Fliss….
This really is a breathtaking anchorage. This morning we watched a huge crab with a massive shell on it's back weaving it’s way around the stones slowly on the seabed it was amusing to see the wiggly route that it had taken, that's how clear the water is here.
We went for a last snorkel with the stingrays and sharks this morning. There were only a few other people there but Pete and I agreed that the atmosphere felt totally different almost threatening. The sharks that we had seen previously kept a greater distance from us and swam mostly by themselves; today they were swimming in packs and much closer to us than they had been in the past.
The fish were amazing and if we just floated they came right up to your mask and hovered around looking at you, the colours were superb! They were all around us and when we swam away they just followed us. We think they felt safer with us with all the sharks around. One Angel fish started pecking Pete’s finger.
As we got back into the dinghy Pete spotted a reef shark (Black Tips) thrashing around in the water… time to go!
Pete….
We motored most of the way to Raiatea with about an hour of sailing before we approached the island. We went first to Faaroa bay which deeply indents the Eastern coast about half-way up. This is the home of Sunsail where they keep their boats on mooring buoys. We went into the Sunsail office to ask where the local shop was and a surly lady waved her hand in the general direction of the road and said "Trios Kilometres". We decided to take the dinghy and had to negotiate lots of barriers reefs with large lagoons to the shoreside - I'm sure that it was more than 3 Kilometres and we eventually ran out of fuel on the way back. However, we did get bread and oven chips.
Fliss…..
It was a long slog! The running out of fuel didn’t impress Pete at all, luckily there wasn’t head winds and choppy water, after a large sun-downer all was forgiven.
3rd August 2007
Pete ………….
Today we put the headsail out and ghosted up inside the reef to the main town of Uturoa on the NE tip of the island. My bridge was playing-up and I wanted to find a dentist. At the quayside, there is a fuel dock that extends so that visiting boats can moor alongside for a couple of days - free of charge. We put Naz alongside and went to find the dentist - it was closed. We worked out that it was Thursday and that it must therefore be closed for the rest of the day. I asked a chap waiting for the adjacent doctor whether today was Thursday and he agreed. Later, we discovered that it was Friday and I could have waited half an hour and seen the dentist then!
The wind was increasing and the reach across from the barrier reef was causing the wavelets to slap Naz and pin her to the dock so we decided that it would be prudent to move off and anchor. We went around to Apooti bay just past the Northern airport and met up with Nomad Life and Toboggan for a couple of sundowners before returning to steak and chips on board Naz. Whilst telling of my need for a dentist, I showed them the bridge and it "came orf in me 'and guv!"
Fliss…..
The “it came orf in me ‘and guv” was for the benefit of Nancy & Steve (Canadians) as the are fascinated by cockney slang, Pete, Graham and I have spent many a happy sundowner hours teaching useful phrases in-case the happen to visit the East End of London and bump into some gangsters, they have learnt some of “The Knowledge”.
4th August 2007
Pete….
We returned early to Uturoa and went alongside the town quay again in search for a dentist that was open. I located one and he checked out my tooth and glued the bridge back. Let's hope it stays put until NZ.
Fliss….
Whilst Pete was being attended to I entertained 3 armed customs officers who were amazed that we hadn’t been boarded before. After checking our paperwork the lead officer (who was wearing leather gloves, crikey I wondered what was coming next!) insisted that I show him the boat. He looked through all-visible lockers. Pete returned and said to one guy that if we really wanted to hide something there would be no way that Customs officers or a dog would ever find it, the officer agreed and they then left.
Pete…..
An American on a rather ramshackle boat ahead of us wanted to know what had gone on. He appeared concerned that customs were doing spot-checks. Apparently he makes his money doing "trading" and "deliveries" but he would not elaborate.
We spent the rest of the day chugging around the wind-less Western side of Raiatea and Southwestern side of Tahaa looking for a remote anchorage. Unfortunately, the depths in the lagoon are 30-40 metres and then shelve directly to 1-2 metres. It is quite tricky finding a spot that is shallow enough without a gaggle of Moorings and Sunsail boats. We ended up in poor light and decided to drop the hook in 27 metres in Tapuramu Bay.
5th August to 8th August 2007
Pete……
We took our time circumnavigating the island of Tahaa inside the encircling reef and basically having a lazy time. We visited a pearl farm which was more of a “Pearl sales centre plus café” than an example of a working pearl farm and we also caught up with Graham and Judit a couple of times.
Fliss……..
We returned to Raiatea on the 8th and met up with Nomad Life once again. We went over to them and had a fantastic Vindaloo Curry that Graham had made, he really is an excellent cook! All made from fresh spices and the chicken was marinated for 4 days, delicious. After quite a few rum & cokes Graham declared that he wanted to race Nadezhda to Bora Bora (only 25 miles) and, being “slightly” competitive, I agreed to accept the challenge on behalf of Pete & Nadezhda.
9Th August 2007
Fliss….
In the morning we all felt slightly jaded so the start time was delayed by an hour. At 10am Nomad Life & Nadezha raised to anchors to start the race to Bora Bora.
Knowing Nadezhda as we do, and looking at the grib file for wind direction, we decided to pole out the jib to starboard and have the main to leeward. After poking our noses out through the pass Pete felt that he may have made a mistake as we were only just being able to fill the jib. Luckily as we cleared land the wind came around and Nadezhda took off like a rocket.
Graham has a DSC VHF as so do we, so we both were able to request position reports from each other, checking the distance between boats.
Nadezhda had a good lead but as we rounded the headland I noticed that Nomad Life were catching up with us, the wind had backed and was now right behind us, we don’t do that well down-wind, position report requested and it was confirmed Nomad Life had managed to claw back 1.5 kilometres.
Another problem was that the wind was now starting to head us making it impossible to continue with the jib poled out. Pete & I held an emergency meeting and we quickly discussed tactics on how to get the pole down whilst not losing speed or ground.
Plan hatched: Pete went up front, I rolled the jib in, he unclipped the pole, ducked and shouted “clear” I then pulled the jib back out and winched liked mad.
The whole procedure took around 2 minutes.
Nadezhda did win but maybe if the race had been slightly longer and down-wind they certainly would have given us a run for our money.
Respect to Graham & Judit for being brilliant sportsman as they took it really well, it was really just a bit of fun and made short sail more interesting.
Nomad Life catching up with us as we approach Bora Bora
The evening was spent at Bloody Mary’s (A very chic bar/restaurant) with Graham, Judit, Noel & Natalie (Yacht “Kyrie”) and Steve & Nancy (Yacht “Toboggan”). The night spilled over to drinks on Nomad Life with Graham, Judit, Noel and Natalie. Noel & Natalie are returning to New Zealand after spending seven years cruising around the world in Noels’ home-built ferro-cement boat.
10th August to 18th August 2007
Bora Bora summary
Bora Bora is meant to be the Jewel in the Society Islands crown, and albeit a very pretty island, it really doesn’t beat Moorea, it is purely a holiday resort.
We took a car with Graham & Judit to tour the sights of Bora Bora and within an hour and a half we had seen all the sights to be seen. That evening, we returned to Bloody Mary’s for a couple of beers and spent the rest of the evening with Terry & Lynne (yacht Resolve), a superb night with Pizza and rum it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it!. Terry and Lynne bought their yacht so that they could sail from South Africa to New Zealand where they will relocate near their daughter. They sold two large houses with swimming pools and will only be able to buy a very modest home when they get there. However, they said that South Africa was becoming untenable and the drop in lifestyle was going to be worth it.
Fliss….
Lynn is a superb artist and she showed me her charcoal pictures she had drawn of political figures in South Africa the likeness was amazing. Lynn’s used to work on the sports council of South Africa and her references for her visa into New Zealand were from well known rugby players, it’s taken them three years to get the visa sorted out. Great couple and we hope to meet up with them in Tonga.
We did have a wonderful time. The snorkelling is excellent in beautiful clear water but what made Bora Bora a great experience for us is that we made lots of new friends; the social life is exceptional.
Pete………
We ended up staying for longer than anticipated due to some very strange weather patterns over the Cook Islands. Forecasts went from saying that there would be no wind to then telling us the next day that there would be 50 knots of wind. We had reports from other cruisers en-route that the seas were rough and the winds gusty and so we delayed our departure. When we finally did decide to leave, we went about 10 miles and then returned because there was not a breath of wind.
Rob, Lilly & Pete at "Bloody Marys"
20th August 2007
Pete….
The weather looks fine for the next few days and we had a report from John and Susan (55’ Catamaran “Sylkie”) that the wind was about 15 knots and a broad reach.
So it’s goodbye to French Polynesia and hello Cook Islands, hopefully our money will go further there!!
21st August 2007
Fliss…..
After yesterdays flying start the wind has now died so it’s motor on. This crossing is slightly dreaded by cruisers as the seas can be very boisterous. Nancy & Steve on Toboggan left a week before us and unfortunately encountered 30-40 knots of wind (in the gusts) and extremely high seas.
The last thing we heard was that they were safely holed up at Palmerston (Cook Islands) and that Toboggan had suffered considerable damage to the goose-neck. They said that the local people were amazing and as they arrived in strong winds and seas a local boat showed them the way in.
22nd August 2007
Fliss….
Again not a lot of wind, each time we get a breeze we get the sails out to try to minimize engine hours. Over night a huge dark image appeared on the radar and no matter which way I turned it followed us. Expecting the worse I grabbed my Henry Lloyds and put the running boards in. I expected high winds and loads of rain. It rained hard for 10 minutes and drizzled for 20 minutes but no squally winds. Pete got up at 2am to a beautiful starlit night. I guess it was my turn for a soaking.
23rd August 07
Pete…..
At 8am this morning we have been goose-winged with full sail running between 6 & 7 knots (occasionally 8 knots) and have therefore probably eaten up some miles.
We listen in on the SSB Radio to the group of boats who are doing the same passage as us. They broadcast their positions and current conditions to a central co-ordinator who keeps tabs and the information is very interesting and useful. It is interesting how someone only 100 miles away can have very different conditions.
The SSB get-together happens twice a day and is a useful safety feature as well as an introduction to other sailors travelling in the same direction. The current group is for people leaving Polynesia and heading for either the Cooks or Tonga.
John and Susan on Sylkie said that they would report our position and conditions to the group on our behalf if we send them e-mails (our SSB is receive-only). We therefore co-ordinate our 2 e-mail sessions per day to occur half an hour before the SSB get-together and Susan reports-in for us. Sylkie is about 60 miles ahead of us and, surprisingly, not leaving us behind too quickly - she is a 55 foot catamaran and I would have imagined that this downwind run would have left us wallowing in her wake.
24th August 07
Suvarov is a very remote Island and is only inhabited by the National Park rangers. The island itself is meant to be very beautiful. The bird life is meant to be stunning and loads of coconut crabs but swimming is a no go as there a plenty of aggressive sharks in the water.
We had a good day of sailing today but it was a bit more downwind than we like. At about 15:00, the wind suddenly shifted (with the help of waves??) and we crash jibed. This was prevented by the gybe-preventer line but unfortunately, the string holding the pulley block to the deck parted (probably chafe) and the preventer line pulled one of our stanchions off the deck and was only stopped in its travels by the shrouds. Luckily, the mainsail and boom did not therefore slam all the way across and the deck is still solid as a rock at the stanchion base. Five minutes later and the wind shifted 90 degrees the other way and we had a bit of a squall. We were ready though with 2 reefs tucked in the main and half the jib put away.
Fliss….
This sounds awful to say but I so grateful that the crash gybe happened on Pete’s watch as if it had happened on mine I would have felt that it was due to negligence on my part.
The way we play things on long sails it that Pete gets the morning off and I have the afternoons. Well this morning on my watch before the crash gybe happened I was extremely nervous as the wind kept veering putting it directly behind us. I kept our course high to keep it just off but had to keep a constant watch. I really don’t like downwind sailing especially if you have large waves.
Pete was unlucky and there was nothing he could have done as the wind shift appeared out of nowhere, in my opinion we were extremely lucky that the block got caught around the stanchions as if the boom had slammed across the damage could have been a damn site worse.
Pete felt really bad about it as he’s loves Nadezhda dearly and no other yacht could be better looked after - it was just one of those things.
As the squall hit I called up Sabbatical III (they had overtaken us in the night and were 9 miles ahead) and warned them that some weather was coming their way. Laura thanked us and quickly rolled in their two head sails (the head sails roll up together) about 20 minutes later her husband Mark called back and said “we owe you three sundowners as the wind shifted 50 degrees and had we not have rolled the sails in we would have been in trouble”.
25th August 2007
Fliss….
Last night at 10pm the wind totally died so we had no choice but to put the engine on, thank god we re-fuelled in Bora Bora.
The SSB camaraderie is wonderful and everyone is egging each other on. I heard on the VHF this morning that if yacht arrives late’ish another cruiser will dinghy out to show them the way in through the narrow pass, fantastic eh!!!
A hot sweltering day with no wind! This morning we looked at the distance to travel and decided to up the engine revs as it would be shame to stand off for the night if we were an hour to late to go through the pass.
It’s 8:30pm and Pete has gone off watch and I’ll try to leave him till 1am, another beautiful starlit night but are we going to pay for a windless day with squalls, lets see!
Only 94 miles to our waypoint which is only a few miles from the pass, cutsey flag is ready to fly, Suvorov here we come!
26th August 2007
Pete….
The wind slowly increased through the early hours of the morning until we could get the sails flying again. As the wind strengthened, we reduced the engine revs so that we could maintain 6.5 knots and arrive with the best sunlight conditions for eyeballing through the shallows and, eventually, we turned the engine off – Bliss!!
We dropped the sails and entered the Atoll lagoon through the coral pass at precisely the time of the sun’s meridian with it high in the sky and directly behind us. This made the shallow patches easy to see as the deeper blue turns to cyan and then to browns as the bottom shallows. Entry was straightforward and we quickly anchored with 5 other boats.
We already knew Sylkie and within minutes, we had met three of the other crews as they came over or passed in their dinghies. The only people that we haven’t met are Mark and Laura from Sabbatical III – I think that they are catching a few Zzzzzzz’s after the passage. I think that I might do the same before we meet up with everyone on the beach for a barbeque later.
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