Hot News

May 1, 2001 ~ May 15, 2001

May 15, 2001

OUR TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF OUR TRIP FROM DENVER TO ST. THOMAS, ONTARIO, CANADA TO PICK UP PEACE AND ALOHA!

We left Daniel's Bay at 4am using radar! We were going VERY fast...in fact, we reefed at about 9pm after traveling 186 miles averaging 8.6 knots!!! We lost our big chance for a 200 mile day!!!! And since we reefed, the wind died....there are all these wonderful Laws out here!!! I spent a very uncomfortable day, with no lunch and no tuna for dinner! It is always good for the waistline to have these no-eat days periodically!!! We caught a barracuda (threw back) and we had FOUR skipjack tunas on the lines, but managed to reel only ONE in!! He was delicious ...at least that was the report from the crew.

We were back on the same watch schedule....and I didn't accomplish much with emails or the website. That is the most frustrating part of all this...not accomplishing anything on passage!

May 14, 2001

We listened to the morning nets and dinghied into the wharf in town at 7:30am. We purchased 15 baguettes!!! We also purchased fruits and vegetables from a stand and from Andy (who really wanted to trade for tshirts! We didn't have any aboard large enough to fit him. The guys from *Endeavor* had given him shirts but he hadn't given them any fruit, so we paid for the bananas and pamplemousse, and then he paid them. Why are there always dishonest greedy people?). We checked out at the gendarmie, picked up our ham radio reciprocal license (FO0ERN followed by KH7JL) for French Polynesia from the Post Office, stopped to say aloha to *Boread* (Darren and Amber from Vancouver), *Muna* (Malcolm, Helen and Laura from Great Britain), and *Argonauta* (Julius and Sally from New York). We stowed all and headed to Daniel's Bay (Baie de Taioa which is further west along the southern coast of Nuku Hiva) after lunch, in order to have a peaceful night's rest! We were greeted by Brandon and Jo on *Mayling* from Australia, whom we had last seen in Trinidad! Then Stella (Terry and Ariel from Toronto) came over to see the boat...even though she was a mess!!! We owe them a proper visit with proper munchies and drinks!

Daniel's Bay is yet another spectacular bay! Most cruisers hiked the 2.5 hours to Vaipo waterfall, the third highest waterfall in the world. Unfortunately, we were out of time! We were also concerned about the presence of dengue fever now in the Marquesas. So, we did not go ashore here, just had an early dinner, made the boat ready for a long passage, and went to bed early!

May 13, 2001

HAPPY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOMS EVERYWHERE!!! especially to David's Mom in Florida and to Mrs. Wentworth (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!)

*Chewink* and *Blue Yonder* left the anchorage early, while we were busy cleaning and getting weather faxes. Ron came over to talk with David about stocks, while Anna and I had a chance to visit! We left about 1pm and had a terrible beat (the wind was in the opposite direction from when we arrived -- also beating into the wind!!!!) back to Taiahoe Bay arriving about 5pm. We did catch another mahimahi!!! Sacrifices of cutting boards seem to work!!!! We had a delicious dinner! Gail on *Maritime Express* brought over what they had written about their trip from Canada to Bermuda several years ago and their recent trip from the Galapagos to the Marquesas with everyone's problems and all the rescues! What a saga! We made the mistake of thinking that we could get by without a stern anchor....WRONG! We didn't get much sleep with the rocking and rolling!

May 12, 2001

We listened to the nets and obtained weather faxes before Eric, Ron, Anna, and I went snorkeling for an hour at 10am, while David cut Jason's hair. I was able to find the octopus again for Anna, but the guys were around the point and he was gone when we returned with them!

We took pictures of *Peace and Aloha* from the dinghy and stopped by *Chewink* to meet Alex (from San Francisco) and Drew (from Boulder), their 23 year old twin sons, visiting them for six weeks! *Chewink* has been around once before about 15 years ago....so many bays are known to them! Then we hiked over to Baie Haatuatua. This was in the opposite direction and was a little easier hike for about 3 hours. Another very beautiful uninhabited bay!

We had to do another load of wash....and watched a movie: "Going Overboard" which is exactly what is going to happen to that video!!!!

May 11, 2001

Friday was quite windy so we stayed aboard working on weather faxes, emails and I made bread and brownies. David felt that he was getting "swimmers ear" so he started treating it and didn't want to go into the water. So Ron (*Lazy Jack*) joined Eric and me for almost an hour snorkel near the point. Unfortunately, with the wind and the waves, it was very murky. We had showers and enjoyed the sunset aboard *Lazy Jack.* We enjoyed our dinner of ono at about 8pm! We haven't been able to solve this problem of eating very late after visiting other boats! It never seems to be on a day when I have left overs!

*Talisman* (Peter and Gena from Texas) and *High Drama* (Jeff, Anne, Stacey and Mike from Phoenix) arrived in the anchorage and they had a big reunion with *Misty Dawn* and *Roger Henry* since they were all in Puerto Lucia Yacht Club in Salinas, Ecuador together. We think they were betting on the crossing!!!

May 10, 2001

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JILL and DANIELLE!!! We hope that you both had a very special day!

I did our sixth and final wash of the pilot house sheets, while Eric and David were discussing the problem of welding with Paul. He was not able to complete the job of welding it, because his machine is just not big or hot enough. That was a disappointment! So we still need to find a TIG welder and have it welded in Papeete.

I made sandwiches and we left about 10am to hike over the mountain to the next bay, Baie d'Hatiheu. It is quite a climb UP and over Teavaimaoaoa Pass at 650 feet (but what a spectacular view! Hopefully, Eric will include the panorama photo he shot!) and then back down on the other side. This was a trail! No roads and no cars in Anaho, just horses! This is a very picturesque vllage along the bay, a favorite spot for Robert Louis Stevenson. We had our lunch under a pavilion along the waterfront during a squall! We walked along the main road, passing Chez Yvonne (owned by the town mayor) which is THE best restaurant in town, famous for pork cooked in an umu! Several of the cruisers ate there, but it was rather pricey and we really didn't have time. Along the waterfront is a beautiful little church and a park with tikis and intricately carved arches. We hiked to the closest and the most important archaeological site at the tohua (public plaza) Hikoku'a, which is a large recently restored ceremonial center consisting of stone platforms.

There are many spires along the mountain tops, where atop one of them is the Madonna of Hatiheu, a white statue of Mother Mary carved in 1872 by Frere Blanc. The unique crown on the Madonna is made of branch coral. We continue to wonder HOW she was placed there so high above the village?

The hike was almost two hours each way (seemed less strenuous on the return), and we managed to obtain mangoes, guavas, avocadoes and cherimoya from the trees in the forest. So, we were re-provisioned for a few days with delicious fresh fruits!!!

We were VERY tired on our return, but we were asked to join the rest of the cruisers on *Rover* again to have Arnaud discuss the Tuamotus! Many people did not attend, but we were very anxious to discover what he felt was THE best place...he recommended Fakarava. We returned home at 9:30pm for a dinner of mahimahi, coleslaw, peas, mixed vegetables, and muffins! I guess that we are becoming fashionable French people by eating at that time of night, when we are usually turning off the lights!!!

May 9, 2001

I spent the morning washing the sheets in the main cabin and our sheets, while the guys were working on weather faxes, where we noticed a GALE just south of Papeete. Paul (Renegade) and Cabot (Chewink) came over to look at the boat and to see if Paul could weld our broken boom vang attachment. I continued to work on emails after I made blueberry muffins mixed with bananas, which were all coming ripe at once!

We had a wonderful snorkel and saw two very large octopuses (or is it just octopus or octopi????) and two turtles! Ron and Anna (*Lazy Jack*) joined us for "sundowners!"

May 8, 2001

GOOD LUCK, JULIE!!! on your final exam today!!! We know that you will be relieved when this semester is over!!!

We eagerly awaiting the Awards Ceremony on our Big Fish Net for the Big Fish Brain Quiz!!! We didn't win anything!!! They failed to award us points for my net controlling job! They also failed to award us the Grand Prize for the Most Fish Caught...even out here, .the games are rigged!!! All in good fun and the net added lots of humor to our long days at sea!!!

We did another load of wash: the boys sheets, which I need to do during the day with the generator on (which messes up our nightly schedule!!), so that we all have sheets to sleep on during the night! Anna and Ron came over to visit and get some water, since their water maker is not working. The guys spent the afternoon working on fixing the Northstar GPS with NO LUCK, while I worked on answering my emails! I guess I am just destined to be behind in my emails and updating this website!!!! Please be patient!

We went for another enjoyable snorkel, had showers, and went over to *Rover* with all the other boats in the anchorage for a "get-together" where we met all the other boats, whom we had just heard on the radio but had never met! Rover is quite a boat...we were all very impressed with the upright Subzero refrigerator and freezer, also the dishwasher, etc. etc! He carries 2600 gallons of diesel and we calculated that it cost $5000 to cross from the Galapagos to the Marquesas!!! That type of boat is definitely not in our price range!!! Plus he has three crew members aboard! But it is surely nice to see how the other half lives!!!

May 7, 2001

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRIS!!! Hope that you had a special day and that you did NOT have an exam today!!! Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROBIN on *Misty Dawn!*

We couldn't hear any of the nets because of being tucked way inside the bays, so we pulled up our stern anchor (always such a rotten job!!!), and left about 9:30am for a rough beat up the coast to arrive at Anaho Bay on the north coast of Nuku Hiva about noon. We caught two fish: a rainbow runner and a mahimahi, which gave us two delicious dinners! However, our fish cutting board went over the side!!! I guess we need to make sacrifices to the fish gods with lures and cutting boards every so often!!!!

There were about nine other boats anchored in this absolutely gorgeous bay, with cliffs encircling us and views at 360 Degrees! Lazy Jack (Ron and Anna from England), Chewink (Cabot and Heidi from Maine), Misty Dawn (Bob and Robin from CT), Renegade ( Paul and Natalie from USA), Blue Yonder (David and Gail from USA), Rover (a Nordic Trawler with John, Gail from Denver with crew), a French boat with Arnaud and Francoise with his two daughters (Arnaud is a dive instructor on Rangiroa in the Tuamotus), Roger Henry (Alvah -- published author and also writes for sailing magazines -- and Diane from USA), and Adelie (Paul and Roxanne from Canada). Cabot snorkeled over to introduce himself, since we had both been receiving emails from Steve and Karen James in Ft. Lauderdale, that we should connect!!! Cabot is Limon Morse (forgive me, if I spelled it incorrectly!) Boat Builder in Thomaston, Maine!

After we were settled, we went snorkeling for the first time in ages! We saw a large manta ray and many fishes that looked like those on Maui!!! The best snorkeling in a VERY long time! We worked up a good appetite to enjoy rainbow runner, coleslaw, rice and pain au chocolat for dinner!

May 6, 2001

We were up at 6am and were ashore by 7am so we could be at church by 8am! We attended a very beautiful church service in the village of Taipivai (Taipi Valley written about by Melville in" Typee" (his spelling!)...we are eagerly awaiting Julie's arrival with the book!). The singing was so beautiful! We all stood outside before the service and were greeted by several of the women with "Kaoha" to which we responded "Aloha" explaining in our broken French, that our home is in Maui, Hawaii. Everyone was dressed very colorfully in Tahitian print mumus with flowers in their hair or adorning their hats! We were VERY impressed with two beautifully carved statues near the altar: one of Mother Mary (I seemed to make contact with her eyes sitting at the back of the church) and Jesus, ascending, not hanging on the cross. The building was built of stone with wood, almost completely open-air with marble tile floors...what a wonderful place of worship! The entire mass was said in Marquesan including the hyms. There are no programs, prayer books or hymnals! We were impressed by the missionaries here who chose to translate the mass and the hyms into Marquesan to carry on the language, whereas in Hawaii where the language is almost dead, the missionaries forbid the natives to speak in Hawaiian and obviously did not translate their services into the native language, which is very unfortunate for the Hawaiian Language.

We returned to the boat, after obtaining lots of blisters on my feet from the long walk in my flip-flops and being eaten alive by the "no-no" bugs on the beach where we left the dinghy!! The bites of the no-no's are really nasty: they itch like crazy and can become terribly infected if you scratch them!!! (it is IMPOSSIBLE not to scratch them!!) We had an early lunch and then set out again in search of the important archaeological site named Pa'eke. We walked miles and miles up and down the only road...asked several people, and FINALLY discovered it! We needed to walk up one person's driveway and then along a well worn trail....no signs to this important archaelogical site! This site has several very large tikis and a huge maeae, which is a ceremonial platform made from huge basalt blocks, where burials, worship and human sacrifices were conducted only by priests and chieftans. The maemae measures 557 feet by 82 feet. We continued to ponder HOW the rocks were all moved to this location and then put into place????? In our meanderings around the hillside in search of this site, we had discovered many paepaes, which are ancient stone platforms used at house foundations. They could also be seen along the road and in town. We purchased some "jus" at a little store in town.

Another product besides copra, limes and bananas of this valley is noni or Morinda citrifolia which produces a green pear sized fruit with round, whitish markings. The natives have found that noni grows very rapidly as opposed to a coconut palm tree, does not need special care and is easy to harvest. Barrells of the fruit in a fermented state are shipped to Papeete, where the pulp is then shipped to the Morinda juice factory in Salt Lake City, Utah where it is processed and mixed with other fruit juices. This final product is sold in health food stores with the promise of curing various ailments. I remember seeing this product on Maui, but have never tasted it! Try it and let us know how it is and what it cured! We also saw a sign on the clinic door which said that the FIRST case of dengue fever had arrrived in the Marquesas! Wonderful!

We saw lots of fresh fruits growing on the trees, but could not locate anyone to see if we could purchase any bananas, mangoes, limes, etc, and because it was Sunday, none of the stores were open. Thankfully, we still had our provisions from Nuku Hiva. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of ono, rice, cabbage, french bread and pastries when we returned to the boat to discover that there were four other boats in the anchorage!!! We continued to read your nice Christmas cards at dinner!!! Thank you again!

I FINALLY finished reading "Portobello Chronicles" by Patricia McGehee. David, Eric and I really enjoyed learning the ENTIRE history of the area and the town of Portobelo. A "must read" for history buffs...

May 5, 2001

We staggered out of bed at 5am and were at the dock for the market by 5:30am!!! (it was barely light....) We all slipped on the cement ramp getting out...but finally were all on shore...slightly wet and dirty!!! We were NOT impressed with the market...it must have been an "off" week! They did have lots of fish that was sold immediately. We did manage to purchase zucchini, cabbage and tomatoes (actually their produce is all washed and packaged perfectly!). We also bought some delicious pastries!!! We then went to the store and purchased 12 baguettes!!!! We took everything back to the boat and enjoyed breakfast. We went ashore to the other side of the bay and visited the archaeological sites with many tikis and walked up to the church. (I was impressed by the resemblance of the faces on the tikis to those portrayed as aliens in pictures and movies!!! We were wondering if there was a connection???? The dates of these sites is very recent as compared with those in Ecuador and Peru from the Incas.) Hopefully, there will be some pictures enclosed of all these places.

We have neglected to tell you about Nuku Hiva or Taiohae Bay. Nuku Hiva is the principal island of the Marquesas (Iles Marquises)where Taiohae is the administrative capital, the largest town, a Port of Entry, with the safest and most important bay. The highest point on this island is Mt. Takao at 3,888 feet with many other heights along the northern coasts which give rise to many beautiful waterfalls. There are two rocky islets (The Sentinels) on either side of the entrance. Rocky cliffs line each side of the bay. The shores are covered with green growth with the exception of a few black volanic outcroppings. Herman Melville jumped a whaling ship here in 1842 when he was 23! It seems like we are traveling from one gorgeous anchorage to another one!!! We can't say that one is more spectacular than another since they are all so different!

We left after lunch and sailed to Hakahaa Bay within Baie du Controleur and were anchored about 4pm, all alone!!! We had a terrible time removing our stern anchor before leaving Taiohae Bay, but found that we needed it in this bay also! We also broke the weld attaching the boom vang to the mast!!! We had it welded in Colon....another project for Tahiti!

We enjoyed a dinner of spanish mackerel, zucchini, french bread, rice and pastries. We watched "The Apostle" movie, which was a very different movie! ...after reading some of your wonderful Christmas cards and enjoying your pictures!

May 4, 2001

We stopped by *Aldebaran Milwaukee* to say goodbye to Kirk who had been sailing with them since Colon. Kirk was heading back to Detroit. We will miss him...he was our chief competitor...he was racing against us and we didn't even know that there was a RACE!!!

We had a busy morning ashore. First we purchased the stamps for our visa at 3000CFP for additional three months stay in French Polynesia (another hit for those of us not in the EU!) We also filled out the form for our reciprocal ham license (FO0ERN which preceeds KH7JL) which they faxed (770CPF for the fax!) to Papeete and we received the license several days later. We also had to mail our customs form for 55CFP to Papeete...the French know how to get it out of you. We then went back to the gendarme who painstakely stamped our passports and added the stamp and gave us 3 months in French Polynesia, which is incorrect. We are entitled to one month free plus 3 additional months for the visa. Hopefully, this will be remedied in Papeete when we check in there. While we were checking in we started talking to John and Dianne Olson aboard *Daydreamer* (Anchorage, Alaska). We were so surprised to discover that Dianne had graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with an education degree in 1961 and had eaten in the same dorm as David did. John had graduated from the School of Mines in Golden! I keep repeating....it is definitely a small world out here! They also reported having guests/crew making the passage to the Marquesas from the Galapagos with them...they couldn't believe that they never did get over being sea sick...so I guess I am not alone!!!

We went shopping again...purchased more bread and a few vegges. I worked on emails in the afternoon while the guys made just one run with all four jerry jugs for diesel. It is really amazing how these French are able to put 24 gallons of diesel in four five gallon containers, which only hold 20 gallons! Diesel is VERY expensive at almost $4/gal. After we talked with *Rover* which is a large Nordic Trawler, which holds 2800 gallons of diesel, we decided that we shouldn't be complaining about paying for 4 gallons which we didn't receive...they were overcharged for 100 gallons! We understand that this happens all over the world!

I made some banana bread for dessert since all the bananas came ripe on the stalk at once...we had lots of bananas!

May 3, 2001

GOOD LUCK on your cataract surgery today, Rod!!! We hope that this one is 100% successful!!! Lots of healing prayers from here!

The FIRST item of business (after we helped *Muna* in, since they have no engine!) was to put out a stern anchor, which will keep the bow of the boat into the swell so we can sleep tonight!!!! Last night felt like we were still on passage...drawers coming out and items tipping over!!!

We took some fruit over to welcome *Muna,* stopped by *Lazy Jack* and *Aldebaran* and then went into town. We were able to buy some WONDERFUL French baquettes and we managed to check the boat in. We had decided after speaking with *LaBoatique* who had checked in at Nuku Hiva and were going to arrive in Papeete within 30 days so they would post their bond there. However, the gendarme told us that we had to pay the bond as soon as we set foot in the Marquesas!! So, we had lunch (on the DELICIOUS French bread) and spent the afternoon at the bank. This bond is REALLY a sore point for all of outside the EU! French Polynesia started it years ago so that they wouldn't have to pay for the airfare to return cruisers to their home countries! So, you either present airline tickets (we SHOULD have done that...) or pay the bond. We ended up paying 89000 CFP (exchange rate on that day was about $1.26) bond each plus 2588CFP each for bank commission. We will receive the bond amount back in CFPs in Bora Bora and then we have to exchange them back into American dollars or we are thinking of New Zealand dollars, so that we only have to pay for one exchange transaction. So, they have us coming and going with bank fees.

After we finished in the bank the post office and the gendarmie were closed so we went shopping (there were three magasins there) with Ron and Anna on *Lazy Jack.* We picked up some pastries for dinner along with the baguettes....YUMMMY! We read more of your nice Christmas cards. Thank you! We did another wash!

 

May 2, 2001

We left Tahuata at 2:30am (using our radar)and were anchored in Baie Taiohoe on the Island of Nuku Hiva at about 4:15pm. We lost FOUR fish!!!:( We were escorted into the bay by a huge pod of dolphins, playing in our bow wave, jumping and spinning! What a wonderful sight!!!

We spent a very very rolly night and it was HOT...no breeze in the anchorage!

 

May 1, 2001

Today was a "work day"...we got out tuna, flip flops and other clothes, made muffins and bread, and the guys worked on the boat. Peter and Susan on *La Boatique* (Ohio) sailed over from Atuona on the Island of Nuku Hiva. They swam over to visit for awhile and from their description (which agreed with Julie and Barry on *Cherokee*) of that anchorage ( too many boats in too small and shallow anchorage), we decided not to go there.

David and I swam into the absolutely gorgeous white sand beach and immediately met Tonia, Jesse and Thor (we did not get the name of their boat) from Kauai!!! Unfortunately, we left in the morning and Eric and Jason did not have a chance to meet and visit with them. We are hoping to meet up with them again, but we are afraid that they were sailing north and returning home to Kauai. We had an early dinner of the delicious tuna so that we would be able to leave about 3am tomorrow!