry bugs on Prins Henrik!

Even a Gekko family and their eggs followed us to Thahiti, where we released them in thier new biotop.

We have already tried our first seasick period and lots of squalls, and are bach in Papete, now with our boat. Tomorrow we will do the customs and check out for Raiatea and Bora Bora.

Prins Henrik on the hard

Some months after we left her on Apataki, our Prince has got hauled out abd put on the hard between huts and palmtrees.

We are leaving Prins Henrik on Apataki

We will have to leave for Europe. Rainer's father is not well and we feel it is the best if Rainer is around his parent's home in the time to come. With no internet access on Apataki and only a poor telephone connection, we could not book our flight from there. However, two days after our arrival at the boatyard we got the possibility to get on the mailboat. It will take us 2½ days to get to Papeete by that means. From there we can take an international flight but before that we had to prepare the Prince for the one and a half year on Apataki where it will be dug down into the coral sand.

Apataki Carenage

An exotic, warm and welcoming place. The carenage has not opened offically because the travellift has still to arrive and the bar is not built yet but we were accepted anyway. We have a good feeling. The owners and staff are very nice. This boatyard may become an attractive alternative to Raiatea or Papete for any skipper who will have to get his or her yacht on the hard, be it just for some days or for a long term storage. The Apataki Carenage lies on S 015 33,5 and W 146 14,5. Contact us or call the Carenage on (689) 311 036 (some French an asset but not necessary) if you are interested in further information.

Apataki

The following day we set our course across the unsurveyed atoll for some 17 miles. We had to progress whith great caution, one of us eyeballing from the bow in order to avoid pearl farms and coral banks.

Apatki, northern entrance

With light winds we drifted from Manihi to Apataki. And again we were lucky: We found the tide nearly at slack when we entered. Most of the time the currents in these atolls are outgoing on the western, the leeward part of the atoll.
The anchorage on the norther side of Apataki is shown in different publications, protected from the wind by a huge reef area. In reality this protecting reef does not exist, nore does the annchorage. Again we had to search for acceptable depths very close to the coral shore. But there we found a lovely spot of the world in calm conditions and surrounded by marvellous snorkeling sites.

Manihi again

First night we went to an anchorage, where we anchored in some 36 feet of water and where we were surrounded by stonehard coralheads, which had grown up to just below the surface.
Later we were towed into the tiny harbour, where we met Roland and his family. At his house we could get access to the internet. People are friendly here and children love to drop by for a “chat”, a cup of juice or some bisquits.
When leaving the atoll, nobody could tell us, at what time we could expect slack, so later we found us stuck for more than 1 hour in the counter current of the raising tide, until a friendly soul tugged us out.

Manihi atoll on the Tuamotus

Our first atoll to visit was Manihi. The entrance into a atoll on the Tuamotus is often tricky and sometimes hazardous. Sailboats without an engine have to proceed with extra caution and best with local assistance. At the same time we did not even know when the tide would go in or out when we arrived, but we were lucky. On the fotos you can see the entrance in calm conditions. On the chart sketch everything looks so easy but currents can run at up to 6 knots in the entrance and, once inside, one has to watch out for coralheads, lingering just below the surface. The average depth inside the atoll is about 16 fathoms, corresponding to about 30 meters, even at the anchorages.