Anniversary and other milestones

Today, Saturday the 29th, is our 17th wedding anniversary. We will be having a gourmet dinner at Chez Maggie Drum and might even have a glass of wine with dinner - which we normally don't do underway. We also put our 10,000th nautical mile under the keel of MD out of Anacortes starting at the first week of September in 2004. We also had about 3500nm from cruising around Washington and British Columbia, including going around Vancouver Island, that is not included in the 10,000nm. BTW - these are GPS miles under the keel, not rhumb line miles. That's kind of a milestone for us and we are proud to have traveled this far. MD has been great for the most part, which you would hope after all the refitting we did before we left.

We are especially happy that MD is mostly dry, thanks much to the great job that our friend Buzz did in putting in our new portlights. So many other boats out here have leaky hatches or portlights and they want to just sell the boats and quit because of it. Of course, it would help if I would completely dog the hatches when I close them as we found out this morning as Cindy was trying to nap down below. It got really, really rough (again) last night after a fantastic, picture-perfect sail yesterday. The wind picked up to 30kt with huge (for us) seas of 10-12ft coming on our beam. Neither one of us sleep last night. So it started sprinkling this morning and I closed the main salon hatch but only dogged the two handles across from the hinges and did not dog the two on the sides. A big wave crashed over MD later and water poured in under the "closed" hatch like it was open right on to Cindy, the table, the rugs, our cushions and bedding - everything. I heard this cry from below right after the crash of the wave. Needless to say, Cindy was not happy to be awakened by cold salt water. We cleaned it up but now have the difficult problem of how to get all the salt water out of everything with our limited supply of fresh water. Oh well, the cruising life.

The seas and wind stayed up for most of the morning but started going down and we got in some awesome sailing until just a bit ago when the wind died off and we are now flopping around again.

Cindy just got her travel itinerary and will fly out of Neiafu on Vava'U on the 10th and be back in Denver after flying by way of Fiji to LA. 463nm to go to Vava'U.

B-T-W: we have had trouble getting connected to Winlink on our SSB radio to send in our position reports. I did just send off some for this trip and will try to keep them up to date as possible.

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Bora Bora Recap - Late

Thurday July 27th - 7 days out from Bora Bora. We are now about half way to the Vava'U Group in Tonga, and, unfortunately, motoring as the wind has left us about an hour ago. We were having one of our longest sails ever so we are disappointed - but you really don't want to be bobbing around out here without steerage - the swells would roll you to death.

BTW - before I get back to BB - we had the absolute worst night of any time on the boat three nights ago. It started out pretty benign with low wind and easy seas sailing with the Monitor windvane pilot. Then the wind picked up dramatically, so much that the wind pilot was overpowered with the following seas and high winds. I put on the electric/hydraulic autopilot next and it too was overpowered and could not keep us on course. I kept getting an error "Rudder Response Failure" which we get all the time with this Simrad unit, even with low wind, and usually we just turn it off of "auto" to "standby" and back to "auto" and it will "usually" keep going for a while but not then. So, in 30-35 knot winds on our tail I had to hand steer in pitch dark with big swells that wanted to push us all over the place. It was way too violent to sleep down below so Cindy just laid there in the salon bunk and held on. I held on to the steering wheel and hated life (at that moment). It was so bad that for the very first time I had serious thoughts about turning around and calling it quits on the high seas. Fortunately, it only lasted about 4 hours but it seemed a lifetime. I just stayed up all night and steered and we were both zombies the next day and after. That morning we were to be radio net control again and Cindy did that below while I watched up in the cockpit.

Back to BB - what a spectacular island. The scenery is everything you have ever imagined about a Polynesian island with the very dramatic double peak jaggedly reaching up to the sky from a relatively small island land mass with lovely fringing motus (islets around an atoll reef system) and waters of every blue imaginable over the reefs. There are lots of rays - sting, manta, leopard - and many, many reef fishes. The highlight of our visit without a doubt was the festivities for the Heiva Festival which is a celebration of some kind of Polynesian independence and the French Bastille Day. The events go on for about two weeks but we only caught a few days of it. The best was a hula dance competition one night with 80 dancers, about 40 each male/female, in elaborate costumes performing a variety of dances. Several of the dances depicted legends or historical events which we did not have the background to understand but they were beautiful any way.

We went ahead and sprung for the $15 seats in the small seating sections rather than stand on the fringes of the large dirt dance area - about half the size of an American football field. I tried to get pictures with our digital camera but it was too far for a flash to do good and while the camera tried, many of the shots were a little blurry. We are trying to get a DVD that we heard was made by Tahitian TV who were there filming it all. It was a big deal. The drumming, like what we have heard almost every place we have been in the islands, really gets under your skin. The girls doing the hula dances are amazing and you wonder just how they make their hips do that. They dance the really fast hula steps with their hips going and going and going, then they slow way down and do this beckoning thing with their hands and eyes and the guys watching want to jump up and grab them. The guy dancers were as energetic as the women but rather than a hula-hip thing, they made their knees go in and out really fast over and over from side to side. They were physically exhausted afterwards and it made you thing that the orthopedic ward would be very busy after each performance. And these guys were hunka-hunka so the women in the audience were all drooling over the handsome faces and rock hard bodies. Without a doubt these groups were professional quality even though I am sure they were just well-rehearsed amateurs.

The next day after the big dance there was a parade and ceremonies for the actual Bastille Day. They had gendermes (French police) in full regalia with the mayor (or whatever he is called) and other officials doing their flag ceremonies followed by a parade to the dancing ground where all the dignitaries were seated in their suits and ties in the hot sun. Every "official" group on the island was represented - soccer teams, karate schools, hotels, restaurants, schools, old lady groups, you name it. They had so many that one guy with a megaphone was trying to get them to hurry up. I was still suffering from my island fever so I walked around and missed the banana races which was described to me as some guys carrying large bunches of bananas on poles on their shoulders. Sounded like fun.

The island is really developed for tourism with many large hotels scattered around. The local village has tourist type shops, ATM's, grocery stores and a few other shops but is nothing special. The beautiful, beautiful hotels are really scattered with several of them on the motus in the lagoon. The tourists are shuttled around on boats. The airport was originally built by the US during World War II and was the first one and only one in French Polynesian until the 70's and it is on a motu as well, so all passengers take a ferry in to town or on a private hotel ferry. There aren't very many anchorages suitable for us yachties around the town and if you do anchor it is deep water - over 75' mostly. The famous Bloody Mary's restaurant and the equally famous Bora Bora Yacht Club have mooring balls for yachts if you spend money at their places. There are some shallow water anchorages out around the motus next to the reefs but not near town. We tried to go around the main island one day in Maggie Drum but chickened out at one spot in the "channel" after it got to 10' or less and we could not see the next channel marker. Others did make it though but the water is so clear it looks like it isn't deeper than a bathtub and after grounding in Cook's Bay on Moorea we aren't ready to be too adventurous with our home.

The morning of the day we left BB, Cindy and I joined White Swan for a snorkel over the sand and coral where the local tour boats take their customers and feed the fish. We took some bread to feed them. When you take out the bread in your fingers you are immediately surrounded, completely, by voracious small reef fish - parrotfish, sergeant-majors, butterflies and others - who want a piece of the action. They fill every cubic inch of the water around you. Quite amazing and almost claustrophobic. One of the local tour guides snorkeled down to the coral about 15' down and enticed out, then pulled up, an enormous tame moray eel, about 12" in diameter and 5' in length. He wasn't too happy but did not bite and then swam down and hid again in the coral. Very entertaining.

Bora Bora was pretty and we had fun there, especially as we got to know some other cruisers from other countries better. Part of the adventure out here is meeting other like-minded people, some of whom have circled the world one or more times already. I am over the bad passage night now but the long passages are still Long and we enjoy the calm anchorages best. This passage has had very little sunshine, many squalls and fluky winds which makes it harder to like. Tonga will be another adventure though and we look forward to it.

Other notes - On the radio we heard a boat going to Atuitaki had a mishap. The skipper lost his balance and fell in to the lazarette, hit his head really hard and drove his front teeth through his lips so he will be visiting the hospital there when he arrives. Our friends on Sarabi just reported a few minutes ago that one of their catamaran's rudders hit a rock or something in the Rarotonga harbor so they are not having a good day. Their boat was also damaged by high winds and waves on the wharf in Raiatea that we had trouble on. They have decided to sell the brand-new custom boat in NZ and go back to Canada and buy a horse ranch. One last note - don't ever, ever underestimate the importance of a working autopilot on the passages. Hand steering is almost impossible for hours at a time. We are glad we have the windvane pilot plus two working electric pilots just in case. I just wish they would all work better in following seas which is all we have had this passage. Several, several boats have had major problems with their autopilots which always become a priority item to fix, so that having spares for the mechanical and computer bits may be a good idea.

One last note: Cindy has been asked to come back to Denver and work on contract for her old company and she will be leaving me with Maggie Drum in Tonga for about 3 months. I will try to visit the US for a few days if we can find a safe place to keep MD otherwise I will have to stay which will not be the best situation. The money Cindy can make will go towards many more months of cruising though so we will take advantage while we can. I may even be able to pick up some electrical work in Tonga on other boats or at least work on some MD projects.

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Taravana Yacht Club on Taha'a

A lot of the names in French Polynesia are real jawbreakers as they are difficult to pronounce for English speakers, and probably any one but the locals - too many vowels and not enough consonants plus some glutterals. Taha'a is easier than most - Ta Ah Ah - but trying saying it several times and your tongue gets all screwed up.

We moved over from Raiatea yesterday which was only about 3km from the wharf there to the Taravana YC which is not really a yacht club in the usual sense but just a restaurant and small hotel on a beautiful piece of property on a point on a small bay on the lagoon. It has a kewl veranda with bamboo furniture and sofas where we ate a tremendous meal last night. We called it our Anniversary dinner since we will be on the open seas on July 29th when our anniversary really is. The chef is very talented there and we felt it was worth the rather tremendous price. It also felt nice after all the rain and the miserable wharf mooring at Uturoa. Maggie Drum got hammered against the dock when the winds changed and the configuration of the wharf lagoon must have amplified the waves. That, and the wakes from the ferry and fishing boat traffic going by constantly, and, the rain blowing sideways.

We actually did not have rain again last night so may be it is gone for a bit. The locals say they have never seen it rain like this, this time of year, so we are just lucky.

Today we fill the boat with water from the hotel small pier, take real hot water showers (first since La Paz last January) then go to fabled Bora Bora.

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Rain in Raiatea

Saturdy 8 July The last two days have been wet!! We left Moorea just before sunset two days ago, with unsettled weather, but with anticipation for further adventures in the Leeward Islands of French Polynesia. We decided at the last minute to skip Huahine. We have less then two weeks on our visa before we have to "officially" leave and have to therefore make some hard decisions based on limited information. So, we decided to go to Raiatea instead of Huahine. Raiatea is only twenty miles farther on and next door but right now every day matters.

It was not an auspicious trip though. I got seasick from the start and it only got worse. We left just as the sun was going down in to a really rough swell that on top of the greasy pork chops that were dinner, I got queasy and stayed that way for the 100 miles to our next anchorage. Overnight or two night passages are the worst anyway as you don't get a chance to get used to the routine of watch keeping and the noise and feel of the boat on the open sea. Neither one of us got much sleep and I lost my breakfast the next morning before we got there. The wind kept changing direction all night too and we had to jibe three times before we even saw land. This is harder than it might sound as we always keep a preventer on our main boom to keep from having accidental jibes, and our main boom is a pain to jibe as we don't have a traveler for the main sheet and have to move the main sheet block and tackle over manually between three hard points, and when the wind is fluky, as it was, it can be a hazardous operation. Changing the preventer means climbing out on deck in the dark and moving the tackle from one side of the deck to the other and running the sheet back to the cockpit. In the daylight with good weather and rest and a calm stomach, no problem. As it was I was hating life! This was our morning to be the Coconut Cruiser Net control so we had to both go down below and man the radio - Cindy taking notes on boats and their positions with me controlling the net and calling for boats. I got sick just after the net and that is where I lost my breakfast. I don't do well down below when queasy obviously.

But, we made it fine and came in through yet another pass through a fringing reef into the Baie Faaroa where we were the only boat anchored in the back of a large and deep bay. As usual, the scenery was spectacular and the water very calm, just what we needed after the passage. This was at about 10:00AM and it was raining off and on. We goofed off, listened to the roosters and rested then went to bed early. The next morning after sleeping in to 7:30, we waited for the rain to break and made a dash to shore to take garbage and pick up water for our sun shower bags at the charter boat dock. Then we went up the river at the head of the bay looking for the botanical gardens supposed to be there. The clouds moved in though and turned our adventure in to a drowning while standing up ordeal. We tried to hide under some trees on the river but finally just went for it going as fast as we could just missing the shallow bottom that we hit on the way in. The drowned rats got on board and changed clothes and prepared to leave.

We decided to go out of the bay and up north to the main village - Utoroa - with rain squalls coming over us in waves, and got wet (in our new dry clothes) again. We took the channel between the reef and shore and made it fine despite warnings from the guidebooks about coral heads using our new Furuno chartplotter and picking out each channel marker out from the drizzle and rain as we could. But, when we got to Uturoa, no place to anchor - so we went past the airport looking for shallow spots to throw the hook down. We finally made it next to a boatyard in the midst of some other boats in this year's fleet. The sun came out and Bora Bora made an amazing appearance about 20nm to the west. It is really spectacular with its mountain spires rising out of the sea so quickly. We will go over there right before our visa expires but first we need to get to Uturoa which we understand is far enough that we will have to hitchhike there being no regular buses out this far. That will make getting our laundry to a Laundromat a tricky deal but we'll manage.

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Moorea II - Rays, Sharks and Buggies

It is not yet daylight and even though I could sleep in, I usually get up with the roosters - always roosters - loud roosters. Chickens love it here in Polynesia, even more than Mexico. They run wild here and you always see a rooster with some hens and little chicks running around, sometimes way out from any houses in really remote areas. We are anchored just inside the fringing reef just around the corner from the entrance to Opunohu Bay on Moorea. The water is so clear we thought we were going to run aground here (again) because you could see the bottom so well. It actually got very shallow for a bit but we are in 25' of water and you can see every link in the chain on the bottom - the anchor is buried in sand so we can't see that. Gorgeous water though, with that fairy tale set of blue colors you always see in the photographs and calendars of exotic places. It rained last night which helped wash the boat off but it is very calm this morning before the sun comes up.

Cindy is sleeping down below and nursing a new cold/sore throat that seems to be going around. It probably came from Fakarava weeks ago, passed on by villagers to cruiser friends to us. I'm next - yoohoo - can't wait!

Yesterday we rented these little dune buggie type cars/scooters with anemic little engines which could only go about 45kph, or less than 30mph, which is plenty fast as it is way scary to go that fast in them on a straight paved road with no traffic. They have a roll cage but no windshield so we were glad it did not do more than sprinkle a couple of times during the day. We circumnavigated Moorea on the low road all the way round. Not much to stop for but a couple of lookouts mostly but we did find our favorite cheap boxed wine which we had not seen since the Marquesas. We did go up to this magnificent spot up the valley overlooking both Cook's and Opunohu Bays. The valley is truly gorgeous with pastures with some of the nicest looking horses anywhere, and white huge cattle (Charoleis?), pineapple fields and pine trees of all things. It was a struggle to turn the steering on the switchbacks on the way up. The steering is right off of a riding lawn mower.

We also went to the "juice" factory where the Roti brand juices are made. They also make liquors from juice there and have a sampler bar at the little store. They gave us several half-shots of different flavors - pineapple, pineapple/coconut, grapefruit (an acquired taste), banana, orange, and coconut and vanilla cremes. Very yummy but not cheap. We just bought a jar of fruit chutney to make cheese dip with. Our budget has been blown to you know where by French Polynesia. When we run out of money we have to quit and work again if we can convince anyone to hire a couple of derelict cruisers again.

The day before we went snorkeling about 3 miles away inside the reef near this fancy hotel resort. It was a shallow (5ft) sandy spot next to the 30ft channel. As soon as you get in the water you are approached by 3-4ft sting rays who glide up to you with that flapping and floating motion they have. They are looking for handouts since this is where the tourists are brought to watch and feed the rays. They are totally used to people and will come right up to you. It can be very disconcerting at first and Cindy was not comfortable for a bit, but they are harmless so long as you don't step on one. Some friends on Sarabi got some underwater pics so we might get one on the blog later. There were also black-tipped reef sharks (4-5ft?) swimming right next to us in the deeper channel. I think they feed those too other times. Some of them had remoras swimming right under them waiting for table scraps. I saw my first shark fin out of the water on the surface and it is every bit as spooky as you might imagine.

We did not get barbed nor bit though and dinghied around the beautiful area for a while before running back straight in to a big windy chop. Then, our motor died right in the worse narrow spot so that we would immediately drift in to the shallow coral. Sarabi took our line and towed us over to the hotel dock and I found a loose spark plug cap that must have been dislodged by the pounding we were taking going to "weather". It ran fine after I replaced the cap. I had a nervous breakdown for a minute though thinking about having to rebuild the motor out here since it has been acting up sometimes anyway. Lots of things can ruin your day(s) out here and witness to that is the number of boats who are packing it in and going home early.

Today I am going to try to polish up the bad welding job they did on our wind pilot in Tahiti. I bought a polishing wheel and some stainless steel polishing compound there and will see if it works on my 1/2" drill. Not the right set up but may be it will work with a few hours effort. I will have to run the inverter to make AC for the drill and run the main engine to charge the batteries for the inverter. Or I might run our little generator to do the same thing.

Any way, it is a mixture of work and play out here, but at least we get to pick what time we get up (for me I might as well be going to work getting up before dawn every day) and what we do every day. That is, unless there is a crisis and we don't get to choose, or we have to get provisions or propane or fuel or whatever. Still, what a great chance for us to be able to do this.

We do miss our family and friends though and hope all are doing well.

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Paradise on the Hard

It has been a few days since our last update. We got busy in Papeete with all the things to see and do and the provisioning that we did not have time or interest. We have now moved on to fabled Moorea just 14 miles from Tahiti. Papeete was fun for the most part but horrendously expensive. Of course, we had to eat out some to get off the boat, and several times we were going to eat in, we were asked to join others for "goat ropes" on shore (see previous posts in Mexico for definition of a goat rope). We also provisioned up at the wonderful Carrefour supermarket - as nice as any in the US, and in some ways better, just more expensive in general. The deli section with cheese and meats was to die for and the beef was some of the best we have had anywhere, anytime. The meat is from New Zealand and there is an excellent selection of beef, veal, lamb and some pork, although ground beef is not common. The pastry section will also set your waistline out a few inches.

We went ahead and brought in our Monitor wind pilot to get the bad welds repaired through the cruiser agent (Laurent) and we also had him get some refrigerant gas for our leaky refrigerator/freezer. He has a discount program with a nice ship's chandlery in town so we got some things there too. In all we had to pay him just under $1000US, of which $400 was for check in/out services, bond exemption and duty-free fuel discounts. Ouch!!!! But, he did a good job for the most part. The repair of the wind pilot was another thing though, as the repair was sloppy with more grinding marks than needed and the welder refused to polish the welds or scratches saying it would be too expensive despite us specifically requesting it. Unpolished stainless steel is for all practical purposes no longer stainless so I will have to try and polish it myself without the proper equipment or material. I am a little hot about this item, but oh well - it's paradise - right!

Our trip to Moorea was somewhat boring to start and the wind was out of the opposite direction from expectations and then it died, right in the middle of huge, nasty cross swells from the south and east. Things were flying all over the boat, including us. We started the motor and a few minutes later just as we thought we were going to get in the lee of Moorea and lose the southerly swell, the wind picked up from the east and slammed us with building seas. It was blowing 30kts and nasty so we just motored the few miles into Cook's Bay on the north side of Moorea. We had been warned about Cook's Bay because of strong winds, deep bottom and poor anchor holding. It is gorgeous though but lived up to its reputation. This is where we found paradise on the hard - as in hard coral.

We put the anchor down in one spot with over 200' of chain out but this put us too close to the shallows near shore so we pulled it up while washing off the nasty mud with our seawater hose. We tried another spot and found ourselves drifting down on a buoy, so up anchor again. The problem is that it is deep in the entire middle which means you have to put out gobs of chain which means you need lots of room to swing around. So, like a dummy, I decided to get closer to shore and find out how deep it was even though we could both see the bottom coming up. Well, it came up from 60' to 4' in about a boat length and guess what - crunch! Not one of my better, more lucid moments. And, we could not back off as the wind just pushed us more on to the coral.

Panic time!! Luckily, we were going dead slow which is what you should do close to the shallows. I got out the tide charts and of course it was going from high to low - not much - but no help and it would get worse so we had to get off fast. I made a panic call on the VHF and forgot to mention that where exactly we were (a mistake I would not have made if I had more practice going aground) and now the whole world was sharing our embarrassment. We got several calls from Papeete (17 miles away) with offers to help so I clarified that situation as to Cook's Bay, but no answer from any vessels in the Bay. More panic is setting in, but we tried to stay calm. Then two dinghies are seen coming over - Ken from Panache and John and Donna from Kohilo, both friends from Mexico. A few minutes later a couple from Velalla came over with a bigger dinghy and motor. Before that a Moorean swam out from shore with a mask and looked everything over and gave us suggestions in sign language with us not understanding French nor Tahitian. Nice guy. He started pushing on our hull which was a nice gesture but not likely to move a 24 ton vessel.

We got a halyard line to Kohilo with extensions and Panache pulled on our bow line and the Moorean pushed while standing in the water, then Velalla pushed from the other side. Nothing happened despite all efforts then all of a sudden I could tell the bow moved slightly in the right direction. Then, we were off, with a huge sigh of relief. I still have not dove on the keel to inspect the damage, but I suspect it is more to my pride than to the very solid full keel and encapsulated lead. The rudder never jammed and seems OK so we are likely to be OK until New Zealand where we will haul the boat anyway to redo the bottom paint, but now with some minor scratch removal. So that is what Paradise on the Hard is like. We got off easy this time and will endeavor to make sure there is not another time.

We made a long walk in to the small little village near by, really just a shopping area as there aren't villages per se here. The black pearl stores are great as are the other crafts available. There have been two cruise ships here in 3 days so they are the primary customers. We also had some Mexican food which was very good actually. Last night though we went in to see a dance and music competition sponsored by the Catholic church here. There was dance after dance after dance by young and old women - all traditional dances - some with grass skirts. It was like small time amateur night but some of the gals were more than just good. When a good dancer gets her hips shaking you are sure something is going to break. Body shape doesn't matter as some of the skinny ones and some of the, well, giant ones were just as expressive. And it was a lot of fun. Many of the women in the audience had on full fragrant flower leis around their necks and/or on their heads. You have to see them to really understand how beautiful the flowers are and how proudly they were them. And they all have on wildly colored pareos and dresses. Of course, just like anywhere, many were just in shirts and tees too. We stayed until we were too tired and walked back to the dinghy to go home.

By the way, any of you potential world cruisers out there, make sure you bring shoes or sandals that you can put miles on as walking is a way of life here without cars. Taxis and buses are around some of the time but usually not and walks to get provisions or to see things can be long.

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