Pictures - part II

Here are two more pics: 1. Top of Hiva Oa - Marquesas; 2. The Famous Daniels Bay - Nuka Hiva, Marquesas.

Pictures from Marquesas & Tuamotos

Here are some pics we could not post without a good internet connection: 1. Sharks on dive at Passe Garuae - Fakarava, Tuamotos; 2. Bay of Virgins - Fatu Hiva, Marquesas; 3. Pumuua Archeological Site - Hiva Oa, Marquesas; 4. Anaho Bay - Nuka Hiva, Marquesas; 5. Crossing the Equator - GPS Position

Tahiti - Part 1

Thursday 22 June 2006 Tahiti Well, it took two days and nights of sailing
to get to Tahiti but we made it. The first day and night brought good winds
but lumpy seas, and the second had calmer seas but much less wind. We came
in to Papeete Harbour after asking permission from Port Control, made a spin
around the busy inner harbour, then asked and received clearance to pass by
each end of the Papeete International Airport which is on the water. We
came through the channel that is inside the outer fringing reef to the
northwest side of the island where we anchored near several boats we left
Mexico with (surprise, surprise). We were tired but happy to be here.

Papeete is a for real city with heavy traffic and hustle/bustle. The
grocery store was to die for though, and within walking distance from our
anchorage near the marina where we tie up the dinghy. We also met up with
Laurent who is the cruiser agent that we used for paperwork since the
Marquesas. He took our passports to get us checked in to Tahiti and will
check us out when we are ready to leave. We have a long list of things to
do and get here, some for some minor repairs, including welding on our
Monitor wind pilot which we did not get fixed in the Marquesas after the
"misunderstanding" on the cost of the repair.

WE have heard many complaints about how ugly a town Papeete is, and how
expensive, but we find it is just another city and the prices are still high
compared to the US but less than the Marquesas and certainly less than the
Tuamotos, and, you can get almost anything you need. The larger grocery
store is fantastic and we got a huge slab of ribeye steak for tonight to
feast upon for about $8. The marine store (chandlery) is well-stocked and
the prices are also reasonable. There is a fuel dock that you can side-tie
to instead of Med mooring, which we have avoided so far. On a sour note,
the stove parts that I special ordered from Florida months ago cost $150
plus another 150 in shipping - and they are the wrong parts!!!!!! (NO
returns after 14 days says the invoice). Argh!!!!! We asked for our mail
to be forwarded here and we are hoping it will not cost the same, but it
might.

Tonight we will batten down the hatches as a big southerly is supposed to
blow in later, and last for two days. We are just inside the fringing reef
which is exposed to the south which means we may get some nasty swells
coming over it, especially at high tide. You can hear and see the surf
crashing on the outside just a couple of hundred yards away - it is loud!

Oh well, as Terry my friend in Anacortes reminded me after I whined about
something or other, we are lucky to be here and not having to go to work
every day at eight in the morning. We are grateful that we have the chance
to do this.

Toau Games & Parties

Toau - Gaston & Valentine's
Game Night & a Great Party

The last two nights before we left Toau, with heavy hearts, were great fun.
The first night the couple on S/V Phryne II, a French boat, organized a game
night on their boat with 3 couples, but it got out of hand and we ended up
doing in on shore at Gaston & Valentine's dining room. We played Mexican
Train which is type of dominos except it is played with a special set of
dominos with double the number of dots - double twelves instead of the more
common double six sets played in the US. We had ten people, some of whom
spoke French only, and some English only, so we had one table for English
and one for French. At our table we had three Americans, one French woman -
Maureen, and one Dutchman - Harry. We played for hours. It was fun
listening to Gaston and Valentine laugh at the other table while learning
how to play this crazy game. We broke up late in the evening in great
spirits.

By now, I can't remember what we did the next day, but we had a party that
night. It was a birthday party for Niki on La Wur and an anniversary party
for Gaston and Valentine. Gaston butchered a pig which I helped to skin and
cut up. It went in to a Pork with Oyster Sauce dish (the whole thing).
Gaston got several large fish from the fish pen which he grilled after
marinating and everyone invited brought a dish to share. There must have
been 24 people or so, including our friends from White Swan and Andiamo who
we left at Fakarava days ago. The party was a huge success with dancing
later which was difficult with all the swollen bellies after the feast. I
still can't get enough of the grouper fish here. This party lasted even
longer than the game party the night before.

We got up the next morning (Sunday) and decided we could not afford to stay
another day as the days on our 90 day visas are ticking off and we still had
Tahiti, Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea to go. Leaving Gaston and Valentine
was one of the hardest things we have done in many moons. They were so kind
and easy and just great, open people who lead a very simple, subsistence
life on a very remote "farm". They gave us some beads and pearls during our
goodbyes and we promised to send them some hard to get tools and other
things from Tahiti. I have not been hugged so much in my life as I was by
Valentine. There were plenty of tears to go around.

Other people have had similar experiences with them, making Toau a
must-go-to stop in the Tuamotos. We hope to go back.

Restaurant Night on Toau

Thursday 14 June 2006 Last night was "restaurant night" at Anse Amyot. Gaston and Valentine make some money off the cruisers by putting on a feed at their "restaurant" which is also their kitchen and dining room right on and over the water. It is all open-air like all the building here but they decorate it really nice with flowers, drapes and stripped palm fronds. Cindy and another cruiser helped Valentine strip the palms and Gaston put them up. Gaston was busy for two days gathering fish, clams and lobsters for the meal. The lobsters were seemed huge but he said the smaller ones were actually the best. He went out the night before across the reef to another motu to get them. We had more lobster than we could eat. Gaston also went out with some other cruisers and got clams from the reef. These are small versions of the large kind that can grab a divers leg and drown him. They pressure cooked the meat and served them on the half-shell with garlic butter. Yum!! Delicious!!

There were eleven of us for dinner including Gaston and Valentine - five from S/V Lazy Bones (USA) and two from S/V Zwerver (from Holland) plus us. There were fresh beautiful flowers on the table and we each had a fragrant frangipangi white flower to put behind our ears (men too). We also had coconut-breaded grouper, which was actually my favorite of all. This was all followed by a super coconut cream pie made with fresh coconut. There was beer and wine as well. Zwever traded wine and rum for dinner as they are low on cash and there are not ATMs or banks out here. The rest of us paid $25 which was a bargain for such a feast. And, it couldn't be better than to have it on this remote motu with good friends and the family that lives out here. Each one of them could go live in Papeete on Tahiti in the city if they wanted but even the young kids don't want to go. What a life in paradise.

Oops - forgot to mention that I cut Cindy's hair on the back deck of the boat today. She and I were both nervous but it actually came out OK. But I call her Charley now since she looks so butch.

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Copra, Fish, Supply Ship, Noni Day

Friday 16 June 2006 We went to bed exhausted last night after a long, yet intensely fun, day with Gaston and Valentine and their family. It was supply ship day which happens every two weeks or so and several things needed to be done before meeting the ship. They bring copra (dried coconut) and fish to the ship for money, and get supplies for the island. The nearest store is on Fakarava which is 30nm of very rough seas away, and they would still have to order from the supply ship any way. However, the ship still does not come in to the little bay here but 16nm away on the other side of Toau atoll.

We were invited to help or just go see all the activity so we dove in, literally with both feet. First the dried copra had to be bagged up off of the drying shed into 100lb gunny sacks and weighed, then carried over to the larger of Gaston's two plywood/locally-built boats. This one has a larger covered bow and a Yamaha 150HP outboard for the long trip (with lots of gas for this thirsty beast). After the copra (at 7AM)it was time to get the fish out of the fish traps on the reef in front of the bay. The reef separates the bay to the ocean with the inner lagoon and it is full of fish of all kinds - angels, parrots, butterflies, groupers, perches, trumpets, puffers, tangs and many others I don't have a clue what kind they are. Gaston takes the smaller outboard over and gets the fish out by diving down and pushing the hundreds and hundreds of fish in to a wire basket and dumps them in to the open boat where they cover the floor flopping like mad and sending a huge plume of scales and seawater into the air (and on to me and Cindy who are watching).

They take the fish over to the dock and the concrete pad and scoop them out with an aluminum grain shovel where the sorting is done. Unfortunately not all the fish are edible so many just get thrown back in to the bay where the sharks and eels come and get them. The others are put on strings by type and size and then put in to the bigger boat for the ship. We have had the grouper and the parrotfish (perroquot in French) and they are excellent. We also put on empty propane tanks and more gasoline for the engine. Phillipe (Valentine's step-father) came with Gaston, Robert from the sailboat La Wur, and me for the long trip in the lagoon to the ship. We had to stand on top of all the fish covering the floor as they were somewhat covered with some cut off palm fronds. First though we had to cross the reef to the inner lagoon which took "local knowledge" of how to get through the maze of coral heads with the engine prop raised high to miss the rock. We bumped along for a good ways still but finally got through. Of course the wind was blowing about 20kts which pushed the boat around and kicked up big nasty waves we had to pound through. My butt is still sore!! Some of the time we were air-borne over the waves and the spray was so fierce it would push my hand and arm off my handhold violently. I was soaked going and coming since I was on the windward side of the boat both ways.

Gaston knew from many trips exactly where the coral heads are in the lagoon and we often passed just inches away at 25kts speed. It was somewhat exciting to say the least. But we made it early and saw the ship on the outside of the atoll steaming for the pass which was a mass of rolling, breaking water. We met the ship after they stopped along with one other boat and tied up. We handed up the fish which was put on ice in big freezer chests along with the copra and empty propane tanks. Then we loaded all kinds of goods - rolls of woven matting, a repaired weed-eater, long boards for building, a new boombox, a cooler full of ordered cold foods, cases of beer and lastly a 50 gallon (200L) drum of gasoline which sat on its side in the boat next to where I sat. Money was exchanged (which way I don't know) and entries in books made, then we were off. This was all done in rolling seas where you had to be careful where you put your hands and feet.

The trip back was easier since it was downwind, but still wet for me. We got back and unloaded the boat then had an excellent lunch with Gaston. Gaston unpacked the huge new boombox and discovered it had an AC plug on it that was really different and it would not fit his outlets. I went and got my electrical tools and cut off a 100VAC plug off of a powerstrip I wasn't using and spliced it on to the boombox cable after I cut off the end. We got a really nice lunch for all our efforts and sat around and told stories and laughed for several hours.

Then it was time for more work. Gaston got his weed-eater working and I went with Cindy and Valentine and Niki (from La Wur) to pick ripe noni berries from the trees scattered near the houses. I mentioned nonis earlier in the Marquisas but they are used for medicine and sold for use in the US as an anti-oxidant additive to herbal drinks. They also feed it to the pigs which evidently deworms them. And they drink it themselves mixed with grape juice. It is one foul tasting brew let me tell you.

At dark we were tired after a good day and headed back to the boat for a snack before bed. I had one of the best sleeps I have had in a long time even though, as usual, it blew real hard all night. Today we go in with our portable AC generator so La Wur can do some sewing on their mainsail with their US sewing machine and I will help Gaston run some new electrical wiring for his house.

Tomorrow is a pig-roast and party with the other family on the motu. There may be dancing at this one - we will have to see.

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Sharks!!

We are anchored off of Rotoava village (pop. 470) in the lagoon of Fakarava, which is a World Heritage Site. It has been windy and rainy with squalls running through all day and night. Cindy and I got our first scuba dive in of the trip yesterday with one of the local dive operations. Turns out that Fakarava, and Toau next door, are two famous dive locations. Fakarava is known for the dive at Passe Garaue which is where they took us, just on the outside (ocean side). It would really rough water with all the wind but underwater you don't notice. The coral and fish life was amazing and the water clarity very good (about 60-70'). We have not been diving since 1996 so we needed to get our heads (and bodies) back in it. We did fine except Cindy was a little nervous.

I was invited by the dive shop to go on an advanced drift dive through the Passe Garaue, which is the big deal here. They did not think Cindy was quite prepared for it which was fine for her. It is famous for the large number and variety of pelagic fish, which are the ocean roamers, like sharks, manta rays, dolphins, barracudas, etc. And, there were lots of sharks!! Big and little Grey sharks - no Tigers, Hammerheads or Great Whites, but there were lots of them, and they got close up and personal as they are very curious about everything in their realm. I would not want to be bleeding around them but they were harmless this time. I also saw four very large dolphins in the distance and hoped that they would get closer but they just swam away. A barracuda made a cameo appearance swimming through all the other reef fish and then he disappeared. The trip back today, and yesterday, was extremely rough as we had to motor back through large seas and wind. Your hands went numb and your arms ached from holding on so hard to keep from being launched off the side or back of the large zodiac.

Tomorrow, depending on the weather, we will pull up anchor and go over to Toau which is much wilder than Fakarava with its stores, restaurants and airport. The diving is supposed to be superb there as well. I had the dive shop refill our two tanks and the little pony tank with fresh air and we may go diving by ourselves over there. Other than the painful sinus squeezes I get when diving, it is a cosmic experience like no other. Can't believe we haven't been in such a long time as we used to go all the time when we lived in Denver. With the boat we have not had the time or money to do it but you can't pass up the opportunities out here. People spend thousands of dollars to fly in here just to dive for a week and here we are!! I will try and put a pic with the sharks on the blog as soon as we get to an internet site.

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The Dangerous Isles - the Tuamotos

2 June 2006 Break, Break!! We are just 12nm off of the atoll of Kauehi and like most of them we can't see the tops of the palm trees yet because the "land" is just a few feet above sea level and they are below the horizon visually. We can pick the atoll up on radar though. It is about 9AM local time and we are both tired from 5 days on the passage with watch keeping at night. More to follow in the next couple of days. Lost a brand-new fishing lure, weights, hook, leader, swivels, everything to a tuna or something. I got too excited and did not let him run enough. I won't do that again (I hope).

3 June 2006 (Saturday) What a fantastic day! We made it into the lagoon at Kauehi no sweat yesterday before sundown (a good thing) and then motored across the lagoon to the anchorage just off the village. It was a LONG way and took over an hour especially given the strong head wind. We were glad that there was a "channel" on the chart and guidebooks because the sun was so low and the waves were big enough that we could not have seen coral heads even a couple of feet down, even with the super clear water. We could see the bottom of the pass on the way in at 55 feet! There were three other boats there, including White Swan which got in just ahead of us, and Andiamo who we knew from the Marquisas and one other - Aurora, all from Washington. When the wind died down later there were no ripples and we slept like babies after the four nights and five days of the passage over in rough seas.

Today we went in to the village and left the dinghies at the jetty watching carefully for the coral heads all around just under the surface. We watched two remoras (fish with flat sucker heads that attach themselves to sharks and whales often) swimming around the boat just before and passed a turtle on the way in. On this Saturday there was a party of some sort in town and the one store was closed in the village of 150 people. There was a awning/tent set up and the locals were intensely involved in a Bocci Ball tournament. Bocci Ball is where you throw a marker ball out and then your team has to throw these heavy bigger metal balls to see who can get closest, sort of like rolling horseshoes. They play it on all the islands and it is a serious deal. Turns out the day was a church fund raiser too and there was a BBQ platter you could get for $5 which we all did. Andiamo has been here a few days and knew some of the locals and we ran in to them. We were invited to eat on the patio of the local school teacher by the village nurse. The nurse then invited us over to the village medical clinic and let us pick out any drugs we needed in the back room. Cindy got some anti-inflammatories for her knee, which is still bothering her from Nuka Hiva. She then took everyone's blood pressure and weight and entered all in her log books, including the drugs given out (no charge).

Kids were everywhere and we were the playthings de jour. They kept around us all day, taking turns it seemed to get our attention and play games or just kid around. Bob showed them how to play Paper-Scissors-Rock which was a hoot. I shot hoops on the B-ball court with several of them. The school teacher's husband is a mother-of-pearl artist so they invited in to see the jewelry and items. I got Cindy a beautiful necklace and our friends got other even fancier stuff. Then the "Madame", who was a real character, pulled out a log book going back to 1987 with entries by other cruiser yachties who have been through in years past. We put in a notation with our boat card for posterity, then we talked for over an hour with the teacher and the nurse, with the nurse translating for us French-English. We had a great time in their living room.

The villagers make most of their money from cultured pearl farming. There are farms scattered throughout the lagoon in shallow waters where they grow and maintain the oysters in which they have put round "seeds" about half the size of a small marble. The oysters coat the marbles with the pearl material and they harvest the black pearls months later. All the good pearls go to Tahiti and then to world markets to sell in jewelry stores. The pearls are exquisite and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and lusters. We will be trying to find some tomorrow or on other atolls when we can, if we can get good quality ones. A first quality necklace in the states can go for thousands of dollars.

The atoll itself just takes your breath away. As Bob on White Swan said "It is like the world's largest infinity pool" like fancy homes and hotels have where the flat water extends to the horizon and looks like it just falls off the face of the planet. The atoll is one big donut, 12 miles by 8 miles wide, with a narrow strip of low lying (2-4 feet above sea level) "land" around the central lagoon. There is only one pass, or entrance, into this particular atoll. Some have two or more, some none at all. It is so calm inside the lagoon that you can hear a whisper a half mile away - just incredible. We have never, ever experienced anything this calm. The water colors during the day are the kind in your dreams with every color of aqua and turquoise and blue you can imagine with splotches of dark where the coral is just near the surface and beige/tan when it is just coral sand under the surface. It is wild here though. A week before we got here, a lightening storm came through and a lightening bolt just missed one of the boats by 20 feet! Yikes! A strike on the boat would not make your day. If the wind blows hard from across the lagoon the fetch can create huge waves, enough to require you to move the boat to keep from dragging on your anchor. Which is something you don't want to do if you can't see under the water for the shallow areas which of course you can't do if it is dark and stormy.

Right now it is dead, dead, dead flat and we are getting ready to have dinner and call it quits. Tomorrow is church day and we should be able to hear the singing very well as the church is just by the jetty across from us. Then a local freighter comes in the afternoon which will bring everyone out, including us. BTW - they get baguettes flown in by airplane. Instead of 40 cents they cost a buck and they freeze them but they are still just as good. We are so spoiled eating them - one of the good things from the French.

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