L.n. 2001-2003 L.n. 2006 L.n. 2007 L.n. 2008 L.n. 2009-2011 Latest news
December 20th, 2005 : we
hope that all our English speaking friends will
excuse us for being so slow in updating this latest news ! Here is a summary of
the last year (time is going so
quickly !)
Septembre 2004 :
from Maupiti (SOCIETY ISLAND) TiTOM reached the atoll of Suwarrow
(COOK ISLAND) 
where we met Papa John, a native who is wonderful in welcoming yachties. Do not
miss him if you intend to go through this island, he is amazing. A couple of days
later, TiTOM sailed to Apia 
capital of SAMOA, on Upolu Island. We arrived
just in time for the 
great TEUILA's festivity, where we experienced great dancing, singing, a parade etc... . After this
week's festivity 
TiTOM's team visited by bus, the 2 islands of Upolu and Savaai before sailing for
TONGA.
October 2004 :
What a shame we got older by one day for free ! that's the main point in arriving in theTonga ! How's that ?
Very simple, when you go through the International Data Line you just loose one
day, and this is what happend to us when we arrived in Niuatoputapo, the most
northern group of Tonga archipelago's insland. There are not to many yachties
here, it is quite a remote place and should not be missed. After one week we crossed to
Vava'u, 
Tonga islands most visited destination by sailors, thanks to the charter
companies ! Then, we sailed south to the Ha'apai group which have a lot stronger winds,
for this reason we found less sailing boats, and we met again some adventurous round-the-world cruisers.
We spent a week exploring this group of islands with our friends on the yacht
CIGALE, and together we crossed to Tongatapu, the most southern group and capital
of Tonga.
November 2004 :
It is time to go south to New Zealand where we should be away from the hurricane belt. With
a good weather forecast on the November 4th, we left for MINERVA
REEF, 
an isolated lagoon 300 NM SW of Tongatapu and 750 NM NE of Cape Reinga, north of
the North island of New Zealand. After 3 nights and 3 days of navigation, the
wind's increasing strongness obliged us to take the third reef on the main
sail and use only the small gib sail. We were very happy to eventually drop our anchor in the
protection of the reef, where 5 sailing boats were already anchoring. We all quickly
became very good friends. Our 10 days here in this 
lovely lagoon with these wonderful new friends, is one of our most cherished
memories in our round the world trip ! Every day
we fished, visited, played, read and relaxed while waiting on the weather window which eventually
did arrive. We
all left Minerva Reef at the same time, and joined other
yachties arriving directly from Tonga for NEW ZEALAND.
We were lucky to have such good
weather, especialy when
we know that the sea around this area can be horrific. We did most of these 850 NM motoring on a flat
sea. It took us 8 days to
arrive in Opua on November 22dn.
December 2004 to May
2005 : We quickly bought a second hand van we named it
TIVAN, 
leaving TiTOM in Opua, and off we were. We haven't yet found out how we can cultivate money
so we where out looking for work. We were lucky to find a very nice couple in Rotorua who employed us
for one week to paint, take care of the garden, and to tidy up things. We spent a
wonderful Christmas with them. During January we stayed in Hasting, where we were
picking fruits. What kind you may ask? Apples, apricots, prunes, and peaches and
after all that picking we still like to eat them ! InFebruary we decided we needed
a holiday, so we went exploring around south island 
.
Many stories and alot of fun. Back on TITOM in March, where hard work getting
her ready to sail was waiting for us. We took her out of the water for 3 weeks
to paint etc. ALOT of work but finally TiTOM was back in the water on the 12th of May !
June 2005 : We had a good crossing to NEW CALEDONIA from Opua in just 7 days, except for the last night with 50 knots of wind. We had just the small gib on, and luckily this wind was in our back and not in the nose ! Some boats which left New Zealand for Fiji at the same time that TiTOM did encountered wind of more than 70 knots in the nose, and 5 boats sunked ! No one died fortunately. We have been lucky !
July 2005 : sunny
and warm (29°C during daylight) winter in Nouméa where we organised the
continuation of our adventure : visas, cruising permit for Indonesia, vaccines,
provisions, etc. etc. It was also a good season to explore a bit of New Caledonia :
Progny 
Bay, Pins Island, the "grand sud" 
with friends, we also rented a car to visit a bit "Grande Terre".
August-September 2005 : Loyalties Islands, VANUATU kept TiTOM's Team happy with good navigation conditions, nice weather, superb landscape, and lovely people. A great time spent in Vanuatu. We loved it !
October 2005 : After modifying our plans, we decided to sail to the Louisiades' archipelago (PAPUA-NEW GUINEA), and spent 5 weeks, sailing lazily from one nice anchorage to another. Here, as in Vanuatu ,life is easy, the people are great, and there is no need for money. We just trade t-shirts, fishing hooks etc... for some veggies etc... Also it is quite remote, the people have time to live and just be with each other.
08 novembre 2005 : From the Louisiades we had a fast (90 hours) and a good crossing to Cairns (550 NM) AUSTRALIA, where TiTOM and her team are spending the cyclone season. Back to modern civilization. Where MONEY is GOD !!!
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10 May 2004 : we
arrived in Fatu Hiva (Marquesas)
after 25 days of sailing without any problem
and 2950 miles covered from Isabela (Galapagos).
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02 April 2004 : March
This archipelago is really worth a visit, with its vast number of birds, iguanas, sea-lions playing in water warmer than in the Perlas
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TiTOM and her team |
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in the Galapagos archipelago |
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11 mars 2004 : owing to some computer problems, we have been unable to publish our site since we arrived in Panama. Down below, a short summary of our travel in Panama
-early December, arrival in Colon (Panama). New Year's eve in the San Blas Islands (you will find more details in the L'Amarre No 26)
- February
-Finally, on March 11th, after having solved our automatic pilot's problems, we left the Perlas Archipelago, heading to the Galapagos
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