4/28/15

Arrived at Fata Hiva on 4/28/15 at sunset: 39 day passage. Pretty village in bay of Virgins (Hanavave]. Great pix. But no way to send them until we arrive in Tahita probably. Ciro and I hiked with a canadian couple to a 1,000 foot waterfall ending in deep pool. Swim was great after the long hike. Wendy visited in several homes. Received gifts of fruit. True cruisers now--we have a rack of bananas hanging on the arch to ripen, swinging in the breeze. Restocked food; but they have little. Everything comes in by ship. Met lots of people from other boats from all over the world. Some came in thru Panama, Mexico or Gualapagos (sp?).

5/1/15

Heading north now to small bay on island near Hiva Oa to check into the country. We are illegal right now. But we have a good excuse: we broke our boom in two pieces during the passage in a squall. Repair is a good reason for avoiding fines for late arrival. Gorgeous bay. A term we overuse at this point a lot. Truly a polynesian paradise; only assessable by boat. Cruisers are the only tourists.

"It takes a bay": lots of discussion among everyone about how to fix the boom. Any aluminum welders around. This is the middle of no where, there is nothing. I had rigged the main sail like a storm trysail and it actually worked very well. Anyway to shorten the story. A plan was selected to cut the boom of flush at the break, refit the gooseneck and redrill all the fittings along the shortened boom. The break was about 3 feet from the mast. With contributions of grinders, rivet guns, SS rivets, multiple runs to recharge tool batteries on other boats and some unique expertice ( no mine) and 4 hours we had a brand new boom, just 3 ft shorter. And it looks great. Moreover we have some new friends. It's been a tough season with for a number of boats in the crossing--another broken boom from Bellingham and lots of rigging damage for others. Odd weather: no wind, then a days of squalls. Except for the boom we enjoyed the squall of 25-30 knots because we could cover some ground. But all is well with Wendy, Ciro and myself. The problems always seem to find solutions and on reflection make for treasured stories.

5/5/2005 arrived in Hiva Oa yesterday; short passage around the point. Bigger town. We moved from 500 to 2,500 citizen. About 30 boats in the harbor. More to come.