Two years ago today, we radically changed our lives. At this very moment, we made a sharp turn into the South Pacific to find Maria-Theresa Island and reach the 37th parallel. You can find the chronicles of our voyage across the very far south of the Pacific at this link and in the posts surrounding the report it takes you to 🙂
THE DECISION to head for the 37th parallel
21 November 2018
A hot morning on the second day of our passage from Bora Bora. Nothing suggests any trouble ahead, and the yacht is slowly crawling west towards Suwarrow Atoll (originally Suvorov). I’m wondering whether we’ll have time to dash from Suwarrow to Samoa, get a New Zealand visa there, and then dash another two thousand miles to New Zealand between hurricanes. A week earlier, when a yachtsman on Raiatea heard about our plan, his eyes nearly popped out of his head: “Hurricane season is NOW! It’s already too late.”
While I furrowed my brow, trying, as usual, to work out how to have my cake and eat it too, Andryukha declared, “We can still turn for Cape Horn via the 37th parallel.”
This happened at the left-hand end of the red line )
I should say that the magic words “37th parallel,” spoken in the right tone, have a hypnotic effect on me.
That evening we joke about it. Nastya twirls a finger at her temple so emphatically that we decide to return to the subject in the morning.
22 November 2018
In the morning, the wind continues to set us south of the course laid for Samoa. Nastya is asleep after the night watch.
What makes our circumnavigation different from hundreds of others right now? The captain continues voicing my thoughts. “All right, we called at Easter Island and Pitcairn, but then what? We’re following the milk run, like everyone else. But once we round Cape Horn, we’ll become first among equals.”
The synergistic effect
of the mystical figures 37°11’,
the words “Maria-Theresa Island,”
and the “Marina’s ambitions” button exceeded even our own expectations. And with our eyes blazing, we carried on howling with laughter (I mean, we were only joking), discussing the details.
“Andryukh, what longitude are we at?”
“153.”
“Hang on, I’ll get the pilot book.” And from the cabin I bring Jules Verne’s In Search of the Castaways.
Our young sailor reads that very pilot book near Cape Horn
Opening the novel at the final pages, where Captain Grant, found on Maria-Theresa Island, reveals to his rescuers the secret of the document he cast into the sea in a bottle, I read: “This document was cast into the sea at 37°11’ south latitude and 153° west longitude...”
153 degrees (!) west, for crying out loud! That means 1,200 miles due south and we’re on Maria-Theresa Reef. Mmm... Shall we turn?
Andrei pulls out a paper Admiralty chart:
“Look, according to this, it’s at about 137 degrees longitude. And the electronic chart says the same.”
And so the first step of a scientific research expedition with the working title “Off Our Rockers” took shape:
We head south along the 153rd meridian to the 37th parallel, then follow it for about a thousand miles to the 136th meridian and check in person whether Maria-Theresa Reef exists.
Oh yes, and along the way we’ll call at the phantom reefs Jupiter, Wachusett, and Ernest Legouvé.
We discuss how we’ll sail east later, when we come back... Not seriously, we’re just laughing: “Let’s do it!.. Can you imagine?!” Joking, supposedly. Meanwhile, somehow, all by itself, our course is already south. Laduska will be up for any mad scheme as long as everyone agrees. All that remains is to motivate Nastya: she can’t stand bobbing around in the ocean any longer than necessary.
Studying a map of the Pacific Ocean
An offer that’s hard to refuse
And here she is. Instead of “good morning,” we say:
“Sweetheart, if our family had a coat of arms, its motto would be emblazoned on it: ‘Foolhardiness and courage!’”
Nastya’s eyes grow round. Somewhere at the edge of them, a tear trembles...
Strangely enough, by lunchtime we managed to persuade our sailor not to sob about her birthday and New Year being spent on a long, cold passage:
“What’s so great about celebrating your birthday in a hot, non-air-conditioned restaurant in Samoa? What, you’ve never been to a restaurant before? We’ll get to Patagonia in two months and celebrate there! And we’ll find Maria-Theresa Reef into the bargain :).”
And the innocent child gradually got used to the idea. By doing so, we cut off our own route to New Zealand during hurricane season, because to get the visa we had already applied for, we needed to confirm that we really were us. But in Samoa.
Our young sailor Lada took one look at all this and wrote on the white schoolboard with a marker: “The parents have gone mad.”
Cape Horn, approaching from the Pacific side. Our second rounding, as part of the flotilla welcoming Fyodor Konyukhov
Our YouTube channel has 12 episodes about the voyage to the phantom islands, Cape Horn, and Point Nemo.
Here’s the link to the film
Storm off Tabor Island
(you do know that’s the other name for Maria-Theresa Island, don’t you?)
DREAMS to everyone!
Wish us a happy little anniversary 🙂