Jadamama - Jadamama Bora Bora to Niue

Heno and I said our goodbyes to Maureen and Scott in Tahiti and have been joined by Heno’s dad, also called Henry/Heno, and my cousin Mícheál rejoined us in Bora Bora having last seen him in the Galapagos. I flew home for about ten days from Tahiti to reconnect with family and especially my wife Mairéad who has filled many of the gaps that I have left by doing this trip and yet has been unable to join for any part of it.I owe her and indeed all my family and friends a huge debt of gratitude for their support over the last twelve months that I have spent on the oceans around the planet.Looking back at the Society islands as a whole, we heard Moorea was the jewel and indeed it is a very special place to visit and explore. We loved the hiking, the snorkelling and just the geography and. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama blog phots

Mountain pass at Anaho and arrival in Fakarava 036F887A-94AA-40C3-B2E8-6E1D4ACB8FE5_1_105_c79657748-B7F8-4266-B3CB-33F74E04EB3D_1_105_c. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama arrives in Fakarava, Tuamotus

From Ua Pou we made for Anaho which is a calm and well protected anchorage in the North East of mountainous Nuku Hiva. It is surrounded by a reef and beach with just a small village set among palm and fruit trees with the next village a boat ride or a trek over a mountain pass away so the atmosphere is very tranquil. You have to book lunch or dinner a day in advance at the only restaurant but the lobster was certainly worth the wait. We had lunch alongside the beach after a breath-taking morning climb up to the pass where we could see that visiting yachts outnumbered local houses by about three to one.We motor sailed around the island then to Taoia especially to see a famous waterfall that was rumoured to have dried out.The anchorage is an almost magical gap in a rough and rugged. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama blog from Ua Pou, Marquesas

We arrived in Hiva Oa late on May 1/early May 2 after over 20 relatively peaceful days at sea punctuated by the odd excitement such as a fish, a boat or a weather event.The last few days were a bit more difficult as the weather deteriorated and we had lost our starboard steering due to a break in the cable.Heno and Polly rigged a back-up system with dyneema and some u-bolts which got us in but there was another cable also perilously close to failing. We had no hand steering and were completely reliant on the autopilot system, even in the anchorage, until Heno put a longer term fix in place. Hiva Oa is a forbidding island to arrive at as sheer rock rises up to a volcano crater that is shrouded in clouds.Jurassic Park is certainly an image that springs to mind !As it was dark when we. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama blog- Back to life...back to reality

So I left the lads facing into the ‘big jump’ across to French Polynesia, and I can honestly say I never wanted more than to just go with them. I flew to Guayaquil, in Ecuador, on to Madrid and back to a (remarkably dry and warm) Dublin. But sadly I my adventure had to conclude in Galapagos. It’s funny coming back everyone asks ‘how was it?’, ‘it must have been the trip of a lifetime?’, and the only honest answer is – yes it absolutely was! It really was everything I could have imagined and more.Galapagos was spectacular. From about 150 miles out, it was a breath-taking blur of sea-life - sailing through pods of pilot whales, to enormous sperm/Brydes whales, to playful dolphins at the bow. Red-footed boobies hitching a ride on the boat, to swimming through shoal after shoal of fish,. read more...