05/16/2011, Anaho Bay
Yesterday was a on again off again soggy day. Rain came over the eastern shoreline and dumped a bit of rain about every 90 minutes. Not lots mind you, but enough that you understand why the mountains are green around here. It rains then has time to soak in before it rains again. This went on and on all through the day and into the night. It was raining at 0230 this morning. Add in a smidgeon of wind--15-20 knots and it was an interesting day at anchor. Bobbing up and down and swinging on the end of the anchor chain. It's going to be interesting when it comes time to haul up the anchor chain. We're in a coral filled bay where the bottom is covered in lots of sand and towers of coral. With the amount of swinging that we have been doing, we are probably wrapped around one of the coral towers (also known as "bombes"). It's going to be fun to get unwound from when we are ready to leave.
As to leaving, we sat down with Paul and Karen off Gigi and decided to spend one more day here to try and get in some snorkeling if the weather permits. Karen went yesterday between showers and had a good time. Tracy and I figure to do so this afternoon. I'll let you know what we see.
Other than that, we have been sitting around reading books and taking in the Sun and wind. The four of us descended on Zephyr's hull two days ago cleaning off the green goo that has attached itself to the paint we had applied back in San Carlos late last year. I headed down to the propeller and shaft and started banging on the barnacles that had grown on the fittings. Where we had covered the prop with Lanocote, it was almost clean of any barnacles. The shaft didn't get covered and it was loaded with the little critters all stuck fast. With a nice heavy gauge steel scrapper and some lungs full of air, they finally came off one at a time. Now she looks nice an clean and should allow us to make better time when we use the engine. Those little buggers can really screw up the action of the prop as it cuts through the water.
Meanwhile, it looks like we may get some more rain today and I'll be firing up the generator in a short time to recharge the batteries and make more water. Tracy did a couple of loads of wash this morning so that's a good ten gallons that will need to be replaced. At about 8 gallons per hours, it will take some time to get it all back and still add more to our tanks. We haven't been able to find the water source that is supposed to be on shore. I think I'll tray again this afternoon and see if I can find it.
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05/16/2011, Anaho Bay
Wind blew through the night with gusts into the high teens. As the wind blew, the bay stayed nice and still with little rocking of Zephyr. The wind came from the East and since the bay opens to the North, it stirred up little fetch. A nice night for our DuoGen as it made a few volts for our batteries. Not enough to keep them full but it off set the length of time I was going to run the generator.
We joined Paul and Karen from GiGi for a trip ashore. We run a dingy service since their out board stopped running few weeks ago. Happy to do so as the two of them are great people. We had been told(or read) that there was fresh water shore so we could refill our tanks as well as a place to drop off trash. On our trip in, we found neither. Perhaps we will get lucky and find them tomorrow. At the worst, we hold onto our trash and just keep making water as we run the generator. We hiked along the beach heading East along the shore. We been told that the far beach was great for collecting shells(hardly found any). The folks that live here had dynamited the rocks and coral along one portion of the shoreline and put out buoys so that dingies can get ashore. The bay has a good 3+ foot tide so since we went in at low tide, I dropped a anchor near the water line and we dragged Puff farther ashore. This way, once the tide came back in, it would hold Puff away from shore. There is a very slight slope to the beach so it was easy to walk back to Puff when we returned with the water only coming up to about my knees. We stopped for a picnic lunch when we reached the farthest beach so we were well fed before we headed back. We were passed by one couple along the way. They didn't even bother to say hello as they passed us. Must not be cruisers. We know most of the people on the other 6 boats in the anchorage and we had never seen them before. Must have walked over from the next bay.
Early in the morning, we over heard a VHF conversation between two of the boat in the anchorage. It appeared that GiGi had drifted during the night and had ended up quite close to Britannia(another boat here at anchor). They we close enough that conversation was easy between the two boats. GiGi pulled up their anchor and went around in a circle and repositioned themselves a better distance from the other boat. Not sure whose anchor drifted but now every one was happy in the anchorage.
It's been a nice last few days with small threats of shores that only turn into small bits of spits of rain and then they are gone. We have found that the cloud here move incredibly fast and what you see one minute may be gone in the next five. Normally it appears clear during the day and then a bit of clouds during the night. If you see clouds during the day, rain might be coming but rarely does but you still plan for it by closing all the hatches and port lights on board. We took a chance and left ours open during the hike today and got lucky. No rain till a small shower about two hours after we returned.
Tomorrow, a bit of snorkeling on the reef and a bit more boat maintenance on both of our boats. Primarily oil changes for the different engines we have on board that make us run so well.
Tonight, another movie on deck with our MacBook and speaker system. Who would have thought that when we moved on board just over three years ago, we would be watching a movie while sitting in the cockpit of our boat clear across the Pacific Ocean. Not me for one. When we came on board, I had no idea where we would end up but right now, here is a great place to be.
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05/16/2011, Anaho Bay
Tracy's two cents: Wow, wow, wow! I have to pinch myself sometimes to realize that we are really in French Polynesia. It took SO long to get here, but the memories of the crappy waves and squally winds and rains are fading and each day we rise to magnificent views and the sweet smells of stephanotis and other tropical flowers. If we want limes for drinks or cooking, all we have to do is go up a dirt road, walk off the path a few feet and pick. I think the Marquesas is the capitol of lime trees. They aren't the big Persian limes, but the really juicy Key Limes.
Our friends on Gigi that we were suppose to buddy boat with across the Pacific arrived from the Southern Marquesan islands the day we were going to shove off out of the harbor, so we stayed an extra couple of days and showed them the "sights" and ate at the wonderful truck (sort of like a "roach coach" in the States) that makes the best hamburgers, cheeseburgers and bacon burgers(served with an egg on top) around. We love their fries and they have really cold Cokes. Can you get any better? The other trucks that stop in a wide spot in the road serve Chinese food and others French sandwiches. All, I have heard are very tasty. There aren't many brick and mortar restaurants. There is one in the middle of town that serves pizza. The small pizza is 2500 francs, about $28.00 US. More than our budget allows, so the "truck" food is just fine. A burger, fries and a Coke cost 1000 francs or about $12. US. More in line with our cruising budget.
Taiohae, the main town on Nuku Hiva has many magisins or stores. In the States we would call these convenience stores, but here that is what the people get as their major food suppliers. They carry the staples, some frozen meat, and that wonderful French bagette. The French government subsidizes some of the food and it isn't hard to figure out what. The loaves of French bread are only 75 cents U.S. and they are three feet long. Flour, sugar, yeast are all subsidized. I bought a kilo of cane sugar for 167 francs, about $1.90 US. I'm not sure what the locals eat for breakfast as there are only about 4 different kinds of cereal. Something like coco puffs, but Australian and I did see Corn Pops at $9 US a box, enough to make you swear off eating cereal.
The villages and towns are neat and tidy with lots of chickens and roosters trotting about. Lots of dogs that basically all look alike and a few cats. They definitely have a slower pace of life here.
Last Friday, we did finally up our anchor and Gigi and Zephyr slipped out of the harbor for Daniel's Bay about 3.5 nm west, but a world apart from where we had been. We turned to go into what we thought was the right bay, but the waves were crashing everywhere and the cove was too short, so before we ended up on the rocks we quickly turned around and sped up the engine to throttle us out of there and then found the correct bay. What a difference. Calm waters, a lot of wrap around swell and 8 other sailboats. We anchored and got a chance to look around. Huge cliffs, exactly what you think of when you are thinking of mysterious and sacred places in the tropics. I easily can see where their religion of ancient times came from. The bay is magical. I didn't get much sleep the first night because of the swell was rolling us side to side, so I asked Bill to let us move in farther and get out of it. Three boats had left the previous night, so there was lots of room at the head of the bay. The second night was much better. I hated to leave, I could have spent a few more days there, but we are traveling with others so the majority rules.
Yesterday, we motored out of Daniel's Bay to go to Anaho on the NE side of the island. It is about a 5 hour motor, so we left early, about 8 a.m. About a mile out of the mouth of the bay, the engine slowed down and quit again. Exactly what it was doing before we left Mexico. We quickly put out the sails and started to sail upwind toward Taiohaie. Bill went below and re-bled the injectors and the engine roared to life again. We decided to continue to Anaho Bay.
The western slope of Nuku Hiva is almost desert like. As we came over the Northern corner of Nuku Hiva it was difficult to realize that this was the same island that we have been at for over a week. Dry, table mesas, no vegetation, in some ways it really reminded us of New Mexico and Colorado. There is a rock formation that looks exactly like Castle Rock in Colorado. We turned into Anaho Bay....it is turquoise water, white sand beaches and lined with coconut palms. The sun was out and we were melting quickly. Tarps are going out over the boat today for some shade. When it get really warm this afternoon we'll be jumping in the water and starting to scrub the bottom of the boat, then we can go ashore and enjoy the ambiance. Isn't cruising life fun?
Trudy--the restaurant in Walsenburg is Georges.
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05/14/2011, Daniel's Bay
We upped the anchor yesterday and made off for Daniel's Bay, about 4 miles farther west from our first stop. We'd waited for our friends, Paul and Karen on Gigi and they showed up on Tuesday afternoon after an overnight passage from one of the other islands. So we spent Wednesday showing them around Nuku Hiva's main port. Now there is not much to see around the harbor but it's fun to go ashore and see what is happening. Stops to the local stores for some bread--amazingly, all the stores in the harbor were out of bread. We got there a bit late apparently. We made a second trip to shore early on Thursday morning and picked up several loaves to take with us as we headed out.
We upped the anchor shortly after lunch and both took off out of the bay and then turned right and made our way down the south coast of the island. As the charts for the area(not only paper but electronic we off, we turned into the wrong little cove. OOPS! We turned around and headed for the next cove down the shoreline. Well hidden behind a long jutting point. In we went add ourselves to the 7 boats that were already here. We ended up at about 10 by the time the Sun set. It's a much more protected anchorage that our first stop but we still rolled side to side through the evening and night. Paul and Karen anchored about 50 yard away. Once the anchor was down, I put on swim trunks and took my first plunge into the waters of the South Pacific!!! I would have gone swimming in the first harbor, but there are packs of sharks all over the bay. We've heard so much about the crystal clear water of the islands. Well, not so far. Visibility here is maybe 10 feet. No way to possibly see the bottom. I couldn't see where our snubber line hooked on the anchor chain. I swam for a while checking out Zephyrs bottom. All in all, nice and clean. Some muck along the water line but for being under way for as long as we were, she's nice and clean.
This morning, I finally went up the mast to fix the Genoa sail furler as well as the U bolt that holds the spinnaker sail to the top of the mast. We'd lost the bearings out of the Genoa sail furler about our third day out and now was the time to head up to fix it. I got strapped into the chair lift and then as Tracy winched me up, I climbed the steps I'd installed back in Puerto Vallarta. A nice easy climb. We still rocked and rolled a bit and there was a small sprinkle of a shower while I was up there but all in all, a easy climb. I wedged my back against the back stay(big wire that holds the mast to the back of the boat) and stood on the stairs and installed the bearings for the furler. I added some silicon caulk as well as some tape around the bearing to make sure it won't pull out again. I even added several winding of mans best friend--Duct Tape around the bearings. They're not going any where. The nut that we had found on deck was for the U shaped bolt for the spinnaker block so once I screwed it back in(and tightened the other nut, we were all done. About 45 minutes aloft. Two big projects done. Now we can use all our sails again.
One bit of history about Daniel's Bay is that the TV show Survivor was filmed here several seasons ago. We plan on taking Puff shore later this afternoon to explore a perhaps do some hiking around the area. Good to stretch the legs. While a 45 foot boat may seem large, you don't get much hiking done on the decks.
So we are now at 08 56.710S 140 09.935 W. Well be here for a couple of days and then head around to the North side of the island to visit so more coves up there.
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Congratulations! We look forward to following your adventures.
Enjoy!
Heidi & Terry
S/V Cetus
05/09/2011, Nuku Hiva Island
So today was our third day at anchor here on Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands. Our friends Angus and Rolande on Periclees took off early this morning for the Tuamotu Islands about 575 miles southwest of here. They have been around the Marquesas for about three weeks and it was time for them to move on. We had a great couple of days playing with them on shore. They even had us over for dinner last night.
At 0900, we went ashore to go about getting checked in now that the Gendarmes were open. There is no immigration here, it's all done by the local police. Actually the National Police. Our agent(signed up for an agent to help us get settled in the islands) met us at the dingy dock shortly after we arrived. You can only check in in the morning. Just about everything closes about 1130 and reopens about 1420. A nice LONG lunch break. Now they do open at 0730 so they still put in their hours. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes and then given a nice tour by Regina, our agent. She not only lives here, but also has a small hotel here in town. We had been told that we HAD TO HAVE our Zarpe(exit documents from Mexico) when we arrived or we would not be allowed into the country. Well, if that is the case, no one told the folks we talked to. All we needed was our passports and documentation for Zephyr. Fill in a few forms and voila, we were done. Now would I leave Mexico with out a Zarpe???? Heck no. As soon as you do that, you know you will be asked for it. That's just Murphy's Law.
Once done and with the town tour under our belts, we headed for the local grocery store to get another loaf of French bread(this time with a nice crispy crust), a coke or two and back to Puff for the ride back to Zephyr. We passed another dingy on it's way into shore from "What ya gonna do"(yes, that is the name of their boat). They are having electrical problems also. They can't start their engine. Their batteries won't even turn their starter though the battery is at full charge. Something is wrong with their electrical lines from the battery or the switch that turns on the battery is bad. He's got a bit of work cut out for him finding the problem.
When we got back to Zephyr, Tracy started in on another load of laundry. This time, we were going to hang it outside. Yesterdays was done inside as it rained off and on all day long. We got lucky today and while it looked like rain most of the day, it never rained. With five loads done today, she is just about done. We are doing it ourselves as the charge for 1 load of laundry is $10.00--Wash only!! No dryers are available. All is put out on clothes lines to be dried. If it rains, well, it just takes longer to dry. The average time for a load of laundry here is two days. It's just too humid to dry anything fast here.
In between loads, she added another layer of our special teak oil/sealer to our pretty teak rails. The trip over had been a bit harsh on it and it needs another coat. She got the top rail done today and we should be able to finish the rest while standing in the dingy tomorrow.
I rebuilt the water generator unit off our DuoGen. It had made a ton of amps for us during the first two thirds of our trip and then it pretty much shut down. The bearings had just a bit too much salt in them and it slowed the revolution of the propeller on the unit. It took a while, but I finally got it apart and then I greased the heck out of it and reassembled it for our next voyage. It should do much better now.
We ran our generator again today so we made more water while it was cranking away on the back deck. We will get more than just a full battery every time we start the generator.
Tracy is too tired to add any comments so you will just have to wait for another day.
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05/06/2011, Nuku Hiva
Since we got here Friday AM, we have tried to play the game of Tourist with the help of Rolande and Angus off Periclees. We met them last year in the Sea of Cortez. They brought us a loaf of French bread as we were dropping the anchor and whisked us to shore right after lunch to see the sights and take a tour. Up and down the hills we went once we left the shoreline road. We toured both Friday afternoon and most of Saturday with a trip up into the mountains to visit one of the archeological sights where they used to do human sacrifices. Heaven for bid they put signs us as to where to go and how to get there. We wandered up and up into the hills coming upon several homes along the way. Rolande kept asking for direction using her French language skills. We just stood there and looked dumb. Worked just fine. Once we found the sight, we headed back to town for a lunch of a cheese burger, bacon burger, fries and two cokes for over $20.00. It isn't cheap here but everything has to be brought in for elsewhere and there are the necessary tariffs and duties attached to everything. A coke at your local mini mart is over $2.25. It's the most expensive place on earth so they say.
Today is a day of rest, at least from walking. I've got the generator on recharging the batteries and allowing us to run the water maker. We hold lots of water but I'd rather have the tanks just about full incase something happens than low to conserve weight. You can never have too much water in your tanks. The water that is available in this harbor is non potable--you can't drink it with out boiling it. After our hike yesterday I can understand why. As we went up the road along side the main stream that leads into town, there were lots of pigs and hogs tethered to steel cables over the stream. It is the perfect place to keep them as they lots of food and plenty of water to drink. There were cows down there also as well as horses. It's no wander that the water was undrinkable. Tracy is doing double duty today having washed some clothes this morning and is now defrosting the freezer as the clothes are strung all over the inside of the cabin. We've had rain off and on here since about 0900. It's not bad now so most of the port lights and hatches are now open letting some air in.
Tonight, we've been invited to Periclees for dinner. We'll launch Puff and get Dragon back in the water for the trip over to their boat. We launched Puff yesterday to scrape the hull where barnacles had begun to grow during our journey. Lots and lots of them all along the waterline and maybe 8 inches above it all along the side of the hull. During our trip over, these things just grab a hold and make a mess of your water line not to mention slowing down your speed due to the drag they make while going through the water. They are now gone at least for a week or so till they come back. It's a never ending process out here.
Since Tracy is so busy, you'll just have to wait for the next post for here insight.
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