Living & Learning Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity

LTY UPDATE: Sunday, September 9th, 2012

LTY UPDATE: Sunday, September 9th, 2012
Uliveo Island, Vanuatu

LTY time: 17:35 (Vanuatu time = UTC +11)
Location: SW bay of Uliveo Island, part of Meskelyne Islands, Vanuatu
Position: 16 31.833 S, 167 49.716 E (you can cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
Wind: 5-12 knots (inside the bay)
Seas/Swell: flat
Air temp: 86 F 30C
Sea temp: 85 F 29.5 C
Barometer: 1020mm

LIVING LARGE in ULIVEO

I had a boisterous but fast sail from Port Villa to Uliveo on Tuesday night. Both the wind and seas were quite a bit more than forecast with winds at time over 35 knots and seas up to almost 5 meters at times. The wind was also almost directly behind me which makes it a bit tricky to sail as I’ve described before, but with the winds being so strong and the following seas so large I was able to sail at 6-8 knots with just the main sail up which worked out quite well. The seas were not quite directly behind me so they would roll dear Learnativity all the way from one side to the other, at times well over 45 degrees so it was a very “active” ride but not overly bothersome or problematic.

I did have one nasty problem for a few hours when the outer cover on the main halyard wore through and jammed in the clutch. This is the line that goes up to a pulley at the very top aft side of the mast and pulls the main sail up so it is one of the more critical lines and the boat and takes some of the most stress and strain. In my usual “thrifty” ways I’ve been trying to eek out every last nautical mile from this now six year old line and over 30,000 nm, and I finally succeeded in doing so about midnight on Tuesday. However I’ve been planning on this event for some time and so I’ve had 200 feet of a new high tech halyard in my stores and all ready to go. Most of the lines we use have all their strength in the inner core and then are covered with a different material, usually poly based, woven covers that are better in your hands, protect the inner core from UV and take the wear and tear from the clutches (line holders) and winches. So what happened was that the common spot where the “teeth” of my clutch jaws clamp the halyard when the main sail is in the fully raised position, wore through in the high winds and stress they were experiencing on the sail on Tuesday night. This created two problems; one is that the inner line was now able to slip through the clutch so the main sail slid down the mast a few meters and then the outer cover material bunched up and jammed the clutch jaws. This in turn gave me two problems; a flopping main sail in a full down wind run and no ability to raise or lower it due to the jammed halyard. Both of these conspired to then have the upper part of the flopping main sail to tangle with the shrouds (stainless steel wire line that holds up the mast) and were threatening to tear the main sail.

With no other choice I could see, it was time for me to take a trip up the 70’ mast and free the main sail before it ripped on the shrouds. Fortunately I installed mast steps all the way up the mast shortly after I bought Learnativity for just these type of situations and so I’m used to climbing the mast. However doing so in 30-35 knot winds and with the boat rolling from side to side in the big seas did make it a bit more challenging. It took the better part of an exhausting hour to do so, but I was finally able to get the sail free though not before the batten, a fiberglass rod that slides inside a horizontal pocket on the sail about every 2 meters up the main sail to help keep its shape) snapped in two. Nothing much I could do about that in these conditions and if I could get the sail back under control it wouldn’t likely cut through the sail pocket material. I spent a good while then cutting about 4 meters of the outer cover of the halyard off and managing to tape the ends tightly to the inner core such that this jury rigged line would now be able to feed through the clutches and mast pulleys. With this all done I was then able to reef/drop the main to have less area in these higher winds and then tighten up the luff (edge that goes up the mast) and pull down the boom such that the sail was back to flying properly and we were soon back to sailing along at a good pace. This held just fine all the way into the bay at Uliveo island and the main sail all furled up into the boom just fine to my great delight as we pulled in just after noon time. Best of all, I was greeted by Philip on the VHF and he came out in his dinghy to be show me the way around some of the big bommies and corals here in this lovely little bay.

It has been a salubrious time tucked in here in the small and well protected little bay on the SW corner of Uliveo Island which is one of the small islands that make up the Meskelyne Island group on the SE tip of the large island of Malakula here in Vanuatu. Lots of factors contributing to this welcomed condition, primary amongst those being here with my dear friend Philip and his new mate Teri on their Outreemer catamaran “Blue Bie”. Philip and I first met over four years ago when we both happened to be making our entry into Ecuador at the same time and place and had to wait for several hours before the authorities could process us. We just seemed to hit it off immediately and our friendship has grown more and more with each year as we continue to find ways to meet up as we make our very different ways around the sea.

Best of all I managed to get here in time for Philip’s birthday on Friday which made the time even more special. We spent part of the day on a nearby beach with them enjoying the kite surfing, Ruby enjoying beach time and me learning the details of kite surfing, catching up with Philip and getting to know Teri.  I got some shots of Philip and Teri out kite boarding and one fun thing was the juxtaposition of old and new as some of the locals would paddle over in their dugout outrigger wood canoes and you’d get shots like the one on the right here with this centuries old canoe paddling beside 21st century kite boarding.

Then it was back to Blue Bie to celebrate with champagne and then we joined forces to make a fabulous birthday meal topped off with freshly ground coconut cake with Swiss chocolate icing and complete with a full set of Happy Birthday candles thanks to Teri’s great foresight and caring while they were in some shops in Port Villa a few weeks ago.

Over the past few days together we’ve had more kite surfing, beach walks, a trip with the locals to their giant clam farm and ashore for a Kustom dance and ceremony and mostly just lots of time spent being together. Unfortunately Teri’s time is almost up here in Vanuatu and her flight back to Maui is in a few days out of Port Villa so they sailed off yesterday (Saturday) afternoon heading for Port Villa and to be there in time for Teri’s birthday present to Philip of a scenic flight over the islands in a small sea plane. So we had one last late lunch together with hamburgers grilled on my BBQ a few last licks and cuddles with Ruby and they were off into the late afternoon sun heading south. Vanuatu turns out to have amazingly high quality beef, for reasons I’m not completely sure of and while I’m not a big beef eater the fillet mignon we had for Philip’s birthday (he is a BIG beef lover) and the hamburgers, were truly delicious.

The Vanuatu culture continues to be filled with lots of new learning for me and quite different that others I’ve experienced. For example they prefer to life in very small groups and so even on this small island of Uliveo there are at least four separate small villages rather than one large one. It is also quite common that each village will have its own language or dialect and in some cases these are so different that people on the same island don’t understand each other’s language. However they also all speak Bislama, a form of “pidgin English” as well as English so communicating amongst themselves and with us is not a problem. They are all very proud of their culture and traditions and quite anxious to have “show and tell” events referred to as Kustom ceremonies. “Chief Jim” of the nearby village invited us ashore for their such a ceremony on Thursday night after visiting the giant clams and it was most entertaining. This is the third one I’ve been to and the most informal of them all. The dancing was performed only by the men, which is more traditional but on Aneityum both women and children participated which is quite rare apparently.

The only slightly disappointing aspect of Vanuatu I’ve come across is that they have the most focus on charging fees and seeing us as a source of cash income of any of the places I’ve been so far. All quite understandable and reasonable I might add as they have increasing needs to buy thing such as gas for their outboard motors and their sources of income such as from copra (coconut oil) have dropped off precipitously in the last 20 years. Fiji was notable to me in part because some how they continue to avoid the “wanting” or lust for material goods and the deep contentment with other riches they have such as friends and family. Having been living in this culture for over two years I’d become accustomed to it, though always marveling at it and learning more about it, so the contrast here in Vanuatu no doubt seems stronger to me.

The other nice change is that the clouds have cleared off and I’m back to being spoiled once again by blue skies, sunshine, starry nights and increasingly warmer temperatures. From others I’ve talked to and what I’ve read this is an unseasonably cold and wet year so far and it may also be because I’ve dropped down to almost the limit of my preferred “20/20” living (between the two Tropics) zone. However I’m now headed in the “right” direction for my warm weather body, which is north towards the equator so I’m hoping this warming trend will continue as I go and I’ll soon be back to the heat and humidity I’ve strangely come to prefer these past few years. I don’t expect any “sympathy” from anyone but I have the luxury of living wherever I’d like to and I choose to live where neither sea nor air ever goes below 30 C and where I don’t need to wear socks, pants or much clothes at all thank you very much!

I’ve now got the new halyard reeved up inside the mast and through all the pulleys and clutches so that should be good for at least another six years I hope. I have a piece of new batten material that is too short to fully replace the batten I need but I’ve been able to fashion a repair that will hold me till I can get a new one in Majuro in a few months and so all is good to go for the next journey. I’m not quite decided just where that will be as there are lots of great spots and attractions in the many islands to the north and east of me and so I’ll probably just start doing some short day sails and hop scotch myself up north till I get to Luganville in the big island of Espiritu Santo where I will checkout of Fiji and either head up to Santa Cruz in the Solomon Islands or just start making my way on the long passage north to the Marshall Islands. I’ll keep you posted as the sailing goes and as with life, create the path behind me one nautical smile at a time.

Farewell Fiji; Hello Mother Ocean!

Well, the time has come to finally cut the dock lines, both literal and figurative and leave the country I’ve become SO fond of; Fiji.  On Friday (Aug 10), ELEVEN months and five days after I entered and with the help of some of the great friends I’ve made, I slipped the dock lines and motored out of Vuda Point marina.  This was the fabulous spot where I was able to do a complete “20 year” repaint and refit of Learnativity and spent almost the entire past year enjoying a very different kind of land based life with Learnativity out of the water for nine of those months and then tied to a dock for the remainder.

As seems to be the norm for me the whole thing was a serendipitous and phenomenal experience.  I originally thought I was going to be there for a few weeks and ended up being there almost a year, I met and got to know some wonderful people who are now dear friends, both fellow cruisers as well as the gift of getting to know many of the local people who I worked shoulder to shoulder with every day on Learnativity as well as several who worked at the marina.  I was invited into their homes and truly shared life with them for the past year.  What a rich and charmed life I lead!

As for Learnativity she is quite literally a whole new boat and I’ll simply let the before and after pictures tell the story for now.  Thanks to my friends Volker & Michaela on La Gitana, who have been in Vuda Point even longer than me, I have these before and after shots of Learnativity on the day she sailed into Vuda Point and then the one where she went back in the water.  Just a bit of difference as you can see!

 

And you are only seeing the outside!  In addition to sandblasting the whole exterior, which required removing EVERY part that wasn’t welded on and even a few which were, she now has all new solar protected triple thickened glass, new prop shaft, new solar panels, new nav system, and a very long list of other improvements and rebuilds.

While an immense task, it has been a labour of love and I’m VERY happy with my “new’ boat and looking forward to making the transition back to sailing and life on the water.  I have an equally long list of people to thank for making this all possible.  The truly wonderful team from Baobab Marine who worked with me every step of the way to get this all done and who did the lion share of the work.  My special thanks to Lorenzo for his constant supervision and assistance and to my “boys” especially Isikelly, Jim, Imran, Daven, Nadeem and the many others who worked with us at various stages.  I also received lots of help from other cruisers especially Volker and Michaela on La Gitana and who were instrumental in me coming to Vuda Point in the first place, and then a few special others who became friends along the way such as Terry & Christine on Teka Nova, Steve & Selena on Windward II and Tony & Carolyn on Tuaki.  I’m leaving out many, many others, so my apologies to all.  Just know that my time in Vuda Point was so special because of the people I met and befriended more than anything else.

Through it all Ruby the Wonderdog truly lived up to her name and became the social butterfly of the entire marina.  She was easily the best known entity in the marina and many people had no idea who I was other than “the guy” who was usually with Ruby.  Ruby is a great teacher on how to live life well as she simply assumes that every living creature she meets is there to play with her and to be loved.  And guess what?  They do! 

 

 

 

So Ruby had an even better time in Vuda Point and is leaving with at least as many memories as I am.  She particularly wants to thank Christine & Terry for her time being spoiled aboard Teka Nova with custom made gourmet meals, lots of snuggles and most of all for walks on the beach at low tide where she worked on her crab digging techniques. 

And for the past few months Ruby has spent more time aboard Summer Spirit that was docked beside us as she was adopted by Colleen and Ian.  Most days I barely saw her as she spent all her time with them including many “sleep overs”.  As you can see in just this one interior picture and the big black & white boat docked beside Learnativity in the other picture, Summer Spirit is a pretty fabulous boat to be on and Colleen and Ian became her favorite Aunt and Uncle.  So much so that they are now busy making arrangements to find a Spoodle pup in Australia that they can bring over and have a “Ruby” of their own.  I think Ruby should be a Spoodle ambassador as this is about the fifth time she has been the catalyst of others we’ve met getting their own Spoodle after falling under Ruby’s spell of pure unconditional love.  It was no easy task getting her back on board Learnativity with just me but Colleen did make up some treats for Ruby’s withdrawal (and some for me too!) so I think we’ll manage.

And so it was that I slipped the dock lines at Vuda Point marina on Friday after over ELEVEN months there and am now anchored off the Customs wharf in Lautoka, the western most check out spot in Fiji.  I’m finishing up the last bits of getting LTY all ship shape, shopping ashore for the last of my provisions for the next few months and using up all my internet time for uploads and downloads like these.  It is now Monday morning here and I’ll row ashore in a few minutes to do my official check out of Fiji.  Though I’m not supposed to, I may stop at one of my favorite little deserted islands west of here for one last night to say goodbye to Fiji.  Winds are forecast to be VERY light for today and tomorrow so waiting a day or two may help out.  In any case the islands of Vanuatu are calling my name the loudest so my first landfall will be Anelghowhat Bay on the SW corner of Aneityum island which is also sometimes called Anatom island.  It is about 450nm from here and also the southernmost island in Vanuatu and just became a PoE so I can check into Vanuatu there.  The bay there is supposed to be very nice and the check in is very easy as there is almost no one on the island and you get good personal service from the lonely customs guy!   My kind of spot! 

My overall plan is to just start island hopping making my way north up through the various islands of Vanuatu.  There are active volcano's on Tanna and Ambrym islands where you can hike up to the top of the cone, lay down on the edge and poke your head over to look down into the lava pools so of course I HAVE to go experience that! ;)  Will stop at the two big cities of Port Villa and Luganville to avail myself of some good French influenced supplies with the likes of great cheese, breads, cafés and WiFi.  Otherwise will just live and sail by whim and weather as usual and keep sailing north till about the first week of October when I will start my sail NNE to Majuro in the Marshall islands.  I can get duty free diesel when I check out of Vanuatu and so I’m going to run my tanks as low as I can by then and do my annual fill up with considerable savings before I sail up to the Marshalls.

I’ve decided that I WILL fly back to Canada and the USA see friends and family at the end of October.  On the one hand I can’t really afford it after blowing SO much of my overall “life” budget here in Fiji but on the other hand it is a no brainer as I need my annual “fix” of family and special friends.  Plus Ruby already has her Bat Dog costume (really!) and how can I break my 12 year record of Halloween of being in the US for Halloween?  Still making those arrangements but will most likely spend November and December in North America and fly back to Learnativity in Majuro about Xmas time.  I’ve decided that the Marshalls are by far the best option for me, both to leave LTY safely as I did before, plus take one last advantage of a good US Post Office there for any last rounds of boat stuff as well as easy flights in and out. 

When I was there in 2010 I didn’t get to see many of the outer islands of the Marshalls which are phenomenal and it puts me in a great spot geographically for the start of sailing season up north of the equator.  Never plans of course, but my sailing intentions from there are to explore some of the Marshalls as I make my way west over through Micronesia (Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap, Palau) towards the Philippines but I also have Solomon’s and PNG calling my name louder and louder so I think I may head south from wherever I am in Micronesia about April and go spend the sailing season (April-Nov) down there and then head back north of the equator to pick up where I left off in Micronesia.  All WAY too far ahead for me, but fun to do this kind of what if scenario thinking.

COMMUNICATIONS:

I’ll put a full list of all the various ways of communicating with me at the bottom of this post and just remember that when I leave Fiji in a few hours I will mostly be relying on my satellite phone for my internet connection and therefore I’ll be back to just sending and receiving text based Emails.  Therefore if you are sending me Emails please copy me on both my [email protected] and [email protected] with any Emails you send.  I’ll likely find some WiFi or cellular connections from time to time in the larger ports in Vanuatu but I spend most of my time on small remote islands or at sea so I won’t be on FaceBook or Skype much for the next while.  However I will get back to doing daily blog postings on the sail over to Aneityum like I’ve done in the past and frequent updates on my experiences sailing north.  I have it set up so there are automated updates sent to FaceBook and Twitter each time I post to the Learnativity blog so you’ll see those as they happen and can follow us as much or as little as you like.  Note that I put in the lat/long coordinates for each update report and you can cut and paste these into Google Earth or Microsoft Bing to see where we are in those satellite photos.  It will be a lot of open blue water for the next week or so but once I’m in Vanuatu you can have some fun flying around the sat photos of the various islands and bays to get a feel for these spots I’m in.

And with that I’ll bid you and Fiji a fond farewell for now.  Learnativity is in GREAT shape (better be!) so no known issues yet and everything is working well so far!  Should only be about 4-5 days passage over to Aneityum so a nice easy sail to get started and let me remember how to sail (or at least my version of it) again after being away from it for almost a year now.

Hope you will join Ruby and I as we set sail for our next round of adventures in life and that you too are living, loving and learning every moment of this grand experience called life and enjoying the gift of the present.

Vinaka Fiji and friends!

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog,
aboard the good ship Learnativity
currently anchored near Lautoka, Fiji
17 36.061 S, 177 26.442 E

Regular Email:    [email protected]
Email when @ sea or remote via sat phone:    [email protected]  (Yes! This is the correct spelling OCENS)
I typically retrieve and answer Emails to this account via our satellite phone at least once every 24 hours.  You can send as much text as you like but are asked not to send any attachments such as photos.

FaceBook page:        www.facebook.com/wayne.hodgins
Learnativity blog:    www.learnativity.typepad.com
Off Course – On Target blog:   http://waynehodgins.typepad.com

World Phone Voicemail:        +1-501-492-9634   (has voice mail that is forwarded to me via Email)
Text Messages:  (to my sat phone)
send short 140 character Text msgs via Email to:  [email protected]

Other contact info:
Skype:    Whodgins
Twitter:        WWWayne

LTY Weekend Update; March 3, 2012

Another productive week here in Vuda Point marina aboard the good ship Learnativity.  The weather is frankly just wonderful; hot and sunny mornings, clouds and thunder build in the afternoon and we get a bit of rain about half of the time but it only lasts for a few hours at most and we’ve had some spectacular sunsets and sunrises. 

It may sound as strange to you as it does to me given that Learnativity is out of the water and jacked up on stands in the middle of a busy boat yard, but I have this incredible perch up in the trees where I sit and welcome in each day as I sit out on my aft deck about 5 meters/18 feet up in the air.  The way I have them lift Learnativity out of the water in the Travel Lift is such that I was able to get them to put my aft end in right up against the beautiful trees surrounding the end of the marina and work yard so as you can see in the pictures, if you didn’t know better you would think I’m living in a tree fort. 

 

I start each morning by rising just as the first light of day is streaming up over the eastern horizon of verdant hills which are off in the distance behind those trees and green grassy field.  Ruby gets her ritual full tummy rub as we both get the sleep out of our eyes and then I fix up my favorite breakfast of yogurt, whole wheat bread, chunky peanut butter, dried cherries and a glass of cold milk and head up on deck to sit in my breakfast perch. 

The tree branches are an arms distance away and filled with a myriad of different birds as they too start their day with their breakfast.  As you can see if you look closely at the picture on the right, Ruby enjoys this time as well as she chases the saucy little birds that fly onboard and try to sneak off with a few pieces of her dog food. The other photos below will give you a bit more of a panorama view of the view from the front and sides of the boat and help you visualize the whole location here in the marina and boat yard.

The last two mornings have been particularly marvelous as the sun and sky have been brilliantly clear and the whole marina is enveloped in the early morning light, the sounds of birds chirping and a light fresh breeze through the trees.  Part of living life well for me is surrounding myself in beauty and this will give you an idea of one of the ways I do so.

Boat work wise this week saw the completion of the final preparation of the topsides of the hull for the dark blue paint they are about to get this coming week.  You quickly learn just how big a 52 foot boat is when you have to go over every square centimeter of that hull with your hands!  That’s been done many times by many times thanks to the fabulous crew of guys from Baobab Marine (named after some of those trees surrounding me) and so we now have a very smooth surface with no more pinholes, dents, scratches or other marks.  The new dark blue paint is being mixed up at the factory and should be here on Monday and then it is a matter of trying to read the weather right for a day where there won’t be any rain and spray it all on.  Should take about four or five coats of colour to build up the full colour and cover everything completely and these all go on in one go as the painter goes round and round the boat.

This week was therefore filled with finding the last spots needing more filing and sanding and then covering it all with one last coat of white primer as you can see in the pictures.  Then we taped the top and bottom edges a bit beyond where thee bottom paint and the top deck paint lines will go and washed it all down thoroughly.  The big tarps went back up, the old masking was replaced with new on all the port windows and she is all ready for the final colour coat!  When the blue paint arrives and it looks like we have a rain free day, we’ll wash and wipe it down again and transform the hull from the white of old to the Corinthian Blue of new.  That will be a very exciting day and milestone as you can imagine and I’ll share it all with you when it happens, hopefully in next weekend’s update.

With the topsides all done our attention not turns to the even bigger job of painting the deck surfaces with gloss white and non-skid white paint.  A much longer job as there is so much hand sanding and filling to be done of all the nooks and crannies you might imagine are on a sailboat’s decks with all the rigging, windows, hatches and fittings.  But we have already done a great deal of sanding, filling and priming so this is the final stages of that and should go well.  I’ve been busy cleaning and rebuilding all the fittings, hatches and rigging so they are ready to go back on as soon as the gloss is all sprayed. This too will take quite a bit of time because each hole has to be rethreaded to remove all the paint and filler they are now covered with, then the mating surfaces have to be caulked and fastened down firmly to seal them.  I get great joy from doing all this but it is slow work and has to be all done before we can tape off all these fittings, tracks and hatches to protect the gloss around them from the non skid paint we will then apply.  That’s all weeks away though so I’ll bring you pictures and details in the weekend updates to come.

It was also an unusually and wonderful week for me socially this week.  On Wednesday Ruby and I were invited over to fellow cruisers Terry and Christine on Teka Nova.  They are from the UK and also have a steel boat very similar to Learnativity and are also out of the water and busy doing lots of boat work.  We’ve been trading stories, tools and helping each other out along the way and they invited us over for the evening.  And what an evening it was!  Their boat was build in Finland and the interior woodwork in particular is beautiful.  Christine in particular loves hosting dinner parties and she really knocked herself out.  We had a full spread of food from appetizers to a main meal of pork loin with passion fruit sauce, fresh peas and carrots, and potatoes in cream sauce with garlic onions and spices all followed with a delectable dessert of lime pie that was somewhere between cheesecake, cream and heaven.  Not content with just fabulous food Christine had also laid out the dining table with a full compliment of glassware, silverware, fine china and flowers.  She even made up a special meal for Ruby and Terry dug into his wine “cellar” to add to the wine I brought along.  As wonderful as the meal was, the conversations and stories were even better and yet again I was reminded just how charmed a life I lead.  Then on Friday two fellow cruisers Nick and Barbara on Val, also a steel boat that was out of the water for painting and had been our next door neighbours for the past month, invited Ruby and I and most of the other yachties who are living here, over to celebrate them going back in the water.  Just a wee bit envious of this, Ruby and I joined a very full boat for an evening of appetizers and wine.  So as you can see, life here is pretty rough, but I’m holding up OK and can’t wait for whatever is coming next.

Last but not least, this week ends with me marking the start of my fifth year out on this grand sailing adventure.  Almost impossible for me to believe that it has been so long but more so short given the amazing number of experiences I’ve had and I’m going to make that the topic of a series of posts over the coming weeks as I reflect back on all this and share some of the lessons in life much more than sailing, which I’ve learned.  I’ve only sailed a bit more then 25,000 nautical miles in the past four years but that’s more than most people get to experience and it has been SO dense with awemazing adventures, new sights, sounds, people, cultures and filled to overflowing with life, love and learning that it would take me more years to write about it all than it has to experience.  I’ll do my best to summarize a few of the major lessons I’ve learned along the way for you starting with the next post.

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.

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

Underwater Circumnavigation Next?

Virgin Introduces the Necker Nymph ‘Underwater Plane’ aka Submarine

• DigitalTrends By: Dena Cassella  January 29, 2010

Sir Richard Branson is at it again—whether it’s luxurious trips to outer space or stylish underwater adventuring, the Virgin Mobile tycoon wants to be the first to market it. Virgin Limited Edition announced today it will be going underwater with its new Necker Nymph aero submarine. The Necker Nymph a DeepFlight three-person aero submarine. Graham Hawkes of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, engineer and designer behind the Necker Nymph, likened this open cockpit winged sub to an underwater aircraft.

I’ve long believed that a full and rich life should be an unending set of adventures and I do my best to lead by example and live a life of unending adventure.  Adventures enable my pursuit of profound joy, both for myself and for those I’m privileged to be with.  Adventures can be of any length and happen at any time in any place as they span an immense spectrum  from single moments to multi year activities.  A moment of awe when find your eyes mutually locked with those of a newborn child, being there at just the right moment to help someone in crisis, witnessing mother nature in her full and furious forms and the list goes on. 

I am very much a journey person vs a destination person as for me the journey IS the destination.  I found myself reflecting upon journeys and adventures when I ran across the article above about Sir Richard’s latest “toy” and this emerging type of “underwater plane” which I’ve been following for some time. 

Water, the word’s oceans in particular, have become increasingly fascinating to me as I continue what will likely be a circumnavigation of the globe aboard my sailboat Learnativity.  (currently in Whangarei New Zealand at 35°43'24.04"S 174°19'29.98"E)  And I find myself thinking about future adventures and have been thinking it would be a fun set of adventures to singlehanded circumnavigate the globe on land, sea and air.  Now I may need to add a fourth to this of circumnavigating underwater as well.  The underwater plane below isn’t going to quite do it for me as it only goes for an hour or so at a time but I’m sure that by the time I’m ready it will be or I can make one that is.  In the meantime, have fun wondering and pondering the possibilities Sir Richard’s newest toy conjures up and adds to my list of What if the impossible isn’t?

Wonderdog #2: Rubi-Tsu

I’m now in Orlando Florida for some business and some time in my other parallel universe; the land of high speed everything and constant connectivity.  Doing my best to catch up with the mountain of backlogged news, info, Emails, Tweets, etc.  And most of all enjoying the chance to spend time with so many of my beloved landlubber friends.

I just had to share this update from Lisa and Garry, who are now back home in Western Australia after sadly having to leave their pride and joy, sv Biscayne Bay behind in Pago Pago as she did not survive the tsunami. 

** If Lisa & Garry and sv Biscayne Bay are new to you please see the previous 3 postings “Doing the Tsunami Tango” for context and info.

On the bright side, after spending so much time with Ruby onboard Biscayne Bay when they so kindly “puppysat” her and especially after the bonding of going through the tsunami together and being responsible for keeping Ruby safe through that incredible experience, they decided they had to have a Ruby too and this is her!  Lisa found and purchased her online while we were still in Pago Pago and they just picked her up when they landed back in Melbourne.  Here are some snippets from a few Emails Lisa sent leading up to this:

Hi Wayne,

I thought you might like to look at the new edition to our family, we have got one of Ruby's people joining us when we return to Aus Land...

We are thinking of calling her Tsu or Nami or Rubytoo. She is still very little and should end up about the size of Ruby, I have checked with the breeder who thinks she will be about 10kg and about 12inches high. She will have poodle wool too. We do not need another dog, but life is very short so I think we will enjoy playing with her.

A picture of our latest family member............Rubi,named in honour of Ruby the Wonderdog aboard SV Learnativity. On our way cross country to Perth with our new baby on board. She is beautiful, with that gorgeous nature your Ruby has.. very bright and so easy to talk to.. we have called her Rubi-Tsu... a little bit of a blend of all the possibilities we thought of.

Talk to you all soon,
Love Lisa and Garry

And so I add two more to the body count of those who have succumbed to the spell of Ruby the Wonderdog’s charm and yet another reason she is so aptly named.  I have no doubt that Lisa and Garry will find Rubi-Tsu to be just as wonderful and we have another Wonderdog in the making.

Wayne

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 II

No time to think, just act.  With the chaos of other ships, some manned, most not, surrounding me and with the water swirling in every direction it was impossible to tell if I was moving forward or back.  I pushed Learnativity as hard as I could with full throttle to overcome the unbelievable opposing force of millions of gallons of water now rushing back in to refill Pago Pago Harbor and doing its best to suck Learnativity backwards into the concrete dock we were fleeing.  Looking back to try to gauge direction and progress I couldn’t believe what I could not see.  There was no dock to be seen!  Just boats and water everywhere.  Was I that disoriented?  Had we drifted that far?  Searching for the dock, I finally got my bearings from the buildings on shore and confirmed that I was just where I thought I was, about 100 feet away from the dock that wasn’t there.  What I can see is a pencil thin vertical line that is the light post which now has Gary, Lisa, Jake, Chris literally hanging on for dear life and Ruby wrapped around Gary’s neck.  I glance further west and see Emily, the stranded young lady from the California yacht Banyan clinging to the other light post.  Then I watch as Kirk, Catherine and Stewart on their sailboat Galivanter motor across the TOP of the dock and get out behind me!

When I think about tsunamis I envision this giant wall of water, a monster wave.  There was no wave here.  The bay simply emptied like someone had pulled the stopper out of a really big bathtub and then equally as fast put it back in and filled it all up from a giant valve below. 

** For some great graphics and explanations of how tsunamis work see this “Tsunami Infographics” site which John kindly passed on.

My brain is struggling to process these visual inputs and try to make sense of it all as I realize the whole dock is under water!  That safe, solid, secure concrete wharf which used to sit about 8 feet above the water is now about five feet under water and rising.  Boats which were previously tied up to the inside edge of the dock between the shore and the dock have broken free and are careening about in the swirling current, posting great threats to Gary et al on the pole.  I look west down to the end of the bay and see that it is filling up with a collection of every floating vessel known to man; pleasure boats both motor and sail of every size, 100’ steel purse seiner fishing boats, trawlers, cargo ships and rowboats.  Most seem to be unmanned and are randomly dancing together, running into each other and all headed West.  Biscayne Bay amongst them.

Learnativity and I escape the clutches of the incoming current and suddenly speed forward.  Hmmm, where did all that ferocious current go?  The water becomes eerily calm and smooth.  Again, you’d think this would be a good thing and again you’d be wrong. The cycle is now reversing.  All that water piled up at the end of the bay, having run up onshore and floated everything there from full buildings to cars, now wants to go back out.  This is the first sign of any wave I saw through the whole ordeal as the water rushes back from its momentary travels ashore and has now formed a low wide wave that is headed east back towards me.  I’ve now made it out into the middle of the harbor where the water is deepest and I have the most room to run and avoid all the oncoming ships and Looking.  I turn Learnativity to face this new rush of water, throttle at the ready to ride out the next surge of current. 

Glancing ashore through all this I watch the concrete dock magically reappear as if it is rising up out of the water in some perverse magic trick.  Then my brain realizes that the dock isn’t moving up, the water is moving down as gazillions of water molecules all rush to join their buddies down at the West end of the bay.  I watch in humbled awe as the water again drains away leaving the dock fully out of the water pilings and all. 

On the left here is one of the few photos I was able to snap in the midst of all this you can see the concrete dock with the tires on the side and the water at the level it would normally be at.  I was only able to take time for a photo because it is in that lull between surges in and out so this water level is between its high and low.  Oh, and you might also notice the sailboat that has been deposited up on top of the wharf!  Minutes earlier it had been tied up alongside the dock.  Think about it and you will have a better sense of the height of the water as it flooded in such that the boat could float up and over the top of the dock and then be dropped on top as the water receeded.

I would estimate the sea level dropped over 15’ in less than 30 seconds.  Then someone hits the rewind button on the video I’m watching and as fast as it dropped the water level starts moving up and my friends on the light poles rush back to it and brace for another dunking.  As it turned out, the worst one yet.

Due I suspect to the additional forces gained by the water all collecting its energy up on the western shore, the speed of the water now rushing out of the bay is the highest yet.  To make matters worse this was no longer “just” water, it was a giant tossed salad of debris from ships to cars to docks to scrap and crap.  All headed back for us with increasing velocity.  And again I am rendered helpless to watch with the disgust of not being able to do anything and the embarrassment of being so relatively safe and dry aboard strong steel Learnativity.  Lisa, Gary, Jake and Chris grip each other and that slender pole, their bodies now trailing off almost horizontal as the slimy soup rises and rushes past them making every effort to rip their hands from the pole and sweep them away like insignificant insects.  They would later recount that this second surge out was the worst of them all and they were within seconds of loosing their grip and the torrent of water began to slack and they returned to vertical as the cycle repeats; current subsides, water goes slack and starts to drop again.  The photo on the right is of this infamous life saving light pole in the middle of the dock and was taken just after I’ve come back in and tied Learnativity up just across from it.  Four people and a dog are alive today because this pole was there, and a similar one right beside me where the Emily from receded was able to hang on and survive.

As the water dropped away and drained off the dock, I can see Lisa and Jake, with Ruby in tow, make a mad dash across the now dry concrete, hit the shore running and kept on going, climbing up the hillside to watch safely from higher ground.  I spot Gary and Chris down on the dock and I speed over close enough that we can yell back and forth.  I’m desperate to help them get onto Biscayne Bay and be able to keep it out of any further harm.  I try to make a pass alongside the wharf so they can jump aboard Learnativity, but now there isn’t enough water beside the dock to float my boat!  I head back out to the middle of the bay and watch and wait for another cycle and then try another pass at the dock to pick them up, but the currents are simply changing too rapidly, there is too much debris to avoid and too dangerous for them to jump.  We all watch over the next 15 minutes as Biscayne Bay pilots itself westward down the bay being hit and hitting back other boats along the way.  With one of the next big surges she is lifted up onto the mud banks and leans over onto her side to rest high and dry, covered in oil and fuels and badly beaten up.

Another cruiser, Mike from Eureka California was having better luck and an amazing experience as his 27’ sailboat motored down the main street at the far west end of the harbor, circled around the intersection and went back out into the harbor!  As the surge he was riding went out it dropped him and his boat onto the ground and then just as nicely picked him right back up again on the next cycle and he was able to get it back into the harbor.  He quickly headed out to the far eastern end of the harbor for some clear water and space to inspect below but all signs show that he only suffered some serious gouging of the keel and hull.  Amazing!

While all this is going on, Joan on Mainly the boat out of South Merrit Island in Florida is letting us know on the VHF that she has still not seen her husband Dan, the one I saw being swept of the docks in the first surge.  One of the big disappointments of this whole experience is the complete lack of response or rescue resources from ashore.  I assumed, very incorrectly, with this being US soil there would be plenty such resources; again I was wrong.  I learned later that the USCG is land based only and it was over three hours later that they were able to respond with any presence on the water.  Nor was their any help from the port authority, no Navy presence, and we were left to our own devices to help each other and coordinate as best we could.  There were now about six or more other sailboats motoring around in circles with me in the middle of the bay as we turned back and forth to point into the next surge and tried to dodge the continuing barrage of unmanned ships, hulls and garbage.  Joan was doing a great job of single handing her boat and I and others started widening our circles to come closer to shore and cover more area in search of Dan or others who were in the water. This cycle of the tsunami “tide” coming in and out continued for several hours and was like a pendulum, continuously decreasing in height and velocity.

When I was first got out in the middle of the bay my instinct for some reason was to get the word out to both friends and family that I was safe and to let the rest of the world know what was going on.  I imagined that there would be lots of news reports about the eruption but very little information on just what was happening locally and I also desperately wanted to know if more was coming and what to expect.  Fortunately I carry a satellite phone and while expensive it certainly more than paid for itself in this situation.  I couldn’t take my eyes and hands off the tasks of piloting Learnativity and searching for people, but I was able to hit my sat phone speed dial and call John in Florida.  Thankfully the time worked out, it was mid day in Florida and John picked up!  I gave  him a quick synopsis of the situation and asked him to send out a note to the Email list of “Learnativity Followers” (people I send my daily updates to while sailing), post a note to my blog and log on as me on Twitter to relay the text messages I would try to send out as regularly as I could.  John has been my lifeline in so many ways, so many times, and once again came through with flying colors as he acted as my ship to satellite to shore relay station.  With his help and the wonders of modern communication technology I was able to let my friends and family know I was alive and get to the world at large with some first hand news about the situation here.  It seemed to work amazingly fast and I received inquiries from several individuals within the first 20 minutes, wanting to know about their friends and family and very soon thereafter started receiving calls and text messages from news centers around the world.  The Twitter feed was particularly interesting and seemed to be the one which spread virally the fastest.  It also allowed John and I to get a series of time stamped updates out which people could then review and see the progression of events here. (see http://twitter.com/#search?q=wwwayne for the feed of these Tweets)

Meanwhile, back in the all too real and present situation I was still circling the center of the bay with others, trying to see if I could find a Wi-Fi signal to get on the internet to get updates, avoiding the ever present danger of other ships and debris and be on the lookout for Dan and the growing list of other people who were now missing.  I wasn’t able to get on the net but was able to get updates from John and was well informed about the second eruption which fortunately didn’t produce any further surge or tsunami that we detected here in Pago Pago.  Whew!  Maybe this part is over?

================= end of Part II ============ to be continued ============