072311
Saturday - Well it was a long week. The generator is functioning, but not fixed. We spent the first half of the week getting a new stud made. The machine shop promised us Wednesday afternoon, and Voila, it was ready. Finding an inserter for the heilcoil was not so easy and in the end they not only gave us the helicoils, but also loaned us the inserter. Jean Paul the owner of that shop - Poly industrie - was so helpful. Actually pretty amazing, and one bright spot in an otherwise frustrating and dismal week. The new stud went in fine on Wednesday night, Thursday when Dennis put it all back together another stud stripped. Well, we decided to just put it all back together and see if it worked. Which it did. So after a week where we walked at least a zillion miles and oscillated back and forth between optimism and frustration we finally left Papeete for Moorea!!! Yeah!!!
We will order the necessary parts, and fix the generator the rest of the way when they arrive. In the meantime we will carry on in the Society Islands - Moorea, Huanine, Terteroa (?) and BoraBora.
Josh is doing well, even though kids his age will be fewer now. He spent most of his time the last week with David from Nina, hanging out, going to the beach and seeing some of the polynesian sporting events. I think he was also ready to leave Tahiti if not David, as well. As he says, it is expensive and there is not that much to do. We plan to keep him busy in the water snorkeling, spearfishing etc. Will be good for us too to be more active. A little less work and a little more play is definitely in order.
Adventures in anchoring.
As cruisers we are able to get duty-free diesel. The trick is knowing what days you are actually able to get it. In Hiva Oa we were denied fuel until after the second ship came with fuel. In Nuka Hiva we had it delivered in Jerry cans, but the delivery people only worked Monday thru Friday. Tahiti fortunately has a real drive up fuel dock open every day. But duty-free fuel is only available Monday thru Friday. Makes upping the anchor, fueling up and leaving a bit difficult on the weekend - if you need the fueling up part.
We wanted to leave on Saturday, but needed the fueling up part. So Friday afternoon after I got back from returning the helicoil inserter and Dennis got the generator all back together we had to head to the fuel dock. We didn't expect too much trouble as the fuel dock is close, the anchorage had space (so we would have a place to reanchor) and it wasn't windy. We all took our places, engine on - check. Anchor up - no problem. Steerage - ooops no steering. Okay, we can handle it. As we drift into the channel Josh climbs into the dinghy tied to the side of the boat and he will steer us back to a place to drop the anchor. HMMM here comes the wind. So we end up using the rudder from the windvane (emergency rudder is its secondary purpose). In the meantime you can see the possibilities going thru Dennis' mind. He says, " watch the boat." We are somewhat out of the channel, but not anchored. I hope the boat is not going to do any new tricks while I "watch it." So he runs down to our cabin, takes the bed off, opens the compartment with the hydraulics for the steering (next to the generator) and turns a lever and "Voila!" steering. Seems one of us leaned on that lever during the generator deal and turned off the hydraulic part of the hydraulic steering. All things should fix so easily. Fueling up and reanchoring were a piece of cake after that.
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