We have had a fun couple of days here at Suwarrow. Sunday we had a pretty quiet start, then went for a snorkel on the reef to the northwest of us. It was a short dinghy ride from the anchorage and Doug and Carla came in their dinghy too. We anchored at the edge of the drop off. The water was pretty, not lots of colorful coral, but the formations are nice. Josh and I headed to the north and out of the blue came a good sized manta ray. I about swallowed my snorkel, but gathered my wits and got some good pictures of it and Josh (and part of my finger too - didn't gather all of my wits apparently). Josh also saw a small turtle - a hawksbill we think. So a nice start to our stay. After that we went in and walked around the island, picked up a little bit of trash, including a yellow hard hat. We think we will decorate and sign it to leave for the Suwarrow ranger's collection. When we got back to the ranger's area, Charlie brought out some ice cold coconuts for us to drink and eat. Yum! He also showed us the "apple" of the coconut. It is formed after the coconut sprouts. The center fills with a white spongy, but solid filling. I guess you grate it and add flour for the coconut pancake. Charlie promised to make us some before we leave. I hope he has time. We then made arrangements to meet the next morning for an excursion in the lagoon.
Monday we were up at the butt crack of dawn. As it turns out it was even earlier than we thought, as Suwarrow is an hour behind. Oh well, we finally got everyone gathered on the beach - Charlie, and the crews from Evergreen, Moondance and Lazy Bones. Our first stop after a very wet ride (the tarp was a nice thought, but not very effective) was Gull or Bird Island. According to Harry it is a critical rookery for terns and frigate for all of the pacific. It was pretty amazing. The terns just lay their eggs anywhere - literally. They were all over the ground, in the water, pretty much randomly, everywhere. The frigates mostly had crude nests in the short vegetation. The noise was insane - I took video and it actually captured the sound pretty well too. The terns filled the air all around, the frigates were not as excitable¸ but some still took to the air as we passed. The tern eggs didn't seem to be ready to hatch, but the frigates we in process. We saw one that had to have just hatched, it had no feathers yet - kind of looked like an alien. From there we saw them in all stages of development, from the featherless to the white and black downy ones that were standing on their nests waiting for food. They looked at us as if to say "if you are not bringing food, go away". After a group photo we waded back out to the dinghy for the next leg of our tour.
Our next stop took us to Seven Island - for dolphins at 7 in the morning according to Charlie. Great photo ops again. Then on for Coconut crab viewing. Charlie took us to a small clearing where he did his Coconut Crab whisperer (or caller) thing. He opened a bunch of coconuts and the crabs came crawling out of the surrounding foliage. A little creepy. These guys could audition for the starring role in a horror movie "Crabzilla conquers the atoll". Their shells are beautiful though. They are very colorful ranging from red/orange to blues/purples. And can they climb trees!!!! After the photo shoot there, Dennis, Josh and Mike accompanied Charlie on an excursion to find a couple big enough to eat. Josh said he put his arm into a hole and pulled them out! Brave man. Their front claws can take off a finger no problem. When they returned with our two crabs, we had lunch and then headed out for a snorkel along a coral wall just off the beach. Again nice coral formations, but not a lot of color or fish. We than headed back to the anchorage to rest up for the bbq that night. We felt kind of bad for Charlie, cuz he turned around and headed back out to go fish for something to put on the grill at the bbq. A couple hours later he came by with a big wahoo to show off. YUM!
At 1700 we all gathered back at the beach for our bbq. We had tons of food (as usual when cruisers gather together). Bushetta, coleslaw, chicken curry pasta salad, fried rice, cream cheese/hot jelly with crackers, wahoo and coconut crab. The Wahoo was really good, we marinated it in red wine, oil, lemon and garlic then grilled it. But, the best was the coconut crab. It took a good while to cook after the wahoo came off the grill, definitely worth the wait. By the time we were through I know that at least I was almost in a coconut crab induced gastronomic coma. I am pretty sure that I have consumed more calories since arriving on Suwarrow, than I have since leaving Hawaii. I console myself with the fact that coconut water is supposed to be good for you…… right?
This morning's entertainment was anchoring 101. Thankfully we were not part of the show. One of the boats that came in yesterday anchored a little close to Moondance, so Moondance took in some chain to open the gap some. Generally the last boat in would move, but they were backed right up to a coral head, so had no room to move. Then two more boats came in. The first was a big trawler and then another monohull. Charlie was out in their little boat directing traffic. Then he and Harry spent the rest of the morning checking in the two new boats from yesterday afternoon and the two from this morning.
Today's plan was to take our spinnaker in and rinse out the salt water. Has not happened yet. Has been pretty rainy and squally (convection Brad? Or is that what happens when the wind dies down?), the wind has been almost from the north - which is kinda crazy. So has been a good day to work on the blog, download/catalog pictures from the camera, Josh has done homework and we have looked at the guides for our next destination - Am. Samoa. We hope to get a day of fishing in and then a snorkel at the manta ray spot before we leave. Provisions are running low, and we are anxious to get to Fiji. Suwarrow is definitely the best place we have been so far this time - beautiful water, flat anchorage, great people, and rules notwithstanding, fun stuff to do.
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Suwarrow Day 1
Wow - sleeping on a flat bed - a flat motionless bed no less. Heaven!!! The wind has continued to blow, but the anchorage here is pretty smooth. We are thinking that maybe this Island was worth the discomfort of getting here. Certainly is beautiful.
The head Ranger (Harry) and his officer (Charlie) came by the boat this morning to check us in. Think we filled in half a forest's worth of forms, and definitely had the best inspection of our boat yet. Still not good enough to find my wine stash, but was a close call for the contraband plants. Lots of rules here - no spearfishing or diving in the lagoon, no eating the coconut crabs, no fishing in the lagoon...... Primary reason for the fishing is the sharks. They have gotten used to boats being in the anchorage and come after any fish you catch and not even a thank you for the free lunch. Diving is an issue as some divers recently got swept away out the pass, their own dinghy could not find them, so the rangers had to go after them, and the coconut crabs are not edible because somehow or other the island became rat infested (brought by a cruiser?). The have put out poison for the rats, but the coconut crabs eat the rats. The poison doesn't kill the crabs, but remains in their system and it is bad for humans. Just goes to show what can happen in a few short years. We had friends come through here in 2010 and eating the crabs was part of the draw at that time. Lots of other rules as well, just like being in any other national park: pack it in, pack it out, no dogs or cats, no guns, drugs, no taking shells, sand or marine life...... Once the rules were made clear and we pushed a little we found that the head ranger has discretion over many of the don'ts that we want to do, so maybe it won't be so bad after all. Mostly they just want to guide you, but you have to provide the fuel as they have only what they are left here with when they are dropped off for 6-8 months, so pretty understandable. Charlie seems to be the outgoing social one of the pair, and invited us in to tour the island and maybe have drinks in the afternoon.
There are now 4 total boats in the anchorage including Moondance and ourselves. The other two are catamarans. One is from Europe (Charles, Mariett, Bridgite and Michael). At least one of the 2 couples is from Luxemburg (sp?). They are primarily French speakers, but their English as always is better than our French (thank goodness). The other Cat "Lazy Bones M&M" is a young couple (Mike and Megan) on their honeymoon. They are Canadians living in Australia who quit their jobs, got married, spent 4 months in Africa (her dream), then bought the cat in Guadaloupe and have been sailing towards Australia since last November (his dream). All very interesting people and fun to be around - which we found out over coconut juice and rum this afternoon.
After a leisurely morning, we finally headed in around 1500 - sadly we flooded our dinghy engine, but Moondance came to the rescue and gave us a lift in. Good thing it is not far - 5 people in their dinghy is tight and lots of work for their 9.9 hp engine. Charlie met us as we were wandering around, and gave us a tour. Their little area of the island is immaculately maintained, raked with walkways and hammocks hung all about, a cruiser book exchange in the older "Tom Neal" house and a newer house with flags from different cruisers over the years. Very nice. Charlie showed us the cistern we could use for showers and laundry, but no drinking, somebody's grave ( i was at the back of the pack, I think it was Tom Neal's, but that is not what the grave marker said) and then took us out to the beach overlooking the pass. Wow! a beautiful view. Then he came and fed the sharks. He stepped into the water and called them first and sure enough they came before he threw out any food - talk about conditioned responses, but very cool. I took a bunch of pictures, but they probably won't do justice to the actual event. Dennis even tried his hand at it. So we have dubbed Charlie the resident shark whisperer. After that we headed back to the beach area and tried coconut juice with rum. Quite tasty although I think ice would have helped. Turned into quite the party. Harry had gone out with the other half of the forest's paperwork to check in Lazy Bones, so shortly thereafter they came in followed by the folks from the other cat. Finally called it quit at sunset - barely made it home by dark (we would have been trouble, cuz I am pretty sure that if there were streetlights, they would have been on). We cheffed up the last steaks with rice and green beans, then dispersed to our various corners to wind down.
Hoping to do some snorkeling tomorrow (Sunday), maybe walk around the Island a bit. We calculated that we had not been off the boats for 12 days, so very nice to be on land.
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The head Ranger (Harry) and his officer (Charlie) came by the boat this morning to check us in. Think we filled in half a forest's worth of forms, and definitely had the best inspection of our boat yet. Still not good enough to find my wine stash, but was a close call for the contraband plants. Lots of rules here - no spearfishing or diving in the lagoon, no eating the coconut crabs, no fishing in the lagoon...... Primary reason for the fishing is the sharks. They have gotten used to boats being in the anchorage and come after any fish you catch and not even a thank you for the free lunch. Diving is an issue as some divers recently got swept away out the pass, their own dinghy could not find them, so the rangers had to go after them, and the coconut crabs are not edible because somehow or other the island became rat infested (brought by a cruiser?). The have put out poison for the rats, but the coconut crabs eat the rats. The poison doesn't kill the crabs, but remains in their system and it is bad for humans. Just goes to show what can happen in a few short years. We had friends come through here in 2010 and eating the crabs was part of the draw at that time. Lots of other rules as well, just like being in any other national park: pack it in, pack it out, no dogs or cats, no guns, drugs, no taking shells, sand or marine life...... Once the rules were made clear and we pushed a little we found that the head ranger has discretion over many of the don'ts that we want to do, so maybe it won't be so bad after all. Mostly they just want to guide you, but you have to provide the fuel as they have only what they are left here with when they are dropped off for 6-8 months, so pretty understandable. Charlie seems to be the outgoing social one of the pair, and invited us in to tour the island and maybe have drinks in the afternoon.
There are now 4 total boats in the anchorage including Moondance and ourselves. The other two are catamarans. One is from Europe (Charles, Mariett, Bridgite and Michael). At least one of the 2 couples is from Luxemburg (sp?). They are primarily French speakers, but their English as always is better than our French (thank goodness). The other Cat "Lazy Bones M&M" is a young couple (Mike and Megan) on their honeymoon. They are Canadians living in Australia who quit their jobs, got married, spent 4 months in Africa (her dream), then bought the cat in Guadaloupe and have been sailing towards Australia since last November (his dream). All very interesting people and fun to be around - which we found out over coconut juice and rum this afternoon.
After a leisurely morning, we finally headed in around 1500 - sadly we flooded our dinghy engine, but Moondance came to the rescue and gave us a lift in. Good thing it is not far - 5 people in their dinghy is tight and lots of work for their 9.9 hp engine. Charlie met us as we were wandering around, and gave us a tour. Their little area of the island is immaculately maintained, raked with walkways and hammocks hung all about, a cruiser book exchange in the older "Tom Neal" house and a newer house with flags from different cruisers over the years. Very nice. Charlie showed us the cistern we could use for showers and laundry, but no drinking, somebody's grave ( i was at the back of the pack, I think it was Tom Neal's, but that is not what the grave marker said) and then took us out to the beach overlooking the pass. Wow! a beautiful view. Then he came and fed the sharks. He stepped into the water and called them first and sure enough they came before he threw out any food - talk about conditioned responses, but very cool. I took a bunch of pictures, but they probably won't do justice to the actual event. Dennis even tried his hand at it. So we have dubbed Charlie the resident shark whisperer. After that we headed back to the beach area and tried coconut juice with rum. Quite tasty although I think ice would have helped. Turned into quite the party. Harry had gone out with the other half of the forest's paperwork to check in Lazy Bones, so shortly thereafter they came in followed by the folks from the other cat. Finally called it quit at sunset - barely made it home by dark (we would have been trouble, cuz I am pretty sure that if there were streetlights, they would have been on). We cheffed up the last steaks with rice and green beans, then dispersed to our various corners to wind down.
Hoping to do some snorkeling tomorrow (Sunday), maybe walk around the Island a bit. We calculated that we had not been off the boats for 12 days, so very nice to be on land.
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Suwarrow Day 1
Wow - sleeping on a flat bed - a flat motionless bed no less. Heaven!!! The wind has continued to blow, but the anchorage here is pretty smooth. We are thinking that maybe this Island was worth the discomfort of getting here. Certainly is beautiful.
The head Ranger (Harry) and his officer (Charlie) came by the boat this morning to check us in. Think we filled in half a forest's worth of forms, and definitely had the best inspection of our boat yet. Still not good enough to find my wine stash, but was a close call for the contraband plants. Lots of rules here - no spearfishing or diving in the lagoon, no eating the coconut crabs, no fishing in the lagoon...... Primary reason for the fishing is the sharks. They have gotten used to boats being in the anchorage and come after any fish you catch and not even a thank you for the free lunch. Diving is an issue as some divers recently got swept away out the pass, their own dinghy could not find them, so the rangers had to go after them, and the coconut crabs are not edible because somehow or other the island became rat infested (brought by a cruiser?). The have put out poison for the rats, but the coconut crabs eat the rats. The poison doesn't kill the crabs, but remains in their system and it is bad for humans. Just goes to show what can happen in a few short years. We had friends come through here in 2010 and eating the crabs was part of the draw at that time. Lots of other rules as well, just like being in any other national park: pack it in, pack it out, no dogs or cats, no guns, drugs, no taking shells, sand or marine life...... Once the rules were made clear and we pushed a little we found that the head ranger has discretion over many of the don'ts that we want to do, so maybe it won't be so bad after all. Mostly they just want to guide you, but you have to provide the fuel as they have only what they are left here with when they are dropped off for 6-8 months, so pretty understandable. Charlie seems to be the outgoing social one of the pair, and invited us in to tour the island and maybe have drinks in the afternoon.
There are now 4 total boats in the anchorage including Moondance and ourselves. The other two are catamarans. One is from Europe (Charles, Mariett, Bridgite and Michael). At least one of the 2 couples is from Luxemburg (sp?). They are primarily French speakers, but their English as always is better than our French (thank goodness). The other Cat "Lazy Bones M&M" is a young couple (Mike and Megan) on their honeymoon. They are Canadians living in Australia who quit their jobs, got married, spent 4 months in Africa (her dream), then bought the cat in Guadaloupe and have been sailing towards Australia since last November (his dream). All very interesting people and fun to be around - which we found out over coconut juice and rum this afternoon.
After a leisurely morning, we finally headed in around 1500 - sadly we flooded our dinghy engine, but Moondance came to the rescue and gave us a lift in. Good thing it is not far - 5 people in their dinghy is tight and lots of work for their 9.9 hp engine. Charlie met us as we were wandering around, and gave us a tour. Their little area of the island is immaculately maintained, raked with walkways and hammocks hung all about, a cruiser book exchange in the older "Tom Neal" house and a newer house with flags from different cruisers over the years. Very nice. Charlie showed us the cistern we could use for showers and laundry, but no drinking, somebody's grave ( i was at the back of the pack, I think it was Tom Neal's, but that is not what the grave marker said) and then took us out to the beach overlooking the pass. Wow! a beautiful view. Then he came and fed the sharks. He stepped into the water and called them first and sure enough they came before he threw out any food - talk about conditioned responses, but very cool. I took a bunch of pictures, but they probably won't do justice to the actual event. Dennis even tried his hand at it. So we have dubbed Charlie the resident shark whisperer. After that we headed back to the beach area and tried coconut juice with rum. Quite tasty although I think ice would have helped. Turned into quite the party. Harry had gone out with the other half of the forest's paperwork to check in Lazy Bones, so shortly thereafter they came in followed by the folks from the other cat. Finally called it quit at sunset - barely made it home by dark (we would have been trouble, cuz I am pretty sure that if there were streetlights, they would have been on). We cheffed up the last steaks with rice and green beans, then dispersed to our various corners to wind down.
Hoping to do some snorkeling tomorrow (Sunday), maybe walk around the Island a bit. We calculated that we had not been off the boats for 12 days, so very nice to be on land.
----------
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The head Ranger (Harry) and his officer (Charlie) came by the boat this morning to check us in. Think we filled in half a forest's worth of forms, and definitely had the best inspection of our boat yet. Still not good enough to find my wine stash, but was a close call for the contraband plants. Lots of rules here - no spearfishing or diving in the lagoon, no eating the coconut crabs, no fishing in the lagoon...... Primary reason for the fishing is the sharks. They have gotten used to boats being in the anchorage and come after any fish you catch and not even a thank you for the free lunch. Diving is an issue as some divers recently got swept away out the pass, their own dinghy could not find them, so the rangers had to go after them, and the coconut crabs are not edible because somehow or other the island became rat infested (brought by a cruiser?). The have put out poison for the rats, but the coconut crabs eat the rats. The poison doesn't kill the crabs, but remains in their system and it is bad for humans. Just goes to show what can happen in a few short years. We had friends come through here in 2010 and eating the crabs was part of the draw at that time. Lots of other rules as well, just like being in any other national park: pack it in, pack it out, no dogs or cats, no guns, drugs, no taking shells, sand or marine life...... Once the rules were made clear and we pushed a little we found that the head ranger has discretion over many of the don'ts that we want to do, so maybe it won't be so bad after all. Mostly they just want to guide you, but you have to provide the fuel as they have only what they are left here with when they are dropped off for 6-8 months, so pretty understandable. Charlie seems to be the outgoing social one of the pair, and invited us in to tour the island and maybe have drinks in the afternoon.
There are now 4 total boats in the anchorage including Moondance and ourselves. The other two are catamarans. One is from Europe (Charles, Mariett, Bridgite and Michael). At least one of the 2 couples is from Luxemburg (sp?). They are primarily French speakers, but their English as always is better than our French (thank goodness). The other Cat "Lazy Bones M&M" is a young couple (Mike and Megan) on their honeymoon. They are Canadians living in Australia who quit their jobs, got married, spent 4 months in Africa (her dream), then bought the cat in Guadaloupe and have been sailing towards Australia since last November (his dream). All very interesting people and fun to be around - which we found out over coconut juice and rum this afternoon.
After a leisurely morning, we finally headed in around 1500 - sadly we flooded our dinghy engine, but Moondance came to the rescue and gave us a lift in. Good thing it is not far - 5 people in their dinghy is tight and lots of work for their 9.9 hp engine. Charlie met us as we were wandering around, and gave us a tour. Their little area of the island is immaculately maintained, raked with walkways and hammocks hung all about, a cruiser book exchange in the older "Tom Neal" house and a newer house with flags from different cruisers over the years. Very nice. Charlie showed us the cistern we could use for showers and laundry, but no drinking, somebody's grave ( i was at the back of the pack, I think it was Tom Neal's, but that is not what the grave marker said) and then took us out to the beach overlooking the pass. Wow! a beautiful view. Then he came and fed the sharks. He stepped into the water and called them first and sure enough they came before he threw out any food - talk about conditioned responses, but very cool. I took a bunch of pictures, but they probably won't do justice to the actual event. Dennis even tried his hand at it. So we have dubbed Charlie the resident shark whisperer. After that we headed back to the beach area and tried coconut juice with rum. Quite tasty although I think ice would have helped. Turned into quite the party. Harry had gone out with the other half of the forest's paperwork to check in Lazy Bones, so shortly thereafter they came in followed by the folks from the other cat. Finally called it quit at sunset - barely made it home by dark (we would have been trouble, cuz I am pretty sure that if there were streetlights, they would have been on). We cheffed up the last steaks with rice and green beans, then dispersed to our various corners to wind down.
Hoping to do some snorkeling tomorrow (Sunday), maybe walk around the Island a bit. We calculated that we had not been off the boats for 12 days, so very nice to be on land.
----------
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Saturday, July 27, 2013
Suwarrow
Well here we are. And what I want I want to know is where is my gold belt buckle? 12 seconds lets try 37 hours. We all rode that bronc and put his ass to bed!!! Yee Haw!
Have to say I am glad it is over. We knew it was going to be fast and bumpy, but at about hour 32, I thought the sea was gonna win and just come on in. I am thinking that it really was that bad, but hard to tell when you haven't slept well.
My watch last night was a very mixed bag of tricks. Came on and we were going kinda slow. We were on a time crunch which of course I hate, but sometimes it is what it is. Dennis said I could put out more jib if I felt like it. Really, what kind of direction is that???? Anyway, almost immediately got hit by a squall, moderate wind no rain. Then as it passed it sucked out all the wind, so I let out more jib - still going less than 2 knots. So, I started the engine. That was good for a while, then came another squall, lots of wind and rain. Picture me sitting on the companion way cover holding on for dear life. Stopped the engine, and it was full tilt boogie from then on. No death rolls till late this afternoon - which of course I reeallly hate. Overcast and cloudy all day, Josh had a pretty dry watch, but Dennis had several squalls with rain. Made Suwarrow by 1530ish. Wow! thank god for the way points. Visibility was totally flat. Josh and I were up front on watch for coral heads and Dennis was driving. He had poor Izzie up to 2200 rpms and we were only making 1 kt of headway!!! Totally crazy. But he did an awesome job and we are safely anchored behind "Anchorage Island" (imagine that?). Moondance called when we were about 10 miles out to give us more info on the entrance (Thank You Moondance!!!).
Well by now we have had an ice cold beer, dinner and wine, so are nice and mellow. Looking forward to a good night's flat sleep in my own bed. Tomorrow has been declared a day of rest. Josh laughs when we say that, cuz our list includes, make water, run the generator, check in, maybe go exploring - restful right?
So far our impression of this stop is favorable, despite the sharks. Dennis and Josh have both been in the water and have had no problems. I just wasn't up to it, so will do a fresh water rinse before bed. Josh is excited to go spear fishing, and at this point it is not really a matter of fun, but a matter of we need food!!! We will check in tomorrow with the ranger and find out what is what. More to come.....
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Have to say I am glad it is over. We knew it was going to be fast and bumpy, but at about hour 32, I thought the sea was gonna win and just come on in. I am thinking that it really was that bad, but hard to tell when you haven't slept well.
My watch last night was a very mixed bag of tricks. Came on and we were going kinda slow. We were on a time crunch which of course I hate, but sometimes it is what it is. Dennis said I could put out more jib if I felt like it. Really, what kind of direction is that???? Anyway, almost immediately got hit by a squall, moderate wind no rain. Then as it passed it sucked out all the wind, so I let out more jib - still going less than 2 knots. So, I started the engine. That was good for a while, then came another squall, lots of wind and rain. Picture me sitting on the companion way cover holding on for dear life. Stopped the engine, and it was full tilt boogie from then on. No death rolls till late this afternoon - which of course I reeallly hate. Overcast and cloudy all day, Josh had a pretty dry watch, but Dennis had several squalls with rain. Made Suwarrow by 1530ish. Wow! thank god for the way points. Visibility was totally flat. Josh and I were up front on watch for coral heads and Dennis was driving. He had poor Izzie up to 2200 rpms and we were only making 1 kt of headway!!! Totally crazy. But he did an awesome job and we are safely anchored behind "Anchorage Island" (imagine that?). Moondance called when we were about 10 miles out to give us more info on the entrance (Thank You Moondance!!!).
Well by now we have had an ice cold beer, dinner and wine, so are nice and mellow. Looking forward to a good night's flat sleep in my own bed. Tomorrow has been declared a day of rest. Josh laughs when we say that, cuz our list includes, make water, run the generator, check in, maybe go exploring - restful right?
So far our impression of this stop is favorable, despite the sharks. Dennis and Josh have both been in the water and have had no problems. I just wasn't up to it, so will do a fresh water rinse before bed. Josh is excited to go spear fishing, and at this point it is not really a matter of fun, but a matter of we need food!!! We will check in tomorrow with the ranger and find out what is what. More to come.....
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Friday, July 26, 2013
manihiki to Suwarrow
lat 11 deg 21 S
long 161 deg 43 W
course 202
speed 6-7 kts
wind SE @20
swell E @ 8-10 ft
cloudy
bar 1010
Well Mr. Baker forecasted fast and bouncy and it is just so. We left Manihiki by 0530 this morning and have been rockin and rollin all day. The day started sunny, but it is cloudy now, kinda nice really, cooler. Little bit of rain, one little bump up in wind with a squall, but otherwise we are just hanging on for the ride. Hope to arrive Suwarrow early afternoon tomorrow. We have waypoints into the lagoon, so that helps. We talked with Moondance this morning. They were well, rockin and rollin too They should get there early tomorrow morning. We will have our nightly contact with them shortly and see how their day has been.
Nothing of note to write about. Did have a thought for all my friends out there doing bikram yoga: How you feel after 90 minutes in the hot room, is how I feel after making dinner on passage - without the endorphin rush. I am praying it uses the same number of calories - yeah right. Dinner making on passage - a new Olympic sport. not for the faint of heart - LOL!!
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long 161 deg 43 W
course 202
speed 6-7 kts
wind SE @20
swell E @ 8-10 ft
cloudy
bar 1010
Well Mr. Baker forecasted fast and bouncy and it is just so. We left Manihiki by 0530 this morning and have been rockin and rollin all day. The day started sunny, but it is cloudy now, kinda nice really, cooler. Little bit of rain, one little bump up in wind with a squall, but otherwise we are just hanging on for the ride. Hope to arrive Suwarrow early afternoon tomorrow. We have waypoints into the lagoon, so that helps. We talked with Moondance this morning. They were well, rockin and rollin too They should get there early tomorrow morning. We will have our nightly contact with them shortly and see how their day has been.
Nothing of note to write about. Did have a thought for all my friends out there doing bikram yoga: How you feel after 90 minutes in the hot room, is how I feel after making dinner on passage - without the endorphin rush. I am praying it uses the same number of calories - yeah right. Dinner making on passage - a new Olympic sport. not for the faint of heart - LOL!!
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Thursday, July 25, 2013
Manihiki - Man is it rolly hiki
Moondance arrived last night around 0200. They were chased in by squalls and there was lots of lightening around last night. We got them all rafted up and everyone back to their beds just in time for a torrential downpour. At least it cooled things off, and Evergreen certainly needed the fresh water wash down. Had to laugh, this morning Dennis was searching for his computer, couldn't imagine what could have happened to it,as I was sleeping in the salon and noone could have gotten by me right???? Well, with all the lightening around us last night, I had put it in the oven. The oven? Well, they say that that is the safest most shielded place in the boat for it if the boat gets struck by lightning. I don't know if it is true or not, but made me feel better, and I got a laugh out of it.
Today was a major chore day - Dennis got the generator up and running, changed filters in the watermaker, fixed the drawer that kept falling out during the "death rolls", got another 12volt adaptor working so we can listen to different music, plotted our course to Suwarrow and who knows what else. I did dishes, breakfast, laundry, laundry, laundry, fold, fold, fold, lunch, dishes, looked things up in the cruising guides, put things away that Dennis took out to work on the generator (yep those same four compartments - think I have it down now), dinner and now blog. Josh aired out his bed, changed his linen (he says he could weaponize the smell in his room), helped us with our various projects, did homework and is now waiting for his turn on the computer.
The wind came up today, and the swell really increased, making the raft up with Moondance more and more iffy. Finally right at dinner time, Moondance had to untie. The swells would lift them up and push them towards us, and then as we were coming up with the swell, they would be coming down. We were all out on deck trying to figure out if we could adjust the way we were tied up when a few good swells came through and it looked like we were going to hit masts and/ or spreaders/shrouds. We quickly set about untying and untangling ourselves and it was pretty hairy for a few minutes. But they got safely away and finally after trying to heave to and getting blown down wind at a couple of knots, they decided to head on out for Suwarrow. That's exactly what we would have done. Suwarrow is about 210 miles away, so they should be able to make it by Friday morning no problem. We were all going to leave tomorrow anyway. Evergreen will leave at 0500 in the morning and with the sailing forecast being fast and bumpy, figure we will arrive Suwarrow noonish on Friday.
So, we have water, charts, power, full bellies and are looking forward to a good night's sleep. Send positive thoughts for fast - not bouncy.
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Today was a major chore day - Dennis got the generator up and running, changed filters in the watermaker, fixed the drawer that kept falling out during the "death rolls", got another 12volt adaptor working so we can listen to different music, plotted our course to Suwarrow and who knows what else. I did dishes, breakfast, laundry, laundry, laundry, fold, fold, fold, lunch, dishes, looked things up in the cruising guides, put things away that Dennis took out to work on the generator (yep those same four compartments - think I have it down now), dinner and now blog. Josh aired out his bed, changed his linen (he says he could weaponize the smell in his room), helped us with our various projects, did homework and is now waiting for his turn on the computer.
The wind came up today, and the swell really increased, making the raft up with Moondance more and more iffy. Finally right at dinner time, Moondance had to untie. The swells would lift them up and push them towards us, and then as we were coming up with the swell, they would be coming down. We were all out on deck trying to figure out if we could adjust the way we were tied up when a few good swells came through and it looked like we were going to hit masts and/ or spreaders/shrouds. We quickly set about untying and untangling ourselves and it was pretty hairy for a few minutes. But they got safely away and finally after trying to heave to and getting blown down wind at a couple of knots, they decided to head on out for Suwarrow. That's exactly what we would have done. Suwarrow is about 210 miles away, so they should be able to make it by Friday morning no problem. We were all going to leave tomorrow anyway. Evergreen will leave at 0500 in the morning and with the sailing forecast being fast and bumpy, figure we will arrive Suwarrow noonish on Friday.
So, we have water, charts, power, full bellies and are looking forward to a good night's sleep. Send positive thoughts for fast - not bouncy.
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Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Manihiki
Well, here we are. Made it by 1700, and guess who was in the teeny tiny anchorage? Kwai. Just leaving as it turned out.
So, had a pretty good night, got bumpy again and I saw winds to almost 20kts. But, by 0500 they had died down again, so when I got Josh up for his watch we put out more sail, and kept putting out sail all morning until we had the full jib, stay sail and triple reefed main. We were still making pretty good time even with only 8-12 kts of wind.
We were able to start the water maker as soon as we got behind the island, and will continue making water all night, and all day tomorrow. Plan on giving the batteries a good charge as well.
So yeah, we pulled up to the anchorage about 1630. Kwai was here, and we spent some time trying to figure out where in the heck we were going to put our anchor down. It is a very narrow shelf, that drops off dramatically. Add to that the sea floor is coral and rock and we were not sure what we were going to do. By the time the depth got in the right range, we felt like we were practically on shore. We finally decided to just go for it when a dinghy came from the Kwai. It was Captain Evi. He said we should take the mooring ball they had just vacated and helped us pick up the line. We hummed and hawed a bit, then decided it was the best choice. So by 1700 we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying beers. The Kwai took on its passengers which in and of itself was probably worth all the hassle just being able to watch. A big dinghy came from shore filled with people, pulled up next to Kwai, and people started scrambling off it and onto the Kwai. I have pictures, but the best by far was the hand off of a small child from the dinghy to the Kwai - would be priceless if I had caught it on film. Dennis said it would be called "here catch little joey". The kid was literally tossed from the dinghy up onto the Kwai. Funny unless it was your kid. They are on their way to Raraotonga (Cook Islands) - a 650 mile trip, so we won't see them again. Sure will miss them for their entertainment value.
After all the people off loaded to the Kwai, the big dinghy came by our boat and we were boarded by the health inspector. Josh barely had time to hide his contraband plant. We had hoped to be able to anchor here without dealing with C&I as we really have no desire to go ashore. As it turns out the rat inspection that we paid for in Christmas came in handy. The very nice gentleman (white guy with British and Cooks citizenship) took a copy of the rat inspection, checked our passports and gave us a paper that said we were set to go. Would have taken $30 NZ dollars if we had them, but we didn't, so will have to pay $50 (whatever currency you have) at Suwarrow. Fine with us, just don't send out C&I and make us pay the $55 per person departure tax.
So now we are bathed (the water is so warm) and fed (ham, mashed potatoes and green beans) and quaffing rum drinks (sorry no umbrellas, but hey they had ice!). Smells like popcorn for dessert - YUM!
Moondance should be here in the wee hours of the morning, we will leave the radio and the lights on for them (better than Motel 6). Not sure if they will anchor or tie up to us or what.
Regarding the anchorage. our charts were relatively accurate. The waypoint from Charlie's charts given to us by Moondance, not so much. As I said, there is one mooring ball. Captain Evi also recommended anchoring off the south point. He says there is a spit of sand that goes out about 1/4 of a mile, but would be a rolly anchorage. We are happy here for the time being. Looking forward to a good night's sleep.
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So, had a pretty good night, got bumpy again and I saw winds to almost 20kts. But, by 0500 they had died down again, so when I got Josh up for his watch we put out more sail, and kept putting out sail all morning until we had the full jib, stay sail and triple reefed main. We were still making pretty good time even with only 8-12 kts of wind.
We were able to start the water maker as soon as we got behind the island, and will continue making water all night, and all day tomorrow. Plan on giving the batteries a good charge as well.
So yeah, we pulled up to the anchorage about 1630. Kwai was here, and we spent some time trying to figure out where in the heck we were going to put our anchor down. It is a very narrow shelf, that drops off dramatically. Add to that the sea floor is coral and rock and we were not sure what we were going to do. By the time the depth got in the right range, we felt like we were practically on shore. We finally decided to just go for it when a dinghy came from the Kwai. It was Captain Evi. He said we should take the mooring ball they had just vacated and helped us pick up the line. We hummed and hawed a bit, then decided it was the best choice. So by 1700 we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying beers. The Kwai took on its passengers which in and of itself was probably worth all the hassle just being able to watch. A big dinghy came from shore filled with people, pulled up next to Kwai, and people started scrambling off it and onto the Kwai. I have pictures, but the best by far was the hand off of a small child from the dinghy to the Kwai - would be priceless if I had caught it on film. Dennis said it would be called "here catch little joey". The kid was literally tossed from the dinghy up onto the Kwai. Funny unless it was your kid. They are on their way to Raraotonga (Cook Islands) - a 650 mile trip, so we won't see them again. Sure will miss them for their entertainment value.
After all the people off loaded to the Kwai, the big dinghy came by our boat and we were boarded by the health inspector. Josh barely had time to hide his contraband plant. We had hoped to be able to anchor here without dealing with C&I as we really have no desire to go ashore. As it turns out the rat inspection that we paid for in Christmas came in handy. The very nice gentleman (white guy with British and Cooks citizenship) took a copy of the rat inspection, checked our passports and gave us a paper that said we were set to go. Would have taken $30 NZ dollars if we had them, but we didn't, so will have to pay $50 (whatever currency you have) at Suwarrow. Fine with us, just don't send out C&I and make us pay the $55 per person departure tax.
So now we are bathed (the water is so warm) and fed (ham, mashed potatoes and green beans) and quaffing rum drinks (sorry no umbrellas, but hey they had ice!). Smells like popcorn for dessert - YUM!
Moondance should be here in the wee hours of the morning, we will leave the radio and the lights on for them (better than Motel 6). Not sure if they will anchor or tie up to us or what.
Regarding the anchorage. our charts were relatively accurate. The waypoint from Charlie's charts given to us by Moondance, not so much. As I said, there is one mooring ball. Captain Evi also recommended anchoring off the south point. He says there is a spit of sand that goes out about 1/4 of a mile, but would be a rolly anchorage. We are happy here for the time being. Looking forward to a good night's sleep.
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