Sally
10/23/2009, On the Equator!

King Neptune.... We're back! To Lat. Zero, Zero . Zero Back to the line where you are the hero!

It was April Fourteenth, Two thousand and eight 'tis been a year and a half since our last equatorial date!

We've been good little shell-backs, we hope you agree As we've sailed in the south on our Dorothy Marie.

The Marquesas, Tutamotus, and the Societies Hauled out in Tahiti for some rudder work? Geez!

Rarotonga, in the Cooks, and then Beveridge Reef on to Niue's sharp limestone that gave Glen's nose some grief!

Vava'u, Ha'apai, and Tongatapu - we loved all Tonga's groups, But the time... it just flew!

So we headed to New Zealand, for the cyclone season with an unplanned stop at Minerva - bad weather was the reason.

After six months with the Kiwis, towards Fiji we sailed Our friend's boat, Elusive, was lost and our dear George said, "I've Bailed!"

Viti Levu, Mamanucas, and the Yasawas were a ball While George got a transplant and Genny? A complete over-haul!

From Fiji's Vanua Levu to Niuatoputapu in Tonga, Then on to Samoa where things went a bit wrong - uh! :)

While in Apia on 'Upolu our boat started to shake, then four big tsunami waves followed the quake!

We left beautiful Savai'i thirteen days ago Have had a wonderful crossing and now, Don't ya know?

We're back to pay tribute to both you and your court we'll splash some champagne both starboard and port.

With so many great memories, we are now homeward bound Back to our loved ones and put on feet on the ground.

But King Neptune, Don't worry! We've more dreams to fulfill. We'll be seeing you again. Our best wishes, until!

Comments [3] | | More

Sally
10/18/2009, In the Middle!

Hi there! We are now about half way between Samoa and Fanning Island. It's day 8 and everything has been great! :) We can certainly tell we are getting closer to the equator with the heat and all the rain squalls, but it has been fairly smooth so we can't complain. The rain feels so good and refreshing - we often sit out in it to cool down! The only negative we've encountered is having to reef sails as the squall gets close, then letting them right back out again as soon as it passes. It seemed like there was one every hour or so yesterday and last night. Glen's a sweetie and does most of the work - I just tail lines, hold the flashlight, and hang on!

We have continued to sail as much as we can, although we have had to turn the motor on occasionally when the wind has died completely. We haven't made our goal of 100 miles per day, so it will probably take us another 7-8 days to reach Fanning. It may even be longer if we hit the doldrums closer to the equator - we had many an hour of "bobbing" when we were heading south (hard to believe that was 19 months ago!). We're still thinking about our equatorial crossing ceremony heading north - not sure we could top our southbound fun. We do still have a bottle of almond champagne on board for the event, though - King Neptune does require a toll!

Surprisingly, our days seem to slip by quickly. After whatever projects need tending to (and thankfully there have been few this trip, KNOCK heavily on wood!), we take turns napping - feels like we are always a tad sleep deprived. To keep a good load on our wonderful newly rebuilt generator, we run the air in the back cabin while charging the batteries and running the freezer. That's the best napping time! We also read a ton (just finished a fun book by Dick Francis - a new author for us), keep an eye out in hopes of a whale or other visitor (I am still sooo hoping to see a blue whale before hitting home!), and play a lot of games. I am so sad to report I have lost my "Cribbage Queen" title, but am still the Rummy Tile champ! Our only real "obligation" of the day is our 03:30 UTC check-in on the HAM radio with the Pacific Seafarers Net. Since we're not buddy boating, it feels good to have someone keeping a watch for us each day. These volunteer men record position, course, speed, weather and sea conditions for lots of boats every day. We so appreciate them! They would know what to do if something happened and we quit checking in (we hope at least!). The check in finishes about 5:00PM for us, so that is when I decide if I can actually cook a real dinner, or have to use one of our precious few canned meals. We've only had one so far this trip - not too shabby!

We had a hitchhiker for about 36 hours over the past two day! A beautiful bird (no idea what kind, but we do have pictures!) kept trying to find a way to land on the boat. It took it about 45 minutes to finally find a place it felt comfortable landing (on top on one of the diesel jerry cans!!), but then settled in for a nice long snooze! Not sure of its gender, but we were calling it Isabel. She didn't seem to mind the rolling of the boat, the snapping of the sails, or us constantly checking to see if she was still there. She was a welcome visitor! Glen and I can chat and chat and chat, but let's face it... after 7 days of only each other's company, we were both happy to "chat up" the bird! She left a couple of times, but came back shortly and we were so sad when she gave up an attempt to land during one of the squalls last night. Always hard saying goodbye to yet another friend!

Glen has caught 3 fish, but unfortunately only landed one. A nice mahi mahi and some other type got away, but we did have fresh skipjack tuna for dinner last night. The tackle box came out today and some serious lure changes were taking place, so we're hoping for something even better soon! One of the hand lines got wrapped around the rudder, so getting it free will be one of our first tasks if we hit the doldrums. Glen tried to get it free by climbing down the back ladder, but no cigar! Luckily it isn't causing any trouble, so it can just hang for now.

We hope all is well with everyone back home. We can't even believe it is getting close to Halloween time - who's having a party this year?!!! Heartfelt condolences to Glen's nieces, Laurie and Leslie, on the loss of their father - we're sending you big hugs!

Comments [1] | | More

Sally
10/13/2009, About 225 miles off Samoa

I feel like I'm a couple more entries behind - really want to share our wonderful time on Savai'i, but figured I should jump ahead to where we are now, then I'll catch up later!!!

We left the beautiful island of Savai'i in Samoa on Sunday morning and are now on our third day crossing to a little island in the Kiribati called Fanning. The trip is 1,295 miles and we are now 225 miles into it. Day one was great! Good winds of 15K pushing us in the right direction. We have actually been able to head east of our rhumb-line, which is a positive (heading east is usually against the winds). The more easting we can do now will make it easier later, if the winds do turn against us - then we can head more directly north. The Dorothy Marie has been under sail only since leaving our anchorage on Savai'i and we hope to continue conserving the fuel we have. Diesel is not available on Fanning Island, but "may" be available on Christmas Island - where we will head after Fanning. We're trying to pretend we have to make it to Hawaii, another 1,200 miles past Christmas, without taking on more fuel, just in case that turns out to be the truth! It may make the trip a little longer time wise, but we wouldn't want to have to try to make it into Hawaii without some motoring capability. We've hit a few rain squalls (that mean the sails have to be furled in because of the stronger winds, then let right back out after they pass), but so far, it has been a pleasant trip. Finding our sea legs and getting into a sleep pattern of just a couple of hours at a time is always a challenge on a crossing, but we're almost there. This trip is a little more difficult for Glen because he sprained his ankle the day before we left trying to jump through the back hatch! He missed the bed and hit the floor - ouch!!! We've had it iced down and wrapped and it is already changing from deep black to reddish purple - gotta be a good sign, right?!!! I'm not even going to get into why he felt the need to go down the back hatch instead of the ladder, let's just use my all too used explanation... boys!!! :)

Our plans have changed slightly since we are no longer stopping at American Samoa. We had made that decision even before the tsunami struck, hearing from so many other cruisers how awful the anchorage is in PagoPago - the capital and main anchorage. Even in the best of conditions, it sounds like boats drag there constantly because the bottom of the harbor is lined with over a foot of plastic bags and disposable diapers. Hard to believe with all the conservation messages out there, a harbor would be allowed to get in such condition. Also, the anchorage has constant rain because of the "Rain Maker Mountain" nearby - not our favorite thing! Now, we usually take the negative we hear about an anchorage with a grain of salt - some of favorite places have been "nay-sayed" by others, but when you hear about the same condition over and over from several different groups of cruisers, you start believing it. PagoPago was also hit extremely hard by the tsunami, so it is now even less inviting. We were beginning to feel the need to get north of cyclone waters anyhow, so it was good timing to hit the open waters again. We should mention that the actual island of American Samoa is supposed to be lovely and very much like Samoa, so if you are flying in, it would probably be a good place to visit (once they get their water system straightened back out!).

As I was working on our 'Upolu entry this morning, I accidentally sent it without an important part! Without internet, I can't get back and fix our entries, so will just have to use this as a P.S.!

The best part of our adventures in any new country has been to meet and try to get to know the locals. We were very lucky in Samoa in meeting several wonderful new friends. There is a restaurant right across the street from the marina called "The Wildfire." One evening, we heard some wonderful music coming from that direction and decided to head over. A man named Afa was playing guitar and singing beautifully. It was amazing the variety of music and songs he could do. Another cruiser, Steve, got up and played flute with him and it was even better. Glen asked if it was okay for him to go get his sax, and the rest is history! Afa and Glen should really be hitting the road playing all the best places in the So. Pacific. Their chemistry was electric and they just kept getting better and better the more times they played together. The owner of the restaurant, Colin, was originally from Papau New Guinea, but has been in Samoa for some time. He became another wonderful new friend and was the best host ever - extremely generous with the beer and wine while Glen played! His smile showed it all - he was truly loving the music being played in his little corner of Samoa. We also became friends with a lady named Tammy, who helps run a family business in Apia. She was a lot of fun and a big help with local information. Her grandma has the best limes around! It was hard to say goodbye to all of them, but breaking up the Afa and Glen act was the hardest. Afa is the nicest man. In addition to being a wonderful musician, he is also a farmer (or plantation owner as they say here!). Our last evening together he brought us a huge stalk of bananas from his orchard. Yum! He called Glen twice while we were in Savai'i trying to talk him into coming back for a little more music. We told him he should come to San Diego and they can play there!

Comments [1] | | More