According to Mark, we had an absolutely glorious sail—two nights of near full moon, nice seas (eventually), and all the romance of offshore cruising. According to me… I have no memory of this magical experience because I was busy being really ill.

We kicked things off under spinnaker, but Mark took it down early on the first night thanks to some decent squalls and wisely decided not to wrestle it again while sailing solo. Good call, considering his crew (me) was already useless by that point.

Yes, you read that right—I was completely out of action. Despite my heroic intake of paracetamol and sheer stubbornness, I came down with a fever just hours after departure and went down like a tree being felled.

We talked about turning back, but that quickly proved unrealistic—I couldn’t have handled ten minutes of sailing upwind, let alone hours. Diverting to Fakarava was also floated, but that would have involved side-on waves and, eventually, more punishment into the wind. Given my pounding headache and impressive seasickness performance, that idea was shelved. So, onward to Tahiti it was—the path of least suffering.

Luckily, after the initial squalls, the weather calmed down and the sailing became much more pleasant (for those conscious enough to enjoy it). Joe stepped in like a legend during the day so Mark could get some proper sleep. I made a few attempts to participate but mostly just confirmed that I was, in fact, still useless. I couldn’t keep down food, water, or even medication—an impressive level of inefficiency.

After about 24 hours, things finally started to improve. By the time we arrived in Tahiti this morning, the fever had gone, I could eat and drink again, and I had rejoined the living.

As for what caused it—hard to say. I do have a bit of bronchiectasis, which had been acting up recently. I optimistically thought a bit of jogging might “shake it out.” Turns out it may have just taken a virus to kick off a full-blown bacterial party in my lungs. Not uncommon, definitely not funny – and hopefully not to be repeated. Antibiotics should sort it out and get me back into exploring mode.

The good news: everyone else on Akuna is absolutely fine—just slightly sleep-deprived from carrying a non-functional crew member. Fingers crossed it stays that way.