Slowing down to cruiser pace
13 April 2007 | Atuona
Author: Steve and Susan
One of the side effects of not having crew is there is no longer a discussion about who washes the dishes; it's Captain's work, the Admiral cooks.
I am reminded of that old Hawaiian joke about the three stranded fishermen who find the genie bottle; the first two use their wishes to go home to family and friends, the third, feeling lonely, says "Gee, I wish my friends was back." Yes, we miss our crew.
You never hear anyone talk about how much work it is to cruise a sailboat; take my word for it, there is always something that needs attention. Today we cleaned three water maker filters, the strainer, investigated why the screws are dissolving and falling out of the lower rudder bearing(!), checked the condition of the zinc anode in the refrigeration heat transfer, gave the engine some TLC, and rearranged and inventoried the stores (did we really bring that much wine and beer?) into the quarter berth to make stuff more accessible. It is now 2pm and time for a nap.
We'll stay here until Monday so we can meet the local yacht services agent from Tahiti who is flying here on Sunday. He helped coordinate our master link shipment and will do so again with the next package of essential pieces. Monday takes us off to Fatu Hiva, site of Thor Heyerdahl's first book about going back to nature. It is a day's sail from here and we'll spend about a week there before moving on to the next island.
We saw our first news in a month when we had the bon voyage dinner for the crew, a one page summary provided by the hotel. Its kind of nice not to have to listen to it all, but occasionally you wonder how the world manages without you. We also got our first, and limited, chance to see the blog and all of your comments (we had only dialup access). We cannot see your comments when we are at sea; only when we have internet access in a larger port, or find an internet café. Feel free to send e-mail to the boat at: wcx9476 at sailmail dott com. Please don't send attachments, jokes or photos; they won't come through the system.
We met a very nice French couple who are 2 years into their circumnavigation on a 43' aluminum boat. They told us that 800 people depart France each year to go cruising all over the world. Based on what we have seen so far, that number may be low.