08/04/2011, Bora Bora Yacht Club
Yesterday was job and haul day. We started by trying to replace one of our circuit breakers on our electric panel. The switch that controls the lights in the engine room started tripping and disconnecting the circuit when it was first turned on. After a couple of flicks of the switch, it would stay on. I pulled out one of our replacement breakers(can't carry too many spare parts) and unscrewed the breaker in the panel and unscrewed the wires(of course, I had already turned off all the power to the panel). It wouldn't come out. It appears to be wedged under one of the connector strips. Getting frustrated easily, I reconnected the wires and screwed it back into the panel. When I turned the power back on, the switch appears to be working fine. Who knows? Loose wire maybe? At least it is working fine now and I still have a replacement in case it gets bad again.
Once that was done, we loaded our water jugs(4--2.5 gallon jugs) into the dingy and headed to the dock at the yacht club to start refilling our tanks. We have a water maker that we turn on every time we fire up our generator but it can't seem to keep up with our usage. It supposedly makes 8 gallon per hour so in an average generator run, we make about 24 gallons. With that much production(we run the generator just about every day) we should be able to keep up with usage. We're going to put the production tube in one of our jerry cans and see how much we are actually making the next time we fire her up. We took our filtration system ashore(GE charcoal filters as well as a paper filter) that we can connect to the hose from the faucet to make sure all the water we bring aboard is as clean as it can possibly be. We have friends that took on water at Anaho Bay in Nuka Hiva from a faucet ashore and it ended up fouling their tanks. They had to pump all their water out and get in a clean their tanks. We've always done it this way, especially since we left the US. It slows down the flow, but all the water you get is as good as it can be. The yacht club has their own desalination plant so I checked it with our salinity meter(for our water maker) and it came in more pure than the water we make aboard. Hauling 10 gallons each trip, I finally hauled 80 gallons back to Zephyr. Tracy stayed ashore with our filtration system. The hose from the yacht club allowed us to fill our jugs right in Puff so there was no hauling involved. We started about 1100 and finished about 1430. The club charges 500 francs($6.25) for 100 liters or about 26 gallons so it cost us 1,500 francs($18.75) for what we took aboard. We burn far more gas in the generator to make that much water. With the tanks just about full, we will have plenty for our next voyage. We hold 265 gallons so we should not run short.
A while later, we headed back ashore for showers and only had to wait for two people ahead of us before we got in. On our way back to Zephyr(about 1830) we saw a sailboat coming into the yacht club mooring field looking for a buoy to hook onto. With it being pitch black, even with flashlights, they were not having much luck. There were only a few balls left to hook on to. We dropped our shower equipment off at Zephyr, grabbed a flashlight of our own and took off to help them out as we knew where the available mooring balls were. We zipped over to them and told them to follow us in. Tracy spotted one of the buoys and we lead them right to it. We even handed them the mooring line. Their boat(Champagne) was safely hooked for the night. We headed back to Zephyr and had a nice late dinner and settled in for another movie night on the computer.
|
Comments [1]
08/03/2011, Bora Bora Yacht Club
Here's a picture from the yacht club looking at the mountain.
|
08/03/2011, Bora Bora Yacht Club
We've moved now that the wind has let up!! We upped the anchor(boy was it dug in!) just after 0900 and took off backtracking our in coming course back toward the west side of Bora Bora. We took it slow to make sure we stayed where we were supposed to be on the track. Since we had come in safely, going back the same way would make sure we got out through the reefs and shallows safely and it did. We followed our course carefully and got to the Bora Bora Yacht Club at just about 1100.
Since we still have abut a week left here, and we need a few supplies, we decided to stop at the yacht club and pick up a mooring buoy. There is another front coming in and we want to make sure we are in a safe place when it arrives in a few days. Weather trends here tend to be one week of good followed by one week of garbage with big winds and rain. Right now, it's nice and sunny with a gentle breeze blowing through the buoys. As we approached the small cove, we called Hokulea, one of our sister ships here at the yacht club(Solstice is here also). Jake looked around the mooring field and told us to come in as there was at least one buoy available. As we entered the buoy field, a boat was just disconnecting from their buoy so we waited a few minutes till they were safely away and grabbed it as is in a safe location. Many of the buoys are quite close to each other and we don't want to bump another boat. As it is, we are quite close to a large charter catamaran. We grabbed the line on the buoy and after adding a second line(just to be safe) we were set. We had heard that there was excellent internet service here and that has proved to be correct so that is an added bonus.
We launched Puff with Dragon and headed ashore to get signed in, learn about what was around the club and get rid of trash. While at sea, we can get rid of some of our trash over board but in a lagoon where we are now, nothing goes over board. Plastic is NEVER dropped over board. It is always taken to the next stop in the voyage. Once signed in at the office(actually at the bar as they have no office) we dropped off our trash and headed into town. We'd thought that the club was closer to town but it's actually quite a ways out so we had a good walk to get to the stores and find a place for lunch. We'd been clued into where we could get a good cheap lunch along the road. It's at one of what we refer to in the US as a "roach couch". These are spread all over every island we have visited and each has a different take of what they offer. All the food that we have had there has been quite good(most times). Some better than others as it is everywhere. We found the suggested "coach" and I had chicken with french fires on French bread. The fries are not on the side, they are in the sandwich. Tracy had a sandwich of Chicken Chow Mien on French bread. Something we have never seen at any other "restaurant". She tried some of my sandwich and said she liked hers better. She didn't get fries on her sandwich though.
We hiked through town looking at what the town has and found the local Tourist Information Center and picked up some maps to get a better lay of the island. Walking back to Zephyr, we stopped at the two grocery stores(we'd passed them on the walk in to town) to get a few items and some drinks. We loaded up our back packs as well as the bags we carry for supplies and headed back. As we did, we cam upon two men having a fight outside a black pearl store along the road. Not sure what that was all about but one looked like the owner of the store and the other didn't. They slapped and punched each other other quite well before a bunch of people stepped in to stop it. As we headed back, we came across some old friends of ours--Lene and Henrik off Dana. We'd met the in Mark's Bay in Nanaimo, British Columbia several years ago and have bumped into each other off and on but hadn't seen them in over a year. They hail from Denmark and have been out cruising(even went around Cape Horn) for years. A fascinating couple(even built their own boat) that can "talk the talk" since they have "walked the walk". A treasure trove of knowledge and a great couple. We'd been in contact with them via email for a while(they had been at Raiatea)but didn't expect them to be at Bora Bora for another week. As we walked back, I passed them right by(not recognizing them) saying "hello". Tracy recognized them immediately. They had just come into the yacht club and they had also set off to explore the island. We stood along the road and chatted and got caught up a bit. As we will both be here for a few more days, I'm sure we will get together again to get better caught up.
We arrived back at the yacht club and headed back to Zephyr to get out shower supplies and headed back in to get cleaned up since the club has hot water showers. While there are signs on the doors that mark one as womens and one as mens, the mens was not an actual shower. Instead it was lined with supplies and equipment. So with only one shower(and it was occupied) we walked out to the dock and came across Avril and Graham from Dream Away(we'd met them on Tahaa) as well as Jake(off Hokulea) and Bill from Solstice. We got caught up on what everyone has been doing before heading back to the showers. Nice a clean, we stopped in at the club and had a beer($6.25 per beer) before returning to Zephyr for the night.
|
08/01/2011, Motu Piti Aau, Bora Bora
Here's a shot from the stern of our boat as the clouds dropped on the island of BOra Bora. There were many times that the island was lost to the clouds behind us.
|
08/01/2011, Motu Piti Aau, Bora Bora
Yesterday, the winds and rain continued. The winds never really let up. They were constant while the rains came about every 90 minutes with either big showers or light sprinkles. We could see the clouds building far on the easter horizon. A few catamarans(charters) joined us in the anchorage and a few left. One non charter catamaran left as well. Some time after sundown, another non charter catamaran dropped their anchor farther behind us. This is not a place I would want to sail around or even motor around after dark. I'm not sure where they came from but they have more guts than I do.
With the winds and the rains still keeping us aboard and the loaf of bread I had made a couple of days ago running out, I pulled out the flour and made another loaf since there was nothing much else to do other than read a book. With that being said, I just finished First Blood by David Morrell. I've read others of his books and found them quite good. I've heard of First Blood as the book behind the movie Rambo but I've never seen the film either. Well, the book starts out with a preface called "Rambo and Me". A narrative on how he came up with the story and the characters. This was his first book. The bad thing about the preface is that he tells you the end of the book!!! I knew what was going to happen to everyone before I even got to the first chapter! What's with that? I won't spoil it for those of you that have never read the book but may have seen the movie but the two bear little resemblance to each other other than there is a character called Rambo and Sherif Teasle. That's about it. What a drag knowing the ending of a book before you even start it. So if you buy or come across the book published by Grand Central Publishing in 2000 and see the section called "Rambo and Me", DON"T read it. It spoils the book.
With the wind blowing, we haven't had to run the generator much other than the occasional times we needed to run something that requires AC power. Out DuoGen did a fair job keeping us with lots of volts for our usage. The winds have dropped off a bit this morning so I fired up the water maker as we have used a good bit since we dropped anchor and I'll be firing up the generator once the voltage drops to where we need more power. While it is running(along with the water maker) I figure Tracy and I will put Puff back in the water and head around the south end of Motu Piti Aau and do some more snorkeling. This will be the first time in days that it's not blowing and the waters are calmer making a dingy trip somewhere much more enjoyable and less bumpy. Two of the boats(English speaking) that have been in here with us have already taken off now that the wind had died for a while. Getting around the shallows on the north side requires somewhat calmer water to allow you to see the coral below you. I figure we will head for the west side of the island tomorrow to resupply and see the sights of Bora Bora.
We'll let you know how the snorkeling goes.
|
07/31/2011, Motu Piti Aau, Bora Bora
Here's a picture of just a few of the Hobies that zip across the bay in front and behind Zephyr all morning and early afternoon. It's fun yelling to the kids as they pass.
|
