From the Captain...

It's been a grey blustery day, kind of trapped at anchor.

It started this morning with a weather front moving through that surprised several boats, myself included, in that it turned the "good anchorage" into a lee shore suddenly.  It was a matter of haul up anchor and move - right now.  The electric windlass is a high priority addition.  I was in a small bay flanked on the north by the isalnd (Huahini) and on the south by the fringing reef.  when the wind changed the lee shore was way to close.  I moved down the coast to a big bay, that is deep (100') but I set the hook in the lee of the east side just on the edge of the reef in 60' and I've sat here dancing in the wind all day.  At least if I drag, it's out to the center of the bay with a mile to play with.  Haven't moved and with luck the front is just about done moving through.

It sure is a task to handle the boat in blustery conditons, in confined space and haul up the anchor.  Also, with 120' of chain out, the system is at the limit of what I can handle, especially given the poor configuration of the chain locker and hand windlass.  I've certainly learned a lot.  The hand windlass wouldn't be bad if the chain would stow properly by gravity and if you didn't have to disconnect the rode from the chain to get it into the locker.  I have nasty visions of the chain running away and being lost because of that.   I've rigged a short piece of rope that is anchored in the chain locker so that when the rode is disconnected, the chain is secured to that, so at least that can't happen - or in an emergency one can dump the anchor and 80' chain and know it's attached to the boat.  Trouble is that you need at least 100' of chain, preferably more in most areas around here.  The most rode you can use is the depth of water or else there is the risk of the rope hanging up on coral and getting chafed through - and then where are you at???

So I sat, and read, and fidgeted - and made custard with coconut milk.  Comfort food - different but OK.

I was supposed to go diving today, but the boat move scuttled that.  Perhaps tomorrow and then off to the island of Raitrea.  The decision has been made that the boat is not moving north this year - I reviewed the weather data and decided it just isn't smart given I'm single handing and relativley inexperienced in the weather I might get clobbered with.  So, the next move will be clear in few days.

Not much else, thought you'd like to hear about the custard.

Take care - all is well.

Dad
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At 28/07/2011 6:49 AM (utc) our position was 16°48.68'S 150°59.50'W

The cat, the rat and the owl

Halt, search no further... I have discovered something that is more maddening than a mosquito buzzing in your ear... Are you ready for this? A mosquito, inside your full face helmet ear pocket... buzzing in your ear. Buzzing hysterically actually... Honestly, if I could have I would have given blood and suffered the itchy bite for a whole week to make it stop!!!! 99.9% of my starship crew were concentrating strictly on coordinating the delicate balance involved in biking up a steep hill, not spinning out and keeping my front tire down.

I couldn't get my glove inside my helmet to rid me the nuisance either, so I settled for looking like I'd developed a nervous psychotic twitch. Which after 30 seconds of up close and personal, I pretty much had.

So ignoring and forgetting the uphill bits, where I most certainly was buh-hiking again... the ride down was great, we chased the golden streaks of sunlight through the trees. The ligh crisp evening air, along with the gentle breeze filtering down from the wind rustling through the tops was a welcome relief from the sauna of civilization.

My favorite part on this ride, was finishing up with an ethereal glimpse of town, looking like some magically hidden Lord of the Rings village... braving the mosquitoes long enough to take a picture and thinking 'Wow, I actually live here!'

I've repressed the last monsterous hill you have to climb to get back to the damn truck.

Sent... While in transit ;)

From the Captain...

I finally got away from Moorea, I spent a lot more effort than I intended getting things sorted out and tied down etc. before getting going.  I got away a bit late, about 5:30 pm for the 80 nm sail to Huahini, and actually sailed most of the way, running the engine only for an hour or so.  It was a lovely night sail with a steady 8 to 10 k of wind and a low sea.

Got some sleep but the stars were really lovely, capped off by a really bright shooting star that crossed directly overhead with at least 90 deg of arc in the sky.  Really neat.  The moon rose late, about 4:30 am, and then with the dawn the island was in sight.  Most of the night I was only making 3.5 to 4 k so I wasn't as far along as I should have been, but I sailed the length of the south coast to the pass and I had the hook down in the lagoon by 4:00 pm more or less on my own - there was another boat a couple of hundred meters away for company.  I was tired, so I had supper and pretty much crashed.

The weather has been generally good.  It's hot (mid to low 30's during the day), though it tends to cool down at night to the mid 20's or so.  Generally there's a light breeze on the water at least.  The forecast is for the wind to pick up in a day or so, and I want to be somewhere else when it does since there's no protection here.

It was a bit of a blustery night so I didn't sleep as well as I might have.  Had a hard time getting away because the anchor chain was wrapped around a coral head - thank goodness it was chain and not rode.  I'm anchoring with "all chain" now that I have enough - with the rode only used as a shock absorber and never more than the depth to the water to ensure it can't hang up and be cut by the coral. I moved the boat over to the "town" and got in a bit of a wander checking out the grocery store which is reputed to one of the better places to re-stock in this local. Spent the night in close quaterts with about 20 boats in the more or less official anchorage - fortunately it was a very quiet night - it's deep here.

Today was inventory day - I went through the can lockers and counted what was there and then made a list of items to bring me up to at least 6 weeks of meal components in all categories.  I still have a lot of cans of tuna and brown beans, but I was getting shy of vegetables, canned meals and fruit.

This island is a lot cleaner than Moorea, to the extent that there are even very few fish hanging around the docks etc.  It's also a lot more mercenary - I needed some water for the boat tanks and they wanted $10 - for 50 l to fill the jugs and it's not worth it.  I'm in a minor bind at the moment because the main water tank failed, so I'm restricted to the smaller tanks plus the jugs. I'm good for a couple of weeks with care and I should be able to get water somewhere else by then - perhaps rain water if the god's cooperate.

Part of the day was spent greasing bearings because coming in the engine / drive train didn't sound right.  Hopefully the grease is the issue, seemed like it since the bearings took more than expected, so I suspect the interval I was given is too long.  I'll schedule greasing every 50 engine hours and we'll see.  Hopefully it's nothing more serious like another cracked engine mount or blown bearing -- I just wish the bugs in the drive train had been sorted out before hand - I would have expected that given the age of the boat but I was wrong and such is life.  The other major chore was sopping water out of bilges with a sponge - fresh water from the failed water tank.  After sailing more of the water trapped in various crannies ends up in the centerline bilge where it can be got at.  Hopefully this is near to the last of it since it's a lot of effort to get at.

Tomorrow I'm off to Raitrea, about 10 m away.  It looks interesting and I'll go tourist for a few days.  Hopefully I can connect with some people - the yachties here, and for the last month at Moorea seem an closed minded group.  It's probably me in that I don't mix much - which is your great asset.  I've been reading  up on the Cook Islands and I just may blow past them if I keep going west - anchorages don't sound very good and there doesn't seem much to attract me on the islands.  I could be wrong.  I confess I'm not nearly as keen to be on my own as I thought I'd be - I really miss having company.  See what happens - I have decisions to make in the next couple of days.

Take care.

Dad
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At 25/07/2011 3:42 AM (utc) our position was 16°43.98'S 151°02.78'W

Go play outside!

"Do the things that matter, cause there isn't time and space to do it all"
~Johnathon Coulton

When I started fishing this summer I was going to do a post per trip, I really was. But I've been so busy out fishin' that I haven't had time to write about it... besides it'll spare you some of the gory details, not that there have been any fish guts... yet ;)

In the face of an impending storm we went out, and were rewarded with front row seats to the lightning show while the storm inched around us! It made up for the biggest/only fish I caught being maybe 2.25"... Oh yeah and I'd like to introduce you to my crazy buddy Ed!

The evenings I've been out fishing after work have felt like two different days, its incredible how driving 5 minutes out of town and just getting out on the water is like stepping into a parallel universe where my laundry is already done...

Another night, we had just finished loading up the truck rain gear and all when on the way down it started to sprinkle a little... so we stopped by Timmy's, grabbed a coffee and visited parked at the edge of the lake until it let up a bit.  That's when I decided, one of the best things about fishing, is that you can be out fishing... without actually being out fishing.

Its funny the things we've gotten to talking about while fishing, they've run the full gamut from lighthearted to incredibly deep to why fishing is awesome.  How just the thrill of thinking that you *might* have a nibble, even if it's weeds can make you feel like you've been plugged in to 220.  Or the feeling of living on the edge when you go out with the electric motor and forget the paddle and it starts making strange chewing noises until you realize that it is literally eating it's way through clumps of lake coleslaw.

Lately you wouldn't know the days are longer... because we've been out fishin' until dark a couple times now...

Me: "Ooop hang on a sec, uhh I can't see my lure!"
Ed: "Hey do you know where we left the truck?"
Me: "Push your boop-boop button and flash the lights... that should make it easy to find!"
...
Ed: "I sure hope we got everything..."
Me: "I didn't see anything left behind"
Ed: "You could see?!!?"

I believe more and more that we really are supposed to "Go play outside" it's good for more than just our health.

Just a touch of respect goes a long way

 When we accept that we do not all walk the same path in life,
nor do we climb the same mountains...
and we can respect that the views are just as beautiful...
may we find that peace is not something that has to be made
but rather has been waiting patiently within us all along.

When you got on the plane, you took a little of me with you

"It's all good. I've never needed my friends close, for them to be close friends." ~Candy

Yo Ho all together...

Did my first geocache this weekend with Treasure and it was awesome!

We checked out an old day use area we never would've known to stop at... It's really kind of a neat way to discover local hideaways.

A modern day treasure hunt, and being part pirate I loved it! There was even a hint that if it were taken further could become quite the riddle...

"This one shouldn't stump you" ok so not really a riddle here, but you see the pirate gears a'turnin...

Well given the plus or minus, however many feet of error inherent in hand held devices, based on satellite positioning and cloud cover we had two options... and we found it!!!

It was soooo cool and a little bit sneaky, it was tucked under the cracked center piece of the stump which actually lifted out :) I totally want to do MORE!

Sent... While in transit ;)

Pardon me

But your tattoo is grammatically incorrect, and it doesn't look like it's on purpose...

Current project status - Complete

Ever since I started here, I have been fascinated by the spindles... they're used only to hold the vast amounts of cable we go through, and then discarded once their job is done.  As many of my friends can attest, they've been put to all kinds of creative uses... frequently during Halloween. Pirate rum barrels, the tree circle from the nightmare before Christmas... stacked and wrapped in burlap, you get the idea.

Anyways when I moved into my new place, many wonderful people donated odds and ends to get me started... I even got a dining room table! But I didn't have any chairs. Then I had an idea, a marvelous idea, which when tested, revealed that two spindles stacked were the perfect height! Fate? I think not. Coincidence? Sure we'll go with that...

In any case a project was born: How to make functional stools, that looked cool but still retained enough of their rough edges that you could tell they were being re-used.

Some mahogany stain, a staple gun, a few screws and half a meter of cloth and Huzzah! I would like to present my "new" dining room stools!!!!

Projects remaining - unable to calculate. They appear to be multiplying like tribbles somewhat along the lines of a Fibonacci sequence.

I'm calling it Art

From the Captain...

Mom and I took the ferry to Tahiti and I saw her to the airport and away. I wish it had been that simple.

First waiting for the bus here was a trial for me - I wasn't born with patience and the bus was late and I twitched. Then it was a torrential downpour in Papettee when the ferry came in and we had to walk to the tourist bureau to try and get me a room for the night. Managed that with some coaxing and then off to the city bus to get there.

The directions weren't good, but we found the place and it was a dive but convenient. Reality set in - I was short of cash - I had "thought" I was fine but after two ferry fares and trinkets your mom bought, the lady who ran the drive was not impressed when I was $20 short. I hiked down to the airport and found a cash machine, hiked back, and got the room with no door lock, and a horrid bed (foamy on a broken spring base) but it did have a shower with hot water! I had fortunately packed a towel and soap and mom had a shower, and so did I.

The next fiasco was the nice dinner we'd planned on. The restaurant at the airport was closed, but we found a chinese place and Mom was fed. Back at the airport we sat around and listened to Tahitian school kids make music. It seemed to be a send off for a group and an organized group of 50 or 60 showed up to sing them off. Really quite neat. Anyway, mom was tired but clean and fed so I think she should have been OK for the flight.

I got back to the boat this morning. Clearly boats dragged last night and I was glad I put out some extra chain. I think Marimba dragged about 20 m or so. Anyway, after not a good sleep last night I had a fairly low productive day - I did do quite a bit of(hand) laundry - but it won't dry until tomorrow.

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself after seem mom off. I think we re-connected in a lot of ways. Anyway, one way or another I should be away from Moorea tomorrow with clean sheets and hopefully a cleaned up boat. And I finally had (count them) no less than TWO hot showers finally.

Take care

Dad
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At 12/07/2011 10:04 PM (utc) our position was 17°30.21'S 149°49.34'W

This just in!

I haven't personally confirmed the validity of this information, but I have it on high authority, from a very reliable source that Mom made it home safe and sound and is currently "being taken care of by the cat."

Luckily for us it isn't the cat in the hat, so we don't need to worry about Thing one and Thing two.

On a serious note it will be good to talk to you Mom, more than a number of times I went to call you to tell you something only to realize you were more than a phone call away.

Welcome home, you've been missed :)

It's all about getting started

"Initiative is not given... it's taken"

Slight rearrangement of Seth Godin's quote, but I like this one better.

24 hour tech support

Now in more flavors of useless...

Techsupport: Sam, can you please specify the password for your your website OS control panel?
Sam: umm I have it set to autofill
Translation: You shouldn't need my password to answer my question...

Techsupport: So you do not know it, correct?
Sam: I can log in, but I don't know it
Translation: I'm still not telling you my password... now, don't get distracted and think that I need it reset because that's a problem you *can* fix

Techsupport: And what password do you use?
Sam: Is there somewhere in the control panel I can look, for the version of Apache we're running on?
Translation: You really seem to be stuck on this password thing, no matter how many different ways you sneak up on this question I'm still not giving it to you.

Sam: The password is saved in my browser I don't have to type it in, ever.
Techsupport: Ok, Sam, regarding your questions on applications please kindly contact your account manager.

Sam: ok thank you :)
Translation: FOR NOTHING.
Techsupport: Is there anything else you would like me to help you with today?

Anything *else*?!?! You didn't help me with my first problem! You are smart like dump truck.

Thanks for coming out.

From the Captain's Consort

Thanks so much for looking after this for me. Dad figured we should have tried to hack off the TN but we didn't as he's so panicky about being online and the cost of it and how slow it is in loading pages, etc. The travel agents didn't respond so I'm so glad to have a computer literate person (namely my favourite daughter!) to look after stuff like this for me. I've never managed to confirm too many flights and there's never been a problem but being in French Polynesia I figured it's best to confirm that I'm coming.

Today has been a really slow do nothing day. Woke up in the night to rain pouring in the skylight so closed it. Made dad sleep against the window this time and I slept well but he was crushed all night and too hot as I got cold and snuck up against him til he was flattened against the wall.

After breakfast he went and had a nap and I read "The Far Country" by Nevil Shute. I finished the book by lunch time and have now had my last pancake from Sunday's breakfast with peanut butter, banana and syrup, YUM!

It's been gusting and raining all morning and we filled both the buckets from the tarp. The sun's come out and dad wants stinky me to have a bath so I guess that's next on the agenda. I just wanted to check the email for word from the travel agents (Not!). So it's off for a bath and with the sun coming out we may motor out to the reef for one last swim with the little fishes before I take off.

Take care and don't worry about not responding to emails. I mainly sent them as reminders to myself about my trip as I haven't been able to keep up with my journal and I don't want to lose the details of the holiday. That and I wanted you guys to hear about things in case you decide you want to come here sometime yourselves.

Take care. I'll try to call you Friday evening after work if I'm awake at all. Love you lots.

Love and hugs,
Mom
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At 12/07/2011 10:04 PM (utc) our position was 17°30.21'S 149°49.34'W

From the Captain

Sounds like you had a good weekend of biking etc. - and tea biscuits to wrap it up. Keep up the exercise and fun - keep alive - and yes it is good be alive.

Had a good snorkel on the reef with Mom yesterday, and the evening was calm so we stayed out there - but I was a bit suspicious so I took the tarp down. Good thing - it blew hard starting at 10:33 pm! Anyway, sat on the hook and danced but the anchor didn't move. I still worried and checked frequently - using the MOB function on the chart plotter! It was still blowing in the morning so when Mom got functional we motored in and set the hook in the calm of the bay. Mom got some more sleep -and among other things I got a bath. Did a run into town using the dingy and the electric outboard - it worked well which was a treat.

It's been good that Mom came - we've done some reconnecting etc. I'll see her via the ferry to Papettee on Wednesday, I'll have to overnight there and get back to the boat Thursday, and hopefully Thursday afternoon I'll be on my way to the next island - about 60 miles (12 hours) away - leaving in the evening means I'll arrive in daylight when it's easy to see and navigate the pass.

I want to check that spot out, then move onto Bora Bora and then to the Cook Islands which requires a couple of days passage. After that "I'll see" - I suspect I'll end up in NZ early and work on the boat and enjoy life in a marina. The alternative is to substitute Fiji for NZ. Current plan is to head back to BC starting next spring in three legs - NZ to around here, here to Hawaii, and Hawaii to home. Each leg requires about 3 weeks of sailing and then time to visit between legs. I could be convinced to spend some time between leg 1 and 2 messing around in the islands if someone(s) wanted. Let me know.

I'm tentatively planning on being in BC for some skiing etc. and Christmas. Not sure what the dates will be, probably a couple of months. I should leave NZ in March, so a lot depends on how much boat work get's done before I leave.

Anyway, I feel like things are moving again. Mom has been here and it's been good but I've been sitting much too long. I'm feeling better about the world in general.

Take care - be happy and have fun.

Dad
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At 12/07/2011 10:04 PM (utc) our position was 17°30.21'S 149°49.34'W

Always start at the beginning

Some days you just need someone to listen long enough, for your subconscious to chew through the cotton straps and smack some sense into you.

Dear Mom

I'd say because I love you it's 1:30am and I'm still up confirming your flight details through bleary eyes and stuttering fingers... Relaying important tidbits of information to you a world away where 24 hour internet doesn't exist, and even patchy 28k modem service is stretching it... I do, love you that is... but I'm not gonna lie, I got distracted updating my blog, and checking my email.

I am so self-diagnosing, and dubbing this obsessive compulsive email checking disorder (OCECD) I can't *not* check it... and it's even harder not to answer it once it's sitting there in my in box...

I'm going to bed now.

Seriously.

Good night, tomorrow the morning light is going to do unspeakable things to me, and I don't think I have any dead days left... maybe I could get a doctors note for OCECD (the D *is* for disorder).

Look before you leap

"Just look where you want to go, and the rest will follow"... the rental shop girl said to a couple of girls who had never ridden downhill before.  She was giving them some advice about riding the berms around corners, and I spared it little thought, other than a half smile in anticipation.

To be honest I was a little nervous, and a lot excited... This would be my third time riding downhill, and I was doing it without my best sports friend. Although I swear: she will be the death of me yet, she's the best confidence booster I know.

Little did I know when I heard it that morning, that the phrase would drift and weave through my thoughts all day. Bouncing and echoing around until it ended up in some dark crevice up there, where it turned around three times, curled up and sank in. Such a deceivingly simple phrase, that can be applied in much broader strokes... to life.

Look where you want to go, and the rest will follow.

Where was I... The day of riding? Well with a little skill, my enduring disturbing lack of fear, some blind faith and a whole lot of luck... I survived ;) It was absolutely fantastic! I ripped up the trail, I totally nailed some features I never would have been able to do last year and it was SO TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!! I flew down the mountain, *whispers* and only over the handlebars twice... and once was on account of a mud pit that tried to eat my bike, I wrestled it back of course ;)

I even did a beam that was longer-than-I-realized-when-I-started *and* three guys were watching! I only let one tentative curse escape near the end when I didn't think I was going to make it... but I totally did *smug smile*... If I had been walking away, it would have been some strut let me tell you ;)

The weather was pretty much perfect, a sprinkling of rain to keep the dust down, and enough mud puddles to make it interesting and get me and The Fury sufficiently dirty. I got to go play outside, and I loved every second of it *smiles*

Today, I have hurty bits on top of hurty bits, but I know I earned every single one of them along with the bruises in the strangest place from my handlebars. I'm not really sure when they got close enough to my legs to bruise them... but they managed.

I also listened to that little inner voice when it said "Dude... we're done, and if you try to pull that *just* one more run down, I'm going to throw you off and beat you within an inch of your life." I couldn't hear it until it yelled at me, with the pain and stiffness cutting through the cusp of the wave awesomeness I was riding down, but after that I surrendered gracefully.

From the Captain's Consort

Wow! Only 2 more sleeps til I fly home from Moorea. I can't believe I've been here for a full month. Last night was another rough night. We were out in the lagoon after a beautiful swim just before sunset and the moon was still bright in spite of being past the full moon. I made a lovely supper of chicken salad in papaya and Dad decided it would be okay to stay out the night and it was calm and quiet until 10:33.

We'd gone to bed early due to the swim when the wind came up and really howled through the rigging. Dad had taken the tarp down so at first it didn't seem too bad but as the night progressed it got worse and worse. Then a torrential rainstorm drove water through the window beside my bed leaving a puddle on the windowsill. Talk about driving rain! I find all the cracks in the windows on the boat to be quite scary although they don't seem to bother your dad at all.

With dad and his CPAP snuggled up I managed to get some sleep but we woke up by 6:30 due to the wind. After breakfast I tried to convince your dad to row to shore to book a room for Wednesday night in Papeete or else go for a swim but he was too tired and stressed by the continued howling of the wind so at 9:30 we upped anchor and motored back into Cook's Bay. Glassy calm and hot in the bay.

Dad got the tarps back up to provide some shade and after a bite of lunch I had a nap (noon til 2:30). As I said, I was pretty wiped by the boat tossing around all night. Woke to find dad dressed and raring to go for a walk (he'd had a bath again and felt good). Got him to dig out the little electric outboard for the dinghy and took off around the bay to the point near the lagoon. Very nice and quick way to travel but hard to sit as I had to be leaning forward to get the proper weight distribution.

Headed back to the dinghy and reached it at 5:20. Dad got pretty twitchy as sunset is at 5:30 but there is about an hour of dusk. Motored back by 5:40 and got Gerry on the radio while dad unpacked the dinghy. I gather summer is not really on the coast yet in spite of it being mid-July. Anyways, I'd better go and make supper (although I made supper and did the dishes last night). Looking forward to home. Take care of yourselves.

Love and hugs,
Mom
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At 12/07/2011 10:04 PM (utc) our position was 17°30.21'S 149°49.34'W