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by KC2RIY, on July 31st, 2010 ( Bamboozle, Society Islands)
In the morning we set off on our planned 9 mile hike around one of the lobes of the island. The first stretch of the hike over the low saddle to the bay on the other side of the island was very pleasant. As we reached the other side it began to rain lightly. Usually this is pleasant as it means we don’t have the sun beating down and the light rain keeps us cool. This time the light rain was merely the forerunner for heavy rain for which we were not prepared.
We spent a bit of time standing under banana leaves before searching out a more permanent shelter under the roof of a small shack. After a break in the rain we pushed onwards only to get caught out again. This time we made crude umbrellas out of banana leaves and made our way back to our earlier shelter where we waited out the next period of intense rain.
After exhausting our I-Spy options the rain died and we decided to head back the way we came. It was a good decision as the skies began to darken again as we approached the dinghy. The winds were blowing quite strongly into the harbour we were in so the dinghy ride back to the boat was against the wind and chop. If we had a dry patch on us before the dinghy ride we didn’t when we reached the boat.
We settled down for a boat day as the outside weather remained grey and occasionally wet. We heard from Bamboozle who were on their way to this anchorage. We’d heard that they had a good keyboard on their boat and Ben was already in withdrawal. We soon had ourselves invited over for sundowners.
In the evening we had better luck working our way upwind to where Bamboozle was anchored arriving only slightly wet. There we met their friends Mark & Genevieve with their twin daughters. Both Ben and Lucy played the piano for us while we enjoyed good company and the occasional beer. Helen had a small tinkle on the electric ivories too.
Today we may go for another hike. Not sure yet. The weather overnight has again been windy and wet. The wind gen has been really earning it’s keep. The easterly horizon is looking quite gray so we may have to pass on this idea. We’ll see.
by KC2RIY, on July 10th, 2010 ( Bamboozle, Society Islands)
In the morning we wanted to stretch our legs and go ashore. For a while intermittent rains pinned us to the boat but eventually the skies seemed to brighten so we headed out. On the way we dropped by Bamboozle to drop off a glass left the night before.
We tied up in a small marina and walked to the main road. Even though we were less than two miles from the end of the road it was a properly tarmacked road no doubt courtesy of the French taxpayer. The whole area is very lush which we reckoned was due to the geography precipitating a lot of rainfall. At the end of the road was a small river, muddy beach and a footbridge. We crossed the bridge and walked along a path through a settlement. We felt transported back in time. The place seemed so different from elsewhere with some pretty little homes.
On the way back we were caught by a bit of rain but were able to wait it out in a store where we picked up some baguettes. We again popped by Bamboozle to pick up some DVDs they were going to lend us. They invited us aboard for coffee but we declined as we wanted to push on.
When Jamie and Lucy from Bamboozle had been aboard the night before they had told us about the area behind the reef to our east. It sounded very attractive. As the skies were still overcast we wanted to enter the reef with as much light as possible. As soon as we were aboard we raised anchor and were off. Outside the nearby pass we turned east into 25 knot winds. We motored the 4nm to the next pass which only looked passable when we were on top of it. We found a spot to anchor close to the pass.
The area is indeed impressive. The landscape is rugged but lush. Steep volcanic crags with high waterfalls are all around. With the bumpy passage and misty air we took few pictures on the way round. If the weather clears we may dinghy around inside the reef and get some more pictures of the stunning scenery here. The weather stayed pretty grim for the afternoon so we were unable or at least unwilling to go out.
Near to where we are anchored is a small river up which there is supposed to be an ancient grotto we can visit. It is supposed to have had some spiritual significance to the Polynesians. We will be visiting that today for sure.
We are quite happy with this position as a staging point for our trip south to the eclipse. The extra 4nm upwind means we’ll have an easier run. The edge of the totality is just over 10nm SSE from the pass although if we head south it’s nearer 11nm. We aim to be out of the pass before 5:30am tomorrow, an hour before sunrise and 3 hours before the eclipse. If we make 5 knots then we’ll be 5nm inside the umbra which should give us a minute of darkness. If we make 6 knots we’ll get nearer 90 seconds. I have the edge of the umbral path already entered onto the chart plotter so we’ll know when we’re in the path of the shadow.
Hopefully the weather system that has been going over us for the last few days will lead to clearer air. Certainly, once we’re away from the land we’ll lose the clouds created by the uplift of air over the land so it can only get better. My next blog will probably be after we have experienced the eclipse so keep your fingers crossed for us.
We’re continuing our push south towards a staging point for our run to eclipse umbral path on July 11th. This time we moved close to Teahupoo where Bamboozle are anchored. On the way we saw Imagine and Sea Mist heading out into rough water so we bid them farewell over the radio.
Shortly after arriving John and Kara, a young couple sailing on Orca a Cape Dory 30, rowed over. They’d bought one too many baguettes and offered us their spare. We invited them aboard and ended up sharing a beer and lunch with them. As they travel without a fridge the cold beer was a real treat for them.
We relaxed the afternoon away before preparing for a curry dinner with the Bamboozles in the evening. A jolly time was had.
This morning I’ve brought myself up to date with our passage log. Currently we stand at 9,384nm sailed to date with John covering over 6,100nm of that with us.
by KC2RIY, on July 8th, 2010 ( Bamboozle, Society Islands)
Not a great deal to report. In the morning I picked up a couple of fresh baguettes. Around 10am we left the anchorage and headed south. We didn’t like the look of the first place we picked out so we pushed a little further south and found a nice quiet anchorage in a place called Papehere on the charts with noone else around or in sight. On the way over we heard from Bamboozle who were coming in the pass to the south of us where we plan to be tomorrow. We’ve agreed to meet up then.
In the afternoon we did some more boat cleaning. Helen on the inside while I was in the water cleaning the growth off the sides of the hulls. We had a nice quiet evening in together.
While running the generator to condition the recently watered batteries we managed three washes. We also ran the air conditioning for about an hour to dry out the boat. It’s been quite humid recently and it was nice to get rid of all the moisture for a while.
On the radio we heard that Imagine were on their way to this anchorage and we also heard that Bamboozle were rounding the south side of Tahiti-Iti (the smaller of the two conjoined islands that comprise Tahiti) and chances are we’d meet up in a few days.
Once this was all done we headed ashore to walk around the botanical gardens. There were not a lot of flowers to look at, it was more trees although there were some very pleasant wooded areas around sculpted streams and ponds complete with monster eel like fish lurking here and there. They also had two giant tortoises brought here some years ago.
When we returned to the boat we saw that Imagine had arrived. The area is so wide open that the three boats here are all hundreds of feet apart so it’s not crowded. We spent the afternoon relaxing before heading over to join Stuart and Sheila from Imagine aboard Sea Mist with John, Cheryl and Ian for sundowners. We had a good time aboard – the sun not only went down but went some way around the back side of the Earth before we left late in the evening. It was a brilliantly clear evening. The stars were bright and the Milky Way spread itself over the heavens.
We’re thinking of moving on today towards Port Phaeton and the nearby town of Taravao. However, right now the heavens are far from clear as they are full of dark clouds emptying themselves upon us. We’ll play today by ear.
by KC2RIY, on June 6th, 2010 ( Bamboozle, Imagine, Tuamotus)
We’re doing this a lot these days. Around 10am a few of us met aboard Bamboozle who had dived here three times so far so we could learn of their experience. There are essentially two dives that can be done in the pass. The first, on the incoming tide, starts at a buoy outside the pass and drifts in. The second starts in the channel on an outflow, drifts out at the bottom then drifts back on a surface counter flow.
We decided to snorkel the counter flow around midday and dive the incoming flow around 3:30pm shortly after slack water. Both times we got to see lots of fish and, of course for here, sharks. Stuart on Imagine assisted as surface cover on the second dive so we had a way to retrieve dinghies and for safety.
Today a few of us will dive the counter flow with Helen acting as surface cover.
That’s about it. This will probably be our last day here. From tomorrow we’ll start to make our way north inside the lagoon stopping a couple of times in different places.
Hmmm. While I write the boring bit about the journey over here I’m going to have to drum up the right words to describe this place. You’re not going to like it. Really. It’s just too nice here. I’ve used words like paradise before but now I realize I was wrong.
The wind was largely on our side as we made the passage from Kauehi to the southern entrance to Fakarava. We were on good time to make the low tide predictions. Imagine and Sea Mist pulled ahead of us in their performance boats while we and A Cappella fell a little way back of the little pack of four boats that had coincidentally decided to make this particularly trip at this time. On an open radio channel Sea Mist made inquires into the tidal flows through the cut, in particular to find when the slack tide was in relation to low water. Over in Kauehi slack followed low water by around an hour or so. We expected the same here. It turned out slack preceded low water by an hour. Oops. This meant we weren’t going to make slack water. We’d heard the pass here was trickier than that at Kauehi and our whole trip plan was based around making slack. (If you haven’t figured it out by now, slack water is the half hour or so between when the water flows in and out of a cut and vice versa – related to the tides in some complex fashion)
So we decided to boost our speed a little by turning some of our stored electrons into a little extra speed. After a while the wind dropped so we increased thrust and turned on the genset a little earlier than we planned so that we would be pretty well charged up when we entered the cut.
Along the way we had learned that a pot luck was being planned at a shore side guest house. We really wanted to get some time in the water on arrival so Helen cooked up a pot of chili while on the move so that all we had to do was reheat it shortly before we needed to go ashore.
As we approached the cut we dropped sails and pointed in. At that moment we were clipped by a nearby squall and the light quality dropped significantly so I turned out and waited five minutes. I turned in before the visibility completely improved but I was certain we’d have full light by the time we were in the cut.
As we went through we found we had three knots of current assisting us through the cut. Our charts were good and the information we received from those passing through ahead of us made us confident we have no issues. As we popped through the pass our excitement mounted as the water was crystal clear and we could already see the sea life and coral beneath us. To our right was the ‘town’ which was just a collection of shore side picture postcard thatched huts, some out over the water conforming to the best imaginations of what French Polynesia would be. Without looking like being some extortionately expensive resort for the mega-wealthy.
We made our way around to the anchorage, found a spot and dropped our anchor making fast first time.
While the boat settled we readied the dinghy and threw our snorkel gear in. The boat wasn’t shifting so we were off to enjoy the snorkeling while we still had reasonably light. We dinghied back towards the pass out into the ocean, this time going inside of the reef which we had earlier gone around. The current remained strong so we donned our gear before reaching our drop off point. Once ready we motored the final distance, cut the engine, pulled it up and jumped into another universe. Swimming was pointless. We were flying along at three knots in around 20 feet of water over acres of living coral, countless fish, sharks and rays. John and I took turns holding onto the dinghy painter while the other dove down close to the coral flying over it feeling like superman. It was out of this world. It’s hard to describe the feeling being unencumbered by scuba gear, inches away from endless coral with such amazing life all around. When we had drifted close to the anchorage we all agreed to do it again. This time we went further into the main pass. It was deeper here and had less coral but soon we were back into the thick of it. Amazing. After two drifts we have had nowhere near enough of this. We want more.
Back on the boat we emailed two boats in the same anchorage as Jackster (they are mad divers) over in Kauehi to let them know that it was stunning here. We knew they would easily trade their time there for here.
Back at the boat we had a little time to rest before the 5pm pot luck. This was being (incredibly) graciously hosted by a Polynesian local who had built the most divine little home/guest house by the water. There we met old friends and new. All of our little party of four boats crossing that day were there. We met Jamie and Lucy from Bamboozle who we’d briefly met (and instantly liked) in Grenada and vowed then to meet somewhere in the Pacific (and what a place we met up !!!!!)
It is said that hell is other people and sometimes, sadly, that can be true. Last night I can only say the opposite is true, heaven is other people.
We’re going to stay here for a while. Time to let the anchor set.
Wednesday night was burger night at Clarks Court Bay Marina. For us it was but a short walk from the boat so we had to go. Where II were there during happy hour. We also bumped into John and Caroline from Sweet Caroline.
We also made some new friends. Two British couples were there. Jackie and Dave from Jackster as well as Jamie and Lucy from Bamboozle. They’re both heading west in a similar time frame to us and hanging around Grenada for a bit so hopefully we’ll meet up again from time to time.
Today the focus switched to equalizing some of the drive batteries. I hooked up three batteries in parallel, disconnected our house batteries and used the jump leads to connect the charger to the paralleled drive batteries. The jump leads warmed up fairly quickly so I soon took off one of the batteries. I took hydrometer readings of the problem cells every hour.
For the first couple of hours there was no apparent change in the readings. Ominously, unlike the good cells, the problem cells were showing little if any bubbling from the high voltage being applied to the batteries.
In time, the worst cell began to bubble and as the hours progressed the hyrdometer readings went from terrible to not so terrible. After 7-8 hours the batteries were quite hot so I stopped the session.
Towards the end of this period I took detailed measurements of the house bank. These had been on trickle charge overnight following their equalization and had since been disconnected from each other and any load. In theory they should all have been reading around 12.7 volts. Three read 12.6V and one read 12.4V. The latter battery and one of the others had poor hydrometer readings on single cells (out of six). I tried equalizing the 12.4V battery on its own. It sucked up current and became hot quite quickly. Not good news. I then tried the other house battery with poor readings on it’s own. The poor cell improved quickly but the battery heated up even quicker. It never produced a good reading but it was heading in the right direction.
That is where I’ve left it for today. Part of me feels these batteries have been somewhat abused at some point in their past and we’re now seeing the results. Part of me realizes there is more to do to learn the extent to which they can be recovered. It seems that focussing on individual batteries has a greater opportunity for recovering bad cells so that’s what I’ll do tomorrow.
Also accomplished today was cleaning out the chain locker, removing the old chain and putting in the new and switching the anchors. Unfortunately we don’t have the right sized shackle to connect the new anchor to the chain so we may have to got to town tomorrow to pick one up.
We also were introduced to Mick and his son Ian who live aboard their boat nearby. They’re supposed to be terrific at boat work. We dicussed our need to install a second anchor roller and windlass. They’ll do more work than our professional quote for less so we’re lining them up. This also means we need to get our new windlass ordered and shipped along with all the other stuff we need which is much cheaper in the US.
No other projects closed off today but did some research including, if it comes to it, replacing all our batteries. Haven’t come to that decision yet but it may happen so I may as well be ready for it.
Aside. It’s now mid-July and so far we have had NO tropical storms in the Caribbean even though hurricane season started in June. This doesn’t correlate to having fewer storms but locals are saying it feels cooler this year and that means there’s less energy in the system. That could mean we’ll be unmolested down here in Grenada. Lets hope so. Having said that, looking at the NOAA website just now I see a depression forming on a tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic and, for the first time this year outside of the gulf of Mexico, there is a warning. Something to watch.
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