A short hop today to another island to load up on fresh water. Our water maker is doing a great job but if I can get it for free and the faucet is on the dock, heck that's an easy plan. So we upped the anchor and took off and got in about 1600 only to find out that the water on the dock is non potable and if you want good water, you have to haul it about a half mile. I fired up our generator and the water maker is going as I'm typing this post.

But let's back up to yesterday. We sailed down from Anaho Bay. Paul and Karen on Gigi left about 0630 and we finally started upping our anchor at 0800 only to have the engine die just the anchor came to the top of the water. Down it went while I bled the fuel line. Start the engine and pull up the anchor. Again, the engine dies just as the anchor comes up. Down goes the anchor again. Bleed the fuel line again. Up comes the anchor and out we went only to have the engine die again. At least this time we got out far enough to put up the sails and get out of the bay. As we started down the east side of the island, I headed into the engine room to see if I could find the problem. I bled the fuel lines again and then looked in the engine room. I found the problem almost immediately. One of the fuel connections that Butch made in La Cruz had come loose and fuel was pouring into the engine room. When the engine died as we were leaving Daniels Bay a couple of days ago, I'd gone in and tightened all the hose clamps on the fuel line. Well one line has a fitting that is too big and the hose is too small so when I tightened it, it loosened instead of tightened the fitting and it just popped off. Once refitted, the engine now ran just fine.

We got into to the main harbor at Nuku Hiva and launched Puff and picked up Paul and Karen and headed to the Gendarmerie to get check out of the Marquesas. Supposedly, they only do it till 1130 but did it for us anyway as we were checking out not in. All that took was a click of the computer mouse and we were both checked out of the Marquesas. Having gotten used to a nice tranquil harbor like Anaho, this place was a mess with lots of swell pouring into the inlet. It's amazing that when we first pulled in here two weeks ago, it felt like we were becalmed. Now, it like being out in the ocean again. We all agreed to take of this morning.

As we got back in Puff to come back to the boat, Tracy dropped her sunglasses into the water. We went back to Zephyr and I grabbed my mask and fins and we headed back so I could go in and get them. In I went and promptly stepped on a sea urchin driving his spikes into my heal(I did find her glasses) Back to Zephyr where I soaked my foot in Vinegar and then hot water and then back to Vinegar. That is supposed to be the remedy for these nasty things. Tracy tried cutting them out but that didn't work. They were in a good 1/4 inch and kept breaking every time Tracy got close to getting one out. We soaked a big bandage in Vinegar and we went to bed. This morning we decided to go up to the hospital to see what they could suggest. Gigi, meanwhile upped their anchor and took off. Up the hill we went and proper paperwork was filled out. I saw a doctor about 30 minutes later and he poked and prodded them. No real problem. He put on some anti bacterial stuff along with a nice bandage and sent me on my way. Get this==it was all free!!!! No Charge. The joys of socialized medicine.

So back to Zephyr we went and up the anchor came and off we set for Ua Pou, about 26 miles due South. It took us till 1600 to get in and we needed to set a stern anchor since there were so many boats in here but we had help from Chris off Britannia. A great guy we first met back in La Cruz before we left so long ago.

We've checked the weather forecast as it looks good for the next three days and then a big storm is due in with winds in the high teens but the waves are about 13 feet at 8 seconds. Not nice at all so we will probably take off tomorrow morning for the Tuamotus chain of islands about 500 miles southwest of here. Stay tuned and we will let you know how it goes.