We left Tahiti in the morning, but the problems started almost immediately.
The night before departure, we had spaghetti with some meat we had bought at Carrefour. It quickly became obvious that there was something wrong with it.
In my case, it hit hard.
Vomiting, high fever, severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea. Everything pointed to food poisoning.
While I was falling apart, Damjan got off much more lightly. He had only mild stomach cramps and a little nausea.
I, on the other hand, was completely destroyed.
I vaguely remember falling asleep at some point from sheer exhaustion and misery. I woke up around sunset.
The sky was glowing bright red.
I thought:
“Is it really possible that the sunset is this incredible, or have I completely lost it from the fever?”
Apparently, you can still appreciate a beautiful sunset even when you no longer care very much whether you survive until the next morning.
For two days, I was practically out of action.
After that, things slowly started to improve, but it took me several more days to regain my strength and feel like myself again.
Needless to say, for a while I paid very close attention to what I was eating.
The rest of the passage went without any major problems. We had decent wind, stable weather, and the boat made good progress.
From Tahiti to Manihiki, we covered around 800 nautical miles of open Pacific, and the passage lasted from 17 to 23 May 2018.
After six days at sea, a thin line finally appeared on the horizon.
Manihiki.
Unlike Tahiti, Moorea or Bora Bora, there were no high mountains rising above the sea and visible from miles away.
Manihiki is a low coral atoll.
First you notice a few palm trees and a thin dark line just above the water, and only then do you realise that this is the island you have been sailing towards for days.
We slowly approached.
Another long stage across the Pacific was behind us.
