Tuamotus « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Snorkeling, snorkeling, snorkeling

by KC2RIY, on June 5th, 2010 (Anthem, Imagine, Jackster, Tuamotus)

During the potluck dinner (our first night here) I had learned that the guy who owns the resort hosting us was making dinner the following night. I knew from talking to a few others that there was interest for this so before the evening was over I talked potential numbers with Manihi the guy that owns/built/runs the place. He had four booked and could do a maximum of sixteen.

First thing after the net I dinghied round to a few of our friends in the anchorage and, including the Jacksters and Anthem who were on their way here, soon had the numbers.

Next John and I went snorkeling in the pass. This was during the outgoing tide and we tried our best to keep to areas where the flow through the channel was minimized. However there were times when we would be caught in a strong current and zip off. We always had one of us hanging onto the dinghy painter all the way through which was our lifeline in case of trouble. The snorkel was fantastic as we saw a great number of sharks including, at one point, about 15-20 all at once. In hindsight we should have had a radio aboard and have a buddy boat with us in case our outboard failed.

Before lunch I spent some time on Imagine helping them out with a software install falling back on skills developed in my past life.

Not long after lunch we were back out snorkeling. As the tide turned and the current started flowing back in practically everyone was out there dinghying out to the cut and drifting back in. For our friends who had arrived the previous day this was their first experience and they were amazed.

After a few drifts we were back on the boat waiting for Jackster and Anthem who were about to arrive. I’d convinced them they had to get in the water on arrival and get one thrill before the light fell. We helped dinghy them out into the cut for a drift in the now quite strong current. They were thrilled.

We now only had about an hour before our scheduled start of evening festivities. We all arrived at Manihi’s red roofed establishment around 5:30 for a meal scheduled to start at 7pm. Manihi had been out fishing to catch the meal earlier that day (what a life) and his wife had prepared it. When it all arrived, nearer to 8pm, we were amazed by the quality of the presentation and even more amazed by the taste of the food. All sixteen of us sat around a grand table set amongst a tiki style great hall. A fantastic time was had by all.

Fakarava South

by KC2RIY, on June 4th, 2010 (A Cappella, Bamboozle, Imagine, Sea Mist, Tuamotus)

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.

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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.

Kauehi Village

by KC2RIY, on June 3rd, 2010 (A Cappella, Bristol Rose, Fine Gold, Imagine, Jackster, Lilith, Sea Mist, Tuamotus)

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.

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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.

A grim day in the Tuamotus

by KC2RIY, on June 2nd, 2010 (Tuamotus)

The weather for the whole day was pretty grim. The high overnight winds persisted for much of the morning before dying out. The sky remained overcast the whole day and we were subject to rain and drizzle for most of the day. Wonderful.

Our new spot to which we had dragged was not that good as we had less protection from the wind and with increased distance from the land (fetch) we had more chop than we would have like. However, with 250ft of chain out we were safe so it was better to stay there and wait for better light and conditions before moving somewhere better.

I ran the morning net which has now gone from just a few boats to 25 plus weather forecasts. All the boats at sea had taken a bit of a pounding overnight with many experiencing winds in the high forties. It was good to hear that all were safe and well.

Around mid morning we moved the boat 1 nautical mile to the north east where the land was more continuous and the thicker trees offered more protection from the wind. The wind was around 25 knots on our nose and feeling quite chilly as we made our way carefully keeping an eye out for coral heads.

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Once safely anchored I turned my attention back to the water maker. I had previously communicated our symptoms to Spectra but hadn’t yet received a response. Over night my mind had churned on the problem. While I didn’t think we had a blockage I couldn’t rule this out so I dismantled a few pieces of the equipment and took a close look inside to see if something had come loose which could be creating a temporary blockage. I could find nothing wrong so I put it all back together. Having ran out of ideas I could only wait on Spectra fearing I would have to ship a new motor out.

I caught up with some lost sleep in the afternoon and awoke to the same grim sky as earlier. We had thought of lowering the dinghy and going for a walk in the drizzle but an email check revealed some advice from Spectra to check the brushes on the motor.

So began 2-3 hours of grubby work. The motor has two inspection covers to access the brushes. The way the motor was mounted onto a larger assembly prevented access to one of them. The one I could open I did but wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking at. The email had warned that removal of the end of the motor should be avoided if at all possible as putting it back on was supposed to be difficult. I couldn’t see that I had a choice as I had to understand what I was looking at and I had to be able to access the second brush. Once I had the end of the motor off I could see that the brush that was accessible in the first place was stuck in its slot and it took no time to get it sliding back in and out.

Now began the hard work. Two long screws held the back of the motor in place. The nuts at the other end had dropped too far so they could not be screwed back in without removing the pump assembly. To get the brushes back over the commutator required access to both inspection hatches so the motor needed to be removed from the broader assembly. To remove the motor from the broader assembly required removing the broader assembly from where it was mounted on the boat to access screws from behind. This all took a lot of time and required four hands. John helped throughout and finally as it was getting dark we had it all put back together. On testing the water maker worked perfectly. What a relief. The irony is that we could probably have fixed the problem by banging the back of the motor with a spanner and fixing it in 10 seconds flat.

But this is good news. The grim feeling brought on by the poor weather and the prospects of continued water rationing (ie – no showers, etc.) was now lifted.

I’ll order spare brushes and springs as these are getting a little worn and one day will require replacement but this is not urgent.

Today we’ll move the boat to the village. We know a few friends have arrived there: Lileth, Bristol Rose, Whoosh, Sea Mist among others so it will be nice to see them. We promised Richard and Lileth a while back we’d have them aboard for dinner one day so we’ve invited them over this evening. Tomorrow or the day after we’ll head over to Fakarava.

The Boating Life

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.

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