Fiji

I arrived at the most northern village of the Yasawa group of islands late Thursday evening. I dropped anchor and got plenty of rest and woke up the following morning hearing the sounds of boys swimming and snorkeling near the beach. I took the dingy to the area and ask the boys if they were catching anything. The one boy, named Jim, he held up a few small fish he had speared. I invited them to get into the dingy and took them further away from the beach to a nearby reef in about 30 to 40 ' of water. WOW, It as amazing to watch these young boys free diving for fish, and the depth never bothered them as they dove like little fish. As they speared fish in abundance, with only a steel rod sharpened at the end, and a meer old rubber from a spear gun that apparently they found or were given by a previous yachty it was aparent they were the hunters of the family. I had a new style air pistol and was unable to get 1 fish and the boys came out at the end with more than 16 fish. Most were rather small but this area of the Yasawas is very remote and they practically live mainly on fish they catch. Even the trigger fish and angel fish in most places are very comfortable around divers, but these fish here knew these boys were out for food and they were very skittish and didn't waste any time getting away from me. I took the boys back to the big boat and gave them some kool aid and a small piece of candy. I told them I wanted to meet the Chief and they said around 4 pm for me to meet them at the beach and they would take me to see the Chief. YOu see, when visiting the villages here in Fiji, you must first visit the Chief and bring your Savu Savu(Kava)(gift) and have he will give you permission to be in the area and use the beaches and islands. I went to shore at 4 pm and there were about 6 guys, building a small house and at this time they were installing the roof trussel. All of the men stopped and they came and introduced them selves and at this time I met the Chief of this village named Yasawa-Irara. I was then asked by the father of the boys I had taken fishing to join him and his wife for tea. I joined them for tea and they then invited me to a Ceremony that would be help that evening at the village meeting house. This they said would happen around 7 pm, Fiji time. This told me to arrive when I arrive. I went back to the boat for a little rest and decided I would go in pretty well at 7pm. When I arrived there was many people gathered inside the meeting house and one man was speaking. Out of respect I waited out side and then a man came and told me to go on the other side of the room and have a seat. I brushed the sand off my feet and headed accross the room. there was only a lantern going at the time and as I looked around the room, there were all the ladies of the village sitting around the back wall, the men gathered around the Kava bowl and many baskets between them. This turned out to be a ceremony of the completion of the planting of the yams. Then many more people flocked in and it all began. It was quit the scene, the Chief was served Kava first, then the head elders, and then by my suprise I was served as an honored guest of the village. After a few bowls of Kava, and the ladies were setting up a long cloth the length of the room and setting out plates, the Chief and his daughter went to the head of the cloth. At this time I was instructed to sit beside the Chief and have dinner. I say there were about 60 people at this long cloth sitting bow legged and eating fish and bread fruit. the ladies were constantly bringing drink and anything needed to the cloth. We ajurned back to the Kava bowl and another 60 people went to the cloth and started eating. There were no forks and knifes , but only a plate of fish and plenty of bread fruit.. Several bowls of fresh water was placed along the center of the cloth for washing of your hands after eating. This was a truly great experience and I drank Kava most of the rest of the evening. I wanted so much to just start snapping away with the camera but I held off thinking this would be very disrespectful. Out of the blue a man came to me and advised me I could take pictures if I wanted to. That was the start of an entire new part of the evening. Everyone wanted their photo taken so I took about 110 photo's in total and they were all so very happy and loved seeing their pictures on a digital camera. WE continued to drink Kava until about 1 am when I decided it was time to head back to the boat. the following day I took the laptop to shore and had a great slide show for the entire village and showed all their photo's to them. They hadn't had a Yachty get involved like this in their village before.

The Photos I will be posting will show you the beauty of this place as well as some of the villagers. A few days later I departed headed back to Nadi

Fiji

Hi and welcome to another part of the Adventures of Elysium. I left the KIngdom of Tonga after only spending 10 days there and needed to head to Fiji to meet up with crew for the month of November. It was a great sail from Tonga to Fiji, on the way I was doing a controlled jib and the Boom goose neck broke. I am very lucky the boom itself did not break. There was no damage to the main sail and so I was able to continue the trip under 2 head sails. AS it happens, I think I made better time with wing on wing head sails and a much more comfortable ride for sure. I sailed through the night between the Lau group of islands of Fiji and through a narrow passage. I was comfortable doing this at night with my Radar on and a great help. I arrived in Vuda Point marina 2 days later and the work began. I had a welder and an electrician on the boat the day I arrived. I also had a mechanic onboard to try and get the gen set running. I am now enjoying the Yasawas in Fiji! What a spectacular place to cruise. Lots of islands and beaches, and tourist's and back packers to go along!!! Currently I am at the very north Island in the Yasawas group!

Thanks for stopping by!!!!!

Captain Louis

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Kingdom of Tonga

Kingdom of Tonga

After a 3 day sail from American I arrived in The Kingdom of Tonga! The people here are very friendly and giving. The main thing of my stay so far that will be in my mind forever s the memorial service of the old King. The church was so full and they had tents set up next to the church and people standing all around the church as well as sidewalks and streets full of people. The New King was there as well as the Crown Prince and his son and daughter. Well apparently you cannot inherit the Crown if you do not have an heir. So the new King did not have an heir and so he adopted the Crown Princes daughter as his daughter. This gets very complicated for sure. There was many royal party there and lots of royal chiefs as well. At the end of the ceremony we were some of the last to leave as we were taking in all the dressed up Royal's with their elaborate hand made lays. I was in amazement when they Royal's started taking their huge lays off and handing them out to some of the boaters, and yes I was lucky enough to get one. It was a great honor to be able to attend such a service and afterwards we met the Kings photographer from Tongatapu. He was very informative about all the do's and do not's and what the ceremony actually meant to the Tongan's.

The Friday before the memorial service the King, Crown Prince and his son had come in and actually the son of the Crown Prince involved himself in the Friday 1st annual Governors Cup regatta that had been put together in a short notice. Preparations for the regatta started 48 hours before the regatta was planned. About 11 boats in total were involved in this race, a 73ft schooner which I had the pleasure of crewing on. The Crown Prince's son was put on a Moorings sailboat with all his royal friends and ladies with him. The Captains meeting was a 1600 and the races started at 1700. After the Captains meeting was over we only had 25 minutes to get out to the boats and up anchors and be underway. To say the least we did not start the race exactly at 1700 but maybe 1710 and there were already 5 boats headed on the race path. We got underway, passed the start line and off we were. I think we started at being the ninth boat to start and we came in 4th, so we passed several boats to get this spot. It was very exciting and so much fun and very adventuress. It has been several years since I had been in a sailboat race. I had been in the process of building a new topside hatch and did not want to take a chance in someone falling into the hole so I did not enter Elysium, But next time there is a race she will for sure be in the race.

After the race ended their was a party with all sorts of prizes and food and drinks. It was the most cruisers I had seen together ia long time, people from all over the world that are currently sailing around the world and now in the Kingdom of Tonga waiting to head south to New Zealand to escape Cyclone season. So between now, mid October and the end of November these hundred so boats will be headed south. Of course , it is still winter in New Zealand so get your heavy coats ready and yes cold wind to sail into. Yipes, NOT for me. I have decided to Cyclone out in Fiji and continue to enjoy the islands. I will check for the best place to run to if a storm comes up but I will be in the Fiji Islands enjoying all the beautiful anchorages all to my self and guest's while all the other boats are on the hard or at a marina in New Zealand.

I plan to haul the boat in a few days paint the hulls and head to Fiji. I hope to be posting photos soon to go with the story here to show some of the dress and attire they wore.

To all, I hope you are well and safe, Me I am pretty close to heaven where I am. Thank God for this earth he has created and making it possible for me to be out here. It is such a great place to experience and explore, especially by the sea.

Thank you all for following my dream with me. It always has excitement and adventure as well as some very good relaxing time and meeting new and adventurous people.

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Pacific Adventures of Elysium!!!

hey there,

we have been underway now for 13 days non stop, still have 1300 miles to go...the sailing has been great and a wonderful time for both Tracy and I. the weather has been perfect breezy sunny days and calm breezy nights. We have tried many sail configurations from wing on wing head sails, wing on wing with the main and a head sail and the spinnaker -we have reached speeds of 13 knots, early one morning after having the spinnaker up for 20 hours a heavy wind came up and blew out the spinnaker, it was a big loss for this trip as the wind has been behind us and the seas swells (10m) behind us too. Twin head sails are still pulling us along although not with the speed the spinnaker gave us. We are averaging 125 miles a day(due to being overloaded with 14 cases of beer, 10 cases of wine, and 2 cases of rum!!!! as alcohol is very expensive in the S. Pacifc, one can of beer $8.00). The only other dilemma that has come up so far is we lost the water maker feed pump, other than that all is very well and good... Lots of sea life present from whales and dolphin to sea turtles. The fishing could not be better we are averaging 2 Mahi Mahi a day with a little tuna on the side!!!!

well we are at 07 S and 117 W and have about 1300 miles to reach Fatu Hiva, Marqueses. Fatu Hiva is the most remote of all the Marqueses as well as the most beautiful and southern island. With 300 ft cascading free drop waterfall into a natural Olympic size kidney shape pool , wild horses, an abundance of wild fruits and vegetables and the most scenic uninhabited anchorages in the world. There are only 8 cars on the whole island with transportation being mostly on horseback!! The trip in total from the Galapagos is 3000 miles and we should do it in 20 days. The Galapagos was awesome, like land of the lost-incredible volcanic islands with huge diversity. we visited three islands, San Cristabol, Santa Cruz and Isabella. Isabella the most western and most remote island was by far the best. The others have become to touristy with not so much wildlife, Isabella on the other hand was extremely serene with an over abundance of wildlife(sharks, rays, dolphin, sea turtles, penguins, blue and red footed boobies, albatross, land tortoise, giant lizards and iguanas, the brightest flamingos your eyes can imagine, sea lions galore) and lots of natural areas(lava tunnels, beautiful beaches, hiking trails, volcanos, highland, lowlands). Tracy took a 12hr horseback ride up a volcano that had hot spots and views of 100's of miles!!!! The Ecuadorian people who live in the Galapagos are great, very kind and generous.

We have had a great sail so far, the first few days out of the Galapagos was slow and annoying, currents and light winds didn't help at all. There are about 15 boats in our group (these boats all left the Galapagos within a week of each other heading toward the Marqueses)sailing to the Marqueses. i run a radio net in the mornings and have 15 boat checking in with me...its fun..we will soon be enjoying time in the Marqueses, and all of the S pacific islands...a change of scenery for sure...I have enjoyed the Caribbean but I like the more unknown adventure provided by going to the lesser traveled remote areas, any body can go to a resort and set pool side but how many people get out there and live in the elements and travel to places only accessible by boat not even any airstrips much less that fake manmade Disney type "play land". No pink umbrellas in your drinks here!!! This is the "Real Cruising World" buddy!!! Adventure, adventure, adventure!!!!!!!!!

A Fish Story
I asked Tracy what fish she wanted today since we had been catching lots of Mahi's, her reply was I want Tuna, I stated aloud , Ok Lord we want a Tuna today..I told Tracy we would have Tuna buy the end of the day....

So here we are out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean not another boat seen for 12 days. Louis and I were setting up on deck playing backgammon and Louis spots a boat-he thought it was a sailboat-I grabbed the binoculars to take a peck and I said it's an oil rig he told me that was impossible-I hailed the boat over the VHF and got this Spanish speaking guy who talked to Louis and said they were a big tuna fishing boat-they talked for awhile then this english speaking guy gets on and him and I chat away-I told him that I was wanting tuna for dinner that night! Well 5 minutes later he gets back on the radio and says I am sending you some Tuna-mean while the seas are 20 feet and just rolling-the boat turns around we see black smoke in the air and starts coming our way-he calls us back and tells us to slow the boat down(mean while Louis is freaking thinking it is pirates so he gets the gun out and loaded) we luff the main, luff the jib and trhe mizzen... and slow the boat down that big tuna boat(170 ft) comes right to our starboard side drops a launch boat and brings us our present and what a present it was-three huge tunas one weighing at least 70 lbs as well as ice and some fresh sweet bread just bakes by the boats chef-all the guys were on deck waving and cheering the guys on the launch were all smiles -all this and we never even stopped the boat-!! Wait til you see the pictures!!! Louis filleted those tuna so fast we cleaned out the freezer and loaded it up-

anyway, it was a delight to see the vessel (aptly named Atlantis) and even a better delight to still be eating Tuna and we have a freezer full...

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Eco Tourisim at it's best, Plenty of Adventure around the corner

Here we are half way to Galapagos Islands on a 44' trimaran and no movie theaters to go to, no gas stations to deal with and no K-Marts to shop at, yes and no Walmarts either. Yes we are now underway from Panama CA to Galapagos Islands, where we will find plenty of wildlife in its form of living and not caged up.
The Galapagos Islands are located on the Ecuador and belong to Ecuador. Presently there are 4 of us aboard Elysium. Alex has joined the boat for the trip and she is from the UK and she is also a certified Scuba instructor and also Chris from Sweden has joined us and he is an engineer back in Sweden and also Tracy from Stuart Florida which has a fantastic friends and family taking care of her business while she is away playing and enjoying the cruising lifestyle, last there is myself, Louis the Captain. So far we have been underway for 18 hrs and have sailed about 160 miles and we have about 687 miles to go.

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A Sailors Dream

Setting sail for a destination is a very exciting time in a sailors life. whilst we all want to know where we are headed for, we always have the excitement of going to places of new and old. We set sail from Panama to Galapagos Islands thinking we could make it in 8 days. Yes 8 days underway and we would be in the Galapagos Islands, where Tourtoise's still roam free, Blue Footed Boobies learking around in trees and beaches, Sea Lions and Penquins are in their normal habitat.
It was a great start and we had some fun sailing and fun times with Alex and Chris aboard, altho we didn't make it to the Galapagos in 8 days it was still a great start to the Galapagos Islands. Any sailor will tell you that plans are not made in stone when sailing the seas. We ended up sailing due South to Salinas Ecuador and due to the time factor, Alex had to depart the vessel before reaching the islands due to her schedule. We pulled into Salinas Ecuador and decided it would be a quick stop to drop Alex off, get fuel and ice and be underway with in 1 day. We were there about 36 hrs total and during that time we also visited the Port Captains office to check in to the country and also check out of the port at the same time as well as take Alex off the crew list. While we were in the Port Cans office trying to get this done, I talked with 5 people explaining we only stopped for fuel, ice and take a crew member off the list and get back underway for the Galapagos Islands. It was too confusing to all five and turned out to be more paperwork than they wanted to deal with. I was advised to get back on my sailboat and head tote Islands as if I had not even stopped there. We did just that, shopped for fresh veggies and fruits, refueled all the tanks and got ice. We also was able to have 2 nice meals on shore for lunch and dinner before leaving the next day.
0600 the following day we were up, Alex off with her bags and after a short visit to the Yacht club where an old friend kept his racing J sailboat, we were underway headed for the Galapagos Islands. We are now sailing West at 02 degrees S and beating the SW winds trying to get 100 miles off shore to catch the S winds and then we are doing well. Yes the first 100 miles we were beating and once we reached 100 miles off shore, the S winds appeared. we are now sailing beam reach making an average of 6.5 knots. THis morning we were sailing along and out of no where, hundreds of Dolphins appeared and swam along with us for miles. Wow , what a sight it was to see Dolphins jumping and doing flips in their natural way of life and not caged up.

I have done a few odd jobs that needed to be done on deck, red light stopped working and the sump pump for the shower stopped working. All is well now and we are looking forward to a nice fish dinner underway. 2 more days until we reach the Islands.

Now is the time to start looking at your schedules and try and plan a trip to join us in our adventures around the world. Next stop after Galapagos is the S Pacific Islands. Hope you can get away and visit sometime aboard Elysium

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Going to SEA

Why do people decide to go to sea? We all have many reasons for taking to the life at SEA. Sailing the high seas, first of all has been around since Columbus days. I can now grasp why Columbus went out in search by boat. The new Adventure's of seeing new places and exploring the world. I have now been sailing since December of 1999 and just now actually realizing the most important thing of being at sea. It is not always the destination but by far the actual journey of it all. I left American Somoa's yesterday headed for Tonga. There was little to no wind and as I motor out of the harbor I knew I would not have much wind. I continued to motor for a few hours to get away from dangers of the islands, reefs and currents. I decided , there would be no wind, so I killed the motor to save fuel and went to bed. I drifted for 8 hours and It was a great nights sleep and when I awoke to the most bluest waters the next day, still no wind but what a sight is was. The sun was coming up and here I am in the middle of this big body of water and no pollution around, no sirens, and just me and the great creation of this world I am in. I miss my family very much and my life has changed so much since I have departed. I plan to stop for a month in the first few months of 2007 to go back and visit my family , mainly my son and his wife which I am very proud of. He has taken his life and has already started his own path. I hope and prey that he continues to make his decisions based on his dreams and not the many peer pressures that most of us live by. Since being out here, I have met some wonderful people, not only sailors but locals from the many places I have visited. I have also seen some of the most beautiful places that I would not have seen if I had stayed inside the box. If you have never experienced the life at sea, this is one part of the chapter of life everyone should experience.

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America Somoa's

Hello From way out here in the America Somoa's!!Yes I have now reached the American Somoa's. It is almost like being in America!! NOT!!!! But they do have US Postal shipping here which is very easy to get parts shipped in for your sailboat. The harbor is OK, actually it suck's compared to the crystal clear waters I am used to being in. This would be because of the Fish cannery for Starkist Tuna of corse. The water I will not swimm in and the hold is not that great. I have checked out and now have a clearance to go to Tonga the Vavaú Group!! I was intended to go straight to Fiji but I have checked the weather and i t seems I may havfe some west winds in a few days and so this would put the wiond right on the nose. We all know that Gentleman never sail to weather!! Yes I sometimes do , but not on purpose thats for sure.

The people here in American Somoa's are very friendly and the island is beautiful for sure. Cost U Less for great provisioning and busses , frequently runevery 5 minutes for .50 cents, a dollar if you go very far like the other end of the island. I was really suprised when I went to check out and they charged me 50.00 fopr port fees and 50.00 for custom fees.. this price was not told to us when we entered the country, but when you weant to get american parts sent to you easily, thats what you have to deal with.

Internet, well a internet cafe is 10.00 per hour and the local Library is 5.00 for the day with at least 20 up to date desk top PC's and pretty fast..so I tried to do lots of updateing to the web site and also recruit other like minded sailors to join in for some cool sailing in the islands, between 7 knots and find a crew there are many sailors looking for adventure for sure..

I just happen to be living that lifestyle. LIVING THE DREAM!

Ok, and till next time,

fair winds and following seas!!!!!

Thx to the several SSB Nets that help in providing good accurate weather for all of my passages.

Thx for sailing along with me!!

Louis, That Darn Sailor

SOUTH PACIFC ISLANDS!!!!

Tuamuto's WOW, what a place to visit. We arrived in Fakarava after a 4 day sail from the Marqueses islands. We met up again wth our good friends on Tigger , which is a very modern Cat and fast!!

We started off by doing several dives through the pass and what a great time that was. We made 2 drift dives with a wall of sharks to swim through, yes so many sharks I have never seen so many sharks in one place...OK, this is not another fish story, sharks , sharks and more sharks...WE happen to be in Fakarava for the annual dance contest. One night after having a fabulous dinner at a local French restaurant, we were walking back to the dock and heard music. We ventured towards the music and it was one of the local group of dancers practicing their routines. They allowed us to stay and watch, cheering as every dance was superb. We ended up sopping by 3 other occasions and the day of the contest we were there to cheer for them. The competition was good, but not as good as our group. We also was in the area for the local spear throwing contest to spear a coconut up in the air on a pole. It was a very unique sport to witness for sure. We ended up staying at Fakarave for almost 10 days. Tracy fund a superb black pearl necklace from a local black pearl farmer and he mounted it for he. A few days before we left , we wanted to go back and snorkel one of our favorite snorkel reefs. We were going and decided since it was far by dingy , we had already made a dingy trip there before and aalso had taken Elysium there before , we decided to invite any of the boaters that had not been to go. We loaded up Elysium and had 23 persons aboard in total. One person brought a spear gun, and after everyone had their fill of snorkeling he jumped in and shot a beautiful large grouper, but he was out of the water in a hurry with the fish due to the many sharks wanting his catch.

We were surely sad to be leaving Fakarave but it was time to sail on.

We arrived in Tahiti 2 days later after a great sail. We visited the many stores in town, toured the island with a rent a car and visited some of our fellow cruisers we had not seen since leaving Galapagos Islands. One of the days here, while on the boat a storm blew in from nowhere, this happens all the time in the islands. A British sailboat started dragging and before he knew it he was leaning on a reef. I was already calling him on the radio to let him know he was dragging but he did not have his VHF radio on. I jumped into the dingy and able to get him pulled off the reef before he was hard a ground. As we toured the island of Tahiti we were able to also stop at many f the famous surf spots and many locals were surfing.
We left Tahiti and headed for Moorea, where it was so pretty and was just like it is described. We also toured Moorea by car, hiked up to a waterfall and stopped at several of the famous surf spots. At one of the beach parks , was a local couple that were the care takers of the park. they lived there and ensured the park was always clean and ready for anyone to use the beach area and was always spotless. We met them and they introduced us to their local way of using coconut milk as a dip for the bread. It was awesome.

From Moorea, Elysium headed for Huahine. The first day I met a couple of Americans living there. We organized a small friendly poker game. the 2 local Americans and myself and Tom which was on a chart boat from Sunsail Charters.. I never have been good at poker. I ended up hanging with Tom and his wonderful family until they had to depart to head back to Las Vegas. We cruised back to his base and had a few more days of fun with Tom, Cindy and the kids.

After they departed it was time for Elysium to be moving on but there was a storm warning and so I went to the next village and stoped at the public dock. I ended up getting stuck to the dock for 4 days in bad weather. That wasn't so bad because while there I met a local retired ships Captain that lived in Bora Bora. He was there with his wife in the hospital for surgery on her foot. When I left headed to Bora Bora , I invited him to sail along to Bora Bora and he accepted. It was his first time to sail on a trimaran. Once we arrived in Bora Bora , he directed me to where his house was and anchored right in front of his house. The next day he introduced me to so many of his friends and after a few days he wanted to marry me off to a local girl so I would stay and make charters in Bora Bora. I declined politely and thanked him for the offer.

Elysium has been in the Society Islands for almost 3 months, great weather, great anchorages and great people. The Tahitians I met were so very friendly. I knew it was time to leave that area when they want to marry me off! One stop I really like while in the Society islands was Huahine, It is not a known place but they have some great surf there!!!!

I have now left left the Society Islands and my next stop was an Atoll in the middle of the Pacific called Palmerston! It has been in several write ups in sailing magazines. They welcome sailors to the Atoll and there are 3 families that actually almost race to see who will host and feed the cruisers at there home during the stay at Palmerston. I could not stay longer then 2 days because it was not an official port of entry and they allowed me 2 days rest after my 5 day sail. Here is a photo of downtown Palmerston on the Ilsand. From there Elysium head on to Nuie in which I stayed only 2 days due to a problem with the fuel filter system on Elysium and so I departed and sallied directly to American Somoa's in which this is where I am now.

From here I plan to sail to Fiji and hope to stay n the islands of Fiji for 2 months , weather depending!!

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Marqueses Islands

Hello!!
We made it to the Marqueses. We made land fall in a lovely little bay with a village of 70 people, no store, no anything really. We are the only boat here! It is like a picture out of a storybook, neat little manicured lawns and beautiful lush plants and gardens that would make you green with envy!! Even a vanilla farm!! There is a 200 foot waterfall right off the starboard side of the boat. The name of it is Hanaiapa. The people speak French and are very kind. We arrived a little after midnight but was able to navigate into the bay with charts. We were both exhausted from steering(lost the autopilot). We went to shore this morning to find no stores to provision. The people were so kind, they gave us fruit. There were these six guys practicing in this long(50ft) canoe type boat with an outrigger, Louis invited them to the boat for a beer and they came all smiles!!! Well they were so happy they brought us back a whole side of pig, limes, papaya, and these great fruit called pamplemouse. Pamplemouse is a large grapefruit type fruit that is sweet and very juicy. WE went to see ruins that were 10,000 years old!! The were stone tikis in a ceremonial ground it was very eery but exciting. We will move on to the next island tomorrow which is Ua Pau for a day then to Nuka Hiva.

All is well we are on another island-it is totally different then the last island. The landscape has huge really tall spires that are way up in the sky and look like huge penis'!!! There is a little town but groceries are lots of money-28.00 for 8 tomatoes, 6 carrots and a dozen eggs, beer is 3.00!!! We will be in the Marquese for another week as we lost the auto pilot and had to have another one shipped in!!!

We are on Nuka Hiva and are just sailing around the north side to go to the main harbor to get provisions then we will head to the Tumotus. We have seen awesome stuff, archeological findings of great proportions!! Some 10,000 years old! We have seen melon headed whales, huge dolphin. rays that are 20 feet across. We are rested up from the long voyage hear. We mended the sails we blew out coming across, repaired all the rigging that got damaged from the high winds and seas-the boat is ready to go again!!! Thank God it is only a 5-6 day sail to the Tumotus. They are a group of islands that were once volcanos so they are lagoons surrounded by rock and reef on sort of a oblong shape. It is difficult sailing to enter them you have to wait until the tide and current is just right. We will set sail tomorrow and will arrive early next week. The Tumotus are spectacular diving and snorkeling with beautiful fish and lots of hammerheads!!

Day 3 underway after leaving Nuku Hiva headed to the Tumotoe's. We have caught 2 more huge Mahi's and have now restocked the freezer. still have 2 bags of Tuna left as well. It seems we will not be able to eat the fish in the Tumoto's because of Cigitera poisoning from reef fish.
We have decided to go to Fakurava, an Atol in the center of the Tumoto's and the 2nd largest of the group. We plan to stay there a few days then off to the island of Tahiti for the Dancing festivals. It should be a fantastic time in Tahiti for sure.

Monkeying around

We have had so much fun visiting places with wild animals and having the opportunity to interact with them. These are a couple friends we made!!!

Rio Chagres and Fort Lorenzo

To get away from (Dodge) Colon for a few days we sail 7 miles west and entered the Rio Chagres. Abundant fresh water for a washdown on the boat. Howling monkeys, beautifull birds and purple orchids cover the river banks. It is so nice to be surrounded by natural jungles as it existed many years ago and one of the few areas left untouched by mankind.

Fish Fish and More Fish

While underway we have caught many fish on our line. Tracy luffs the main and Louis pulls in and cleans all these bad boys!!!

A Kuna village in the San Blas Islands

We have stopped in several Kuna villages and here are a few pictures from our visits.

Trip from San Blas to Isla Grande, Panama

Well we are now excited to be headed to Colon to get registered and pay for the canal transit. We have been hear the waiting time to get through the canal is 4 weeks. WOW, We headed to Colon via a stop at Isla Grande where we had been for a few months before while working on Elysium. We had got to know and become family memners with the Preston family that owns a resturant and hotel there on the island. This island also has a lighthouse that Tracy hiked to many times for her morning walks on the island. This lighthouse was designed by the same guy that designed the Ifle Tower in France. unfortunatly Tracy never took the camera on her walks to the lighthouse so no pics from there. here is some pictures of the Preston family and the nice Tuna we caught while having ther Preston family aboard for a day sail

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Kuna Indian girls visit Elysium

We were underway and after repairing the water maker we decided to stop at the San Blas Islands again and this time we decided to stop further east in the islands in which not too many boats normally stop in..A place called Playon Chico and it was a very cool place. we were also able to make friends with some of the staff at the Kuna resort there. We invited them aboard the boat and the manager said they were not allowed to leave the island to visit any boats due to a problem tghat happened a few years back with 2 Kuna girls visiting a yacht. Anyway, after the manager left for the afternoon the girls begged us to show them our sailboat. Apparently they have never seen athe inside of a yacht. these are several Kuna Girls that Tracy got to know

Adventures of Elysium

Hello from us aboard Elysium. We are sailing around the world and will keep you updated as we go and post pictures as well to keep you up to date. We started this blog when Jeremy and Angela were aboard with us from San Blsa to Cartegena Columbia. Thanks to Jeremy and his knowledge of bloggers we were able to make this happen. unfortunatly, I hit the wrong button a few days ago when attempting to upload some photo´s and deleted the few entries we had already written. Of course I was in a spanish internet cafe. OK, I´m still a novice at spanish so, here we go again...

As we were anchored in the San Blas Islands deciding where to head. we all wanted to make the trip to Cartegena because we all have heard so many good things about this city in Columbia. A few days into the week and the winds were predicted to be 20 to 25 knt winds NE and seas 9-11ft and we all looked up and said lets set sail. We raised the sails, running with a small yankee cut head sail, double reef in the main and a single reef in the mizzen. Ok, some sailors like the calms of 5 knots winds and then they start their motors and motor most of the way. We are a sailing boat and try to use the motor at the least of times.

The trip took us more than 4 days beating on a single tack. We could not make Cartegena in one tack and we were all very tired so we ended up stopping in isla Bernardo´s south west of Cartegena, a very beautifull spot indeed. after a few days there of rest and exploring we headed north for Cartegena and again the afternoon winds and seas picked up and we could only make it to the Rosarios islands north west of Cartegena..One day there and we headed for the break water of Cartegena.

We were in Cartegena for about 12 days, having some work done on the boat, a little site seeing and some surfing for Jeremy.

The trip from San Blas to Columbia with Jeremy and Angela aboard was a real treat for sure. I miss them dearly and hope we hook up again on the sea. They were very good crew aboard the boat with great knowledge of sailing. I enjoyed their company and hope to see them again.

Off and ready to head west towards Colon Panama to get our transit date, we set sail for the Rosario´s again for a few days to relax before our beam reach back to Panama.

Once in the anchorage in the Rosario´s we met some other cruisers and one of them had run out of water. we offered water since we carry a water maker aboard Elysium. while filling Don´s tank the water maker stalled and , now we are without a water maker..I worked on the water maker for a whole day, with no success of making it work. I decided that we should get going and get to Colon and have a tech. look at the unit.