The Pacific Crossing by Cora Hyer, age 12

              The story began, many many years ago, when my parents saw a boat and a dream formed. They didn’t want a house like most people would want, no, they wanted a boat. In the dream the boat was supposed to be their house, and then a moving home to explore the world in. Many years passed and they still hadn’t gone to explore the world in their moving house. The dream of exploring was always in the back of their mind though, and one day when their kids were getting older, they started looking for the perfect cruising boat. A safe, stable, wonderful boat. One that would take them with their family thousands of miles across the vast, open, and sometimes terrifying water. So, they looked, and they looked. They pondered and pondered. They wondered and wondered. All the looking, pondering, and wondering led them to the perfect cruising boat. The perfect cruising boat to sail the seas with their family on. So, they cast of the lines and set off on the journey of their lifetime.

            After a few storms and a few months, the Hyers decided to cross the Pacific Ocean to the lovely and tropical French Polynesia. The crossing is a very big undertaking and takes some boats 14 days and others 35. There are four sections of the crossing. The first one is called the “washing machine” and is very swirly and rough. The second is getting ready for the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ is sometimes the most wonderful zone or the scariest. The ITCZ (the third zone) is filled with squalls, which are storms that come with rain and sometime thunder and lightning which are very bad to be in. Other times though the ITCZ is very calm and a reprieve from the rough waves. It also can change in size; It can be a few miles wide or even hundreds miles. The final zone is called the Southern trade winds and is supposed to be a very great area to get a good sail in. After that, one would arrive in French Polynesia.

            We had been staying at the harbor in La Cruz, Mexico for about a month and I met some wonderful friends and learned how to sail a mini sailboat. It was awesome to be able to stay in a harbor and explore the lovely town but after a month being in a place with constant background noises, the quiet open water sounded quite refreshing. We left the harbor to check out of the country and I was surprised at how easy it was. After that we sailed to the anchorage right outside of the harbor in La Cruz. At first, I felt a little seasick, but after two days I felt better. Looking back, it was definitely a good thing to get our sea legs a little bit before the crossing. Lots of panga boats and mini sailboats cruised by and it was very entertaining. I looked at the calendar and saw that we were about to start the passage to French Polynesia the next morning. Even though we were getting ready, I didn’t really feel like we were going to leave the next day. It was a very odd feeling that I couldn’t and still can’t describe. I said my goodbye’s to all my friends and adios to land. When we got back to the boat I flopped in my bed and thought about how much I would miss land and all my friends. I knew that once we got going it would be better though.

            I woke to the sound of the anchor chain and the rumbling of the engines. When I got to the cockpit, I was surprised that the sun was already in the sky. I looked at the clock, 7:25. We motored for a while and then hoisted up the sails. It was a bit bumpy out and I felt sick, so I laid down and let the seasick medicine get to work. The next three days were a blur of not feeling good, eating goldfish and saltine crackers, and struggling to fall asleep. As I was laying down, I felt as if we would never get to French Polynesia. I was wrong though, and soon I sat up and was able to function a little more. When I sat up, I also learned that we had completed section one. The washing machine was over! Well…maybe it didn’t feel like it was over, but at least I could say we only had three more sections to go.

            I woke up the next day to more rough water. Surprisingly, I felt just a little bit seasick! I marveled at the height of the waves and the big gusts of wind. A few more days zipped by in a blink and then it was the eclipse. I woke up and put on my eclipse glasses, the sun slowly disappeared and then, everything went eerily black. There appeared to be a sort of ring around the sun, and it made the eclipse even more crazy. It was very unique, and I am so very exited that I got to see it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean crossing. The waves were insane; a huge wave came into the cockpit, soaking everything. It was a little scary, but I knew we were safe in our boat. Section two was for sure the wildest out of all the sections.

            The ITCZ was amazing. We were sadly only in it for twelve hours; those twelve hours were the best though. It was calm and there were no lightning squalls, which was very lucky. My night watch was the best and I kept thinking of how close we were to French Polynesia. I do night watch with my mom; we usually watch movies (Pitch Perfect), take selfies, eat snacks, exercise, and look at the gorgeous night sky. Some night watches went by as fast as a blink, while others felt never ending. I actually didn’t mind them and grew accustomed to the peace of the night.

            When I woke up the waves were back. I asked what happened to the delightful ITCZ and they said we had passed it! A few days later (after more calm weather😊) we saw that we were about to cross the Equator. After my night watch, it was Emil and Calder’s night watch. They said in about thirty minutes we would cross the Equator. I went to bed and woke up at 1:45 am. We had a cake my mom and I made on the table along with a bag full of treats. We all crowded around the captain’s seat and watched the latitude switch numbers. When it hit zero, we all whooped and cheered! We had done it! We had finally crossed the Equator! The N changed to S and the numbers started going up again. We gave Neptune gifts and some rum and champagne. The adults had rum and champagne and Calder and I had a special drink. It was very fun, and I was so delighted, as I went back down to my bunk, I had a smile on my face as I fell asleep.

The fourth section had calm days, rough days, a four-hour lighting storm that was very entertaining (maybe a little scary and crazy), and a sighting of land. Land kept getting closer and closer and I kept thinking that the day was going by slower and slower. As I looked at land, I realized that I didn’t really miss land like I thought I would, I missed it mainly because it was a surface that wasn’t constantly moving. We were anchored down late in the afternoon on April 23. The trip had taken twenty-three and a half days, 2,873 nautical miles. We launched the dingy after a few drinks and went to shore. It was the most amazing thing ever! I felt as if I wasn’t actually walking…I felt as if I was levitating. Even though it was probably from not walking on land for a while, I also imagined that it was also from all the happiness I felt. I was levitating because I was so happy!

            We have now explored some bays and had a few adventures since the crossing, but I still think of it every day. The peace, the quiet, not seeing anything but the never-ending sea we love so much. Terikah, our amazing forty-four-foot Antares catamaran, had done a huge ocean crossing. I had done a huge ocean crossing. My brother had done it. Our friend Emil had done it. My parents had done it. They had listened to their dream, and it had given them something beautiful. It had given them a boat; it had given them and their family and friends amazing experiences. Last of all, it had given them the courage to keep following that dream. To keep exploring. To keep sharing. To keep loving nature and the sea.

(This was Cora’s language arts assignment this week, to write about our crossing in journal free-flowing style. Stay tuned for stories and pictures from the Marquesas…)