Allan
05/02/2009, Nuku Hiva

After a brief stayover at Hiva Oa to reprovision, Follow You left at 5am Friday, sailing the 60 miles northwest to Ua-Pou in 15-18 knot winds. We read in Charlie's Charts that there was a restaurant on the island called Rosalies that we could enjoy. After a 25 day crossing and two weeks cooking aboard, we have had exactly one meal off the boat, and that was our expensive lunch on Hiva Oa when we first arrived. The crew was commenting on how conditioned we have all become to balancing eating in with nights out within our normal routines, and certainly while vacationing, as Stephanie and John are. Cruisers also get used to eating out in Mexico, where the food was always fresh and inexpensive. While we expected the Marquesas to not be very tourist oriented, I think we have been surprised by the lack of off-boat options. Even the high end resorts on the islands rarely accept outside reservations for meals, as they tightly align their food purchases to the number of hotel guests... Makes sense given the low volumes here, and especially now given tourism, other than cruisers, has dramatically declined this year.

After walking for an hour and a half to look for a restaurant on Ua-Pou, we returned to the boat disappointed, yet ate well upon our return. The next day we motorsailed to Nuku Hiva in light winds, the largest of the Marquesian Islands, hoping for better luck. We arrived in an expansive bay, and noticed a much more developed coast side infrastructure for boating. The locals have build facilities for selling local artisan goods and there are a few storefronts.... Internet access, yacht services and a restaurant, right at the quay. Down the road that fronts the bay, there were a couple of market/hardware stores and low and behold; a pizza restaurant! After a long walk around the town exploring, we sat down at 4pm for a cold beer. (or 3) Through our muddled French, we first understood the restaurant would close at 6 or 630, only to find signs that said just the opposite. Food service started at 630. Hmmm, what to do for 2.5 hours? Well, the table was not rocking, and the beers were cold, so we just hung out waiting for food service to start.

Around 6pm we ordered pizza and wonderful fettuccine crevette (shrimp) as the patio started to fill up with locals and visitors. While we were trying to translate the menu a French-Canadian guy started to assist, and we struck up a conversation. As food started to arrive, he pulled his chair over and we heard the full story... We knew we were in for an interesting tale when he started off by explaining that he had purchased 12000 square kilometers of the great white north above Quebec, but the government had screwed him by *giving* it to the Inuit Tribes as part of a settlement. He was in French Polynesia looking for islands to purchase to start, get this, a "new society" based on eco-friendly concepts... The more John and I asked questions, the more it came clear that we were dining with a bit of an eccentric with some kooky ideas.

A couple of hours later, we were totally convinced he was on to something. His vision of a utopian society out here in paradise was that compelling. This morning, when we got wifi connectivity, we transferred the contents of all our bank accounts to him.... NOT!

Boat systems are all working well, although I am coming to the conclusion that the decision to size the major systems for the needs of two people rather than five was short-sighted. I could have easily selected the higher volume watermaker, for example as we have plenty of amps to run it with the solar panels... my concern for power usage on the watermaker has been a non-issue.

Our heightened awareness of water use and need for drinkable reserves means that we have split the tankage in half... 50 gallons of pristine drinking water that we use to fill 3 2.5 gallon jugs for daily drinking and cooking, and 50 gallons for toilets, showers, washing dishes, etc. We go through that pretty quickly, which means we are making water almost every day. The watermaker produces 8 gallons an hour and while working fairly reliably, is still finicky about the conditions in which it will produce potable water. The new motor seems more susceptible to voltage drops, which then lowers the pressure in the watermaker itself, which then stops making water until it adapts, sometimes taking an hour to start making water again... It's still much preferred over schlepping jerry jugs, but a hassle nonetheless to babysit.

We will hang out here through Monday to do our last re-provisioning before spending a few days at various anchorages on Nuku Hiva, and then leave for the Tuamoto Islands later in the week.

The Gallery has been updated with more pics for those who NEEEEEED them (luv u mom!)

-allan

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Allan
04/29/2009, Hiva Oa

We're back on Hiva Oa for a day, reprovisioning and getting a bit of internet.... and hey Donna, we gotta get you a job after your arm mends... keeping the blog updated for you is getting tough with no good internet connections out here LOL.

The gallery has been updated with pictures from our last week on Tahuatu and Fatu Hiva, which is now in our top 3 exotic places we have ever been. Stunning scenery and great people.

Tomorrow we are off to another night on Tahuatu's sandy beaches before heading north to Nuku Hiva for a week. Then it's off on a 5 day passage to the Tuamoto Islands.

Enjoy!

allan

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Alyssa
04/28/2009, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas

Leaving Tahuata, I thought it would be a good idea to fish, seeing as it was still morning, a prime time for fishing and I was dying for some fresh sushi for lunch. It must have only been ten minutes after I set trolling line out when I caught a fish. Mmmm it was a beautiful bonito. We decided not to douse the gills with vodka, so we could save the vodka, not a very good decision. The fish convulsed for a few minutes before finally dying while breaking the bucket we use on a regular basis and splattering blood all over the cockpit. Even worse, mom and I went down below to fillet the fish only to find that the fish had little pockets of parasites all over it. To finish it off, by the time we cleaned up the mess, I was so seasick I couldn't do anything but sleep and hang off the side of the boat. The afternoon when we finally arrived to our destination really made up for it. Pulling into the Bay of Virgins was extraordinary. The island seems only to be a mountainous cliff, volcanic rock, banyan trees and billy goats, until you enter the bay revealing a hidden cove and gigantic fertile valley. Early this morning we decided to take a hike behind the town to a 200 foot waterfall. With an accidental detour to the top of a cliff overlooking town and the valley, we could see the waterfall and turned back to find the correct, much cooler and less vertical route. The enormity of the valley is hard to describe. Our hike was wonderful after being so overheated going uphill with little wind and very hot gravel. We met a family along the road who does, from what I hear, amazing dinners for yachties who visit the island. Every other night they cook a Marquesian feast with fish, lobster, lamb, and chicken, taking orders from whoever they meet. They said it costs 1700fpf/adult and 1000fpf/child and they serve it right across from the market near the bay. It's n ot difficult to find considering there's only one little market and the rest are quaint little villas. The townspeople were very friendly always inviting us to see their handicrafts. I just bought a beautiful Marquesian art piece drawn on banyan tree bark and a Tahitian sarong. Anyways. back to the hike. We crossed the river a few times on our way. Just before reaching the waterfall, the trail became deeply covered by canopy and rocks jutted out over our heads. Even a few trees had fallen over forcing us to climb and weave through the dense branches. The waterfall just past that was well worth the effort. I was hesitant to get in, however, after what looked like a five inch spider was crawling up my leg in the water. It was quickly identified as a crawdad a few minutes later after I screamed and jumped out. The water was so refreshing, cool and salt-free. I climbed into a little cave at the bottom. Only after I got out of the water a second time did we find some freshwater e els swimming up the creek as well. I'm thankful I didn't find out until then. How could I say I've been here and NOT swam in the waterfall??? As we got back to the boat, we hardly took rest. Dad and John continued to fiddle with the dinghy engine, and Mom, Pep and I rowed the dinghy back to town to get more provisions. We got invited to see the store owners' sister's crafts and asked if there was anyway we could find bread. ours had molded on the sail to Fatu Hiva. She called to her father Daniel who lived just next to the bay, so we traded some cloth and perfume for 3 baguettes and more pompamous than we can handle. -Alyssa

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Allan
04/28/2009, 10 27.8'S:138 40.1'W, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas

Alyssa and I headed to the beach at Baei Hanamoenoa to join Farlyn and Tavish from Circadia for an evening bonfire. The 19 year old Canadian twins are crewing on a friend of the families J/120 for several months. We beached the dink, pulling the boat up a few feet above the waterline, but without our dinghy wheels, which make it easy to get the boat above the break, it was a compromise. I surveyed the waves in the small bay and came to the conclusion that the small waves lapping at the stern were no threat. Just to be sure, we pulled the anchor well above the waterline and buried it. Alyssa and I walked down the beach and enjoyed the bonfire with the twins, learning about their travels crewing on a variety of boats over the past years while homeschooling.a very cool teenage lifestyle.

After about 45 minutes, I asked Alyssa to check on the dink. I don't know why, but I thought it prudent. Alyssa walked down the beach about 50 yards to the dinghy with her LED headlamp and then I saw the light waving back and forth. I got up and jogged down the beach to find our 10 foot dinghy completely torn apart and upside down. The inflatable floor had come out, held close only by the fuel tank tiedown, which was held to the engine only by the fuel line. The poor engine was buried upside down in the sand, flailing in the now large waves, which if you haven't figured it out yet, had lulled me into a false sense of security. The force of the waves was sufficient to snap one of our oars in half. Luckily we had the working end of the oar, so Alyssa and I turned the boat over, pushed the floor back in place, gathered up the anchor, fuel tank, portable depth sounder and rowed back to the boat with our metaphorical tail between our legs.

Back on the boat the full extent of the damage became clear. While John cleaned out several pounds of sand from the dinghy, I started taking apart the engine to assess the full extent of the damage. The more I dug, the more depressed I became. There was sand everywhere. Each part I took off revealed the insidious ability of sand to work its way into the smallest of orifices. That night we got most sand out of the engine, carburetor and fuel system and waited for the light of day to take the next step.

The next day we mounted the engine to the center console in the middle of the cockpit and got our toothbrushes, compressed air and WD40 out to begin the arduous process of removing all the sand. The good news was that it did not get into the small orifices of the carbs or into the combustion chambers. The bad news was that it got into the magneto where the primary coil and points lived, and as hard as we tried, we could not pull the magneto, for lack of a crankshaft puller. John and I tried every Rube Goldberg device we could think of from my 3 boxes of spare parts to get the magneto pulled, including using an impeller puller with a variety of add-ons. While we could not get the magneto off, we could look inside and see the sand packed points, coil and magnets. We turned the engine upside down and shot water inside to get the sand out, while otherwise giving up hope that the engine would ever work again.

We then let the engine dry out after coating it with WD40 and BoShield T9. After 2 days we cleaned out the remaining sand from the pull-starter, pulled the carb to clean the small orifices, and then decided it was time to start it up. We hooked up the fuel, which had NO water in it, hooked up the hose from the bow faucet to the freshwater flush on the outdrive, installed fresh sparkplugs and gave a the pull start a tug. After 3 pulls and a little choke, the engine came to life and spit out a bunch of sand from the cooling system, but otherwise sounded normal. We went through one of our 4 tanks of water purging the remaining sand before we turned it off, but it was worth it, saving 2 thousand bucks on a new engine or 500 bucks on a rebuild.

After mounting the engine back on the dink and doing a test drive, the engine is stronger than it was, thanks to fresh plugs, but the idle is weak. Fresh points and a coil should take care of that when we get to Nuku Hiva in a week or so. Talk about dodging a bullet!

In other news, we hiked to the waterfall at the Bay of Virgins on Fatu Hiva today and had a great time. Alyssa writes about that next. -allan

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Allan, John, Stephanie, Alyssa, Rina
04/25/2009, Tahuata, Marquesas

Lets see.. Get up late, brush teeth, read (The Economist), snorkel on the reefs for 2 hours, eat breakfast, turn on watermaker, which works ALL DAY, read, take a nap, read, snack on sun flower seeds and bananas, which are now ripe, get slightly motivated, design V3 of companionway bug screen with John, turn off watermaker with tanks now full, rig hammock received as a gift from Stephanie TEN YEARS AGO, make obligatory tank/tonic, watch sunset, write blog, eat dinner, head to beach for bonfire with other cruisers, and then? THE RETURN OF STUPID BOAT TRICKS.. To be continued. -allan

A red eye flight from Los Angeles, a couple of hours of layover in Papeete, and then an island hopper plane to Hiva Oa. A couple of cautious moments at customs trying to explain that we're not staying in a hotel or someone's home but on a private yacht and to explain a mysterious canister of various glues that I prepared for Allan. Getting here has sufficiently scrambled my sense of time and date and not knowing is just fine with me.

Travel instructions provided by FYFM described getting a cab from the airport on Hiva Oa and specific turn by turn directions for the cab to follow to get to the marina. Alas, there were no cabs at the airport. Apparently you have to make reservations as there is rarely (I can't say never!) anyone arriving to the island that isn't being picked up by a family member, a resort van, or whatever.

It was surprising how French lessons from 30+ years ago were able to solve the problem. A few minutes trying to grasp the English instructions, a few more minutes translating to passable French (with a key boost from an English/French Dictionary iPhone application bought the day before we left home), a few deep breaths, and a trip over to the guys standing at the counter to inquire about getting to town. Clearly, there are no cabs at the airport (which is up in the hills high above Atuona) at that moment so alternatives are my first concern - like how far it's to town (6 or 7 km and all downhill!)

Though I seriously consider the walk (our luggage bags convert to back packs), the replacement water pump and a few other highly sought after unmentionables were loaded up in a cardboard box that would be a literal pain to carry. Nix the walk and inquire about a ride to town. Before I know it, the guys at the desk are offering a ride as soon as they are done for the day. Cool - I think. Then I realize that could be a long wait and that the walk might end up being better option. "How long until we leave", I ask. "10 minutes." Woohoo! So off we went to the waterfront, many thanks and plenty of Francs to our driver, and voila, there's FYFM sitting in the harbor with Allan and Alyssa heading over to us in the dink. All is good.

I have no idea what day it is and only a rough idea on the time. And that's good too. Anything else I could talk about since our arrival is oh soo boring - chamber of commerce weather, views, snorkeling, white sandy beaches, blah blah blah. But then this is a blahhh-g so I guess I can get away with leaving it at that. If only we could just get all the computers on board to spontaneously breakdown for about 4 weeks ;) -John

The best nights sleep has to be on a boat! After some serious star watching, the gentle rocking of the boat and quiet are a great lullaby. I'm exploring my inner dolphin with plenty of snorkeling and swimming. We've seen manta rays, eagle rays, lion fish, moray eels plus a complete array of reef fish. I'm in heaven!! -Stephanie

We finally are in a place where I can swim for more than 10 minutes because of sharks or get mud in my hair from the mucky anchorage! Yay! The clear white sand beaches, bright coral, fish, octopi, and manta rays have invited me to snorkel nonstop. I've become a fish. My hair is getting blonder and my scales have been getting darker and darker in the hot sun. You rarely see me without fins and a snorkel mask unless I'm kayaking over to spend time with the other cruisers. Another book I've started. The Cove by Catherine Coulter. I'm not sure I would ever recommend this book. It's very well written, but the story is a little scary and twisted in my opinion. I'm still waiting for mom to finish The Wicked by Gregory Maguire so I can start that one. I can't believe I've already been here a month! Every minute has been amazing, so thankfully I have much more time before I leave. Ps. the water maker is finally fixed, hooray! But now we've just flipped the dinghy and the engine is flooded with salt and sand, boo hoo! -Alyssa

I don't' think I've ever swum so much.thanks to Alyssa & Stephanie getting me out there.it's so nice and warm. It's so clear you can follow your anchor chain up to the anchor, and then off to the beach and coral reefs for more snorkeling.it seems that we continually circle the entire bay before getting out. Much to see down under the water, so many fish and this bay apparently is the main feeding grounds for Rays, all kinds of them. Early in the morning you can watch them speed swim on the surface to eat Krill. Ti's been a pleasurable anchorage. Stephanie & my main jobs have been keeping everyone fed....boy can we eat after a swimming like this everyday. Off to our next anchorage today, there's a small village, hope to find more fresh vegi's. -Rina

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Allan
04/23/2009, Tahuata, Marquesas

The long ordeal appears to be over! No longer do we have to schlep 15 liter jerry jugs to questionable water sources. No longer do we stare at whoever is washing dishes in the galley to ensure the faucet is a trickle rather than a gush. No longer do we go without ICE CUBES. ( I never understood why we had to go without icecubes. it's all hydration, but I digress) No longer are we subjected to only saltwater showers.

Over the last several days, a new feed pump was installed, which returned pressures feeding the watermaker to normal, but we would only get potable water 10% of the time. As it turns out, the HIGH pressure pump had deteriorated such that it did not produce the needed pressure to make potable water. A little troubleshooting over the satphone with Alan from Boatguys, who installed the unit, and the problem was solved. Turns out there these little plastic blocks inside the high pressure pump that, when worn, reduce the pressure just enough to not push water through the watermaker membrane. By pushing water through the membrane at 500+PSI, salt is removed and only potable water comes through.

We took the ETD apart and sanded the plastic parts and put it back together, and as the French say Voila! We have water again.

Much thanks to Alan McDonald at "The Boatguys" in Alameda for assisting in the repair with parts and expertise...

We now return to our normal programming... -allan

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Allan
04/22/2009, 09 54.'S:139 06'W, Tahuata, Marquesas

Stephanie and John have arrived from Newport Beach to crew on Follow You for the next 4 weeks as we cruise the Marquesas and Tuamoto Islands. We are taking this opportunity to "be on vacation" along with them, as opposed to staying in cruising or passage mode. It's pretty easy really. just put that "do list" in the back of your mind. except that pesky watermaker. The new pump is installed and working fine, but the watermaker is still not producing potable water. Looks like the seals might be leaking. Currently working with our stateside watermaker vendor to get it right. It's frustrating because it will make water for 20-30 minutes, then stop. John and I are trying various triage strategies to get it working. The good news is that after we left Atuona and sailed the short 14 miles to Tahuata, we found a fresh water spring that is potable, so we have plenty of good water aboard.

We are enjoying a nearly deserted anchorage in a beautiful bay with a white sandy beach and great snorkeling. This anchorage is much calmer than Atuona, with no swell, but lots of refreshing wind at night. -allan

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Allan
04/19/2009, Hiva Oa, Marquesas

Alyssa and I were joined by Dietmar and Kurt for a hike to the ancient petroglyphes in the Tehueto valley near our bay. We walked about 4 miles up the rustic jungle valley, crossing rivers and marveling at the scenery. Locals told us it is ok to pick any fruits you want as long as they are not behind fences. We were able to find bananas, papayas, limes, pamplemouse and mangos. At the top of the trailhead near the petroglyphes, we found a deep swimming hole where we all took a refreshing swim.

Alyssa took great pictures of the hike which can be found on the gallery to your right, along with pictures of our arrival and 80 pictures from our crossing.

Enjoy!

-allan

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Allan, Rina, Alyssa
04/18/2009, Hiva Oa

It's hard to truly appreciate how the crew of Follow You felt after anchoring in the crowded little Baie Tahauku, and taking in the full extent of the scenery surrounding us. Every sense was overloaded. Visually, the stunning green jungle foliage amplified by the sunlight created an instant contrast to the vibrant blue we have experienced for the past 25 days. Once we landed, the aromas of the island also overwhelmed our sense of smell sanitized by the sea. And the sounds of people and civilization, cars, motorcycles and heavy construction equipment interrupted our orderly and familiar boat sounds.

We sat around that first day and just took it all in, relishing the unique feeling and knowing full well that this special moment would pass as the new order became familiar. Our first dinghy landing reintroduced us to solid ground. Unfortunately our inner ears did not get the message for a couple of minutes and made for some interesting first steps.

The last couple of days have been dealing with the formalities of checking in and re-provisioning some much needed fresh fruit, veggies, water and fuel. Once we got here, the sky also opened up and gave us plenty of fresh water in our tanks to compliment the rustic showers on land, near where the locals cleanup after outrigger canoe races.

Jan departed yesterday to join friends on sv Milonga, who will get him closer to Papeete over the next month or so. We very much enjoyed our 8 weeks with Jan. He was an exceptional crew member, always helpful and a great cook. We will miss him.

We will be adding pictures of our crossing to the gallery over the next couple days as the slow internet connection allows.

Look for blog entries every couple of days going forward... as I said earlier (mom!) its time to enjoy the fruits of our long voyage.
-allan


Land is a beautiful thing...Allan's right, green, lush & beautiful here on the island of Hiva Oa. Towns people are very friendly. Hitchhiking back & forth to town is the norm and quite fun. Rain everyday, typical of the tropics. Laundry on the shore by hand, rain to rinse our clean clothes...What happens is when we put it out to dry...it's almost dry and then...it RAINS! It's taken several days to dry a few t-shirts and sheets! We are not able to use our washer yet due to the fact that we still have no watermaker to make water. Lugging water from the shore is really a chore...so we just wash it on shore with the local fishing faucet...and a cement shower. Loving every minute of this, it sure was worth the 25 days at sea. All of our boat friends are either here, or catching up with us. We'll be waiting for Pep & John to join us on the 20th!! Can't wait to explore the rest of the Marquesas Islands when they arrive. Will write more soon, off to Carinthia for 5pm happy hour....
-Rina

Hiking around the island is really beautiful. There's really no commercial tourism or tourist shops of "local trinkets" really made in China either. It's quite a change from the normal Puerto Villarta or Papeete vibe. Me and Jan walked for miles on this little road that dead ended into a tiny town just south of Atuona, where we are now, and there was nothing but 2 tiny huts, a pre-school, and a gorgeous church that we were told by a local was built in the 1700's by the first missionaries that came to the island. About 2 miles inland, we hitched a ride into the largest archeological site on the island. Huge ceremonial pits and different levels of huge volcanic, stone walls lined the hill and it was surrounded by gigantic trees, the ones with all the roots shooting to the ground from every branch... We could look up the mountain cliffs and see tall waterfalls in every direction. Even when we were driving we had to slow down to cross rocky/mud creek beds the government workers constantly have to rebuild to even get to the site. We were lucky to get a ride into town, but it took awhile hiking back until another car came in our direction. We were thankful to get the exercise and some great pictures of the view along the way though! It was just so silent in this town compared to Mexico. There was really no one. It is so tropical and all the huts are so spread out in the mountains that you hardly see anyone. Everything closes from noon-2:30pm. Another interesting fact... all the children on the islands go to school until they are ten years old then go to a boarding school in Tahiti. The government pays for their flights to and from Tahiti for holidays too.
I really do love it here. I hear this is nothing compared to the next island though!
-Alyssa

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Allan
04/14/2009, 09 48.25'S:139 01.88'W, Hiva Oa

After a lovely sail over the last 24 hours, we anchored safely in Tahuku Bay at On Hiva Oa's South shore at 10am. After a celebratory beer and shot, we are headed to the shoreside showers and a trip to the local markets and a lunch out.

Full report after we get our heads fully around what it all means. -allan

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