Tag: french polynesia

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Episodes - Season 1 Videos

Swimming With Sharks and Whales | Season 1 – Ep. 79

Diver kicks and punches sharks to keep them away from the fish he has on his belt. Then, we had no idea this baby humpback whale would swim with us for over an hour! We’re so glad to have caught this moment on camera and be able to share it with all of you!

This episode documents a few very exiting days in Mo’orea. First of all, if you’re not familiar with Mo’orea, it’s the closest island to Tahiti. Approximately 14nm to the west. It really is a paradise. There is something for everyone, but our favorite is the underwater world.

In this video we take a couple locals and few other boaters out on Zingaro for a spearfishing/freediving adventure. While we’re out we have a very close encounter with a group of black tip reef sharks. They are not dangerous, but we still have to train them to not get too close. They are like dogs, you just need to show them who’s in charge and they will behave. We specifically chose this spot for the sharks, as this is a place where the local tour operators all come to feed these guys, therefore guaranteeing a show. We used some of the fish we speared to chum the water. That’s why there are so many.

At the end of the day we saw a pod of whales, and ended up getting a show by the little baby. I can’t tell you how special this footage is. We were in French Polynesia for 4 months, and swam with whales many times, but never had a baby play with us like this again, or for this amount of time. Big props to Rachel Moore on @voyagesofagape for the footage. Check out this link, you’ll dig the pics.

Hope you like it!
James

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Episodes - Season 1 Videos

Say Hello to Our New Dinghy! | Season 1 – Ep. 78

In this Zing I episode, we arrive in Tahiti to pick up our new dinghy! The 3.5 meter OC Tender. We named it Nolikī 😉

We have an interview with Russ, the owner/builder of these fantastic boats.

Next we use the OC Tender to give “Sinky” to Katoosh: two brothers who are sailing around the world in a boat they were born on! They lost their rudder while we were buddy boating in the Tuamotus. Please watch the video to hear that story.

Lastly, we travel 14nm to go to the neighboring island of Mo’orea, have a jump-off with some old friends, and pick up a local to travel to the only raised-atoll in French Polynesia: Makatea.

Hope you all enjoy this episode!

Much love!
James

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Episodes - Season 1 Videos

After Three Years We Made it to TAHITI! – Ep. 77

In my FIRST VIDEO I put on the internet I explained that I had just purchased a catamaran and was going to sail it to Tahiti… I thought it would take around a year. Well, three years later and it’s finally here!

In this episode, Kimmi and I arrive to Oeno, the fourth and last of the Pitcairn Island Group. We visited ALL of them! Yes! Very cool.

We do some spearfishing, but the wind comes up with such ferocity that we had to make like a tree and get the hell out of there.

Then, on the sail to Gambiers we caught a wahoo, got caught in a storm, and ran out of propane! That last one was avoidable… but it’s difficult to fill propane when you’re out sailing.

Finally, we arrive in Tahiti!

Much love,

James

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Ia’orana from Mo’rea!

Real time update | We just returned from a magical weekend in the normally prohibited island of Mai’ao (where tourists are NOT welcome). You have to be invited, and we took a local boy that hadn’t visited his home for 3 years! Needless to say we got a warm welcome. We felt like members of the family. We found the famous Polynesian welcome once again. What a memory. We even took a pregnant woman and her family back to the big island for a doctor checkup. It is always a treat to introduce people to sailing.

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Bye Bye, Mo’orea!

Real time update | So we’re technically checked out of the country, but we can’t seem to tear ourselves away from Mo’orea. It’s so nice here. We can swim with whales every day, dive, have friends over every night… it’s magical here. We’ve even been invited to go hiking by the guy we stole our dinghy from (lol, long story, we’ll get to that later).

Sailing Zingaro | Diving with Whales in Mo'orea
Sailing Zingaro | Diving with Whales in Mo’orea

We’re planning our journey towards Kiribati. We’ll be sailing to Makatea (the only raised atoll in French Polynesia) then heading towards Raiatea and Bora Bora before we jump off towards the Line Islands.

Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

Much love!
James & Kim

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Videos

Upload: Sailing Zingaro Live from Mo’orea

Livestream from a cyber cafe in Mo’orea (French Polynesia). It’s going to be about our time in Ecuador (where we are in the Episodes). We’re talking about sailing plans and attaining 50K subs on YouTube, plus some special announcements!

Wait where this channel will take you next… 🙂

All the best from Mo’orea, we wish You a great weekend!

James & Kim

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James’ Private Anchorage

Small island in the Rangiroa atoll
Sailing Zingaro | Small island in the Rangiroa atoll, Tuamotus, French Polynesia

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Solo Sailing Through the Tuamotus!

Real time update | While Kim is visiting her family in Berlin, I am solo sailing through the Tuoamotus, looking for the coolest places to bring her back to. This archipelago is definitely one of the most beautiful areas of the world!

Rangiroa Atoll
Sailing Zingaro | Rangiroa – the largest atoll in the Tuamotus

The Tuamotus are a group of atolls in the South Pacific. Very remote, very beautiful and very dangerous. Before the GPS age sailors avoided most of this area, because it was too dangerous to safely navigate. It is still dangerous if you’re not on your A-game – just this month three boats have been wrecked on reefs here. I saw one of them, when I was coming into the pass here in Rangiroa. It’s a constant reminder to be diligent.

Interesting notes on this journey:

My main sail ripped out of the mast track

Imagine you go outside at 2am and see your main flying in the wind, only held on by the halyard at the top and the foot at the bottom. And your alone. And it’s blowing hard with 6’ waves. But dangerous, that work. You can easily slip and fall in trying to wrangle the main. The only way I could do it was to let the halyard down almost to the deck, with the main spilling aft of the boat, and pull/push it back into the bag. Harder than it sounds, that thing is heavy. We are getting a new track shipped in, it’s and aftermarket tides marine track, they told me this happens after 10 years. Not sure the age.

No sleep – I start to hallucinate

It’s really nerve-racking sailing here solo. I usually sleep in 1 hour blocks, after the sun rises, no sails (drifting), and as long as I’m not within 20nm of land. I’m not sure how others do this… but here in the Tuamotus it’s hard to sleep because you know, if you sleep too long or the wind changes, you’ll loose your boat. At the same time after 36hr of no sleep I start to hallucinate (I know this from my navy days) and that’s no good either.

Sailing on/off anchor

I’ve really been trying to practice sailing on/off anchor, tacking with various sail setups (only jib, reduced jib, etc) and trying to learn the boat a bit better. Even after three years and 20k miles on her… I still have things to learn and I can still be a better sailor. That said, this last journey I sailed off anchor in one atoll, sailed 80nm to the next, through the pass, and sailed onto anchor in between a bunch of boats here. I’m damned proud of that. Too many people rely on the engines far too often. You don’t need them if you’re patient and willing to give it just a little more effort. It may pay off in the long run, as engines only fail when you need them the most.

Ok, enough ranting! Have a great weekend! Kim is finishing up the next episode about our arrival the Ecuador!

Much love!
James

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Random

Bonjour from Mangareva!

Kim and I had a chance to visit one of the outlying islands of the Gambiers last week: Isla Taravia. Wow, the coral here is amazing, but the really amazing thing is the size of the fish here!! Most of the reef fish have ciguatera, and because nobody eats them they get HUMONGOUS! We saw a world record triple tail, and grouper the size of Kimmi.

Since we’ve arrived to Gambiers we have been hanging out with our friends on Agapé (you can visit their Instagram and Blog). We met Josh and Rachel in Boca Chica (Panama) and it’s been 8 months since we’ve seen each other. But, as all good things must come to an end, they left a few days ago and we’ve been working like little dogs!

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Hello from the Gambier Islands!

After Easter Island we spent 3 weeks going around the Pitcairn Island Group:

  • Ducie – The most southern atoll in the world!
  • Henderson – The most untouched by humans island in the world!
  • Pitcairn – Home of the Bounty mutineers (and so welcoming).
  • Oeno – The most beautiful, coolest, and northernmost atoll in the group.

We have behind the scenes videos complete for you guys, and tons of pictures, BUT the internet here is so slow. Like… crazy slow. We had to bribe the cafe’s owner to keep our computer for the night to upload our new episode.

Our plan now is to stay here and see this isalnd group for two weeks until the supply ship comes, then purchase 30gal of diesel directly from the ship (at $6/gal instead of $8/gal in the store here).

Then we’re headed to Hao Island in the Tuamotos. Apparently they have cell service there, and we can use our cell phone to upload all the awesome stuff we’re waiting to show you. Cool?

Much love
James & Kim

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Random

Beautiful Ecuador – the big surprise

Of all the countries we visited so far, Ecuador was by far the biggest positive surprise.

We wanted to come down here just to jump of to French Polynesia, but we ended up extending our visas and staying for four months to explore the whole country. We had 15kn of wind from the southwest every day and lonely islands to spend the night at. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Only a few days left in Ecuador – then we will set sail for Easter Island. Our next big cruising adventure… ⛵️