What's In Your Ditch Bag??

Like most offshore sailors, we kept a ditch bag full of very important, life-saving necessities near the companionway exit when we were on a long passage. The common thinking is that if the snot really hits the fan, you can grab your ditch bag on your way to the life raft. Uh-huh.

Well, regardless of whether you'll have the time or the where-with-all to grab the bag, it's a good idea. And don't just think this only applies to those of us who live a watery existence. Back when we lived a land based life, we also kept an emergency plastic tub with a few essentials handy, just in case.

Since I’m unpacking the boat, I've brought home our ditch bag. So...here's what we put in our ditch bag. I'm curious to know what you put in yours. What are we missing??

We use a duffle bag with backpack straps to enable an easy exit and keep our hands free. Yep, we still drool over those fancy yellow bags that float and have perfectly sized partitions for all your 'stuff', but this was a better fit for our budget (ie: free). Everything is double-triple bagged in ziplocs.

Here's what's in it:

• Fancy EPIRB (Emergency Beacon with GPS)
• SPOT (another beacon to call for help, or let your friends know where you are)
• binoculars
• first aid kit, gauze, bandaids, slings, splint, tensors, suture kits, and ana pen etc.
• seasickness meds and T3s
• gps with batteries
• signaling devices: strobe light, flash lights, laser light, glow sticks, whistles
• gerber multi-tool
• copies of passports and boat papers
• waterproof notebook and pencil, playing cards
• sunscreen and emergency blanket
• sail repair thread (should have included a needle)
• hazard kit (includes foil water pouches and some type of expired food 'product', toilet paper, garbage bags, and other stuff).

Some stuff that isn't in this picture, that we usually put in the bag for our big passages:

• cash and passports
• satellite phone
• handheld vhf radio
• hard drive with photo backups (yeah, I'm a photo-crazed fool)
• sunglasses
• a book
• chocolate (most of it was eaten on our final days at sea...running out of chocolate is definitely an emergency situation aboard Renova).

We also had a second bag that was tied on that had our supply of flares. We kept a jug of water tied on deck, with a knife nearby to cut it loose. On our North Pacific passage, we put our wetsuits into a dry bag and left that near the exit also.

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...

Fakarava North - Pearls, Sharks, and Alternators

After a morning snorkel at the reef beside our anchorage, we weighed anchor and headed north to the village of Rotoava at the North end of Fakarava. This was an excellent way to cap off Amy and Strahan's visit to Renova. We wandered the village and found ourselves giddy at the prospect of filling our cupboards once again. We arranged a visit to a pearl farm, and were able to see how the gorgeous "Tahitian Black Pearls" are made. It is a much more complex process than I expected, and was surprised to learn that only one percent of all pearls produced are "A" quality - round, without blemishes, and with a high luster. We also got to meet Mike and Kyo from IO, from Victoria!

I tried to get online and do a few internet jobs, but found that paying two bills and viewing our account took almost 2 hours. While I banged my head against a wall, Amy and Strahan went for a fabulous dive outside the reef and John worked on replacing our VHF, which has become problematic as it only wishes to work intermittently. Now, everyone in the anchorage knows that it is us calling, as they are now able to recognize the machine gun noise that we broadcast whenever we push the transmit button on our mike. Too bad. We loved that radio, and it was almost new when we left BC. Oh well...the 1980's model works well, even though it is a power pig, and doesn't have some of the common channels, nor the fancy features. At least the rest of the anchorage doesn't feel as though they are in a war zone.

On Amy and Strahan's last day, we three went for a dive through the Garuae Pass. It was fabulous, and well worth the accolades in all the travel guides. We drifted through the pass, pausing several times to hold onto the coral and watch all the sea life around us. We saw hundreds of reef sharks, and more fish that I had thought possible to inhabit such an area. It was absolutely stunning, and I'm glad that I decided to join them at the last minute. And we finally got to meet Mike and Sammi from SV Quartermoon, who we'd shared anchorages with a few times, but hadn't met yet.

We celebrated our last evening by dining out at the Blue Van. This van is parked in someone's front yard, has plastic patio furniture in front, and serves up the standard menu of burgers, steak frites, and chow mein. Kinda eclectic fare, although it seems to be the norm around here. It was a fabulous meal. And we were able to chat with other cruisers who had also come to enjoy the meal - Mike and Hyo from IO (Canada), Jackie and Gary from Inspiration Lady (Canada), and Jack from Anthem (USA).

On departure day, we went ashore for last minute items, had one more swim, and then brought aboard the anchor and headed to the airport. There is a wharf directly in front of the airport, and we were able to tie up less than 100 feet from the airport check in counter. On the way over, the alternator wasn't charging the batteries, and none of the gauges on the engine panel were functioning, so while John and I did some troubleshooting and dug out the spare alternator, Amy prepared a lunch of fresh baguette and cheese in the cockpit. Turns out we had blown a fuse, so it wasn't long before we had replaced the fuse, and we were all enjoying lunch in the cockpit. After they checked in, we were able to return to the boat and enjoy a beer. I jumped in for a quick snorkel, and the fish life was fabulous.

Finally, the plane arrived and it was time to go. We said goodbye to Amy and Strahan and "ALLEZ". It was so great to have them aboard and we'll definitely miss their company. And their help. It was awesome having the extra hands to help with the anchor, the steering, the dinghy, the cooking, etc! And they were so generous with bringing down needed supplies and helping us to re-provision. We look forward to having them aboard again.

We waved to the departing plane as we made our way back to the anchorage.

We spent our last evening here enjoying sangria with Chris, Christine and the kids from Ottawa on their catamaran, SV Stray Kitty. Mike and Sammi from Quartermoon joined us, as did Jamie and Behan from Totem. What a fun night!!

Our Position: 16°03.7'S and 145°37.2'W