Living & Learning Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity

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

LTY Weekend Update: from Hao, Tomatu's June 18-22

18:45  LTY time  (UTC-10)     04:45 UTC
Days #16-19 @ Hao
Location:    docked in harbor North of Otepa, on the Hao atoll in the Tuamotu's
Position:    18 05.937S 140 54.721W

Wind:        0-2kts (true) SE
Seas:        flat (inside the lagoon)
Sea temp:        83.8F        28.8C
Air temp:        82F        28C
Humidity:        70%
Barometer:    1017

DAD's DAY EVERWHERE!

Best wishes to all the other Fathers out there!  Thought you'd all be interested to know Father’s Day is a big deal here on Hao and in Polynesia as well!

On Thursday night, as Ruby and were walking back from town to Learnativity, we passed by the basketball court beside one of the churches as we always do on our regular route home now.  This is a common gathering spot, both for games of basketball with kids and adults alike as well as other activities and we often meet friends there and stop to chat.  However tonight, it was full of large palm fronds and people busy preparing them by weaving together some of the leaves and joining all of them together standing up vertically around the whole perimeter of the basketball court and fences of the church yard.  Several ladies working inside motioned me to come inside and so I went in and they were all too happy and proud to show me how they create these decorative "walls" and how they weave in other parts of the palm tree such as the long spidery flower growth which adds to the decorative effect.  When I inquired what this was all for, they exclaimed  "la fete de Père" (Father's Day en Français) and looked at me quite incredulously that I would not know this?!!

I assured them I knew the even well but that I thought it was on dimanche (Sunday), they explained that it was for them too, but that was just the official and family day.  Tomorrow, vendredi (Friday) was the start of the celebration with larger town celebrations (I later discovered there were three such events happening on the island) and when all the eating happens, then samedi (Sat) they have more activities such as games and other family activities and then Sunday tends to be more a day of more family celebration at home after they get back from church.

Earlier that day (Thurs), I cast off the lines on Kestrel and bid Isolde and Gabor a fond farewell as they set off on their sail up to the Marquesas.  Selfishly sad to see them go as we've become very good friends and had some truly wonderful times together and also very happy for them that they were finally off.  They had hoped to leave over a week ago initially but the weather nixed that idea and then their uninvited four legged "guest" had delayed them another day as we both went through the CO gas fumigation procedures. 

 

 

But at just after 11am they motored easily out of our little private harbor here just north of town (Otepa) and headed for Passe Kaki, the only navigable break in the circular reef that is Hao and in time to be there at slack tide which was about noon.  The current in the pass is quite phenomenal, often in excess of 22 knots apparently and so you need to time your entry/exit to coincide with the tide changes.  I spoke with them by VHF after they left and once they were back out in the open seas and also received an Email update that night that all was well.   A bit envious as I do miss being out there on Mother Ocean and in the rhythm of a longer crossing, but all in due time for me and meanwhile I get to now have Hao all to myself!!  They only get about 10-12 boats a year apparently.  There were two other sailboats here when Kestrel and Learnativity arrived on June 3rd, but both of these left a few days later and now LTY is the only one, which suits me just fine!

I thought I'd start riding my bicycle into town and so Friday morning I brought the folding bike out of its storage spot in the engine room where it has been safely sitting for almost six months since I last had a chance to use it in El Salvador.  But when I went to set it all up, pump up the tires, etc. I discovered that over 20 of the spokes on the wheels had mysteriously broken in half!  Don't know what would have caused this, looks almost like some kind of metal fatigue but that would be very odd as I just got the bike before starting the cruise a bit less than 2 years ago and it has hardly been used.  I've asked Rick, who is a VERY avid bicyclist if he can try to pick up a new set of spokes and bring them over with him when he comes for their visit at the end of July and it shouldn't be too hard to re spoke the wheels and have my bike back again.  It has been a big help in places where I'm docked for a while and have larger distances to walk.

No problem it was another lovely sunny day and so Ruby and I walked into town.  It is about a 20 minute walk from the little harbor we're in to town and Ruby loves the chance to run in the grass, try in vain to befriend some of the local dogs and get them to play with her, chase a few pigeons that are often along the way and otherwise just enjoy the exercise.   I also love this walk because it takes us past one of the Elementary schools on the island and we somehow seem to time it that we pass when the kids are out in the yard playing and I just LOVE the joyous sound of all those little voices, squeals and laughter!  Today was no exception and then we continued on to see if Manu and Tina were home.  They were, and very busy preparing their costumes for the big Father's day celebration that night.  Manu showed me how he was weaving together palm leaves into what would become a head piece they would all wear.  They invited me to join them for the celebration and I graciously accepted and then left them to finish their preparations and to hurry to the bakery to catch the last baguette production of the day at noon.  Made it just in time and then headed down the block to the other family who kindly let me use their WiFi connection on their patio to get my internet fix every few days.

I caught up with Emails and mostly web work for the next few hours until about 6pm and then headed off to check out the Fete de Père celebration.  They had set up a whole set of chairs in rows in the basketball court and there was a beautiful stage area decorated up in front.  We didn't stay too long as I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was already dark for our long walk back.  But in the time I was there it appeared that the even consisted of mostly children and mothers telling of their love and appreciation for the fathers in their lives with various poems, writings and songs.  Very lovely and quite touching for me to be able to witness.   Ruby and I quietly faded out the back and headed home to Learnativity under a moonless but very starlight sky.  The stars here are as phenomenal as we've grown accustomed to for many months now as there is almost no extraneous light to detract from their stellar shine as well as being an even more interesting sky for me here in the Southern hemisphere.

Saturday was a gorgeous day.  It is supposed to be the rainy season and we're headed into the height of it in July but so far it has only meant that we get rain most nights for brief periods.  We did have a few days earlier this week when it really did give us a torrential downpour for a few minutes, and of course twice this was when Isolde and I were walking into and out of town!  However this rain does wonders for keeping LTY decks washed and things nice and fresh ashore.  But since Wednesday we've had nary a drop of rain and so I'm enjoying the clear super starry nights and not having to close up the cockpit from the nightly rain.  Looks like this will continue for at least the next few days.

I'd picked up two treats for myself while in town on Friday; a rare find of 3 heads of lettuce, first lettuce in over a month, Romaine no less) and a whole frozen chicken.  And so I prepared myself a Father's Day feast!  Oven roasted chicken stuffed with some dried prunes I've been looking to use up for months, along with some apple, garlic and onion and then added in some potatoes, onions and garlic in the pan part way through to let them roast in that delicious chicken basting!  Started with fresh baguette with Roquefort cheese for an appetizer, a bottle of 1998 Chilean Cabernet I'd found in the back of a shelf on Easter Island, a big Caesar salad with croutons and by then the roast chicken and potatoes were ready to come out of the oven and onto the plate.   Put on some of the recorded video and TV shows John so kindly captured for me and Ruby snuggled in for a quiet evening aboard the good ship Learnativity.

Today, (dimanche/Sunday)  I was treated to Father's Day wishes from Lia via Email and Skyler via the sat phone, which certainly made my day/week/month!  Not to be left out, I gave Ruby a full shampoo and hair cut today!  She has not been clipped since we were in Florida in January so her hair was getting very long.  Here is the before picture:

 

 

 

And here is the after shot.  I quite like the way she looks with that longer poodle curly fur, but it was a pain for both of us to remove all the burrs she has been acquiring every day on our walks to town.  And as the weather is getting hotter I think she is getting a bit uncomfortable, though she doesn't seem to show it much.  So out with the scissors and electric clippers and she is now a few pounds lighter and a LOT slimmer looking!  Here are the before and after pictures. 

I've been enjoying the warm water and quiet lagoon here and start the day with an early morning swim and a few others to cool off during the day.  After her hair cut I took Ruby in for one this afternoon and then gave her a good shampoo and fresh water rinse so she is quite the regal looking wonderdog tonight!  Now, as I finish up this note for you and enjoy the ever so slight and warm breeze here in the harbor, I'm going to go and enjoy more of that delicious chicken and another Caesar salad tonight as I reflect upon my great fortune, family and friends. 

I'll collect on my in person hugs and kisses from Lia and Skyler when I see them both in the next few weeks when I fly back to California and so with that to top off their kind wishes, I've had a fabulous Father's Day and can only hope and wish that all of you, wherever you are and however you choose to celebrate, had a day that was in keeping with how very special indeed it is to be fathers, mothers, children and family, all the world over.

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog

LTY Weekend Update: Hao, Tuamotu’s June 12-14, 2009

17:300  LTY time  (UTC-10)     03:30 UTC
Days #10-12 Otepa, Hao
Location:    docked just outside Otepa, on the Hao atoll in the Tuamotu's
Position:    18 05.937S 140 54.721W

Wind:        0-5kts (true) SW
Seas:        flat (inside the lagoon)
Sea temp:        84F        29C
Air temp:        84F        29C
Humidity:        62%
Barometer:    1014

With Kestrel and Learnativity snuggled safely in what feels like our very own personal harbour, Isolde, Gabor, Ruby and I were able to use our feet instead of our dinghy’s to get into town.   We headed over to Tina & Manu's house for yet another warm welcome.  Isolde and I spent the morning plugged into their WiFi connection.  Skype call quality seems to always be a coin toss and this morning it went our way so we even got in a few phone calls.  Meanwhile, Gabor headed into town to pick up our baguettes and then he went back to the boat to get some work done there.  Must admit this is when you realize the challenge of sailing singlehanded in that you need to do EVERY thing yourself and so you just don't get as much done as those who are couples or more onboard.  I've tried my best to get Ruby to take on cooking or washing or rust repairs, but my training technique must be lacking as she asserts that Admirals simply don't do that kind of work and goes back to minding the boat.

Back on Learnativity I was busy working away when I became aware of three young kids milling about and trying to get Ruby's attention, which really only takes their presence for her to be madly wagging her tail and wanting to be with them.  I invited them aboard and we spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening chatting as I showed them the boat and they helped me with my French.  Jean-Jacque is about 7, Angelique is about 5 and Gaston is about 10 and they we had a wonderful time for the next few hours.  Much to her delight, all three kids discovered that Ruby loved to play keep away and chase with her toys.  What a joyful symphony I was treated to as the sounds all mixed together of the three kids giggling and shrieking as Ruby yelped and jumped from toy to toy when each child grabbed one and threw it or held it away from her.   Later, I was very impressed with their reading and geography knowledge as we they looked through one of my cruising guides of the area and they immediately recognized the neighboring atolls and passes.  Gaston stayed on the longest and wanted to know more about programs I had on the laptop and then I sent them off to their homes which were but a few hundred meters away and I finished up some writing, Emails and made diner.

About 5:30am I became aware of some faint whispering and whistling that seemed to be coming from the cockpit and right above the hatch above my head as I lay in bed enjoying the first morning light as is my habit.  So I poked my head up through the hatch and was greeted by the sheepish grins of Jean-Jacque and Gaston who were sitting in the cockpit and doing their best to call Ruby to come out and play again!  They were quiet as mice in their bare feet so I had not heard them as they crept on board, but I quickly made it clear that they were not to come on board the boat unless they were asked.  We reached an agreement on that and then they and Ruby had fun getting the morning off to a good start.

And what Saturday it was!  As promised yesterday, Tony, Manu, Simon, Tina and the girls all showed up about 10am out at our boats with the pickup full will table and chairs and a full complement of Polynesian food.   Table and chairs were soon setup on the concreted pad next to Kestrel, and a VERY FULL complement of traditional dishes were laid out and being prepared!  The featured item which had got this whole lunch date happening was the very traditional marinated fish dish called "Fafaru" and it was indeed quite the production and specialty.  Tony did the honors and explained the whole thing as he prepared it down by the water at the end of the pier where we are docked.  The key to this dish is the marinade which needs to be prepared about two weeks ahead of time, but is pretty easy to do.  You take some fish parts of tuna, bonito and others and put them in clean sea water, seal them up and leave them to "cure".  After 10 days or more you strain the liquid through cheesecloth and that's your marinade!  When you're ready to prepare the Fafaru you take a fresh tuna (or other fish too) and cut large thick pieces and place them in the marinade about 1-2 hours ahead of serving to let them soak up the marinade.  These are then served sashimi style (raw), usually with a bit of coconut milk or just plain.  And yes, they smell just about how you are imagining they would having been marinated in 2 week old fish "juice".  We all tried it and they tasted pretty much like they smelled!  Not much to either of our very unsophisticated tastes but everyone else loved them.  Tony in particular.  I think it is likely an acquired taste, no different than something like blue cheese, which I now absolutely adore, but initially turned up my nose at such "rotten" smelling and tasting cheese.

Ahhh, but the Fafaru was but one of many dishes and the large table was groaning under the weight of other traditional dishes lovingly prepared by every member of our gracious guests.  Toni had managed to find some breadfruit which is not yet in season and prepared that, Tina made up some Taro, and Manu's mother had made us a dish I did not catch the name of but is made by combining ground coconut meat with flour and then boiling the mixture which produces large pieces a bit like dumplings.  Slightly sweet and very much coconut meat tasting.  Tony also made up some poison cru with small 6" long bonito, slices of a white fish, lime juice, vinegar and something called "Gout" which is apparently a Chinese condiment that looks like tiny granular strands of salt but isn't salty tasting.  I provided some fresh tomatoes, onions and cucumbers which we diced up and added in to the mix.

What a feast!  All the dishes, with the exception of the poison cru perhaps, were very filling and we three skinny white folk certainly weren’t able to keep up with our Polynesian friends when it came to helpings, but we all kept up very well with the conversation and laughter.

After a few hours of this we "retired" to the cockpit and salon on Kestrel.  The girls had a fun time trying on all of Isolde's various sun hats.  Some went below to learn more about charting and GPS and Tina, Simon, the girls and Simon and I sat up in the cockpit under the shade of the tarp as Manu serenaded us with his hand made ukulele.  Tina's laugh is infectious and what I'll long remember every time I think of my time in this little bit of paradise called Hao.  She often joined in to help Manu with some of the singing and accompanied him on the spoons as they went through song after song telling of the history of the islands and this wonderful world of theirs. 

Before we knew it, the afternoon was gone and so we all helped to clean up, load everything back into the pickup and all but Tony headed back home.  Tony stayed aboard Kestrel and Gabor helped quench some of his thirst for learning more about using GPS coordinates to chart your way anywhere you want to go by boat.  Isolde and I worked on getting her laptop back working again after some problems with her touchpad and getting iTunes which we had just installed, to work properly and synchronize with her iPod.  Then the four of us ended up gathered around the salon table for coffee, tea and cookies and more conversation about our mutual interests and different backgrounds.  People, more than anything else, are the true magic and gift of this new lifestyle.

Up for another sunrise this morning (Sunday) there was not a breath of wind and the water mirrored the sun as it rose on yet another great day.  I took advantage of the weather and the fact that this is Sunday after all, to get out my lounge chair which I keep strapped to the aft railing and has not been off for several months.  A liberal injection of magic juice (aka WD40) on all the many joints, hinges and slides soon had this recliner working again and I set it up on the back deck, put together a playlist of a nice variety of soothing piano artists from Glen Gould to Keith Jarrett and Oscar Peterson, clicked shuffle, dialed up the volume and reclined with my breakfast, my coffee and my Kindle for a fabulous few hours of reading and relaxing as I welcomed the start of another wonderful day.  Wallowed in those moments until the boat chore list was calling my name too loudly to ignore and spent the rest of the day finally attacking the growing collection of rust spots and bubbles on the boat.  I should have probably put on Neil Young's "Rust Never Sleeps" in a loop, but I went with a shuffle mix of slightly more upbeat but still soothing rhythms, Charles Mingus, Stanley Turrentine, Sado Watenabe and many others and while it was dusty with the grinder and Dremel tool running for the next few hours, I was able to get a good start at some of the rust areas that I've let get away from me.

It has actually become quite embarrassing every time I approach poor old Learnativity and see her streaked with the stains of dark orange oozing out of the many wounds she's acquired in the last two years of very steady and heavy use.  Seems that every time I go to patch up one of these paint scrapes some other urgent matter trumps it and the rust has clearly been winning the battle as a result.  Nothing structural, pretty much cosmetic more than anything else, but several spots are getting quite seriously corroded and she just doesn't look ship shape which is disappointing and a bit embarrassing for me as her captain and caretaker so today was the day to start to turn that around.  One of the benefits of staying put for a while here in Hao will be that I can tackle a few more spots each day and get on top of this "feature" of steel boats that truly does never sleep.  Given that she has not been painted topsides for over ten years she is actually in great shape, but I'm planning to get to all these spots and then do a complete paint job this hurricane season in New Zealand.

Gabor and Isolde stopped by this afternoon and we caught up with each other's progress.  They think they are now going to head out on Wednesday when there will hopefully be a bit more wind to help propel them North to the Marquesas.  I'm hoping our paths will cross again in the Society Islands after I return in August or perhaps some common points we are headed to west of there.

Now it is time to rustle up some diner, check out a bit of recorded video and then off to bed at the end of a wonderful weekend.  Hope yours was at least as good and I'll be back to you with more updates later in the week.

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog

LTY Mid Week Update: Hao, Tuamotus June 8-11, 2009

20:00  LTY time  (UTC-10)     06:00 UTC
Days #6-9 anchored @ off Otepa in Hao
Location:    anchored at Hao atoll in the Tuamotu's
Position:    18 05.937S 140 54.721W

Wind:        15-20kts (true) N
Seas:        up to 1m (inside the lagoon)
Sea temp:        83.1F    28.2C
Air temp:        82.2F    27.9C
Humidity:        70%
Barometer:    1014

Hao great can it get?  Fresh Baguettes and our own personal harbor!

Not to worry folks, all is well here on Hao, more than ever really, and
I've not sent out an update since Sunday as it's been busy but also just
one day blending blissfully into the next and not as much to write about. 

One significant update is that I've decided to stay here in Hao for the
rest of the month and leave Learnativity here while I fly back to
California to look after some things there and of course Lia and Brian's
wedding!  After many Emails back and forth with many marinas on the
islands of Tahiti, Moorea and Raiatea it turns out that there is little to
know spaces available as this is truly the busiest time of the year and
July in particular is THE time when not just tourists flock to Tahiti, but
so too do most of the people from everywhere else in French Polynesia. 
This is their big holiday season so kids are returning home from the
schools on the other islands where they board for most of the year and all
the outlying islands send their very best singers, dancers, drummers,
rowers and many other skilled folk to compete in the big annual finale of
all these sports and games in Papeete.  Even if I could find a spot, most
of those who are already there say it is extremely crowded and the usual
problems that come from lots of people being in the same area at the same
time, and it is very expensive, even for French Polynesia which is already
très cher!

Rick and Sherry Cooper, my dear friends from Vancouver who Diana and I got
to know when we were living and teaching in Germany with them back in the
early 80's are going to be flying over to Tahiti the last week of July and
then spending two weeks with me upon my return in August, along with my
niece Julia.  So we've been having some Email exchanges on where it would
be best for us to meet up on Learnativity and we now are putting all our
plans into place to meet up here on Hao.  Rick and Sherry fly into the
main airport of Papeete and maybe spend a few days there on their own and
then take the short flight over to Hao,  live aboard Learnativity and get
to know Hao on their own.  Then Julia and I will fly in after Lia's
wedding and we'll all meet up aboard Learnativity on Hao on August 6th. 
Right now we plan so spend a few days here getting ourselves and
Learnativity all ship shape and then take our time island hopping our way
from lagoon to lagoon as we make our way through the Tuamotu's and the
Society Islands.  We'll end up in Papeete at least a few days before Rick
and Sherry need to return all too soon to Vancouver on August 18th and
then Julia and I will continue on for a few weeks after that till she has
to head home to Comox on Sept. 8th.  It will be SO much fun for me to be
able to share some of these experiences with these wonderful friends and
family.

And speaking of friends, I had planned to leave yesterday and sail up to
Tahanea, another motu/island/atoll NW of here to attend the "diner for
one" aboard Traversee III that Marry Anne is putting on to celebrate
Larry's 61st birthday, but the weather has made that rather difficult and
so it looks like I'll have to unfortunately take a rain check on that fun
event this year.

Kestrel and Learnativity continue to be the only non local two boats here,
and there aren't many local boats either!  We, Isolde, Gabor and I
continue to enjoy the wonderful people here who have been treating us all
with great kindness, generosity and openness.  Gabor has been getting lots
of boat work done while Isolde and I have been ashore for several hours
each day.  We try to be ashore by about 9am so we can get to the bakery
and pick up our daily baguettes, fresh out of the oven,  before they are
all gone to the other islanders.  The French influence is on full display
when it comes to food and the one bakery on the island produces a batch of
baguettes and some larger loaves of bread twice a day at about 8am and
noon.  At those times almost every man, woman and child you pass, and say
"Bonjour" to, is carrying one to six of these heavenly gifts of French
tradition.  Many are walking, some are on bicycles and many are riding on
motorized scooters often with their small children standing between their
legs or on the back, holding on to the baguettes.

If we're lucky, well if Gabor is lucky, some of the baguette makes it back
to our boats as Isolde and I continue around the island.  And when there
we slather these soft inner dough with the ready supply, mais très cher,
of Roquefort, Brie or Camembert cheese, or out of this world New Zealand
butter (canned) with marmalade or jam.  Delicieux!

We stop and chat with our friend Tony, who speaks excellent English as his
father is from Massachusetts and is a wealth of knowledge about Hao,
everyone on it and most other topics of interest to us.  He's truly been
one of the highlights of our visit.  We also often go to the home of Manu
and Tina, Tony's friends, who have welcomed us into their home every so
graciously as per my previous postings, and readily share their WiFi
connection with us!  Other times when Tina's not home we wander over to
another spot beside one of the three of four grocery stores on the island
where a fellow has a great WiFi setup and let's us sit out on his deck and
use his WiFi connection for a very reasonable fee.  And then some of the
time we just wander around the small village of Otepa to learn and see
more of this fascinating spot.

Everyone we pass makes eye contact, smiles and says "Bonjour".  The
younger ones, kids in particular often say "Hello, how are you?" or "Hi,
what's your name" as their faces light up with the chance to practice the
English they are learning in school on some real English speaking people. 
Tony tells us that all their English teachers in school are from France
and so they teach the kids to say things like "I go to ze store" and other
heavily French accented versions of English, whereas he knows the more
"proper" English pronunciation.

Today was a particularly busy day as we moved both Kestrel and
Learnativity into what essentially amounts to our own personal marina! 
Thanks to the French military and their time here during the 60's and 70's
when they were doing all the nuclear testing and Hao was the main supply
base, there are some amazing amounts of infrastructure on what otherwise
appears to be a very small, very remote atoll.  I've mentioned the truly
amazing airport with the 7km long runway, but there are also all the
buildings from the military population of about 4000 apparently, which are
now abandoned and being torn down and cleaned up by French military crews
which are flown over to do this work.  These buildings include row after
row of barracks and other housing, offices, large hangers for aircraft,
repair facilities, and helicopter hangers.  There is also a full
desalination plant, a power plant and the list goes on.  BUT, best of all
for us is that there are several facilities that were put in for supply
ships and other marine based infrastructure. 

When we arrived, we anchored in front of the very new modern concrete pier
and marina that fronts the center of the village of Otepa where everyone
lives and contains the city hall, church, Post Office, town square and so
on.  We have been anchored there ever since and it was as short dingy ride
ashore to the very protected marina inside and behind the big concrete
pier for the monthly cargo ships.  But we have a bit of a storm that is
passing through the past few days and is forecast to continue and worsen
through the weekend.  Nothing much really, winds up to 25-30nm predicted
and some rain, but all very normal as this is the rainy season here and
July is the peak.  However it has made for some chop which the wind whips
up as it comes out of the North in particular right now and down the
length of what is one of the largest lagoons in all of French Polynesia. 
Compared to what we've experienced elsewhere this is nothing, but why be
uncomfortable and loose the peace and quiet we've been spoiled with
recently if you don't have to right?

So when we went ashore this morning, we spoke with Tony and he suggested
we move to the small harbor/marina that is less than a mile north of where
we are anchored.  Turns out Tony's family actually owns this property now
that it has all be returned by the French to the locals and he had shown
it to us previously when we took our first big tour of the island with
Tony, Manu and Tina.  Just to make sure though, Gabor and I took the dingy
and my depth sounder and went over to check it all out before we moved the
big boats.  The wind was up to 15-20 knots so it was a bit choppy, but a
short ride and we reconfirmed that this little spot was truly ideal.  It
is about 150 x 250 meters, has a single small entrance to keep out almost
all waves, has a clean, flat sandy bottom about 5m deep that extends right
up to the bottom edge of the concrete walls which have been poured all
around the edges.  These concrete walls extend about 2-3' above the high
tide mark and have a good supply of large rings and bollards for our
lines, tires hung along most of their length for protection and very
smooth sides for our fenders to rest on.  We could hardly have designed a
better place to dock if we had designed it ourselves!
    **  Cut and paste the new lat/long coordinates of 18 05.937S 140 54.721W
into Google Earth and zoom in to see what this looks like yourself!

While we were gone, Isolde went to the bakery to pick up our baguettes and
was chatting with Tony when Gabor and I came back.  We invited Tony along
and he and Isolde got into the dingy and we headed back out to
Learnativity to move her to our new location.   We took the time to
inflate the nice new round fenders I'd brought back from my last trip to
the US, fired up the engine and started to haul in the anchor.  This took
a bit longer than usual as the chain had managed to wrap itself around
some of the rocks below, but with the help of Isolde at the helm and Gabor
and I at the bow, we managed to maneuver around and get the chain and
anchor back aboard and motor the short distance to the marina entrance. 
No problems getting in, made a short U turn, brought the starboard side up
to the shore side concrete wall, Tony and Gabor stepped ashore and secured
the lines and Learnativity was calmly resting in her new home.  Back into
the dingy and out to Kestrel for a repeat performance and we soon had
Kestrel securely tied to the opposite, lagoon side, concrete wall. 

We spent the next few hours aboard Kestrel, showing Tony around and
enjoying coffee, tea and our daily baguette with some jam and pate as the
light dimmed with the passing storm clouds and rain.  Feels so great to be
safe, dry, warm and calm as you enjoy time with great people and good
food.  Later that afternoon we had invited Tony to bring Tina and Manu out
to see the boats and they showed up in Manu's new Toyota pickup about 4pm
along with Vanessa (not quite the right name, but close) one of the girls
from the college who stays with them on the weekends.  We had coffee, tea,
juice and delicious fresh chocolate cake that Isolde had just baked as we
showed them around Learnativity and then we moved over to Kestrel to show
them a different sailboat. 

I don't think I'll ever cease to be marvel at the whole experience of
being with and getting to know an eclectic mix of new and interesting
people (aren't they all?).  I drift back and forth between being deeply
immersed in the conversations to stepping back mentally to take in the
whole setting.  We are nested into the galley and salon of Kestrel, the
rain is drumming lightly overhead, the inside is filled with the humid
warmth of the steam coming from the  boiling kettle for more tea and
coffee, and our slightly rain spattered bodies (from the walk over from
LTY).  Ruby is having a great time teaching Tony the game of keep your
hands away from me if you can.  The three ladies are huddled around
Isolde's computer as she shows them some pictures of their home in Nakusp
and their children, the men are all sitting around the salon table as Manu
is describing his favorite and very historical fish dish of Fafaru-faro.  Or
at least that's about how it is pronounced.   I'll get it spelled out for
me another time and I'll save the description of this very unique way of
preparing a form of sushi until after we have eaten it as Manu is going to
be making this special dish and has invited us all over to his place on
Saturday to try it.  Trust me, it will be interesting!

And all of this is happening in multiple languages, simultaneously; French
mostly as that's what Tony, Tina, Manu and Vanessa speak and I do my best
in, English which Isolde, Gabor and I resort to with Tony's assistance to
translate into French, and some German between Isolde and Gabor from time
to time for more specific and descriptive things and which I can sometimes
keep up with.  Yet these are truly but the tools we all use to accomplish
the deeply shared mutual goal of learning more about each other, our
customs, or families our lives and our dreams.  And what a dreamy
afternoon and evening it was as we continued on for several hours and well
after dark. 

Now we've all dispersed to our respective homes for the evening and this
remarkable day nears its end.  Just yet another in a seemingly unending
string of great days of learning experiences I'm ever so grateful and
fortunate to be experiencing of late.

I'll be back to you with more tomorrow or on the weekend.  Enjoy YOUR time
with friends and family and with living the life you love and loving the
life you live.

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog

Update on Maestro Maiden Voyage

I’m behind in posting more updates here (what else is new!?) but I’m delighted to provide you the gift of a guest author to give you an update on the recent adventures we had in moving the recently acquired 43’ sailboat, now named “Maestro” (master teacher in Spanish), which my dear friend John and his Dad Juan (Abuelo)purchased in Saint Maarten (Caribbean).  Maestro was built in 2002 and has been in in the Moorings charter fleet all her life up to now and was formerly named “Avis”.  She is a perfect platform for John and Michelle and their growing family: four fab kids (Kate 8, Jaci 5, Genna 2, Jack 4mos), nanny extraordinaire Kelly and usually some grandparents.  So with 4 cabins, beds for 8 + salon it will be a great floating hotel for exciting trips to locations near and far. 

We had hoped to get her all the way to Miami but such was not to be as you will read below.  So with thanks to John, below is his account of our recent adventure:

** you can also find more pictures and posting on John’s Facebook page

on Feb. 15, 2009 John wrote:

I will start keeping an online log with pictures,  but won’t start that until we get home. So, I’ll give you a quick summary of our trip so far …

Day 1 … starts with us packing everything for Maestro and everything that Wayne is taking back to Learnativity (his boat) into our Expedition. The truck gets full to the brim with everything. For our trip, we each have 2 carry ons and two bags to check. Abuelo packs everything so well, that we only have 1 bag over 50 lbs and have to pay the $50 overage.

We have an uneventful flight an land in St. Martin around 9P, we get a taxi (a very large van), which takes us to the anchorage where the boat is, Oyster Pond. At 9P this trip took 20 minutes, during rush hours on the island, the trip take 2hrs. St. Martin has about 100,000 people, is about 11 miles by 7 miles, has “poor” roads and everyone owns 1 or 2 cars.

We find “Avis” – that was her old name on the dock, and step aboard. The boat inside was very clear, unfortunately we couldn’t say the same about the deck. It was obvious and confirmed the following day by the base manager, that they were not expecting us … another great example of the “diligence” and “support” we got from our broker (read sarcasm into the last part).

No sheets, some pillows, no water (they turn the docks off at night) … we head to the “French” restaurant at the dock … only thing available is steak… oh well. We have a nice dinner, buy a bottle of water for the boat and head to bed.

Day 2 … the provisioning and “upgrades” start. Before we set off, we want to do a few simple things to the boat; install our new instruments, change some parts buy food and supplies and figure out what to do about a dinghy. Since we have nothing on board to eat, we head to the “hotel” restaurant that has a breakfast buffet (all other restaurants are closed for breakfast).  To say this island is expensive, is an understatement … breakfast for the 3 of us, almost $80 …

Wayne heads out to get a rental car, we start unpacking stuff on the boat. When he comes back, he and Abuelo head off to see what they can find for grocery stores and for boat stores. They return about 5 hrs later with lots of provisions and news of a couple of used dinghies that are available at the local “West Marine”, call “Budget Marine”. While they are gone, I start the installation of our new instruments, making sure everything is going to work.

We run cables to the top of the mast for the wind instrument, with Wayne hanging out up at the top of the mast for about 1.5 hrs. The day ends with good progress all around. A very productive Friday.

Day 3 … final provisioning … this day goes by very quickly. Abuelo changes out the alternator, starter, impeller and belts on the engine. This is preventative, since we don’t really know what shape they are in, and all are critical to keep our engine running.

Wayne and I head out to Budget Marine, we buy some jerry cans for extra fuel (boat has a 60gal tank, and we want to carry and additional 40gal). Some odd bits and decide to purchase a used dinghy with a new motor. Our choice is a small boat for 3-4 people, or a more rugged boat that is rate for 6 and possibly more. We settle on the larger. We arrange for the to deliver to Oyster Pond on Monday (as no one was working on Sunday) and head back to the boat.

Our plan was to leave on Sunday, and waiting for the dinghy would set us back 2 days … so we opt to do a “redneck” thing and strap the dinghy to the top of the rental car. Sounds simple enough, except we have a 10 ft long car and a 12ft long dinghy. We get strapped down and start heading back … to our surprise, not a single stare from anyone on the road … either what we are doing is common, or it takes a great deal to get a reaction from these people.

We get the dinghy back to our boat, put the new engine on it, have a little test run … we’re set. Wayne completes the rest of the groceries. Looks like we are almost ready for departure.

Day 4 … to check out of the country we have to find an official port of entry, fill in forms and pay … not too bad, there’s one about 6 miles away, at the Radisson hotel. Very pretty drive to a remote cove of the island, which boasts a great hotel and very upscale marina. Checking out involves sitting at a computer, filling in a form which gets printed out and paying our $7. Very easy and fast.

Back at the boat, we stow the dinghy on deck, fill the water tanks and fuel up. The forward tank filler is corroded shut, so we fill from inside the boat …  once we are full, we realize why it hadn’t been filled in a long time … it leaks. Our 90 gal of fresh water, makes its way into the bilge over the next 2 days. Our aft tank, 60 gal works fine.

We fuel up and decide to go outside for a little sail to ensure nothing breaks or falls off. Turns out our autopilot isn’t working … something to fix upon our return. The boat sails well, nothing falls off and we don’t sink … almost ready.

Back at the dock, we isolate the problem with the autopilot. Turns out to be a generational thing … the old autopilot (about 11 yrs) does like to talk to the young (6 month) chartplotter. Apparently, they don’t seem to speak the same language. We disconnect the two and everything works (although, our autopilot is unaware of the existence of the chartplotter).

I send an email to Raymarine support … hopefully they will get back to us. We tie up for the night ready to leave the next morning.

Day 5 … the journey starts … we leave Oyster Pond at 9A, and point west … 8 days later we should be in Miami. The boat sails well (ok the autopilot does all the work), and we settle into a routine. Two days pass as we make between 5.5 and 7.5 knts. If the wind drops and our speed drops we start the engine. If the wind picks up we switch off the engine.

We cross from St. Martin, just north of St. Croix and along the south coast of Puerto Rico. At the west end of Puerto Rico, we are to head northwest through the Mona passage (what separates Puerto Rico from Dominican).  We transfer fuel from our jerry cans to the main tank, we’ve burned about 18 gals, not bad for 30 hrs of motoring.

We fish for 12 hours, with a “yellow” feather … it seems that the fishing rod is broken, as we never got a bight. I will have to check with Joe, I am sure it is not operator error <g>

The Mona passage is not nice … the wind picks up and so do the waves, the next 12 hours are very brutal on us, as we are flung around inside and get beaten by the now 8-10 ft waves. Through the night we do 8+ knts and at times reach 11 knts surfing down the waves, which have grown to about 15ft.

Once out of the Mona passage, the wind is even stronger and directly behind us. The waves are towering and when they come from behind, it feels like they will knock us over … Maestro handles them perfectly … Wayne doesn’t seem to mind them too much, Abuelo is bashed around and I’m trying to figure out what bad things I have done to deserve this.

We make the decision to change course and head into Samana, DR to stop and rest for the night. Another 7 hrs of big waves and we make our way into Samana Bay and the town of Santa Barbara, arriving around 5p.

Turns out that Samana bay is popular with humpback whale viewing. We see a couple of them and a  few dolphins … very neat.

Landfall in Samana … we drop our anchor, which requires getting the dinghy off the deck. We wait about an hour, and since no one shows, I get in the dinghy to head ashore to clear customs, immigration and register with the port captain. On the dinghy ride across, the port captain meets me in his boat (a 16ft panga) and tells me to head back to the boat.

He’s not immigration or customs, so we technically cannot leave the boat, we register with him (Jose). He asks if we have a Dominican courtesy flag (we don’t), so he sells us one, $15. Fees for registering with the captain $15, tip for the port captain $15, tip for the guy who came with the port captain $15. He explained that tips are not necessary, but pointed out that they came out late in the evening and gave us a happy reception. Once we complete the “transaction”, he tells us he is a local tour guide and can help us with anything we need. He will personally help us get through customs and immigration.

He explains that the harbor and the town are very safe, he has a security detail that will make sure nothing happens <g> … he does strongly suggest we lock everything below, stow the outboard there, keep the dinghy on deck … apparently thieving is not considered part of the “safe” package.

Wayne makes another nice dinner, and we crash for a nice night sleep.

The town of Santa Barbara de Samana … we wake up late, have breakfast … Jose shows up and asks if I am ready. We agree to meet on the dock in 30 minutes. Wayne drives me ashore in the dinghy, drops me off by the “warship” (think our coast guard boats in grey). Jose is waiting at the dock. He says our dinghy will be very safe there (although we should lock it up). Wayne heads back to the boat, I start the “process”.

Jose and I walk to immigration (1 block), I fill in forms, get stamps, on cost. The immigration guy suggest that a tip is in order, as he has been very friendly … $20. We then walk to customs (1 block), the guy there is surprised to see us. Jose explains to him what to write down, which he does on the back of a sheet of paper, in pencil. No tip is requested.

I ask Jose where I can get a lock (for the dinghy, in this safe location). To this request we hop on the back of his dirt bike. Ok … now picture this, Jose, is 6’3 weighs about 240lbs and is huge (no fat), he is very dark black. I on the other hand, am sporting a nice red tinge. He gets on first to the 125cc dirt bike, I mount behind him … I’ve got a huge dilemma. Do I put my arms around his waist … or do I fall off the back as we go through town (oh yeah, no helmets). I decide that suffering major scrapes is probably better than hugging Jose … so I clench my thighs around the seat and hold on the fender. Off we go, first stop a hardware store … 2 locks, no problem … $80… I pass … Next hardware stop, I settle for 1 lock at $22. Jose takes me back to dock and suggest that I tip him for all his help … another $40.

Wayne comes with the dinghy to get me, we lower our “Q” flag (quarantine – not cleared immigration), and raise our Dominican Flag. We are officially in the quiet town … oh wait, what is that on the horizon… cruise ships.

This quiet town, happens to be a grazing stop for cruise ships …

The cattle arrive … witnessing a cruise ship arrive (let alone the two that are here) is quite the sight. The best way to describe it, has to be by comparing it to what I think a cattle operation must look like. The cruise ship offloads its cattle into small “ferry” boats, which bring them ashore to graze … and I mean literally graze, by buying trinkets (mostly made in China), eating at the local restaurant (which no locals eat at) and wandering about. In the early afternoon the cattle rustlers (aka tour guides), start rounding up the herd and taking them back to the ship. The similarity is even more so, when you realize that 9 out of the 10 people getting off the cruise ship are overweight, and not by a little. I assume the “veal” cattle has stayed on the ship, as to not get unwanted exercise.

The Town … is interesting and full of contradictions. We walked a while to find a restaurant with no “tourists” and sat for a while to have lunch. We have a great view of the main street and all the traffic that went by. Mopeds are the primary means of transport … we counted up to 4 people on a single moped, with 2 and 3 being very common. They also have a ”rickshaw” type setup, which is a small trailer that can sit 6 that is towed behind the moped.

From our restaurant, we could see a crossing guard for the school kids who had let out. Not your typical American crossing guard, this one was armed. Interesting sight to see a guy, with a pistol grip shotgun be the crossing guard for the kids. He showed up in his moped and hung out under the trees until the kids came, then he’d blow his whistle, holding his gun. I may not know much about gun safety, but at times this guy was using his shotgun as a prop to point, sometimes as a cane to walk, and other time as pole to rest against.

We needed to a “despacho”, basically permission and another fee to leave the harbor. This was done at the “Port Captain office” … we waited about an hour, for a woman to show up and type up the paperwork. She was using a 40 yr old type writer, missing a few keys, which she operator with only 1 finger. The ribbon was so recycled, that she would stop, wind it forward for a minute, then start again. Another $20 later, and we had our paperwork to depart. On the way to the boat, we stop for an ice cream. The girl behind the counter has a late model Dell computer, connected to a printer to give us a receipt for the ice cream …

The trip to Luperon … we leave Samana around 11A on the 13^th, to make it here (Luperon), early in the morning. Was a great sail, wind not too high, waves not too big. We arrive in Luperon at 9A … all in good shape.

Tried fishing again for 4 hours … this time with a “red/pink thing” … I’m sure I’m doing it right … pretty sure the rod is broken or cursed.

Luperon is a natural anchorage. It is the furthest west you can go before Haiti. It is a great protected place, with maybe 50 boats here. The history of this area is very intriguing and well worth learning a great deal more about it. Dominican has the oldest city and church in all the Americas. About 40 miles east of us, is where Columbus lost the Santa Maria in a wreck, having to leave most of his crew ashore. It also is the place where Pinzon (one of his crew), stole the Pinta, leaving him with only the small Nina.

Luperon has an anchorage called Pinzon, as this is the place that Columbus caught up to him in.

The town of Luperon is very poor … it is basically a fishing village. As we came into the anchorage, we saw small boats being rowed deploying gill nets. Ashore, we saw the fisherman mending and making nets. Everyone seemed happy and smiled a great deal.

Maestro will stay in Luperon with Abuelo for a week, while Wayne heads back to Costa Rica and I too Orlando for a work commitment.

=======================

UPDATE:

Since John posted this, I’ve returned to Costa Rica and had the pleasure of having John’s mom (Abuela) join me for the early morning drive down to Miami as she was flying out the same day to go spend a week or two with Juan on Maestro.  They are apparently having a great time together on the boat and exploring a bit of the fascinating Dominican Republic.

Update on Updates

Ahoy to all and greetings from Samana, Dominican Republic this evening.  I’m currently aboard the good ship Maestro, a Dufour Gibsea 43 that my dear friends John and Juan just purchased in Saint Martin, Caribbean.  We are in the process of sailing Maestro closer to home for them and heading for Miami.

While at sea I’m not able to get a WiFi connection too often and so not been able to keep you well updated here on the LTY blog so wanted to give you a few other ways to keep track of me** if you are so inclined:

Twitter:  you can follow me on this fun new application which is free and highly recommended (by me).  You can check out a recent blog posting I did on Twitter to get more information on what it is and why I’m recommending it.  But to use it simply go to Twitter.com, sign up for a free account and then “follow me” where I am wwwayne 

You can also choose to add your phone to Twitter to be able to receive updates as text/SMS messages on you mobile phone.  Note that after you add your phone # info to Twitter you ALSO need to go to my wwwayne and check “turn updates on” to have them start going to your phone.  For many of us, using Twitter on the phone is the most common and convenient way to receive and send “tweets” the name of the updates on Twitter.  Try it, I think you’ll like it!

FaceBook:  I am also using this popular site to post updates (same as Twitter) along with the added benefit of pictures, video, and most importantly connections to others, maybe you?, who are also using Facebook and posting related pics, updates, etc.  For example, John has a lot of great pics and video from some of our adventures with the Alonso family back in Florida and you can see all of those from there.  To find me on Facebook just go to www.facebook.com, sign up if need be and then you can find me simply by name; Wayne Hodgins

SPOT:  As I do on Learnativity, John has a SPOT satellite messenger which sends out updates on our location via satellite so works no matter where we are or what connections we have.  To see where we are at any time, just go to http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0yp8UHqqyEkLaHy9e1jGT6LcAxzEq2i8L and this will pinpoint us on a map you can zoom in or out of.

Whew!  That should be MORE than enough ways to track me and I hope one or more of these prove fun and worthwhile for you.  I’ll get back to more regular postings here ASAP.

Sea ‘ya!

Wayne

** BTW, Ruby has stayed back with John’s better half Michelle and the gang in New Smyrna Beach FL and continues to be having a ball, playing 24/7 with her buddy “Coco” their Cocker Spaniel who is the exact same age as Ruby.  We’ll be reunited again when I get back to FL.

Dumb, Dumb and Dingy!

Riddle me this:  how do you get an 11 foot dingy from the marine store to the boat that is 20nm away?

Answer:  strap it to the top of a 10' foot car! 

Here’s the story:

There was no dingy with the sailboat that we are about to sail from St. Martin to Miami but John and Juan were able to get a great deal on a used one from the Budget Marine store at the island’s largest marine store.  Only problem was that it was late Saturday, no deliveries till at least Monday and the sailboat was about 20 miles away. 

We could have waited till Monday, but we wanted to leave Sunday.  We could have tried to finish up the work on the sailboat and sail it from the marina to the harbour where the dingy and marine store were, but that would take several hours and require a number of fees to get through the bridge and into the harbor on the Dutch side. (St. Maarten/St. Martin is divided about in half with the northern half French and the southern half Dutch.

But in a stroke of genius, in a “senior moment”, one of us came up with the idea of strapping it to the top of our little rental car.  Emphasis on the word little.  The kinds of cars you only see on the islands and small towns in Europe and the like. 

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.  Including the fact that it worked I might add, and that we have this story to add to the fun and adventure.

True, to see while driving required that I hunker down so I was looking through the top of the steering wheel, but the car handled just fine and we felt particularly safe as we careened around the hairpin corners that in the event we went off the edge and down the straight drop off into the sea, we could just row the rest of the way to the sailboat.

 

 

Perhaps the funniest thing of all was that we barely got a second look by ANYONE we passed!  Which leads you to wonder what else do they see all the time and what would you have to do to get noticed in this place??

But as you can see we have the dingy safely lashed to the deck of “Maestro” (note that perfect fit!) and ready for what may be a wet ride to Miami.

As it turns out the weather took a turn for the worse on Sunday and we had a few more things to look after, get checked out of the country, etc. so we have delayed our departure to first thing Monday morning. (Feb 9th)

 

We took Maestro out of the marina and into a windy and wavy open ocean for a few hours this afternoon (Sunday) to give everything a quick trial run, as this boat is new to all of us and there have been a number of repairs, replacements and adjustments.  All went well, some problems with the autopilot which electro-whiz John is working on as I type but otherwise we are all set for an early departure in the morning.  If all goes well, the plan is to sail straight through to Miami nonstop, which is a distance of about 1400nm and we estimate will take about 7-9 days, depending on wind and conditions along the way.  Over this amount of distance small changes to our forward progress make a very big difference so it is hard to estimate just what our ETA is, but using 5.5knots/hour as a conservative average, we expect the trip to take about 8 1/2 days and put us Miami sometime on the 17th.  Not sure when I’ll next get some time and connectivity but will be back to you here with an update on the trip after we land.

Sea ya!

Boys, Beaches and a Bat-dog in Bahia Ballenas

Last night and today was a reminder of what life is all about: sunrises, full moons, fireworks, great friends, good food, good fun, boys, beaches and wagging puppy dog tails.  here is a quick summary of the past 24 hours:

Motored yesterday (20 kts but right on the nose!) afternoon/evening from CRYC in Puntarenas down to Bahia Ballena/Tambor and put down the hook about 7pm along with the great family I’ve been sailing and having fun with on Samadhi V.  Seen in the photo here off our port side.

Phil & Kelly invited me for dinner (again! I am SO spoiled) aboard Samadhi and we had delicious meatloaf wrapped in bacon that Phil made (while underway I might add) with buttered new potatoes a la Kelly, and a salad (my minor contribution) and some good wine.

Sat on the deck to get our moon tan from the year’s fullest moon.  Did you see it too??  And as if that wasn’t enough, we caught the impressive fireworks that the swanky private resort on the far side of the bay put on for some reason (just for us we figure!)

This morning I awoke to spectacular sunrise and read for a while on deck to the unmistakable roar of howler monkeys ashore.

Dove the boat to check out the prop and bottom. Both need a good cleaning. 

• Thinking of investing in a “hookah” Sea Breathe system (electric compressor on boat with long hoses to a regulator)

Lunch of garlic sautéed camerones (shrimp), rice and salad ($7) with the Samadhi V crew at the “Bahia Ballena Yacht Club” which is really a restaurant/bar/nightclub on the bay but was a fun spot for lunch.

Next it was off for a fun dingy ride with Captain Phil and the Samadhi V crew, across the bay to explore the mangrove lined river estuary. 

As you can see Ruby had fun in her role as “bat-dog” extraordinaire as we cruised the mangrove channels and flushed out all sorts of birds.

We continued on in the dingy to explore a local beach complete with wrecked trimaran (now a catamaran, missing one hull) and for some fun in the sun and sand with the boys and Ruby who never stopped racing back and forth between the waves and the sand.

Back on LTY, swam with Ruby off the back of the boat to clean out all the sand she acquired and to cool off a bit.  (90f here today)

Spent the afternoon catching up with Emails and blogs on the very good WiFi connection I’m getting from the small village (pop 40) ashore.

Dinner was a juicy thick pork chop out of the freezer, some new baby potatoes with garlic and butter and a big salad..  Cupcakes a la Kelly and the boys! for dessert, finishing up this blog entry and then off to bed!

Not a bad weekend in paradise!  Hope yours was great too!  More to follow here tomorrow as I continue to try to catch up with all the past photos and adventures.  Stay tuned!

PS.  My dear friends, Kelly, Phillip, Alexander & Nicholaus aboard Samadhi V keep up a great blog and I mean KEEP UP, pretty much daily most of the time with LOTS of great photos and video of them, their two great boys Alexander and Nicholas and some of the strays they pick up along the way.  What I ever did to deserve all their kindness and inclusion is beyond me but we’re sure having some fun times together.  Today was just one of many and you may have read of the ful that we all had when Lia, Brian and Piglet joined us for our trip inland to the Arenal volcano, zip lines and eco farm lodge.  Below is a collection of photos as seen through the beautiful eyes of Kelly over the past few days.  Be sure to check it out, just click below, sit back and enjoy!  We sure did!

Changes in Latitudes, Attitudes and Appearances for Wayne & Ruby

As some of you have recently noted in your Emails and messages, Ruby and I both have had a change of appearance and some weight loss somewhere between Florida and Costa Rica.  How observant of you! 

We were both shaved and shorn just before we left our unbelievably extended good times with our second family in Flordida; John, Michelle, Kate, Jaci, Genna, and Jack, plus grandparents on both sides and Coco (Ruby’s buddy) and Elaine (outgoing nanny) and Kelly (incoming nanny).  Whew!  I’ll be catching up as soon as I can with more details and photos from all our time with all of them.  Suffice it to say that leaving what had literally become our home and family for almost 2 months was a bittersweet event. 

So with all these changes as we headed back to El Salvador and our beloved good ship Learnativity, and after MANY months absence of scissors or razors, we figured that the upcoming change in locations and lattitudes required a matching change in attitudes and appearances so out with the sharp instruments and away with all the hair!

Here are some quick shots of the before, during and after results:

Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t change ANY thing?  Doesn’t seem to be affecting my magnetic attraction!

BTW, these are three of the SIX gorgeous women I got to live with in Florida!  Eat your heart out!!

L-R: Michelle, Elaine, Kelly (baby Jack in stroller) 

Remind me why I left?????????????????????????

 

 

And here is my buddy, baby Jack, who I got to be “night nanny” for.  He doesn’t seem to mind either.

Oh well, here goes! 

Face first, out with the razor

 

 

Face shaved clean, now for the hair on top.

 

All gone and Jack hardly seems to notice?

 

 

 

 

 

And here we are today (Jan 11th, 2009)   Six weeks after leaving Florida, down in Costa Rica and the hair is starting to come back on both of us.

Ruby and I out for a dingy ride to explore the mangroves and beaches of Bahia Ballena, Costa Rica with our friends from Samadhi V.

Photo thanks to Kelly,

Dingy ride thanks to Phillip,

Fun in the sun and on the beaches thanks to Alexander and Nicholaus. (and Ruby at all times of course!)

What a way to end/start the year!

I received the greatest gift of a full week (Dec.26, 2008 – Jan 2, 2009)with my wonderful daughter Lia, her fiancé Brian and of course their dog Piglet (so Ruby got a great gift too!)

* click on any of the pictures below or elsewhere in the blog to see a larger version

I rented a car for their visit and picked them on on Dec. 26th, Boxing Day for we Canadians, and they all arrived at the San Jose airport (near Alajuela on the map below)

right on time and were out in my arms in 20 minutes!  A 2 hour drive West on the Pan American highway and we were at the Costa Rica Yacht Club (CRYC) in Puntarenas and soon had them all aboard the good ship Learnativity, starting to adjust to the heat and humidity, a major change from the cold that was gripping most of the USA and Canada it seems.  Here it is about 85-95F during the day and humidity runs between 60-75%.  Not very winter like but I’m loving it!

We spent the next day just hanging out on the boat, introduced them to my dear friends from back in our time together at marina Barillas in El Salvador, Kelly and Phil aboard Samadhi V and we all went to explore and eat in the local town of Puntarenas.

Lia and Brian and Piglet have stayed with me aboard Learnativity before, but never been out sailing so they wanted to try that out and so bright and early the next morning we cast off at high tide so we had enough water underneath us  to get out of the river estuary.  We ran aground a few times but powered through the mud and soon we were motor sailing (not much wind) south into the beautiful Gulf of Nicoya.  We headed down to Bahia Ballena on the south west tip of the entrance.  This turned out to be a great spot that we had almost to ourselves and Lia and Brian quickly mastered the art of anchoring and we were set for a day of swimming, snorkeling and exploring ashore.

 

We visited the small little fishing dock and got there just in time to see them unloading all the dorado (tuna family).  The one cafe/bar/restaurant was closed so we went over to the hotel on the beach a few hundred meters away and found a great spot for a lunch outside.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beach was very shallow so we had to pull the dingy a long way up and without the aid of the yet uninstalled dingy wheels so we got a bit of a workout before lunch and after.   Then it was back to the boat and into the water for a refreshing swim. 

 

 

 

 

 

New day requires a new view so we pulled up the anchor and headed north to another great anchorage between Isla Tolinga and Isla Alcatraz and found a fabulous beach that we took the dingy over to and where Piglet and Ruby had a total blast chasing each other and the crashing surf.  Another day, another anchorage so we were off to Isla Muertos and had quite the adventure when we went ashore to find the Bahia Luminosa resort.  We actually found the resort fine but it had been sold  5 months ago and they were just waiting for the new owners to come in and apparently put in new condos. 

But we were hungry! and so there was a small village a few KM away and so we got instructions from Fin, the Luminosa manager and set off on what was supposed to be a 20 minute walk. 

Well, Wayne took the wrong fork in the road and we ended up having a very energetic and scenic walking tour of the local hillside.  BUT, check out the great views we got!

 

 

 

But once we found the right road, a pickup truck stopped and gave us a ride into town and we had a great lunch at this little cafe where “Ray” the owner, cook, VERY proudly showed us the 3 new cabinas he had just built.  The FIRST in town (population about 6) 

 

 

 

 

One more day, one more anchorage so we headed up to Isla San Lucas to check out a wreck that was in one of the bays and found a floating restaurant for lunch.  No menus, no problem, we just ordered the daily special of fresh cooked camerones (shrimp) but forgot to ask the price!  Let’s just say it was a very delicious and very expensive lunch! 

 

 

But enough fun in the sun, time to head back to CRYC as it was New Years Eve!  We got back together with Phil and Kelly who had just picked up their two super fun boys, Alexander and Nicholas, and were treated to not only their great company but a great gourmet treat from the talented chef’s Phil and Kelly.  We did our best to stay up to ring in the new year, but we cruisers are used to early to bed and early to rise so we barely made it.

 

Wanting to get the New Year off to a fun start we piled all 5  adults, two boys and two dogs into a van we had rented (thanks to Kelly!) and we were off for a very scenic drive around Lake Arenal.  (see map above)  We stopped for lunch and realized how different the weather was inland and at higher elevations and then it was on to the bit event of the day; zip line tour!

For those not familiar with this, it involves steel cables that are stretched over canyons and canopies of the rain forest and you slide down them while hanging from a small pulley connected to a climbing harness you are wearing. In our case we had 8 different cables, two of which were over 2000m long so you REALLY get moving, up to 45MPH at some points along the way.

 

 

Here is the "before” shot of us all about to get harnessed up, and then the intermediate shot of what we looked like in full gear.

 

But the most fun was yet to come.  It was raining and misty (not called a cloud/rain forest for nothing you know!) and so  as we were zipping along so quickly, the pulley was providing a constant refreshing spray of all the water on the cable……..

 

AND copious amounts of all the grease on the cables to keep them from rusting and wearing.  SO, here is what we looked like afterwards!

Check out those ear to ear grins shining through all the grease. 

What a BLAST and SO much fun to share this as a group. 

Here is me, thanks to Kelly’s shot, zipping in from the last run.   For more great photos and write up on all this AND a great video that will help you life the fun of zip line tours through the eyes of Alexander, be sure to check out the excellent blog that Kelly and Phil (and boys) keep up at http://www.samadhiv.org/  Worth checking in there from time to time in the future as well as looking back a bit to get a glimpse of what the cruising life is all about!

  Believe it or not, this was not even the best part of the day yet!  We no sooner got cleaned up, (took awhile) than we were treated to what is apparently a very rare showing of the Arenal volcano erupting and we had front row seats from up on the platform of the zip line tour.  Now THAT is how to start a New Year off in style!!

 

 

 

 

 

And we never let up.  Thanks to Kelly’s great sleuthing, phoning and Emailing, she found us a fantastic hotel/B&B/farm called Finca Luna Nueva to stay at and so we awoke to a gorgeous day overlooking the rainforest and greeted by the many birds in the area.  This is a fully working farm where they are growing indigenous plants from the rain forest and jungle and other parts of Central America and helping local farmers to introduce more of these plants into their diets and learn the secrets of bio diversity, sustainability and so much more.  The owner took us on a two hour tour of may parts of the farm and we learned and tasted a LOT along the way.

Along the hike Kelly’s sharp eyes spotted this 3 toed sloth way high up in the crotch of a tree!

But it was time to go and get Lia, Brian and Piglet off to the airport so we headed back towards San Jose in the van, got them there in plenty of time and then the rest of us continued on to the PriceSmart (Costco clone) near the airport to do a round of shopping for provisions for our respective boats and upcoming sailing trips.  We got back to CRYC late that night, exhausted but with smiles we just couldn’t stop.

Hope all of you reading this have 2009 off to a great start as well.

Thanks Lia, Brian and Piglet for helping to get 2009 off to SUCH a great start and for all the fun memories. 

Thanks Kelly, Phil, Alexander and Nicholas for making this such a fun group experience. 

2009 is already a year to remember!