And the voyage continues
02 September 2011 | Southwest of Suwarrow Atoll
Bill Hudson
Hopefully this post gets out faster than the last one. We've had a problem getting connected out here in the middle of no where. We might connect, but then the connection is so poor that we get cut off with nothing getting out. So here we go again. Lets get caught up.
We've just finished day 4 out here and all is still well aboard. We're both glad that Tracy made all the meals before we left Suwarrow. It has made meal time much easier. It's either made and just needs reheating or the ingredients are all in one spot ready to be assembled. Both lunches and dinners are all ready to go. Breakfast is cereal with either dried blueberries or raisins on top. Now all we have to do is decide what we want to eat. Not a real problem out here though we tend to eat much less on passage. Snacking during the night is the problem. It's easy to get the munchies as you sit alone in the cockpit at 2300 or 0200 in the morning. Our IPods are the main staple of our entertainment at night. Either music or video or even downloaded podcasts of radio shows from back home in Colorado get us through the night. Tracy is even listening to a book on tape off her IPod.
Day two found us at 15 20.052S 167 06.557W having made 131 miles in the past 24 hours. A nice bit of mileage. Unfortunately, it's gotten less and less as the day progress and the wind dies back some. Many of the boats that we listen to on the nets out here have been motoring just to get anywhere. The winds keep coming from the NE as do the swells so it makes for a rolly passage. That really hasn't stopped since we left. There are supposed to be "prevailing" southeast winds out here but we haven't found them so far.
Day three found us at 16 14.140S 168 55.636W still making headway toward Tonga. With the wind being out of the wrong direction(northeast), our track on our chart plotter looks like a boomerang. Curves to the north and then curves to south all along our passage as going straight is nearly impossible. We did really well for the first 36 hours out here but then the winds got fickle and the boomerangs started. We sometimes have to go 20 miles out of our way to collect the winds needed to then change course and get back to where we need to be on the maps.
I actually took a shower at the start of day three. Our days start and end at 1300 hours as that is the time we started this trip. We left at 1300 on Monday so day one ended at 1300 Tuesday. So I finally got a shower Wednesday afternoon. I still had the salt on me from when I had to dive on the anchor in Suwarrow. My hair was a sticky mess. As it was, with all the rolling Zephyr was doing, I had to stand with my feet braced on the wall and my back against the opposite wall. It's like taking a shower in a room that's on a roller coaster. At least I was finally clean for a change.
We have seen no other boats other than the ship Tracy saw several days ago. It's a vast blank canvas deep blue water out here. Nothing but water, a few birds, flying fish and whales(haven't seen any yet). It can get a bit creepy out here at night as we just had the New Moon on Monday night. When we arrived at Suwarrow, we came on a Full Moon so it made seeing things at night much easier.
We are still forced to run the engine each day as the DuoGen just can't keep up with the small amount of electricity we use each day. It really needs a constant speed of over 6 knots to do anything and getting a constant anything out here is darn near impossible. Our money would have been better spent on solar panels. It's just about always sunny out here with temps in the mid 80's every day. So we use the time with the engine running to get us back closer to the course we need and to make hot water for more showers and wash dishes at the end of the day. It also keeps the IPods and the computers charged.
We moved our clocks back another hour today as the Sun wasn't coming up till 0720 and setting about 1920 at night. We will be crossing the International Date Line on Sunday as we go into Tonga. We will loose Sunday totally. Our clocks will go back another hour so suddenly we will loose a day. That works out well for us as if we got into Tonga on Sunday, we couldn't check in with customs and immigrations till Monday. We'd be quarantined on board for 24 hours. The weather for the rest of the trip looks good with winds getting stronger over the next 24 hours so we can make better time. With only 250 miles to go as of 1200 today, we should arrive about noon on Sunday(actually Monday), Nothing moves in Tonga on Sunday. No work, no tasks are to be performed and all businesses are closed--period!!! It's going to be interesting. Oh, and men are not permitted to be seen with shorts and long pants are a part of the culture. Women must cover their legs and their arms if at all possible. The natives go swimming fully clothed! Visitors to their country are permitted to swim in swimsuits but they can only be worn at the beach. Leave there and you must cover up.
So that's the way it has been out here for the last few days. It has taken us a full three days to get back in the "voyage" mode. the body has to adjust to a very irregular schedule. Undisturbed sleep is a luxury especially if it comes in segments of longer than 4 hours. Last night at 0300 when I came on deck(after my 4 hours nap) I was out on the deck making a sail change so we could get back on course. You do what you have to do to get where you want to go.
Tracy's two cents:
Keeping your mind occupied is the hard thing to do at sea. During the day, you can sit back and watch the water and the flying fish, but at night you fight sleep deprivation. The Ipod is a godsend and I imagine a lot of people out here have the new I Pad. I wish we had internet out here. It does exist, but it costs upwards of $20,000 to get set up then there are the monthly fees....I'm sure the megayachts have it, but we sailboats are barebones in comparison.
The days blend together, I couldn't honestly tell you what day it is or exactly how long we've been on passage. Our lives consist of 4, 3, or two hour segments. I just wish I could drop off to sleep when I lay down for a sleep segment, an hour later, I'm still not asleep. This isn't something new, I've always been that way, so why would it change?
Tonga's culture will be the first drastically different one we will come into contact with. They are deeply religious and Sunday is strictly for family and church activities, no swimming, no working on your boat, no shopping. Hmmm. All stores and restaurants are closed on Sunday, now Sunday isn't exactly my favorite day of the week anyway, so this will make it even more dull. We yachties are allowed to go swimming on Sunday if we are away from a village or town. That shouldn't be too difficult, Tonga has 170 islands and only 40 are inhabited full time. I'm glad we have a lot of books to read and a lot of stitching to be done.