A sample text widget
Etiam pulvinar consectetur dolor sed malesuada. Ut convallis
euismod dolor nec pretium. Nunc ut tristique massa.
Nam sodales mi vitae dolor ullamcorper et vulputate enim accumsan.
Morbi orci magna, tincidunt vitae molestie nec, molestie at mi. Nulla nulla lorem,
suscipit in posuere in, interdum non magna.
|
by KC2RIY, on September 25th, 2010 ( A Cappella, Anthem, Bamboozle, Callisto, Desue, Freezing Rain, Imagine, Inspiration Lady, Jackster, Kamaya, Mojo, Paleides, Passages, Scream, Sea Mist, Tonga, Trim, Tyee, Visions of Johanna) The Jackster’s showed up and anchored next to us around midday. We soon had them over to share our experiences of the last few months as well as abandoning our plans to hoist the main sail in favour of a few beers.
Around 6pm we headed ashore to Ano Beach for the ferry service to the Full Moon Party. Sadly, the ferry service was the weak link of the whole evening requiring some folks to wait over two hours for their turn to board and make the passage round to the party. Fortunately we made it over on the second one out so we didn’t have to wait too long.
The party was a lot of fun. A lot of the people we have previously mentioned on our blog were there. Most people on their way to New Zealand this year are either now in Tonga or soon to be arriving. I’m probably missing a few but those that we can put our heads together and remember are : A Cappella, Anthem, Bamboozle, Callisto, Delos, Freezing Rain, Imagine, Inspiration Lady, Jackster, Kamaya, Mojo, Paleides, Passages, Scream, Sea Mist, Trim, Tyee & Visions of Johanna. There were many others and we made some new acquaintances along the way.
A lot of effort had been put into things including three 10 minute shows of which Ben played a part (dressed as a skeleton) in the first and third. Not everything went smoothly but it was all appreciated.
We didn’t get back until after midnight. We didn’t see Ben until the following morning around 11am which I saw him on the ferry. I dinghied over and he jumped in the water to avoid the trip to the beach. He hadn’t slept at all having had the beer and food go free around 3am and partying into the morning followed by helping to clear up.
We have some pictures, courtesy of Ann from Callisto, which will be posted when we can get a connection.
Tomorrow the fun continues so we’ll be off early round to Neiafu.
by KC2RIY, on August 13th, 2010 ( Kamaya, Society Islands, Tyee) Thursday morning we saw dive/tour boats come to the pass to let folks snorkel with the mantas. We hung back hoping to have less of a crowd later on. When we did go Helen decided to pass on it as the waves had picked up and it was a bit choppy. Ben and I headed out and managed to find one large manta ray but couldn’t keep up for long.
In the afternoon we all went out to the nearby motu to walk all the way around. As we approached the outer reef Ben and I were assessing the place for possible places to go lobster hunting after dark. We made it all the way around the motu and back to the dinghy. We next went to the pass to let Helen swim around looking for the mantas but she had no luck. Final stop was to head out to near of the mouth of the pass to look at the reef opposite to were we had been walking. Ben and I thought this was more promising and waypointed the cut through the reef using the hand held GPS.
After dinner and movie that evening Ben and I headed out in the dark. Finding our way through the reef in the dinghy was a little trickier than we’d anticipated but we made it. We had no luck hunting for lobsters though and thoughts of a banquet gave way to hopes for perhaps just an aperitif. But that was not to be.
This morning our fortune turned. We woke to find almost no wind and almost flat waters. We first attacked our much postponed project to tart up the ragged bits of our head sail. Once this was done and the net was over we headed out to the pass to look for mantas. And mantas we found. The were a few circling a particular rock seemingly unconcerned with snorklers around them. At times we were able to swim down to the bottom at 25ft or so and just hang out while they swam over us with their mouths gaping wide. The largest was about 8ft across which makes for a big beastie – all the more impressive when they appear to be all mouth.
Just before lunch Ben spent an hour giving some of the boat kids from Kamaya, Tyee and the nearby French boat a maths lesson. All about Pi. I think they enjoyed it – particularly having a change from their parents as teachers.
This afternoon we’ve been cleaning the hull ready for our departure. The key thing is waiting for the right weather window. Oddly the downloadable GRIB weather forecasts have been remaining remarkably consistent and tomorrow (Saturday) looks to be the right day to go. We’ll start with southerly winds which may make exiting the pass tricky. This will allow us to push west before the trade winds reestablish themselves giving us a better line to Aitutaki. That’s the plan. We’ll see how it plays out. If all goes well, next blog will be at sea.
After the morning net we dinghied ashore with a view to walking around the island. It’s about 6 miles all told and a paved road all the way. Despite the previous days disruption to the well being of my big toe I figured I was up for it. I’m glad we went as it was a very pleasant hike. At point point we crested a low saddle where we had great views to the south and north. There we bumped into John, Lucy and the kids from Tyee who were bicycling around the island. They’ve been here for two weeks enjoying being off the beaten path and the safety of the lagoon where they’ve been kite boarding practically every day.
Back aboard we made final use of the internet before grabbing a bite to eat and then moving south to the anchorage behind the motu by the pass. Tyee were anchored there with a couple of other boats. Sea Mist and Kamaya were just arriving. Endless Summer had also arrived but were coming up to the town. We waved and chatted as we passed each other.
INSERT_MAP
Lucy from Tyee had organised a beach party – mainly for the kids – but also for the adults. At 5:30pm we all started heading ashore. The folks on the French catamaran had gathered firewood and had already started a fire – an essential part of any beach party. We brought beers to quaff. Costa Rican beers. Although we’re still in French Polynesia we feel reasonably safe breaking into one of our bonded lockers to access our treasured supplies there.
We ended up staying quite late on the beach chewing the cud as usual. The stars were out and it was supposed to be a good night for watching the Perseid meteors. When we returned to the boat Ben and I spent some time stargazing but saw very little sign of increased meteor activity.
Today we plan to swim with the manta rays that are supposed to be easy to spot here.
by KC2RIY, on August 2nd, 2010 ( Kamaya, Society Islands) The weather appeared to break yesterday morning so we hauled anchor and set off for the east side of the island. Getting out of the bay was a trial as we were facing over 30 knots of wind at times. The high cabin makes this slow going but we made it out without too much trouble. As soon as we could we had the headsail out. At first just a pinch to improve boat speed and as soon as we’d turned sufficiently it was off with the motors.
We sailed around the north side of the island despite it being the longer passage principally for the sightseeing. Bora Bora emerged majestically from behind Taha’a offering us promise of great hiking to the summit and relaxing times ahead behind the reef.
We found a spot near where Kamaya and others were anchored by yet another of those hotels with rooms out over the reef. The main attraction at this spot was a passage between a couple of the islands/motus called the Coral Gardens.
INSERT_MAP
Once we’d settled in and felt secure on the anchor we dinghied over to the pass north of the island with the main section of the hotel. We tied the dinghy to a tree on the north side of the eastern end of this passage then made our way along a vague path to the west end of the pass. With our snorkel gear on we entered the pass and drifted through in the knot or two of current. Most of the pass was just a few inches deep with living coral below. The current had forced a passage to be created down which we weaved in the current along with many fish along for the ride too. It was so much fun we did the trip three times.
The dinghy ride back to the boat was a trial as we were now pushing into the 20 knots winds that had yet to subside. With a long fetch the waves were up so we had to pound through and over them with each wave bringing more water into the dinghy. We kept the drain plug open so that we could lose the water as it came in. If was at all possible we felt wetter on arrival than when we’d been swimming the gardens.
Back aboard we dried off and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Dinner was curry which never fails to be good when Helen makes it so Ben and I were stuffed and happy.
This morning we made the decision to head for Bora Bora. We left our anchorage about 9:30am and are now outside the pass and on our way. Chances are we’ll anchor outside of the main town this evening and head out to the east reef in the morning.
by KC2RIY, on July 30th, 2010 ( Kamaya, Society Islands) I decided that yesterday was a good time to rotate the batteries. The plan was to take all twelve golf cart batteries from the house bank and switch them with six from each bank of twelve drive batteries. The overall goal is to level out and average the usage across all the batteries over a period of three years. We’re having no issues with the system and we want to keep it that way.
At the same time I wanted to complete the topping up exercise started a month ago. Therefore the first order of the day was to manufacture more battery water by rerunning product water back through the water maker to get water at around 3-4 parts per million. This was not without mishap. One of the steps involved in doing this is to remove the tube going into our fresh water tank and use it to fill the bottles destined to contain battery water. Normally I remove the rubber seal from the end of the tube to avoid losing it. This time I forgot to do this. Half way through the exercise I saw the rubber ring ping off the end of the tube. I thought it had dropped under the water tank where it would be difficult to find. I was very angry at myself for this.
When I’d made enough water to fill one bottle I switch over collection bottles. Placing the full bottle down I accidentally placed it on top of something else and it tipped over. Reaching over to stop losing the battery water every where I dropped the output tube. When I picked it up again I saw it tipping water over the rubber ring that had not, after all, fallen in the bilge but landed on top of the water tank. Only problem was now was that the water coming from the output tube washed the ring into the bilge. I was doubly angry at myself.
Once two gallons of battery water had been made up we switched off the water maker and I set about finding the ring. It had made it into the bilge but not where I could reach it. I managed to move it into the deeper water by the pump and then reach down to retrieve it. Seconds after I had it in my fingers the bilge pump went off. Had it gone off before it would have sucked up the ring and pumped it out to sea. I would not have been a happy bunny if that had happened.
Fortunately, after that there were no mishaps. We transferred the batteries in stages minimising downtime to the system. I first isolated six of the house batteries which meant the house supply was off for a minute or two. These were all removed. We cleaned all the anti corrosion gunk off the nuts, washers and terminals and sanded the battery terminals clean. We topped up the batteries with water and cleaned them off. Next we swapped them with six batteries from the port bank similarly cleaning all the pieced and topping them off. Then the batteries from the port bank were put in the house. The whole process was repeated for the final six house batteries and six from the starboard drive bank. Along the way we marked all the batteries so we’d know next time which came from where.
By the end of this all Ben and I each had a very stiff back from all the lugging and bending over. We creaked like old men.
We’d already had sandwiches along the way so we quickly fired up the generator and motored into the next anchorage. We had enough power to go in on batteries and head sail but I wanted to stir them up after the addition of more water. Everything looked good. We ended up anchored near Kamaya and Victoria near the town of Haamene.
INSERT_MAP
Soon after arriving Tim and Ruth passed us by and let us know that the locals were playing the finals in some five aside football nearby and that it seemed a lot of fun. We were planning to go ashore any way and were soon on our way in. We went up to the enclosure in which they were playing but the place was packed and crowds were round the two doors in so it was hard to see. There was a lot of cheering and shouting so there was indeed a good atmosphere inside. Outside they were setting up food stalls presumably for the end of game and down the road was a roadside food stall similar to the ones on Huahine. After the hard work of the day Ben and I were drawn to the smells. After a quick walk around the town we caved in and bought a beer each and order a chow mein each. The portions turned out to be huge and too much to eat. We ate what we could before leaving the rest.
Back on the boat we watched the movie Alice in Wonderland together. Ben and I were not too tired so we watched Naked Gun together before we retired.
Incidentally, it has been mentioned that the Tahitian’s use a lot of vowels in their place names. We saw one road sign today that beat them all. Bearing in mind we’re on the island of Taha’a, the sign we saw was to the town/village of Faaaha. We think they must have been named by someone visiting the dentist.
|