We checked out the Italian Deli and the nearby butchers before walking into town. We stopped at Mamas for a very tasty and filling pizza. We continued our exploration of the town finding a lot more to it than we previously understood to be there. We picked up a few provisions saving for Monday the big effort to provision for the next month. I did manage to find a variable input (ie AC 100-260V) power supply which could supply a range of output DC voltages. This, hopefully, will solve my problems installing my new network device up the mast. We’ll see. That’s a project for today.

In the evening we went to visit John and Pam on Passages. Just before leaving John and Lucy from Tyee popped by to say hello. They’d just arrived in Denaru and are not staying long intending to head off for Vanuatu next week. Another parting of ways for us. A lot of the boats we got to know crossing the Pacific last year who ended up in New Zealand for the cyclone season have now headed west for Vanuatu. Most of those who are still left are those that have decided to stay for the season and return to New Zealand.

Today we have nothing planned. We’ll probably do a little clean up and I want to try out my new wifi gear up the mast again. If it works, I’ll remove the old one and permanently install the new.

• I remove temporary batteries I hooked up sitting over the starboard shaft access ready for the techs planned visit.
• I made my (hopefully) last trip up the mast to file down the epoxy I’d applied to the oversized countersunk holes.
• The engine tech arrived and told us the second shaft seal was now not expected to arrive from overseas until late May and suggested we try and order one from the US.  I nearly tore his head off.  We then came up with the idea of using the new one and the best of the old ones which is still pretty good.
• I cleaned and sanded the prop shafts one more time.
• The engine tech ran into a new problem as the newly machined couplings had been machined in error and needed some more work.  Despite all this, all is expected to be complete on this front by Wednesday.
• Replaced a bent clip on the dinghy hauling lines.
• Inventoried genset oil to determine how much more to buy in.
• Stored around 14 boxes of wine away from the world.
• Laid out storm anchor.  This is one of those jobs we should have done a long time ago.  We’ve had a second hand para anchor and a brand new set of bridles/lines for nearly two years and we’ve never taken them out of the bags to inspect them, let alone test them at sea.  We removed both sets of lines from the bags and worked out how we would set them from the boat at sea.  We removed the parachute from it’s bag and found it intact but covered in mould.  We hoisted it up the mast for a couple of hours in the afternoon to dry out.  It will have to go up there again today.  Also spent ages trying to untangle the lines to the parachute.  It’s better but not complete.
• Collected our finished windows.  I took them round to Leu Cat who are considering doing the same project.  They were quite impressed.  There I picked up our two clamshell scoops which had arrived from the US.  Back at the boat Helen was delighted.  We put them into the window frames and checked them out through the plastic still wrapping the boat.  They looked good but we really need to see them with the plastic off.
• Bottom painting progressed.  Second primer followed by first coat of anti-foul went on.

During the day it was nice to meet John and Lucy from Tyee who’ve just returned from Canada.  Their boat has been in the yard while they’ve been home.  With envy we saw Emily Grace splash/launch.

In the evening it was a pleasure to eat out with Mike and Anne from Callisto at our preferred curry house in Whangarei.  Like us, they like their curries hot so we were able to share five dishes amongst the four of us.  Delicious.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week remains good and all signs point towards a Friday afternoon launch for us.  Today the second layer of anti-foul goes on as will a third application on all our leading edges.  The engine tech should have our prop shafts reconnected and we may even have the hull clean started.  A lot to do yet but it all looks doable.

Back to the party. At the beginning of the week we had to option to purchase passports which encouraged us to visit places around town and the island gaining points for each visit and even more if we bought things. We gained points for the events we joined in and more if we won any of them. The party included a prize-giving ceremony for the top 11 scorers. As we had stuck together most of the week (and we got Ben’s passport stamped while he was working on the Full Moon Party) we had similar points. Not only did we all make the top 11 we placed near the top gaining a good selection of prizes. Ben and Helen each won two tank dives. I won a 45km 2 person kart ride around the island which I’ll do with Ben. We each earned secondary prizes amounting to a free pizza, a map and a desert for 2 people. All in all this was quite a valuable haul – but very much the icing on the cake for a fun filled week.

The party had some local dancing and a live band. We stayed on till nearly midnight when Helen felt too tired to continue. On the way back to the dinghy it seemed she had a new burst of energy causing her to invite Brian, Brady & Erin from Delos, Jenny from Callisto and Steven and Dorusha back to the boat to carry on the festivities. We didn’t get to sleep until 1:30 – normally (but not recently) quite late for us.

We had planned on scooting out of Neiafu today and seeing some of the outer anchorages. We still don’t have the tracking number for our charger which is getting comical. The Delos crew have invited us to dive on a wreck in the bay here today and we have to sort out and book our prizes so maybe we won’t be out of here after all.

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.

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.

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.

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.