Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Category: Cruiser Connections

  • Back in Marina Taina

    The trip back up north from the eclipse was a little quicker than we anticipated so we changed our plans and headed for Marina Taina. On the one hand it would have been nice to spend another evening on our own on the south side but there were also benefits for getting settled in.

    The main activity for the day yesterday was shopping. We provisioned sufficiently so we have most of the main items aboard to get us to Rarotonga in the Southern Cooks. We will no doubt be picking bits and pieces up along the way, such as fresh veg, but the bulk of it is now in. In the evening we went ashore for happy hour at the Casa Blanco with the Leu Cats (and guests) and the Savannahs who we recently met. We all ended up staying for a meal there.

    Today we’ll top up with fuel as the duty free fuel here is not a bad price. We haven’t used a great deal but we want to have enough aboard to get us to New Zealand and if the weather is kind to us this should do it.

    Ben should be already on his way to us but won’t arrive until 6:20pm this evening. We’ll walk to the airport from here and then return via taxi. Tomorrow is Bastille Day. There doesn’t seem to be much happening here that day. We had hoped there would be fireworks and/or public celebrations or something. Sounds like we’ll have a quiet day aboard.

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  • Bassin de Vaiau

    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.

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    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.

  • Teahupoo

    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.

  • Papehere

    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.

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  • In the bilge

    I started the day going ashore to collect baguettes. By prior agreement I picked up a couple each for Sea Mist and Imagine too. Unfortunately they weren’t as fresh as I’d hoped seeming to be left overs from the previous evening. I’d probably gone too early.

    Later in the morning I set about finding the current cause of the port bilge pump going off. The pipe that runs from the port bow locker looked a little damp so I emptied out the port bow locker and looked around there for possible causes. There were no stains that suggested a significant flow. The woodwork was damp but this could be explained by the unemptied hose that had been placed there. That could have contributed some water that would eventually make it to the bilge but certainly didn’t explain the whole picture. I emptied out the bottom of the port bow locker and gave it a clean.

    Back to the bilge I noticed it had filled some more. I pumped out the water and tested it. It wasn’t clean water but it was nowhere near the salinity of seawater. That was a good clue as it suggested the source was internal. The water being dirty I suspected a leak in the shower. There was a possibility it could be coming from under the shower but we’d only know that through monitoring. On inspecting the pipework I noticed another possibility. Both the second bilge pump and the shower sump pump teed into the same pipe which went upwards and along the hull to the exit through hull further back. If the one way valves in the bilge pump were both slightly open then some of the water from the shower could be backing through the bilge pump and into the bilge.

    To test this I put a cup under the strainer for the bilge pump and took a shower to wash off the sweat and dirt from working in the port bow locker. Lo and behold, the cup began to fill a little following my brief shower. I therefore removed the pump fittings and then the pump from the bulkhead before taking it outside to clean. The rubber flaps comprising the one way valves were indeed a little crusty and there was a dead beetle jamming one of them open. This would also explain why the bilge always refills a little after pumping out.

    I cleaned it all up, reassembled the pump and reinstalled it. The same cup test and another shower revealed no backfill. I left the test in place and a few hours later when Helen had a shower I still so no water. I was pleased.

    Thinking back I think the bilge pump must have been gradually building up a small amount of crud. When the leak around the exhaust occurred a 2-3 weeks ago the bilge pumps were put to use and perhaps then the beetle got sucked in and made the situation worse. Hence, once I fixed the initial leak I was left with the bilge alarm going off but for a new cause. I am pleased the situation is resolved.

    During all this time Helen cleaned out the starboard hull ready for Ben’s arrival.

    In the afternoon we did little more than read and relax. Both Imagine and Sea Mist headed off. We’d heard that our packages had arrived but hadn’t received any confirmation that we had all the parts. Defender had said (perhaps in error) that the order had been split into two packages and without that confirmation I couldn’t know if we were done yet. We therefore had to hang around for this confirmation. We wanted to eat out so this wasn’t so bad. In the evening we went ashore. To stretch our legs we walked back along the main road far enough to see the fort and to see the sea on the eastern side of the isthmus. On the way back we popped into the larger Champion supermarket in town and picked up a few things. We then went to the restaurant where we had a very nice Chinese meal.

    Today we’ll be definitely out of here. We have now received confirmation that all is with Ben and so we can finally relax knowing there is nothing further to chase. We have three more nights to spend behind the reefs around Tahiti-Iti, the southern end of Tahiti, before we dash south for the eclipse.