Diving the Cessna

Yesterday had a great dive on the wreck of a Cessna airplane nearby. It was a shallow dive, so we shared equipment among 8 of us. Nice to get in the water, as it was smokin' hot. After our dive, we floated around, enjoying our cool beverages. It will be hard to leave here.

It's been great having Mike here - we're off today to explore the market, and take in some of the celebrations for Heiva - the month-long festival. Tonight we have tickets to see some of the dance and singing competitions!

Birthday Fun

We have been enjoying Papeete. I had a fun birthday lounging around, and enjoying a day without boat chores. We had a fun dinner with the hilarious Licorne crew at the marina restaurant and finished up with drinks in the bar. Tango gave us a fabulous mattress pad, so we're now happily sleeping in comfort for the first time in almost a year (hard to believe we've been living on this boat for a year already)!! What a birthday gift!!

The last few days have been a blur. We've been trying to make arrangements for flights home, doing brightwork, shopping, refilling propane, exploring Papeete, etc. Lots of boats here that we've seen along the way, and many more new faces, so it's been fun to hang out and get to know more people. Most are moving along, and heading to Australia or New Zealand for the cyclone season.

We also stopped into an internet cafe in town and had a chance to check out the blog. Thanks to everyone who has been leaving comments on the blog - we really enjoy reading them!!

Mikey's just arrived, so we're looking forward to lots more exploring and sightseeing, now that he's here.

Visa Denied - We're Coming Home

We were counting on being able to stay here for the standard 90 days, plus receive an etra 60 day extension. After all, that is what the yachtsman guide indicates...and it is published by the local authorities. But...we've been told that unless you have a veritable medical emergency or boat breakdown, there is no way to have your visa extended. So sad.

So we're coming home. At the end of the month.

We were looking forward to coming home in the fall to work for a few months, and returning to the boat here in polynesia in the new year. Now...we'll be coming home sooner, and staying longer. The upside is that we'll get to be home for some of the summer season, and hopefully get some time at the lake to windsurf, and maybe some camping.

We've got three weeks of cruising left. We'll have time to cruise to Moorea, maybe Huahine, before heading to Raiatea to put the boat in the yard, and prepare her for the season out of the water.

Arrived in Papeete

After a quick trip of just under 2 days, we've arrived in Papeete, Tahiti. It was a good passage - we sailed under genoa only, to keep our speed down so we didn't arrive before dawn. We had a few small squalls en route, but for the most part, it was an easy passage. There were large swells on our beam, so it was another rolly passage.

We've anchored a couple of miles south of the city, in front of Marina Taina. There are over 100 boats here - and it is absolutely crazy. Some boats are on moorings, and some are at anchor. So everyone moves differently, as the wind changes. We've heard that there have been plenty of instances where boats spin into each other, and so on. FUN. But, there is a HUGE grocery store nearby, and the marina has showers and water, and there are lots of boats here that we have been able to catch up with and spend time with.

Tonight we're heading out for a night on the town with our friends on Licorne - birthday celebrations!! And gearing up for tomorrow, when we will check in with authorities and plead to be able to stay in the country beyond the typical 90 days. Wish us luck.

And...Mike (my brother) has just decided to come for a visit, we're excited to see him and share this piece of paradise!!

Location: 17°34.84'S and 149°37.12'W

Happy Canada Day - Leaving for Tahiti

Well, we're off. Almost. Waiting for slack tide in the pass, so we can get out of the lagoon, then we're off to Papeete Harbour on the island of Tahiti. Hard to imagine that we're bored in paradise...but we're certainly having to think about how to keep busy. I've even polished and waxed our cockpit!

The picture above is from the church in the small village of Tiputa, on the other side of the pass. We jumped on a landing craft from a large freighter to get to the village, and took a little water taxi back. Wandering around the village was a nice way to spend a few hours.

Tahiti is 200 miles from here, so it will take us a day and a half or two days to get there. The seas will likely still be rolling, after all this crazy weather we've had, so it won't be too comfortable. But, it will be great to tie up to the dock, check out the city, and enjoy birthday celebrations!

To everyone at home...have a great Canada Day!

A New Look!!

Amy tells me that she has updated the blog to include a picture of Renova in the header. I'm sure it looks awesome! Hope you like it. We look forward to being able to log on in Tahiti to check it out. THANKS Amy!!! (Don't forget to blog about your impressions of your trip - I'm sure everyone would love to hear all about it)!

We continue to hang out in Rangiroa. We hitched a ride into the village of Atuona a couple days ago...had a good walk around the town. We watched the surfers on the point, and one of the big cargo ships unload. They brought six forklifts off this boat!! Four aussie guys came off the boat and were searching for the ideal surf spot. Also two Americans unloaded their 12 surf boards for their three month holiday. Yeow. We caught a ride back to the quay with a nice couple from French Guinea.They were also here on their boat, and had been here for two years already! French boats are free to stay much longer than us foreigners, and they are everywhere here.

Sadly...we've continued to have high winds for the last couple of days. We're getting bored, sitting on the boat, waiting for a weather window to leave. Can you believe...bored in paradise!! Well, let me paint you a picture of paradise...the boat is super rolly with all the swell; the town is small, so you can only do so much exploring; snorkeling isn't good with clouds and rain; but...we aren't working. We've been watching movies (we can tell you that the DUDE in the Big Lebowski has the same shoes as John), and reading books (just finished Les Miserables). But...with all the cloud, we can't be on the computer too long, as we don't have a lot of solar power to recharge our batteries!!

By the way...I'm practicing my french. It's coming back...albeit, very slowly. And painfully, at times!

Still in Rangiroa

We're still here in Rangiroa. The wind forecast was increased, so we decided to hang out here for a while. Neither of us have any desire to head out into 30 knot winds at the moment. Who knows...maybe it won't materialize. No worries. We're loving it here, so it doesn't really matter.

Above is a pic of John and I on our dive this week. Thanks to Taku, who gave us a copy of the photo. He did 11 dives while he was here!! WOW.

Our Position: 14°58.1'S and 147°38.2'W

Rangiroa - cheeseburgers and diving

Rangiroa Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia

Rangiroa is the largest coral atoll in the world. And the most populated island in the Tuamotus (2500 people). And still, slow internet!! But...we have managed to get email via wifi on the boat, so we can't complain too much. And, if you're willing to connect in odd hours, you might be able to do a bit of surfing. You may also notice that I've managed to figure out how to add an image to the blog posts finally. Hurray!!

Rangiroa has been awesome. On our first day here, after our nap, we met a great crew of sailors, and enjoyed drinks on the quay with them. Since then we've enjoyed drinks, diving, and a few meals with them - it's been a hoot. We're looking forward to running into them again in Tahiti!

The village is spread out among several motus, connected by a roadway, with the airport about 1/2 way between the two ends. We had heard that the local super hotel ($300-800 per night) offered a traditional Polynesian
performance, which we thought would be fun, but the hotel was closed for renos. With a combo of hitch-hiking and bike rentals we explored the 10 km or so to the other end of the road. There were a few stores, one even had veggies - green peppers and limes!! Too bad we couldn't carry more supplies on the bikes. We also stopped at a few trinket stores and pearl boutiques. It was a nice morning of exploring. Back at the quay, we treated ourselves to beer and fanta and cheeseburgers!! Hmmm....pomme frites!!

Yesterday, we went for a dive in Tiputa Pass, a drift dive that is highly recommneded. Although they warned us that it would not be as beautiful as the colourful coral of Fakarava, this is the place where we are more likely to see the large marine wildlife. Although it was fun to drift with the
current - feeling a bit like Peter Pan as we flew through the water effortlessly - we didn't see too much wildlife. We did see sharks and the largest Napolean Wrasse ever...as big as me, I swear. But no manta rays. And no hammerheads. Too bad. Another diver took a video and gave us a copy, so we hope to be able to put a snippet on the blog once we get to Tahiti.

We're getting geared up to leave for Tahiti. Today I fixed our spray cloth that was blown out in last week's storm, and John prepared our sails and filled up our fuel tank. We need to be in Tahiti in order to attempt to renew our visas; we'd like to stay longer than the standard three months that are issued upon arrival. Hopefully that won't be a problem, but we're getting many mixed messages. It will take us a couple days to get there, but we're looking forward to being in a marina with showers and laundry for the first time since Mexico - almost four months ago!

Our Position (Rangiroa): 14°58.1'S and 147°38.2'W

Blown away by Apataki

We were blown away by the atoll of Apataki. Literally. But, I'll start at the beginning...

Our last day on Toau was spent at the northern end of the atoll, close to the pass, so we would have a shorter passage to Apataki - our next destination. We left Toau before slack tide, and had the excitement of dealing with the current opposing the winds as we exited the pass, creating large standing waves. The current was in our favour, so we were traveling quickly, but the large swell made it uncomfortable, even if only for a few minutes. We were soon out of the pass, hoisted our sails, and set our course to Apataki.

Although there is a small village on Apataki, there isn't a suitable anchorage at the village, so we anchored a few miles away, in front of a pearl farm with a few other sailboats. As it turns out, several of these boats had found paradise, and had stayed in the area for a couple of years! For the next four days, we wandered the beach, chatted with the locals, and tackled a few boat jobs. Pauline and Alfred live here with their parents and their children. They have a pearl farm business, and we were able to watch as they went about classifying the pearls into grades for sale and export. They've also started a boat yard, with a huge trailer and ramp. There were three boats in the yard while we were there, and one was pulled out on our last day. Although facilities were limited, it would be a great spot to haul out, if we just needed to paint the bottom! John's scraped foot was still a bit swollen (from one of his lobster 'hunting' expeditions with Strahan), so he chatted with a Doc on another boat and started a course of antibiotics, but is trying to keep it dry. Not easy.

Our friend Chris on SV Namaste had told us that the snorkeling in and near the pass at the north end of the island was fabulous, so after a few days, we moved up there to check it out. Only a couple hours after we dropped the hook, the wind started to pick up. Within only a half hour, the wind was howling. We checked our weather files, and saw a system was supposed to be developing near Tahiti, but wasn't really supposed to be this far north. Clearly the weather files were wrong. Because we were up against a lee shore, we didn't feel it was safe to remain here. So we upped anchor (with some difficulty, in the large waves that had instantly developed), and quickly made our way out of the pass into the safely of the open sea. We were sad to leave here without getting a chance to experience the snorkeling, but we looked forward to the Rangiroa, our next atoll...and the largest coral atoll in the world.

It was about 80 miles to Rangiroa, an overnight sail. Throughout the night, the winds continued to build. We don't have a wind meter on board, but we guessed it to be consistently 30 knots with gusts to 35 or so. It was the most wind that we'd seen while underway on our journey so far. It was definitely the only time that we'd had waves crash over the side of the boat and into the cockpit. We had our full BC rain slickers on! We had only a very, very, tiny bit of our genoa (head sail) out - and we still were going up to 8 knots in the gusts (3-4 knots in the lulls). And although we were worried that the furling system would buckle under the strain, we realized that our storm sails were even bigger than the tiny bit of canvas that we were flying. The boat handled the weather fine. And we made it to Rangiroa in time for the optimum tide. Although the tide was rising, and it should have been an incoming tide, we still had a couple knots of outgoing current.

As a note of interest, during times of heavy wind and waves, the current and tides in the atoll passes can change dramatically. Normally, there is an ingoing and outgoing current in the pass that roughly follows the tide. During heavy weather in some atolls, there is a lot of water pushed over and between the small motus (islets), filling up the lagoon. This can create a continual outgoing current in the passes, even when the tide should be rising!

Throughout the storm, there was chatter on the radio. Two other boats had decided to leave Apataki when we did, and there were at least three other boats en route to Rangiroa from elsewhere. It was great to know that other boats were nearby. And we also got to hear what their wind indicators were showing - winds of 30 to 35 with gusts up to 39. WOW.

Our Position (Apataki): 15°20.96'S and 146°11.66'W

The Cruisers' Party Line: VHF Radio

While out cruising, our main method of communicating with other cruisers is the VHF radio. It has a range of up to 25 miles, and all boats have one. Most boats have two or more. We have one main unit, with two microphones, and a handheld that we can take to shore.

So, for you landlubbers, the basic process is you call the boat you want to chat with on channel 16, which everyone monitors. Then you arrange to move your conversation to another channel. At this time, any number of boats may also move to that channel to get the scoop on whatever fascinating bit of info you might be chatting about. Most radios even have a 'dual-watch' feature, which enables you to monitor channel 16 and another channel at all times...the ultimate in eavesdropping convenience.

John and I have had our share of fun lurking on the VHF, and any boater who denies having listened in is absolutely fibbing!! But...we've gotten pretty tired of the constant chatter in the busier anchorages, and listening in to others talk about their dinner plans, or their next anchorage, gets a bit tiring, not to mention that you often need to physically drop whatever you are doing to go and change the channel, so we rarely have the energy or interest anymore to do much lurking.

But...for Amy and Strahan, this was a new phenomenon and the source of endless entertainment. As a result of constant listening and channel changing, Amy was in the know. She could tell you which boat was dining where, and with whom. And who was leaving the anchorage, and where they were heading. Who was going snorkeling and at what time. And so on.

Sure is quiet around here these days...