Archive for September, 2009

Mailbag

Here are some answers to questions from Amber in Kansas City…

Q:  Where did the term "landlubber" originate?  I’ve always heard "land lover" and I understood that.  But then when I read "lubber" it sent my head a-spinnin’.

A:  I’ve wondered the same thing, but I had to Google this one.  I found this answer on a UK website called The Phrase Finder.  It seems to agree with the dictionary.com entry information on the word origin, and it sounds like the term has been around for a while.  Even before "modern technology" sailing was a world unto itself.


The word *landlubber*, first recorded in the late 1690s, is formed from *land* and the earlier *lubber*. This *lubber* dates from the fourteenth century and originally meant ‘a clumsy, stupid fellow; lout; oaf’. By the sixteenth century it had developed the specialized sense ‘an unseamanlike person; inexperienced seaman’, which is the same sense as *landlubber* and was eventually combined with *land* to emphasize the unfamiliarity-with-the-sea aspect.

*Lubber* itself is probably related to or derived from *lob*, a word also meaning ‘a clumsy, stupid fellow; lout’, which is chiefly an English dialect form but occasionally appears in America (for example: "He is generally figured as nothing but a lob as far as ever doing anything useful…is concerned" — Damon Runyon). Though *lob* is not found until around 1500, somewhat later than *lubber*, *lob* is clearly related to words in other Germanic languages meaning ‘a clumsy person’.
From The Mavens’ Word of the Day (October 9, 1997)

Q:  Why did you have to post a bond in Bora Bora?  I’m not trying to pry in too personal, I was just curious what the purpose of the bond was, and if you had any other bonds at other destinations?

A:  Let’s just say that Lauren and Tiff have a reputation that precedes them (just kidding).  Actually, whether or not you have to pay a bond when entering French Polynesia depends on your country of citizenship (sort of like visa requirements).  All US citizens have to pay about $1350.  The bond is the guarantee that you have sufficient money for a one-way plane ticket back to where you came from.  My understanding is that at one point there were too many people showing up in the islands and not respecting the immigration policies, generally acting like freeloaders, etc. so the bond was instituted to ensure that anyone entering for a visit could return home at their own expense.  An acceptable alternative is to have a pre-paid return ticket (like most tourists would have).

Q:  Are you a day ahead of us back here at home?  Have you passed the International Date Line?

A:  Taking daylight savings time into account, we’re 5 hours earlier than Kansas City right now.  For sailors, the time in Greenwich, England (Greenwich Mean Time / GMT / UTC / Universal Coordinated Time), which is at zero degrees longitude, is important because it’s used for radio schedules, celestial navigation publications, etc.  By using this standard time zone, people all over the world can reference events by converting this standard time to their own time zone, depending on their location.  It’s much easier than having US publications in a US time zone, European publications in a European time zone, etc.  The time difference between where you are and Greenwich is based on the speed of the earth’s rotation (how fast the sun moves over the surface of the earth), and is one hour for each 15 degrees of longitude (24 hours for all 360 degrees).  That way everybody has the sun as high in the sky as it gets at sometime around 12 pm.  The international dateline is exactly on the other side of the world from Greenwich, England at 180 degrees longitude and is diverted a little bit so that countries split by the 180 degree longitude line (Fiji, Tuvalu, and others not so nearby) can be completely on one side of it.  The dateline also meanders quite far to the east in the north Pacific for reasons I’m not familiar with.  We’ll cross the date line when we’re sailing between Niue and Tonga later this month or early next month.

Q:  Big Question!!!!  Are you guys planning on diving the Great Barrier Reef?  I haven’t seen anything about Australia in the site’s plans, but for avid divers isn’t it a dream?  And you’ll pretty much be right there, right?  Just curious.

A:  Yes.  We’re hoping to do that.  Where exactly we cross the reef depends on our route after New Zealand, which is far from finalized.  Recently Australia has been making things a bit more difficult for visiting boats and New Guinea would be an interesting place to see, so our route may go something like New Zealand – Fiji – Vanuatu – New Guinea – Australia – Indonesia – etc. but that’s just one possibility.  Many of the popular tourist destinations in Australia (e.g. Sydney) are farther south than is convenient for us to sail given our current plans.  Although we have a high-level route based on the seasons, where exactly we’re going to stop isn’t always easy to predict because of what we learn along the way from other sailors, locals, and our own research.

Being tourists

We’ve decided to see some other parts of the island, so yesterday Lauren and I went ashore to get the bicycles and check out with the Yacht Club.  Before heading back to the boat, we took a bike ride to see one of the WWII-era shore gun installations that was left by the US.  We biked a few miles to a point of land on the northwest part of the island and then climbed up a short but very steep road to where one of the guns was mounted.  There are a pair of 7-inch gun installations, although one of the guns is missing.  Beside the gun that’s still there was an ammunition hut, and a bit higher on the hill was a small pillbox, apparently for spotters.  The support for the gun still has a very legible stamp from Bethlehem Steel, dated 1906.

DSC_0770 7-inch gun

DSC_0776 Yeah, OK. But there are engineers that read this too.

DSC_0780 View from the gun

The ride to and from the gun is like a long ride at the edge of town, not completely rural, but different than the local version of the urban scene.  There were a few interesting sites.  One was a thatched roof under construction.  It’s build by nailing woven coconut panels onto a wooden frame.  Many of the houses we passed had a another unique feature as well – graves in the front yard.  Some were like little shrines, but most were fairly simple affairs constructed of outdoor tiles, sometimes no more than 10 feet from the front door.  I guess ancestors are still revered here, even if it’s no longer the basis of a religion.

DSC_0789 Coconut palm shingles

DSC_0797 Fellow bicycle travelers

After returning to the boat, we headed south to anchor off of Point Te Raiiti, which is near the well-know American restaurant Bloody Mary’s.  Lauren and I were planning to either try to see a fire-dancing show at the nearby Hotel Bora Bora or have dinner at Bloody Mary’s, so at sunset we took the dinghy over to the hotel to see if there was a show.  Not only was there no show, but Hotel Bora Bora, the oldest hotel on the island, is not open and in a state of disrepair/construction (apparently they’re looking for buyers).

That left us with Bloody Mary’s, so we dinghied over and tied up to their dock.  In typical American style, they have two big celebrity boards outside the restaurant where the names of visiting celebrities are painted.  It doesn’t look like it’s been updated in a while, but they’ve definitely seen their share of big name entertainment, sports, art, and political stars through the years.  Inside, the floor is covered with sand, and they have a shoe/sandal check.  We didn’t need to be asked.  You’ve got to love a fine-dining restaurant where you can show up in flip-flops and then self-check them behind the desk.  We showed up not too long after the restaurant opened and just had beers at the bar while the hotel busses came in one at a time, dropping off their guests for dinner.  Although there were Brazilian and Japanese tourists, the majority of the patrons seemed to be well-off American newlyweds on their honeymoon. 

To put this in context, imagine large diamond rings, lots of makeup, "I’m on my honeymoon" dresses, cameras, and the latest US and international fashion.  Then there’s me and Lauren.  Lauren went nearly all-out.  She had put on a nice T-shirt with a collar that makes it look not so much like a T-shirt and jean capris instead of shorts.  She also spent a fair amount of time brushing her hair (which looked great) while I was getting the dinghy ready.  There’s no better than about a one in four chance of catching me in a pair of shorts that meet the stateside definition of "clean", and yesterday wasn’t one of those days.  I added a black "going ashore" T-shirt that didn’t clash too badly and we were off.  All of the American guys had nice short haircuts and were clean-shaven.  Lauren gave me a haircut a couple of days ago, but I hadn’t bothered to even see what my hair looked like before heading out.  As for shaving, I’m not sure when I did that last, but it feels like it was maybe two weeks.  At any rate, we felt comfortable and at home, although a bit more like locals or ex-pats than tourists.  We struck up conversations with several American couples that were waiting for tables, including two very nice honeymooning lawyers from New York, Matt & Farrin.  Joe, who’s been here since 1978, and his brother run the place, and we also had a chance to visit with Joe for a while.  Several of the moorings he’s put out for the boats of restaurant patrons have been damaged, and we may use the dinghy, GPS, and dive tanks to help him find a few of them today or tomorrow.  We also joked with Joe about the missing flies.  There is a fair amount of fresh fish laid out in the restaurant (see below), and unlike the dockside areas where fresh fish are sold, there was a conspicuous absence of flies.  Joe related that it takes a fair amount of work to keep the place fly-free, and when it gets more humid here during the upcoming summer it will be a bit more difficult.  His efforts are especially impressive when the lack of traditional walls, windows, air-conditioning, etc. in the restaurant are taken into account.

DSC_0824 The honeymooners

The dinner menu at Bloody Mary’s is an ice table where the various catches of the day are filleted and available for selection.  Joe’s brother talks through the various selections of fish varieties, lobster, shrimp, steak, and chicken and then goes over prices.  You make a decision on which piece you’d like  then head to your table.  Lauren got the chef’s special Mahi Mahi, and I got the vegetarian plate.  Both were excellent.  Lauren’s was so good that even though the fluffy white pet cat ended up hanging out by our table for a while, Lauren refused to share. (The cat was obviously well-cared for, so despite Lauren’s soft spot for cats, it wasn’t going to get it any $35/plate chef’s special Mahi Mahi).

DSC_0825 Joe (left) and his brother explain the menu

We met up with Matt & Farrin at the bar after dinner, and they passed up the last bus to take the brave adventure of joining us for drinks on the boat and a dinghy ride back to their hotel.  It was fun to visit with some Americans our age, and hopefully they enjoyed the chance to check out something a little less touristy.  The dinghy ride back to their bungalow was a bit of an adventure as it was a cloudy night, and the route passes through the one part of the lagoon that’s too shallow to navigate by sailboat.  Lauren and Matt sat in the front and used a bright light to see and direct me around the coral heads until we were eventually able to beach the dinghy at the hotel.  By chance, on the way back we found the small unlit or unmarked channels we should have been using, and things were a bit easier.

DSC_0832 Matt & Farrin on their post-dinner private yacht excursion

Today Lauren and Tiff are off to dive a shallow site only a few hundred feet away that boats seem to be visiting several times a day.

Today was a day of doing errands in the island way.  First, we went to check in at the Yacht Club.  We’ve been tied up to a mooring since Saturday morning, but we finally made it over to check in today.  We were getting back in the dinghy to leave because the office wasn’t open yet when Paul, the bartender and only waiter from the night before, caught up with us at the dinghy dock.  He works every day, and in addition to being the bartender and waiter, he also handles check-in.

Then it was off to buy gasoline for the dinghy and compressor and try to get two of our propane tanks filled.  At more than $6.25/gallon, buying gas is always a painful experience, but this time we had even more fun, as the station doesn’t take credit cards and we didn’t have enough cash.  Lauren waited while I walked to the bank and withdrew enough money to cover our gas bill.  We left the Galapagos with 3 nearly full propane tanks, and we just started using our 3rd one the other day.  The station also supplies propane, but with a bit of a twist as well.  They’re out of propane until Wednesday, when they will sell us a canister of the local type, but they can’t fill our American-style propane canisters.  If we can find or build an adapter, we can do the transfer on our own, but finding an adapter is probably not going to be a trivial task.  I brought along an extra hose to build an adapter, so if we can find a local hose to purchase, we my be able to get things done, expensive as it may be.

After that good news, it was time to visit the gendarme to do our check-out.  They’re OK with you hanging around for a few days after checking out, so I wanted to get things taken care of first thing Monday morning.  The gendarme that helped us was clearly new to the job.  He didn’t seem extremely certain of the proper paperwork and double-checked all the passport numbers, birthdates, etc.  In Latin America, that’s expected, but the French authorities are typically much less interested in the details.  He was also responsible for answering the telephone, which for some completely unimaginable reason rang about every 45 seconds.  Six forms and a fair amount of time later, we were off to the bank to collect our bond.

Bank Socredo was so backed up (this is not uncommon) that there were numerous people waiting in the parking lot, as all of the seats in the bank were full.  They were serving number 63 and we drew number 102.  With only about an hour before the 11:30 lunchtime shutdown, I was afraid we may have to return after lunch, but we sat down on the floor and started waiting.  We’d brought a magazine to read to kill time (don’t you plan on that when you go to the bank?), I took a trip to the marine store, and then Lauren went grocery shopping.  With only about 2 minutes to go before closing, they called my number (numerous people had tired of waiting and left) and the bond processing got underway.  Dragon had experienced some problems with the bank not liking the paperwork from the gendarme, and I really didn’t want to start making trips back and forth between them and waiting in long lines.  When the teller explained that she needed a stamp from the gendarme on a particular document, I was ready.  "No problem," I said, "I’ve been to the gendarme and have the stamp right here" (on a completely unrelated document).  She seemed a little unsure but agreed that everything was fine, and we continued.  About 45 minutes later, I walked out with our $5000+ bond returned in the form of $2000 dollars worth of American Express travelers checks (could you please sign all 40 now) and $3000+ in Polynesian francs.  The bank was out of New Zealand and US dollars and weren’t sure when they’d be getting more.

Back on the boat we had lunch and Lauren took me up the stick to replace the worn shackle for the spinnaker halyard block, which went very smoothly.  Then it was time to head back into town to try out the medical establishment in French Polynesia.  Ever since free diving to untangle the anchor in Papeete, I haven’t been able to hear much out of my left ear and its been ringing the whole time.  Our first attempt to get directions to the public health clinic landed us at the pharmacy, where the woman on the other side of the counter explained that public health services weren’t for us since we were tourists, and we’d need to go to a private doctor.  I thought the public clinic was worth a shot, but there was a private doctor two doors down, so we took a number (written in marker on purple construction paper) and sat down in the outdoor waiting room.  In about 45 minutes our turn came, and Lauren and I went in.  The doctor was a very kind and good-natured man who spoke English pretty well, and I explained the problem.  After a couple of questions he had a look in my ear and said that although I’d come close to rupturing the eardrum, it was simply inflamed with fluid inside the eardrum.  After experiencing significant hearing loss for a couple of weeks, I was pretty relieved to learn that the problem was only temporary.  After completing the diagnosis, it was time to fill out paperwork.  He pushed a blank piece of paper across the desk and asked me to write down my name, date of birth, and the name of the boat.  That was it; paperwork complete.  He chatted with us while he typed my information and prescription into the computer.  It turns out he sailed here from France 23 years ago with his 6 and 8 year old sons.  He was planning to circumnavigate as well, but once he got to Bora Bora he never left.  We thanked him, gave him a 5000 CFP note (about $59) for the payment fee in cash and left for the pharmacy.  His prescription for three types of pills and eardrops came to about $90, but it will be worth it if I can hear again in a week as he claims.

Not long after we returned to the boat, we enjoyed another beautiful sunset, watching the sun dip over the motu at the north edge of the pass.

DSC_0759 Sunset yesterday from the Bora Bora Yacht Club dock

DSC_0766 Sunset today from Pura Vida

Someone asked me the other day why Bora Bora is so well known, and there seem to be a at least a couple of reasons.  One is its natural beauty, which is widely acclaimed.  The natural beauty comes from three things: the picturesque, rugged peaks, the clear lagoon, and the fringing motus.  There are three peaks, and all are rugged and beautiful, offering a changing skyline as you travel around the island.  The mountains of the other islands are larger and they have peaks that are just as beautiful, but Bora Bora is like a small "best-of" island where only the prettiest of the mountains of the other islands are present.  The lagoon is incredibly clear (I could easily see our anchor chain on the bottom in 40 feet of water at 7:30 am, with the sun still low in the sky).  Surprisingly, although the colors of the lagoons are beautiful everywhere we stopped in the Tuamotus and Society islands, Bora Bora is by far the clearest we’ve seen.  Antoine said that the lagoons of some atolls in the Tuamotus are clear and others aren’t.  I don’t know why the lagoon here is so clear, but it’s pretty amazing for diving and snorkeling and makes the colors of the lagoon all the more spectacular in the sunlight.  Instead of a fringing reef, Bora Bora has many motus along the edge of the lagoon that provide idyllic sandy beaches and a taste of atoll geography.  Many of the high-end bungalow-over-the-water hotels are on isolated motus.  The US presence here during WWII also seems to have played a key role.  In addition to familiarizing people in the US with the name of the island, the airstrip that was left behind was the main airport for French Polynesia for almost 20 years, ensuring that Bora Bora would become a feasible tourist destination.

DSC_0732 Another view from near the top of the mountain

The main town of Vaitape isn’t much to see.  It is built on a fairly wide area of the coastal plain, in the style of the Society Island towns — most businesses are strung along the main road around the island, and houses are built between the main road and the mountains.  As a tourist destination, the town is pretty dismal.  It’s not attractive at all and is half-comprised of the shops that fill the districts where cruise ship passengers disembark.  The real pleasure in Bora Bora is in the high-end hotels, sandy beaches, beautiful waters of the lagoon, and natural beauty of the mountains.

This is living!

We awoke on Friday morning at Marina Apooti and had our usual eggs and potato breakfast (two ingredients that are readily available here), which we shared with Robby, the Hawaiian delivery skipper who we’d met while walking the docks the night before. He’s on his 79th Pacific crossing, most of the time running between Hawaii and California. When he is not making deliveries, he serves as the bowman on racing crews–the person who handles the lines and sails on the foredeck. He claims to be well known in Hawaiian racing circuits and once changed headsails 10 times in 6 minutes according to the changing winds. He also claims to have sailed with famed mariners such as Robin Lee Graham and B.J. Caldwell and to have caught halibut in Alaska that weighed several hundred pounds. We can’t verify the accuracy of any of these stories, but they were entertaining nonetheless.

After saying good-bye to Robby, we took SHOWERS, the first real showers (i.e., with indoor plumbing) we’d had since we stayed at a hotel in the Galapagos. There wasn’t any hot water, but it was surprisingly enjoyable. I had forgotten how good it feels to have sufficient water pressure to rinsed away all the soap (and maybe even use some conditioner!). That probably sounds pretty funny to all of you landlubbers, but I would bet that most cruisers can relate to it.

Throwing off the bow and stern lines at Marina Apooti was much easier than getting them on, and off we motored into the calm lagoon. We were expecting to have some rough seas like we had had en route to Raiatea once we got out of the protection of its lagoon, but although they were “confused” (coming from various directions), they were only 2-3 feet, not too bad by our standards. After we had sailed a fair distance away from the isles of Raiatea and Ta’haa, the seas began to organize into impressive rollers that still weren’t that big, but I was glad we were sailing with rather than against them.

breakers Waves breaking onto the reef encircling Ta’haa

Bora Bora is well known for its clear and colorful lagoon and is listed in more than one cruising guide as having the most beautiful anchorages in the world. We were not disappointed as we approached and could see the rugged peaks of the island enveloped in bright turquoise water. Along the edge of the lagoon we could see the thatched-roof bungalows of the expensive hotels that are frequented by celebs and honeymooners. There were also several dive boats and glass-bottom boats buzzing about, confirming what we had heard about the abundant marine life here.

bora bora offshore Our first glimpse of the lagoon of Bora Bora

Our friends Dave and Shauna aboard Dragon, the boat for which Dallas and Wes served as linehandlers on their first trip through the Panama Canal, had informed us by email that they were staying on a mooring buoy at the Yacht Club of Bora Bora. However, we could tell from afar that that bay was packed with boats, so we thought we’d try to anchor in the adjacent bay. In the midst of checking it out, Dave and Shauna came over by dinghy to greet us and informed us that while there were no buoys available at the Yacht Club, five boats were leaving the following day. They also reported that for $50/week for the buoy, we would also get to use the shower and laundry facilities and take part in the yachties’ social hours, barbeques, etc. Although we tend to enjoy less populated anchorages, this sounded like a fun change of pace for a few days, so we settled in for the night at a nearby anchorage (from which Wes and Tiff were able to dinghy into the village) and got up early to watch for boats leaving. The first two boats left at 7:00 a.m. We motored over soon thereafter and helped ourselves to one of the mooring buoys for which some people have had to wait 4-5 days.

DSC_0597 Boats moored at Yacht Club of Bora Bora

Dave and Shauna popped over in their dinghy on their way into town for a shopping run. We started the process of catching up on events of the last couple of months (since Panama), but the raging winds made it difficult to hear. I asked Shauna if they would like to join us for lunch (as Dallas, Tiff, and I had discussed over breakfast), and she agreed. Meanwhile, Dave asked Dallas if we would like to join them for dinner aboard Dragon, and naturally, Dallas agreed. So we got a double-dose of the vibrant South Africans yesterday. Dave and Shauna are very social people and seem to have met all of the cruisers who have come through the Yacht Club in the last few weeks. It was interesting to hear their second-hand stories of the cruisers’ various experiences, both personal and sailing-related. One of the most noteworthy in my mind was the American who sailed from California to the Marquesas living primarily on Snickers bars and Coke. Dave and Shauna discovered this when, after noticing the sails sitting untended to on the deck of his boat with no one in sight for 3 days, they got concerned and went over to check it out. In response to their calls, he emerged looking very gaunt and very appreciative of the leftovers that Shauna brought over!

This morning Dallas and I set off with Dave of Dragon to climb the volcanic peaks of Bora Bora, with the highest point at 2,385 feet. Dallas set a pretty quick pace, and it was not long before I was panting from the exertion and the altitude. Fortunately my lungs seemed to adapt as we pressed on, and it was not long before we arrived at the really steep sections toward the top that required you to use ropes to pull yourself up. It was about this time that we met some American cruisers who were on their way down who explained to us why it was not possible for them to make it to the top. We sympathized, but as Dave noted, this also posed a challenge for us. Suffice it to say that 2.5 hours after we set off, we arrived at the summit of the mountain to see an absolutely breathtaking view of the surrounding lagoon with its many, many shades of blue. What’s more, the atmosphere seemed to have put us all in a pensive mood, as we had an uncommonly good conversation with Dave, an articulate and insightful former labor attorney, about relationships, money, happiness, and all that good stuff over lunch.

DSC_0736 View from the top of the mountain

DSC_0743 Clouds rolling in

DSC_0738

Dave was an ideal hiking companion

The hike down the mountain was almost as challenging as the way up. It was muddy and slippery in many places, and at the pace we were going, I had to concentrate on where to put my hands and feet next to avoid sliding. Sometimes slip-sliding was unavoidable, in which case there was only one thing to do–drop down onto my bum. By the end of the hike, we were beyond dirty, but I am pleased to report that the Yacht Club’s lone shower (unisex once again) is “divine”, to borrow one of Shauna’s trademark words. That’s right, we’ve had two real showers in three days! We’d better not get to used to it, though, as we don’t expect to see another until New Zealand.

Though exhausted, we are pretty jazzed about the mountain climbing. Dallas even said that he would like to do it again tomorrow! Fortunately for my aching body, we have other things on the agenda such as visiting the gendarme and the bank to get our bond back from the French Polynesian government. With any luck, that will go smoothly and we can bike or dive in the afternoon. There’s quite a bit to do here in paradise.

Thar she blows!

Getting our anchor up in Huahine did turn out to be a bit of work, but for the wrong reason.  On her dive yesterday, Lauren had worked to clear the chain from the coral, so bringing the chain in was easy until the boat was over the deeper water, where the windlass couldn’t bring it up and it appeared to be stuck.

I decided to dive on it and we made a plan.  Lauren worked the bow and Tiff worked the helm.  5 minutes after I started down, they would let out 10 feet of chain, then 30 seconds later they would start the normal process of trying to bring the anchor up.  I would be working down below to help clear things if they were fouled.  My left ear is still bothering me, and I needed most of the 5 minutes to get down over the wall and to the bottom of the channel at 68 feet, where the anchor was just laying on the sandy bottom, barely dug in.  Right on time, they started the attempt to pull the anchor up, but it wasn’t working even though I could see we weren’t stuck on anything.  After a minute or two, I came up, made a decompression stop, and got back on board.  It turned out the windlass clutch had loosened up and all we needed to do was tighten it.  After tightening it with a wrench, the rest of the chain and windlass came right up (90 feet of 5/16″ chain, a 25 kg anchor, and a 30 lb mushroom anchor / kellet were a bit too much with the clutch loose) and we were off.

I had been pretty sure that I saw whales outside the pass on our way in, and just after we cleared the pass, I saw a the blow and back of a humpback straight ahead.  We got to see the whale breach and raise its tail before diving several times.  They’re big, of course, and their movements are in slow motion compared to the dolphins that we’re used to seeing.  There was a blow, followed by the slow movement of the large back and small fin through the water before the tail broke out and raised almost straight up then disappeared below the waves.  When we first spotted them directly ahead, they were close enough that I slowed the boat down to avoid a potential collision and to keep from disturbing them.  The second time we saw them, we had passed over them and they were behind, between the boat and the pass.   DSC_0340  DSC_0344 DSC_0345 DSC_0346

We’d chosen a lively day for the crossing but we were ready to move on, hurricane season is getting closer, and there was the potential need to look for an engine mechanic or part.  The local weather predicted 20-25 knots and 3+ meter seas.  They were pretty much right on.  In the sustained gusts, we got up to a steady 7.3 knots on just the jib.  For me, it is mesmerizing to watching 10-12 foot heaps of water rise up beside you then pass underneath you.  I’m always amazed how well the boat rides up and over the seas when we aren’t trying to pound directly into them.  It was a lively ride, but far from the worst we’ve had, and it made the passage go by quickly.

DSC_0358 Nearing Raiatea in big seas

Te (The) Ava (Pass) Moa (Sacred) pass is narrow and deep, and although the cruising guide said it was practicable in strong winds, we had a backup plan for the next pass north in case the entrance was covered with breakers.  Right in the middle of furling the jib, about a mile from the pass, a bee landed on my left palm and left his barb in my hand.  That smarted a bit.  The pass didn’t come into view until we were fairly close, but it was very calm and we motored into the lagoon with no problems at all.  The pass ends at a point of land that separates two bays.  The bay to the north is the site of Marae Taputapuatea, the largest and most important marae site in all of Polynesia.  Before Europeans selected Tahiti as a capital for the region, the Raiatea was the most important island in the region due to its religious traditions and influence.  Archeologists and historians generally believe that Raiatea was the legendary island and center of culture from which most of the rest of Polynesia (including Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand) was discovered and colonized.  The marae there served as an international marae, with people coming in canoes from far away to participate in ceremonies.  It also served as a launching place for canoe voyages of discovery and colonization.

The bay to the left of the pass was reported to be sheltered and have excellent holding in a mud bottom, so we headed there to ride out another windy night at anchor.  The mud did indeed provide excellent holding, and we got some much needed rest before Lauren and I headed out to see the marae the next morning.  The site contained several maraes, all impressive in terms of their size and setting at the edge of the lagoon with a view of the ocean and Huahine.  This marae and the ones in Huahine are a bit different than the ones in the Marquesas both in terms of their style of construction and because they use slabs of coral stone instead of the large volcanic boulders.

DSC_0463 Anchored alone in Hotopuu Bay

DSC_0404 Large marae

DSC_0419 Smaller maraes by the lagoon

DSC_0443 Our dinghy and the beautiful colors of the lagoon

The port engine is still giving a low oil pressure alarm at low RPMs when it’s warm, so we decided to head to the north tip of Raiatea, where there is a concentration of charter companies and yachting business in the hopes that we can find another oil pressure regulator, and oil gauge to do some troubleshooting, or possibly a mechanic. 

Along the way, we enjoyed one of the true pleasures of sailing the South Pacific — sailing through the lagoon in fresh tradewinds.  Although the ocean outside the lagoon was worked up even worse than it was yesterday, inside the lagoon there was only a light chop.  We were able to sail with the wind and chop northwards, up the east coast of Raiatea, with the beautiful mountains off to port and the pretty lagoon with the ocean breaking on the reef at its edge off to starboard.  With only the jib up, we made just as good of time as if we were running both engines, but enjoyed a quiet, scenic sail instead.

DSC_0513 Lagoon sailing

We spent the night at Apooti Marina, home of the Moorings, Sunsail, and Tahiti charter businesses.  The guidebook indicated that we could get technical assistance here, but they were only able to provide us with a phone number for a business in Papeete that could possibly put our part on a plane to Raiatea or Bora Bora.  Oh well, they have showers, which is worth the $25 if they’re hot (we’ve heard they’re not, but we’ll see).  We can see Bora Bora from here and are planning to head that way later today.

DSC_0524 Tahitian mooring with the dinghy rigged to be pulled back and forth