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Alone then not so alone

by KC2RIY, on July 23rd, 2010 (Kamaya, Renova, Society Islands, Victoria)

Overnight there had been only two other boats in the anchorage. By the time we were up there was only one.

The tides here are less than a foot but even so they were rising in the morning so Ben and I decided to go and snorkel the pass around the corner hoping to get some sort of drift dive into the island. When we got there we found the currents were sweeping us out to sea which is not a good thing to do in case of a dinghy motor failure. We tried about four or five different spots but didn’t find anything exceptional. We saw a few more fish than the previous day but they were all quite shy.

Back at the boat we were down to just us in the anchorage which is a very pleasant state of affairs. This didn’t last too long though as for whatever reason quite a few folks decided to make it down here including a few we knew: Renova, Kamaya & Victoria.

We went for a walk on the beach in the afternoon and soon ran into the guys from Renova up to much the same. We agreed to join up and ended up in a quaint bar on the beach for a beer. When we parted it was slightly deeper goodbyes as the Renovas are going on the hard in a few days and it’s unlikely we’ll see them again – at least in this lifetime.

Back aboard we grilled up some ribs which were delicious and made our way through three episodes of the recent series of 24.

Category: Kamaya, Renova, Society Islands, Victoria | Here is my comment

Maeva

by KC2RIY, on July 21st, 2010 (Dilan, Escapade, Kamaya, Society Islands, Victoria)

Around 9:30 we were ready and went ashore for our hike to Maeva. We briefly looked at hiring bikes (or at least an extra bike as we already have two) but decided against the idea in favour of walking. The hike was around 6km to where the archaeological site is. A lot of the way was along the side of a stretch of water connected to the sea at one end called the lake. It was all very pretty. Along the way Ben set us a maths problem. We had to make the number 24 using just the four numbers (once each and only once) 1,3,4 & 6, the four standard operations (+,-,/,x) and parenthesis/brackets. It was infuriating but once the trick was found both Helen and I solved it.

The ruins were quite extensive and in a lot of places partially restored. There was a boat hut that appeared to have been reconstructed but it was out of bounds so we could not investigate further. Our guide book stated there should be a museum nearby so we walked into the town of Maeva but could not find it. We walked back to the ruins and up a foot path to find more of the marae – ruins. There were a lot of noisy school kids around the first set of ruins/banyon tree so we soon pushed on upwards to where we were on our own with a pleasant view over the sea to the north.

We decided against following the path onwards and headed back the way we came. Walking back along the road we soon managed to hitch a lift with a local lady who was singing along to French songs. In town we picked up some sandwich rolls from the supermarket which we ate going back to the dinghy. At this point we’d decided to leave the anchorage in the afternoon and head down south to where the snorkeling is supposed to be really good.

Heading back to the boat we noticed Renova had arrived. We went over to greet them and hand over a pair of shoes Naomi had left aboard our dinghy after the ride to the rays in Moorea. We gave them the low down of the land and soon had agreed to stay in the anchorage and meet them for Happy Hour.

As the afternoon wore on more of our friends arrived: Kamaya, Victoria, Dilan & Escapade showed up in the anchorage. We soon had a few more folks invited to Happy Hour. I spent the afternoon doing computer stuff still not getting round to work on the head sail.

We ate our dinner before heading out for Happy Hour. Another great time with friends was had on the waterfront. Back on the boat we watched a couple of episodes of 24 before retiring.

Today we definitely will head south and definitely might work on the head sail.

Category: Dilan, Escapade, Kamaya, Society Islands, Victoria | Here is my comment

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.

Category: Kamaya, Tuamotus | Here is my comment

Daniel’s Bay

by KC2RIY, on May 24th, 2010 (Kamaya, Marquesas)

The sail around the island to Daniel’s Bay was fairly uneventful. The winds in the lee of the island were fluky which was to be expected. In fact for a good distance, the easterly trades were curling over the top of the volcanic ridge creating a light westerly wind.

We arrived around 3:30pm and found a spot close to the shore amongst a pack of around 15 boats. With not a lot of daylight left we went ashore to stretch our legs along the short sandy beach. Along the beach I spotted a fair sized crab sitting there that appeared unafraid of my approach. I was able to catch it by pressing down on it with my flip flop then holding it by it’s carapace.

Once I’d carried the crab along the beach and back to the dinghy where I deposited it I noticed John and Helen had disappeared. I ran back down the beach to find them. They had been exploring a dried river bed which had lots of crab holes and they’d spotted a few scurrying around. We soon found quite a few crabs hiding under the coconut fronds and sometimes two or three to a hole which meant the top one was quite exposed. I managed to grab five more crabs handing them over to Helen and John to hold in each hand.

We dropped the five crabs into the dinghy to make six in total. We headed over to Kamaya to say hello and ask about the nearby walking trail. They gave us directions and showed interest in the crabs. We soon had their son, Kay, aboard so we could meet his Dad Tim who would kayak ashore and collect some too. We headed back to Dignity to drop off the crabs and grab a few spare eggs for Ruth on Kamaya.

Soon John, Tim, Kay and I were back with the crabs this time with buckets to contain them. We managed to collect at least twenty more of which John and I took another seven back to the boat.

We soon had our crabs on the boil. Although they tasted nice, the meat to shell ratio was quite small so it took a lot of effort for a little return. Helen had also cooked up noodles and we were quite full long before the crabs were finished. John and I finished off by collecting the meat from the remaining crabs for future use.

Today we’re off on the nearby hike to the dried up water fall. We’ll probably go along with Stuart and Sheila from Imagine who sailed around the island at the same time as us yesterday. We’re also thinking of moving back to the main town of Taiohae this afternoon after the hike. It’s about 6nm away so it won’t take long. While the anchorage here is (again) stunning we’re keen to get ourselves sorted out and on our way to the Tuamotos.

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Category: Kamaya, Marquesas | Here is my comment

Our hookah won’t blow

by KC2RIY, on May 10th, 2010 (Kamaya, Marquesas, Victoria)

The day started of a little lazy waking up later than normal then reading for a while. We then decided to go out snorkeling around the nearby point. The water was nice and clear and we saw plenty of sea life. The highlight was catching sight of a huge manta that initially swam in it’s gentle way right towards us then banked off to the side. These are huge and amazing creatures.

We ate lunch fairly early then decided to get the hookah out so we could explore the sea floor a little easier. While I’m getting better at free diving I still can’t stay too long down at the 30 to 40 foot level. The hookah was hard to start but we got it going. We set it up for three and set off from the boat. Within 5 minutes the hookah stopped while we were 25 feet down. We surfaced easily enough and swam back to the boat. We hauled the hookah back aboard the boat to allow it to cool. It had seized.

A little later Ruth from Kamaya paddled by to say hello. I asked if she knew of anyone around who knew anything about small engines. Turned out the additional crew member on Victoria was a racing car engine mechanic. He was glad to come over and advise. In the end we gave the engine an oil bath. We drained the old oil out and overfilled it with new. For a period of around two hours we occasionally hand cranked the engine using a spanner until it turned easily.

We drained the excess oil, put the hookah back together and fired it up. It worked. We set it up for two and John and I tested it out for 5 minutes. We had planned to go out at night lobster hunting with Tim from Kamaya. We called him over to do a shake out dive while it was still light. We all three went down and the hookah stopped again. It had again seized. There it stands right now. We’ll probably go through the oil bath thing again.

We agreed we’d still go out lobster hunting when it was dark but with our snorkels. Tim had heard from the locals in Fatu Hiva that night time was best as the lobsters went out to the ocean floor during the day. We ate our dinner then watched a couple of episodes of the Fringe.

Tim arrived around 8:30. We spent over an hour out there but came back lobsterless. We did spot a few interesting things including a turtle, a giant puffer fish, a large trumpet fish and a tiny moray eel. Swimming at night, particularly underwater is always fun so it was not a waste of time.

Another ‘relaxing’ day here before we move on.

Category: Kamaya, Marquesas, Victoria | Here is my comment
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