Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas 2011 from Dennis, Carol and Josh aboard s/v Evergreen currently located on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA.

Yep, it is hard to believe how fast this year has gone by and the number of miles we have put under our hull. Like most years, 2011 has had ups and downs,but overall we have had a spectacular year. 

From the now familiar sights of Mexico to the picture postcard lagoons of French Polynesia there are just not enough words to describe what an amazing experience we have had this year.  It has definitely been a life enriching experience for all of us. 

Where's the T Rex?  Fatu Hiva

The Marquessa’s with their lush volcanic peaks reminded us of Jurassic park – right down to the staked out goat. Kind of eerie actually…. After a 24 day crossing we were happy to see land and have fresh food.  We began practicing our French, learning Polynesian words for things and orienting ourselves to cruising in FP.  We caught up with Doug and Carla on s/v Moondance in Nuka Hiva and were fortunate to buddy boat with them the rest of the season.

Dennis on the hooka - Tahanea

The Tuamotus gave us our first experience of entering lagoons thru the reef.  The entrance to Makemo was a little exciting between the current and waves.  We had no problems, but it was similar to eddy lines and waves on the river, only in a sailboat. Josh broke out his spear gun and provided several yummy dinners.  We voted the Tuomotus as best place to snorkel. We did lots of snorkeling, one scuba dive and several dives with our hooka. The water is so clear and there is an abundance of seal life – including sharks.

The Lagoon at Bora Bora

Tahiti and the Societies were next up. By the time we got to Tahiti we were ready to see a real grocery store.  We socialized with other Puddle Jumpers, provisioned, did laundry and boat projects; then headed out to explore the rest of the societies.  We spent about a month in BoraBora – the lagoon is beautiful.  Josh said goodbye to kid friends there and had to put up with just us grownups until our final stop in the Tuamotus on the way to Hawaii.  We made our way back to Tahiti with stops at Huahine and Tahaa.  We reprovisioned in Tahiti, and then headed out to spend some time in Moorea waiting for a good weather window to head back to the Tuamotu’s.

Toau  Josh, Doug, Carol, Valentine, Dennis and Gaston.

 

Our last month or so in French Polynesia was spent in the Tuamotu’s on Toau and Rangiroa.  Toau was amazing – the caretakers there, Valentine and Gaston, made our stay special.  Rangiora was our last stop – Josh met up with his friend Max.  They fished like crazy men keeping us in a steady supply of fish. Again, had to wait for a weather window to leave, but made it to Hawaii in 17 days, just in time for Thanksgiving. 

Josh with the Big Fish kids, Alex, Max and Ayla

So, here we are.  Hawaii is beautiful, feels cool to us but I guess it is winter.  The marina is nice and our neighbors have been very welcoming and helpful.  We will be here until June – ish, so come see us.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Happy 2012,

Dennis, Carol & Josh

2 and a 1/2 weeks

 Aloha

Evergreen ready for Santa

Our new ride

Can't believe we have been in Oahu for almost

Josh does dishes

Sunset off the lagoon

3 weeks.  We are adjusting to land life pretty well.  We really love our new neighbors here at the marina.  They have been so welcoming and helpful.  We feel very lucky to have ended up here.  Last weekend Melanie and Jon down the dock brought us their jeep to drive while we are here. How amazing is that huh??!!  So, we are mobile.  We went exploring one day, down to Waikiki and then up the west coast and back down the H3 home. 

Josh is back doing math and is doing a good job keeping up with the dishes.  We have done a few projects around the boat, sorting and cleaning (lots of that) mostly.  In total  I did 17 loads of laundry the week we got here. 

The weather has been pretty nice, warm and windy, actually had rain the last couple of days.  Hopefully it is washing off the rest of the salt from the boat. 

I have been offered a job at the hospital in Ewa Beach.  It is 12 hour nights, but is the closest hospital to us.  The rest are all in town - which is an hour and a half commute.  I have an interview in town tomorrow, just to see what is they have to offer.  I would rather work there in the OR, but really don't want to commute on a daily basis, so we will see.

sunset over the marina

In the meantime we are enjoying our new friends and being in beautiful Hawaii.  We miss Doug and Carla, are looking forward to seeing them here in January.  Hope you enjoy the pictures....

112411

Happy Thanksgiving!! Yee Haw We are in Hawaii and boy are we thankful!! We made it to Oahu's Ko'Olina Marina just as it got dark on Wednesday. Typical Morrison style. My last post was Friday the 18th, the weekend was pretty much more of the same, sunny days, cloudy, windy nights. We had big mile days - a record setting 197 miles from Friday to Saturday. It wasn't comfortable, but it was definitely fast. We could had Hawaii in our sights and it looked like a Wednesday morning arrival in Honolulu. Monday night we passed the southern end of Hawaii (the big Island) on my watch. We didn't get the high compression winds we thought we might get, with highs only in the mid to upper 20's. As my watch was winding down, so did the wind, I started the engine, and within minutes the high temperature alarm was going off. So, poor Dennis was rousted out of bed at 0600 to deal with that. Ane that set the tone for our last two and a half days. After working on the engine for 3 hours, it restarted, and then the wind came up, so we were back to sailing. We had been in email contact with a cruiser living in Kona who was helping us find a place to stay here in Oahu. That day after the net when he and Dennis were talking, he told us the channel between Hawaii and Molokai was blowing a gale. We figured we were 20-30 miles out from there, so should be okay. We did however put the second reef back in the main as it was getting dark. I don't think the reef had been in even 10 minutes before the wind jumped to the high 20's/low 30's and the seas built up. We had another wild ride that night, and made up some of the time we lost sailing backwards that morning due to the 2 knots of current against us with no wind. Tuesday we had more of the same engine drill. Dennis had worked on the raw water pump Monday - it had worked its way loose, and was spinning around not pumping. Tuesday we ran the engine for about 4 hours before the alarm went off again, and on it went. Fortunately the wind kept up, so we kept moving and the current finally turned in our direction on Wednesday. Tuesday night to Wednesday afternoon was probably one of the wildest rides we have ever had the winds stayed in the upper 20's and the seas were big. We were taking waves over the bow and into the cockpit fairly regularly, but the end was in sight. The channel between Molokai and Oahu was the culprit - again lots of wind and water funneling through a tight channel - simple physics with crazy results. The entrance to Ko'Olina was straight forward, and we tied up to the fuel dock as directed. The joy of being still, of being able to stand upright, to pee without falling off the head while hanging on for dear life. We found some people down the dock on a commercial tour boat to take pity on us and let us in the showers. What a treat to stand under the water for as long as we wanted. After a beer and gin and tonic we walked to the hotel close by for an overpriced only moderately well cooked meal - but hey, the salad bar was awesome, and I didn't cook it or clean up after it and they served a good California red wine - not out of a box!!!!! Oh the things we take for granted.

This morning as I was waiting for the marina office to open we met a couple on one of our sister ships - hull #29. Debbie and Steve are now our new neighbors and new best friends. So far Oahu has been extremely friendly - like French Polynesia, only in English. Steve and Debbie graciously invited us to join them as their guests at Thanksgiving dinner at the home of their friends on the north island. What a beautiful home and nice people! It couldn't have been better if we had tried to plan it. Dinner was hosted at the home of Gary and Diane. Their backyard goes right to the beach, their home is lovely and welcoming and the food was amazing. Steve and Debbie introduced us to more people than we will ever remember the names of, all of whom were friendly and helped us to feel comfortable and at ease. Josh had kids to hang out with - mostly girls - which kept him occupied and happy.

So we have ended up on our feet - I am hoping to find a job at the hospital that is in the town about 5 miles away, otherwise it is at least an hour bus ride into Honolulu proper. I will be happy with whatever comes up, but it sure would be nice to be closer to the boat. It seems that the tsunami last spring took out about 300 slips at the Ke ehi lagoon marinas, so the downtown marina is full up. That is why we are way out here at Ko'Olina. It is a very nice marina, and the area although resorty is nice and clean and friendly. Target, Home Depot and a grocery store are about a mile and a half walk away, the bus stop is about a mile away and there is a small grocery store/deli a short distance from the marina. Steve and Debbie have already offered rides to West Marine and Costco. So life is good. We have new friends, a nice slip close to the showers and laundry (which is cheap, 1.50 to wash 1.75 to dry), the beach is close and best of all we are still. It was amazingly cool to sleep the whole night through, the right way in our bed and in Josh's case in his bed.

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111811

Well, we made it through the ITCZ. I think I should get the sailing equivalent of a big silver belt buckle for riding the bronco thru the night last night. I stayed on the full 8 (or is it 12) seconds and then some!!! It was pretty wild!! The wind and the seas did their best, but I hung in there. My watch saw winds 18-23kt with gusts to 30. Not too big of a deal except the wind direction varied from 40 degrees in front of the beam to 40 degrees aft of the beam. Made sail trim and windvane setting a challenge. I pulled sail in and put sail out and adjusted the wind vane until I finally settled on the autopilot, the double reefed main and the staysail. With that we had reasonable speed 6-7 kts and only buried the port rail a little bit (Well actually a lot, but everything becomes relative after a while). The seas were pretty big and I got very wet. No rain though lots of clouds. The swell was and still is primarily from the north. The good news though is that the current is finally helping us a little bit - yeah!!! We will probably get to Honolulu on Thanksgiving Day - Kind of a pain as only the captain can leave the boat until customs comes, and then there is a fee for after hours/holidays - wonder if they'll take a check or credit card? Our supply of US cash is minimal. I had good sleep last night before my watch, and again after. It showed as I made pancakes for breakfast (1000 am). Josh is a little seasick again today, but in good spirits. There is actually blue sky out there, maybe we can get a little dried out today. The whole boat could stand to go through a car wash - ourselves included. Dennis cracked the hatch in our cabin this morning, and we got pooped by a wave. I had to tell him that generally I like to wash my underwear in fresh water! My drawer was out so that Dennis could reach the generator controls, which is why it was available to be doused with salt water. I wouldn't be surprised if we sprouted gills.

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111711

From the ITCZ. Wind is squirrelly - up and down. Its rainy, we are motor sailing. The only thing exciting ( if you can call it that) was we sailed thru a flock of flying fish 3 nights ago - boy do they stink!! I don't leave the cockpit at night (at least not because of smelly fish), so I had to put up with the smell - yuck! Also had a first of burying the aft deck toe rail - never done that before. Goes to show you can get used to just about anything. Actually I just want to be there so the discomfort of sailing like banshees is secondary to my desire to have a long hot shower. Optimistically we could make it by Wednesday, if we can just loose the current and pick up 20-25 kts of wind, it could happen. We should be exiting the ITCZ within the next 24 hours, and will then make our turn towards HI. The northern trades should kick in and off we go. Carla and I missed our SSB call yesterday as I was helping to un reef the mainsail - hoping to get some more speed going (finally gave up around noon and turned on the engine). So, we rescheduled for today. Had to cut it short today because they needed to make some sail adjustments, we'll try again tomorrow. We are only 8 miles north of them now, but they are about 17 miles to the west of us. Might be getting close to VHF range, in which case calls don't have to be scheduled. We can pick up the horn anytime. Josh is feeling a little seasick today - not sure what is different. He is being a real trooper - gets up every day at 0600 for his watch with no qualms. We are really proud of him.
Well, I will try to post this.....

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111311 From The northern Hemisphere

Well, its Sunday and we are back in the Northern Hemisphere. We crossed the equator around 0600 this morning. Not surprisingly, no one wanted to be woken for the occasion, so it passed quietly. We will probably have a little celebration this afternoon.

The wind finally clocked around to the southeast, so the last two days have been better as far as the motion is concerned. We hosed down the cockpit yesterday to get the saltwater off, things dried out some and I actually made a real lunch (Chinese cabbage salad). It has been nice to be able to open some hatches to cool down and dry out the inside of the boat. Lucky Dennis always seems to get pooped thru a hatch while he is sleeping, so the new rule is to always close the portholes at night!! He says it is a most unpleasant way to wake up - I personally hate having to dry everything out. It was my pillow that got soaked 2 nights ago when it happened last.

It has been pretty uneventful since fixing the diesel leak. Dennis and Josh had to add water to the generator cooling system, but that is a chore that will need to be repeated every couple of days related to the ongoing issues with it. I am pretty sure our batteries are looking forward to shore power almost as much as Josh is!!

We have been making good time 6-8 knots consistently. We have caught up to Moondance in latitude, but they are 36 miles west of us. Our next waypoint is the ITCZ or the doldrums. Brad has us aimed for 8 degrees north 148.4 west. We are hoping it is a narrow band and we get thru quickly and can make our turn to Hawaii. Optimistically we have about 11 days to go. - Pray for us. Right now we are at 00 degrees 30 minutes north 148 degrees 37 minutes west and fighting the counter equatorial current or some such PIA. It is very strong and are doing a ferry to the northeast. Interesting thought for a sailboat.....

Quiet day today. I am nursing a sore left hand, I spilled boiling water on it this morning. It hurts like stink, but I don't think it is going to blister. Amazing really considering how much motion I cook with all the time that I don't get hurt more often. There is certainly an art about cooking on a slant with a moving stove top. We should video it for a reality show - I bet it would be hysterically funny.

Well, that's it for now...

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Thursday 111011

Well, here we are, its our fifth day out,and things are finally clicking in.

We left Sunday the 6th around 2pm. It was a beautiful day, the pass was no problem and Josh caught a 34 in approx. 30 lb yellow fin tuna just outside of the pass. That was a good thing even though it slowed us down. When we got back situated Moondance was 6 miles ahead of us. That night for the Pacific Seafarer's net we discovered our SSB was not transmitting. Dennis could hear them, but got no response to his attempts to check in. So... project for the next day. Ideally the winds would have been from the east or southeast giving us a beam reach. Alas the wind has been northeast, so we have been on a close haul. It is better than the death rolls we have had, but still is difficult to move around. On the upside, the Tuna was delicious!!

Monday Dennis cleaned all of the connections on the SSB, and Monday night was successfully heard and checked in. You can follow us on their website www.pacseanet.com. Our call sign is KI6HAI. I haven't navigated their webpage, so cannot give you any hints on exactly how to do it, but it can be done. Dennis thinks the connection was loosened at the deck fitting when I strapped down the water jugs.... I don't know, it is another one of those voodoo things that boats have. Josh discovered Monday night that sleeping in his bunk with this amount of port heel is not possible, so he has moved onto the salon settee until we have a more comfortable tack.

Tuesday we discovered diesel in the port food compartment. What a disaster. We unloaded it all, wiped and washed, tore off labels and relabeled with sharpie and put it all back. Only to discover on Wednesday that it was full again. So, repeat the above and add Dennis discovering that some stupid SOB in Evergreen's past thought that fixing a hole in the diesel fill tube with glue and covering it with tape was a good decision. NOT!!! Whomever it was better hope I never find them - it won't be pretty. Dennis cut out the hole and plugged the tube with a wood through hull plug and hose clamp. Today - no diesel, problem solved, food replaced.

The weather has been okay, we had squalls on Monday and Tuesday, no winds above 33knots, was weird to turn upwind, on the way from Mexico we turned downwind during squalls. We have a different sail configuration now, smaller main jib, so turning up feels like I have more control. Probably just my imagination. Mostly the winds have been in the 15-20 knot range. I had a first for me last night - I actually put out more sail. We had lots of wind, but no speed with the partially furled jib, so I put out the stay sail and voila! 6kts. We have been trying to go straight north with as much east as possible. Yesterday we crossed to the west of our north south line from Rangiroa to the equator. Hopefully we will get some southeast winds today (Jamie promised!!!) and will be able to make some of it up. If we continue at 130 miles per day will should be at the equator by Saturday....We'll see.

With the SSB working again, we are able to speak with Doug and Carla daily. It is nice to hear other people. I miss being able to just pick up the VHF and call over. Now we schedule our calls.

So today everyone looks well rested. Josh has been taking the 6-9pm watch at night and 6-9am in the morning. This lets Dennis and I get a 6-7 hour block of sleep, it really makes a difference. He fills in during the day as needed as well. We have been on power rationing, so he has not had as much computer time as he would like. Feeling slightly seasick hasn't helped his desire to look at the computer either. The weather is good, we are cruising along at 6-7 kts at 350 degrees true. A little more west than we would like, but at least we are moving, and at this point everything is functioning properly. Hopefully this will continue so we can settle into some sort of routine. I'll let you know. Now if I can get this to post life will be good!!!

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