Nuku

Posted on October 8, 2010 by KC2RIY

As a result of a weather system sitting over Tonga the wind stayed above 20 knots and the anchorage we were in lost it’s charm. We therefore decided to tuck in behind Nuku and take shelter from the strong south easterlies and get out of the chop. The sail over was quite bouncy forcing us to put things away which is normally only required if we go out into the ocean when it’s bad.

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Ben wanted to cook up the fish he caught for lunch so we decided to snorkel again before lunch to see if we could add to our fare. It was an interesting swim with plenty of colourful coral around the 20-30ft mark. Ben bagged a couple of more fish which I threaded onto a line I’d bought which we took back to the boat, gutted, wrapped in tin foil and cooked along with one from the previous day. All three fish were quite tasty.

Recovering from the night before we all dozed off in the afternoon. Waking later we found the boats that had been here had left and Bamboozle had arrived. They invited us over to dinner which we accepted. We ended up staying until midnight, partly due to the torrential rain and thunder that kept us inside and partly because we were enjoying ourselves too much.

During the course of the day I fleshed out our plans and timetable for getting to New Zealand. We’re going back to Neiafu on Monday where we’ll stay 2-3 days to renew our visas and to use up our prizes from the regatta. We’ll then head out to the anchorages on the SW side of this group for a few days before spending the next 2 weeks or so heading down to Tongatapu where we’ll clear out. The trip down to New Zealand will take anywhere between one to two weeks largely depending on the weather which in turn will affect whether or not we stop at Minerva Reef on the way. We’ll arrive in NZ somewhere around the 20th of November.

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Avalau

Posted on October 7, 2010 by KC2RIY

In the morning Ben, Tim (from Kamaya) and I dinghied around Euakafa to go spear fishing. The guide books said the south side was supposed to be pretty good but it turned out to be a little less than spectacular. We anchored the dinghy fairly close to where Tim, Stuart and Paul had capsized in Stuart’s dinghy the previous day. There were a few items that hadn’t been recovered the previous day. Tim had a look for those too but had no luck.

Having exhausted the thrills of Euakafa (the hike was the only good thing) we moved the boat to Avalau around midday.

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Here there are vast expanses of turquoise waters making the area look quite pretty. Ben was soon out spear fishing and caught a couple of fish. I joined him but I think the word was out and no decent fish were presenting themselves.

Both Imagine and Jackster were in the anchorage so we invited them over for dinner – particularly because Stuart is still single handing and probably needed the company. Over the evening the weather picked up and the anchorage became quite swelly. Overnight things have not improved and we woke to a grim, gray morning. The poor conditions make this a less desirable stop so we may move on today.

Some news on the charger front. I was passed (I suspect without reading) an email which revealed that the charger was at UPS but awaiting on someone to pay. There was no indication that anyone was doing anything nor was there any indication that my requests to prevent it being sent to Nieafu (and hopefully onto Tongatapu instead) had been heeded. That email got a quick response. The delivery has been canned and now it’s going to New Zealand. Given the poor show so far that’s probably about the only thing that will work for us. The resiliency of the system is not letting us down so we can get about ok. If we’d been told up front that sending the replacement to Tonga was impractical and could we have waited til NZ I would probably have accepted it. Instead our expectations were set and then the comedy began. In Aitutaki I had to cycle miles to get an internet connection to research delivery options. In Niue I had to make several trips ashore to use the public phone (mostly to full voice mailboxes) for a dialog which would have been simple over email. I’ve had to make several (almost always completely ignored) calls a day from Tonga to chase. We’ve wasted time and money on all these fruitless phone calls. I’m sure the real reasons for the delays and frustrations are being concealed from us but the result, which is all that matters, is a big zilch. What a load of bollocks.

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Euakafa

Posted on October 6, 2010 by KC2RIY

The boat hadn’t moved too far from the buoy we dropped the night before. The bottom was about 30 feet down which is shallow enough to do some exploration with just a snorkel. I took an early morning dip hoping to find the missing fork but had no luck. I even moved the weight bad to see if we had a lucky (unlucky) covering and turned over a few large starfish. After the morning nets I tried again, this time with my tank on. I spent about 25 minutes searching around. I found some discarded carrots and the bones we through over the night before but no fork. There were a few deep holes from sea critters and I can only imagine it slid down one of those.

Shortly after this failed effort we raised the sails and set off. The winds were so light we motor sailed all the way to Euakafa threading our way through the pass. With our GPS track and memories of the features it was a lot easier this time.

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Euakafa is listed as having great snorkeling on the south side and a pleasant walk up to the summit where one can find the tomb of a princess. We arrived around midday to find Tim from Kamaya and Paul from Callypso working with Stuart (Imagine) on his four stroke engine. They’d all been out on the south side earlier in the day and had been tipped by a wave flipping the dinghy in the process. They’d had a bit of an adventure retrieving what they could from the flipped dinghy and even recovered some parts from the bottom at 70ft. I offered to help and lent some ignition fluid I’d acquired all the way back in Bequia when our hookah flipped. Stuart turned out to have some of that but I was ultimately able to help by giving some spare oil to allow another flush.

In the afternoon Stuart (Imagine), Paul and Maureen (Callypso) and we all headed ashore to ascend the trail to the summit. It was quite a pleasant walk. We reached the site of the tomb first. Typical for Tonga there was no information. Just a series of slabs partially covering a deep hole now empty of deceased princess. The trail continued onwards to a bluff overlooking the anchorage giving us a great view to the north.

We learned on the walk that Callypso had some TV Series we needed and we had some they did so after the walk we were able to exchange DVDs, etc.

We spent the evening watching one movie and one episode of Top Gear which has become a recent routine. Now that we have a complete collection of Prison Break we could well get into that soon.

No meaningful progress on our charger. We have received one forwarded communication which confirms the charger has reached the UPS office but is awaiting payment by some named individual presumably in someone’s finance office somewhere on this planet. No suggestion that anyone was doing anything about this nor any hint that our recent requests to have it sent to Tongatapu (instead of here) have been heeded. Certainly no tracking reference which would be a solid assurance that it’s on it’s way somewhere. We first requested assistance on the warranty replacement on August 18th. Anyone impressed?

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Umuna

Posted on October 5, 2010 by KC2RIY

We spent mainly a restful day aboard. We made one excursion in the dinghy to reach the island to our north – Umuna. A trail climbs up from the beach and shortly descends into a cave with brackish water at the bottom. We all took our face masks but only I got in. The water is inhabited by many shrimp which soon started picking at my skin with their tiny claws. I tried catching a few but all I ended up with was a tiny leg which a shrimp preferred to lose rather than be caught.

Ben and I responded to a call from Andy and Rianne from Zephyrus who were currently aboard Gangada (the French boat involved with our dinghy rescue). They’d just tipped some fuel from diesel cans they’d filled in French Polynesia into their tanks. Andy had subsequently noticed a distinct odour of gasoline from one of the jerry cans which is not what one wants to put in a diesel tank. They had samples of diesel and gas from Gangada as well as samples from their cans which they wanted some additional smell testing on.

Asking for a fully blind test Ben and I sniffed the four separate jars of fuel. The reference diesel was hard to spot and we pinned the petrol/gasoline. The two samples from Zephyrus smelled like a mix of the two but not the same. All four jerry cans had been filled from the same source. I suggested putting a match to the various samples as petrol should burn but diesel not. The reference samples from Gangada behaved as they should and one of the two samples from Zephyrus lit up. Andy was confident in his history and the only conclusion I could come up with was that the source from where they filled was contaminated with a mixture of gas and diesel and that they received a different blend as their cans were filled.

After some discussion we lent them a spare can of diesel from which they could feed their fuel lines. Along with sailing most of the way, that would get them to Neiafu where they could drain their tank, clean it out and replace it with clean diesel. What a pain for them.

In the evening we had a BBQ cooking up sausages and racks of pork which we later realized was lamb. Helen dropped a fork in the water. We have a weight bag with a line and float set up for these situations so this went in the water. The float sat about 5-10 feet below the surface so we should find it this morning and retrieve the fork.

The situation with our charger is looking to be a farce. Senior management in Lagoon and CatCo all seem to be aware of the situation but nothing seems to be happening. CatCo have deferred to an independant to manage the problem but promises have been made and not fulfilled. The gulf between the commitment Lagoon/Catco gave and the reality of the situation is about as big as it gets. I hate to dish these guys in public as I really need them on my side. But this really is pathetic.

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Kenutu

Posted on October 4, 2010 by KC2RIY

On Monday morning Helen and I took a stroll ashore. Ben stayed ashore as his feet are sore due to a few coral scratches and some sores from when he went snorkeling without boots on. There was a grass/sandy track just behind the beach on the NW shore of Ofu that ran along the edge of the village. It was well kept and even as we walked along locals were sweeping and cutting down the grass to keep it that way. We walked from one end of the village to the other before returning to the dinghy along the beach.

Shortly after returning to the boat we up anchored and moved around the bottom of Ofu and anchored off the west side of Kenutu. There are still a few boats around but there is a great sense of isolation here.

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In the afternoon we went snorkeling. We cut the trip short as it wasn’t that good. Instead we went ashore and hiked the short trail over to the east side of Kenutu. We explored around a while to see if the trail went anywhere else and found some more interesting sites. The east coast faces the prevailing winds and seas and is hence quite rugged – reminding us much of Niue.

In the afternoon I inspected the drive batteries. The batteries that were originally the house batteries are all 0.1V less than the ones left in the drive banks. This may be because I haven’t really pushed them all to full charge and held them there for a few hours to equalize. I’ve decided to stop cross charging the house bank for a while and use the generator a bit more to top up the house and in turn pushing up the drive banks at the same time. After a week or so of this I’ll retest.

One thing I neglected to mention is that the net I started when we left Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas ended last Saturday. We had originally intended the net for the trip down to the Tuamotus but it caught on. My belief is that the guys who put the effort into doing the weather every day drew in the crowds. However, the weather guys were getting tired. Two of them were on their way to Australia and behind us in time. Also, in this region, are established nets which have been running for years and give weather too. It seemed the right time to call it quits. Rather than just cut everyone off we spent some time gathering info on other nets in the area and compiled info on gathering weather for oneself. We gave out most of the information several times over the last week and put it up on our website for reference. You can see that info by going to http://www.aboarddignity.com/pacinfo.html.

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