We are in Fiji !! we arrived on Monday the 12th July in SavuSavu, we have since sailed south and are in the resort of Musket Cove. Here is the story in pictures.
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Fiji
We are in Fiji !! we arrived on Monday the 12th July in SavuSavu, we have since sailed south and are in the resort of Musket Cove. Here is the story in pictures.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Tonga
Just a quick update to say we have arrived in Tonga. Unfortunately, on the way we didn't visit Palmerstone island, that was another atoll I would have liked to see. We passed it in the middle of the night so all I have to show you is this radar image. Palmerstone is seen as three yellow spots, 9 miles away at 2 o'clock.
We had a bumpy passage with a couple of breakages along the way.The genoa gave way once again and it split across the centre of a panel it is so weak. We furled it and continued under staysail.
Nicole at sea
Dean, just hanging about.
We had a bumpy passage with a couple of breakages along the way.The genoa gave way once again and it split across the centre of a panel it is so weak. We furled it and continued under staysail.
Later the boom vang fitting on the boom failed. This left us having to go very carefully with only a preventer on the boom to control it.
Now we are in Tonga we have set about fixing these problems. Nicole has done a great job in sewing a patch on the genoa, whilst I have been running around trying to find a) someone who can weld stainless steel and b) has some stainless steel to weld !! I think I have found both but the proof of the pudding will be tomorrow morning when he turns up with a fabricated part.
Beaurocracy lost us several hours, even if I did get the immigration officer to run me inland to try and find a welder! We have to go through the same processes in reverse tomorrow as we need to clear out to set sail for Fiji.
Dean as usual never stops, his incessant work has been keeping the boat together ever since I arrived. It is a beautiful boat and very strong, but boats are so complex these days there is always something to sort out.
Tonga itself, or at least this part of the kingdom, is very different to how I had imagined, it is beautifully wild with many islands. The islands are all about the same height, they rise out of the sea to about 100 metres high and they are all eaten away around the ‘waterline’ by the sea. Which makes them look as though they are on a stalk like mushrooms.
Our short stay here has been pleasant though. The people are very friendly and laid back. The restaurants are good and plentiful and there is quite a large community of ex-pats who add a pleasant touch to some of the shops and bars.
Pigs are running around everywhere. They are really quite cute, even though they look like wild boar ! I think one family out of two must keep pigs.
I was down at a creek yesterday at low tide and there were fishermen out on the sand looking for cockles. Imagine my surprise when I saw the pigs doing the same thing. Apparently they enjoy sucking them.
Morpehaa
As I said earlier, Morpehaa was one of the destinations I really wanted to get to. It is at the westernmost end of French Poynesia and according to the guides ‘has one of the trickiest passes in French Polynesia’ and there are plenty very tricky ones.
Another book says ‘As there is no slack water there is no safe time to enter but it is best identified by the wrecks on either side!’ ‘People consider that this atoll was not sufficient compensation for the trauma of entry and exit.’
Hey, what are we waiting for, let’s go.
We arrived very early in the morning. It was only just getting light. It was calm on the North side of the atoll so from that point of view there was no problem. The only problem was that without the sun up in the sky we could not see the pass. The pass is only 25 metres wide along the whole of its length, which is about one and a half boat lengths. The water was running out at about 5 knots and we coudn’t see the sides.
As luck would have it there was a small fishing boat who was fishing on our side of the reef. He came over to ask if he could help. We just said we were waiting for the sun to come up so we could see the pass. He said don’t worry just follow me !
I’ve heard about these people before!! On the coasts of Cornwall putting up false beacons and wrecking ships to pillage! However I think the Polynesians are perhaps more trustworthy than some Cornishmen (excuse me if you’re from Cornwall) and I decided to follow them. Well, they had to be in the channel or they would run aground too.
It was a bit nerve wracking entering into a narrow channel where you cannot see the sides. I had to increase my boat speed to get steerage way in the channel against the current and I was catching the boat in front. I got within three meters of him and had to throttle back for a moment. However a few minutes and it was all over we were inside the lagoon.
We said goodbye to the fishermen and we proceeded to carefully cross the atoll avoiding both coral heads and oyster lines. We eventually moored four miles away in the South –East corner of the atoll behind a long Motu that sheltered us from the wind and waves.
We had come here to Maupehaa in the first place because it had been recommended to me by a couple I had met in the Tuamotu's, Jean Pierre and Armelle. They told me of the family that lived in this far corner of the motu and how I could perhaps go lobster fishing with them on the reefs at night. They were called Kahim and Sophie and lived with their grandson Tetounnui on the atoll.
We had just landed on the beach when a small boy wandered up the beach with a fellow yachtsman. We greeted them with a friendly ‘Iorana' (hello) and I said to the boy ‘you must be Tetounnui’. ‘How do you know my name’ he said. ‘Because you are famous across the ocean and I heard about how good you were at fishing before I came here’. Big smile.
We had just landed on the beach when a small boy wandered up the beach with a fellow yachtsman. We greeted them with a friendly ‘Iorana' (hello) and I said to the boy ‘you must be Tetounnui’. ‘How do you know my name’ he said. ‘Because you are famous across the ocean and I heard about how good you were at fishing before I came here’. Big smile.
‘Come’, he said, ‘Bernard and I will show you the reef on the other side of the motu where I catch things’.
‘Wonderful’ and so we followed them through the coconut woods across to the ocean side of the motu. There, Tetounnui showed us the spots he would fish, where to find lobster at night along the reef and his collection of whale bones scattered along the shore.
He led us back to his family home through the coconut plantation and showed us the copra drying.
The family home
He introduced us to his uncle and aunt, his cousins, his grandmother Sophie and his grandfather Kahim who was non other than the fisherman who had led us through the reef earlier that day.
We all chatted away and we learnt that it was Sophie’s birthday. Kahim invited the whole crew for dinner that evening to celebrate. We thanked him and said we would love to come. What an honour to be invited to their home on this special occasion.
Another two yachts had arrived by now, one with Jean and Jeanne onboard who had just beat up against the prevailing winds from New Caledonia. Everyone was invited to the feast.
We went back to Mercury Rising to prepare for dinner. We took gifts of flour, mayonnaise, cigarettes, beer, cider and wine which were all gratefully received by the family. Other boats brought cake, mayonnaise and yogourts, wine and beer.
When we arrived ashore Kahim was preparing more lobster that you could shake a stick at.
His son Kahim junior was cooking the ‘trevalley jack’ that they had caught that morning. Another family member was grating coconut to make the milk for the raw fish Tahitian style.
We sat around a long table and ate, talked and drank until late at night when we had to leave our new found friends and get back to the boat. We said our fond farewells and said we hoped to return someday.
Those lobsters were the leftovers !!
Dean and Nicole with a coconut crab. See that wingspan !
It really was a beauty.
I was unhappily planning to leave the next morning while the weather was still fairly clement. We would have stayed on a few days more but the height of the ocean swell was beginning to rise.
Our friends told us that there was a large stick in the water just off the beach which they used to check the water height in the lagoon. As the ocean swell rose in height, more and more water would come pounding across the reef at the southern end of the atoll. This filled the lagoon and there was only one way out for the water and that was through the narrow pass 25m wide through which we had come that morning.
If the water level was over the height of the stick they said to not even think about leaving as there would be 10 Knots of current in the pass.
I awoke at dawn and checked the stick. I could hear the rollers crashing on the reef but the water level was still six inches from the top of the stick so we decided to leave while we could. We had three or four miles to go to cross the atoll and miss any large coral patches and especially the old pearl farm buoys and lines.
The wind was rising all the time and it was blowing 25 knots when we set off under motor. We were going too fast for safety across the atoll so I switched off the engine. We were still doing 4.5 knots under bare poles! (this is becoming a habit Steve !), and we crossed the atoll in no time.
I came up to wind a little to slow down once over the other side.
I needed to identify the exact position of the exit through the reef. It took a little while but there were two posts one on each side of the pass about half way down it. I knew there was a shallow patch of 1m on the right side of the entrance and a rocky island to the left. Once I was sure where the entrance was I said to Dean (who had never left his spotting position on the bow) ‘let’s go for it’. I started the engine and turned downwind again. I put the engine in astern as we were going too fast, as I still had the shallow part of the entrance to negotiate. Once I was sure I had missed it I put the engine in ahead to have plenty of steerage way, and we shot through the pass like a cork out of a champagne bottle.
The 200m went past in an instant and we were out in the Pacific Ocean and on our way to Tonga before we could realise it.
Anecdotes from Raiatea
'Our' new restaurant
The day I met Laurent, Dean and I had already invited Sylvie and Coco round for dinner on Mercury Rising. I had made a couscous and Sylvie said she would bring a desert. I asked Laurent to join us for drinks, by which time I had been able to ‘stretch’ the couscous so it would be big enough for five.
Dean catching dinner !! Shhhh...
Laurent was happy to join us for dinner but Sylvie had not yet arrived. A quick call on the VHF and she said she would be right over. She arrived with a ‘Phare Breton’ a special kind of tart from Britany made with a thick type of custard and prunes.
Anyway, when she arrived she said she was late because the ‘Phare’ was not properly cooked yet, so she asked if it could go in our oven? No problem, just light it and pop it in.
We all devoured the couscous, washed down with adequate quantities of vino rosado and then turned our attention to this fabulous ‘phare breton’.
Now to be truthful, our oven is not the best in the world either and it had really only achieved a drying out process on the poor tart. However we all ate our part, said how much we enjoyed it, and it was christened by Laurent the ‘phare au deux fours’ (the two oven tart). So if you feel after reading this that you would like to try one, you know what you have to do.
Not that Laurent would ever criticise anyone else’s cooking, as he just does not like cooking. He did however make a great effort the next night and invited all of us over to his giant motor catamaran for dinner. Pasta and wine and a good night was had by all.
Dean at ease
Whilst cooking the pasta he asked me why people put salt in the water? He said because it made the water boil faster. I didn’t know this but he went on to say that it lowered the boiling point of the water. I didn’t see the logic in this as if you add a salt to water you should increase the boiling point.
To cut a long story short Laurent wanted to have a bet on this, and as he didn’t like cooking he bet that the looser would cook for the other one, on his boat for one week. His son Jules went off to the internet and came back with the sad news that although the water boiled faster, it was at a higher temperature. So now poor old Laurent had to cook for a week.
The next evening Laurent cooked some more pasta and I helped him make a sauce. However we were not going to have pasta every night for a week!
Laurent suggested he had a selection of lyophylised meals (freeze dried) from his oceanic races and they had all sorts of flavours. No thanks!
So I took pity on him and said I would cook for the rest of the week and he said I could invite anyone I liked to dinner.
The rest of the week was a waltz of dinners, curries, roast lamb, salads and a varied selection of guests from around the port – and the island. It was great fun and we all enjoyed the hospitality.
Laurent welcoming wet guest !
Curry dinner for Dean (taking photo), Sylvie, Michael, Coco and Laurent
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Pieroand Anso never managed to come as he was away working on charters a lot, but we did manage to get around to his house once again for a great impromptu dinner. It is a great little hideaway he has .
Piero and I on his boat in the shipyard.
La bella Simona in Anne-Sopie's Kitchen
Haircut and shave for Dean in Piero's garden
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The Sunday of our meal routine Laurent got a charter for his boat (see www.Jambo-charter.com ). It was a Brazilian couple who wanted us to pick them up from the Four Seasons resort in to Bora Bora and take them to the luxury resort in Tahaa. This meant a 26 mile trip each way. Laurent asked if Dean and I would like to accompany him.
We said yes, but had he seen the weather forecast? There was up to 40 knots of wind and 3-4 meter seas. These people may be very sick coming back up to windward, and wouldn’t it be a better idea on Monday when the weather had settled.
He called the hotel, but no the couple wanted to go on Sunday. So off we went taking the same route as during the Pacific Pearl regatta. It was blowing around 25-30 knots with fair sized waves but the big cat just cruised along downwind at about 9 knots. We went through the now famous pass at Bora Bora and proceeded to make a tour of the island inside the lagoon.
This was nice for us as we had never been around the lagoon before.
The Four Seasons Hotel is the complex of bungalows sticking out into the lagoon bottom right.
We arrived at the hotel and just hove two, keeping the boat head to wind waiting for the clients. Well they kept us waiting two hours!
Apparently you can do this if you are paying a few thousand dollars for a taxi !
Eventually their luggage arrived, brought out by Dean and Jules in our tender. This was followed by a selection of sushi, a selection of cheeses, two bottles of Roederer Crystale Champagne (at 600 Euros a bottle) and two bottles of wine. All this just for the trip across to Tahaa in a gale.
Jules. A fine young man
Another hour went by until a launch from the hotel came across with the clients. The launch driver was not up to the standard of the hotel, to say the least. He had perhaps not been asked before to drop off two guests onto another boat while the wind was gusting 35 knots!
Anyway, he made a right mess of dropping them off. He was shouting and going backwards and forwards and in the end frightened the couple off (they were only in their early twenties). The woman decided she wanted to take the helicopter instead.
So off they went back to the hotel and we were left to disembark food, champagne and bags and set off back to Raiatea. They still had to pay for the taxi !
Bora Bora: 40 knots of wind in the lagoon
The wind was gusting 45 knots as we crossed the lagoon and headed out to sea. Outside the waves were crashing over the reef, it was a magnificent sight.
We headed back upwind to Raiatea at a respectable 6 knots into the teeth of the gale. Piero who was on a cat at anchor in Wahine was recording 55 knots. The old Jambo was doing her stuff well and we got back and anchored off in the dark about 8 o’clock. What an experience.
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