French Polynesia « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Pig Roast

by KC2RIY, on June 13th, 2010 (Anthem, Jackster, Nakia, Soggy Paws, Tuamotus)

We went diving again in the morning with Sherry and David from Soggy Paws. This time we went west of the pass. The dive wasn’t as good as the previous day but fun in the clear water all the same.

In the afternoon I did a little fishing off the back of the boat. I caught a unicorn fish with bits of bacon then using the flesh of the fish managed to catch another. Getting bored towards the end I stuck a big hook on the end of my hand line and put the rest of my first catch on it. Within a few minutes I had hooked a shark – I saw it take the bait in the crystal clear water. It didn’t take long to snap the 80lb line. Not sure what I would have done with it if I’d managed to get it in so I guess that was for the best.

In the evening we went ashore for dinner again. This time it was a pig roast. A pig had been slaughtered in the morning which some cruisers heard and some watched. We all brought rum and juice ashore to make punch. At times in the evening Valantine played the ukulele and sang accompanied by her late mother’s boyfriend (hanger on) playing the guitar. The evening was their anniversary celebration so it was sort of ours too. The food was good. With us ashore were the Jacksters, Anthem, Soggy Paws, Nakia and a couple of French boats.

Lying here this morning I here the wind generator spinning more than it has for some time. We are not due to leave until tomorrow. We have been invited to church this morning where Valentine is the minister which could be interesting. We still have to scrape the weed off the hull so although the wind tempts us to go we may stick to our plan to leave for Tahiti tomorrow.

Slowly slowin’ down

by KC2RIY, on June 12th, 2010 (Anthem, Imagine, Jackster, Sea Mist, Soggy Paws, Tuamotus)

We had a reasonably easy day of it yesterday. At 10am four dinghies (Soggy Paws, Jackster, Sea Mist and us) headed out the pass and off to the east to a dive spot. The dive was a wall dive with drop offs going down hundreds of feet followed by sandy pockets and overhangs – all giving plenty of places to investigate and look for sea life.

Back on the boat we had our lunch before doing a spot of reading. I went ashore to talk about having an evening meal there. The Jacksters were keen and relayed the fact that Jack on Anthem and the Imagines were on their way and had expressed a desire to book a slot to eat out too. Valentino, the local who runs the little restaurant here was initially reluctant to cater for an additional eight but after consultation with her husband relented.

We then snorkeled the nearby reef. We saw a number of large parrot fish as well as the largest trumpet fish we have ever seen. We examined the nearby fish trap which, true to it’s function, had trapped a large number of fish including an immense parrot fish.

I did do a little work which was half pleasure. I wanted to reverse our Code Zero halyard as it was damaged when the Code Zero last blew. Having reversed it I wanted to inspect the pulleys at the top of the mast in case they’d been damaged too. John manned the winches and hoisted me up. From the top of the mast – higher than any land around – I could see over the trees and could see the atoll curving around in each direction. The pulleys were ok but I stayed a short while to enjoy the view.

Then came some hammock time for me. I started to read but decided just to rest and watch the sea rippling in the sunlight.

The net we’ve been running in the morning has gathered a lot of listeners. We recently agreed to extend it for a few more months as most of the boats push further west. As four of the current net controllers were in this tiny anchorage we all got together aboard Dignity to kick the net up a gear agreeing a script, formal rota, contact into and guidelines for adapting the net as we all head west. While we were all together the sun set quite gloriously.

At 7pm we went ashore for dinner. We were served fish and lobster dishes which were quite delicious but a little expensive – understandable given the remoteness of this place. As ever, the company made it all the better.

It looks like we won’t be able to have dinner here on our anniversary as it turns out it’s their anniversary too and it’s also Sunday which they prefer not to work. We’re thinking of possibly having dinner again tonight which although being a day earlier here would be our anniversary in England where we were married.

We woke this morning to the sound of the wind gen turning which it hasn’t done too often for the last several days. We’re thinking of leaving here on Monday but we may go tomorrow if the wind picks up. We’ll see.

Today we’ll probably dive again and maybe go for a walk. The bottom of the boat needs a scrape as it’s growing whiskers in places which will affect our passage.

Anse Amyot, Toau

by KC2RIY, on June 11th, 2010 (Soggy Paws, Tuamotus, Whiskers, Whoosh)

The wind continued to stay subdued and we all had a hot, sweaty and restless night. In the end I got up at 2am and completed all the stuff I needed to do on the internet. I only managed to upload a few photos – those from the festival in Hiva Oa. You can find them by clicking on the ‘Recently Updated’ category on this page somewhere. I managed a little more sleep before 6am when John and I went ashore for bread.

With nothing left but to run the morning SSB net (it was my turn) we readied the boat so we could set off once this was done.

With no wind we were motoring across flat water. As we approached the cut the water went from clear to crystal clear. It looked as though we were in shallow water when we were in fact in 70 feet. We were helped towards the cut by a one knot surface current which switched suddenly to two knots against us for a short period before disappearing all together.

The motoring to Toau was fairly uneventful. The genset cut out once with an overheating error which I resolved by repositioning the duct that extracts the hot air from the genset compartment. We had one bite on the trolling lines but nothing was caught.

Anse Amyot is a very shallow cut on the north side of Toau. It is too shallow to pass through but there is an accessible (from the outside) small lagoon with some moorings. The currents in the pass are negligible so, we understand, the snorkeling and diving is excellent without the problems of currents. As we approached we hailed Soggy Paws who we knew was there and asked which mooring was closest to good snorkeling as it’s always nice to go from the back of the boat. They gave us good advice and soon we were safely tied up to a ball. On the way in, Whiskers overheard us on the radio and contacted us. They had just left not knowing we were arriving. A missed opportunity but I’m sure we’ll catch up in the Society Islands.

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John and Patricia from Whoosh were soon over to say hello which was nice. They gave us the low down of the anchorage. We then went ashore to the ‘cruisers lounge’ where folks congregate and said hello to some old and new friends.

Our plan is to slow down (we’ll try – honest) and stay here for four nights before heading off to Tahiti in time to pick up our sail, fill our propane and sort out immigration for John before joining the rally/rendezvous which kicks off on the 18th and heads over to Moorea on the 19th.

Fakarava Village

by KC2RIY, on June 9th, 2010 (El Regalo, Jackster, Sea Mist, Tracks, Tuamotus)

There was little wind to speak of yesterday and once underway we were reluctant to stop so we made it all the way to the village. No surprise but there were quite a few boats in the anchorage of which we recognised most.

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We were soon connected to the internet and struggling through the slowness of it all to get a few things done. Two of the key tasks were to book Ben’s flight to join us (now set for July 13th) and Sam’s flight to South Africa to visit his family there.

Later we went ashore to have a look around. We bumped into Jackie from Jackster who was on a similar mission to ourselves. We found Gunther who provides free visits to his pearl farm and set up a trip for the next day (this afternoon). We then visited the dive shop and set up a dive for this morning on the incoming current at the northern pass.

We parted company with Jackie and headed down the main drag (such that it was) and visited the three stores along the way picking up some rather overheated croissants left over and some raisin bread. Outside one of the stores we met Brian and Jodon from El Regallo who we’d known from the radion. It was nice to meet and get to know them. Soon we were back aboard internetting again before settling down to sleep.

This morning I was ashore at 6am to pick up fresh baguettes and croissant for breakfast. Shortly before 8am John and I dinghied to the dive shop for our dive – Helen wanting to pass on this one as it was a little technical. We met the Jacksters there as well as John and Ian from Sea Mist along with some others who we didn’t know. It didn’t take long to get out to the dive site 5nm away in their powered RIB. We were separated into groups of 4 with a dive master with each group. Our group went second. We were dropped into the water and had to head down fairly quickly lest we be swept beyond our target in the strong currents.

Our first stop at around 110ft was on the rising reef. Here we saw thousands of fish and hundreds of sharks all milling around each in their own place in the food chain starting with the small life being swept up over the reef by the current. We soon hand to handed over to coral to a spot about 90ft deep where we waited another 10 minutes before letting go. We were swept over the reef and through some canyons for around 10 minutes before arriving at a dip in the reef called Ali Baba where sharks and fish took refuge from the current. The other two divers in our group were running low on air and needed extra from the dive master. Presumably they’d not been able to relax in the deep part of the dive and used up too much air.

Forty minutes into the dive it was time to rise and take a 5 minute safety stop to allow some of the nitrogen to fizz off. After that we were on the surface being picked up by the RIB. A great dive.

Back ashore it was back to internetting, this time ordering parts to be sent to Ben to bring to the boat in a months time.

This afternoon we went back ashore to visit the pearl farm. We didn’t get the full show as the technicians were out in the lagoon fixing things but we were shown an oyster being opened and a black pearl within. We also had explained the whole pearl making process which was pretty interesting. The end of the trip, inevitably, was where we could buy some pearls. Helen found one she liked and John bought a few.

That’s about it. The wind has been non-existant today and the lagoon consequently flat. From others I understand the forecast for the next few days is about the same. We’ll stay here until our online work is done and then head to Toau even if we have to motor.

In the meantime I’ve put together our tracks of our big crossing and our stay in the Marquesas. You’ll have to zoom out to see the bigger crossing.

View 2010 Marquesas in a larger map

With any minutes left I’ll try and uploading some more pictures.

Tiketite

by KC2RIY, on June 8th, 2010 (Kamaya, Tuamotus)

After the morning’s radio activities we invited Tim and Ruth over from Kamaya. They’d expressed interest in seeing some of John’s photos so John had set up a slide show of some of those that he’d prepared. They were impressed with what they saw. After they left we readied the boat and headed north.

The wind was on our nose and as we were in a narrow channel we motor sailed. Half way to our destination, only 7.5 nm to the north, the genset cut out with a fuel feed issue. It’s been a while since I changed the fuel filters and this was probably the cause. The channel we were in had just turned slightly and the wind had picked up enough for us to tack our way up the channel sailing very close to the wind to keep the boat speed down as we had coral heads to negotiate.

We made our desired spot tucked in behind where the atoll would give us shelter from the northerly wind and swell. On our chart it is named Tiketite. We had hoped to have the spot to ourselves but there was one other boat there, presumably looking for similar shelter.

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We arrived in time for lunch. Afterwards, John and I went snorkeling. We’d learned that green parrot fish were good and safe to eat so I hoped to find some of them. As soon as I was in the water with my spear gun I saw a group of small ones so I spent a while following them around. They were quite shy so I never got close enough to shoot. I did see a black tipped reef shark swimming around so our combined presence was the probable cause for the fishes nervousness.

We then took the dinghy over to the nearby low water and waded over to the ocean. We wanted to suss the area out as we had plans to go lobster hunting in the evening. There were a few reef sharks swimming around in a foot of water including one large one which got spooked by John, headed right at me before veering off towards the deeper inland water. It was quite a sight seeing a 4-5 foot shark going full pelt through a foot of water.

Back near the dinghy we swam around in the shallow water. I saw some more parrots and shot one although the spear bounced off it’s scaly side. I followed the group of fish a little further and eventually found the shot fish lying on it’s side having taken quite a bruising. I nudged it and it managed to swim off to a crevice where it hid its head leaving its tail sticking out. I shot it again through the tail this time successfully. Realizing the sharks may now be interested I made it back to the dinghy quickly.

Back on the boat I had a go at cleaning and filleting the parrot fish. It really was too small and would only feed one even if I could successfully fillet it. In the end I used it’s flesh on a large hook which I hand lined over the stern of the boat. Before long I’d caught an emperor sweet lips fish of a decent size which we brought aboard. I gutted it and John filleted it. I hooked another but that one got away. We knew these fish were edible and safe as they were part of our fare when we had the meal together at Manihi’s a few days earlier.

After cleaning the gore from the back deck I now turned my attention to the fuel line. I removed the primary filter and it was indeed full of dirt so I switched it out. Later we ran the genset for the washing machine and all was fine. I also decided to do an inventory of my filters and genset spares. I’d forgotten how many spares I’d bought and we still have more than enough to go for a few years. The thinking being that if we really get some bad fuel and have to replace filters every ten hours, we can still get somewhere to clean up and restock.

We had the emperor sweet lips fish for dinner – fried in seasoned flour – with pasta. Quite delicious. None of us really had the energy to go lobstering so we settled for watching the final Bourne movie.

Today we’ll head further up the coast looking for a spot we fancy spending another night in. It’s possible we’ll make it all the way to the town at the north east corner. The wind is still from the north. We had hoped to be able to sail all the way up the channel which is normally the case in the prevailing ENE winds but the weather right now is all a bit of a mess.

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Pig Roast

Slowly slowin’ down

Anse Amyot, Toau

Fakarava Village

Tiketite