Well, according to Doug the gribs were/are forecasting 8kts or less of wind. Good thing we know that is +/- 10 kts. Blowing at least 18 today. Made sewing that much more fun. Accomplished a lot today on Moondance's jib, as well as bashing my own self in the nose with my own thumb! I have a perfect imprint of the edge of my thumbnail on the bridge of my nose. I am not sure I have ever hit anybody that hard - on purpose or otherwise. Lots of unladylike language, a little blood and yes I even made my own self see stars. Sheeesh want a clumsy butt I am! I think I should be able to wrap up that project tomorrow.
Lots of excitement around here today. The MoaMoa came this morning. It is anchored just outside the pass. Lots of boats (small) back and forth today. Huge pile of rice and flour bags on shore , I saw a boat go by filled to almost overflowing with boxes of canned goods. Must be like Christmas for these folks. Then our neighbor up the lagoon - Jean Michael - lost control of his sailing dinghy and was getting washed out the pass. So the Moondance/Evergreen rescue dinghies went out and towed him back. They were literally chased in by the Kwai (yeah I was spelling it wrong). It is at least 100 ft long and is anchored right in front of us. It is pretty interesting right now as the current here does a version of the La Paz waltz. So we are facing north east, and the Kwai is facing north west (ish). We laughingly (sort of ) wondered if we should put out our fenders. Anyway, there has been lots to watch this afternoon.
We also scored 2 fresh Trevalle from Fred and Jim. Nice size. They also had one big ulua - maybe 50 lbs and two other fish around the same size, but we are not sure what they are called. Nice! So you know what we are having for dinner tomorrow.
So what else? The generator had another successful run today. We are making water (yay!). Oh and the pressure relief valve on the hot water heater blew this morning. Dennis and Josh ripped up the floors trying to figure out where the water was coming from. Fun! Glad I missed it - even if I did bonk myself in the face. Dennis and Josh made the trip in to use the internet. Josh says it was so hot that he didn't do everything on his list he wanted to get done. Personally, I think that looking at facebook tipped him over. Sometimes being a teenager being dragged around the Pacific has got to really stink. Got to give him credit for putting up with us and trying - in general.
Had yummy tri tip tacos for dinner on Moondance. Just as we were prepping to leave, the tender from the Kwai came by - to let us know they had to be where they were (which is pretty close to us) and in a nice way say if we didn't like it, we should move. Frankie was nice and invited us for drinks later. Well of course we took them up on that offer. The Kwai is out of Honolulu, goes to Christmas, Fanning, Washington, Christmas, Fanning, Christmas then as far south as Rarotonga (Cook Islands). The crew is multinational - can't name all the countries, but the captain is Israeli, US crew, maybe Aussie and then locals. It has sails, and the Captain (Evy) says they motor sail as much as possible. Very interesting to talk with them all. Tomorrow (Sunday here) is their first day off in a couple weeks, so they all seemed to be looking forward to an off day.
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Saturday, June 29, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Fanning Day 3
Hooray we have power! Dennis was able to put the generator back together and after some fits and starts (and loud use of his extnsive sailing vocabulary) got it running. Everyone is happy - especially the batteries.
So that was Dennis' big job done. Still not sure why we had the problem. I guess that is next on the list. We still have a few other chores to get done before we can leave, but no real rush for those. Guess we will have to start looking at weather for a good wind window to Christmas Island. It is only 160 miles, but we have been told that in light winds it is hard to overcome the current - plus it is upwind. So we will see. But for now, we are going to enjoy this island. Josh's job list was pretty short, but the big one was to stay on the boat, help his Dad and make lunch. He tells me Mac and cheese is much easier in the microwave. "Pots are hard". Welcome to my life - lol!
Today I worked on Moondance's jib. Sure hope they can get their money back from Art Nelson in Oahu. Not only did they not oversew all the places that needed it, after 6 months and only 1200 miles - the new patches are falling off!! I mean really! I got a good bit done after the requisite arm wrestling with my machine. Today it wanted oil - once it got it - it was all happiness and nice stitches. Of course finding the oil - now that was another matter in and of itself. I had given up and Dennis said he thought he had some light machine oil in the liquid/sealant/oil/caulk/glue bin and yep, you guessed it - that is where I had put it for safe keeping. Finally quit for the day around 1400. Still have a lot to do, but hey we are retired - no point killing myself - it will be there tomorrow. Carla's trade was to do some laundry for me. I am sorry their sail needs repair, but it is a good trade from my point of view. Sewing for Laundry - good deal.
Well, it seems there will be no little vanilla harnesses running around. We found the dinghy motor harness in one of our under bed storage areas - right where I put it I am sure. The vanilla must have been a figment of my imagination. It was definitely on my list (I went back and checked), and I remember looking at it in the store but I guess I didn't buy it. Lucky for me Carla is willing to share.
Did a short tour around this end of the lagoon with Dennis this afternoon. It is shallow (go figure - its a lagoon), lots of fish traps - not sure if they are functioning or not, but that is the only reason for all the sticks that I can think of. Lots of fishermen out in their outrigger canoes. They cast hand lines. We went for a snorkel around a coral head. Saw some fish, a few bigger ones. The water is pretty murky though. I imagine it is because of the constant out flowing current; the water just doesn't ever settle. That's my theory - think I will stick with it. We took the dinghy out the pass - the water was much clearer in the pass and outside, but we did not see anything interesting on the bottom.
After that, we tooled on back to the boat, chilled a little, had a lame dinner (tortellini with red sauce) then played mexican train. Had to quit at 4s - we were all tired. Josh is sleeping in his hammock outside tonight - will once again have the best bed on the boat. I continue to struggle with being too hot at night. Makes me crazy (or maybe crazier??) Anyway, wish me luck, more sewing tomorrow - maybe more 'splorin' in the afternoon.
No Kuaui today - maybe tomorrow. Watched the kids (?) practice marching today. Their independence day is coming up - July 12. I guess July is a good month for independence.
Delphinia must be in SF by now. Bet they are happy to be on land - hope they toasted us at Trader Vic's!!!!
Heart Strings - How are you doing??? Getting good wind?? Hugs to Mom, bro and the kiddos
To the rest of the R&R gang - do a maitai walk for us.
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So that was Dennis' big job done. Still not sure why we had the problem. I guess that is next on the list. We still have a few other chores to get done before we can leave, but no real rush for those. Guess we will have to start looking at weather for a good wind window to Christmas Island. It is only 160 miles, but we have been told that in light winds it is hard to overcome the current - plus it is upwind. So we will see. But for now, we are going to enjoy this island. Josh's job list was pretty short, but the big one was to stay on the boat, help his Dad and make lunch. He tells me Mac and cheese is much easier in the microwave. "Pots are hard". Welcome to my life - lol!
Today I worked on Moondance's jib. Sure hope they can get their money back from Art Nelson in Oahu. Not only did they not oversew all the places that needed it, after 6 months and only 1200 miles - the new patches are falling off!! I mean really! I got a good bit done after the requisite arm wrestling with my machine. Today it wanted oil - once it got it - it was all happiness and nice stitches. Of course finding the oil - now that was another matter in and of itself. I had given up and Dennis said he thought he had some light machine oil in the liquid/sealant/oil/caulk/glue bin and yep, you guessed it - that is where I had put it for safe keeping. Finally quit for the day around 1400. Still have a lot to do, but hey we are retired - no point killing myself - it will be there tomorrow. Carla's trade was to do some laundry for me. I am sorry their sail needs repair, but it is a good trade from my point of view. Sewing for Laundry - good deal.
Well, it seems there will be no little vanilla harnesses running around. We found the dinghy motor harness in one of our under bed storage areas - right where I put it I am sure. The vanilla must have been a figment of my imagination. It was definitely on my list (I went back and checked), and I remember looking at it in the store but I guess I didn't buy it. Lucky for me Carla is willing to share.
Did a short tour around this end of the lagoon with Dennis this afternoon. It is shallow (go figure - its a lagoon), lots of fish traps - not sure if they are functioning or not, but that is the only reason for all the sticks that I can think of. Lots of fishermen out in their outrigger canoes. They cast hand lines. We went for a snorkel around a coral head. Saw some fish, a few bigger ones. The water is pretty murky though. I imagine it is because of the constant out flowing current; the water just doesn't ever settle. That's my theory - think I will stick with it. We took the dinghy out the pass - the water was much clearer in the pass and outside, but we did not see anything interesting on the bottom.
After that, we tooled on back to the boat, chilled a little, had a lame dinner (tortellini with red sauce) then played mexican train. Had to quit at 4s - we were all tired. Josh is sleeping in his hammock outside tonight - will once again have the best bed on the boat. I continue to struggle with being too hot at night. Makes me crazy (or maybe crazier??) Anyway, wish me luck, more sewing tomorrow - maybe more 'splorin' in the afternoon.
No Kuaui today - maybe tomorrow. Watched the kids (?) practice marching today. Their independence day is coming up - July 12. I guess July is a good month for independence.
Delphinia must be in SF by now. Bet they are happy to be on land - hope they toasted us at Trader Vic's!!!!
Heart Strings - How are you doing??? Getting good wind?? Hugs to Mom, bro and the kiddos
To the rest of the R&R gang - do a maitai walk for us.
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Fanning Day2
Well, another beautiful sun shiny day - filled with boat projects. In a good way though.
I am having trouble sleeping. At the risk of TMI, the whole getting older thing is killing me. Just can't sleep if I am hot and last night I was up until 0200 trying to cool down. Anyway - I slept in. Can't believe Dennis didn't wake me up so he could get started on the generator. I sure appreciated the sleep though. Believe it or not - Josh was up before me. That is pretty scary.
Last night I promised them a real breakfast this morning, so I got right on that. Probably should have just given up right then and gone on deck to read a book. So yeah, waffles need eggs. Sadly all my eggs went moldy and I have had to pitch them all. Thankfully I have some Thrive whole powdered eggs. They worked great. Was quite frustrating though, breaking and tossing a 1 1/2 dozen eggs. I am not even going to bother with the last 2 dozen. So we had breakfast at the butt crack of 1100.
After breakfast we all started (or in Dennis' case continued) our chores. Another productive day on the good ship Evergreen. Right after breakfast I helped Dennis by cleaning up the remaining fluids on the bottom of the generator compartment while he worked on hoses in the galley. By the end of the afternoon, he had the generator most of the way reinstalled. I set Josh to work on dishes and hanging the second wind scoop (more air flow, cooler, better sleep for me). With those projects done, he then went to work on the dinghy engine. He cleaned and replaced the fuel filters and voila - working again - took a couple of hours. He then hung his hammock and chilled for a while.
In the meantime I redid the lines on the radar reflector (the one that fell of the spreaders on our way here) and then spent most of the rest of the day looking for the new dinghy engine harness (used to lift the outboard from the dinghy to the boat). Understand that that was not exactly a linear process... I thought it might be in the spare bunk, but had to go thru the veggie bins and throw out science projects, then rearrange the snacks. It wasn't there. Then I thought it might be in the anchor locker. So I moved things around in there, moved the fan from the spare bunk to the forward part of the anchor locker. - Not there either. Went thru the cockpit cubbies - 3 times. Not there. Checked the outside deck boxes - soaked up the water in the one with the crack. Not there. Checked the storage behind the settees - removed the pillow cases from the settee cushions and hung them out to air. No luck. Checked the tool cabinet - nope. Under Josh's bed - nope, but lots of beer there :). By this time it was 1530 ish time to make wacky cake to take to dinner at Bruno's.
Wacky cake is Josh's forte, so he puts it together and I search down the ingredients. Flour, cocoa powder, sugar, vinegar (oops that one is distilled water - dammit could you mark the bottle? OSHA would have a fit!), oil, water, and vanilla. Where is the vanilla? Well, after tearing apart my galley twice I sent Josh to Moondance to get vanilla from Carla. I think the motor harness and the vanilla are having a sordid affair somewhere on this boat. Next thing you know we will have little vanilla harnesses running around.......
Dinner at Bruno's.
Wow! Personally it was the best meal I have had in the South Pacific - rivaled Gaston and Valentine's in Tuao. We had whole baked red snapper, fish with onions and gravy (local dish), a variation on poisson cru, rice, pasta salad, bread fruit french fries and wacky cake for dessert. I told Tabita (Mrs. Bruno) that I need to come and be her sous chef for a week to learn how to cook those dishes. A pretty involved process I might add. The French fries were made from bread fruit, but she did not boil it first, just cut it up and deep fried it (yum!) The poisson cru type dish was made with raw fish, curry, onions and freshly ground coconut. Carla and I watched her crack open the coconuts then shave out the meat with a Tahitian style coconut meat shaver outer (i am sure that is the technical term for it). Picture a flat board with a crescent shaped scraper with teeth (about 7 inches long by 3 inches wide) attached to the middle of one end. She sat on the board on the edge of a rock with a bowl on the ground and scraped out that meat in no time.
It was an interesting group. Our host is French, but has been on Fanning for 30 years. He has guest rooms on his property as well. Tabita is from one of the main Gilbert Islands, but met Bruno on Washington Island. They have two small children Paul (5ish)and Agnes (annyay) (18 months). Fortunately Tabita has a couple of female friends that help her cook and with the children. Not sure why she did not come to the table to eat, but I gave her and her helpers first dibs on the dessert, which they willingly took. I guess rice and fish are no big deal, but chocolate is a treat. At some point I will post pictures to go with this post, as I am not sure words can adequately describe everything. Really wish we had had a video camera so you could have seen Carla and I do the land crab shuffle. We were minding our own business standing in the living area of Paul's house when this land crab - slightly larger than a dessert plate came scuttling across our feet. Watching us jump was pretty funny, but it was equally funny to watch the kids chase it around the kitchen with a small bat. Little Paul got a huge kick out of the whole scene.
Finally called it a night around 2100. No street lights or signs here, so we were dependent on our flashlights and memory to find the right path to the beach and the dinghies. Oh and the stars! and the milky way! and the southern cross. Totally amazing and beautiful. Reminds us of how fortunate we are to be able to see it in a way that most people will never experience.
Time for bed now. Dennis says I am not allowed to sleep in tomorrow - he wants to finish up the generator. I am going to dig out the sewing machine and restitch the sunbrella on Moondance's jib. Josh wants to go see about real internet. And maybe the Kuai will be here tomorrow - that will be interesting to watch as well.
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I am having trouble sleeping. At the risk of TMI, the whole getting older thing is killing me. Just can't sleep if I am hot and last night I was up until 0200 trying to cool down. Anyway - I slept in. Can't believe Dennis didn't wake me up so he could get started on the generator. I sure appreciated the sleep though. Believe it or not - Josh was up before me. That is pretty scary.
Last night I promised them a real breakfast this morning, so I got right on that. Probably should have just given up right then and gone on deck to read a book. So yeah, waffles need eggs. Sadly all my eggs went moldy and I have had to pitch them all. Thankfully I have some Thrive whole powdered eggs. They worked great. Was quite frustrating though, breaking and tossing a 1 1/2 dozen eggs. I am not even going to bother with the last 2 dozen. So we had breakfast at the butt crack of 1100.
After breakfast we all started (or in Dennis' case continued) our chores. Another productive day on the good ship Evergreen. Right after breakfast I helped Dennis by cleaning up the remaining fluids on the bottom of the generator compartment while he worked on hoses in the galley. By the end of the afternoon, he had the generator most of the way reinstalled. I set Josh to work on dishes and hanging the second wind scoop (more air flow, cooler, better sleep for me). With those projects done, he then went to work on the dinghy engine. He cleaned and replaced the fuel filters and voila - working again - took a couple of hours. He then hung his hammock and chilled for a while.
In the meantime I redid the lines on the radar reflector (the one that fell of the spreaders on our way here) and then spent most of the rest of the day looking for the new dinghy engine harness (used to lift the outboard from the dinghy to the boat). Understand that that was not exactly a linear process... I thought it might be in the spare bunk, but had to go thru the veggie bins and throw out science projects, then rearrange the snacks. It wasn't there. Then I thought it might be in the anchor locker. So I moved things around in there, moved the fan from the spare bunk to the forward part of the anchor locker. - Not there either. Went thru the cockpit cubbies - 3 times. Not there. Checked the outside deck boxes - soaked up the water in the one with the crack. Not there. Checked the storage behind the settees - removed the pillow cases from the settee cushions and hung them out to air. No luck. Checked the tool cabinet - nope. Under Josh's bed - nope, but lots of beer there :). By this time it was 1530 ish time to make wacky cake to take to dinner at Bruno's.
Wacky cake is Josh's forte, so he puts it together and I search down the ingredients. Flour, cocoa powder, sugar, vinegar (oops that one is distilled water - dammit could you mark the bottle? OSHA would have a fit!), oil, water, and vanilla. Where is the vanilla? Well, after tearing apart my galley twice I sent Josh to Moondance to get vanilla from Carla. I think the motor harness and the vanilla are having a sordid affair somewhere on this boat. Next thing you know we will have little vanilla harnesses running around.......
Dinner at Bruno's.
Wow! Personally it was the best meal I have had in the South Pacific - rivaled Gaston and Valentine's in Tuao. We had whole baked red snapper, fish with onions and gravy (local dish), a variation on poisson cru, rice, pasta salad, bread fruit french fries and wacky cake for dessert. I told Tabita (Mrs. Bruno) that I need to come and be her sous chef for a week to learn how to cook those dishes. A pretty involved process I might add. The French fries were made from bread fruit, but she did not boil it first, just cut it up and deep fried it (yum!) The poisson cru type dish was made with raw fish, curry, onions and freshly ground coconut. Carla and I watched her crack open the coconuts then shave out the meat with a Tahitian style coconut meat shaver outer (i am sure that is the technical term for it). Picture a flat board with a crescent shaped scraper with teeth (about 7 inches long by 3 inches wide) attached to the middle of one end. She sat on the board on the edge of a rock with a bowl on the ground and scraped out that meat in no time.
It was an interesting group. Our host is French, but has been on Fanning for 30 years. He has guest rooms on his property as well. Tabita is from one of the main Gilbert Islands, but met Bruno on Washington Island. They have two small children Paul (5ish)and Agnes (annyay) (18 months). Fortunately Tabita has a couple of female friends that help her cook and with the children. Not sure why she did not come to the table to eat, but I gave her and her helpers first dibs on the dessert, which they willingly took. I guess rice and fish are no big deal, but chocolate is a treat. At some point I will post pictures to go with this post, as I am not sure words can adequately describe everything. Really wish we had had a video camera so you could have seen Carla and I do the land crab shuffle. We were minding our own business standing in the living area of Paul's house when this land crab - slightly larger than a dessert plate came scuttling across our feet. Watching us jump was pretty funny, but it was equally funny to watch the kids chase it around the kitchen with a small bat. Little Paul got a huge kick out of the whole scene.
Finally called it a night around 2100. No street lights or signs here, so we were dependent on our flashlights and memory to find the right path to the beach and the dinghies. Oh and the stars! and the milky way! and the southern cross. Totally amazing and beautiful. Reminds us of how fortunate we are to be able to see it in a way that most people will never experience.
Time for bed now. Dennis says I am not allowed to sleep in tomorrow - he wants to finish up the generator. I am going to dig out the sewing machine and restitch the sunbrella on Moondance's jib. Josh wants to go see about real internet. And maybe the Kuai will be here tomorrow - that will be interesting to watch as well.
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Fanning Island Tuesday/Wednesday
Oh man is it good to be still and sleep on a flat bed! We all slept really well. After a leisurely start, we started on our various projects. Lots to be done to regroup after a crossing.
Dennis spent the morning working on the generator. The head is off, so now it is matter off fixing it and figuring out where the water came from in the first place, so we don't have a repeat performance. He held pretty true to his vow not to do marathon days - sadly the dinghy motor had other ideas.
Josh and I had a pretty long list that we plowed thru as well. He took off the rudder to the windvane steering, then we floated the inflatable dinghy. That may sound straight forward, but it entailed lifting the hard dinghy up on the spinnaker halyard, disassembling the frame the hard dinghy rests on, pulling the inflatable out (finding the foot pump which I hid from myself pretty well :) ), partially inflating the dinghy, rigging it to the whisker pole topping lift, lifting it up and over the lifelines and then lowering to the water. At that point Josh walked it to the back of the boat, tied it off and finished inflating it. Oh and did I mention the rope slipped in the winch and Josh got a nice rope burn on his forehead - thanks Mom. After that we reassembled the frame, lowered the hard dinghy and put the forward deck back in order. I did one load of laundry - had just enough rain water to wash all the salty dish towels. Helped Dennis with the generator, put on the sail cover and wrestled with the grill.
The grill was kind of a surprise - it just did not want to light. All the parts had been replaced right before we left, but the crossing with the liberal application of salt water managed to gunk up the lighter knob. I finally managed to get that all cleaned up and the innards put together properly - just in time for a late lunch. Plank salmon, carrot sticks and apples.
After lunch we got all cleaned up to go to land exploring with Doug and Carla. This is the point that the dinghy motor laid low Dennis' - no marathon work day vow. 3 hours later the fuel lines are hard plumbed and the motor running well enough to get us to shore, but still needs work. Carburetor I think, or maybe the fuel pump. Beginning to feel like engines have a grudge against us........
On a more positive note - the breeze is back so at least working was reasonably comfortable. The lagoon is beautiful and the water warm (funny, it is still salty. Wonder when that will go away?) We had a mini tour of the immediate area and met Bruno (french), Fred and Mike. We will go back to Bruno's tomorrow night for a potluck and garbage burning party. We learned how to say hello in gilbertese (?) - May or ri (roll the r's).
The people here live in what most people would consider primitive surroundings, but it works for here. Separate huts for cooking, sleeping huts on stilts with thatched roofs and no walls, some solid buildings and some thatched buildings with walls. I am hoping Tabitha (helps Bruno with cooking) will show us around while we are here. Of course there are the requisite chickens running all over the place. I am at the point now that it is weird to not have free range chickens running about. Lots of pigs as well - piglets are just so cute. Oh yes and lots of dogs. I don't think I would ever want to be a dog in the south pacific - it is a hard life. I am going to have to remember to take a picture of the "school bus". OMG OSHA would be apoplectic! It is a flat bottom aluminum barge filled to overflowing with children - reminiscent of the boat people coming from Cuba! Definitely have to have a strong constitution. Everyone seems quite happy though. Lots of fishing from outrigger canoes. It is interesting to see them coming and going thru the pass riding the current - doing eddy turns. There is a vicious rumor about a kava bar - supposed to be open on Saturday, so maybe we will see what that is all about.
It is going to be a busy week here. The triennial supply ship (Kuaui)should be here Thursday and another ship the MoaMoa(?) is leaving Christmas Island for here tomorrow. Hope we are not anchored in their way. I guess they will let us know if we need to move. Will be interesting to see what ends up on the shelves in the store. Not that I need anything and even if I did it can wait until
Samoa.
Well, that is all for today. Hope everyone is well.
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Dennis spent the morning working on the generator. The head is off, so now it is matter off fixing it and figuring out where the water came from in the first place, so we don't have a repeat performance. He held pretty true to his vow not to do marathon days - sadly the dinghy motor had other ideas.
Josh and I had a pretty long list that we plowed thru as well. He took off the rudder to the windvane steering, then we floated the inflatable dinghy. That may sound straight forward, but it entailed lifting the hard dinghy up on the spinnaker halyard, disassembling the frame the hard dinghy rests on, pulling the inflatable out (finding the foot pump which I hid from myself pretty well :) ), partially inflating the dinghy, rigging it to the whisker pole topping lift, lifting it up and over the lifelines and then lowering to the water. At that point Josh walked it to the back of the boat, tied it off and finished inflating it. Oh and did I mention the rope slipped in the winch and Josh got a nice rope burn on his forehead - thanks Mom. After that we reassembled the frame, lowered the hard dinghy and put the forward deck back in order. I did one load of laundry - had just enough rain water to wash all the salty dish towels. Helped Dennis with the generator, put on the sail cover and wrestled with the grill.
The grill was kind of a surprise - it just did not want to light. All the parts had been replaced right before we left, but the crossing with the liberal application of salt water managed to gunk up the lighter knob. I finally managed to get that all cleaned up and the innards put together properly - just in time for a late lunch. Plank salmon, carrot sticks and apples.
After lunch we got all cleaned up to go to land exploring with Doug and Carla. This is the point that the dinghy motor laid low Dennis' - no marathon work day vow. 3 hours later the fuel lines are hard plumbed and the motor running well enough to get us to shore, but still needs work. Carburetor I think, or maybe the fuel pump. Beginning to feel like engines have a grudge against us........
On a more positive note - the breeze is back so at least working was reasonably comfortable. The lagoon is beautiful and the water warm (funny, it is still salty. Wonder when that will go away?) We had a mini tour of the immediate area and met Bruno (french), Fred and Mike. We will go back to Bruno's tomorrow night for a potluck and garbage burning party. We learned how to say hello in gilbertese (?) - May or ri (roll the r's).
The people here live in what most people would consider primitive surroundings, but it works for here. Separate huts for cooking, sleeping huts on stilts with thatched roofs and no walls, some solid buildings and some thatched buildings with walls. I am hoping Tabitha (helps Bruno with cooking) will show us around while we are here. Of course there are the requisite chickens running all over the place. I am at the point now that it is weird to not have free range chickens running about. Lots of pigs as well - piglets are just so cute. Oh yes and lots of dogs. I don't think I would ever want to be a dog in the south pacific - it is a hard life. I am going to have to remember to take a picture of the "school bus". OMG OSHA would be apoplectic! It is a flat bottom aluminum barge filled to overflowing with children - reminiscent of the boat people coming from Cuba! Definitely have to have a strong constitution. Everyone seems quite happy though. Lots of fishing from outrigger canoes. It is interesting to see them coming and going thru the pass riding the current - doing eddy turns. There is a vicious rumor about a kava bar - supposed to be open on Saturday, so maybe we will see what that is all about.
It is going to be a busy week here. The triennial supply ship (Kuaui)should be here Thursday and another ship the MoaMoa(?) is leaving Christmas Island for here tomorrow. Hope we are not anchored in their way. I guess they will let us know if we need to move. Will be interesting to see what ends up on the shelves in the store. Not that I need anything and even if I did it can wait until
Samoa.
Well, that is all for today. Hope everyone is well.
----------
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Re: Day 8 its called convection
Thanks for the well wishes! So happy to be moving, and having washed all of the stuff that was puked on by the kiddos and g-ma, I understand the rain bucket thing. I just salt water washed over the side and hung them. Was going to rinse in the Splendide, but a nice little squall finished that for me. :p Hope you guys enjoy the port call and we will eventually figure out whom all to send our updates to.
FW&FS
-Crystal
FW&FS
-Crystal
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Day 11 Arrived Fanning
1600 local time - 0200 zulu (but only Tuesday)
YAY! We have arrived at Fanning Island.
Not sure of lat and long, but hey we are here.
Another day of motoring (after a day and night of motoring). The wind helped a little bit last night, but Dennis brought in the stay sail and jib this morning - may have been slowing us down - certainly were not helping. The wind was right on our nose for most of the last day (south - Brad) anywhere from 5-10 (max) knots. Seas were flat, and today was bright and sunny -clouds around us but no rain. The iron genny got a real workout the last couple of days.
The pass into the atoll was cake - fast as it was a flood tide, but no problems. We were contacted by Moondance about 15 miles out - invited us to dinner. Got a good connection about 4 miles out and got the scoop on the pass. Was very nice to be greeted by a friendly voice at the end of a long haul.
Since the seas had been so calm I was well rested, so had the boat in reasonable shape. Flags up, plants hidden, alcohol jugs put out of sight, main salon mostly tidy. Poor Dennis - trying to read and I kept bugging him with questions.
Anyway made it thru the pass and anchored next to Moondance (only took three tries - ok we are rusty). Was so nice to be still. We had our celebratory beers and were generally relaxing. Doug from Moondance went to the dock to pick up the customs and quarantine folks (our dinghy is still deflated on the forward deck) and they came aboard about 1730ish. Pretty laid back group - all 5 of them. Not sure who was what, but the lady was the quarantine person, there was the customs guy and the police guy and two others who not sure what they represented, but one of them did a lot of translating. Anyway, after explaining that Dennis was the captain on the seas, but I am the captain of paperwork - I got to work filling out forms. Pretty standard really. The quarantine lady had me write out what fresh fruit and veggies I had on board, meat, eggs, and then sign that we had no pets or plants (ok, so I perjured myself a little there, but hey - they are Josh's plants). They ate chocolate, cuties and peanut butter pretzels, had water and beer (only one took up that offer). After the paperwork, they came down and did an cursory look around, I paid them $60US and off they went - courtesy of Moondance taxi company. They said there is internet here, so I may be able to post some pictures -we'll see.
As atolls go it is pretty standard, small, pretty, lots of coconut palms. Their supply boat is coming on Thursday (comes 3 times a year!), so ought to be pretty busy around here this week. Doug and Carla could name all the things on the shelves in the store, so I guess it is time for a reprovision.
Had yummy lasagne with Moondance - and Carla's mom's peanut brittle - double yum! Have a said how nice it is to be still????
Was not a bad crossing, but still glad it is over. Hope Delphinia and Heart Strings are hanging in there. BTW Delphinia - won't be much warmer in SF. In fact can be downright cold there in the summer. Lots of fog in the mornings, sometimes it burns off, sometimes not. The hotter it is in the central valley, the colder and foggier it will be in the city. Won't matter to you though, cuz you will be still!! Hope the R&R had a good potluck tonight - Hi and hugs to all. Welcome back Kara - how did the dress fitting go? Hey Ryan - did you get a picture of us????
Well -time to go to my nice still bed. Got lots of boat chores to do - and stillness to enjoy.
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YAY! We have arrived at Fanning Island.
Not sure of lat and long, but hey we are here.
Another day of motoring (after a day and night of motoring). The wind helped a little bit last night, but Dennis brought in the stay sail and jib this morning - may have been slowing us down - certainly were not helping. The wind was right on our nose for most of the last day (south - Brad) anywhere from 5-10 (max) knots. Seas were flat, and today was bright and sunny -clouds around us but no rain. The iron genny got a real workout the last couple of days.
The pass into the atoll was cake - fast as it was a flood tide, but no problems. We were contacted by Moondance about 15 miles out - invited us to dinner. Got a good connection about 4 miles out and got the scoop on the pass. Was very nice to be greeted by a friendly voice at the end of a long haul.
Since the seas had been so calm I was well rested, so had the boat in reasonable shape. Flags up, plants hidden, alcohol jugs put out of sight, main salon mostly tidy. Poor Dennis - trying to read and I kept bugging him with questions.
Anyway made it thru the pass and anchored next to Moondance (only took three tries - ok we are rusty). Was so nice to be still. We had our celebratory beers and were generally relaxing. Doug from Moondance went to the dock to pick up the customs and quarantine folks (our dinghy is still deflated on the forward deck) and they came aboard about 1730ish. Pretty laid back group - all 5 of them. Not sure who was what, but the lady was the quarantine person, there was the customs guy and the police guy and two others who not sure what they represented, but one of them did a lot of translating. Anyway, after explaining that Dennis was the captain on the seas, but I am the captain of paperwork - I got to work filling out forms. Pretty standard really. The quarantine lady had me write out what fresh fruit and veggies I had on board, meat, eggs, and then sign that we had no pets or plants (ok, so I perjured myself a little there, but hey - they are Josh's plants). They ate chocolate, cuties and peanut butter pretzels, had water and beer (only one took up that offer). After the paperwork, they came down and did an cursory look around, I paid them $60US and off they went - courtesy of Moondance taxi company. They said there is internet here, so I may be able to post some pictures -we'll see.
As atolls go it is pretty standard, small, pretty, lots of coconut palms. Their supply boat is coming on Thursday (comes 3 times a year!), so ought to be pretty busy around here this week. Doug and Carla could name all the things on the shelves in the store, so I guess it is time for a reprovision.
Had yummy lasagne with Moondance - and Carla's mom's peanut brittle - double yum! Have a said how nice it is to be still????
Was not a bad crossing, but still glad it is over. Hope Delphinia and Heart Strings are hanging in there. BTW Delphinia - won't be much warmer in SF. In fact can be downright cold there in the summer. Lots of fog in the mornings, sometimes it burns off, sometimes not. The hotter it is in the central valley, the colder and foggier it will be in the city. Won't matter to you though, cuz you will be still!! Hope the R&R had a good potluck tonight - Hi and hugs to all. Welcome back Kara - how did the dress fitting go? Hey Ryan - did you get a picture of us????
Well -time to go to my nice still bed. Got lots of boat chores to do - and stillness to enjoy.
----------
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Day 10
0300 zulu (117 miles to go - if we were going in a straight line)
Lat 5 deg 54 min N
Long 159 deg 15 min W
Course 201 T
Speed 5kts motoring ( since 0600 this morning)
wind 7 kts from the N, NE, NW....
Swell 1 meter from the e/ene
cloud cover 30%
Bar 1011 falling
We went back to sailing on Dennis' watch last night, and managed to sail until the end of mine. We have been motoring since. On the up side, we have a full tank of good water, the batteries are all the way charged up, and we are dry. On the down side, it is too slow! We have decided we would rather have wind and rain than no wind at all.
So, since it was sunny and flat, we had a chore day. All the pillows and towels and rugs were hung out and are now dry and semi better smelling. I went through the fresh food and tossed some interesting science experiments and managed to save some zuchinni and the little oranges. I made eggs and corn beef hash for breakfast (the guys probably wondered what was wrong). Anyway that was good. The moldy eggs, not so good. Will definitely be cracking the rest of these individually into a separate bowl. So yes - it is very humid and 88 degrees in the salon right now. I cleaned the stove (BTW Dan K if you are reading thanks again for helping us with that - I love it) and generally tidied.
Dennis decided to work on the generator. Pumped the water out of the head (?) where it shouldn't be and then sprayed WD40 into the head to get it dry. Funny - we proved that diesel engines will combust on more than just diesel. You should have seen Dennis jump. He asked me to turn the key so the engine would turn over and it started - on WD40!! Probably had to be here, but made me laugh. Looks like it is a blown head gasket, next is to find out where the water is coming from so we don't have a repeat performance. More on that later.
During all this poor Josh was back on watch. Next thing you hear is "Dad - the steering went out". Luckily Dennis was working on the generator, so our bed was already torn up and he was able to see the hydraulics. The lever got turned off. Josh said we went 180 degrees to the right and 180 degrees back. Happened two more times. He also saw a ship on the AIS - 780 feet on the way to Panama canal.
We will make Fanning tomorrow - pray that it is in time to catch slack water to get in the channel - that means pray for wind. Oh yeah and for those of you whom tomorrow is Monday, for us it will be Tuesday. Fanning stays on the same time as the western most Islands (where the capital is) of Kiribati. Thank you Carla and Doug for reminding us.
More tomorrow
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Lat 5 deg 54 min N
Long 159 deg 15 min W
Course 201 T
Speed 5kts motoring ( since 0600 this morning)
wind 7 kts from the N, NE, NW....
Swell 1 meter from the e/ene
cloud cover 30%
Bar 1011 falling
We went back to sailing on Dennis' watch last night, and managed to sail until the end of mine. We have been motoring since. On the up side, we have a full tank of good water, the batteries are all the way charged up, and we are dry. On the down side, it is too slow! We have decided we would rather have wind and rain than no wind at all.
So, since it was sunny and flat, we had a chore day. All the pillows and towels and rugs were hung out and are now dry and semi better smelling. I went through the fresh food and tossed some interesting science experiments and managed to save some zuchinni and the little oranges. I made eggs and corn beef hash for breakfast (the guys probably wondered what was wrong). Anyway that was good. The moldy eggs, not so good. Will definitely be cracking the rest of these individually into a separate bowl. So yes - it is very humid and 88 degrees in the salon right now. I cleaned the stove (BTW Dan K if you are reading thanks again for helping us with that - I love it) and generally tidied.
Dennis decided to work on the generator. Pumped the water out of the head (?) where it shouldn't be and then sprayed WD40 into the head to get it dry. Funny - we proved that diesel engines will combust on more than just diesel. You should have seen Dennis jump. He asked me to turn the key so the engine would turn over and it started - on WD40!! Probably had to be here, but made me laugh. Looks like it is a blown head gasket, next is to find out where the water is coming from so we don't have a repeat performance. More on that later.
During all this poor Josh was back on watch. Next thing you hear is "Dad - the steering went out". Luckily Dennis was working on the generator, so our bed was already torn up and he was able to see the hydraulics. The lever got turned off. Josh said we went 180 degrees to the right and 180 degrees back. Happened two more times. He also saw a ship on the AIS - 780 feet on the way to Panama canal.
We will make Fanning tomorrow - pray that it is in time to catch slack water to get in the channel - that means pray for wind. Oh yeah and for those of you whom tomorrow is Monday, for us it will be Tuesday. Fanning stays on the same time as the western most Islands (where the capital is) of Kiribati. Thank you Carla and Doug for reminding us.
More tomorrow
----------
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