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En Route to Aitutaki

by KC2RIY, on August 14th, 2010 (At Sea, Society Islands, Tyee)

A small highlight for Friday was when John from Tyee popped over and offer to take Ben wake boarding. This is a bit like water skiing but on a single small board. Ben took to it very quickly and was soon circling the boat weaving from side to side.

This morning, at 7am, we were off. We retrieved the anchor/chain from amongst the coral heads it had wrapped up in and headed out into the channel. There was about 2 knots of current heading out into an opposing sea swell which made for a very bumpy exit. We didn’t reach stable water until about half a mile out where we hoisted sails and have been sailing ever since.

The waters seem quite active. It didn’t take long before we’d lost two more lures. I was beginning to wonder if we’ll ever catch another fish when we snagged a mahi mahi which we not only landed but kept. It weighed in at 20lb making it the largest mahi mahi we’ve landed. It’s size made it quite awkward to handle on the back step. By the time we had it bled out there was blood everywhere from it’s thrashings. We had to use some rum to quieten it down which I don’t really like to do as it slows the heart down and lessens the bleeding out.

We’ve made good time today with the strong winds. They’ve recently clocked round more to the east and slackened off. We have an opportunity to arrive by the 17th if we don’t lose any more wind. One less overnight passage will please all aboard.

Category: At Sea, Society Islands, Tyee | Here is my comment

Waiting for the weather window / Swimming with the mantas

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.

Category: Kamaya, Society Islands, Tyee | Here is my comment

Hike / Motu Pitiahe

by KC2RIY, on August 12th, 2010 (Endless Summer, Kamaya, Sea Mist, Society Islands, Tyee)

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.

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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.

Category: Endless Summer, Kamaya, Sea Mist, Society Islands, Tyee | Here is my comment

The Boating Life

by KC2RIY, on June 1st, 2010 (Bristol Rose, Fine Gold, Tuamotus, Tyee)

The last 24 hours has been interesting. We started the day with a wash which meant running the generator. We turned on the water maker to catch up on the recent water used and that from the wash. Not long after running the water maker the circuit breaker tripped. It’s done this a few times since we repaired our last problem but always ran ok when the breaker was reset and the water maker restarted. With no other apparent issues I put this down to an over sensitive breaker. This time however the (original) motor connected to the recently replaced feeder pump started losing power and the pressure dropped out of the pump. Not good.

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.

Category: Bristol Rose, Fine Gold, Tuamotus, Tyee | Here is my comment
 
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