We arrive in the pouring rain to the Vaka Hop’e. She’s standing just where I left her 9 months earlier. It’s been quite the journey to get here, flying from the Solomon Islands to Australia to assemble the team, then via Malaysia to the Philippines, where we take another domestic flight to Davao. I have no idea what to expect on the condition of the boat. My communication with the caretakers has been minimal as they don’t speak English and I always have to communicate through a friend who can translate. But I think I have been able to communicate our arrival..? We are met with smiles and the villagers recognize me from last year. But right now I only have one thing in sight – to see the Vaka Hop’e close up.
All four of us go into the rain to inspect our vessel. I know what to expect as I brought her here last year, but the other three have never seen the Vaka Hop’e before. I am so happy to see her and to find that she is looking in good shape! The others marvel at her beauty, commenting that she’s bigger than they thought and looks way nicer than expected. The cheap tarp covering the boat has been completely obliterated by the sun, and they have even put another one on top which looks equally bad. But underneath, the boat looks great! It will be a bit of cleaning, for sure, but I have hopes we will get her on the sea within a month. In my mind, I like to be realistic, but for the crew, I try to be optimistic and say that we can get her on the water in two weeks. I have an idea of what’s ahead of us, but the rest do not yet know what they have signed up for.
Finding a crew for such a crazy expedition voyage like this is not an easy task. First, you have to find people who are willing to participate in the crazy voyage, then they would need to have 4-5 months of time available, and finally, they need to be able to do it for free, or actually help participate in paying for all the living costs. That’s a tall order. Thankfully we are in an organization that attracts these kinds of people, and in 2023 I successfully recruited three students from our very first sailing school in Fiji. That school was focused on islanders, but we also had 5 lucky students from Western nations to participate. I had invited one from the Solomon Islands to participate in the school, and he was of course part of the crew. As for the other two, they had a heart for the Solomon Islands, but their skin was white.
Naomi was the first person ever who asked to become my crew, before I was even looking for anyone, back in 2022. I declined her then, but since we have been sailing together in Fiji twice and spending time in the Solomon Islands together, she has proven to be a worthy crew member. More than that, she has proven to be a worthy life partner, and we got engaged ahead of the voyage. Paul is a young American with a heart for adventure and skills in many trades. He showed up in the Solomon Islands on his DTS outreach in early 2023, and I saw in him right away that he had what it takes. He joined us in Fiji on the sailing school, even though he had to go home early due to malaria. Paul had hardly sailed before participating in the Vaka Hop’e voyage, but he had the right attitude and I had no doubts about him whatsoever. Sammy is from the Solomon Islands and was one of two Solomon Islanders who joined me sailing around Fiji for 3 months in 2022. He has a passion for the sea, and after the school in 2023, he was ready to take on the voyage. Actually, for a Solomon Islander to be traveling as much as he would is quite unique. Just getting a VISA to go to Australia was a massive achievement! Then traversing another four countries by sea is virtually unheard of.
We were all super stoked to finally see the boat we had been talking about for so long, and we were so thankful for arriving safely. It was starting to become dark, and soon one question arose. Where would we live? The boat was in the garden of a summer house belonging to a major, and I had assumed we would rent there, but the caretaker said that the toilet wasn’t working and that we should look for a different place. Half the village is holiday accommodation for Filipinos, so we went over and talked to another place, and even though they had room, it didn’t feel right. We came back to the summer house and arranged with a neighbor to use their toilet facilities and pay per visit. We were going to live on the sea where our toilet was going to be a hole in the deck, so we weren’t fussed. We soon made a list that we would cross off every time we went on number two at the neighbors’ place, and we soon got to know each other’s toilet habits.
With our accommodation sorted, we could move into our new house. We had brought a lot of stuff, and I had ordered a bunch of stuff for the boat, so we were soon really thankful for the large area to spread out on. Our lovely hosts would help with the cooking for a small fee, and we were super blessed with wonderful Filipino meals. Naomi wanted to do some cooking for ourselves, to get into boat life and cooking, but we soon found out that we would have our hands full with all the upcoming boat projects. Not only would we be cleaning everything, but we would also have some major setbacks and challenges as well.