Taking a four-month cruise sounds like a fabulous holiday. But when you only have about 22sq m of basic and cramped accommodation space to share with 16 other people, it will be something more akin to an adventure, Anette Seifert and Ian Bretherton say.
The Purakaunui couple are about to embark on a waka, or traditional twin-hulled canoe, which will sail for Tahiti from San Diego, California, later this month.
The crew will use only the sun, the stars, wind, waves, clouds and wildlife as navigation guides, as the ancient Polynesians did. Mr Bretherton said Haunui, an eco-friendly waka, one of seven on the voyage, relied mostly on wind and solar power, but was fitted with GPS, VHF radio and a satellite phone.
However, there would be no refrigeration and the crews would have to live on canned and dried food and rely on their fishing lines for fresh food.
"It's going to be pretty close quarters," Ms Seifert said.
The couple will travel from San Diego, south to Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), on to Cocos Island (off the coast of Costa Rica), the Galapagos Islands, the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia) and then Tahiti.
There might also be an option to continue on to the Solomon Islands.
The longest stretch at sea would be 24 days, Mr Bretherton said.
The couple were invited to take part in the voyage after Mr Bretherton volunteered as a crew member on a boat that followed five of the waka to film their maiden voyage from Auckland to Hawaii in 2010.
"It is a dream to be not just sailing, but to be a part of the bigger picture," Ms Seifert said.
"It's an opportunity to sail using traditional Polynesian techniques and to highlight the plight of our oceans."
While sailing with the film crew in 2010, Mr Bretherton said he saw "a carpet" of floating rubbish in the middle of the north Pacific Ocean - "it was about the size of Texas" - and decided he wanted to help highlight the issue.
Mr Bretherton has been sailing the Otago and Southland coastline since he was a boy, Ms Seifert has sailed on Spirit of New Zealand as a volunteer, and both sail their yacht regularly in Otago Harbour.
However, the voyage across the Pacific would put them both to the test, Mr Bretherton said.
The couple have quit their jobs at Dunedin Hospital - Mr Bretherton as a photographic technician in the eye department, and Ms Seifert as a paediatric nurse.
They will fly to San Diego on Friday, and set sail for Tahiti on Monday.
