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by steve, on June 29th, 2010 ( A Cappella, Bristol Rose, Callisto, Imagine, InnForAPennyII, Inspiration Lady, Leu Cat, Lilith, Sea Mist, Society Islands, Song Line, Whoosh)
Before the morning SSB net was over John and I headed ashore. I had a date with our agent, Laurent, as he had received a letter containing my bank card. Our old one had expired and we really needed this one. Once we had this we headed off to the Carrefour to pick up some beer for the evening. The local beers had an offer going where the price for 20 was reduced. We picked up 40 bottles only to find the offer was over. I figured what the hell and bought them all anyway. John picked up some Magnum ice cream for a birthday present.
Back on the boat we go into the business of stuffing the beers away into all corners of the fridge and freezer. Later in the morning Helen cooked up an artery busting fry up for brunch which we followed up with the intensely chocolaty magnums.
We spent the afternoon cleaning the boat up and then reanchoring (four times) as we were a little too close to one of the other boats. The anchor seemed to have a lot of trouble setting. We were in 60 feet of water so we weren’t lifting it up off the bottom each time. At one point I asked Helen to raise the anchor out of the water just to make sure we still had one.
At 6pm the evening’s festivities began. We had invited the folks from A Cappella, Bristol Rose, Callisto, Imagine, Inn for Penny II, Inspiration Lady, Leu Cat, Lilith, Sea Mist, Song Line & Whoosh for a combined birthday (for me)/farewell (for John) party. Helen had been concerned about the boat being too crowded but in the end we comfortably held 27 people aboard without people having to spill forward. The weather remained perfect for the evening. With that many people it was impossible to chat to everyone but everyone seemed to have a good time.
About half way through Helen called for quiet so the ladies could enact a scheme they’d come up with (inspired I understand by Sheilah from Imagine). They had put on fresh lipstick and in turn they each sang to me then kissed me somewhere on the face. I ended up, of course, with lots of marks on my face.
The evening went very well. It was good for John to meet up again with a few of the folks he’s got to know. For us, it may be almost the last time we see a few of these folks. Out of Tahiti everyone is heading towards Bora Bora but from there they’ll head off in different directions and on different timetables. While we wait here in Tahiti for the next two weeks, many will move on and we may never catch up. Those going to New Zealand we’ll see but those on their way, like Whiskers, to Australia will be too far ahead of us. However, we’ll meet some new people who are on the trail behind us which will be good.
Helen and I are looking at the various anchorages around Tahiti so we have an idea of what to do over the next couple of weeks. Things are going a bit crappy with some of our internet orders. If we can sort these out we can get out of here the day after John leaves.
We waited for the morning net to finish before leaving the southern side of the atoll bound for the village on the north east side. We’d agreed to go along with Fine Gold so we could double up on spotting coral heads. Collectively, the three of us didn’t manage a good job as we struck one that was one inch less deep than our port keel. Shortly after that moment a squall came down on us cutting surface visibility to zero so we pointed into wind and motored along at less than one knot to wait it out.
Once the weather cleared we were back under way this time creeping along at three knots gradually increasing the speed as the visibility improved. Once we reached the track of our way into the southern area we turned and followed it back knowing we had a clear passage but still keeping a close eye on things until we hit the marked channel. On arrival at the anchorage outside the village we took three attempts to anchor as we were not happy with our positioning on the first two tries but once settled in we were fine.
We took lunch and rested for a bit. John went off snorkeling with the Bristol Roses who were in the anchorage while Helen & I went ashore. We met a few of the locals around the village who were all smiles and Bonjours which made us feel good being there. They had a pretty church with some unique (to us) decorations made of shells. We also spent some time with a chap who was making jewelry out of oyster shells which looked quite pretty although none were finished and ready for sale.
The town was small and we were done fairly quickly. We pleased a few children by the shore by handing them sweets/candy/bon bons we had in our pockets. Soon we were back aboard Dignity preparing for the evening. We’d promised to entertain Lileth sometime and as they had the same Vancouver 27 as Lileth, we invited Fine Gold over to dinner too. We heard from Jackster on the VHF and learned they’d taken a pounding on their passage from the Marquesas experiencing Force 10 winds at times and Force 8 for extended periods. While reporting themselves as chipper, they’d taken some damage and we felt they could do with some care and attention so we invited them too.
So we ended up with dinner for nine. We can just squeeze this number round our table which is nice. We had a great evening all together and we were glad to be able to introduce Fine Gold and Lileth as you don’t see too many 27 footers out here and they had much to share.
Looking at the tide predictions for the next few days we realized that Thursday/Friday this week were the last two days for a while where we had an afternoon slack tide into Fakarava with enough time to find a spot to anchor while it would be light. Beyond Friday we’d have to do an overnight passage to Fakarava and make a morning slack tide which is less attractive. Fakarava has a lot going for it so we decided to head out this morning. Slack tide was just before 9am but we decided to make the cut around 7:30am against the tide to buy us more time to reach the cut at the south end of Fakarava. We shared our thoughts with others and we ended up leading four other boats out of the anchorage and the pass this morning relaying information about our experience. Transiting the cut away from slack tide was again pretty easy. We encountered a 1.5 knot counter current while staying close to the shore. We experienced a minimum depth of 13ft which we reported to the vessels behind us and those approaching from the outside. The vessels that were uncomfortable with the depth went through a little more to the center saw 3 knot counter currents but all were well.
We are now en route to the southern end of Fakarava. The winds are light but progress is good. Four of the vessels (us, Sea Mist, Imagine and A Cappella) are on their way to the southern end while Bristol Rose are on their way to the north cut where they hope to meet up with Whiskers before they head north.
by KC2RIY, on June 1st, 2010 ( Bristol Rose, Fine Gold, Tuamotus, Tyee)
The last 24 hours has been interesting. We started the day with a wash which meant running the generator. We turned on the water maker to catch up on the recent water used and that from the wash. Not long after running the water maker the circuit breaker tripped. It’s done this a few times since we repaired our last problem but always ran ok when the breaker was reset and the water maker restarted. With no other apparent issues I put this down to an over sensitive breaker. This time however the (original) motor connected to the recently replaced feeder pump started losing power and the pressure dropped out of the pump. Not good.
This was the beginning of a day of troubleshooting. The basic question was were we still being plagued by a problem which caused our original pump failure or are we seeing a problem that was created as a result of previously running the system with a blockage. Throughout the day I checked as much as I could, changed all the filters (again), checked and checked but the water maker persisted in only running well for about 5 minutes at a time – barely enough to replace the initial fresh water rinse it performs on start up.
I have a favoured hypothesis as to what the problem is. I suspect (but am not sure) that we damaged the motor at the same time as the pump assembly. Specifically I think it overheated and fused some of the coils. Until recently, when starting cold with the lowest resistance it soon trips the circuit breaker. Once warmed up the resistance was high enough to prevent tripping the breaker and the damage slight enough not to be noticed. I further wonder if running the water maker while charging, which resulted in a higher voltage than normal, running through the pump caused further damage and now the motor is close to death. I really want to be sure about this as this will now mean shipping out a new motor to us. Regardless, we’re now back to rationing our fresh water. Fortunately we still have some water from the Marquesas but not a lot. We have a full tank and a bit on board so we should be ok for a while.
On the up side, during the morning John and Lucy from Tyee (last seen in Las Perlas Islands, Panama) came by. They’re anchored about 1/2 a mile away and we hadn’t realized until now. It was great to see them. John invited us out to play with his array of kite boards which John and I agreed to do after lunch.
Before lunch we all went off snorkeling nearby where there was a lot more coral in shallow water. It was great swimming amongst the coral in the clear water. We all spotted a large grouper and Helen spied a black tipped reef shark – a small one so she had the thrill of seeing a shark close by in the water without the fear of being eaten.
After lunch and some more faffing around with the water maker John and I headed over to Tyee to see what we could learn about kite boarding. As we had no experience at all we were shown the practice kite which we played with for about 2 hours standing in a shallow reef. This skill has to be acquired long before trying to use the force of the kite to go surfing on the board. While we were there Kamaya showed up. This pleased the Tyee kids no end as they’d been without friends their size for a while. Tim was soon out on his kite board racing John out on the lagoon showing John and I what could be done with a lot of practice.
Back on Dignity we settled down for an early evening. I found it difficult to get to sleep worrying about the water maker. When I finally slept it was fitfully as we ended up with a night of thunderstorms. Laptops and hand held VHFs/GPS went into the microwave. Occasionally I would check. Around 1am I was woken by VHF chatter from Bristol Rose out at sea being pounded. Helen woke me early when we were in 40 knot winds. I called Bristol Rose to see if they were ok and while chatting our anchor popped and we were dragging. We quickly let out more chain and ended up stuck fast 0.2nm away from where we were anchored.
We learned that Fine Gold, nearby, had popped their anchor a few hours earlier and had ended up a mile away in very shallow water before getting back under control. They’re now anchored further away where they’re better sheltered from the wind. When things subside we may well join them as we’re too far out from the protection of the land for comfort.
The boat needed a bit of a clean up so we spent the first part of the morning washing the decks and cleaning the interior. Once this was completed we set off for our walk to Hatiheu in the next bay.
The beach is accessible by dinghy through one small channel as the rest of the area is all shallow coral. We landed on the beach and secured the dinghy to a tree before walking along the beach looking for the path that would take us over the hill. There is a small village here if you can call it that – just a few small buildings and a church. We found the path up and began the climb. According to my charts the climb is about 250 feet but in the heat of mid morning with the sun on us it felt much higher.
As we climbed the view of Baie d’Anaho and it’s surrounds became progressively more impressive and stunning. Reaching the saddle where the trail peaked was a relief as it was now downhill to Hatiheu and, even better, it was shaded.
The view of the surrounding geography was even more stunning from Hatiheu. Volcanic rock formations towered over green hills and a sleepy little village. Typically there were a couple of small shops and an impressively built church.
After exploring the village we started climbing again up the track out of town towards where there were some ancient Polynesian ruins. We expected just a few rocks but found the base of a what must have been a town for several hundred if not thousands of people. It was a haunting reminder of the culture on these islands that was decimated by the arrival of Europeans, their diseases and their ideas. Contact was inevitable and cultures are inevitably impacted but it is still sad to see the result. While wondering the ruins we met Frank and Margo from Silver Lining and ended up chatting for a while.
Back in town we looked around for somewhere to eat. The only place open was a large dining area with meals for around $25-$40. We passed on this deciding to have a curry back aboard the boat.
We struggled back up to the saddle again now in the midday heat. On the way back down we came upon a French lady who had lost contact with her party. She looked exhausted so we offered her some of her water. It turned out she had no water as it was the rest of her party who were carrying it. We ended up giving her our bottle as we were on our way down and there was abundant free fresh water from taps by the beach. She was very grateful for this. Once we’d left her behind we realized we’d not seen anyone else on the trail so if she was behind her party it was a long way behind. Still, with a bottle to carry water she would make it.
Just before reaching the beach I managed to stub my little toe tearing the nail off and causing a bit of a mess on my flip flop. There was a shower on the beach of which we availed ourselves rinsing off all the grime (and dried blood in my case) and taking our fill drinking straight from the flow.
We’d bought some empty bottles and cans to fill. Despite now having a working water maker we still can’t pass the opportunity to carry more – particularly water so fresh and clean.
Back on the boat we had dinner. The wind had picked up earlier in the day and John found the snorkeling to be a little murky. We rested the afternoon before entertaining the Jacksters, Inspiration Ladys, the Bristol Roses and Jack from Anthem celebrating Dave from Jackster’s birthday. Another good time was had by all.
This morning we’re a little hung over so today is set to be a day of rest.
by KC2RIY, on May 19th, 2010 ( Bristol Rose, Leu Cat, Marquesas)
We left Ou Pou around 6:30 waving goodbye (au revoir) to Dianne and Gerald and motored out into slack wind. The wind remained around 8-10 knots for most of the day resulting in slow progress towards Nuku Hiva. The winds picked up for the last hour or two resulting in 7-8 knot sailing and an arrival shortly after 2pm.
First order of the day was to head to the shore to pick up the water maker pump. On the way I dropped off a weather file to Bristol Rose and a presentation of my tattoo. The pump was in and we soon had it in our hands. We dropped it off back at the boat before we all headed over to Leu Cat who were in the anchorage but we knew to be leaving in a couple of hours.
We had a pleasant hour and a half or so there before we had to get back to the pump and they had to prepare for their departure to the Tuamotus.
The pump kit contained less than I expected which caused me some initial worry. I had expected a new motor as well as pump assembly. However, Spectra seemed to have interpreted the information I gave them exactly and we are now producing water. Yay!!!!
We went out last night with Bristol Rose to the local pizza restaurant. Despite being one of the first there we were one of the last served and some of our pizzas ended up on the wrong tables so we ended up eating at different times. For the extortionate cost of eating out in the Marquesas you’d think they’d get it right. Tipping is not customary here. They work for every penny.
The internet is a bit of a struggle here but I’ve managed to upload a few pictures including those taken while we were having our tattoos done. I’ll try and get a few more up.
by KC2RIY, on May 16th, 2010 ( Bristol Rose, Marquesas, Whiskers)
En route to Ua-Pou I tried hailing Whiskers a couple of times but received no response either time. Later on, to our delight, we heard them hailing us quite legibly. We said our hellos and checked where we each were and where we were heading. Turned out they had left Nuku-Hiva and were on their way to Ua-Pou too. They’d heard of some difficulties anchoring in the main town of Hakahau and were contemplating going round the corner to Hakahetou. They chatted to someone else they knew in the area and confirmed the difficulties so we were all set to rendezvous at Hakahetou. We’d also learned that Bristol Rose was there who were good friends of Whiskers too.
We had a couple of strikes on the fishing lines on the way over. One was a large mahi mahi which leaped out of the water a couple of times before managing to shake off the hook. The other bite merely triggered the falling nut alarm but we saw no further action.
As we closed the miles to Ua-Pou we first saw Whiskers off in the distance through the binoculars, then with our naked eyes and finally they arrived just behind us – spitting distance away.
Ua-Pou is spectacular. It is a recent volcanic island with steep volcanic plugs standing out in the middle of the island. These plugs form as magma solidifies inside a volcano and then the outside of the volcano erodes away before the plug. It is therefore an intermediate phase which won’t last long before (maybe less than a million years) before the plugs and the landscape erodes down. For now get to enjoy a fantastic view right from our anchorage.
We were soon dinghying over to say hello to Whiskers and we agreed to all go ashore together. Ashore we bumped into Trish, Rob and their kids from Bristol Rose as they were returning from a little shopping. We soon agreed to meet up for food and drinks aboard Dignity that evening.
We walked around town with Dianne and Gerald and checked out both stores before returning to the boat for a couple of hours prior to the evenings festivities. In town we met a local who gave us a couple of pampelmousses (not sure on spelling but they’re like a large grapefruit).
In the evening, Bristol Rose’s brought some excellently BBQ’d Wahoo which they’d just caught and the Whisker’s brought some home made pizza. With our nibbles we had a great feast to go with the beer/wine and excellent company.
Today we’re off with Whiskers on a hike to a nearby waterfall. Bristol Rose are off today to Nuku-Hiva so we may see them again soon. We’ve had no news on our water make pump for a couple of days so we’re in limbo at the moment wondering if it’s made it to Tahiti and hence onto Nuku-Hiva. While we’ve been collecting water from ashore, we have not been putting into our water tanks as the little water there is pure from the water maker and hence has no contamination of any sort. We’ve long since turned off the fresh water pump aboard the boat to keep the last half tank of water for any system flushing we’ll need to do. We’re therefore living out of the bottles and jerry cans which is a bit of a pain. We’re all looking forward to running taps and a good shower.
by steve, on May 8th, 2010 ( Bristol Rose, Informational)
This is a must read from our friends on Bristol Rose.
As planned, John and I went exploring / snorkeling in the morning. We took Tim from Kamaya with us and dinghied around the corner searching for interesting places. Practically everywhere, the steep cliffs continued straight down into the water where even our 100ft dinghy chain would not touch bottom. We did find a rocky ledge around 8-10 feet down where we could anchor and go off swimming with the fish. It was quite a cool spot, the highlight being finding a couple of lion fish. We then moved further into the bay we were now in for a second swim hoping to find lobster for lunch. No luck there but we did see a white tipped reef shark.
When we returned to the boat we found that Gary and Jackie aboard Inspiration Lady had just arrived. We gave our welcome and congrats and invited them over for nibbles and drinks after dinner. We learned from them that Jackster and Bristol Rose were also due in that day. They duly arrived late in the day and were also invited aboard for a get together.
In the afternoon we all snorkeled near the boat. We found our old octopus and giant moray eel. When I free dove down to 45ft I found two octopus marching across the sand which was cool although I stayed a little too long and the trip to the surface seemed to take forever.
At 6pm all arrived although we picked up Trish, Rob, Elliot and Owen from Bristol Rose as they’d only just arrived and prepping their dinghy was not top on their list – understandably.
It was great meeting up with old friends. We’d not seen the Jacksters and Inspiration Ladies since Bonaire, six months ago, and the Bristol Roses further back still. I was surprised they all lasted three hours but by nine everyone was pooped. After all, they’d all just crossed an ocean.
We hadn’t drunk too much so we stuck to our original plan and overnight sailed to Hiva Oa. We did not know the anticipated delivery date of our part so we wanted to get our paperwork done in Hiva Oa before the weekend. We also wanted to see more of the festival here so this all worked out. As I type we’ve been here at the anchorage for about an hour. I’ve learned we all need to go in to check in so I’ll be waking Helen and John up fairly soon.
I’ve already met Richard from Lileth who is here for a while waiting for parts. There is internet here in the harbour but it is $5 per hour which is a bit steep. We’ll look for something in town a little less pricey. It’s a bit of a hike but the exercise is good.
by steve, on August 15th, 2009 ( Bristol Rose, Grenada)
Did very little yesterday bar read a book all day long. In the evening we took the taxi to Gouyave for the Friday Night Fish night. They’d blocked off an L shaped street and filled it with music and standing frying up fish and fish related foods. Music, as ever, was blaring from speakers and there was a live steel band that piped up later.
We picked and nibbled on many different things and ended up quite full.
Trish and Rob from Bristol Rose were there so it was nice to meet up with them again before they head south to Trinidad.
Saturday morning we went to the flea market in Whisper Cove Marina.  We arrived a few minutes early only to find the place jostling with cruisers looking to sell unwanted gear and those looking for bargains. We managed to pick up some free guides to Australia and an RS232 cable splitter which I need to talk to some of my gear.
Bristol Roses were there looking to sell some of their US charts and guidebooks. Where IIs were wandering around as were the Jacksters.
Helen and I took a little walk up the hill from Whisper Cove and found a lovely plot of land overlooking the bay. It would be a great place to build a home and we wonder why one hasn’t been built there. No doubt someone owns the land and is hanging on for the right event. Here’s a panoramic video from the location.
Back at the marina we again bumped into the Jacksters and ended up inviting David and Jacqui over for a curry aboard Dignity.
Back aboard Dignity is was down to clearing and cleaning ready for our trip to Trinidad. I  wanted to check and clean the props and decided if I was down there on the hookah I may as well clean the hulls too. I’m beginning to despise this job as it takes all the fun out of being in the water. Down here the wriggly critters are prevalent so despite putting my wetsuit on they still got into my hair and neckline.
The evening came David and Jacqui joined us. We had a great evening sharing stories and the odd joke. I managed to find one that David didn’t already know which, if you know David, is quite a result. In the end they left around midnight, the real one, which is a testament to how much we enjoyed the evening. We have roughly similar plans so hopefully we’ll be bumping into the Jacksters (not literally) from time to time.
Checking the weather this morning it is again looking like Monday evening offers the better weather window for Trini. For a while it was beginning to look like tonight would be better but now the odds are shifting in favour of Monday again. Probably for the best as we’re a little tired this morning.
Final note. Yesterday I discovered a page on the winlink site that shows our current and recent positions on a single page. This gives you a better idea of how we’re moving about and should be pretty good when we’re covering larger distances. I’ve provided a link to it on our ‘Where Are We?‘ page for future reference.
The following pics include views of the boat to give a sense of the place we’re anchored.
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