Kathy's Weekly Recap Log Jul23-29

Wed, July 23
Weather: Large fluffy clouds and rain squalls
Meal: Fried rice
School: No school
Movie: Myth Busters
Other: Sean and I pulled anchor at first light, 6am with light sprinkles. Two hours later we arrived at the pass and anchored in a small cove inside the atoll. The Astra boys wanted to take Tara and Casey drift snorkeling through the pass. It was just starting a slight outgoing tide when they jumped into the water. Sean and I prepared Adventure for our trip to Tahiti and went to Astra to look at the weather reports Jeremy had downloaded. The drift snorkelers came back and we rushed back to Adventure to put our dinghy on deck and pull anchor. The pass had swift, choppy water but we exited the atoll without any problems. We started our 170 mile journey to Tahiti motor sailing with all sheets to the wind, which joined with the swell to hit us on the bow. After we'd made water and charged our batteries, Sean turned the motor off and we slowed to 3 or 4 knots. After a while, we realized we wouldn't make it to Tahiti in the light of the next day and we'd have to do two nights at sea. We would not do a night entrance to Tahiti. Astra decided to go for it and enter at night. They are a longer boat and much faster than Adventure, so could make it by 9pm the next night. We were hit by several squalls, which brought high winds as they passed by. At night on my watch, a frigate circled Adventure several times real low and then swooped into our windmill. I think it was hit in the feet. It squawked loudly and flew away.

Thu, July 24
Weather: Overcast, squalls
Meal: Free for all
School: No school
Movie: None
Other: Casey keeps getting out the calculator to figure out how fast we'd need to go to get to Tahiti today. We keep telling her we can't go 10 knots and it's not safe for us to try to enter the reef at dark. Tara's been hunkered in her room and only comes out to eat. We're all miserable. The wind did not die down as the weather report predicted. We have 15-20 knots on our bow and close-period swell. Astra called at 6pm and said they were on target to enter the reef at 9pm. We were envious, but they had burned through a lot of fuel to power through the wind and swell. We finally turned our engine on when our sailing progress was slowed to 2 or 3 knots. During my watch, at 11pm, I smelled something burning. I put the engine in idol, checked the engine temperature (which was o.k.), and ran below to wake up Sean. He opened the engine room door and found that the bolt holding the alternator away from the engine had snapped. With the alternator jammed up against the engine, it started arcing. The metal bus that connects the alternator terminals melted in two and the alternator started to make an indent in the engine's water reservoir. Sean had replaced a worn fan belt with a smaller one and the pressure of the smaller belt must have been too great for the bolt that sheered off. In roll seas, Sean changed the belt and then alternator with spares we carried and we were back on our way in an hour.

Fri, July 25
Weather: Sunny with large, billowy clouds
Meal: McDonalds' hamburgers, fries, chicken nuggets, and McFlurry
School: No school
Movie: Young Indiana Jones
Other: We arrived at the mouth of Tahiti's reef at 9am. Sean and I were enjoying the beauty of the Tahiti and Morea islands that were on either side of us. They combine the volcanic mountain peaks of the Marquesas and the reef systems of the Tuamotus into one beautiful landscape. Casey came up to the cockpit, looked around, and then said, "Call me when there's something interesting to look at, like a Taco Bell sign." She went back below as I called Papeete Port Control to get clearance to enter the channel. This is required because the international airport runway begins and ends a few feet from the inner-reef channel that we'd be sail along. To prevent a collision with a sailboat mast, channel entrance is allowed only when large planes are not taking off or landing. I guess the large planes need more of the runway than the smaller ones. Port control gave us permission to proceed and we entered the lagoon. The opening was wide, so there wasn't any noticeable current or waves like we experienced in the Tuamotu atolls. The reef that surrounds Tahiti is above sea level in some spots and 8 feet or more below sea level at others. It's not as calm inside the reef as it was inside Rangiroa, but it's not uncomfortable. As we motored past the head of the airport runway, several planes screamed overhead and then dropped onto the tarmac. They were really close and we wondered why Port Control had let us proceed when planes were landing. As we passed the other end of the runway, a small plane took off. About 8 miles from the reef entrance, we saw a huge field of sailboats anchored outside a marina. We found a spot amongst them and planed our anchor. Estraita came by to meet us. They'd crossed to the Marquesas when we did and had participated in the daily net that Sean called into, but we hadn't met them face-to-face yet. They gave us the info on where everything was near the marina and how to catch Le Truck to get a ride to Papeete, the big city 10 miles away. While we were talking, Astra motored by - waiving to us and calling on the radio - as they headed to Marina Taina behind our boat. Jeremy was flying back home to London that night and he wanted to be sure the boat and his crew were safe in a marina while he was gone.

We ate lunch and launched the dinghy. Estraita came back to Adventure with a just once-used Pirates of the Caribbean Life game set that they gave to the girls. We went to the Marina Taina's dingy dock and stopped to talk with a few boats we knew that were moored there. The girls were anxious to move on because McDonnalds was the next building down from the marina. Even though it wasn't dinner time, Sean had a $10 Big Mac value meal, Casey had the $10 6-piece chicken nugget value meal and split an M&M McFlurry and fries with me, and Tara had a drink and some of Sean's fries. We were in heaven. The food all tasted exactly like it does in the USA, except it's a lot more expensive.

We then walked about a half mile to a small mall with a huge grocery/Walmart-type store. After being on the islands for so long, we couldn't believe how much food was available to us here. We ended up buying two large grocery bags full of food for $170. Ouch! The grocery bags are not free here. They cost $1.50 each, but they are big (the size of a paper grocery bag) and you're suppose to bring them back to the store with you the next time you shop.

Sat, July 26
Weather: Sunny with large, billowy clouds; squalls at night
Meal: McDonnalds hamburgers, fries, chicken nuggets, and McFlurry
School: No school
Movie: Young Indiana Jones
Other: We took full fresh water showers on-board this morning because we can get water at the dinghy dock. The girls and I stopped by Astra to pick up Sally to go shopping with us. Sean stayed on Adventure and was suppose to start fixing stuff. We dropped off two loads of clothes at the marina laundry, where they charge 1,000cfp ($13.50) per load to wash only.

We started our shopping trip by walking to McDonnalds and getting sodas and French fries. Then we walked down the street until we heard the passing Le Truck honk at us to see if we wanted a ride. We flagged it down and jumped aboard. We tried to pay him, but he said something in French and pointed down the street. A nice lady on board fully explained the system to us...in French. Oh well, we figured it would all work out somewhere down the line. Le Truck stopped at a depot-looking spot where other Le Trucks were and our driver pointed toward the Le Truck in the front of the line. We tried to pay him again, but he shook his head and pointed to the vehicle we were to get on. We tried to pay the driver of the other Le Truck, but he said something in French and waved for us to get into the truck. We got in and Le Truck motored down the road, stopping along the way to drop off and pick up passengers. I noticed that the people paid the driver when they got off the truck. We finally got to the Papeete water front and paid the driver 130cfp per person.

Le Truck dropped us off at the waterfront and directly in front of us was a huge, modern sailboat. It was the Maltese Falcon, until recently, the largest privately-owned sailing yacht in the world. She is 289 feet long, with her 15 square miles of sail stored inside three carbon fiber masts, which are free-standing and can rotate. She has a permanent crew of 18, and accommodates 12 guests. You can rent the Falcon out for just $550,000 per week, but that doesn't include your food and beverages. The owner won't say exactly how much she cost him to make, but said in an interview that it was between $150 to $300 million. Several cruise ships and the Golden Bear, Cal Maritime's 500-foot training ship that left its Vallejo berth in April for a 4-month training cruise to the South Pacific, also filled our landscape.

We walked around town and it quickly became apparent that we were on a pearl-hunting expedition. I thought that Sally had been to so many pearl farms and shops that she didn't want to see any more, but when the girls told her they were looking to buy some black pearls she was all over it. It seemed like every other store on the Papeete water front was a black pearl shop. Although their prices seemed to be a little lower than at the pearl farm we visited, they were still expensive for good-quality pearls. We wandered in and out of shops until we came to the Public Market. This is a big warehouse where locals have tables and stalls full of handicrafts, fruits and veggies, and other items for sale. Casey found a puka-shell necklace she wanted, but decided to try to find a better price (it was 1,000cfp). Sally bought a large wood salad bowl for 3,500cfp. We saw cruisers we knew from two other boats and stopped to talk.

As we left the Public Market, Sally asked me, "Do you feel a bit peckish?" I said, "Yes, if that means am I hungry." We all laughed and then started looking for a place to eat. Most shops close at noon for two hours and we were surprised that the restaurants closed too. We stopped at pearl shop and asked where we could get Chinese food. The guy gave us directions to Jimmy's down the street and said it was good. Jimmy's ended up being closed too. Really famished now, we wandered by the Marie (the town hall) and saw that a bunch of huts had been set up all around the Marie's large lawn. They were selling handicrafts and food. We sat on plastic chairs around a folding table. Only locals were sitting at the other tables, indicating to us that the food must be good and affordable. We ordered a hamburger and fries, poisson crux, and a ham and cheese panini. It tasted great and was only about $24 for all the food and beverages. We walked around and looked at the handicrafts that were for sale. Casey found a beautiful necklace with two mid-sized pearls on it. It cost 3,000cfp ($40). She really liked the necklace, but the pearls were not of the quality she was hoping for. They lady selling them, said Casey could choose any two pearls from the necklaces like the one she wanted and she'd restring them onto a necklace for her. Casey didn't like the other pearls either, so the lady pulled out her loose pearls and ended up giving Casey to larger, nicer pearls for the same price. Tara bought a beautiful bracelet that had a single pearl on it from the same lady for 1,500cfp ($20). We walked back to the main street where Le Truck had dropped us off and stood on the other side of the street to catch a ride back to the marina. After not seeing any public transportation vehicles on our side of the street, we went into the tourism center and asked how to catch Le Truck back. The tourism guy didn't seem to want us to take Le Truck (it's not a tourist's transportation, but a local one) and explained how to take a bus. We walked to the bus stop and saw Le Truck there, so we jumped on and found our way home. We stopped and picked up our wet laundry at the marina.

Sean had had the entire day to start working down our list of stuff to fix here in Tahiti, but after napping and surfing the internet (he said he had to order the last important items for his dad to bring to us when he visits on August 7th), he'd grown short on time. We hung our laundry all over Adventure's lifelines and on hangers in the cockpit, hoping it would dry before a squall hit. I think that I've mentioned before that I control the weather by doing laundry. I can make it rain by simply hanging laundry up to dry. Later that night, Casey went up on deck to check the laundry and yelled to me to help her take it down. A squall was about to hit and it was beginning to sprinkle. We got it all inside before the major rain hit. We hung what was till damp inside the cabin for the night.

Sun, July 27
Weather: Cloudy during the day
Meal: Ground beef tacos
School: School day
Movie: Myth Busters
Other: Today we helped the girls focus on school work. They only have a subject or two left (math and history), but they are subjects we need to help them with. In the afternoon the girls had had enough and we decided to try to go to Papeete to see if they had a movie with some sort of English (speaking or subtitles). We weren't sure if Le Truck was running on Sunday afternoon. We walked to the Carrefour grocery store mall where we catch Le Truck and saw that the stores were closed. Not much chance that the ones in town would be opened, so we headed back toward the marina and went to McDonnalds.

Mon, July 28
Weather: Warm, sunny day; cool night
Meal: Ground beef and bean nachos
School: School day
Movie: Young Indiana Jones
Other: Sean and I headed to Papeete, lugging two of our propane tanks with us. We needed to check into Tahiti, get propane, and find a sail maker. With customs and the port captain in one building, our check in was easy. They gave us our document that lets us get duty-free fuel. Now we can get diesel at 105cfp per liter, rather than 155cfp. The customs guy told us were to go to get propane, about a mile away. We saw a chandlery on the way and went in. Someone told us that if we put fins on our outboard motor we may be able to plane with all four of us in our dinghy. I found some fins that bolt onto the side near the propeller, but they were about $100 and Sean wasn't convinced enough that it would work to spend the money. The shop had some nice rope, so we'll probably replace one or two of our frayed halyards. We bought a large plastic-meshed bag for our snorkel gear, talked with a few cruisers we knew that were also in the shop and got a map of where the sail maker was located, and then continued to the Tahiti Gaz to get propane. Once the tanks were filled, they were a lot heavier. We didn't see any taxis and Sean didn't really want to hitch hike, so we started walking back to town. We saw Ashley and Sally from Astra in town and they asked us to meet them at the marina's outdoor bar later that evening. The girls have wanted to go to happy hour there because that's where all the cruisers get together to socialize. The girls are missing the socializing part of life and are eager to do it even if it is only with adults! It's really a bummer that we haven't met any other boats with teens on this part of our trip.

I wanted to go back to Adventure and off-load our tanks, but Sean wanted to find the sail maker. We walked up and down a few streets, asking directions, and finally found the sail maker in the ghetto. The streets smelled like raw sewage and the homes were small and rundown. The sail maker shop was closed for lunch. We found some shade and sat on the propane tanks as we attempted to call the girls on our VHF radio. They were too far away to copy us, but Jeff on Beatrix heard our hail and called us back. He wanted to meet us in town for a drink. We told him we'd call him after our sail maker meeting. Sean walked to a small store we'd passed to buy cokes and candy bars to hold us over. 45 minutes later, Christophe, the owner of the sail shop came back and we set up a time to call him the next day to arrange a pickup of our sails. We walked back into town with our heavy propane tanks, ordered a Hinano beer to share and called Jeff. He met us and wanted to take us to the brewery just down the street. We lugged our propane to the new place and Jeff ordered a pitcher of dark beer. I didn't think I'd like it because it was so dark, but it was really good. As we sat and talked, a little bright-red-headed girl came running up to us and yelled, "Hi!" I looked and saw that it was 6-year-old Sophia from Zangezi. They were the ones that gave us a computer monitor when ours died on a barely-inhabited island in the Marquesas and we had a beach BBQ with them. She said her cousin was visiting and staying on her boat. She ran back to her table and grabbed a little girl about the same age and told her, "Come and say hi to my friends!" Her little cousin wouldn't budge. "Come on, don't be shy," Sophia said. She spent quite some time making a scene in the open-air brewery trying to convince her cousin to come to our table. Finally, she came back alone and told us that her cousin was just too shy.

We got off Le Truck at the Carrefour market and put our propane tanks in a shopping cart. We called the girls and told them to be ready to go to happy hour. We bought some groceries, went back to the marina with a shopping cart full of stuff, and loaded it into the dinghy. We were running late and Astra was already at the bar, so I went to meet them while Sean went to pick up the girls and drop off our stuff. We had fun that evening, sitting and chatting with our friends.

Tue, July 29
Weather: Clear and sunny
Meal: Lemon chicken, pepperoni pizza
School: Partial school day
Movie: Myth Busters
Other: Sean and I pulled our mainsail off, removed the battens, and went to shore to figure out how to call the sail maker to arrange a pickup. I brought one load of laundry, the girl's sheets and all our pillow cases, to give to the laundry lady. We hadn't had the sheets washed since Panama - the longest time we've ever gone without a wash! After dropping the sheets off, we went to the harbormaster to ask how to buy a phone card that would work for the phone booth at the marina. He said that he'd just seen the sail maker at the marina, so I asked if he would call the sail maker's cell phone so we could catch him before he left the marina. He made the call for us. I waited for the sail maker to arrive while Sean hurried back to Adventure to get our sails that needed repair. It worked out perfectly. Since we'd told the girls we'd be a few hours and everything had happened quickly, Sean and I decided to go to McDonnalds to split a Big Mac. I hadn't had one yet and was craving one. We went back to Adventure (not mentioning the side trip to McDonnalds) and took showers. Then we all headed to Papeete in Le Truck to go to the mall.

Sean wasn't interested in shopping with us girls, so he set out to find Jeff, who was in the marina down town. The girls and I went to the Vaima shopping center, which boasts 65 shops, a movie theatre, and a dozen restaurants and snack-bars. We had in our minds the malls back home and were disappointed in what we found. The brand-name shops like Billabong and Roxy were the only ones that had something the girls would wear and a thin t-shirt cost about $75 (what would be $20 or $30 in the US). There were two dumpy-looking restaurants on the street level. We shopped for a while, not buying anything and then had an ice cream bar and beverage before looking in the last few shops. The movie theatre only had films in French. We walked along the ocean front to the place we'd told Sean to meet us. We were 45 minutes early, which turned out to be a good thing because we go to see all the food trucks set up in the town square. Every night at 5:30pm a dozen large vans roll in to set up outdoor restaurants. Each van opens up and they start bringing stuff out of it: tables, chairs, cooking stoves on rollers, menus, etc. - everything they need to set up an outdoor restaurant. They even put lighted signs that say the name of the restaurant on top of the vans. At 6pm, they are open for business. Sean arrived and we sat at the pizza van's tables. We ordered a large pepperoni pizza from them and Tara and I went to another van to order some lemon chicken and rice (which they delivered to our table at the pizza van). The food was great and the price was reasonable. Lots of locals and tourists came to eat there. We found out that Le Truck runs until 9pm, so we didn't have to be in a rush.