Living & Learning Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity

What is she thinking?

Ruby and I make it a habit to start and end each day watching the sunrise and set wherever we are.  We have been here in Fiji at Vuda Point marina since the end of August and I’ve been in full tilt work mode getting Learnativity all super ship shape for the next few years of remote sailing as we make our way west over into Indonesia.  So my daily sun worshiping provides welcome breaks and reminders of just how fortunate I am and what a charmed a life I live.

I like this first picture a lot with Ruby’s cute little head silhouetted by the setting sun which always prompts me to wonder “What is she thinking”?

 

We were last here in Fiji and at Vuda Pt. marina a year ago when we lived here for a full year doing the big repaint and refit on LTY, and since then the new marina management has put in the most wonderful addition of a small sloped patch of grass which is set right on the edge of the coral shoreline and looking straight out over some of the smaller of the over 360 Fijian islands to the west.  Which as you can see, makes it the perfect spot for our nightly sun downers.

I don’t know what motivated the marina to put this patch of grass in, but it is obviously someone’s pet project as the grass is some of the softest and most well cared for grass I’ve ever experienced.  It is absolutely perfect for me to sit on the sloped bank with my tired tush nestled into the slight hollow I found in the upper level of the grass which is also perfectly positioned in front of one of the big rocks they set in place with just the right hollow in it for me to rest my aching back against and enjoy the most amazing “hot rock massage” from the almost too hot to touch rock mass that has been storing up the sun’s heat all day.

Ruby LOVES grass, always has since she was a puppy and so she spends part of her time racing around in circles, her ears like mini wings that give her a flying “bat dog” look as races full tilt in long circuits from one end of the grass to the other.  Ian (seen in the silhouette here) enjoys throwing sticks and rocks which she races and pounces upon, does her duty of protecting us from these “killer” rocks and sticks by shaking the daylights out of them and then comes back and flops down beside us to enjoy chewing them.  She never quite returns them to either of us and any suggestions of “fetch” are met with a look that surely says “You talking to me?!!  What do you think I am, a DOG or something??”

 

And it all seems to be custom built just for Ruby and me as it is somewhat hidden and undiscovered by most others and so we are usually the only ones there each night.  We do welcome and invite others to join us though and now that Ruby’s “Uncle Ian” from mv Summer Spirit is back from his trip to Australia, the three of us have made this our nightly ritual. 

 

 

 

 

It has been awesome to watch the progression of the sun over the past two months as it moves a bit more south each day with the approach of summer down here in the southern hemisphere as it silently slides below the western horizon each night.  The foreground we have is equally perfect with a series of Fijian islands off shore from us which are bathed in the setting sun’s fiery glow and up above there is a new mélange of clouds which provide the perfect medium for the full pallet of colours from the sun long after it has disappeared below the watery horizon.  Again, pictures are SO much better than my meagre attempts to describe with words so I’ll let you browse through a few photos of some of the horizons from the past few weeks.

 

		Fijian Sunsets 2013 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

LTY UPDATE: Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

LTY UPDATE: Tuesday, September 18th, 2012
Luganville Bay, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

LTY time: 16:45 (Vanuatu time = UTC +11)
Location: Luganville Bay, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
Position: 15 31.426 S, 167 09.759 E (you can cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
Wind: 10-15 SE
Seas/Swell: 0.5m ESE plus good tidal current through this channel
Weather: Sunny yesterday (Mon) Overcast today
Air temp: 82 F 28C
Sea temp: 90.5 F 32.5 C
Barometer: 1016mm

LEISURELY DAYS in LUGANVILLE BAY

Not too much to report from the anchorage here in Luganville Bay so I'll try to keep it brief as I spend my time picking up a few provisions ashore and catching up online with the good Internet connection I have thanks to my cellular modem.

First, thanks to all who sent me notes and concern about the dog bit and the update is that all is well and (sorry to disappoint any of you) I'm going to live! ;) The bite happened two weeks ago today when I was in Port Villa and the few (5) punctures seemed fine after good cleaning and keeping them that way along with antibiotic salve. But after ten days the largest deepest one suddenly became rather sore and red and the area around it on my inner right ankle started to swell a bit. This factored into my decision to leave my little slice of paradise pie over in Asanvari Bay early and come here to Luganville as it is the 2nd largest city in Vanuatu and has a hospital. By the time I got here to Luganville my ankle was feeling much better but I decided to be smart (hey! it can happen!) and go get it checked anyway. I won't be anywhere near any medical facilities for the rest of this month here in Vanuatu and then I've got the longer passage north to the Marshall Islands which is about 1500nm so that will take between 10-15 days.

I do continue to be able to find ways to surround myself with beauty.  On the walk back from the hospital I spotted this brilliant explosion of colour as a large bougainvillea had grown up intertwined with this tall evergreen tree.  And last night we had the amazing sunset you see below.

Getting around here in Luganville is pretty easy and I've got several options. I took my dingy up the bay a bit to the river entrance and was able to go up the river to the edge of the town center and tie the dingy along the river banks right in front of the market. In town there is a constant stream of vans and taxis such that if you put up your hand one will stop within seconds. Vans cost 100 Vatu and Taxi is about 150 - 200 so for between 1-2 US dollars you can get anywhere you like. The town is relatively small so you can walk to most places but it is spread out on just one shore side main street so it stretches for several kilometers and the van/taxi option is sometimes the way to go. I walked most of the town but the hospital is up the hills a ways out of town so I got a taxi to take me there. It was a tiny spot but there was a door marked "Emergency" so I tried that first and though it was locked, a smiling head nurse soon opened it up and invited me in.

Very Spartan but very clean facility inside and I received great care there. Contrary to what most people think, me included originally, medical care in pretty much all of the so called "developing" countries I have been to in the past 5 years has been very good and very affordable, so you have to initially work to change your views and attitudes accordingly. This most recent experience will give you some idea of what I mean. The head nurse asked for the details and gave me an initial exam followed by the attending physician. They pretty much agreed with my self assessment that there was an internal infection but it was getting better and recommended I take some antibiotics for 7 days to help ensure it was all cleared up. They also recommended a tetanus shot to guard against rabies and that I continued to clean the wound as I had been. I gratefully accepted their recommendations and prescriptions, confirmed that I had no allergies to medication and soon had a shot in my arm, a zip lock bag of Amoxicillin and a tube of antibiotic cream in my hand and was back out in the beautiful sunny day walking back to town.

Total elapsed time in Emergency: 15 minutes or less
Total cost: 3000 Vatu (US $30)

Need I say more? Well, just that today the swelling, redness and throbbing is almost all gone and my ankle and I feel very good.

Today I went back into town to get a few more provisions and top up my cellular modem to last me through my rounds of Skype calls, Emails, Kindle downloads and yes, PICTURE uploads of bats, boys and bread! I'll get to uploading those pictures tomorrow and let you know when I do but it is getting late, dark and cold for me here and the galley is calling my name so I'll sign off for now.

Night all!

Wayne

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.

More Magical Moments

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LTY Morning Update: Monday April 27, 2009

Location:    anchored @ Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Position:    -27d 08.625' S    -109d 26,087' W
Wind:         8-12 kts N True
Seas:          swell = ~ 1.5m @ 8 secs  N
Weather:    early AM showers and cloud, burning off for another clear day
Sea temp:    78.9F
Air temp:    76.8F 
Humidity:    74%

Had a very good day ashore yesterday afternoon and evening.  Met up with Charlie and Elaine, two of the people I’d been introduced to before getting here. Charlie is an archaeologist/geologist who has been coming here to Easter Island for over 30 years and Elaine is a retired high school teacher who is here for 3 months teaching science in the local schools.  I met up with them at the beautiful hotel Otai and we spent the whole afternoon getting to know each other, talking about Easter Island.  They had a WiFi connection at the hotel so I was able to get connected and start the long process of downloading all my Emails from the past 2 weeks, updated weather reports and otherwise catching up with things online.  It is a very slow connection, I believe there is only one line into the island and being Sunday afternoon my guess is that everyone was online and so it was slow but it was a connection!

Charlie and Elaine are both from Wyoming and I also met up with some of Charlie’s students who are here doing various projects on the island.  Four of us went out for diner to round out a very good day ashore.  The stars here are quite phenomenal.  Both because there is so little light anywhere near here that you get no interference and the stars are all very bright and contrasted against the blackness of the sky, but also because these are very different stars being down here below 27 degrees South of the Equator.  The famous Southern Cross is very visible for example and I need to get out my various star charts and programs to learn a bit more about all these new stars and planets that I get to see from this vantage point.  One of my major and fun areas of learning (one of thousands) on this adventure is understanding the whole set of spatial relationships between the earth, moon, sun and stars. I’m working on learning to use my sextant as part of this and as always I continue to enjoy and be fascinated by the fun combinations of the very very old with the new.  In this case here I am, about as wired up and high tech as it gets with GPS, sat phones, chart plotters and the like and yet balancing that out with celestial navigation, sextants and sight reduction tables.  Fascinating stuff and so much to be learned and understood in the process.

After diner Ruby and I went back to our dingy and headed out to Learnativity which continues to be solidly anchored off Hanga Roa and spent a bit of time when we got back to admire and study the night sky a bit more.  However it wasn’t able to focus on those incredible stars for too long as unfortunately I seemed to pick up some food poisoning from the meal and started to feel strange shortly as I was leaving the restaurant.  As I got back to LTY, my eyesight began to go all crazy, no peripheral vision, seeing lots of purple lines like broken safety glass overlaid on everything I looked at and a very upset stomach.  Got rid of some of it out one end but didn’t vomit and it eased up a little, but then a fever like condition set in, making me very cold and shivering.  So I drank a lot of water, dug out my long unused comforter and went to bed early.  The fever continued all night alternating between cold and hot but I was able to get some sleep and kept drinking lots of water and by 6am the fever had broken and it had all passed and I feel fine again now.  Guess I need to stick to my own cooking! <g>

The anchorage was very rolly last night as the swell is now coming in from the North and the wind is more from the East so it puts us broadside to the swells and the boat rolls back and forth from one side to the other, sometimes heeling us over 30+ degrees.  When you’re laying down it is quite pleasant and like being rocked to sleep but certainly makes moving around a challenge. 

This morning it was a similar weather pattern with light showers and cloudy skies about 4-6am and then it starts to clear off as the sun rises.  So I’m back up in the cockpit, doing this morning update for you and enjoying the sun as it breaks through the remaining clouds.  I’ll head ashore later this morning for more exploring and also to start checking out facilities here.  If possible I’m hoping to find things like a Laundromat, some car batteries to replace my failed starter batteries and ideally a sail maker or even a sewing machine that I can use and try to salvage and resew my large spinnaker sail that blew out shortly after leaving Galapagos.  Fortunately the wind was good and strong the whole way from Galapagos to here so I didn't need or miss the spinnaker too much until the last day.  But it will likely be lower winds and more downwind sailing for the next month on the way to Pitcairn, Mangareva (Gambier) and French Polynesia so I’m very much hoping I’ll be able to find a way to salvage the spinnaker and have that to help keep us sailing in these conditions.

Charlie and Elaine and some of his students are all very intrigued by the notion of traveling by sailboat and so I’m going to bring them out to see Learnativity late this afternoon.  And I’ll be looking into tours and renting vehicles or horses to get out to some of the sites on the other parts of the island. 

I’ll be back to you with an update tomorrow to see how successful I was at finding the various facilities on shore.

Wayne

LTY morning UPDATE: Sunday, April 26, 2009

08:15 local 14:15 UTC

Location:    anchored @ Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Position:    -27d 08.625' S    -109d 26,087' W
Wind:         8-15 kts SE True
Seas:        swell = ~ 1 m @ 8 secs
Weather:    early AM showers, late sunrise with clouds, clearing off to be another blue sky and sunny day
Sea temp:    78.9F
Air temp:    76.9F 
Humidity:    74%

Spent the morning cleaning up the boat after two weeks of non stop living/sailing.  The outboard motor on the dingy has been acting up so cleaned out the carburetor and spark plugs, checked the fuel tank for water and got it all back together and seems to be running better.  We'll know for sure next run ashore.  I also climbed the mast to inspect all the rigging and found the starboard halyard block (pulley) at the mast head had lost its bearings.  Spent half an hour at the top getting the old one off and then when I got back late in the afternoon, replaced it with a new one and got the halyard reeved (fed through) and all mounted up at the top of the mast.  Otherwise everything else appears to be none the worse for 2 weeks of wear and tear of non stop sailing.

 

One of the most common questions I get is "What do you do with all your time?".  I don't have a great answer, and sometimes I ask that question myself in terms of where did the day(s) go, but they go amazingly quickly and are filled with a great variety of never ending things to do.  There is certainly never any boredom (not that I really understand the concept) or lack of things on the list to choose from on what to do next and that's just the way I like it. 

 

 

 

Ruby and I spent the day ashore and mostly just did one of my favorite things in an area, wandering around wherever my feet, nose, eyes and serendipity lead me.  We walked quite a stretch of the coastline here and a large part of it turned out to be a national park area that was a long series of Moai (the famous stone face statues) and the large platforms they are built on.  It has been particularly interesting for me to now see these things myself after reading so much about them and having just finished Jared Diamond's "Collapse" which has a long chapter devoted to Easter Island, the events that led up to the almost complete collapse of the island's society and what caused it all.  

It was a perfect day, sunny but not too hot nor humid and it was great to be able to be out for a long walk with Ruby as well.  She was able to be off leash for most of it as were were usually the only ones around.  There are lots of other dogs here, mostly wild/stray types, which has been typical most places we've been but this doesn't seem to cause either side any problems.  Occasionally Ruby will find one that wants to play and they will chase each other for a bit, but mostly they just seem to greet each other, have a couple good sniffs and be on their respective ways.

We also spent some time walking more of the small village here and getting a feel for it and the people. It's quite nice as the tourism part is not too pronounced given the very small numbers and that the town and overall island and population (about 4000) is so small. 

After a lot of walking I stopped for a late lunch at about 2pm in a nice restaurant on the waterfront road and treated myself to a very full meal of salad, ceviche and fresh pescado (Mai Mai) with a mango juice to top it off.  It was quite a surreal experience as I sat there, enjoyed this great meal, looking at and past the carved figures on the road side and out over the water where Learnativity is anchored, listening to the crashing surf, and spending a few relaxing hours reading on my Kindle.  What a wonderful mix of cultures, old/new, history, technology and senses.  The place became very busy about 3pm so I offered to share my table with a couple who came in when there were not tables and they turned out to be from Holland.  We chatted for a bit, in English as my Dutch is almost non existent (sorry Erik) and they were here visiting for two weeks.  She was particularly interested in my Kindle as she had seen two others with them in their travels and so I let her play with it for a bit and we talked about it, technology, traveling and more.  Added to the extreme eclecticness of the whole experience and I just loved it all.

After that I stopped by the hotel where the people I'm trying to meet up with are staying but was not able to find them in on several tries.  I wandered up to 3 different internet cafes trying to find a net connection but after waiting over an hour I decided to let it go for the day and we headed back to Learnativity for the evening.  A bit more cleaning up, a light diner and just to add to the eclectic nature of the day, watched some TV shows that my generous friend John has recorded tons of for me.  I have to just laugh at the whole scene.  I hardly watch any TV or get to see any movies, so I don't know any of these shows that he's recorded but it has been great fun checking them out and finding some fun stuff to watch.  So there I am, anchored off Easter Island and getting to watch & learn about shows like "Dr. Who", "Top Gear", "Dirty Jobs", "Eureka" and of course get to see (after reading the book) Master & Commander.  I just LOVE these kinds of mashups of old and new, low tech and high tech, foreign and familiar. 

Then it was off to bed for Ms. Ruby and I.  AND we got to sleep in a real bed and for a real long contiguous time!  Life doesn't get much better than this I don't think.

Today (Sunday morning) I've been enjoying the sunrise as it burns through all the storm clouds that have been here since about 4am and the day warms up, the sounds of the waking village drift out to us a bit and we roll back and forth with the swell coming in and around this side of the island now from the NE.  Right now I'm using the time to also get this note typed up and sent off to you and then will finish my coffee, do a few more chores. 

Intentions (vs plans) for the rest of the day include going ashore to see what Sunday in Hanga Roa is like, trying for a network connection, exploring a few more parts of the town, meeting up (hopefully) with Sonia, Charlie or Elaine the people here I've been communicating with via Email) and then maybe try some snorkeling in this unbelievably clear water (apparently up to 300' at times!)

Whatever it ends up being, hard to imagine a better Sunday, or any day.  Hope yours is equally GR8!!

Enjoy,

Wayne

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!