Will the wind never stop???
20 July 2011 | Village of Fare, Huahine
Sunny and still blowing
Will the wind never stop???? We'll settle for it slowing even a bit. We upped the anchor yesterday and headed back north toward the village of Fare on the west side of Huahine after experiencing a week of wind and rain. Normal winds in the high teens with gusts to 30 knots and more. I know, we are on a sailboat but that's fine when out sailing but at anchor, we become sort of boat locked. You can't go anywhere without getting soaked by the waves that blow through the bay.
On Monday, we decided to take Puff and head around the south point of the island toward the village of Parea and the pass just off the village so we could visit Motu Araara and do some snorkeling. The east side of the Motu(also known as an island in English) is known for decent coral for good snorkeling. Off we went waves pounding into poor Puffs bow as the winds came around the end of the island. It got so bad that I finally put on my snorkeling mask and snorkel to try and see through the spray the waves were making. As it was, we had to jockey around large coral heads that come up from the sandy bottom. With the water so turbulent, it was impossible to see some and what you could see, we had no idea how deep they were under the surface. We finally made it around the point and headed toward the east side of Motu Araara. Well, that was no good as the winds were buffeting that side of the island. Over to the west side--much better. We pulled Puff up on shore and I headed into the water. Tracy waited at Puff for me to report back if the swim was worth it. In all reality, the reef there is just about dead with few fish and very little live coral.
Back into Puff and back around the south point toward our bay. It's much better to go down wind than up wind. A lot less spray over the bow. We stopped in the south section of our bay(Avea Bay) and dove in. Much better. No where near as much dead coral. Tracy went in right on top of a big live coral head with lots of fish all around it. When I finally got there, I took some pictures that I'll post for you later. When we dove on the love coral there were anemones with clown fish(like Nemo) all over the place. While much of the coral was dead, we had gotten lucky and found a live patch. There was also one of the sting rays in attendance though not as friendly as those at Sting Ray City back on Moorea. He swam away as I came near him. Back to Zephyr for dinner.
Yesterday, we upped the anchor and took off for the village of Fare. A short ten mile motor with coral reefs on both sides of the channel. We followed our earlier route that was still shown on the Garmin chartplotter. We arrived just before noon. I played out the anchor in 20+ knot winds in 60 feet of water. Out it went but our CQR anchor didn't bite into the bottom. Up it came and around we went till we found a place only 45 feet deep. Down went the anchor and we were lucky this time in that it grabbed the bottom. I let out 160 feet of chain before it jammed in the windlass on it's way out. For some reason, as the chain comes back onto Zephyr, it takes a twist in the linkage rotating clockwise. The last time I had all the chain out was back in Puerto Vallarta in February and it was a mess then. We've anchored dozens of times since each time having the chain twist as it comes back aboard. We normally use about 120 feet of chain in a normal anchorage but this time we were much deeper so the windlass finally ran into the snarled chain where it had bunched up. No more chain was going to come out and it was snarled so badly that there was no way to get in back through the windlass. Thank heaven the anchor bit into the bottom and held. To solve the problem we had to take all the chain out of the anchor locker and lay it out all over the deck so we could get all the twists out of it. About an hour later, all the chain was dekinked and put back into the anchor locker. Now all I have to do is watch the chain that is between Zephyr and the anchor as it comes back on board and make sure it comes in with no kinks. With luck it should swivel toward the anchor and take all the kinks out as it comes up. Guess we will see.
We set our anchor alarm on our chart plotter and with the wind continuing through the afternoon(still in the high teens to gusts in the 30 knot range)we stay aboard again. Late in the afternoon, a 46 foot Jeanneau(brand of sailboat) came in and dropped their anchor just about where we had dropped ours. They just didn't let out as much chain. They dropped back on us stopping off our port side. A bit to close for comfort since we had already drug once in this anchorage. We talked to the other boat via VHF radio(didn't want to shout between boats) and once I told him he had dropped just about on top of our anchor, he decided to move. He didn't want his anchor to snag ours and endanger both boats. Up came his anchor and he moved a bit farther forward and dropped it again. It bit in and he was secure. The reason he anchored so close to us was that he is friends with a boat that was anchored next to us. With his anchor set, he dropped back until he was within about 40 feet of his friends boat. Now he was their problem, not ours though if he dragged, he might still drop back on us but I figure he had good insurance as his boat look close to new. When I went on deck this morning, he had pulled up his anchor and moved again. This time, much farther forward in the anchorage. During the night(about 0300) a big gust of wind had gone through the anchorage and his anchor had come loose. He got it reset but spent the rest of the night sitting in his cockpit on anchor watch. We found all this out this morning in conversations he had with another boat on the VHF radio. Better him than us. Looking at our chartplotter, we haven't dragged at all. Yea for us.
We're now at 16 42.808S 151 02.400W for all you Google Earth fans.
During the night, two big supply ships came in the and bay and passed behind us on their way to the wharf. There should be lots of new things ashore for us to choose from when we get there. It's still blowing in the high teens out there but we have to get ashore for more gasoline as well as groceries. I'll let you know how that works out and how wet we get.