Passage from Marquesas to Kiritimati

[wheumann]

I am interested in making the passage from the Marquesas to Kiritimati. Does anyone know of any information for this passage or has anyone made the passage? I have looked at it on Visual Passage Planner and it appears to be a pretty good run.

I've sailed to the Marquesas before. My goal is to sail to Japan and back to Alaska.

[atoll]

this passage would be dependant on the location of the ITCZ ,and how far south the northen hemisphere NE trades reach, if leaving from the marquesas.

in November you would probably be better off leaving from papeete,and expect to motor sail most of the way,due to little wind.

leaving in april- may the ITCZ should be further south,so you should find the NE trades a lot further south on leaving the marquesas,plus a fairly strong west bound current once north of the equator.

permits might also be needed in advance for Christmas island.

[wheumann]

Thank you for the response. I was thinking of leaving Panama in early February and departing the Galapagos for Marquesas later that month. Last time I departed the Galapagos in May and we had a great passage (19 days). I'm concerned about leaving the Galapagos too early so perhaps I will leave later which would fit with a May passage to Christmas island.

I am also considering going to Papeete and then north.

I see in Landfalls of Paradise that the route Marquesas to Christmas Island is shown as a route for power boaters. I assume the issue is wind, not weather other than dealing with the ITCZ. I can look at historical Buoy Weather for that area, but I have read that weather reports in the ITCZ can be unreliable.

Do you have any comments on the passage from Christmas Island to Tarawa or directly to Majuro?

Thanks for your feedback.

[barnakiel]

Our friends sailed this about 3 years ago. They simply departed and sailed on and motored when sailing was not possible.

I talked to this skipper about two weeks ago and was surprised that once in the atolls they got some very VERY bad squalls.

They are coming back end of Oct so if you have any more detailed questions just drop me a PM and I will ask their opinion.

b.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by wheumann

Thank you for the response. I was thinking of leaving Panama in early February and departing the Galapagos for Marquesas later that month. Last time I departed the Galapagos in May and we had a great passage (19 days). I'm concerned about leaving the Galapagos too early so perhaps I will leave later which would fit with a May passage to Christmas island.

I am also considering going to Papeete and then north.

I see in Landfalls of Paradise that the route Marquesas to Christmas Island is shown as a route for power boaters. I assume the issue is wind, not weather other than dealing with the ITCZ. I can look at historical Buoy Weather for that area, but I have read that weather reports in the ITCZ can be unreliable.

Do you have any comments on the passage from Christmas Island to Tarawa or directly to Majuro?

Thanks for your feedback.

with any trans-equatorial passage the issue is lack of wind.

as barnikiel noted,you will also encounter fantastic lightning storms,some with wind,some without depending on the north- south position of the ITCZ.

during the N hemishphere hurricane season these squalls can often be accompanied with strong westerly winds,lasting hours,or sometimes days,so care is needed if anchored inside lagoons,in protected NE anchorages,that can very quickly become untenable in a westerly wind.

during the NE trade wind season you should expect good strong ENE trades once around 8-10 deg north of the equator,interrupted occasionally by typhoons that form in the ITCZ, tracking north as you get closer to the philipines,though generally typhoons do not reach full strength till further north.

during my last 2 crossings of the N pacific once north of the ITCZ we were at hull speed a lot of the time,taking in 1-2 reefs at night,very little traffic out there apart from Taiwanese tuna boats operating a 1000 miles from the nearest land!

lagoons can be very deep so having ground tackle enough to anchor in 30m+ is important,as is a good tender and outboard to get ashore with.

generally the locals are friendly,but beware if they are drinking and chewing beetle nut

permits/visas need to be arranged for some islands/atolls beforehand.

have fun and keep us posted

[barnakiel]

@OP

This is their route onwards as you asked in a PM.

A PM sent along too.

- Kiribati,
- Marshalls,
- Micronesia,
- Papua NG,
- Timor Este,
- Indoneisa,
- Christmas,
- etc.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
b.