Puddlejump and Coconut Milk Run Logs
The Grand Adventure Begins 04/01/07
So we
finally got it all together to leave for the
Marquesas Islands and points west. Of course the process had been
ongoing for as long as we’d owned Arabella (4 years), ever evolving
during our Mexican cruises, but in the last month in PV before our planned
departure “date” of March 21-30-ish things got intense. We decided to get the
engine looked at by an actual mechanic, and ended up replacing all the injector
nozzles and the closed system water pump, plus boiling out the heat exchanger,
changing all fluids, filters, belts, and some hoses…etc. And of course the
really glamorous job of rebuilding both heads went on as well, (done by yours
truly), along with countless other minor projects.
Then
there was the provisioning challenge- how much of just what would we need/want
for the next month or so we’d be far from any store, plus the next several
months knocking around the South Pacific after the passage. I won’t bore you
here with what we ended up getting, but suffice it to say, storage space got
really tight aboard, and of course we probably bought more than we really
needed.
Anyway,
John, (who has crewed for me numerous times, beginning with my Ranger 23),
arrived about the 15th of March, Barb left to drive north in the van
with Buddy on the 21st, Bob, (a good friend and owner of a Hunter
410), showed up around the 28th, and we actually pulled out of
Paradise (Village Marina) on the 31st, having decided to only go as
far as Punta de Mita since it was a Friday, and we didn’t want to break any
superstitions at the beginning of such an ambitious voyage. OK, so we might
have had small hangovers from pre-departure celebrations, and that may have
influenced our decision too. Of course any humor from leaving on April Fool’s
Day went right over our heads.
So we
began our voyage rested and in good spirits, and were rewarded with some of the
all-time best sailing I have ever experienced, which continued for almost two
weeks. The diesel ran for a few hours to get us free of the Tres Mariettas, and
for about 4 hours one night when the wind completely died, but that was it until
the ITCZ. We flew every combination of sail, from cruising chute, main, mizzen
staysail, and mizzen, to main alone, jib alone, spinny alone, and even a time
with the genny poled out to one side, and a free-flying (wire luffed) staysail
winged out on the other side. At one point the spinnaker halyard parted and we
lost use of it, but that’s a whole story in itself.
We
weren’t able to get the Hydrovane self steering system to work, (especially
after the mizzen preventor failed and the jibing boom sheared off the “sail”
part), and the autopilot used too much electricity unless we had the generator
or engine running, so we did a lot of steering; then the “bullet-proof”
Robertson autopilot went south, and we did even more. We think that may have
been part of the reason we made better time than lots of other boats, because I
believe no autopilot can steer as well as a live person. Since there were three
of us, we decided to do a “three on, six off” watch schedule, which had the
advantage of rotating time slots every day. As a result we each stood the
dreaded “dog watch” (3-6 am) every three days, and no one person was stuck with
it. Inevitably there were times when sail changes or small crises robbed us of
our off watch time, or we couldn’t sleep well due to the motion of a speeding
sailboat flying over waves, but we all stayed pretty well rested despite
everything. We just got a bit zombie-like after awhile, and looked for our
bunks every chance we had.
When we
got near the mystical waypoint of 5 north and 130 west, supposedly a good place
to dive south through the ITCZ, things became more interesting. We had some
cloudy days, our first rain-squall, flukey or non-existant wind from every
direction, and on Friday the 13th of April, my log says, ”Realized we
have nowhere enough fuel for the ITCZ (inter tropical convergence zone, 600
miles of no wind), going to have to sail every chance we get. Generator won’t
work, autopilot died, otherwise, the rain is really special…
Everything ended up OK, though. After a couple more days and nights the rain
squalls ceased, the SE trades started to tease us along, and after we crossed
the equator (with appropriate fanfare and hijinks of course) it again became a
textbook “good sail”. We finally caught a nice Dorado (Mahi-mahi in these
parts) on our last day underway. Arriving at Hiva Oa on the morning of April 23
was almost an anti-climax, and, though all were happy to arrive, we knew there
were many more sailing days to come between here and
Tahiti.
The informal Ship's
Journal is here
Island Time- Adjusting
to a New Culture 4/30/07
It was
quite a feeling of unreality to actually arrive at a destination (Hiva Oa) one
has dreamed of for years, read about from many different viewpoints, and planned
for as long as this. Nothing compares to actually being there. After the 22-23
(we’re not exactly sure) day passage, we were out of beer, cigarettes, fresh
food of any kind except for some really limp carrots and a loaf of
indestructible Bimbo bread. And of course we wanted to try to contact wives and
check e-mail. So we inflated the dinghy and made our way ashore, only to
discover since it was Sunday, everything was closed except one small “snack”-
the name for a lunch-type restaurant. They had pretty good hamburgers, great
French Fries (fancy that, in French Polynesia) and with a couple of beers, we
three paid about $75 for lunch. That was our first taste of Marquesas prices,
soon to be reinforced when we finally got a look at the inside of a “magazine”
which is what they call their markets. It was our goal that Monday to get
checked-in to the country, buy the stuff we wanted, and finally make contact
with the home front. After walking the mile or so from the anchorage to the
little town of Atuona, we found that checking in would be a two day process
(using Polynesian Yacht Services as our agent), and the magazines all closed
from 11:30 am
to 2:30 pm. Oh yeah, and you could only buy a phone card at one particular
store or the Post Office, only one store (a different one) had cigarettes, and
the only internet was at the post office, and also required a phone card. All
these things were taken in stride, and we accomplished most of our missions. I
bought three bottles of Tahitian rum for my upcoming birthday party, and it only
set me back $150…
On our
return to the boat that Monday, yours truly decided the time had come to attack
the rather ripe pile of dirty laundry that had begun to give my cabin a
distinctively unpleasant aroma. There are no laundry-mat type things in these
islands, but near the dinghy landing area they had a tile-covered shelf with a
faucet, and I had seen a fellow cruiser massaging her laundry there. “What the
heck”, says I, “it can’t be rocket surgery”, so off I went, leaving my crew
amusedly reading their books in the cockpit. I had two bulging bags of
odiferous clothing, a container of detergent, and a Rubbermaid storage bin, and
for the next three hours or so I discovered the immense sense of personal
satisfaction one can only acquire from doing something one had never thought one
would, or could, do. That’s my facetious way of saying I will never take clean
clothes for granted again. Since then I have become very good at rotating a few
things, washing them as I wash myself, and never wearing a shirt unless going in
public.
So
Tuesday rolled around, and we again did an expensive foraging foray into town,
this time spending 35000 francs ($350) on a couple of bags of food and a couple
cases of beer. I returned later and spent some more of the beautiful but
fast-disappearing bills on a few items for the b-day party, and we began to plan
for the event. We had made friends with several of the folks sharing the tiny
anchorage with us; since we were within a few meters of each other it was
easy. Wednesday, Linda from Wyntersea dropped off a wonderful pineapple
upside-down cake she made for me, and later we had an international group aboard
for cocktails: 2 Dutch, a German, a Pole, 2 Belgians, a Romanian, 2 Canadians,
an actual American family of three, and ourselves. Arabella was low on her
lines, and it looked like a used dinghy lot all around her, but we had a great
couple of hours before we took off for the restaurant for a great dinner.
Sometime during dinner, we finally noticed the beautiful tall lady with the low
voice who was serving us might actually not be a lady. She had a pretty face,
all made up, nice hairdo, etc. and was the first of many such we’ve seen since.
Seems like it’s a really well accepted part of the culture here, drag as a way
of life.
Anyway,
after a bit of recovery from the night before, we hoisted anchor on Thursday and
headed all the way to the next island, Tahuata, a whole 10 miles or so away.
The captain was feeling his 55 years, but the stalwart crew did all the work as
a kind of belated birthday present. We checked out a small bay that was
supposed to have lobsters jumping into your dinghy, but they must have sold more
than one copy of that
guidebook…
So we moved on down the coast a mile or two to famous Resolution Bay. This is
the beautiful bay Captain Cook liked so much he named it after his ship. There
was a small, very sleepy village there called Vaitahu, with two magazines, no
restaurants, but a very nice Catholic church. As we strolled around we heard
beautiful harmonies as the choir practiced for a few hours. Wish we’d had a
tape recorder. We were invited into a yard nearby by a friendly fellow named
Lulu, and shared a few Hinano beers with a group of men while trying to converse
in French, Spanish and Marquesan, with a bit of English. They wanted us to
return the following day to receive their gifts of bananas, pamplemuse
(delicious grapefruit-type things) and citrons (limes) but we never found them.
Instead a nice couple waved us into their yard and loaded us up with papayas,
bananas, limes, and served us delicious limeaid. We were invited to their
wedding the 26th of May, but sadly had to decline, since we’ll be in
Tahiti by then.
So
again we pulled the hook and headed back to Hiva Oa, but this time around the
corner, on the southwest end, to a bay called Hanamenu. It was another grueling
2 hour voyage across the Bordelais Channel, which did have a nice breeze blowing
that day. Hanamenu was supposed to be a deserted village, with a great swimming
hole nearby, but apparently a group is resettling there and we didn’t want to
infringe.
After a
peaceful night there, we took off early for the island of Ua Pou, some 60 miles
away to the west. We arrived at the very scenic harbor of Hakahau mid afternoon
to find some of our new friends from Hiva Oa anchored there: Dirk and Linda from
Jade, our Dutch friends who had birthday dinner with us, and Jack and
Linda from Wyntersea, who had been at our party, and had been
buddy-boating with Jade since the Pacific Northwest, all down the West Coast to
Manzanillo and across.
We
spent a nice couple of days enjoying the beautiful skyline of volcanic spires
and the mellow ambiance of the village there, with one great dinner at the one
restaurant, where the webcaptain had the best sashimi ever. Pretty sure it was
Wahoo, whatever they call that fish around here. For once we got away with a
pretty good deal- about $160 for 7 of us, including two bottles of wine. Almost
had to be a mistake.
That
almost brings us up to date, since we sailed the 25 miles or so to Nuka Hiva
yesterday, and are anchored in Tiaohae Bay, in front of the capital city of the
Marquesas, Tiaohae. Here they have lots of amenities like several restaurants,
shops, actual wifi internet, a dentist, who I shall be visiting tomorrow (today
is Labor Day, May 1, and all is closed), and we can get fuel and propane.
Somebody (wonder who?) forgot to make sure both tanks were full before leaving
Mexico, and it’s a good thing our special Barbeque tank had some in it…
Depending on what happens with the captain’s bad tooth, we’ll be heading out of
here one of these days soon, heading for the next island group, the Tuamotus.
It’ll be a 5 day passage most likely, and who knows what we’ll find in the way
of phone or internet, so we may not be in touch again until Tahiti. The Winlink
system, which allows one to transmit and receive e-mails at sea through the Ham
radio using a special modem, quit working weeks ago, and never worked very well
when it did work. My theory is it doesn’t like my Kenwood radio, and also
doesn’t like the new Windows Vista that my new computer uses.
That
about wraps it up for this thrilling installment of the Adventures of Arabella,
and if the internet connection will allow it, I’ll try to upload a few choice
pics for you to enjoy. If not, look forward to a mega-gallery or two once we
hit Papieete.
Till
then, Happy Sails to you,
Mike,
Bob and John, the three amigos
New Puddle Jump
Pics
Checking Out of the
Marquesas 05/26/07
So we
had a slight change of plans, and the crew flew out of Nuku Hiva instead of
continuing on to Papeete, where they had to be by the 31st. They
were replaced by Admiral Ladysailor herself, who flew in May 15. It was a happy change for Arabella, because finally
we are back to the two of us who know, understand, and love her, and we share
the same attitudes about life and cruising. Also the time constraint is
removed- no more deadlines to meet or hurrys to be in. I understand some people
are bound by their “real life”, but this is my real life, and I
like to enjoy every minute of it. Now we can relax and experience this
beautiful place at a cruiser’s pace. Bottom line is, this should have been
“plan A”.
We did
a little anchorage-hopping around Nuku Hiva to get Barb’s sea legs working,
kicked back and got some business taken care of (taxes, and bills, uggggg) but
thanks to the great wifi hotspot in Taohae Bay, we could do it all from the
comfort of the boat. Changed oil and filters, topped off fuel and water, loaded
provisions and set off for Manihi, our first stop in the Tuamotu Group, on 5/24.
Right now we’re about halfway there, sailing along in bright sunshine, and all
is good. One thing I discovered, though, was a sneaking suspicion of mine was
correct. I was talking with Maotai at the Yacht Services branch there at Nuku
Hiva, and noticed he collected lots of used oil from yachts, and he mentioned,
“we take it to the station and they just dump it into the tank”. I had been
hoping it was the used oil tank, but no, my fears were proven justified when I
changed a fuel filter enroute. There, in the dim light of the engine room, I
saw what had made the 120 liters of fuel smell like burnt old crankcase oil. It
was recycling, Nuku Hiva style. Engine seems to run fine on it, just hope my
filter supply doesn’t run low.
5/28
(continuing) So here we are pleasantly, though literally, stuck in the lagoon
at the Tuamotu island of Manihi, wrapped up tight on some coral heads 65’ below,
invisible to us. At first we thought we’d made a poor choice of location for
the anchor, (probably did) but I wouldn’t be surprised if 90+% of those who drop
the hook anywhere around here experience the same fate. At least we don’t have
to worry about dragging into that major coral island-type deal right behind us…
Entering the pass to come in caused us a bit of trepidation, I don’t mind
admitting, since it was “our first”, but luckily our timing was good and fears
were unfounded. We slid right in towards the end of the afternoon flood, and
then the fun began, since the C-map electronic chart had no details for this
particular atoll, and the cruising guides were less than complete in their
information. So we just kind of winged it and eventually found the marked
channel that goes around inside the whole circumference of the atoll.
Anyhow,
it’s beautiful here, the locals are extremely kind and generous people, and it’s
so nice to be on an unrocking-boat after the little (4.5 day) passage from the
Marquesas. Maybe the 23 days of rocking and rolling on the crossing just put me
off it or something, I don’t know…
We’ve
been promised a diver, but he hasn’t made it the last two days, so we may be
looking to ask the Pearl Hotel dive shop guys for help. Have a feeling it may
be a crummy job nobody wants to do, working blind down
65 feet wrestling anchor chain off coral heads. Maybe
there’s a big business salvaging anchors and chain- who knows. Meanwhile we
won’t mind being here a week or two and figuring it out.
06/08/07 It turned out to be just over a week before we finally bid sad farewell
to our “newest favorite place”. There’s something cool about being inside a
hollow island, which is kind of what an atoll is, where you are protected from
the sea, but you can see it all around you through spaces between the motus that
surround you. There was some honkin’ wind for several days, and we were glad to
be safely stuck inside our island sanctuary while the seas kicked up outside.
On our
last Sunday, the webcaptain went into town to see if the store might be open for
a bit after church, but struck out. There were some locals sitting around under
a tree playing music, though, who invited me over and offered a few Hinanos for
a very enjoyable afternoon’s entertainment. I invited a few of them out to the
boat for a curry dinner the next night, and we had a great time sharing stories
and enjoying more of their fantastic music.
Anyway,
as we exited the pass, after the Blue Nui dive shop guys got our anchor loose
for a mere $80, we happened to be below when smoke-appearing stuff began
billowing out around the engine room door. We were grateful Arabella waited
until we were safely out before she blew out her exhaust riser. Oh well, says
we, we be sailing folk, and this here’s a sailing boat, so what’s the problem?
We’ll figure something out before we need the engine again, no doubt. It did
curtail our time in the Tuamotus, though, because we didn’t figure it out until
we were almost to Tahiti. Sailing in and out of atolls is for a braver, (or
dumber?) guy than me! I found it hairy enough just motoring in and out of one,
at the correct time of day, with the tide just right…
OK, back
to the exhaust riser. For those who don’t know about sailboat engines, there is
a short length of pipe through which the HOT exhaust gasses exit the engine,
before they get mixed with water and thence expelled through the hull just above
the waterline. This vertical section of pipe is wrapped up mummy-style with
asbestos cloth, which is why I never saw what must have begun as a small crack,
finally becoming the complete break in the threaded nipple piece. Show me
someone who unwraps their exhaust line periodically to check for cracks and I’ll
show you someone who doesn’t look anything like me.
So we
had a special repair problem. Whatever we used to patch the pipe had to be
airtight and extremely heat resistant, plus vibration resistant…and no, I don’t
carry muffler tape aboard, though I will from now on. I was hoping I had some
epoxy putty aboard, but all I could find was Marine-Tex (an epoxy with filler,
used mostly to patch fiberglass), which wasn’t exactly the right stuff. I also
had some self-amalgamating tape aboard that Buddy’s old dad, Mike McNeal gave me
for a new-boat present four years ago, and I remembered he said it was silicone,
and heat resistant. My first repair attempt consisted of filling the break with
marine-Tex, then wrapping up the area with the tape, and it lasted for a minute
or two before failing. I thunk and thunk about it, and finally the next day a
lightbulb exploded in my head and I visualized a sturdy Mexican can with both
ends removed, split and wrapped around, secured with hose-clamps, and filled
with Marine –Tex. By golly, that worked long enough for us to get inside the
lagoon and anchored here at Tahiti. It was a bit scary since we had to sail as
long as we could, so arrived an hour or two after twilight had turned into
pitch-blackness. There were good lighted markers into the lagoon, though, and
thankfully it was so dark we didn’t see how featureless and treacherous the
entrance is, if you didn’t have the markers.
By the
way, the passage was a mixed bag, pretty good sailing in sunshine the first day,
sun and squalls the second, then the third day really overcast, rainy and ugly,
(with no wind) turning into a glorious afternoon and sunset as we beam-reached
at 6 knots approaching Tahiti.
Today
we’ll try to get a slip somewhere and begin the process of getting Arabella
back into shape. We’ll have to find a good mechanic-plumber to fix the exhaust
riser, an electronics guy to fix the auto-pilot, and send Lucy a list of stuff
to bring when she flys in next month. (06/15 note: we found a spot at the
Tahiti Yacht Club dock, a stern-to med style with 220 power, but we're loving
the convenience of being dockside with water and power to spare (now that we
solved the transformer problem) and the mechanic has taken our exhaust manifold
and mixing elbow away to work on getting them right again.)
Meanwhile we think we’re going to enjoy the Society of the Society Islands!
Tune in later for more hilarity and hijinks from the good ship “Hairybelly”.
Best to
You,
Mike
‘n Barb (we sure do miss our Lil' Buddy)
New Marquesas to Tahiti Pictures are up!
(Click Here)
Boat Repair in Papeete
07/11/07
The
Tahiti Yacht Club has turned out to be the best place we could have looked for
to get Arabella back in shape. Michel, the nicest and most relaxed guy we’ve
ever encountered in the capacity of marina manager, and one of the best sailors
around, personally came out to tow us in with the club’s large RIB and get us
med-tied to the dock with no fuss, though it was tricky maneuvering.
This
place is small and friendly like a family. Michel didn’t even ask me to fill
out any paperwork, show proof of insurance, my docs, anything. Just smiled and
said “You’re not in California anymore” and handed me a key to the great shower
rooms and laundry room. Our next-boat neighbor is a retired French Customs
sailor who served as Chief Engineer here and the Caribbean island of
Martinique. His name is also Michel, but he likes us to cal him Michael.
He immediately offered to drive us around anywhere, anytime, and is a delightful
individual who has rebuilt a fire-damaged Amel Maramu to almost-new condition.
Did I mention it’s only $17/night here, and water and power are included?
Michel called Supermechanic Herve of Api Yachting for me, and set up a visit for
the following day. Herve did a great job replacing my rusted galvanized exhaust
header and mixing elbow with beautiful “inox” (what they call stainless here) in
about a week, though he was already totally booked and busy running his sail
loft and small haul-out yard. He then arranged for us to get hauled out at
another yard, since his was full, so he could work on our leaking dripless
packing and pull the tranny out for rehab. That was done in another week,
during which time we enjoyed the drums and singing competitions held nightly
during Haieva, the big annual festival, and had a beautiful view of the main
pass into Papeete, the green mountains, Moorea, the harbor, and the sunsets. We
also had a great view of the best fireworks we’d ever seen July 2nd,
which was Autonomy Day, the local version of Independence Day back home.
While
waiting for these repairs, the webcaptain and Ladysailor tried to see as much of
Tahiti as our limited budget would allow, and even took a ferry across to Moorea
to welcome the Tahiti Tourism Cup rally fleet July 7. We splurged that day and
rented a car for 4 hours, though it took only two to drive completely around.
We’re
back at the yacht club awaiting the arrival of daughter Lucy in a few days, then
we’re off to Moorea, Raietea and Bora Bora.
By the
way, after the Marquesas and Tuamotus, the selection, quality, and price of
everything is a very welcome change for the better. It’s still far from
inexpensive, for example the wifi costs $5-6/hr, but that’s cheaper than Barra
de Navidad! We’ve made some great friends here, and will be very sad to go. No
wonder they limit all visas to 90 days.
Update 07/26/07, In
Raietea
Lucy
left yesterday, and the boat feels a bit empty. We did have a great visit,
though, and hope she took lots of lifetime memories home with her. We spent the
weekend after her arrival in Papeete doing the tourist thing, and Monday our
good friend Michael drove us completely around the island, at least as far as
roads go (the road stops at Tuahupoo, a legendary surf spot on the “small end”,
Tahiti Iti) and ended the day with a drive up to Le Belvedere, a small
restaurant/bar atop a mountainous perch overlooking Papeete. It was a
breathtaking view, and a heart-stopping drive on a one lane, two way road.
Somehow, thanks to Michaels great diving, we survived!
By
Wednesday we were ready for the overnight 80+ mile passage to Huehine, a fine
sail all the way, during which Lucy got to experience night sailing and watch
standing all at once. She did great, but was disappointed the autopilot didn’t
work once again, as were we all. We arrived at the anchorage early enough to
enjoy a day of swimming, napping, snorkeling, and hanging out on the beach. As
we pulled up the hook the following morning, however, the windlass began to trip
the breaker a few times, then quit entirely, probably due to a thermal cut-out,
so the webcaptain got to show off his manly strength pulling the rest of the
chain and anchor aboard. We won’t go into what his back felt like later that
day.
After
another fine sail across the 20 mile or so channel to Raietea that got us in by
early afternoon, we lucked into a mooring ball right outside Carenage Raitea,
for only $12/night. It was here we were introduced to Richard Neufeld, a
Canadian “electronicien”, who thinks he can fix the windlass and autopilot.
We’ll find out today, I guess, since he’ll be done with them. In the meanwhile
we’ve had a relaxing time here, while the wind howled for a couple of days.
There is an extremely well stocked “magasin” nearby, accessable by dinghy, and
day before yesterday we rented a little car for 4 hours and did a drive around
this beautiful, unspoiled island. We finally got a look at a pearl farming
operation, and watched the technician expertly extract black pearls and replace
them with fresh “nuclei”, round shell-balls which take about 18 months to become
covered with the lustrous nacre that makes them so valuable. Apparently the
oysters can make up to 7 pearls in their lifetime, but are usually only asked to
make 4 before being “retired” (and consumed).
We also
visited the most important ancient religious site in the islands, outside of
Easter Island, and dropped in on a vanilla plantation, where the orchid-like
plants produce those valuable beans that make the ice cream taste so good.
Anyway,
we’re on borrowed time here, since our visas have run out, at least mine has,
and we’ve yet to visit Bora Bora. We’re hoping to have our electro-mechanical
systems up and running in the next day or two, then we’re off for a quick visit
over there, then we’re off to Raratonga in the Southern Cooks.
Small update
08/05/07- We had a nice run to Bora Bora, not much wind, and we wanted to test
the engine and charge batteries, so we motor-sailed across. One disturbing
development was a high oil pressure reading (it's always high, but this was
really high). Took out pressure relief valve, and it seems fine, so may
replace the oil filter and see if that helps. We've been on a mooring in
front of Bora Bora Yacht Club for a couple of days, and are getting ready to
head in for a Tahitian-style barbeque today (Sunday). This place is really
beautiful, with perfect tranquility except for the airport shuttle boats zooming
back and forth all day leaving big wakes. I guess we're just getting ready
for several days of rockin' and rollin' on our way to Raratonga! Probably
leave in the next day or two. Added
a few pics of Bora Bora
for you.
Here’s
hoping for some nice weather for that 6 day passage!
Happy
sails, one and all,
Mike
and Barb
Au Revoir to French
Polynesia 08/17/07
Here we
are, in tiny Avarua Harbor on tiny Rarotonga in the Southern Cook Islands,
med-moored to the quay (thanks to helpful cruisers helping us get in) waiting
for a weather window to continue on to Niue, then Tonga. We had a pretty
uneventful 4 day passage from Bora Bora until the last 24 hours blew up to 30
knots with up to 15 foot seas. We’re happy to say Arabella took it in
stride, romping along at 5-6 knots under double-reefed main alone, and we did
too, once we stopped trying to fight it and just settled down and hung on. Wind
and seas were almost directly abeam, so we were sailing in the trough. Not
usually where you want to be, but somehow it all worked fine, with just an
occasional bucketful of seawater into the cockpit. You can read the First
Mate’s log for her take on it, she’s the “color man” and I just give the play by
plays.
Anyway,
I guess there’s a minor tropical disturbance, or depression, or whatever they
call it nearby, and we opted to stay put until things moderate some. “Raro” is
beautiful, the people are lovely, and since they are affiliated with New
Zealand, English is the official language. Wow! If they didn’t drive on the
left side of the road it might almost feel like home. Ever since we’ve been
cruising, people have been speaking languages we don’t understand, although we
were starting to get to about a kindergarden level in Spanish. Then we got to
the Marquesas, Tuamotus, and Societies and had to start over trying to figure
out French. I took it for a couple of years in school (6th and 7th
grade, IIRC) but that was a long time ago, and I got consistent C- grades in
it. Not much sank in, as you might guess.
So this
little blog is going to be about what we loved, and what we didn’t love, about
French Polynesia, that rather large area encompassing the Isles Marquise,
Gambier, Australs, Tuamotus, and Societies.
Probably the main thing we didn’t love, apart from the language barrier, was the
expense of being there. Maybe if we didn’t drink, smoke, use the internet, need
to buy fuel or fix the boat it wouldn’t have been so bad, but food was pretty
expensive too. The deals were the fresh tuna and the baguettes, and maybe the
local produce from the public market. We kept wondering how the locals could
afford to live there, and decided they must all be rich.
What we
loved was just about everything else. The scenery was varied and all
breathtakingly beautiful, the indigenous people proud, fun-loving, beautiful,
and down-to-earth, and the French polite, also fun-loving, and gracious in their
role as hosts and administrators. We learned a lot about how civilized
Europeans live, and how the Islander’s ways are no less civilized, just
different in a few different customs. It really opened our eyes to see how
Americans are regarded with a mixture of envy and distain. The distain part is
mostly directed at the government, but there are things about our society that
they just don’t understand, though they regard California (and Los Vegas) as
some kind of Promised Land, much as so any of us regard the South Pacific. It’s
really kind of funny.
A few
random observations: There is no “work ethic” per se among the Polynesian
people. They work when and if they have to, but there are more holidays and
times when businesses are closed than you could believe. As a result, the
Chinese that were brought in to perform menial labor a century ago now own about
every business there is. Apparently a similar situation exists in Fiji, except
it’s the Indians (those’d be the ones from India) who were “imported” and now
own everything.
Another
thing is the way booze is controlled. The stores, except for the big ones in
Tahiti, all close about noon Saturday and don’t open Sunday, so there is no way
to buy any alcohol but from a bar all weekend. There were no “liquor stores” at
all. On the weekend, the cold beer was unavailable at the big store, because I
guess locals would sit outside the store and drink all day. This despite the
outrageous cost ($2-3 per 12 oz beer by the six-pack in Tahiti, and up to $4-5
in the Marquesas).
Hardly
anybody jogs, but everybody paddles outrigger canoes for exercise.
When
using an ATM, if you’ve exceeded your daily limit or have insufficient funds, it
merely says “receipt printer out of order” and gives you back your card. How
nice not to be embarrassed in front of the people waiting in line!
There
are tons more things, but I can’t think of them now. Need to learn to scribble
things down as I think of them.
We’re
hoping for a nice mellow passage to Niue and Tonga, then relaxing for awhile
before heading for Fiji. I sprained my knee in the midst of the exciting
passage from Bora Bora, and it needs to heal. By the way, do you know why they
call it a “sprain”? Well, let me try to sprain it to you…bad-a-boom.
Hope
all is well with each and every one of you who reads this.
With
warm South Pacific love,
Mike
and Barb
NewTahiti,
Huehine, and Raietea pics are up!
It Takes Two to
Tonga
09/13/07
Malo e
lelei! (Greetings in Tongan, as you may have guessed),
We have
found our new favorite place here in the Vava’u Group of the Kingdom of Tonga.
This place is so beautiful, people so friendly, such a variety of completely
calm and protected anchorages, great prices on a wide selection of goods and
services, English spoken by everyone… that we are in total cruiser bliss. And
did I mention it’s beautiful?
Anyway,
to backtrack a bit, we finally left
Rarotonga
August 22, and had a mostly easy 4.5 day passage to Niue, with light air the
first couple of days, then a bit of wind (20-25 knots) with showers here and
there for the remainder of the time. We were wondering when we would get to the
warm, gentle South Pacific tradewind sailing we had always heard about! We were
a little worried about whether or not a mooring would be available for us in
Niue, since it has a reputation for being a hard place to anchor, and we heard
there were a lot of boats there already. Sure enough, the moorings were all
full when we arrived, and we had a couple of days of precarious anchoring until
the crowd thinned out and we finally were able to snag a ball.
Niue is
a very interesting island, with unique terrain. It is 4 times larger than
Rarotonga, but known as “The Rock” because it has no encircling reef, and is
composed of limestone and lava, thrusting up very steeply from deep ocean.
There are no beaches; instead a uniform steep cliff rises about 100 feet
straight up, with thousands of blowholes, caves, and crevasses to cause
spectacular explosions of white water as the Pacific swells come crashing in.
There are no mountains; the center part of the almost circular island is flat or
slightly dished, and the entire island is covered with lush rainforest. There
really isn’t a harbor, either, but on the leeward (Northwest) side there is a
shallow bay sheltered from the worst of the wind and swells, where the main town
is located, and the 16 moorings are maintained by the Niue Yacht Club. There
used to be several more, but three years ago they had a direct hit from a
cyclone, and the two-ton concrete blocks simply disappeared, along with most of
the buildings ashore. Much has been rebuilt, but there are many reminders of
the devastation still apparent all over the island, and abandoned homes
everywhere due to half the population moving off-island in the aftermath. This
place sets a new standard for uncrowded, mellow, and relaxed, with the clearest
water we’ve ever seen, and some of the friendliest folks you could ever meet.
We thought we’d only be there a few days, but instead spent a delightful week
and a half enjoying the gracious hospitality and natural beauty we found there.
The
passage to Tonga was a pretty easy 48 hours, with only one very spunky, windy
(30+ knots) and wet little squall to spice up the sail. Barb was lucky enough
to be on watch when it hit us, and looked like the proverbial drowned rat as the
cockpit almost filled up with rain in about 5 minutes, overcoming the capacity
of the two drains. We decided then we didn’t really need the headsail, and once
again we were blasting along at 5-6 knots under double-reefed main alone for the
rest of the way, trying to sail slowly enough not to arrive before dawn
September 9th. The two day trip actually took three days, however,
since we crossed the International Dateline and Saturday suddenly became Sunday.
Once we
found the channel that winds it’s way into this very protected anchorage off the
town of Neiafu, we knew this was going to be a really special place. When
we were finally
out of the ocean swells, with seemingly hundreds of perfect green islands
everywhere we looked, Tonga seemed to embrace us in her warm arms. Supposedly
there are 40 anchorages within a 2 hour sail, few coral heads to worry about,
and inviting beaches everywhere. We were greeted by a humpback whale as we came
in, showing off for us completely fearlessly. The internet works well, with
fast wifi here on the boat, and we’ll be posting a bunch of new pictures in the
very near future.
We’re
thinking this will be where we’ll come back to first from New Zealand when we
get back on the boat in 2008, and who knows, maybe spend most of the season
right here, since we really won’t have time to explore more than a tiny fraction
of it this time.
That’s
about it for now, but I may add some more in a day or two, so stay tuned!
With
best wishes for everyone,
Mou
nofo a e,
Mike
and Barb
Rarotonga and Niue Pix
Fiji Here We Come 09/24/07
It’s
been a fast two weeks here, and though we’re really reluctant to leave, the
season is ending fast, and we have friends who want to visit us in Fiji, so it’s
time to say farewell to Tonga. We know it’s not too hard to sail back here from
New Zealand, though, and we’ll come back next season for sure.
The
town of Neiafu was full of great restaurants, like the Dancing Rooster that
featured an all-you-can-eat barbeque dinner every Wednesday night, with chicken,
fish and lamb on the grill, and several delicious side dishes and salads, all
for 30 panaaga, or about $15. Needless to say, they probably lost money on me!
But it was a fun night (we actually went twice) for socializing with other
cruisers. You can count on that group never passing up a good deal on good
food.
It was
also big fun watching the Rugby World Cup playoffs at the local watering holes,
mainly Tonga Bob’s. There were enough Ozzies and Brits around to explain the
game, and I discovered it’s a pretty exciting (and rugged) game. The game
between the US and Tonga came on about 12 AM local time, which was a little
inconvenient, but it was pretty close until the end,; Tonga only won by 10
points or so, IIRC. There were only about three of us in the room rooting for
the US,
but we were tolerated… barely!
One day
we took a guided tour of the island on dune buggys, which was a real hoot,
barreling down muddy tracks hacked out of the jungle and stopping at several
lookout points on the remote edges of the island. The dune buggy tour business
was associated with the Aquarium Café, which also provides the WiFi as well as
some of the moorings available to rent. It was one of several businesses owned
and operated by Americans or Canadians here, mostly ex-cruisers who decided
they’d finally found their Shangri-La here in Tonga. To say this place is
cruiser friendly would be a major understatement. There is a morning radio net
sponsored by these local folks, when they provide weather reports, tide info,
buy-sell-swap-giveaway, etc. as well as “commercials” to alert new arrivals to
what is available here.
So… we
finally cleared out and got away from Neiafu harbor on Friday, thinking we’d hit
the high C’s Saturday. It was not to happen, though, because as we left the
anchorage at Morelle, we noticed that the engine wouldn’t make more than 1600
RPMs, even at full throttle, not a good thing. Usually it will run easily at
2000, and will give 2500 before the governor kicks in. It seemed like a good
idea to turn around and see what was up. That was actually a serendipitous turn
of events because Saturday night was the big Tongan feast night at Ono beach,
and the Annual Music Jamfest party was also scheduled that night on the other
side of the same anchorage at La Paella restaurant. We really didn’t want to
miss those two things, and it was as good a place as any to have a look at our
mechanical problem. After a friend had a look at our prop to make sure there
wasn’t a bag on it, or some line wrapped on the shaft, we thought maybe we had a
clogged fuel filter or air filter. The puzzling thing was that the engine
revved up fine in neutral, but we reasoned that maybe it demanded more fuel
under load. That turned out to be correct, because after changing the oil and
replacing the oil and fuel filters, she fired up and ran like a top when we took
a spin around the bay here.
The
feast, with delicious local foods and great local music and dancing, and the
fantastic jam session later, made for a truly unforgettable evening. We were
really glad Arabella decided she wanted us to hang around.
We
decided to wait one more day to leave, because we had forgotten to buy a few
things in town before we left, and the kind folks at La Paella offered to pick
them up for us today (Monday) when they made their weekly trip into town. Since
we’re already cleared out of the country, we can’t go back to town without
checking back in, and that would be a big hassle. So this afternoon we plan to
finally take off for Fiji, even though there is a fat high pressure system to
the south, and the breeze should prove to be pretty robust. At least we won’t
have a slow passage, though. The approach to Fiji looks rather challenging due
to a bunch of small islands and reefs to the east of the main islands, but we
will try to have daylight when we get there to help pick our way through. We
hope to be in Savusavu by Friday.
09/27/07 Update
We're back in
Neiafu after a harrowing night at anchor being blown by a sudden storm almost
into the rocks, and realizing we need clean laundry, food, water, booze, and
some internet based weather reports. It turned out to be no problem
re-checking into this place, and it was like coming home when we hit the streets
here.
Last night was
like some kind of anti-cruising ad, with a mellow evening turning into pure caca
in a matter of seconds. Suddenly the wind reversed direction from
northwest to due south and started blowing 25-35 knots! We went from
a comfortable situation to a boat (and maybe life threatening) one so fast we
could hardly make it up to the cockpit in time to observe it. Barb was
like some kind of Viking Goddess as she abandoned cooking dinner and took the
helm as we started the engine and strove to keep Arabella off the rocks that were suddenly
close and hungry to eat her up. Later Barb said it was like playing one of her
computer video games, keeping our bow pointed away from the rocks and not
letting us get too far ahead of the anchor. Finally we deployed another
anchor to hold us away from the rocks, but Barb held us off with pure willpower
for at least two hours. Shortly after the other anchor was set, the wind
began to die down, and by 2:00 am it was as calm as if it had never blown and
rained ice pellets at all.
The engine
previously seemed
to be fixed, but today wouldn't do 2000 RPMs, so we are still in the dark as far
as what exactly it's problem is. Likewise we have no clue why our
generator suddenly won't charge the batteries without changing speeds and acting
erratic. It's all part of the FUN of cruising! That's it!
Gotta love it or go nuttso.
09/30/07 The
weather is supposed to moderate for the next few days, so tomorrow we prepare
once again to leave for Fiji, and Tuesday hit the open ocean once again.
Please wish us luck!
Tonga Pix
A Wet Ride to
Fiji
- update 10/07/07
We
sailed away from Vava’u on a bright sunny Tuesday morning last week, confidently
in company with our friends on Jade, who had paid a weather guru in NZ
for a “good weather window”, along with Wintersea, Sand Dollar, Noordeson,
and a few others. We were supposed to have moderate winds and no rain until
perhaps Friday, but of course we should have known it was not to be. These
weather guys work from the same computer models we always consult, and a
computer is only working from statistics and probabilities- there are no crystal
balls involved. Anyway, at least we didn’t see any wind over 30 knots, and no
seas over 15 feet, but the rain was relentlessly, soakingly, intrusively
constant, and all agreed it was about the crummiest 3.5 day passage they’d ever
experienced. The main concern was lack of visibility while traversing the reef
and small island studded waters surrounding Fiji, since none of the lighthouses
were working, and we had to rely on our electronic charts being accurate-
something we don’t usually like to do. We suffered a huge rip in our mainsail,
luckily below the second reef, and lost a blade off our wind generator during an
especially strong gust. A tired bird may have tried to land on it, or it may
have just blown off, we don’t know. The good news is, everybody made it safely,
and once here, we have been enjoying some nice sun, with only occasional light
showers.
After a
few days here, we’re again thinking we have found our new favorite place. The
Waitui Marina,
(which is really a mooring field of high-tech Helix Moorings) here at Savusavu is in a beautiful setting,
with green hills all around, and a view of the large bay bounded by the distant
rim of the ancient caldera. It is run by a very nice couple who have
cruised extensively and also have a business manufacturing LED arrays for
yachts. When you arrive, they notify the authorities, and bring them to
your boat, for a very painless and actually quite pleasant check-in. There
is a good restaurant here, featuring fantastic Eastern food for extremely good
prices, a great bar upstairs with a sweeping view of the harbor, free very clean
and nice private shower rooms, free rubbish disposal, a nice dinghy dock with
free water handy, a laundry service, and a central location close to a
supermarket and liquor store. It's almost too perfect--we may never leave!
They say the helix Moorings are cyclone-proof, and we just may test them out
this season.
The
island people here are even friendlier than the
Tongans; an interesting blend of indigenous and imported Fijians, mostly from
India, along with the descendents of the colonial settlers. We met a really fun
older gal at the Planter’s Club last evening who pointed out the hilltop where
her great, great, great, great, grandmother was buried. After the six
generations her family has lived here, she still retains a British accent and
the old world civility and manners one would expect to see in upper class
English society. By the way, the Planter’s Club is a bastion of the
colonial-era descendents, but has relaxed its Whites Only policy and now has
members of all races, but with some exclusivity remaining. All "bona fide"
visitors to the area are welcome, even though I was the only one
there wearing a tie-dye shirt and sporting pony tail hair. I was politely asked
to lose the ball cap, though. We’re still trying to figure that one out,
but suspect it dates back to colonial times.
So
Katherine arrives Wednesday, and we are looking forward to a fun couple of weeks
enjoying her company before we have to think about getting ready to either make
the 1100 mile passage to New Zealand, or get the boat ready to leave here. We
waited too long to reserve a spot at Vuda Point, where they dig a hole for the
keel and set the boat down into it, but we may get lucky if there is a
cancellation. Otherwise, we’re hoping the autopilot part Katherine is bringing
us will cure the malfunction, and we won’t have to hand steer as we have been
since the Marquesas. Everybody we talk to can’t believe we haven’t had a
functioning autopilot for so long, but we’ve just gotten used to steering, I
guess. Hand steering for 9 or 10 days straight would be too much though, and
we’re not going to try it with just the two of us.
Look
for another update around the end of the month, and by then we may know what
we’re doing!
All the
best to you from Beautiful Savusavu, Fiji,
Best to all,
Mike and Barb
Digging Denarau 11/01/07
It
seems like much longer than a bit over three weeks since the last update…I guess
time’s fun when you’re having flys. We had an extremely wet 2 weeks in Savusavu
and Katherine got to have an exciting time doing absolutely nothing during her
visit because we just didn’t want to move the boat in the crummy weather, and on
top of that Barb was sick with a cold practically the whole time. We did go
snorkeling one day and saw a few fishies, but it was very frustrating for me
because I had hoped to show Katherine a much more interesting time. I had hoped
to take the boat on a leisurely trip over to the Nadi area- showing her more of
Fiji, as well as getting her close to the airport for her return flight. But
with the crummy weather continuing, we began to think we’d just leave the boat
right there on a helix mooring at
Waitui Marina in Savusavu and fly home shortly after Katherine left.
The problem was, the PSS “dripless” packing
system (the seal around the prop shaft) was leaking so badly that the bilge
pump was going every half hour, making me none too happy with that plan. If the
batteries went flat or the bilge pump failed for whatever reason, the boat would
be on the bottom pretty quickly. Another factor in the mix came in the form of
an e-mail from Vuda Point Marina
saying they’d had a cancellation and there was a “hole spot” available for
Arabella. This was really a preferable option from the peace-of–mind
standpoint, even if we fixed the leaky shaft seal, since we’d be so far away
from the boat for so long during cyclone season.
The
real clincher to this whole scenario was a dramatic improvement in the weather
right after Katherine departed. All of a sudden the “slow-moving low pressure
trough” that had been hovering over Fiji for weeks decided to move on, and there
were 4 days of calm, sunny, wind-free conditions predicted. It meant a
motorboat ride, but what the hay, the engine needed some exercise, and it would
give us a great opportunity to test our newly repaired autopilot as well. By
the way, the new $1600 hydraulic linear drive unit that Katherine brought
dropped in perfectly, but turned out not to solve the whole problem-the old one
was just tired and noisy. The real problem turned out to be a blown diode in
the junction box (a $0.006 part) which Michael from Bebi electronics replaced
for a mere $100.
So we
decided to bug out of
Savusavu (on Vanua Levu) and head over to the
Nadi area (on Viti Levu).
In addition to the foregoing reasons, we could get our torn mainsail to the
sailmaker for repair and get me to a
doctor in Suva for some health issues that needed looking into. Though we left
port on a Friday, supposed to be bad luck, we did the required 360 degree turn
as we left, which is supposed to undo bad juju. It must have worked, because we
had an absolutely delightful 4 day trip right up until the last 5 miles or so.
In company with our friends on Increscent Moon, the first day we only
tried to get 30 miles or so, making it to Koro Island by 4:00 PM. We don’t know
why there was absolutely no info about this island in any cruising guides or
tourist guides, but it was a really sweet spot to stop after our first leg, and
we left about 6:00 am for the next stop on Nangani Island, about 40 miles, which
we pulled into about 2:30 pm, in time for a little snorkeling. There was some
great coral and lots of fish to see through very clear water. Another early
start the next day got us all the way up to the Northeast corner of
Viti Levu (the “main
island” of the Fiji group) and another 10 miles or so west across the top of the
island to a place called Tinaki or something like that. It was not too special
a spot, but had good holding, so we slept well. The last day we again got an
early start, and had an uneventful ride all the way to Lautoka, when the sky got
dark and ugly really fast. As we rounded Vuda point, the wind was suddenly
right on the nose and blowing in the high 20’s, but we only had to make it about
5 more miles across the bay to
Port Denarau,
so it could have been much worse. We had decided to haul out as soon as we
arrived and deal with the leaky shaft situation, which we could have done right
there at Vuda, but for some reason Denarau called to us. We’d heard the
sailmaker was right there, they had a brand new travel-lift, and there would be
a hotel nearby. Actually the whole place is brand new, extremely reminiscent of
Paradise
Village in Nuevo Vallarta, while Vuda, we’ve since learned, is a bit more
like Marina Vallarta, without the deferred maintenance issues. I had promised
Barb a hotel room with a bathtub, and we had our choice of 5 or 6 five star
hotels right near the boatyard after we got the boat hauled about 4:00 pm.
Monday. I don’t think we looked like the kind of guest they are used to seeing
straggling into the lobby at the brand new
Radisson, but they let us have a room
for a mere 180 Fiji dollars a night (really only about $120 US) and we really
enjoyed blowing our budget there for a couple of days. Now we’re at a very nice
place right next to the yard, The
Golf
Terrace, which is a fully equipped 1 bedroom apartment for only $150 Fiji,
or about $100 US. This place doesn’t have a bathtub, but does have a very nice
full-sized kitchen and a washer and dryer. The nice folks at PYI are going to
send me a brand new PSS shaft seal for a great price, and the parts to make my
old one into a good spare. It should arrive here by Monday, and hopefully we’ll
be back afloat by Tuesday. The new mainsail (the old one is totally rotten)
will be done by the time we return here next March or April. We’ll move over to
Vuda next week and get Arabella planted in the ground, and hope to be
home in Oregon by mid November. As wonderful as Fiji is, and it really is
wonderful, we can’t wait to get back to cold, rainy, windy, foggy, drippy old
Oregon and our old musty house, our good friends, family, and of course our
little Buddy dog. I’m sure after a few months there, we’ll be just as anxious
to return here, but that’s the beauty of our “commuter cruiser” lifestyle.
So I
guess that about wraps it up for now. Hope everyone had a fun Halloween, and
here’s wishing you all an early Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy
Sails,
Mike
and Barb
Some Fiji Pix
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