Kathy's Weekly Recap Log Sep10-Sep16
17 September 2008 | Bora Bora
Kathy
Wed, Sept 10
We dinghied to the village to do our final checkout of French Polynesia. It started to rain about half way to the village, so the girls and I huddled under a picnic blanket to stay somewhat dry. We walked into the gendarmerie and Ogopogo was already there checking out. Jeffrey left to go buy stamps because Peg said we'd need to mail one of the papers to Tahiti. We ended up not needing to mail anything in because we'd checked out in Tahiti.
The girls and I went to the electronic shop to return the Blue Tooth headphones that didn't work while Sean went to the other electronic shop to return a USB port that was powered with the French plug prongs. My return wasn't going very well. The lady that sold us the headphones said that we could bring them back if they didn't work with our computer, but she wasn't in the shop for my return. The woman that was there called her, but couldn't reach her. She said that she couldn't do the refund without talking to the lady that had sold them to me. I asked to speak to the manager and she said that he would also try to call the other lady. She told me to come back later in the afternoon, but I told her how difficult it was for me to get there and about the wet dinghy ride. She wasn't very sympathetic. I sat on a chair in the store and told her that I would not leave until I got my money back. The pleaded with me to come back later, but I wouldn't budge. She finally gave me my money back (9,900cfp) and told me that the woman who sold it to me was going to be in trouble for saying we could bring it back...
I needed to go for a final grocery store run, but the girls wanted to go home. I dropped them off at a restaurant so they could split a hamburger and get drinks while I went to the grocery store. It will be a couple of weeks before we can buy food, so I bought a few items and then Sean showed up.
He hadn't gotten a refund for his USB hub. The store owner had shown him how he can use it without power. The power is necessary for USB 2.0 only. It was pouring rain when ran to get the girls. We sat under cover at the village marina to wait for the rain to stop. We thought of our friends who are underway in the bad weather and were thankful to be on a mooring ball near a yacht club and village. As we left the marina, we saw Jeff sitting on the breakwater with two locals. He jumped up and motioned for us to come close so he could throw us the stamp, but we told him that we didn't need it.
On the way back to Adventure, we stopped by the fuel dock and filled our one empty jerry can. We were down to our last bit of local currency, but had enough to pay for the gas.
Back at Adventure, I made chicken pot pie so we'd have something to eat for the next few days on our crossing. Tara and Casey had a list of some songs they wanted to buy on Walmart.com and then download onto our computer. We had 5 hours left of internet time, so we decided to use it up by downloading songs.
Paul and Ann on Free Spirit came in from Tahaa and grabbed a mooring ball and Wendy and Giorgio from Argonauta came over from their mooring at Bloody Mary's and anchored in mooring field. They want to leave tomorrow with Kairos.
Sean went to Ogopogo to fix their SSB radio, but wasn't successful. He'll try again tomorrow before we leave. We all met for a final BBQ. We're sort of ready to leave, but will look again at the weather tomorrow...
Thur, Sept 11
We looked at the weather charts and it looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better. We decided not to leave today. It will probably be Saturday or Sunday before we can leave. We listened to the net and heard reports from several boats that are under way. They were having a rough time. Wolfgang from Sleipnir came over to look at the weather reports we downloaded. Janet and Clint from Kairos came over to look at a guide book we had and to borrow our Honda generator. Their's broke so they've been having to charge their batteries with their ship engine and they only have a 70 amp alternator, so it takes a long time to charge. Argonauta and Kairos are both headed to Samoa, so they'll be traveling north-west where the weather is better.
Sean went to Ogopogo to help fix their radio again. They've been unsuccessful at getting it to work. I went to Sleipnir to get photos of Galapagos and French Polynesia to help replace the ones that were stolen from us. Luckily, Eva takes lots of photos, so I had many to choose from. I ended up with about 200 photos of the places we'd visited. A few even had our boat in them and one had the girls and Stan in it.
On the 5pm net, we heard reports from several vessels underway. Intrepid reported 50 knot sustained winds for two hours and 20 foot seas and Skylex reported 60 knot winds for one hour and 20 foot seas. They both left yesterday and are on the same track that we will be on when we leave here. We talked to Kairos and Argonauta, who left together this afternoon, and they had 20-25 knot winds and 10 foot seas. They set their sails for the most comfortable tack and will adjust their course later, when the conditions improve.
The girls went over to Ogopogo to look at their movies. Peg let them take 15 or 20 to keep until we get to New Zealand.
We ate the chicken pot pie that I'd made for our passage and then went to the Yacht Club to have drinks and play p�tanque. Casey stayed on board and watched movies.
Fri, Sept 12
More getting ready to leave. We think tomorrow will be the day. We debated about leaving this evening, but I really wanted to go snorkeling one more time. I hadn't seen the lemon sharks yet and others that have been out on the reef said that they'd seen some there. We called Free Spirit to see if they wanted to come with us, but they said they'd just come back from snorkeling with Sleipnir. Paul said that they'd seen a sea cow and we should bring something to feed the fish so more will come up to us. He said that Eva had some leftover spinach casserole that they'd taken to feed the fish. Sean had decided not to come snorkeling with us, but when he heard about the sea cow, he went to get his swim trunks on. When we got off the radio with Paul, we debated about what it was he'd called a sea cow. We hadn't heard that there were any manatees or dugongs here in French Polynesia, so we were confused. Jan had followed our conversation and broke in to see if he could come with us. As we all piled in the dinghy, Paul and Ann came by in their dinghy and laughed at us. The sea cow sighting was just a joke, but I made Sean come with us anyways. Paul said they would treat us at the final final final BBQ, so I just needed to bring our plates, forks, and knives.
As we tied off on the mooring ball outside the pass, I began throwing bread into the water. Lots of reef fish came to the surface and we jumped in. Immediately, we saw lots of sharks. A big lemon shark was circling 40 feet below us with a remora stuck onto its side. It was exciting, yet scary. It didn't seem interested in us, but seemed to be drawn to the activity of the reef fish eating the bread. As we swam toward the shore line, we saw about eight good-sized black tipped reef sharks swimming around us, but near the seafloor. One swam up toward the surface and its body movements showed aggressiveness. Sean said he wanted us to go back toward the dinghy and to quit feeding the bread to the fish. It was getting the sharks keyed up. He was the first one back in the dinghy and I stayed in the water near the dinghy to look for sharks as the kids swam slowly back. We all made it back safely, but Sean reminded us that they are wild animals that are known to be dangerous.
We went back to the Yacht Club to shower and play p�tanque before dinner. Paul and Ann came back from the village with steaks and shrimp to grill. We had the final final final BBQ with lots of our friend and said our final goodbyes. Some of the boats will leave with us tomorrow and others are waiting for another day or two to let the waves calm down a bit. I cut some bunches of bananas off the large bunch hanging from our stern and had the girls deliver them to a few boats. There are too many of them for us to eat before they go bad.
Showing our commitment to leave in the morning, we mounted our dinghy engine up on our stern and our dinghy up on Adventure's bow. We'd leave at daylight.
Sat, Sept 13
We left Bora Bora at 7am. The seas were 10 feet at 7 seconds, big and lumpy. For three weeks we'd been moored inside the protected waters of an island on one side and a coral reef on all the other sides. The seas we sailed into were not ones you'd want to get your sea legs on. We were very uncomfortable and everyone was seasick. Tara and I had taken medicine when we first woke up, but it wasn't enough to help us now. I gave Casey some medicine too, but it didn't help her either. No one threw up, but we all felt like it. I've been having sinus problems and they were now inflamed and I had a terrible headache. I lay in the cockpit and slept throughout the day, awaking to do my watch and then falling asleep quickly thereafter. Tara and Casey went below to sleep throughout the day and night. Sean didn't feel well, but did what was needed to keep us sailing forward.
Sean listened to the net and found out that Stream Spirit's autopilot had broken during the rough passage they'd had. They'd decided to reroute to Aitutaki so they could wait for Camille, a catamaran that has a spare autopilot. We're getting a bit nervous because that's now two autopilots that have broken during the passage we are now on. Making a passage without an autopilot would be extremely difficult for us and we don't have a backup.
We had rough seas throughout the night.
Sun, Sept 14
The seas were a bit calmer today, but we had a few squalls. The wind has not been at a good angle for the course we want to sail, so we're keeping on a broad reach and tacking once we are near ten miles off our track. Zigzagging toward our destination is adding a lot of time to our trip and Casey keeps asking which day and when we will arrive in Aitutaki. We tell her we're not sure, but probably in three days. She keeps recalculating the total number of miles on our track divided by our present speed and comes up with a different day of arrival. We explain about the variances in the total miles caused by the tacking and the non-constant speed, but she won't accept a longer time at sea than she's calculated. She's driving us mad!
We all felt a little better today, but I still slept when I wasn't on watch. My sinuses are inflamed and it's making my head ache.
My bananas have turned bright yellow and are swing from our stern, mocking me. I want to make banana bread and muffins to use them up before they go bad, but the seas have been too rough. I think the bananas are controlling the seas...
Mon, Sept 15
The seas are a little calmer today at 6-9 feet and the wind is 10-15 knots E/NE, putting our course line on a dead run. Since we can't sail on a dead run, we're on a broad reach with a double-reefed main and a full jib (which we reef sometimes when the wind changes and luffs the sail). We've been poling out the jib at various times to help keep it from flopping.
I felt good enough to make pancakes for breakfast, which seemed to cheer our moods a bit. For lunch, Casey made bean burritos, sacrificing one of her few precious cans of refried beans that could only be found in one grocery store in all of French Polynesia.
All day long, Tara kept asking how fast we are going and whether we were on course.
Sean said he wanted hamburgers for dinner, but we have no bread. He said I should make some bread so we can have hamburgers. I think he's delirious.
All I can think about is making banana bread. The bananas are constantly in my view as I sit in the cockpit, looking backward.
I spoke to Astra today and Sally verified that they will take our fresh fruit away when we check in. Baking is out of the question with Adventure rolling uncomfortably. I think one of the bananas smirked at me today.
Astra changed plans and went to Palmerston because someone in Rarotonga asked them and Ino to deliver furniture and food to people in Palmerston. They need a school teacher for a few months in Palmerston, so George is going to stay there and do the job. He asked us to bring him meat because the people there don't have access to meat so they just eat fish. We have a bunch of school supplies we'll also give to him when we get there in about 5 days. It's the next island we'll be hitting after Aitutaki.
Tue, Sept 16
Same sea conditions as yesterday, with a big squall hitting us last night in the dark morning hours. Sean came below from his watch and woke me up to help him tack. I asked if I could go to the head first and he said yes. When I came into the cockpit a few minutes later, he had a wild look in his eyes. "Let's tack now! There's a squall about to hit us." But it was too late. Just then the wind gusted to 25 knots. He'd already pulled in the jib and our main was double-reefed, so we decided to just ride it out. I went below to close hatches, knowing the rain would come any minute. We got a good deck washing for about 15 minutes. When it stopped, I went up to look at the storm on the radar. It was 8 miles wide and just the corner of it hit us.
I started and finished a Mrs. Pollifax book (a series that Casey and I enjoy reading) today, spending most of the day with my nose in the book. It was a great way to pass the time, since it is nearly impossible to sit upright with the boat rolling so much. In the evening, we heard a snap sound and then a long swoosh. Sean said, "What was that?" I knew it was the sound of a main sail sliding down the mast. We looked up and our sail wasn't where it was suppose to be. Our main halyard had snapped and sent the sail crashing down into our lazy jacks, which hold the sail near the boom. After we secured the boom and the sail, we looked at the halyard, which had chafed through where it exits the bottom of the mast. We'll have to rerun a line when we get anchored and Sean is already starting to panic about having to go up the mast.
The bananas must have been sending subliminal messages to Sean when he's sitting below them on watch. He actually suggested that we throw them over board since we'll have to give them up anyway when we get to Aitutaki tonight. I told him that after we anchored, we weren't going to check into the Cook Islands until I made banana bread. The authorities could take any that were left after that. He looked at me like I was crazy, but I know who the crazy one is that's been listening to the bananas...