Living & Learning Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity

LTY UPDATE: Sunday, July 25th, 2010 Niuatoputapu, Tonga

** Photos added July 29th  see below

 

LTY UPDATE: Sunday, July 25th, 2010
11:30 LTY time (UTC +13) = 22:30 (Sat) UTC
Location: Anchored by village of Falehau, NW lagoon of Niuatoputapu Island, North Tonga
Position: 15 56.485 S, 173 46.180 W (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)

TERRIFIC TIMES in TRUE TONGA

** See photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/wayne.hodgins/NiuatoputapuTonga# for more pictures

As usual I’ve extended my stay in yet another spot, this time the northernmost island of the Kingdom of Tonga, Niuatoputapu Island where I’m anchored in a nicely protected lagoon on the NW side near the small village of Falehau. I arrived last Wednesday (21 July) and yet again the whole experience of the past 5 days has been serendipitously super, and so I wanted to get you a brief update on some of the details that made this adventure so memorable.

It is these situations when I really miss having an internet connection sufficient to add photos to these postings, but since arriving in Tongan waters last month, internet connections ashore have been few and far between and even when I do find them they have not been good enough to support uploads the size of photos or Skype calls. I am however taking lots of photos and will do my best to post these, likely next month some time when I get to Fiji I suspect.

* July 29th: photos now added to this and several other posts

This has me rethinking and reexamining my budget to purchase one of the new stabilized satellite based broadband options so I could have broadband internet wherever I roam, but that will have to wait for another day yet. In the interim, I’ll do my best to use my limited writing abilities to paint some pictures for you.

As I’ve mentioned and as you can see above and if you have checked the lat/long coordinates on a map or Google Earth, this is the northernmost of the many islands that make up the archipelago of the Kingdom of Tonga and is apparently the most remote and least visited of all of Tonga. There is actually “Tin Can Island” of Niuafoou which is a bit further north yet but it is completely inaccessible by boat so can’t call there. Here on Niuatoputapu from what I’ve read and experienced this is about as close as you can get to what “true Tongan” culture is/was like, and I’ve been so I’ve been very warmly welcomed into a group largely unaffected by external forces, other than natural ones. They were for example hit by the tsunami I was in last year and are still busy rebuilding homes, roads, etc. But I've been very fortunate and pleased to be invited into their homes and lives and will be heading ashore in a few minutes to join in a Sunday Tongan feast that Cici and Niko are putting on. There is now one other boat that came in on Friday, “Navire” out of Wellington NZ with a very interesting couple, David originally Canadian but grew up since he was 13 in NZ and Janet. We had a fun afternoon hiking up to the highest point here on the island (some great photos to follow) and we've had each other over to our respective boats to enjoy the last 2 sunsets, some wine and good food. (she's an ex chef!)

Everyone ashore, population about 800 are a bit shy but very much want to engage and talk, the children especially. They speak their native Tongan language of course but all but a few are also extremely fluent in English and so the conversations are deep and rich. I’ve been able to barter some of my skills and tools for all their kindness helping Niko diagnose a poor V6 that was running as about a V2 and then pull the camshaft and crank pulley on a diesel van that has blown a timing belt. Fortunately I’m a bit of a travelling tool shop and tools are one of the biggest limitations here. The monthly supply ship came in yesterday and so it was a big day on the island for everyone to get their various supplies from food to building materials to diesel. Several large pallets of building supplies from the Red Cross also were unloaded as part of the ongoing rebuilding after the tsunami. The locals explained how the government workers who are here are busy repairing the roads, which are actually in quite good shape while most of the people are still living in tents or with tarpaulins over the remains of old buildings! Seems to be an all too typical mismatch between what the officials think priorities should be and what the local inhabitants do. Some things are rather universal in this world aren’t they!

I’m now just back from a delectable Tongan feast compliments of Cici’s long hours and ably assisted by Janet who was able to spend most of the morning, after church of course, learning some of the tips and tricks of Tongan dishes and cooking methods. We had a veritable feast of fish and pork (Iots of domesticated pigs running around here) that was done up in coconut milk wrapped in papagayo leaves then in banana leaves and cooked in a fire pit, along with tapioca root and breadfruit that was simply cooked as is in the fire pit as well. And then plenty of a papaya and coconut dish to add even more flavor and color. We ate this all, Cici, Niko, Janet, David and myself with some of their boys coming in and out, on the floor of the excellent new first part of their new home which Niko has built from the wood and other materials they were able to salvage from what was left behind after the tsunami waters cleared away.

So as you can see, I continue to lead an unexpectedly and undeservedly charmed life and am doing my best to wallow and live within each of its moments. But now it is time to head out for the next adventure, I’m leaving in about an hour to sail up to another small remote spot of a pair of island groups known as Wallace and Futuna, about 14S and 176W if you want to hunt them down. These are French overseas territory tied administratively to Noumea, New Caledonia with a total land area of about 93 sq. miles and a total population of about 15,000 spread out over many islands. One interesting thing about them is that the people of Wallis, or Uveans as they are called after the main island, are descended from Tongans, whereas those of Futuna originally came from Samoa. It will be most interesting to see the differences as I visit each one as they are equally different geographically as well apparently. I’m leaving late this afternoon (Sunday here) as I don’t want to get there and go into the rather tricky pass at Wallis until daylight and it should take me somewhere around 36-40 hours depending on the winds and currents. Forecast looks very good for the next few days with wind and seas mostly behind me and little chance of rain, so the window is open and I’m jumping through it.

Hope you are enjoying an equally great weekend wherever you are and whomever you’re with. I’ll post some updates while underway as usual and report back to you about my experiences in Wallis as they happen. I gain a day and lose 2 hours in the process due to the odd fact that Tonga uses Fijian time zone but I’ll likely head for Fiji later on as well so it will wall work out.

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
Aboard s/v Learnativity
15 56.485 S, 173 46.180 W
Falehau, NW lagoon of Niuatoputapu Island, North Tonga

Email: [email protected]
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LTY UPDATE: Wed, July 21, 2010 anchored at Niuatoputapu, Kingdom of Tonga

 
Wed, July 21st, 2010
17:30 LTY time (UTC +13) = 04:30 UTC
Location: Anchored at Niuatoputapu, northern most island of Kingdom of Tonga
Position: 15 56.485 S, 173 46.180 W (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
Wind: 15-20 SE
Seas: bit of wind wave inside harbor
Air temp: 85.2 F 29.6C
Sea temp: 83.3F 28.5C
Humidity: 76%
Barometer: 1019mm

NORTHERNMOST TONGA

** See photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/wayne.hodgins/NiuatoputapuTonga# for more pictures

I finally finished up all the repairs in Vava’u. The weather was back to being gray, overcast and rainy so it was a good time to be down in the engine room and I spent two whole days down there doing a number of jobs that I’ve been meaning to get to for a long time. Of course I finished installing the newly welded SS exhaust pipe and then tracked down a small exhaust water leak that had been avoiding me for months. Turned out to be some small pinholes on the welded seam of a SS 90 degree elbow that goes through the aft bulkhead. After trying some spot repairs I ended up just cutting the whole thing out and replacing it with a new fiberglass elbow and some new 3” exhaust hose I had on hand. Then I tracked down a transmission oil leak that had also been eluding me for months and finally found it on the hose to supplies pressure for the shaft brake that keeps the propeller shaft from turning when sailing and the engine is off. A very weird problem as it appears that there has been a fitting missing all along and the maintenance guys that did the overhaul when I bought the boat had somehow just threaded the hose into the transmission case. The proper fix requires a new fitting and hose which I don’t have but I was able to repair it with some epoxy “steel”, some SS wire and a hose clamps to be holding well so no more transmission fluid dripping into the bilge!! At the end of the day I was a greasy grimy mess from head to toe but an hours worth of scrubbing with lots of citrus hand cleaner had me back to being clean and smiling, though I was sure rather beat up with lots of scrapes and cuts on both hands and my upper body from squeezing into the transmission and exhaust area. Will be good to get back to sailing and beat myself up in different ways!

And so yesterday, Tuesday here, and as per the other updates you can see, I released the mooring ball lines and motor sailed out of Neiafu and out the NW pass into open ocean. I used the motor to give it a good run and be sure all the leaks were gone, which they were, and then shut it down and settled in for the sail up to Niuatoputapu, the northernmost island of the Tongan archipelago.

As we left the lee of Vava'u the wind picked up and continued to build the whole trip. The forecast had called for 15-20 but in the end it was up to gusts of almost 35 knots by the time I got to Niuatoputapu. I had sun for leaving Vava'u but the clouds continued move in and by mid-afternoon it was fully overcast and looked like rain storms up ahead to the north and west of us. The wind and seas continued to build all night, nothing too bad but certainly a fast, wet gray ride with wind over 25 most of the way. This speed had us arriving in Niuatoputapu just about 13:30 which was what I had hoped as I wanted to have good light overhead for the entrance through what is a narrow and shallow pass but I was a little bit concerned as the weather really closed in with rain and low visibility as I sailed up the eastern coast of this tiny island. However as if on cue, a long blue patch of sky came along just as I was approaching the NE corner and stayed around for the rest of the afternoon and made for perfect lighting as I negotiated small but well-marked little pass on the NW corner. The small natural harbor offers reasonable protection from the SE trades that are really blowing right now, but the land is mostly just coconut jungle and so not too much height and the wind is blowing quite strong where I'm anchored, but we are well protected from the seas and the wind is all the better for the wind generator. With my new bank of solar panels (now have six for a total of 780Watts) plus the wind generator I only ran the generator once since leaving Niue almost 3 weeks ago and so my new energy setup is working very well.

Once inside the harbor here at Niuatoputapu Island, I motored over to the very small concrete dock that some of the guides said you could tie to while checking in but it was too small and the wind was too strong to tie Learnativity up there so I just anchored in about 35 feet to a nice sandy bottom. This is a VERY small island with only about 800 total population and they lie off the beaten path for most cruisers with Western and American Samoa off to the East and Vava’u to the south and I wasn’t sure what they would have ashore for officials. I tried to call them on my VHF radio but didn’t get any response so was busy tidying up the cockpit from the passage when someone called “the big sailboat in the harbor” and it was a gentleman who introduced himself as “Nikko” and could he help me with checking in? So ashore I went in the dingy and Nikko picked me up in his 4x4 and took me into “town”. It was a big help as it turned out for the official building was about 4 or 5 kilometers away and would have been a bit of a walk. There really isn’t a town per se, just a lot of people living along the one main road here in small houses and shacks with lots of pigs, horses and dogs about. The official buildings are all grouped together including the school buildings for about 400 students apparently, and I had a great conversation with the people who were looking after immigration, customs and health and soon had both my check in and check out papers all done and my passport stamped for leaving Tonga. Not sure how long I’ll stay here, will depend on how the weather up ahead but you can’t check out on weekends so I wanted to get my exit papers looked after today and be able to go, likely either Friday or on the weekend.

As he was driving me around Nikko mentioned, not that he needed to, that his truck wasn’t running very well. Basically it seemed to be running on about two of its six cylinders and he wanted to know if I knew anything about motors or if there were other cruisers headed this way that might. After all the checking in was done we stopped at his house and I had a look and was able to find out that his distributor cap and rotor were a real mess with only two electrodes left showing inside the distributor cap. I cleaned it all up as best I could and wrote down the parts he would need and he will try to order these and have the next supply ship that comes about once a month bring them for him.
During this time I met his wife and three teenage boys. They try to help look after the yachties that arrive here; only about 100-125 annually he says and they try to help find some local fruit and vegetables if they can some well water and also offer pot luck on Sundays at their house. As I said this is a VERY small and remote spot so no stores or services to speak of. But tomorrow Nikko offered to take me around to the other side of the island where his plantation is and get some papaya and bananas. He assures me he has more than enough for him and his family and if that’s true I’ll take some on board for the next passage up to Wallis and Futuna islands.

Well, I’m a still feeling aches and pains and bruises from the repair work down in Vava’u and the raucous passage up here so I’m going to head down below for a quick diner and then off to bed with Miss Ruby. Will explore here more in the next few days and enjoy what is apparently one of the only genuine Tongan islands and population left. Great to be back underway and I’ll be back with more after explorations here and when we take off for Wallis, another very remote and rarely visited country island NNW of here.

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
Aboard s/v Learnativity

Email when near shore : [email protected]
Email @ sea: [email protected]
FaceBook page for updates @ www.facebook.com/wayne.hodgins
Learnativity blog @ www.learnativity.typepad.com
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Skype: whodgins
Twitter: WWWayne
Text (140 character max) messages to: [email protected]

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The Wonders of Niue and Friends

OK, back to my time ashore and learning more about Niue first hand.

SWISS SERENDIPITY & SYNCHRONICITY:

As wonderful as Niue certainly is, one of the best things of all was that I got to explore it with my dear friend and fellow single handed sailor Philip, who is from Zurich Switzerland on his very fast and sleek OutReemer catamaran “Blue Bie”.  Philip and I first met when we both sailed into Salenas Ecuador at the same time and were waiting outside the entrance to the marina to go in.  We had lunch together while waiting for some of the officials, really hit it off and have been kindred spirits and stayed in close touch with each other ever since.  We went our separate ways after leaving Ecuador but found ourselves together again in Polynesia and ended up anchoring near each other in Papeete, Morea, and Bora Bora as we explored that area for a few weeks.  Philip decided to go north for the hurricane season so he headed up for Hawaii while I went west to Suvarov and American Samoa and then turned south with stops at Nuku’alofa in the Kingdom of Tonga and a surreal few days (see Oct.2009 LTY blog entry) in Minerva Reef on my way to Whangarei New Zealand. 

Philip and I stayed in regular contact via Skype, Twitter, Emails and our blogs, and I knew he had changed his plans from going further north in Canada to heading back to the South Pacific, but I hadn’t been able to reach him for the past month.  However when I was able to get online here in Niue I got some of his automated Tweet locations and knew he was heading further south and west through Penrhyn, Fanning and Cook Islands.  With my delays for repairs and weather in leaving Whangarei I figured that the serendipity and synchronicity factors were rising for us to meet up again and sure enough, on Thursday afternoon as I was out on the deck working on the boom fitting, I heard Philip’s unmistakable voice and accent on the VHF radio as he called in from off shore with his approach to Niue!  Spotting Blue Bie as she rounded the south west corner I jumped into my dingy and went out to welcome him, and his crewmate Loly, to Niue.  This is one of the best things about this sailing and cruising life is forming such serendipitous friendships and then synchronistically having our wakes cross as we get to share yet another anchorage and time together.

Philip has a lovely lady from Paris France, Loly, who started crewing with him in Hawaii and the three of us rented a car for the weekend and spent all of it driving around the 65km circumference and inner roads and trekking down the many small pathways down to coastal caves, pools and arches. 

It is impossible and would take me far too many words to try to explain and tell you about all we saw so I’ll instead let the pictures below tell most of the story for you. 

 

The short version is that with the help of a well detailed local map, Philip’s Lonely Planet book, and Loly’s expert navigating, we were able to find these all but hidden trails that led us down to some of the most amazing sights.

Below is a photo album so you can hopefully get some sense of just how magical this place is.  You’ll see magnificent limestone arches carved out by the waves, freshwater pools to reward a challenging vertical climb down inside a cave, other world like coastal areas covered in jagged peaks of worn away coral, spectacular stalagmite and stalactite filled caves and just generally nothing but unique and awemazing sights. 

View Full Album

Some of the hikes were short and easy with steps, ropes and pathways.  Others were much longer and more strenuous as we barely found our way through barely discernable paths hacked through the jungle of growth including lots of overhead roots running down into the ground all around us.  We needed to mark our way in with leaves and other markers in order to find our way out, but this one lead us to the underground freshwater cave that Philip and climbed down to and went swimming in to discover some of the other underwater caves below.

 

 

We spent all Saturday covering all the points around the south and eastern coasts from Alofi where we are moored and then all day Sunday doing the north and western ones.  Two VERY full and fun days and I certainly slept well after each one. 

Hope the pictures give you a better sense of what this was like and you may want to fire up Google Earth to fly around and see more that way.  In any case do enjoy!  We sure did.

Non Stop Novelties on Niue

After an early morning arrival in Niue (June 21, 2010) I ended up putting in a very full Monday to Friday work week looking after the priority boat jobs that needed attending to after the fast and furious sail up here from Whangarei NZ and this was just much too dangerously close to resembling a regular work week so i decided to take the weekend off to explore the wonders of this small island country.  As it turned out I needed to get back to work on LTY to get a rest as the weekend was non stop hiking up and down coral trails, trekking through dense jungle growth, climbing up and down caves and snorkeling in pools and coastal caves. But more on that in a separate posting to follow.

NIUE INFO:

Niue (see this link for a good overview and map) is referred to as the largest uplifted atoll in Polynesia and is about 260 square kilometers in area and about 65km in circumference. 

Niue is absolutely gravid with fascinating facts and places to explore.  For example, Philip and I have been discussing and pondering just how this island formed and how to account for the very unique “ground”, which consists of nothing but broken up pieces of very sharp and rough old coral. Some of these pieces are huge boulders, some are the actual island base itself that makes up the whole coast and some are smaller sizes down to fist size or so.  This coral is literally ALL there is everywhere; every trail, every cliff, every jungle floor and every part of the coast. 

If you are interested in more, I was able to find some of the answers on a fascinating and extremely informative web site at http://www.seafriends.org.nz/niue/geo.htm which included this graphic of the most likely scenario.  This site is extremely informative and I’m still in the process of learning from it.  Did you know for example that the surface of the ocean is far from flat or even and has very large dips up to 10m depending on what is below it?  This is apparently caused by the difference in the gravitational pull between the water and the earth in different locations.  From the site here’s what that means:

 

One of Seasat's instruments was a radar altimeter, able to measure the ocean's surface from an altitude about 500 miles up, with a precision of 5-10 cm. Surprisingly, the surface of the ocean proved to be curving and dipping, often by as much as 10m up and down (for 5000m bottom relief). When mapped, the dips corresponded to dips in the sea floor and the bumps to sea mounts and ridges. The precision of the measurements allowed computers to make precise and detailed maps of the entire world's ocean floors.
The reason these dips and bumps occur in the ocean's floor, without ships ever being able to notice these, comes from the force with which two substance attract one another - the heavier earth's crust attracting the lighter and fluid water. Thus undersea mountains pull water towards them, resulting in a surface bump, whereas ocean trenches have the opposite effect.

  Who knew? And how cool is it that “we” can measure and map, in part, the ocean floor by measuring these dips and changes in level of the ocean by satellite.  NOW do you understand why I called my boat Learnativity and how seriously fun it is to be learning a living?!!

Busy Work Week in Niue: A Recap

A week has flown by already as Learnativity, Ruby and I enjoy the wonders of this small island country called Niue, snuggled next to the western shore safely tethered to one of the excellently maintained Niue Yacht Club mooring balls.  The week has been very full with a combination of looking after some of the repairs required from the fast and furious trip up from New Zealand and some time to explore ashore.  Here is a quick recap for you:

* Note: My net connection here is very tenuous and am not able to upload pictures right now, but I'll keep trying and WILL get them here for you ASAP

We arrived in the wee hours of Monday morning June 21st, which seemed fitting for it to be solstice, winter in our case so the shortest day of the year.  I actually had the good fortune to have two of them as we crossed over the international date line and had June 21 on one side and then again on the other when we reset the clock and calendar.  For those keeping track we are now on UTC –11  However I’ll loose that day again when I leave here and start heading West again and cross back over the date line so I guess it all equals out and a day is a day here for me where calendars and watches are not used very often.

The sail up from Whangarei New Zealand was great, both just to finally be back on Mother Ocean and underway, as well as to have such fast and furious conditions with wind never under 20 and up as much as 40 but all quite favorable with it behind me for the first half and then just far enough off the bow to let me sail pretty much the heading I wanted into Niue.  I set several records for sailing with my first 200nm day (24 hours) which means LTY averaged over 8 knots!  Amazing and with a following sea and winds for most of it, it was all very comfortable as well, at least for me.

Mary, who as you may recall joined us for the sail to Niue after the two other boats she was supposed to be crewing on fell through, had a rough start and didn’t see much more than her cabin for the first three days but recovered very well for the remainder of the crossing to Niue and was able to fulfill her goal of completing a long sailing passage.  Although she has had extensive marine experience and time on boats of all types, much more than I, this was her first long passage on a sailboat and so was quite an experience for her.  Once she recovered her sea legs (and stomach) Mary took over the galley with a flourish and was a great chef, able to whip up some delicious meals in the galley no matter the conditions and I was thoroughly spoiled with Mary’s great cooking and recipes with a delightful new range of spices and ingredients which I thoroughly enjoyed and were much different than what I would have made.  Ruby was even more pleased to have another person to snuggle with and be especially spoiled with some of the dishes she got to lick clean.  So it was a lovely luxury of not having to do all my own cooking and made the passage all the better. 

Once we reached Niue, Mary decided it was time to move on to her next adventure and so I took her ashore on Thursday and the next day she was fortunate enough to get on the one the few seats on the flight each week from Niue to Auckland, which is booked solid for the next months. 

Thanks for joining us Mary and may fair winds and following seas be with you for all your future voyages.

As usual I learned a lot from the whole experience, and having someone on board for a long passage showed me just how different single handed sailing is and how much I enjoy it and it seems to just fit me right.  After having three very different passengers in three very different situations over the past two years, what I’ve learned is that I prefer sailing single handed with two exceptions; friends and family who come to visit and my soul mate when I find her.  Having friends and family aboard several times in the past two years has been a wonderful experience and added immeasurably to my overall experiences by being able to share and enjoy them with this company.  Usually we don’t do much actual sailing as most prefer to just enjoy the environment of the boat, pull the plug on the rest of the world and just kick back and enjoy our time together in what are always great locations and cultures.  I’m forever thankful to all my family and friends who have made the significant effort to get to Learnativity and join Admiral Ruby and I for part of this grand adventure and I look forward to many more.

When I find my soul mate it would be wonderful if she likes sailing too and wants to come aboard and continue the voyages ahead together, but when I meet her we’ll let serendipity and synchronicity guide us as to where, when and how to make our way through life.  Oh, and if you meet my her before I do, please give her my contact info and let her know that she can contact me with anything from a knock on the hull to a Tweet so we can get started! <g>

Meanwhile, back on the good ship Learnativity the job list was calling my name VERY loudly and it has been a VERY busy week attending to the top priority items on that list.  There is a saying I heard years ago that cruising is the art of sailing your boat from one exotic repair destination to the next, and that has turned out to be quite true AND thoroughly enjoyable and part of what makes this all fit me so well.  While there are certainly moments that are frustrating, overall it is an intense, deeply satisfying and rewarding feeling to have the total dependence I do upon my sailboat and her total dependence upon me to keep her ship shape.  As each day passes and as figure out how to solve each problem that comes up, I understand a little bit better that special bond that sailors speak of between their boats and themselves.  Another one of those things which you can only truly understand and learn experientially and I am SO thankful for this new understanding and learning which Learnativity brings to me each day.

This week’s top priorities of things which need fixing before we set sail from here, included welding the broken boom goose neck fitting (the joint that attaches the boom with the mainsail to the mast), fixing the bent and detached jib sheet T-track and repairing the jib sail tears and bent brace.  The boom fitting repair is a story in itself so I’ll tell you that one in a separate post.  The port side jib car track is an aluminum T track that lets you adjust the fore/aft position of the pulley for the lines from the forward sail and it had pulled four of the bolts that fasten it to the steel deck right out and bent the track quite badly trapping the car/pulley in that spot.  I hadn’t noticed this at the time it happened but was likely a combination of some of the very strong forces on this sheet (line) in some of the strong winds in the second half of the trip up here and my error is positioning the car too far forward for the conditions and putting on too much tension in the line such that the force was pulling straight up and not at an angle.  Not a difficult repair, just lots of hours to remove it and  the 22 bolts, grind and repair the spots where the adhesive sealing the track bolts pulled away the paint and then refastening and bedding it all back in place.  With the help of my dear friend and fellow single handed sailor Philip on Blue Bie (more on him later) I was able to bend this back into place and fasten it all down and got that all finished yesterday (June 28, 2010), exactly one week after arriving in Niue.  Today the wind is down and so I should be able to attend to the jib sail (forward most sail) which has two nasty tears in it from a bent aluminum brace on the clew (bottom rear corner of a sail) which I also need to bend back in place and file all smooth so it won’t tear anything in the future.  I should be able to get this done today (Tues 29th) and that will have me ready to sail on to the next adventure, which look likely to be tomorrow or Thursday with the way the wind forecasts are looking.  Next port of call will be Vava’u in the northern end of the Kingdom of Tonga.

After such a busy work week and the arrival of Philip, I decided to take the weekend off and head ashore to discover the wonders of this little hunk of up turned coral called Niue and I’ll post those stories and amazing pictures next.

w
a
yne
=====

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
Aboard s/v Learnativity
19° 03' 289"S 169° 55' 438"E
Alofi, Niue

Email:    [email protected]
Email @ sea:  [email protected]
FaceBook page for updates @ www.facebook.com/wayne.hodgins
Learnativity blog @    www.learnativity.typepad.com
OCOT blog @ http://waynehodgins.typepad.com
Skype:    whodgins
Twitter:  WWWayne

Wonderful Whangarei

Some of you have been asking about Whangarei, the great river town and marina where Learnativity has been moored here in New Zealand since the end of October.  So below are some shots that I’ve taken over that time.  While it is still much too cold for me after coming to find how much I prefer the tropical climes I’ve been in for the past two years, this has been a great spot for Learnativity for while we wait out the all too long hurricane season up in the South Pacific.

For those of you into sailing and boat building, this is where Steve Dashew chose to have his new FPB 64 boats built.

You can get more details here about the Town Basin Marina where we are have been staying all this time and the owners, Brian and Sharron could not be nicer.  Whangarei is one of the marine and boat building centers of the world so there is a great selection of very skilled tradespeople here as well as every kind of part and supplies I’ve ever needed.  Learnativity is on what they call a “pole mooring” where there are sets of telephone poles sticking up from the bottom and I tie lines from my bow and stern on each side up to a set of are four of these.  There are tires which float around each pole where my lines attach and these all goes up and down with the tide swings, which are quite large here, about 2-3meters.  Makes for a very secure and peaceful setup.  To get ashore I just row my dingy about 200meters over to the other side of the river to the dinghy dock at the Town Basin Marina office.  Works great and other than being much too long away from the open ocean and sailing and hot weather, it has been super place to be.

The people are great, there is a very modern and well stocked grocery store “Pak n Save” just across the street from the marina and very good wine store right beside it.  Pretty much everything I’ve needed so far has been within walking distance or a short ride on my bike.  There are regular busses that go to Auckland each day and I’ve taken those several times to get to the Auckland airport and to visit friends there.  However on the last trip I discovered that when you fly Air New Zealand all inland flights to Auckland are free so this last trip I flew direct from Whangarei to Auckland.

Here on the river it feels like a very small and picturesque town with almost a Disneyland look (in a good way) to it at first as they have fixed up the whole riverside walk beside where I am moored.  But as I’ve explored it more and more over the past few months by foot and bicycle I’ve discovered it is quite a large city.  Some of the shots below I took while replacing my wind transducer up at the top of the mast so you can get a good view of the river, and others are from the deck and from ashore.

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Marvelous Monday

WOW!  What a Monday and start to my week here in Pago Pago, American Samoa.  Hard to believe that it has been a week since fateful tsunami Tuesday.

It was slow start as I awoke early only to find that our Wi-Fi was still out, having strangely disappeared last night.  Ever the optimist I leashed up the very happy to be going for a walk Ruby and headed over to the McDonalds ashore which had just opened on the weekend because they used to (B4 tsunami) have a great set of Wi-Fi signals, both their own network plus a super strong BlueSky signal which is the other network I bought time on when I first arrived.  I ordered an espresso, opened up the trusty laptop and Voila! we have a net connection!  It was on and working better than ever and since the tsunami they've made it open and free for all.  So I got all my mail from last night out, picked up some new ones, checked on flight options and then headed into town to see if I could book my flights for the upcoming trip to the USA, call NZ for a conversation with the authorities there about importing Ruby, see what was up with the state telco Wi-Fi we use in the marina and pick up some supplies.

Ended up taking me 4 hours on the phone to look after all my flight reservations, but they are now done and I'm all set, along with Ruby, to fly back to MCO on Nov.3rd.  Next, over to the state telco office, have them check and yes their Wi-Fi is down and they have someone working on it.  No ETA for the repair but ASAP.  Back to the phones for more calls, pick up some food supplies and finally, about 2pm walked back to the marina.

As I approach LTY what to my wondering eyes should appear?  A big stack of boxes which to my eyes brought a tear! 

I figured that Murphy's Law or some postulate would apply and there would be some packages still missing, but low and behold ALL remaining boxes were there!  From Saint Paul of West Marine there were 5 boxes: 3 solar panels, a bicycle and a box with windex, port LED light, and hand held depth sounder.  And from Santa John were two boxes with stove burners, winch parts, wind cups, grinder and some extra special cards from "our" shared kids.  And to top it all off there was the box that I came here for in the first place, all my transmission rebuild parts!!

With that, the decision was instantly made to leave in the morning and so I dashed off with my new passenger Chris from the likely to be written off Biscayne Bay boat to start the check out procedure, see about getting fuel, and head over the other side of the island where there is a CostULess to do all our provisioning for the month's crossing to NZ.  After many kilometers of walking back and forth between the offices we had our passports stamped and 80% of our check out procedure complete.  We need to go back at 7am tomorrow to finish the rest as the computer that prints our exit visa was down.  A few more walking marathons to find out we can’t get fuel till Wednesday as the HUGE tanker bringing fuel to the island will be taking up the whole fuel dock till Thursday and the deliver trucks have not been approved by the USCG yet to deliver fuel after the tsunami.  We’ll leave without topping up as I have plenty of fuel for the rest of the way to NZ if need be and can probably get some in Niue or Tonga.  We then got to rest our pooped puppies by taking one of the ever present bus/trucks that will take you anywhere on the island for a dollar out to the CostULess warehouse grocery store on the other side of the island where we could by all our provisions for the upcoming trip to NZ.  We drove by the massive Red Cross emergency aid supply station with hundreds upon hundreds of large plastic red and white coolers stacked up under tents and I assume filled with blood and other emergency supplies.  All the fields and buildings around the airport were equally covered with pallet after pallet of plastic wrapped boxes of more supplies. 

CostULess was a phenomenal find with selection and prices to match Costco and the like in North America and Chris and I filled two large shopping carts to the brim with all the food we’ll need for the next month.  We somehow managed to get this all into the small jeep taxi we hired and made it back to the boat just after dark.  With some help from our friends we did the human bucket brigade to move all the supplies below and I started to stow it all away into the nooks and crannies of fortunately voluminous Learnativity.  Lisa and Gary from Biscayne Bay had invited us out for a farewell diner at one of the local restaurants/hotels that was now open, “Sadie's by the Sea” and we enjoyed a wonderful meal by the lapping sea shore as we reflected upon the incredible experiences we have just shared and just how fortunate we really are to be at this table together, alive and well, ready for what life has to offer us next and so much richer for our new learnings and friendships..

Now I am back on Learnativity late tonight, the Wi-Fi is back up working, I’ve got most of the packages unpacked and stored and I'm a little shell shocked from the wonderful turn of events and having everything fall so suddenly into place.

Words can not express my thanks and appreciation I owe to the phenomenal effort of my state side shore support, John and Paul, for all their efforts to make this all happen.  It is second only to the other tireless workers here in AS who are still pulling 15-18 hour shifts trying to get all the supplies moving into and out of this island and onto others nearby.  Thanks guys!  Let's start planning where and when we are going to meet up for lunch or diner when I get back to Florida in November so I can thank you in person, swap our respective stories and toast the wonders of living while you are alive.

Learnativity will set sail southwards in the morning.  I have not had time to work out the routing just yet, but tentatively plan to head first for the small island nation of Niue to experience some of the clearest water visibility in the world and dive some of its underwater caves and grottos.  Then likely Westward to the southernmost part of the Tonga chain; Tongatapa/Nuku'alofa where we’ll prep for the jump south to Whangarei on the North island of New Zealand. 

I’ll be doing my best to post updates here along the way and keep you all informed as we go.  Approximate ETA in Whangarei is end of October.

Right now though, I’ve got more stuff to stow and some sleep to bank in prep for the upcoming voyages.

Wayne

Doing the Tsunami Tango in American Samoa: Part III

I’m not quite sure of the timing, but about 11am, four hours after the mayhem started on this fateful Tuesday, Sept. 29th, I decided that the surges were down enough and not coming back so I headed for the dock and tied Learnativity to the outside and jumped ashore to help others who were following my lead in.  I was anxious to find Gary and Chris who I’d not seen in the past hour while I was circling out in the bay and also to see what assistance I could provide to others who were looking for lost crewmembers as well as the whole situation ashore.

On American Samoa, as with most other islands the only real road is the one which circles the coastal circumference so it is all very close to sea level.  Normal sea level that is.  When the tsunami hit, the water rose up to a level about 5’ above the roadway and several hundred feet inland.  It cleaned out everything in its path, picking up vehicles and dropping them inside buildings and culverts. If the buildings were concrete and well built, the water neatly emptied all their contents, if not it simply washed away the entire building.  Cars were strewn everywhere as if some giant hand picked up the island and gave it a good shake.  As you walked up to the road there were manta rays, eels and tuna still flopping about on the dry pavement desperately searching for their watery homes.  Several hardware stores along the road had been emptied and tools were strewn everywhere.  Much of the edge of the water was lined with chain link fencing which had acted like a sieve and was now a colorful mosaic chockablock full of a plastic, paper, wood and weeds.

By the time I got up to the road though, people were already pitching in to help others in need and soon people started to clean up the mess that was everywhere.  Traffic was at a standstill of course with vehicles all over the road, wrapped around trees, sticking out of doorways and windows and parked in culverts.  Many had simply been washed into the bay.  There were injured people everywhere and soon the sirens began and continued on through the night and the next few days as more were found amongst the wreckage and on the sides.  Miraculously to me no fires had broken out which was a good thing as there was fuel and oil everywhere.  The gas station immediately behind the dock had all four of its pumps knocked clean off their foundations as cars had floated by and the water rose up over them.  Now they spewed raw gasoline and diesel out of their amputated pipes.  While out in the bay the smell of diesel, gas and oil was overwhelming as most of the large fishing and commercial ships that were swept away had ruptured their tanks and the water was slick with petroleum. 

I wanted so much to head for the West end of the bay to find Gary and Biscayne Bay and help them find Biscayne Bay, as well as see if Ruby had survived.  But I dare not leave Learnativity alone and there was so much to do on the docks trying to help those whose boats were still there and those who were missing crew members.  Gary actually showed up aboard Joan’s boat Mainly to help her dock it and there was still no sign or word of Dan.  And so the afternoon progressed as we all pitched in and drifted from one job to the next; cleaning, consoling, assessing and trying to comprehend what had just happened.  With son Jake on board Biscayne Bay to keep watch as looting had already begun on ships and ashore, Chris and Gary went back and forth between Learnativity and Biscayne Bay in the dingy, moving all their belongings and food aboard Learnativity as I invited them to live with me for the next while.

 

As we shuttled all their belongings from one boat to the other we decided to try to get Biscayne Bay back into the water and if she was not taking on water to try to bring her back to the dock.  Gary and Chris went back to the boat and with the help of some others and the next big surge, miraculously got her upright and off the mud bank and bottom into deeper water.  She was taking on some water, but it was minimal and the bilge pumps would be able to keep up with it.  The engine would start but something was wrapped around the prop or shaft or both and they were locked up solid.  There was limited steering but with a 25HP outboard on his dingy, Gary was able to push and shove her all the way up the bay and around the end of the concrete dock.  With Chris at the wheel and Gary using the dingy as a mini tug boat, Jake threw me the bow line as she raced toward the dock and I was able to wrap the line around one of the large steel bollards and with a final crunch against the dock she was back home.  It was hard to believe that only 8 hours earlier this crunched and battered dear boat had been quietly tied up next to Learnativity in pristine condition.

The search continued for our missing comrade cruiser Dan and with no sign of him by mid afternoon Joan went to the hospital and sadly arrived just as they were bringing Dan’s body to the morgue.  His body had washed up at the west end of the bay.  So difficult to comprehend all this.  How is it possible that at 7am you are sipping your first morning coffee together as a happy retired couple in the cockpit of your sailboat docked in paradise on the cruise you’ve dreamed of and worked for your whole life, and then minutes later be washed off the dock never to be seen again?  We all did out best to be with Joan as she worked her way through such questions and did what we could to be supportive and consoling.  Her boat would not start now for some reason and we were all anxious to ensure that our boats were ready to go at a moments notice should another tsunami strike and so several of us went aboard to set it right.  There was no shortage of skilled mechanics and electricians and we all provided tools and labor and Jack stayed aboard to find it was a bad solenoid and soon had it replaced so at least Mainly was back in working order.  Hearts and minds would require different tools, techniques and time before they would be so mended.

  Learnativity, Ruby and I came through it all pretty much unscathed.  Just the stainless tubing bow pulpit had been ripped apart and so I set about removing it and seeing what could be done to repair it.  It was beyond repair and so I salvaged the running lights and then set about using some low stretch line I had to create a makeshift set of lifelines to enclose the bow. 

Fortunately none of this is structural or will prevent me from continuing to sail to New Zealand where there will be lots of facilities to build a new one.  And I was planning on building a whole new dual anchor setup and sprit on the bow which would require a new pulpit anyway.  I just didn’t plan on removing the old one quite so soon.  Mother Nature apparently had a different schedule and I didn’t get the memo.

Gary and family were back onboard Biscayne Bay assessing the damage for the rest of the afternoon and it didn’t look good.  The more you looked the more structural damage and failed systems you found.  It was floating and they decided they could sleep aboard that night but I had them over for diner and cooked up a big feed of salad (expertly assembled by Chris) and my tummy filling spicy spaghetti and meatballs.  None of us had eaten all day and now with a chance to relax just a bit, the hunger and exhaustion set in.  We spent most of the evening quietly reflecting upon the day, dissecting it and discussing this extraordinary and harrowing experience.  I think it was very therapeutic for each of us as our minds started to deal with the reality of what all had taken place on this eventful day and what we would need to do in the aftermath of the days ahead.  Sleep was both restful and fitful for most of us that night.

Writing this now, two days later, we have continued in this pattern of cleanup, helping each other, repair and restoration of both ships, shore and souls.  It will be a long process for all of these.  The local people have continued to astound me with their genuine kindness and generosity.  In spite of great loss of life all over the island we have had a steady stream of people binging us cases of bottled drinking water, boxed lunches and cooked diners. 

In the span of two days I’ve witnessed the full spectrum of both human and mother nature and I’ve learned so many life lessons.  It is no where near a complete list, but to finish up this posting I’ll share a few of the lessons I’ve learned through this experience.

Some Lessons I Learned from the Tsunami in Pago Pago:

• It may sound trite but it is SO true that you never know when the last time will be for most things.  Living in the moment, maximizing every opportunity, are attitude and behavior to live by rather than cute phrases and platitudes.
• When it is all said and done, people, friendship and relationships are all that really matter.
• The best place to be when trouble or disaster strikes is ON your boat and out in open water.  Get there and stay there at almost any cost.
• I’ve renewed my conviction and love for steel boats.
• In times of great stress and disaster, human nature is on full spectrum display and is the same in all places and cultures.
• Put your faith and optimism in people.  There is much more good in the world than evil, many more good people than bad.
• A big powerful working engine in a sailboat is a safety device.  Make sure it is always at the ready.
• Mother Nature is a majestic and powerful force on a scale that is truly humbling.  It is likely a good thing to be reminded from time to time just how small and puny we are.
• Technology, especially communication technology is vastly under rated and under appreciated for how profound a difference it can make.
• Sat phones are essential safety devices for world cruisers.
• If are ever in the vicinity of a large underwater seismic eruption either get on a boat and head for open water or head inland as high and as quickly as you can.

I hope that by sharing some of these experiences I’ve been able in some small way to help others learn lessons of their own.  I’m off to bed now for a few hours to let my head sort through more of this experience and get some rest before another busy day of dealing with the aftermath of this extraordinary life and learning experience.

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
aboard the good ship Learnativity
docked in Pago Pago Harbor
14 16.514S  170 41.554W

Doing the Tsunami Tango in American Samoa: Part I

Whew!  Now THAT was a full day!  As most of you will know by now I am in Pago Pago Harbor in American Samoa and yesterday (Tues Sept. 29, 2009) we took a direct hit from the tsunami effect caused by the undersea volcanic eruption that took place about 130nm south of here.  Reports seem to estimate it at 8.0-8.3 on the Richter scale so that counts as quite significant I think; certainly was on the Wayne scale!

** Paste my lat/long 14 16.514S 170 41.554W into Google Earth to see for yourself.  This is obviously be the "before" photo and we'll have to wait for the next satellite pass to see the "after"

I’m writing this a day later (Wed afternoon) now that I have a bit more time as things have calmed down a bit, both in terms of water action and more recently all the work in dealing with the aftermath.  Many of you have been able to follow this via various means thanks to the efforts of my main man ashore and overall phenomenal resource; John Alonso in Florida.  Shortly after escaping from the docks where Learnativity was tied up, I was able to get a few satellite phone connections and both talk to John as well as text him while I did my best to deal with the constant draining and then refilling of the harbor and dodge the endless onslaught of other ships, mostly empty, derelict hulls, containers, docks, oil drums and every other sort of debris you can imagine.  John was then able to relay these to all of you via Twitter and Emails and I can’t thank him enough for helping to get the word out and let everyone know what was going on here.  Now that I’ve got a bit more time let me start at the beginning and take you through the day of September 29th, 2009 on the good ship Learnativity.

I am up as usual about 6:30 and getting ready to go for my morning shower up on the deck when I became aware of a low frequency thrumming that I could both hear and feel.  This continued and my first thought was that there was a large freighter or other ship nearby and I was simply feeling the effects of its large propellers churning the water.  Stepping up into the cockpit to look around there was nothing in sight and it was otherwise the start of another day in paradise with the verdant hills surround Pago Pago Harbor rising up steeply all around me and piercing the few clouds in an otherwise brilliant blue sky.  The calm harbor waters stretched out as Learnativity tugged gently on her dock lines securing us to the large concrete wharf where we have been docked in about 15’ of water since arriving on Friday afternoon and joined about six other sailboats and cruisers from Australia, USA and Canada.  

But what IS that vibration??  It is about 06:50 as I step off the boat onto the concrete dock to see if it was perhaps just on Learnativity or the water?  No, it continued and was intensifying if anything.  Having experienced several other quakes including Mount St. Helens and the big quake in San Francisco and LA in the 90’s I began to suspect this as the source however it was too gentle and going on too long for my understanding of what an earthquake feels like.  And I can HEAR it as much as feel it.  Over a minute has gone by now and as I look ashore in search of other points of reference sure enough I can see that the lamp posts and telephone poles are waving back and forth like they were blades of grass in a gentle breeze.  Hmmm, I’ve only seen poles move like that once before and that was as I looked outside my office window in Sausalito during the 1989 Loma Preita earthquake.  OK, it may be different but I’ve solved the riddle and we got ourselves an earthquake.

A few of my fellow cruisers (people who live aboard their boats while cruising the world) have been awakened and are crawling sleepily out of their beds and joining me on the concrete wharf.  The mood is typically easy and friendly as we say quietly say good morning, compare notes and discuss just what’s going on.  The thrumming continues through most of this and I’d estimate at least 3 minutes in total.  We agree it must have been an earthquake and Gary, an Australian from Freemantle on his 52’ Irwin “Biscayne Bay” with wife Lisa, son Jake and Canadian crewmember Chris, joins us and tells that he has just checked it out online and found reports filed under “latest earthquake” of an underwater eruption about 20 minutes ago 130nm south of us

We continued to casually chat and discuss how unique the characteristics were.  None of us had ever experienced an undersea eruption or other such disturbances on our boats and we just left it at that as we dispersed back to our boats for breakfast and one person casually joked that we should just watch for any big wave we see.  No such wave ever materialized, it was much worse.

Just as I was bout to step back onto my boat it started to drop.  Huh?  Before I could even comprehend what was happening it then started to rapidly lean sideways as the dock lines strain and screech, tightening more and more as they take on the full weight of my very heavy steel home.  My instincts scream GET ON THE BOAT!   I jump aboard and grab onto the rigging as she continues to lean more and more and more.  THUD! Holy #^%& we are hard over on our side and ……. WHAT the …..?  the bottom of the bay is staring back at me as I dangle by one hand from the rigging. 

My mind  is cycling through every possible explanation, trying to come to terms with all the inputs and amongst the cacophony of sights and sounds as boats smash around me, deck lines snap, rigging strains.  These sounds are overlaid and an ominous and enormous rushing and sucking sound as the water all around my boat suddenly drains away! 

But a new noise, like fingernails across a blackboard divert my attention to the near vertical deck and I see poor Ruby (my 2 year old cockapoo and sailing companion) trying in vain to dig her claws into the steel deck, her legs thrashing like a cartoon animation character as she gathers speed going the other way and her tail end is headed for all the fish I now see and hear flopping around on the bottom of the bay as they search of their missing watery home.

Ruby’s a gonner if she leaves the boat so I let go of the rigging, do my best imitation of a full 180 mid air flip and lunge after her with one outstretched hand and desperately reach out with the other in the hopes of grabbing some other hand hold.  Just as Ruby is launched off the deck I get a right handful of the scruff of her neck and harness as my left hand wraps itself around the lifeline cable.  No time to think, just act.  Ruby in hand I scramble up to the opposite (Port) high side of the deck.  All hell is breaking loose around me both on my boat and all the others and I’m not going to be able to do much with one hand.  I look up above me and spot Jake, Gary’s son (14) standing on the edge of the wharf looking down at me and I yell “Jake!  Catch!” and throw Ruby up to his thankfully open arms.  He makes a great catch, Ruby is in good hands and I’ve got both of mine back.

Interesting how we all react differently.  Back aboard Biscayne Bay, Gary and family have been below making breakfast, when they notice the concrete dock rushing up past their porthole windows as if they were in an elevator shaft.  Their boat is in much deeper water around the corner from where I Learnativity is docked, so they are going straight down, lines straining, fiberglass crunching and that ever present surreal sucking sound all around.  Gary’s reaction, understandably is to GET OUT! and so they all dash up into the cockpit and scramble up the vertical wall of concrete and rubber tires as Gary pushes and shoves each of them up onto the top of the concrete wharf.

The sucking sound stops.

There is a moment of seeming silence that you’d think would be comforting but you’d be wrong.  It’s ominous.  And then a new set of sounds begin.  The volume with a ferocious velocity.  Faster than it has left, all that water is now coming back!  All the problems reverse.  Learnativity rights itself and is now rocketing skyward.  I grab my always-on-my-belt knife and dash down the port side from bow to stern slashing all the dock lines.  Scramble back into the cockpit, start the engine, simultaneously shove both control levers ahead, putting the transmission into forward gear and the throttle lever on full.  All six cylinders pick up speed as the revs cling, the turbine whines, the prop bites hard into the swirling water below and Learnativity starts to pull away from the ………………………… wharf.  What wharf?  It’s GONE! 

The water rushing back into the bay doesn’t stop at it’s previous level, it continues to go up and up and up the sides of the wharf.  It floods over the top and keeps going.  The speed and force of of the current created by millions of gallons of water flooding into the harbor is unbelievable water and is doing its best to push Learnativity backwards into the dock and marina as I put my faith into the power of diesel fuel and take a minute to look back and see if I’m going forward or backwards.

It is hard to describe what I see.  Closest to me, Gary, Lisa, Jake (clutching Ruby) and Chris are running as fast and best they can through the rushing water for a stone walled garden area in the middle of the concrete wharf that happens to have a small but tall light post embedded into it.  I watch helplessly as they climb up onto the base of the light pole, wrap their arms around each other and hang on as the water rushes past them, continuing to rise; up, up, up.

I glance along where I know the edge of the dock to have been and watch as one other boat with a great young crew of five from California have jumped aboard even quicker than I and are motoring quickly away. No wait, on the other matching lamp post down the dock I spot one of their female crewmembers who got caught ashore now clinging to this lamp pole.  Other sailboats, including Biscayne Bay have now ripped free of their tethers and I watch as they turn with the continuously rising current and crash into each other, taking the other boats in their path like falling dominos.  On the left is the “after” picture of this infamous light pole with (from left to right) Chris, Jake, Lisa, Ruby and Gary posing with much different expressions on their faces.  Imagine them and the water level half way up this pole!

As my eyes continue to travel further down the dock, I watch in horror as one cruiser is on the dock trying to untie his lines and is swept off his feet by the torrent of water.  His wife is aboard and manages to control the boat as it comes free but I can’t see any sign of her husband in all the flotsam and jetsam churning in the water. 

Worse than just the water though, almost everything imaginable has been picked up by this flood of water, torn lose from anything silly enough to try to hold them down and is now looking to smash into anything and everything in its erratic path.  I glance back to the lamp post where the Biscayne Bay crew are now climbing higher and higher up the lamp post, Gary has Ruby wrapped around his neck so he can use both his arms to hold on to his family and try to keep from being ripped off the post by the force of the water or hit by one of the boats or containers rushing toward and past them.  My brain is cycling through the question of “What can I do to help them?” but it is quite literally out of my hands and I have to turn away and bring my attention back aboard and foreword.  Fortunately diesel power overcomes even these humbling forces of nature and Learnativity and I escape to the safety of the middle of the bay.  Or is it?

========== to be continued ==========

That will need to do for the first installment, I’ll do the rest for you tomorrow.  I’m just back from a lovely diner aboard Biscayne Bay which while badly knocked up and damaged is inhabitable and afloat.  And as my Aussie friends would say, “I’m knackered”, too tired to do much more cogent writing tonight.  Hope you enjoy the details and 'I’ll have the rest of the story, more photos and video tomorrow.

Night for now.

Wayne

More Magical Moments

LTY UPDATE:
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Arrived in Bora Bora after sailing from Huahine

Location:        inside the reef, anchored in Baie de Povai, on the SW coast of Bora Bora
Position:        16 31.405S 151 44.336W (cut & paste into Google Earth to see for yourself)

Wind:             gusting to 20 knots at times inside the lagoon
Sea temp:       79.7F            26.5C
Air temp:        79.3F            26.3C
Humidity:        63%
Barometer:     1017
Weather:        mostly cloudy & overcast, threatening to rain but never quite does.

Today was very special for me with one of those magical memorable moments in life.  But before I get to that, let’s start by bringing you up to date with the most recent sail and Learnativity Update:

After a very rolly, fast and blustery overnight sail from our anchorage at Huahine (shown in the four photos here), Learnativity arrived in Bora Bora at first light this morning.  Julia, (my sister Wendy’s daughter from Comox) successfully completed her 2nd night watch and did great.  She’s very observant and a quick learner and it is a nice treat for me to have someone else on board to take over for a few hours while I catch a few more winks than usual on night sails.  Didn’t get too much sleep last night though as the wind was up quite high and shifting directions and we were sailing with just the jib as the main sail is still in being repaired back in Papeete. 

 

We had spent the past 2 days on the North side of Huahine, a small island to the NW of Tahiti and Moorea, anchored near the only village of Fave.  We were joined by our good friends Philip and Moni on their Outreemer catamaran Blue Bie and though the weather was overcast with a few bouts of rain, we enjoyed some time ashore and snorkeling inside the lagoon. 

With Julia’s time starting to run out (she flies out on Sunday August 6th) and wanting to have her see Bora Bora, we pulled up the anchor last night (Sat) just after sundown last night figuring that would put us at the pass into Bora Bora at about first light, which is around 6am local time.  However in spite of having only the one smaller jib to sail with,we made very good time, too good in fact, as the wind was quite strong for the beginning and end of the approximately 50nm trip. and we were at the pass just after 5am this morning.

Julia had made up supper just before we weighed anchor and so we enjoyed her tasty stir fry with “fragrance de poulet” as soon as we had cleared the easy exit out of the pass at Huahine.  The “fragrance” comment comes from a pretty funny story.  Near the marina Tahina where we were last week in Papeete there is a fabulous French grocery store I recall from France called Carrefour where the food selection is unbelievable and the prices are about as low as they get for French Polynesia, meaning not quite as expensive.  We stocked up on food supplies for the next two weeks and Julia purchased a package of what appeared to be the better part of a whole chicken and put it in our freezer onboard.  Last night, just as I was about to bring in the anchor, she called me down to the galley where the delectable smells of roasted chicken had been wafting out and across the harbor, and asked me what was wrong with the chicken as she couldn’t seem to get any of the meat off?  This was a bit puzzling and upon closer inspection it turned out that this was a stewing chicken!  Would have been great for soup but not much meat on those bones for the ginger stir fry Julia had planned!  However, we scraped off what meat we could and the stir fry was delicious, plus we had yet another story to tell!

Back to sailing, the wind continued to build as we sailed northwest toward NE corner of the island of Tahaa and by the time rounded that corner we were doing over 6 knots in the 20+ knots of wind coming out of the SE.  We turned westward headed for the SE corner of Bora Bora and the wind died down considerably as we got into the lee of Tahaa.  With less wind and sail adjustment to worry about, I got Julia up for a few hours watch from about 1 to 3am during this lull and she completed her 2nd night watch with no problems while I got a bit of sleep as we sailed through a rainy night.   As we left the protection of Tahaa and worked our way west to Bora Bora the wind picked returned and was back into the mid 20’s for the rest of the trip. 

The wind continued to build and by the time I rounded the SW corner of Bora Bora and headed north towards the only pass in, Passe Teavanui, I had the jib furled all the way in and we were still doing 4 knots with just the bare poles (no sail up).  All these islands are surrounded by coral reefs and there are also many coral heads scattered within their inner lagoons, so goo visibility is critical, especially when navigating into a new location.  Not wanting to head into this unfamiliar pass in the dark I kept our speed down as low as possible up the west side and waited just off shore of the pass until the sun was up enough to light the way in.  The wind was on our nose and up into the 20’s all the way in but the pass was very well marked and presented no problems.  I found a nice protected spot in Baie de Povai down on the SW corner of the mainland of Bora Bora and easily anchored in about 70’ of water with a sandy bottom.  This put the stern right up against where the bottom rises up very quickly to a coral reef along the shore but we held well and this location makes for a very beautiful anchorage.  

We are sitting right at the base of the famously changing Mt. Otemanu with its set of very different shaped peaks you can see in some of these photos here.  Mount Otemanu is what you see in all the postcards and movies which has made Bora Bora such a well known location for so many years.  In addition to be quite spectacular, these varying peaks give Mt. Otemanu the fascinating characteristic of appearing to be a completely different mountain as you make your way around the island and your vantage point changes.  And I know this from my first visit here almost 15 years ago when Diana, Lia and Skyler and I were here on one of our many sabbatical holiday adventures (thanks Autodesk!).  Diana had done here typically spectacular job of planning yet another fun 2 month travel vacation and had chartered a sailboat (with captain) for a week, followed by a week here on Bora Bora where we stayed in one of those pretty Polynesian round palm roof huts.  Which brings me to the magical memorable moment I mentioned at the outset.

Not that I realized it at the time, but as best I can trace it, this is where the sailing bug first bit me and hence the title of today’s posting.  The infection remained latent for a long time, but as I’ve looked back and tried to answer the question for others as well as myself as to why I’m out sailing the world, I can see the symptoms gradually emerged after this family vacation and our time aboard that chartered sailboat inside the lagoon of Bora Bora, gazing up through the cabin hatch at the peaks of Mount Otemanu and watching Lia and Skyler jumping off the boat into the almost bath temperature azure lagoon waters. 

Try to imagine how very special this morning was for me as I sat off shore of Passe Teavanui and watched as the rising sun lit up this special set of peaks as if I was watching the beginning of a classic movie where the opening scene slowly fades into view.  For this is a grand adventure movie and it is just beginning and it is now so very real!  It therefore struck me that in a figurative sense this morning marked my completion of what could be called a “cognitive circumnavigation”.  Here I was about to enter the same Bora Bora lagoon where we had anchored as a family lo so many years ago.  But this time I was not sailing as a passenger on a chartered boat from nearby (40nm) Raiatea but as captain of my very own sailboat, having sailed over ten thousand nautical miles from Victoria where Learnativity was built!  How special is that??

Now you can see just how true it is when I say that I jumped into the deep end of the pool of ignorance!  I did not grow up around boats, sailing or the sea.  I can find no trace of mariners in any of my ancestry.  In one sense I’m completely unprepared and in another I’ve been preparing for this all my life.  As with all my previous milestones in life, I truly don’t know what led me here and this has taught me to trust in and use serendipity and synchronicity as my strategic guides.  What I do know is that this grand new aquatic adventure just seems to fit me better every day.  The complete independence and freedom coupled with equally complete self dependence and reliance upon equal parts head, hand and heart.  The human kindness and generosity.  The bonding with other cruisers you’ve only just met.  The teachings of local people who speak, think and live so differently and yet with whom you discover so much in common if you open up, listen and learn.  The learning that seems to increase exponentially as I’m humbled every day by the teachings of my new mothers; Nature and Ocean.  How truly paradoxical it is that the more you learn the better you understand how much you don’t know what you don’t know! 

All of this merely reinforces what I’ve long believed; that life is for living, loving and learning and I’m trying to do each of these a little bit better every day. I remain as excited, as humbled and as awestruck by this grand adventure movie I’m in, whether its the one which began here in Bora Bora over 15 years ago or the one which began just this morning.  It is GREAT to have you for an audience.  Stay tuned for the next act!

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog,
Wandering and pondering the planet, one nautical mile at a time.