Sea Mist « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

In the bilge

by KC2RIY, on July 7th, 2010 (Imagine, Sea Mist, Society Islands)

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.

A Walk in the Park

by steve, on July 6th, 2010 (Imagine, Sea Mist, Society Islands)

The weather cleared up soon after I wrote the previous entry so we decided to go ashore and see if we could find the public gardens mentioned in our guide book. The guidebook gave the position as being 2.7km west of the museum entrance so I created a waypoint on my portable GPS in the approximate position and went off to see what we could find. At that spot we found a shallow reef close to the road. It was just deep enough to dinghy over to the road and chained the dinghy to a lamp post. From there we had a very short walk to the public gardens.

Although a bit noisy from the road the public gardens were very pretty and well kept. Having visited the expensive private gardens and the free public gardens I would recommend to anyone the latter. The gardens contained plenty of flowers, some nice lily ponds, some water features and a natural waterfall. The only downside was that the public gardens were quite a bit smaller than the private ones.

The really big surprise was a marked trail up the hillside off the back of the gardens. There were a few trail options – the longest advertised as a two hour hike which we decided to take. The beginning of the trail was quite muddy no doubt influenced by the recent rain. While slippery the path was made easily manageable by plenty of well placed ropes to hang onto. Soon, the trail climbed into pine forests. This was a total surprise. We had not expected pine forests in Tahiti. The path underfoot was soft with a bedding of pine needles and leveled out to a gentle incline. From time to time we would get excellent views of the reef outside.

The entire hike was a delight made more so by the fact that we had no idea it was there. It was not mentioned in any of the guides we had. We radioed back to Imagine and Sea Mist to let them know of our discovery. We knew John on Sea Mist was an avid hiker and would not want to miss this. We were walking anti-clockwise round the outer loop so we suggested to John that he go clockwise so that we would at least meet up somewhere.

At the highest point of the hike a path led off that wasn’t advertised. We checked it out for about 5 minutes in case there was a viewpoint nearby. The path definitely went somewhere but in the end we decided to turn back as as far as we knew it could have crossed the island.

On the way down we again saw some great views. We agreed that if someone had transported us here randomly and we opened our eyes we would not have guessed we were in Tahiti or some other tropical island. Being on the south side of the island the air was cooler than normal which added to the feeling.

We reached the bottom without seeing John. Our next stop was to visit the public springs a couple of hundred meters to the west. We soon found a car park at the end of a stream with some people visibly bathing a short way up the stream. There we found a couple of pools surround natural upwelling of water from the hills. Hot and sweaty from our recent hike we immersed ourselves in the cold mountain water. It was invigorating.

On the way back to the dinghy we bumped into John who had just come down from the hike. We figured he must have passed us by when we were off on the side trail. We let him know where the pools were so he could cool off.

On the way back we passed by Imagine who invited us to stop by for lunch which we accepted. While there John passed and joined us. We didn’t stay long as we were all ready to head east to the anchorage near the town of Taravao. Although we departed first, Sea Mist soon powered past us. The passage was simple enough as we’ve developed experience and confidence navigating the reefs in the last few days.

As soon as we’d arrived we checked for an internet connection and found two subscription services of which we have time on both. I was able to check our remaining internet orders and both are due for delivery on the 6^th of July which is encouraging. It will be a relief for all when these are in as I know it’s inconveniencing Ben to arrange to have someone in to receive them.

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We decided to explore the town of Taravao so we dinghied ashore and tied off to a small jetty. We had to walk past a car wrecking site before finding the town. We wanted to find somewhere we could eat out as well as see what shops there were. We found a big ACE hardware store as well as a few supermarkets. There were a number of restaurants but none that really piqued our fancy. We walked about 3-4 miles before picking up some pizzas to eat that evening. On the way back we found a restaurant that we liked the look of about 50 yards in the opposite direction from the town from the road that led back to the where we’d left the dinghy. We may go there this evening.

We’ll stay here for the day and catch up with some internet things. Hopefully our parts will arrived today and we can head off for a relaxed few days not having to worry about things back home. We’ve been able to upload recent pictures so a few new albums should be available on our photos page.

Aboard Sea Mist

by KC2RIY, on July 5th, 2010 (Bamboozle, Imagine, Sea Mist, Society Islands)

While running the generator to condition the recently watered batteries we managed three washes. We also ran the air conditioning for about an hour to dry out the boat. It’s been quite humid recently and it was nice to get rid of all the moisture for a while.

On the radio we heard that Imagine were on their way to this anchorage and we also heard that Bamboozle were rounding the south side of Tahiti-Iti (the smaller of the two conjoined islands that comprise Tahiti) and chances are we’d meet up in a few days.

Once this was all done we headed ashore to walk around the botanical gardens. There were not a lot of flowers to look at, it was more trees although there were some very pleasant wooded areas around sculpted streams and ponds complete with monster eel like fish lurking here and there. They also had two giant tortoises brought here some years ago.

When we returned to the boat we saw that Imagine had arrived. The area is so wide open that the three boats here are all hundreds of feet apart so it’s not crowded. We spent the afternoon relaxing before heading over to join Stuart and Sheila from Imagine aboard Sea Mist with John, Cheryl and Ian for sundowners. We had a good time aboard – the sun not only went down but went some way around the back side of the Earth before we left late in the evening. It was a brilliantly clear evening. The stars were bright and the Milky Way spread itself over the heavens.

We’re thinking of moving on today towards Port Phaeton and the nearby town of Taravao. However, right now the heavens are far from clear as they are full of dark clouds emptying themselves upon us. We’ll play today by ear.

Papeari

by KC2RIY, on July 4th, 2010 (Sea Mist, Society Islands)

We waited until 10am before moving the boat east. Although the channel was clearly marked we felt better waiting until the sun was high so we could see the reef hazards. We wanted to consider the possibility of anchoring out on the reef so we plotted a course to where the deeper (80-100ft) water became shallow. Around where we planned to go we discovered the drop off was quite steep and close to the rocky shallows. This did not make for a good anchorage so we instead headed towards the point on which the Gaugin Museum and some botanical gardens are located. We found an anchorage right by the point in water that appeared more like a lake than the sea. We were sheltered from the wind and the water was still. The were no nearby passes to inject any motion into the water at all. From my charts we are close to the town of Papeari.

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The only downside, for a short while, was that ashore, amongst some manicured gardens, appeared to be some sort of political or religious function with people milling around and a long speech emitting from speakers. It may perhaps have been a wedding reception with a very long giving away speech.

In the afternoon we dinghied around the point to find somewhere to go ashore. A security guard from the function area indicated we had to move further along. We passed a restaurant before coming ashore by a car park. We hauled the dinghy up a short beach before chaining it to a tree. The Gaugin Museum was here so we paid to go in. It comprised three buildings set amongst some tranquil gardens. Each building presented a different aspect of his life. The first gave the history of his life, the second more about his time in Polynesia and the last focused on his art although the first two had plenty of that too. Around the gardens were three stone Tikis standing in Tiki Huts – one of which, I understand, is the largest in French Polynesia.

After the museum we walked up to the main road past the botanical gardens leaving them for Sunday. We walked along the main road for a while before finding a store where we bought a baguette for dinner. When we returned to the boat we discovered Sea Mist had arrived at the same anchorage. We went over to say hello and to let them know what we’d learned. They invited us over for sun downers Sunday evening.

As hinted before we’ll go to the botanical gardens later today. Right now we’re doing three washes while equalizing the house batteries following the recent addition of distilled water. I tend to bring them up above 14V fairly regularly so the principal aim of equalization right now is to stir up the acid/water with the bubbling to make the solution even.

Blowing in the wind

by KC2RIY, on June 30th, 2010 (Sea Mist, Society Islands)

We had plans to take the bus into town yesterday but in the end we spent the day on the boat for a few reasons. One reason was that it was a public holiday and most things seemed closed. Second was that we were getting strong gusts out of the west causing all the boats in the anchorage to swing wildly. Many boats were reanchoring to get themselves out of trouble. Nearby one unattended boat kept swinging into Sea Mist. Sea Mist had their fenders out and were using their dinghy as a mega fender. I boarded the unattended boat and put their fenders out too. After settling down the westerly wind blew a second time giving everyone a repeat performance. Fortunately we had no issues and our anchor stuck well.

We celebrated John’s last night aboard in the usual style with a curry. Later John went ashore to spend a bit of time with a few friends his own age group. John must have mixed feelings about leaving having spent six months aboard. It makes me wonder how we will approach the end of this trip. Fortunately I don’t have to worry about this just yet as this event, bar unforeseen circumstances, is still a few years away.

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In the bilge

A Walk in the Park

Aboard Sea Mist

Papeari

Blowing in the wind