Web Log of Sailing Vessel NAKIA

Still Las Hadas

2012-01-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

The sunrise over Manzanillo was especially nice this morning. High broken clouds soaked up pinks and oranges and a big moon set behind Las Hadas. It looks like it's going to be another exceptionally clear day after a long stretch of nothing but hazy ones. Yesterday the humidity plummeted to 42% and we finally looked out on a crisp horizon of green hills and water. We're not sure what's caused the change because the wind still blows cool temps offshore at night (one boat reported a low of 68 degrees in the cabin), and there's been no morning dew for a boat wash since we arrived in Manzanillo.

New Year's eve fireworks lived up to their reputation and the view from Las Hadas was perfect. John went for a walk during the day and discovered mortars set up on the beach directly opposite from Nakia. We did the prudent thing and reanchored much farther away from shore to avoid any fallout. We also raised a mesh sun awning to protect the more valuable canvas sail covers. It turned out we had more to fear from mortar-loaded pangas in the anchorage. We watched one shell fall from the sky, land 40' from Nakia, and burn (underwater!) for several seconds more. We had a fire extinguisher at the ready but never needed to use it which made it a perfect night for us.

Land-based fireworks were fired off from resorts ringing the bay and from pangas and barges floating in the bay. We had a hard time choosing which direction to look since we were surrounded by color, light, and noise. We were most captivated by an effect we'd never seen before. People on shore where launching "hot air balloons." These appeared to be (paper?) sacks perhaps 2-3' tall with an open flame held in place at the base. It took two people to launch one balloon and they lifted off and rose up into the air until the evening breeze caught and carried them out to sea. Even after watching through binoculars we couldn't figure out how they kept from burning up with the flame flaring so wildly in the wind. While not exactly safe or sane we'd love to know where to get one of these!

The next day someone left a few sailing magazines in our dinghy and that's how we had the pleasure of meeting Andres. Originally from Guadalajara and now working in Los Angeles he's been coming to this part of the bay with his family since before there was even a Las Hadas hotel. After describing it to us, he graciously walked me to the end of the sea wall to make sure I could find a shady lane next to the Barcelo hotel which leads out to the highway. This is an easy way to walk to the super markets and makes our stay here all the better. He also offered to carry mail back to the U.S. for posting. We wish we could have spent more time talking to Andres and his family but his holiday ended the day we left for Colima.

Stan and MJ needed to make a run to Sam's Club so we joined them for a day trip to Colima. They added some culture to the mix and our first stop was a museum at the University of Fine Arts. The museum had displays of popular hand crafts like festival masks and costumes, baskets, pottery, textiles, leather goods, toys, and art, all from the various states in Mexico. Culture makes us hungry and it's not a good idea to shop on an empty stomach. We had lunch at La Puerta Negra (a block from Walmart) where the carnitas ("menos grasa") was perfecto and the staff went out of their way to help us understand what we were ordering. Then it was on to Sam's where John and I did not buy the very poor quality "Sportsman's Choice" house brand of cat litter. With five housecats Stan & MJ had no other option, but John and I are holding out hope that Costco in Guadalajara will carry a better brand. Home Depot was next on the to do list and then we made one last stop at a Kiosko (like an AM/PM mini-mart) to buy frappuccinos for the road. An hour and a half later we were back in Manzanillo.

On Friday we herded a group of five other boats to La K'Melia, a botanero one block from the Las Hadas turn off on the highway in Salahua. Stan & MJ joined us from Santiago for cubetas (buckets of iced beer), botanas (a variety of mostly fried snacks), and a two hour set of loud music and singing from the very entertaining (muy dramatico) house band. The first timers seemed to enjoy themselves and it's one of those things that's fun to do once a season.

John and I hope to make an overnight trip to Guadalajara with Stan and MJ next week. Our primary goal is a visit to Costco for cat litter, but MJ will make sure we see as many cultural and fun sights as possible too!

Linda

Las Hadas, Manzanillo

2011-12-31T07:12:00.000-08:00

We're living the high life at the formerly isolated resort made (in)famous by Bo Derek's debut in the 1979 movie, "10." It's now surrounded by condos, luxury homes, and more hotels but it's still very beautiful, even if it's not as posh as I imagined it. We joined friends for dinner at an Italian restaurant overlooking the Las Hadas marina and I felt overdressed in a very simple frock and sandals. Maybe the hotel guests are ordering room service and the restaurant was filled with people who had driven in from other, more casual, resorts.

The Tuesday after Christmas we pried ourselves out of the Barra lagoon mud to motorsail to the Manzanillo bay area. Our first stop was a small bay called El Carazol just inside the northern point where you turn in to enter the larger bay. Although it's not very well protected from the ocean swell this has always been a favorite spot of ours. There is nothing onshore making it secluded and quiet - no crashing surf (or at least not the rumbles of thunder we could hear outside the Barra lagoon), no barking dogs, no roosters crowing, and no yells from panga fishermen netting bait fish at dawn. There are one or two pangas which quietly set nets on the reef at sunset and pull them in at first light. And there are snorkeling pangas and day trippers in small boats who come in to snorkel the same reef which is being fished overnight. But it's mostly peaceful and we had a nice, if greenish, snorkel ourselves one afternoon.

On Thursday we motored a few miles across the bay for our first ever visit to Las Hadas. We've been put off by the exorbitant dinghy dock fees in the past, but we decided to pay the price for the convenience of staying dry and having easier access for provisioning. Currently the daily fee is 200 pesos (something less than $20) or 800 pesos for a week. This includes access to the hotel pools, beach, gym, and discounts for several of the restaurants and bars. The best part is that you tell the dock master the number of people you want on the "pool pass" which she issues to you. So we said we wanted ours to be good for a total of six people and now we can invite our local friends to visit us here. We're not normally pool rats but we'll take advantage of swimming in clear water, lounging on chaises with nice big hotel towels, and ordering drinks from the pool bar now and then.

We're looking forward to having a good view of fireworks around the bay from the anchorage tonight. It'll be a miserable night for Ziggy but I'm sure he'll find a deep dark place in which to hide until it's over. It will probably be well past midnight until the music and fire crackers taper off so we plan on having a quiet New Year's day!

Linda

{GMST}19|06.110|N|104|20.708|W|Las Hadas|Las Hadas{GEND}

Barra de Navidad

2011-12-24T06:55:00.000-08:00

The number of anchored boats here in the Barra lagoon has doubled from the dozen that were here when we arrived two weeks ago. Over the past few days they've been scooting in the narrow channel and picking their way carefully through shallow water (literally 8-12' - or less, if a boat strays out of bounds) to attend the annual Christmas cruiser's potluck dinner at the Sands Hotel. For a per person cost of 50 pesos we will have deep-fried turkeys served up in a tropical outdoor seating area accompanied by delicious treats pulled from the depths of hard to reach lockers, or searched for high and low in Mexican stores. Yes, you can find canned pumpkin, yams, and cranberry sauce - if you look hard enough.

With Ziggy and Nakia once again under the watchful eyes of Barb and Gary on S/V Hoorah, we took an hour bus ride to spend a long weekend in Bahia Santiago for a Posada party at SolCasa. It was a sleep deprived "lost" weekend full of good things like homemade lasagna, my first "Cubano" torta (a grilled sandwich chock full of just about everything - including hot dogs - which threatened to fall apart in my hands), and reunions with the wonderful people we met at the 4-day PATA spay/neuter clinic last March. The Posada is an annual Christmas party and get-together for all the volunteers who work tirelessly to provide free spay/neuter clinics for dogs and cats throughout neighborhoods in the greater Manzanillo area (http://www.patamanzanillo.com - a donation would make a great gift for that animal lover in your life!). Stan and MJ provide the venue and drinks and everyone else brings food for about 35 people. An interesting cultural divide is when the American and Canadian ex-pats arrive at 7 PM bearing desserts and appetizers, and the Mexican locals arrive at 9:30 with the main courses. Then all of the former have left by midnight and the last of the latter have to be told, "It's 4:30 AM; party's over!" before they'll call it a night.

Oh, and pinatas (sorry, I can't type the cedilla that should go under that "n"). One of the locals donated five pinatas and John and I offered to fill them as our contribution to the party. MJ and I grabbed our backpacks and walked to the nearest dulceria (candy and party supply shop). Assuming there would be few if any kids at the party, I figured that the pinatas were mostly just for show and a little adult hilarity, and that there would be tons of candy left over that we would be forced to polish off. So I chose mostly fruit and caramel flavored hard candies, deliberately avoiding all of the "enchilada" (spicy) flavored ones. John and I inadvertently tried some of the those our first year in Mexico (think mango enchilada) and have never acquired a taste for them. MJ tried to tell me that the locals would sweep up all the candy and would really prefer the enchilada variety but I didn't her take her seriously (are you kidding?). John insisted that small toys should go in the pinatas so we bought a few of those as well. Well, someone should just hand the locals the money and let them choose the candy because those pinatas were all for them and we heard later that no one ever puts toys or so many fruit candies in them! They were doing full body sprawls on the floor to get as much candy as they could sweep up (for their nieces and nephews...). It was all in fun and everyone was grateful to Stan and MJ for holding the party under the thatched palapa roof of the beautiful new addition to SolCasa.

Other than our brief road trip we've been enjoying the peace and tranquility of life in the lagoon. Sunrises here are some of my favorite in all of Mexico because they are filled with birds! Huge flocks of white Great Egrets fly out of their nighttime roosts somewhere in among the western mangroves, and then over the lagoon - and the anchored boats - to perch in the northern mangroves, warming up in the rising sun before feeding on the muddy flats surrounding the lagoon at low tide. They are joined by smaller flocks of Snowy Egrets, both White and White-Faced Ibis (the former all white with black wing tips and the latter a solid dark brownish color), and the usual Great Blue Heron, Cormorant, Tern, Magnificent Frigatebird, Pelican, and (later in the day) Black Vulture. There are Black Skimmers, Osprey, a few American Oystercatchers, and we even had a Kingfisher land on our wind indicator. There are Roseate Spoonbills whose bright color I can just make out through the binoculars on the far reaches of the lagoon. The only thing we haven't seen yet this year is the Mexican Eagle which was usually also looking for fish on the sand flats of the canals. Unfortunately Ziggy has managed to catch two swallows which made the mistake of landing on Nakia. I've put red Christmas garland on the bow pulpit and forward lifelines in an attempt to discourage them from their favorite roosting area (as well as to help Nakia look festive over the holidays!).

The small beach resort town of Barra is full of souvenir shops and restaurants, as well as Canadian and U.S. license plates. It and the larger neighboring town of Melaque are favorites of the snowbirds, and many beautiful second homes abound here. There was some damage to ocean view restaurants on the narrow bay-front peninsula from hurricane Jova, but we're told that much of it was from large ocean swells rolling in and washing away the spit before then. We appreciate conveniences here such as water delivery by panga from Maria's tienda, and the Taxi Aquatico panga service which, for 25 pesos per person round trip, saves us from having to use our dinghy when the NW winds blast through the lagoon in the afternoons. Yesterday was our first big blow since we arrived (a high of 20 knots was recorded by a boat in the very protected marina, so we imagine it was even higher out here in the lagoon) and by some miracle none of the newly arrived boats dragged anchor. Going aground and/or dragging anchor are time honored traditions of the Barra lagoon although, knock on wood, Nakia has yet to experience either.

We wish everyone Feliz Navidad and Prospero Nuevo Ano, and thank those of you who have emailed us holiday updates of your own!

Linda (and John and Ziggy too)

{GMST}19|11.514|N|104|40.468|W|Barra de Navidad|Barra de Navidad{GEND}

Punta Perula, Bahia Chamela

2011-12-09T10:22:00.001-08:00

Along with Punta Mita, Punta Perula is now one of our favorite anchorages. It too is a small beach resort (even smaller than Mita) at the end of a road far from the main highway. There are a few hotels including the Playa Dorada at the eastern end of the beach. Anchored out in front of the hotel their internet reaches Nakia for a very reasonable 50 pesos/day or 75 pesos/week. Normally we would be tucked into the western edge of the beach for protection form the swell but conditions were calm enough to stay the night here last night.

We actually arrived at Isla Passavera on Sunday after an overnight sail from Mita, and we came the two miles to Perula on Monday to do some shopping. We looked like rookies when we blew a surf landing and ended up with wet butts and a dinghy full of saltwater. It was simply impatience and bad timing, but we were experienced enough to have all our belongings in a dry bag. We drained the dinghy and walked into town to see what was new since our last visit. We noticed a few houses, RV parks, and the Playa Dorada which we didn't remember from the '07/'08 season. There's a tsunami warning siren in the town square. Our favorite tiendas were open but a number of shops had their doors closed. There's a nice new cafe and dive shop on the corner of what we always referred to as the "nursing home." A Frenchman and his Mexican wife are running the business, both speak excellent English, and they offer Wi-Fi at the cafe.

M/V Lazy Days told us about road access to town from a protected cove with a small sand beach if we wanted to avoid doing another surf landing. We had made it off the beach just fine with our shopping and John had even done a solo round trip without incident on Wednesday. But yesterday we decided to check out the road for hiking opportunities. The cove is a bit rocky but we found a narrow clear approach into the beach and pulled the dinghy high up off the sand. We set off past a ramshackle abandoned house to a single track, dirt lane leading to a large warehouse type structure from which came sounds of sawing, hammering, and a loud radio. We walked away from the warehouse towards town and I finally got a closer look at the RV palapa visible from the anchorage. I've admired this for years as it's a pretty little clearing halfway up the hillside with a nice view of the beach. On it sits a full sized RV under a thatched "car port" surrounded by close-cropped green grass, shrubs and flowers, and a barbed-wire fence. We've never seen lights on at night or people there, but it's obviously well tended.

From there we followed a fork in the road that ended up taking us all the way out to the open palapa visible by boat as you round the point to enter the bay from the north. This was very intriguing because the workmanship was lovely with rounded edges and river rock detailing on the concrete foundation, and a built-in concrete double bed under the round thatched roof. It's completely open-air and the "yard" surrounding it has been cleared. There's nice rock wall along one side of the "driveway" with newly planted bougainvillea and (already dying) trees. It has gorgeous views of the ocean with beach access to a lovely cove from the rough road leading to the point. The major drawbacks are the distance from a paved road, no water, no electricity, no sewage, etc. - but it is breathtaking!

We were thrilled to be able to walk the entire length of this road without the usual "Propiedad Privada" or "Prohibido" signs preventing us from going farther. Things are still very green with flowers and butterflies to entertain us along the way. We never found the cows that left their pies for us to step around, but we did catch a glimpse of two coatimundis scurrying off into the dense underbrush. Their tracks were everywhere on the dusty road, but even so we were surprised to have actually seen any.

One of the crews we met on the Blast arrived late Wednesday and left before we got back from our hike, but we should see them again in Barra. Mazatlan shrimpers have been anchoring for the day and leaving before sunset. A small Navy boat appears to be taking a break here. John suggested I bake a cake for them so we took that over yesterday morning and thanked them for their service. We were very aware of the fact that we were two foreigners coming alongside a military vessel, unannounced, in a small boat, bearing foil wrapped objects as we approached. Never would have happened in the U.S.

Except for the green ocean water full of organic stringy stuff (not conducive to swimming) we are loving Mexico again!

Linda

{GMST}19|35.152|N|105|07.608|W|Punta Perula|Bahia Chamela{GEND}

Banderas Bay Blast (11/30-12/2, 2011)

2011-12-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

We were starting to have thoughts about lunch last Wednesday when we noticed a 65' catamaran moving through the anchorage at Punta de Mita. As long time fans of the San Francisco sailing rag, Latitude 38, we immediately recognized it as "Profligate" belonging to Richard Spindler, the magazine's founder and Grand Poobah. Richard drove the big cat up next to Nakia and asked us if we were interested in sailing with them to La Cruz for the first of three days of the Banderas Bay Blast. (The Blast is a charity event benefiting local area children who might not otherwise be able to attend school.) We said "Sure!" and scrambled to get ourselves ready while he waited for his partner, Donna, and the rest of the paying guests to be delivered by panga. Fifteen minutes later we got in our dinghy which was trailing behind Nakia. Richard backed the now enormous looking cat (with something like a 25' beam) towards us until we could hop onto the steps of one of the hulls. And so began three days of sailing on Banderas Bay.

Being so spontaneous, the first day held the most excitement for us. We met the rest of the volunteer crew for that day, most of whom turned out to be non-sailors out for an adventure. We also had our first introduction to the boat and how to help sail it. Richard was in charge of the helm and called out directions for whatever sail trim was needed, even as he shot photos of other boats for the magazine. Donna patiently showed us where things were and what to do for each maneuver. As the more experienced crew for that particular day we stayed on our toes for the downwind sail to La Cruz marina. John mostly raised sails and trimmed spinnaker, while I assisted with the main sheet and traveler, and generally went to wherever I was needed.

Richard had reminded us to bring bus fare for the trip back to Mita after the finish. We also had in the back of our minds the question of how we would get from shore to Nakia. I told John that's what made it an adventure and he reminded me that an adventure is nothing but poor planning. We knew that the last resort was a swim out to Nakia but we hoped for a ride from a fishing panga going out for the night. It was after dark by the time we arrived at the fishermen's harbor where we found a panga off-loading charter guests. The driver agreed to take us out to our boat. This is where we made the classic mistake of not negotiating a price before stepping into the vehicle. And maybe we shouldn't even have asked at all, but just jumped off onto Nakia and waved our thanks, because the guy wanted 200 pesos (about 15 USD). Considering Nakia was anchored right outside the harbor entrance this was outrageous. We gave him 100 and told him that was all we had as we stepped off the panga. He then moved a couple of boat lengths forward of Nakia, cut his engines, and proceeded to clean the day's catch. Even 100 pesos seemed steep for a trip he would have made without us aboard!

After we had made the recommended donation to the charity event on our first day, we were free to join the boat for the next two days of racing. Those days were a blur of new names and faces amid light air sailing tactics. We never got to see Profligate's full potential as our speed remained well below 10 knots. But John loves sailing on boats bigger and faster than Nakia and, even though the "racing" was all in fun, he enjoys the challenge and tactics of out-maneuvering another boat. On the legs from La Cruz back to Punta Mita and then Mita to Nuevo Vallarta we exchanged email addresses with new friends, some of whom we might be seeing again in anchorages farther south.

We'd like to thank Richard for inviting us aboard and especially Donna for making us feel so useful. I commented that it must get tiresome to have to go over everything with each new batch of crew, but she graciously replied that we had been lots of help and had made her job easier. It was great fun and we appreciated the opportunity to sail with them.

For pictures and more detailed reports about the Blast on 'Lectronic Latitude, start at this link and work forwards or backwards by date from there:

http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2011-12-02

Linda

Day Sail out of Punta Mita

2011-12-01T05:45:00.001-08:00

Tuesday morning we prepared the boat for an overnight trip south to Chamela. When the breeze came up at 1 PM we scrambled to get underway and were soon sailing along on a gentle swell and a barely riffled ocean surface. It was perfect whale watching weather and we sighted five unique animals, two of which made repeated and relatively close-up appearances. I also particularly enjoy slow sailing on flat water because I can see very small things like jelly fish in the 2-3 feet of the water's surface. Yesterday's jellies were 4-inch strings of small beads which we call "string of pearls" even though we don't know for sure if they are the stinging variety.

The breeze felt a little cool standing in the shade of the main sail. We've had a variety of weather conditions over the past few days (or at least, what we call "weather" in Mexico where there is no weather to speak of during the winter!). One night we had a heavy dew fall and I was able to do a poor man's boat wash, wiping the boat down with a rag and wringing out dirt and saltwater with the fresh water provided by Nature. The next day was so cloudy and windy that I got cold sitting in the cockpit listening to John play his ukulele at sunset. The day after that was clear and sunny with no breeze at all, and noticeably warmer water when we jumped in for our late afternoon "swim" (aka bath). Tuesday's hourly recorded water temps in the log out on the bay ranged from 78.4 to 80.1 degrees.

As the wind slowly died John made popcorn for a late afternoon snack. By the time we finished eating Nakia was barely making 2.5 knots and there was no wind in sight. John got on the phone to Hoorah and learned that they had motored the entire way to Chamela the night before. Then he called Stan for a forecast, who confirmed windless conditions for that stretch of coastline for the next few days. We fired up the engine and, deciding that 2.5 hours of motoring back to Mita would cost less than the 20 hours it would take to continue motoring south, we turned Nakia around to head back across the bay.

All in all we felt it had been a pleasurable outing and we had no regrets about "wasting" a day going nowhere. So when we started passing small groups of dolphins I was over the moon with excitement because the day just kept getting better and better. The first few were busy feeding and didn't stick around to bow ride for long. But they were beautiful spotted dolphins, covered in white freckles and small in size. While we were watching for more dolphins a butterfly passed us and this time I could clearly see that it was a Monarch. Every evening before sunset we watch butterflies of all colors and sizes fly through the anchorage headed to shore. But until we were actually motoring at 5 knots alongside one I hadn't been able to confirm John's feeling that the bigger ones were Monarchs. I couldn't believe that something so small (as John said, "with a 2-inch waterline") was so easily passing us.

Another dolphin was headed for our bow and we raced up to see if it would stay longer than the others had. This was a big bottlenose which was joined by two more swimming right up against Nakia's bow just below the surface. As we watched them watching us and barrel rolling in our bow wave, we were fascinated to see that two of the dolphins had remoras attached to them. The interesting thing was how the remora would appear to lose hold but was actually sliding around the dolphin's body as it rolled through the water. We were surprised that the remoras managed to keep a hold of the fast swimming dolphins. One by one our visitors eventually peeled off until the last one surfaced to take a big breath (splashing my leg a little in the process), and then disappeared with the others.

The sun was setting, we had one more good look at a big, black, glistening humpback's dorsal fin and then its tail fluke, and panga fishermen were out with flashing lights in the water. It wasn't long after dark before we were threading our way through the anchor lights of other sailboats to tuck into one of our favorite anchorages again.

Linda

{GMST}20|46.026|N|105|30.980|W|Punta Mita|Punta Mita{GEND}

Sayulita

2011-11-30T06:51:00.001-08:00

You may be asking, why did John have to take Nakia out to Punta de Mita on November 18, and why was Linda in such a hurry to take the bus out there the next morning? The answer is we had another social engagement on our calendar involving a casita in Sayulita, about 10 miles NE of Punta de Mita's northern flank. The rental house is owned by cruising friends who had invited us to be their guests if we ever wanted to take a break from Nakia. So John organized a get together with Eric and Sherrell (S/V Sarana), who would drive their Toyota Dolphin camper down from Mazatlan, and Stan and MJ (SolCasa), who would drive up from Santiago Bay and give us a ride. We were leaving Nakia anchored at Punta de Mita so that Gary and Barb (S/V Hoorah) could feed Ziggy for us while we were away. They have two cats of their own and have watched Z. for us before.

After I got home Saturday morning I repacked my things for a four night get away, and Hoorah came over for a refresher briefing on the care and feeding of the beast. John ferried me and all of our vacation stuff (ukulele, computer, novel, snorkel gear, playing cards, freshly ground coffee, Tahitian rum, and Mexican snacks - salty dried peas, chickpeas, and fava beans) to shore where I settled in at El Coral restaurant. He returned to Nakia to raise the dinghy out of the water, and called Hoorah to hitch a ride to shore with them. We bought lunch for our cat sitters and were soon joined by Stan and MJ, who were happy to take a lunch break themselves before hitting the road again.

Yay, road trip! Well, for John and me it was only a 15 minute drive to a town we had sailed past exactly one week earlier. Sayulita is known as an artsy surf town full of tourists and it lived up to that reputation and then some. It may have been even busier that usual because we had inadvertently scheduled our stay over a holiday weekend celebrating the 1910 Dia de Revolucion. There was a local parade Sunday morning with kids shouting "Viva Zapata," "Viva Pancho Villa," "Viva La Revolucion," and "Viva Mexico!" They even staged mock battles complete with cannon fire, gun shots, and wounded revolutionaries being carried off by stretcher bearers.

We ate and drank ourselves silly with the following high (and low) lights. Buddha Mar, where we had a long wait for an average meal. Apparently they had recently changed the menu/kitchen from sushi to basic Mexican, and we were the only ones seated in the large dining area. As we waited patiently for our food to arrive, the very young, very blonde waitress periodically checked to make sure we were doing okay, punctuating every sentence she uttered with, "Awesome!" We were never offered chips and salsa or anything to make up for the delay. Choco Banana was always packed for breakfast but our food arrived lukewarm, was nothing special, and we had to ask for tortillas to replace the non-descript white bread which was served with the meal. Rollie's on the other hand served up a substantial and piping hot breakfast, and Rollie himself threw in a free pancake plate to share for "dessert." Everyone else thought Rollie's gringo shtick was a little over the top, but I thought the thin custardy pancakes were well worth a return visit. Panino's provided us with the most beautiful, heavy loaves of fresh bread I've seen anywhere in Latin America, and they didn't last long when we devoured them with Sherrell's homemade humus. MJ made a green salad and cooked up a pot of spaghetti for a dinner at home, which turned into two when we ate leftovers on our last night. We ate gorditas in the street at Yeikame where they served up a simple meal with unusual twists. The gorditas were made with blue corn meal and each sealed maize pocket held a choice of unique ingredients. I can't remember the extensive list but there were lots of vegetarian options like spinach and mushrooms along with the more common beans and cheese, potatoes, and meats. This was also the only place we ate where we actually had to heed the waitress's warning about the picante salsas. Finally, we were in Mexico!

Besides eating, our activities included walks through town and lots of card playing. We dedicated one day to the traditional beach resort pastime of lounging in chairs under umbrellas provided by the beach restaurant we patronized. We chose Pablo's El Capitan where all we had to do was eat and drink to pay for the luxury of digging our toes into the sand and repeating "No, gracias" to every beach vendor that walked by. The next day we worked off all the beach beers and ceviche with a nice long hike out the north end of town and through the woods paralleling the beach. We saw enormous spiders and a weird quad-winged dragonfly that flew like a helicopter. We were lucky that each translucent wing tip was dotted with yellow, or we probably wouldn't have been able to see it. As it hovered from spider web to spider web we weren't sure if it was plucking out spiders or bugs caught in the webs for its snacks. Our quiet walk was also rewarded with bird sightings! John and I are rarely able to spot any birds at all when we're out walking, but this time we saw orioles, a group of four black-throated magpie jays (big birds with crested heads and long, long tails), and something resembling a Trogon. Eric even managed to get a good zoom lens shot of the latter sitting in a tree. We were exulting over our good fortune as we returned to the main road. Our excitement turned to dismay as we silently passed a tour guide about to lead a gringo family on four ATV quads over the same track we had just exited. But as Stan gently pointed out to me, they were there to get a noisy, bumpy thrill ride, not to look at bugs and birds.

This is already way too long, but I can't close without relating the highlight of our mini-vacation which was - a baby iguana in our toilet! Yes, Sunday morning in the casita John lifted the toilet seat and lid up together and began shouting that we had to come see for ourselves or we would never believe him. We took pictures and then someone reached in to try and grab him. To our complete surprise the iguana turned tail and shot back into the bowels of the toilet. OMG! Needless to say for the next 24 hours John and I very gingerly lifted the lid up and made a point of turning on the bathroom light at night. On Monday we told the housekeeper about our uninvited guest and showed her our pictures so she wouldn't think we were pulling her leg. While we were out, her solution was to drape a hand towel into the bowl and over the rim to give the iguana a surface on which to climb out. Then she cornered it in the shower and caught it in a towel to release it with its bigger brothers in the iguana tree outside the house. Of course she had her own pictures to show us that it came out alive and well!

Finally I'll close with a big thank you to Susan and Elba for their gift to us of a stay in their lovely Sayulita casita. Not only was it a nice break from life aboard Nakia, but it was a great place for a reunion of good friends from afar!

Linda

Mills Birthday Week

2011-11-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

What has Nakia been up to, you may be asking? Well, it's been a busy November, but it's time to get the blog caught up.

On November 12 we left Chacala for the mostly motoring, 44 nautical mile, nine hour trip to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in Banderas Bay (near Puerto Vallarta). At the same time, Mills College friends, Amy and Carole, were winging their way from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta for a week's vacation at the Melia resort in Marina Vallarta. It was a special trip to celebrate Carole's 49th birthday and Amy's 50th this month.

Almost a year ago they sent me a message telling me about their plans and asking us if we could be there to help celebrate their milestone birthdays. We were in Hawaii and had already been thinking long and hard about returning to Mexico to visit Stan and MJ and to see if we still felt as strongly about Mexico as we did when we left there in 2008 (we loved it). Amy and her daughter flew to Mazatlan to surprise me for my 50th birthday in 2007 (wow, was it really that long ago?!), so this news clinched our decision to sail to Mexico from Hawaii.

34 days of sailing across the Pacific and almost nine months later Nakia was in Puerto Vallarta. And the next day Wendy arrived from SF to make it even more of an event. I hadn't seen Carole or Wendy since before John and I left California in 2004, and we all had to keep pinching ourselves to believe that we had managed to regroup in PV of all places.

In between the important activities of shopping, eating, and relaxing in the warm air, we spent the next week catching up on news of each other's families, work, and life aboard Nakia. We also shared some really memorable events, the first of which was Carole's birthday dinner at La Palapa on the 13th. What a beautiful setting in which to enjoy a gourmet meal.

On Monday we were off to Punta de Mita where Jose, aka "Picudo," took us out to Las Marietas in his panga for snorkeling and a view of the blue-footed boobies nesting on the islands (we even saw a couple of fluffy white babies). After our morning boat trip we were hungry for the pescado especial at El Dorado beach restaurant at Punta de Mita. Well, only I ordered that heart attack, but it was muy delicioso. After lunch Amy decided to go for one last little dip. As she was picking her way through the rocky shallow water she stepped on a stingray which leaped clear out of the water. Wendy was the only one of us on shore to witness the ray jumping. The rest of us were relieved to hear squeals of shock and not pain, as Amy had dodged a huge bullet and not been stung. John can attest to the fact that a ray sting is incredibly painful and we're glad Amy was spared that vacation souvenir.

We then took a local bus back to La Cruz where John made two dinghy trips to load everyone on board Nakia for a sail to Marina Vallarta. Amy had warned us that she can get deathly seasick (but not on power boats), and I was almost sick worrying about her on slow poke Nakia! But everyone enjoyed the first couple of hours of fast (for us) sailing. When the late afternoon breeze began to die, and Amy was looking a little pensive, John fired up the motor to smooth out the motion and she bounced right back. We entered the marina just after sunset and tied up in our reserved slip for the next four nights.

The next morning was filled with massages and pool lounging for the vacationers while I got some much needed boat chores done. Later we all got together (minus John) for some girl shopping on the newly renovated Malecon which is now a beautiful pedestrian mall. On Wednesday they took a Los Arcos boat tour while John and I got to work on a boat project. He spent a few hours at the top of the mast and I fetched tools and pulled and released lines as needed.

Wendy had an afternoon return flight home on Thursday, and we all went shopping on Isla Cuale. John gave advice for price negotiating and helped fend off over eager vendors. Carole and Wendy returned to the condo for lunch before her flight, but Amy stayed with us to find an authentic Mexican restaurant. On the advice of a friendly dulceria (sweets) shop keeper, John found a comida corrida right in front of the Our Lady of Guadalupe church. This is a little place with a set lunch menu from which you choose a main course. It's pretty basic, but is what the locals eat. Amy even had the authentic experience of a waiter spilling soup on her leg as he tried to impress her with how many bowls and plates he could carry!

Friday was our last day together and we three remaining girls had a reservation with Vallarta Adventures for their "Outdoor Adventure." But first we had to say goodbye to John and Ziggy as he was moving Nakia from Marina Vallarta out to Punta de Mita that morning. I had my overnight things and would be spending that night in luxury at the Melia.

We joined our afternoon tour at La Maritima, the cruise ship pier. We boarded a huge zodiac boat with about two dozen passengers for the fast smooth ride across the bay to Boca de Tomatlan. Before we boarded the huge Mercedes Benz expedition trucks for the climb into the jungle, we were surprised to see a 30ish foot sailboat with its port side buried in the sand on the beach. It didn't look like it had been there long and we wondered if it could be salvaged. Always a sobering sight, especially for anyone who's boat is their home.

The truck ride was bumpy but we were never airborne off our seats so it wasn't that bad. When we arrived at the base camp we were fitted out with the zip line gear and led to mules for a 20 minute ride up a steep dirt road into the jungle. At the top of this road we met our guides and were given a briefing for how to ride the zip lines. After hearing all about how not to do it, I was getting pretty nervous. Carole and Amy had both done zip lines before, but not like these where you had the option of braking with one heavily gloved hand. The problem was in knowing how much to brake. Too much and you would stop yourself midway across. Too little and you would go flying into the landing platform. (As it turned out you never really needed to brake at all because the guide on the platform controlled a rope to help stop you.)

This was truly an adventure and we three had a phenomenal time on each and every leg of the course. There were long flying rides over small canyons, a vertical rappel alongside a waterfall, a full dunking drop into a fresh water pool, a free fall vertical rappel, and a couple of fun "bridges" where we could mug for the professional photographer. Back at base camp we bought the photo CDs and ate and drank before loading up into the trucks for the descent. But wait - there was one last surprise stop at a tequila distillery where we learned how to drink small shots of silver, gold, anejo, kahlua, and almond tequila (yes, one of each!). Carole liked it so much that she bought three bottles as souvenirs.

It was late when we finally returned to the Melia for showers and a one-week-early 50th birthday dinner for Amy. I hadn't brought suitable attire for the reservations only restaurant so the girls dressed me like a doll in a fuchsia dress with matching sandals of Carole's and a pretty sweater of Amy's for our last evening together.

The next morning we said goodbye before breakfast as I had to take a bus to return to Nakia early. It was the end of a memorable week spent with my best friends from college, and one I will always treasure. I'm so happy we were able to be in the right place at the right time - not always an easy feat for a cruising sailboat!

{GMST}20|39.100|N|105|15.000|W|Mills Birthday Week|Entrance to Puerto Vallarta Harbor{GEND}

San Blas to Chacala

2011-11-11T07:11:00.001-08:00

We ran out of our good streak of sailing wind yesterday and mostly motored the 24 nautical miles to Chacala. Motor trips are usually pretty tedious but this time we were rewarded with our first sea turtle and whale sightings of the season. One lazy sea turtle didn't even move until the auto pilot had taken us right alongside him and he didn't scoot away until we had him amidships. Vertical whale spouts were clearly visible along the coastline and we patiently watched one slowly coming closer to the boat. Finally we had two good looks at the top of its back as it came up for a few breaths about a quarter of a mile away from us. Spouts are a common sight and don't always result in an animal sighting, so they're interesting but often disappointing as they disappear on the horizon. But it's still always a thrill to get a clear look at any part of these magnificent creatures as they make their way through the ocean around us.

We were also passed by a few fishing boats, most of which were out of Mazatlan. One came up so close behind us that I got the camera out as a gentle warning that I was recording the encounter. To my surprise as they passed us I could see that they were taking our picture and flashing the peace sign and waving for my camera. I always feel guilty for letting tales of fishing boats ramming sailboats outweigh the far more prevalent accounts of aid and brotherhood among boats of all nations. It never occurred to me that they would find us picturesque enough to divert to, especially when we weren't even properly sailing!

Five hours after leaving San Blas we tucked into the north corner of the beach and set both a bow and a stern anchor to keep our bow pointed into the swell. [Note to 2012 Puddle Jumpers: This is a good place to practice your stern anchoring technique for your stay in Taiohae, Nuku Hiva.] Chacala is a quiet little vacation spot with brightly painted, lovely homes and a small sandy beach lined with thatched palapa restaurants. We fondly remember our previous short stay years ago when we were anchored much farther out from the protection of the northern point. Since we will not be likely to get such a perfect anchoring spot later in the season when there will be many more boats here, we have decided to stay an extra night so that we can go ashore for a visit today.

Linda

{GMST}21|09.828|N|105|13.634|W|Chacala|Mexico{GEND}

Isabela to San Blas

2011-11-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

We're anchored in the river estuary of San Blas for the first time ever. We've always avoided this stop because it's known for terrible no-see-ums, but we were low on provisions and decided to brave it anyway. We departed Isla Isabela at sunrise Tuesday and had a very gentle downwind sail all the way here. I guess I should mention that we covered 41 nautical miles in nine and a half hours. Our previous trip from Mazatlan to Isabela was 89 nm in 18 hours, which includes the hour and a half that we drifted waiting for the sun to rise.

We enjoyed our stay at Isabela and after a morning nap we took advantage of some of the clearest water in Mexico to go for a snorkel. We swam over to the area in between two striking rock formations which jut out of the water and found good numbers of all the usual suspects. The most notable aspect of the snorkel was how much bigger than normal the fish were. Even the Moorish Idols were good-sized.

Above water the bird life was fantastic. The island was covered in a dense thicket of some kind of sturdy leafy bush on which birds perched. Blue-footed boobies took cover in the shade of the thicket at the top of the beach. But most of the birds soared overhead, probably keeping cool in the thermals since they didn't appear to be doing any fishing. A couple of male frigates had inflated their red pouches and I saw a juvenile practice plucking a nesting stick from the water's surface. But I think we were too early for the actual nesting season.

Our stay was made more comfortable by the deployment of our rocker stopper and by the knowledge that our anchor was firmly buried in a sandy part of the bottom. It's a forbidding looking anchorage with waves breaking on rocks to either side and the alternative anchorage, while calmer, has an even rockier bottom which has been known to "swallow" anchors. Two boats arrived later in the afternoon but after taking a look at both anchorages they elected to continue on their separate ways, one to Mazatlan and one to San Blas. We're happy that we decided to give it a try since it turned out to be much nicer than its initial imposing impression.

Unfortunately I don't think we can say the same about San Blas. Thanks to coordinates from another boat we had a safe crossing of the bar entrance and are anchored in a shallow river across from the marina. But the mangroves are host to no-see-ums which bite day and night whether you are imprisoned below in your heavily screened boat, or sitting in the town square. Panga fishermen roar up and down the river all day and all night, so it isn't what you could call peaceful. We will spend another night here to make our exit on a high tide tomorrow morning, bound for Chacala, about 20 miles away.

John has been fishing on our passages but has only come up with black skipjack in the very warm waters (around 85 degrees). He often has them up to the boat and off the hook before Ziggy has a chance to get out to the cockpit to see what's going on. Poor Z is then left sniffing the air, wondering what happened to his dinner.

Linda

{GMST}21|32.566|N|105|17.721|W|San Blas|San Blas{GEND}

Isla Isabela

2011-11-07T05:58:00.000-08:00

We departed Stone Island in Mazatlan at 12:45 PM on Sunday and we had such a good sail that we had to heave to at 0400 this morning to wait for it to get light enough to approach the island and anchor. It's a bit rolly, but we're anchored in a patch of sand on the SE side of the island. The beach landing looks steep and rough so we'll probably just rest up on the boat and hope we don't take too many guano hits during our stay. Did I forget to mention that the island is a bird rookery and the skies are black with frigates and booby birds? Ziggy is going to have an interesting time!

Linda

{GMST}21|50.876|N|105|52.756|W|Isla Isabela|Isla Isabela{GEND}

Stone Island, Mazatlan

2011-11-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

Well, let's see if I remember how to do this! We have actually departed Marina Mazatlan and are on the hook at the little anchorage just outside the Port of Mazatlan. We decided to come here rather than anchor in the Old Harbor, thinking that it might be quieter. But we don't have Wi-Fi here, so please send any email to our Sailmail address and not our gmail or yahoo accounts.

The two hour motor trip this morning was rolly (from beam to beam) so poor Ziggy threw up his breakfast after we passed Deer Island. Fortunately I saw the signs of imminent upchuck, and I managed to catch most of it in a rag in my hand. He drank some water after we dropped anchor and is now well into his afternoon nap. I can't wait to see his reaction when he wakes up later today and realizes we're not tied up to the dock anymore.

Unfortunately John is wishing we'd stayed in the marina because he has taken a turn for the worse with his head cold, and it's now migrated to his chest. In the slip he'd have plenty of electricity to watch movies and TV, not to mention plenty of fresh water for showers, and an air conditioned cruiser's lounge for surfing the web. There's a south wind blowing today and we are back to hot and humid temperatures, but we're pointed into the breeze and the water temperature is down to 83 degrees.

Life is good hanging on the hook for free!

Linda

paint done!

2011-10-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple long weeks of work but the teak is finally covered with four coats of varnish, one coat of paint primer and three coats of paint top coat. I'll be happy not to have to spend the next couple days on my knees (though I have at least one more day of knee killer to go just to remove the adhesive residue from the tape).

Projects

2011-10-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since our last post. NAKIA is still in Mazatlan, with John and Ziggy on board. Linda is still in Seattle getting colder by the day. Here is a brief video of the latest project. Don't get too excited, I'm going to paint over all this varnish.

Last nights Thunder Storm

2011-07-17T12:45:00.001-07:00

Last night a pretty violent thunderstorm came through the marina. I couldn't sleep for all the lightening so I got up to take a short video.
I've saved it to our Picasa page:

https://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/Jul172011#5630390697015866706

Fuel tank clean!

2011-06-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Looks like the crud in the fuel tank was definitely exacerbating our engine problems. After a couple days work the tank is clean and ready to be put back together and filled.

I put some pictures on Picasa:

https://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/FuelTankCleaning

Basically the job is this; 1) empty the tank 2) remove the tank cover (a piece of stainless about 1 foot by 1.5 feet) 3) drop a scrub brush with a long handle into the tank 4) wedge your body into the drawer opening situated above the tank cover hole 5) scrub 6) dump a bunch of paper towels into the tank and sop up all the crud 7) repeat 5 & 6 until clean.

Thanks to Brian, the worker from Marine Services Mazatlan! Without him I would have certainly gotten stuck in the drawer opening (I can fit, it's just getting in and out is a pretty tight squeeze).

John

First rains and more engine work

2011-06-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

The first rains have come to Mazatlan. Nothing heavy yet, but we did have a pretty strong clap of thunder the other night. Ziggy is enjoying his Catio quite a bit, he can even stay outside when it's raining because his perch on the folded up dinghy is covered by a Sunbrella awning.

The broken screw turned out not to be the problem with the engine. So now I've changed to 'shotgun' mode to fix the problem. I've replaced all the fuel lines from the tank to the engine. Re-bedded all pipe connections and rebuilt the check valve that keeps the fuel from back-flowing into the tank when a filter is opened. I also replaced both filters and cleaned the filter housings. That was all yesterday and today's engine start went pretty well. The only 'smoking gun' I could find was some gunk in the check valve that was keeping it from working. Could low fuel level in the tank, coupled with the stuck check valve allow air to be sucked into the fuel line from some questionable connection? I sure hope so! I may have to clean the fuel tank to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Tomorrow I'm moving to a different slip, hopefully the engine will start right up and I won't run out of fuel getting from one slip to the other.

John

Smoking Gun?

2011-06-19T16:04:00.001-07:00

It's been quite awhile since we've posted to the blog. Allow me to catch everyone up:

We made it to the marina in Mazatlan. Stayed our first month in the Singlar (don't say Cingular!) marina for the month of May. We tore the boat down for the summer, all sails and running rigging are removed and the dinghy is put away. I built a 'Catio' for Ziggy so he can hang out outside at night. Linda flew to Bothell, WA to stay with MJ for the summer. I started working on two main boat projects; 1) rebuilding the top of the hatch turtle and 2) rebuilding the engine.

Whoa! Rebuilding the engine!? Is that really necessary? We came to Mazatlan to answer that very question. There being a Yanmar trained mechanic available through Total Yacht Works, we figured this would be a good place to handle the work.

'Lil Thumper', our Yanmar 3QM30, has got 5100 hours and is over 30 years old. It has two problems; 1) fuel is getting into the lubricating oil and 2) it can be very hard to start. It's not far fetched that it would need at least a set of piston rings. But after spending 15 minutes bent over the running engine, Javier pronounced its compression good ("there's no blow-by, you don't need rings"). Huh. So much for the big rebuild. But what about the hard starting, Javi, not to mention the fuel-in-the-oil (FITO) problem? "We'll change the simple things first; start with the lift pump to fix the FITO and then move on from there." I should say at this time that I consider myself to be a good amateur mechanic, and have already replaced the lift pump (about two years ago when the oil problem first started). But if Javi says to replace the lift pump again, that's what we'll do! I got the spare out and he put it in.

The thing to do now was to run the engine and see if the oil level changes and see if the starting problem comes back. I waited a week before starting the first time as the starting problem seemed to get worse the longer the engine sat. After a week it started hesitantly, but well. After 3 hours the oil level hadn't changed (when fuel leaks into the oil, the level on the dip-stick raises). So maybe the FITO problem is fixed.

On the second day, the start didn't go well at all. It took maybe 20 seconds to get going, the whole time doing the ka-chunk-ka-chunk-ka-chunk thing. I resolved to bleed the fuel system at various points before starting it the next time to see if I get bubbles anywhere (a sign of air in the fuel system which would cause the ka-chunk starting).

On the third day bleeding at the injection pump showed a few bubbles. Humm, maybe the problem is there. It started and ran well, oil level steady. Fourth day, the same. A few bubbles, good start, steady oil.

My theory at this point was that there was air being drawn back into the injection pump when the engine is off. The tank is low and there's no doubt a bit of negative pressure on the fuel system cause by the diesel trying to siphon back into the tank. The question was: where's the air leak?

Today, Sunday, is the fifth day and I resolved this morning to give myself the day off. Oh but maybe I can just bleed the injection pump to see if I get bubbles. Open the engine compartment, unscrew the bleed screw, pump the lift pump, a couple tiny bubbles, tighten the bleed screw, break the head of the bleed screw off! I'm sure even the least mechanically inclined will realize that last step shouldn't be there. It seems the bleed screw may have been in the process of shearing off for some time, making it very hard to get a good seal on the injection pump. All the screwing and unscrewing finally did it in. (Javier also had to crank that screw to bleed the system after replacing the lift pump.)

As I said, it's Sunday, so there's nothing to do about it today. But tomorrow I get to ride the buses looking for 1) an appropriately sized screw and 2) a machine shop to drill a hole in it (the bleed screw has a tiny hole to let air out when it's unscrewed).

John
{GMST}23|16.120|N|106|27.35|W|Marina Mazatlan|Maz{GEND}

Singlar Marina, Mazatlan

2011-05-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

On our way to Mazatlan we spent a week in Banderas Bay. In La Cruz we took on fuel, got a propane tank refilled, had laundry done, and walked the town. The secret to anchoring out at La Cruz is to be back on your boat for lunch. The mornings are pleasant but the wind blows extra hard there all afternoon until sunset. We don't really care much for this stop, but we were happy to discover a new restaurant called La Ya Ya. It's a charming place complete with birds, a dog and cat, fast Wi-Fi, a book exchange, good chilaquiles, bottomless coffee cups, and friendly service - all for a very reasonable price, which is unusual for generally over-priced little La Cruz.

From there we motored out to Punta de Mita where we were happy to see Ralph out on his new (old) boat. We were sorry to hear that he and Nikki have split up, but she is still running Mita'z Pizza and bakery. Other than more new condos, expensive homes, and an Oxxo (like a 7-11) not much has changed in the little town itself. The beach in front of the old ramada style restaurants appears to be shrinking rapidly and there's not much room to park a dinghy there anymore.

We had a long and boring overnight motor trip to Mazatlan. We arrived mid-afternoon and pulled into the Stone Island anchorage to catch up on sleep. On May 5 we motored to the marina basin and chose Singlar for its cheaper short term rates. We'll stay here until June 1 when we move to Marina Mazatlan for their five-month summer rate of $.24/foot, which we believe is the best rate to be found in Mexico.

Our primary focus since arriving in Mazatlan has been to clean and stow everything on the boat's exterior in preparation for hurricane season. The first thing we did was wash the Manzanillo grime off of everything - decks, teak, sail covers, running rigging, and halyards. Every piece of rope has gotten a soapy bucket wash and several rinses. All three sails were thoroughly hosed down, dried, folded, and stowed below. The dinghy has been broken down, scrubbed, folded up, and stowed with the floor boards in its bag on the foredeck. To make room for sails and lines we rearranged the quarter berth storage (above and below), and moved some things into the shower. The last of the halyards are drying on the lifelines today, but everything else has been stripped off and put away, even the life raft.

While we've been working harder than we're used to, we've also managed to have enough free time for catching up with our friends, Eric and Sherrell, on Sarana. We've had impromptu happy hours on the dock, and we went out for Thai food to celebrate Eric's birthday. We all took a bus to Old Town one evening for the last day of Art Walk 2011. This annual event is always a lot of fun as it gives you an opportunity to see not only galleries, but also artist's studios, homes, and interesting spaces not normally open to the public. So in addition to looking at art, we "toured" a model penthouse condo with rooftop garden; a small living room with a big screen TV showing (of all things) U.S. football; a gallery in a beautiful and completely remodeled minimalist space which may also double as a home; we walked in on one artist finishing an ice cream cone in his studio/home, spoke with an artist about her interesting monotype process in her older, lovely studio; talked to a wildlife photographer with amazing shots of panthers and jaguars in local jungle areas, and watched an exhibition of tango dancing in a gift shop gallery; and we enjoyed meeting an American woman who paints and is very involved in a local rescue program for cats. Most places offered wine and a small snack but we capped off the evening in Plaza Machado for a last drink and bite to eat before catching a bus back to the marina.

Getting Ziggy used to marina life takes up a lot of our time. The main reason John wanted me to take Ziggy to Seattle with me was to get him out of John's hair while he's trying to work on the boat. But we've decided to forego the expense of Z's ticket and keep him on the boat this summer. And that's the worst part - he refuses to stay on our boat and insists on roaming as far and wide as we'll let him. Currently the routine is roughly this: 0400-0530 Z jumps on our bed and pesters us to let him out. We throw him off the bed. Repeat half a dozen times. 0530-0900 One of us finally gives up, feeds Z, puts him in his harness, and sits outside on the dock (with coffee) to make sure he doesn't wander or get on an unoccupied boat. When the other person gets up around 0700 (sunrise) we take turns keeping an eye on him. Sometimes we put him on his leash and a long tie down to give ourselves a break. 0900-1600 (plus or minus an hour) Z sleeps. 1600-1930 (sunset) He's back out on the dock either tethered on his leash, off-leash but supervised, or let loose to explore the part of the dock opposite us from the ramp to the gate. There are other cat boats at that end who don't mind an occasional visitor. At sunset he comes inside with us for the night. Since he's normally allowed full in and out privileges when we're at anchor this must be the hardest change for him to accept. John's planning to construct a "catio" on the foredeck so that Z can be outside and unsupervised for at least part of the time. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it will satisfy some of his urge to be in the great outdoors.

So far the weather has been hot and sunny during the day with an excellent dry breeze in the afternoon, and cool enough to still need a blanket at night and a sweatshirt before the sun comes up in the morning.

Linda

Hasta luego Manzanillo!

2011-04-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

It's been another enjoyable month in marina Santiago. Well, technically it's an anchorage and we moved a few times within the small bay, but we stayed so long it almost felt like living in a marina. Several times we discussed moving to the "big city" of Las Hadas anchorage but due to inertia or disinterest, we still have not stayed in the part of Manzanillo Bay made famous by Bo Derek's debut in the movie, "10". For us the only benefit to Las Hadas is having a proper dinghy landing. But we're not hang-by-the-pool kind of people and we prefer the La Boquita and Club Santiago area in spite of the surf landings. If we needed to play it really safe, we used La Boca (the mouth of a little river into a lagoon behind La Boquita) for drier takeoffs.

We spent the last month doing the usual housekeeping chores, and fetching and carrying of things like laundry, groceries, fuel, and water. John got to know the water truck guy so well that Enrique would wait for John at the La Boca dinghy landing on pre-arranged delivery days. There were more futbol games to attend, and our favorite taco vendor returned to keep the fans fed. On Sundays with no soccer games John and Stan went to (very) minor league baseball games to which they brought their own beer and snacks. A typical "play date" with Stan and MJ usually went something like this: John and I took the bus to SolCasa (what we call their house) in Santiago. Sometimes we would bring our computers to do a little surfing, or we would watch some U.S. television, and play with the cats. We'd walk into town for lunch at tasty little comida corridas (daily specials), or splurge for higher-end, delicious meals at places like Carlos and Tanilo's (for shrimp and fish) or Sam's Pizza. It was such a treat to meet genuinely warm people like Carlos (and his wife, Sussy, who owns the lavanderia we took our laundry to) and Derek, a Canadian who married a local woman and named his pizza place after their daughter, Sam. After lunch we returned to SolCasa to spend the rest of the day playing cards. The guys had fun making micheladas, a strange beer-on-ice concoction consisting of Clamato or spicy V-8 juice and whatever other interesting things came out of the spice cupboard like worcestshire sauce, hot sauce, garlic salt, etc. I'm not a beer drinker so I didn't partake although I tried it once to be polite at a birthday party at Diana's house (she's one of the PATA founders). I could drink it, but it's still not my beverage of choice!

Through Stan and MJ and their PATA connections we became acquainted with several of the local ex-pats either living here permanently or as snowbirds, and we were invited to a few of their beautiful homes for dinner. On these occasions we broke our back-before-dark rule, but were always happily surprised to find our trusty dinghy still on the beach where we parked it, even over a busy holiday weekend. One weekend I volunteered to dog-sit for a Canadian couple who drove to Guadalajara to do some shopping for their brand new house on the golf course. I rattled around in a two-story, three bedroom, gorgeous house with a pool for a few days while John stayed on the boat with Ziggy. He came over with Stan and MJ a couple of times to visit, but having the rest of the time to myself was bliss.

Stan and MJ treated us to a day of sightseeing a little ways down the coast, and we visited a turtle refuge (tortugario), salt museum, and crocodile refuge. These were places that required a car for access and we really appreciated being out and about on another road trip. The cocodrilario was especially beautiful with a mostly tree-shaded, raised (and heavily fenced) wooden "trail" circling a small lake in which we spotted a few lazy crocs.

On days we spent aboard Nakia we didn't get a whole lot accomplished due to a new wonder of technology. A cruiser told us about a web site where we found TV shows and movies to download, and now we have a growing entertainment library. It's nice to finally catch up on media not available to us (or only on poor DVD copies), and it will be especially appreciated once we're back in more isolated places like French Polynesia.

We certainly enjoyed our stay in Santiago Bay but it was finally time to pull up stakes and head to Mazatlan where we'll put Nakia in a marina for the summer. The plan is for John to stay on the boat, crossing things off of his To Do list. He's decided it will be easier for him to do the work without having Ziggy or me underfoot or complaining about the heat and humidity. So I'll be flying to Seattle with the cat to spend four months in Bothell where MJ summers; she has graciously invited me to stay with her. We'll be taking summer classes at the local college, working out at a gym, and we may even get jobs to support our more upscale U.S. lifestyle (just as long as there's no dress code)! After I return to Mazatlan John and I will get Nakia ready to head back to Manzanillo for another winter. We'll try to keep you updated with any interesting activities in the meantime.

Linda

PATA Manzanillo 5-day clinic

2011-03-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

A PATA Manzanillo 5-day free spay/neuter clinic for dogs and cats was held March 17-21 (http://www.patamanzanillo.com). This is one of two big clinics held each year (the other one is in November) and John and I were fortunate enough to be here to volunteer our help. The clinic turned out to be especially successful with a total of 298 animals over the 5-day period and a record breaking 77 animals for a one day total on Saturday. Ten volunteer veterinarians rotated through the days with some coming from as far away as Texas, Guadalajara, and Colima to round out the local group. Other volunteer labor was provided by local nationals, full time ex-pats, and snowbirds from Canada and the U.S.

John and I did a little of several things including cleaning crates and cages, helping MJ sterilize surgical instruments, and attending to animals in the Recovery area. John was especially helpful lifting the (sedated) big dogs from Surgery to Recovery or into crates as they began to come out of the anesthesia. Being a cat person I hung out with those little guys who took a long time to wake up. A few were dirty and covered in fleas but most were in better shape than the dogs. Dogs in Recovery were given a spa treatment of tick removal and matted hair trims, so that they usually looked better than when they first arrived. Recovery animals were monitored for temperature, gum color, and pulse to ensure there were no complications coming out of surgery.

The days began at 0800 (or earlier for some) while John and I usually arrived off the bus at 0900. We'd try to leave in time to get back to the boat for a swim and a bath before dark, and one day we had to leave early because of a Carnaval parade which was scheduled to close the main road. We made two exceptions to our "back before dark" rule. First for the final day of the clinic and second for the thank you dinner for volunteers the following night. We made it out through the surf just fine because we left the dinghy on a well-lit part of the beach (where no one bothered it during the day, over a holiday weekend!).

It felt strange to be on our feet and "working" long days after so much time off doing our own thing. We went home each night feeling tired but extremely satisfied. It was especially gratifying when an owner came to pick up an animal and recognized our efforts with a handshake and a "muchas gracias" accompanied by a big smile. Kudos to all the many people who made this event a success and who will continue to work to improve the lives of local cats and dogs.

Photos from the clinic may be viewed at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/PATAManzanillo5DayClinic#

Linda

Colima overnight

2011-03-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

On March 14 Stan and MJ picked us up in their van for an overnight to Colima. Ziggy stayed on Nakia under the capable supervision of Tony and Shannon, S/V Sweetie, anchored nearby. Stan drove the back roads, both to save about $10 USD in toll fees and to give us a slower, more scenic route. We enjoyed seeing the big brick ovens which are themselves used to fire bricks. We even saw a man cutting bricks out of prepared mud just off the side of the road. There were lagoons, salt ponds, and orchards galore of mangoes, limes, tamarind, papaya, and who knows what else.

Our first stop was a museum in the little village of Nogueras. As we pulled into the parking lot it occurred to us that it was Monday and the museum might well be closed. To our surprise it was open and we happily bought our tickets and entered the first exhibit. We had the place mostly to ourselves for awhile and then tour busses arrived with passengers from a cruise ship we'd noticed in the port of Manzanillo. For once we were very happy to be inundated with tourists because we were certain that was the only reason the museum was open for us that day.

We saw a nice exhibit of artwork by Alejandro Rangel, who might be best known in the U.S. for the Christmas cards he created for UNICEF in the late 1950s. The museum has been created out of his former hacienda, and there are other displays of local artifacts he collected, in particular the "Colima Dogs" and other figures. The museum displays are absolutely beautiful with English translations. After seeing what was on offer in the gift shops we took a stroll through the gardens learning the Spanish names for some of the trees, plants and herbs growing there. Stan even hopped a short fence to rescue a turtle flipped on its back in the hot sun.

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/460-la-hacienda-de-nogueras-in-comala-colima

Then it was on to Comala for a much needed visit to the botaneros for their famed feast of snacks which are included with drinks. Taquitos, tostadas (coaster sized, wafer thin, flat chips of corn meal) spread with guacamole or ceviche, and mini soft tacos were just what we needed by mid-afternoon. After sampling some of the local "ponche" we went off in search of a few bottles to take home. Ponche is a drink made of cane alcohol with flavors like walnut, coffee, peanut, coconut, and pomegranate to name a few. We liked the thick creamy coffee flavor the best and think it will go well in iced coffee.

The rest of our stay included a stroll through the gift shops off of Colima's main square (jardin), more eating and drinking, a visit to the museum off the jardin, and finally a trip to Sam's Club for supplies. It was a great getaway with good friends to see something more than just the coast for a change!

Photos from the trip may be viewed at:

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/ColimaAndComala

Linda

Pacific Track

2011-03-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

I finally put some of our old tracks into our navigation software (OpenCPN). It made for such an interesting picture I thought I'd share it.

Santiago Bay

2011-03-01T18:27:00.001-08:00

Some of you may be wondering how we've been spending our time now that we are finally back in Mexico again. First and foremost we've been enjoying spending time with our good friends, Stan and MJ, who live full time in Santiago. We've also renewed cruising friendships with several boats, and met people on boats new to Mexico since we left. A lot of time is spent at Ramada El Rey which is one of the restaurants lining the beach here at La Boquita. The cruisers have regular bocci ball games on the sand followed by Mexican Train dominoes and drinks at El Rey. We don't usually join the games, but are happy to partake in the refreshment portion of the ritual. Another semi-weekly event is an outing to La K'Melia which is a botanero (I think I have that right; from the root "botana" which is "snack") complete with live entertainment. Stan and MJ introduced us to this concept before we left Mexico. These are bar/restaurant establishments in which you order drinks and are then served a variety of appetizers at no additional charge. The snacks are usually things like simple tacos, ceviche, taquitos, etc. and they bring you enough to make a meal of it. The one we went to gets started at around 4 PM and the entertainment wrapped up by 6 PM (the day we went it was a band and singers). We don't quite understand how they stay in business, but it's a fun concept.

Having ordered a full set of poker chips while we were in Hawaii, John organized a Friday poker game at El Rey. Eight people played Texas Hold 'Em for 50 pesos each and the game lasted a good 2-3 hours with several changes of fortune amongst the players. We had a lovely surprise when the ultimate winner kindly donated her winnings to PATA Manzanillo (http://www.PATAManzanillo.com), the animal welfare non-profit that Stan and MJ spearheaded after their move here.

On Sunday we all attended a 3 PM futbol (soccer) game played in the local stadium between our local Picudos and a team from nearby Colima. Stan was organizing cruiser attendance for these games before we left and now, between the cruisers and the local ex-pat community, I think the gringos almost out-numbered the locals. It's a fun chance to yell and shout, although we miss the vendor who used to sell messy tacos. Now we bring our own snacks, but you can still see 10 year old boys delivering cups of beer to their dads in the stands. We won this game 1-0 after lots of blood and sweat. Everyone is so welcoming and one of the trainers even shook our hands and thanked us for coming.

The more mundane side to our lives involves re-learning how to do surf landings and take-offs in the dinghy. After two wet take-offs we've taken to going into the mouth of the small river and landing in the protected water there. The downside to this method is that the tide can be very strong, creating rapids at the entrance especially on an ebb tide when the surf is breaking. I will most likely never take the dinghy out by myself again after I over confidently returned to the beach ahead of John with clean laundry and promptly filled the dinghy with about six inches of sandy saltwater. It isn't nearly as easy as John makes it look, especially since he has me hop in first and I had no idea that he was continuing to push us out farther before he climbs in.

So I dried all the salty carpets, towels and blankets and made a second trip to re-wash it all a few days later. I've since made another trip with all of our salty passage clothes. I take what I can carry stuffed in my backpack and one plastic carryall, which is what will just fit into a medium sized front loader. I opt for auto-servicio (do-it-myself) and no dryer, and I carry it all back to dry on the boat. It's a dinghy ride to the beach, half hour walk to the bus stop, and a 6 peso bus ride to Santiago proper (I think the peso is about 12 to 1 at the moment). Reverse to go home. John keeps trying to get me to take a 60 peso each way cab ride (and MJ keeps insisting I can do it at their house!), but I kind of like getting the exercise. Actually I'm probably done with that and will do the light nylon things by hand and drop the rest off at a fluff and fold place from now on. It was just those first few things that needed special handling.

John has kept busy fixing things like our anchor windlass, battery charger, an old backup PC which he wants to give away, the pressure water pump (surprisingly yukky), and servicing (cleaning) the hand pump for our head (double yuk!). He's decided he's not going to tear apart the bilge pump to try to fix it, but will just buy a new one. As original equipment on the boat he thinks he can retire that item! He's also made two visits to the water truck which has a regular schedule to the beach restaurants, and has bought a total of 12 five-gallon jugs of water to fill Nakia's tanks.

We didn't notice any particular behavior changes in Ziggy other than his joy at being able to run from down in the cabin, up the companionway steps, across the cockpit, and up the main sheet onto the boom. He also wants to jump in every dinghy that stops by for a visit and is remarkably polite to people he doesn't know (i.e., he tolerates holding and petting). We've already had two visits from dolphins, and there are numerous pelicans, frigate birds, booby birds, terns, gulls, and herons all after the bait fish that frequent the murky greenish brown water. With 24-hour access to all the sights, smells, and sounds we think he's a pretty happy cat.

As are we!

Linda

Manzanillo

2011-02-19T06:10:00.001-08:00

We had a terrific last evening at sea in spite of the haze obscuring any real sense of "land ho." Our good friend Stan greeted us on the VHF radio to arrange a rendezvous for the next day. He didn't even have to identify himself because we recognized his voice as if we'd spoken to him just last week! There were whale backs breaking the bioluminescence and fluking whales off our bow by moonlight. As we entered the anchorage at Carrazol we were treated to the same wonderful scent of flowers that greeted us three years ago. Early the next morning we spoke to our first "live" person in over a month on a boat called Narama from Sydney, Australia.

We were mistaken about the time zone here and had to make one more change to U.S. Central Standard Time to catch up. We hustled over to the actual Port of Manzanillo eight miles away so that John could spend the day waiting in offices for officials to figure out how to process us in to the country. Not too many sailboats clear in here and there were special manuals to be searched for to find the special code for "sailboat" to be entered into the computer. This was after being redirected to about three different offices in search of the right place to begin. But we probably saved a couple of hundred dollars by not using an agent, and John got to spend the day hanging out with Stan while they waited together.

Formalities were finally completed by late afternoon and we motored the short distance back to the other side of the bay to anchor at La Boquita in Santiago Bay. This is a beach where the roads ends at the mouth of a small river. There are lots of beachside palapa restaurants offering all manner of fish lunches with vendors strolling by exhorting you to buy jewelry, woven masks and baskets, brightly painted pottery, wood carvings, beach cover ups and dresses, and assorted gew-gaws. John bought a woven finger pull toy without even blinking at the requested price, and Ziggy now has a new toy. We shared a table with Casey of V'ger and Stan, both of whom made sure John got his fill of Pacifico!

Before going to shore for lunch we spent yesterday setting the boat to rights by undoing all the things we did in preparation for passage making. Our projects were pleasantly interrupted by the appearance of old friends and acquaintances visiting by dinghy to say hello and catch up on news of each other. This is one of the main reasons we're back in Mexico, and it's already fabulous!

Linda

{GMST}19|06.338|N|104|23.722|W|La Boquita|Santiago Bay{GEND}

HI to MX Day LAST!

2011-02-17T05:31:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that we've arrived safely in Ensenada Carrizol, Manzanillo Bay Mexico. We'll be moving to Manzanillo town later this morning to get checked in.

According to our charting software, we sailed 3445 nautical miles to make a rumbline distance of 2881 nautical miles. It took 34 days 9 hours for an average speed of 4.17 kts. Not our fastest passage by a long shot, but we're here and it was a mostly boring passage which is important.

{GMST}19|05.750|N|104|26.232|W|Hawaii to Mexico Arrival|END{GEND}

HI to MX Day 34

2011-02-16T19:28:00.000-08:00

We should arrive early tomorrow morning and none too soon. We've been dealing with ship after ship. I'm not sure if we just happen to be off one of those points on the globe that sees a lot of shipping traffic or if all these ships are going in and out of Manzanillo (I can't imagine the latter, it would make Manzanillo busier than San Francisco).

We had a little extra excitement last night at about 1 am. Linda had started the engine after the wind died and had just put it into gear when BANG! there was a very loud sound. She said 'what was that?!,' and I said 'turn off the motor!' We looked over the side to see if maybe a line had caught in the prop, but saw nothing there. We took the engine cover off and checked the belts and shaft coupling, all good. I checked the oil and it was a little low, but not milky or anything out of the ordinary. Finally I noticed sitting on the floor a small chain that holds up one of our large aft port holes. Ah, that's what it was. These port holes are about 10 inches in diameter and are very heavy. If you drop the opening part from the top, stowed, position it will make a serious BANG. Kind of like slamming a door. Why the chain chose the very moment that Linda put the engine in gear to drop off, we have no idea.

Counting the hours to arrival ...

4:30 PM local time (which converts to MST in the States), Wednesday, February 16. Linda here:

Well, it's been a busy last 48 hours what with all the ships and trying to keep the boat moving. We kept track of all the ships yesterday and last night, but finally gave up entering them into the log book today since there were so many. Closest one was eight tenths of a mile away on John's watch. I had one at 1.5 miles but I turned away quite a bit to increase the distance or it would have been closer than that. Both in the day time so not bad, but with the humid haze we only have about 4 miles of visibility.

So "land ho" became, "yeah, I can sort of see the white guano on those rocks off the coast." We still can't see much more than the outlying rocks and we're only four miles from shore. We've been motoring on a mostly glassy sea all day. I was excited to see my first turtle again, but then I was sad to see that the top of it's shell was dry and it was barely moving on the surface of the water. I thought it must be dying until I saw a dozen more just like it in the space of 20 minutes. Some even had booby birds which had been sitting on them for so long that they had left their "mark" like whitewash all over the shell.

I had a bit of an anxious day yesterday. Maybe the lack of sleep caught up with me, but I find I usually have a brief period of depression during the last 48 hours of a long passage. I think it's partly the thought of re-entry into "normal" life and the small stresses we have to look forward to. We've been in this self-absorbed bubble for so long, entirely focused on sleeping, eating, keeping the boat moving, and entertaining ourselves. So it's somewhat of a transition to get back into shore mode again. And partly the enormity of what we've accomplished finally sinks in, and there is a bit of a let down to think it's finally over.

I'll state here for the record that I have never (and I don't think John has either) experienced the hallucinations of extra crew members or things like that on any of our passages. Many cruisers report vivid experiences of talking to an extra person on board. Maybe we are lacking in imagination, but that's never happened on Nakia.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my captain for bringing me safely across another part of the ocean. John does these passages practically single-handed, doing all the sail handling, navigation, repairs, and maintenance, and I get to come along for the ride. I wouldn't be doing this without John and I can't think of another sailor I'd trust my life with out at sea.

We'll be finishing up this passage just in the nick of time - we only have one page left before we finish our current passage log book and have to start a new one. Hey, John's calling me to come out and watch a pair of whales. And so ends another day at sea.

{GMST}19|08|N|104|48|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 34|Day 34{GEND}

HI to MX Day 33

2011-02-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

We're in the home stretch now, less then 200 miles to go. We've had some great wind the last couple days so we should arrive a little ahead of our last estimate. Last night the waves got pretty bumpy for a few hours which made sleeping difficult, but it calmed down this morning so we're getting caught up on rest now. We've really been lucky as far as getting good rest the entire last half of this passage. We're both getting enough sleep that we could easily walk off the boat on arriving in Manzanillo and go for a day in town without collapsing from exhaustion. Normally we're able to do a few things but would be looking forward to getting to bed before 9pm on the arrival day.

We've been able to fly our (asymmetrical spinnaker) quite a bit over the last three days, which has been keeping the boat moving well. The only down side is we have to run the auto pilot when we're sailing under the spinnaker as the wind vane wanders too much, so we use more electricity. We really haven't flown this sail much since we got it 6 years ago, it's normal use is as a big pillow when we're sleeping in the quarter berth on passage, but this passage I've been happy to have it as a sail instead.

The other day I was running the generator to charge the batteries and the battery charger started acting up. I took it apart and found that a teaspoon or so of salt water had gotten into it when that hose broke. The water corroded a resistor so badly the solder connection to the printed circuit board completely disappeared. So now we don't have a battery charger until I can find an electrical parts supplier and replace the resistor. Good thing I got the alternator/regulator working!

Still no fish, and the water clarity continues to decline. I'm keeping the lures out just in case. We still have one onion, half a carrot, 1/4 of a cabbage (we really haven't been going through the cabbage on this passage) and a pound of ground beef so we're not hurting for fresh food. (We also have canned and dry goods for another 2-3 months, just in cast anyone is worried that we have to live on hale a carrot and a pound of ground beef for the next two days).

We've had to turn off the VHF radio so the off watch can sleep. Mexican fisherman just love to talk on the radio, even if there's no one to talk to. When they get tired of talking they sing, when they get tired of singing they do barn yard animal impersonations. It's pretty annoying. We're keeping a hand-held VHF radio on down below so if there's anyone close by calling us we'll hear them.

The wind is supposed to die tonight, so we'll no doubt be motoring the last 100 miles (we have fuel for 200 miles motoring, so we're in good shape there).

{GMST}19|55|N|106|59|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 33|Day 33{GEND}

HI to MX Day 32

2011-02-14T18:43:00.000-08:00

This is really too good to be true. Yesterday was a nice day in spite of having to motor all afternoon. It got very clear and calm by the end of the day and John announced good potential for a green flash sunset. Sure enough that last blip of sun turned bright green. Unfortunately John will never know what one looks like since he's slightly color blind.

John shut the engine off at 8 PM and he furled the jib and hoisted the spinnaker an hour later, just in time for my watch. Aside from a few hours early this morning we've been flying it ever since, and have been cooking along at about five knots. There's been some wind chop coming down from the Sea of Cortez to give us a bit of a roll now and then, but otherwise it's a very smooth ride.

The entire night and all of today have been almost eerily crystal clear without a speck of cloud in the sky, for the first time of the entire passage. It's just surreal. And warm! The sea surface temperature rose to 70 degrees at Noon yesterday and has been in the low seventies since then. The only downside to that is that we've lost the beautiful indigo blue of open ocean and now the water is a greener brown that we associate with coastal cruising.

Lots of voice traffic on the VHF today with ships calling port control somewhere. John heard cruising boats hailing the marina in La Cruz (near Puerto Vallarta) so he tried giving Sarana a call, but no joy there. I even heard a boat calling El Cid marina in Mazatlan.

We ate our last chicken breast today and have one package of hamburger left in the freezer. John's had both fishing lines out, but so far has caught only a piece of plastic.

Almost forgot - we took fresh water showers in our head yesterday. How fantastic is that on top of everything else?!

Just a little over 200 miles to go as I write this!

Linda

{GMST}20|33|N|108|24|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 32|Day 32{GEND}

HI to MX Day 31

2011-02-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it seems like everything happens at once. Last night we were sailing along under double headsails with the wind slowly shifting to be more on the beam. The double headsail rig is only good for almost dead downwind, so when we were finally 30 degrees off course I decided I had to make a change. Start with the main, hoisting it so the drifter can come down in its lee. Then drop the drifter. Furl the jib. Take down the pole (of course the control line for the pole jammed in the pole mount so I had to get back to that). Move the jib to the starboard side. Finally finish putting away the pole. This is about 20 minutes worth of activity, during which my attention is focused only on NAKIA. After everything was put away I take a look around and right there off our bow is a boat, or at least a light from a boat. It's very bright white, which should mean I'm looking at the stern of the boat but since we're back in Mexican waters the color of the light doesn't mean squat (Mexican fisherman don't seem to carry a copy of the navigation rules). So I do all the things I normally do when there is a boat close; I turn on all the deck lights and start the radar. The radar takes 2.5 minutes to warm up so while I'm waiting I grab the binoculars and go on deck to see if I can tell which way the boat is headed. When I get there, the light is gone! Great, I think, the fisherman has seen me put my deck lights on and figures I see him so he can turn his light off (don't laugh, they actually do this kind of thing). So I start squinting through the binoculars trying to see a boat with a very dim light when I notice a brightly back-lit cloud on the same bearing as the boat. I wait a minute or so and a nice bright planet (probably Venus or Jupiter) comes out from behind a cloud. It wasn't a boat at all, it was this planet rising on a clear horizon! You'd think that after almost 20,000 miles at sea in the last 6 years I'd learn.

{GMST}21|38|N|110|55|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 31|Day 31{GEND}

HI to MX Day 30

2011-02-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well, John finally took it all off today - his hair that is! He shaved off his beard (except for his original goatee)and took the electric clippers to his head, and now I have my Bruce Willis guy back again. I was off watch for the event so I haven't seen the before and after pictures yet, but we'll post those when we have internet again.

As John already wrote, we've run out of fresh fruit and now it's finally time to break out the Thai banana chips which were a going away gift from Mike and Mon on Windy City (thanks guys!). I've been saving them for last because I knew we'd appreciate them most at the end of our trip. They are a good treat and even with careful rationing I'm sure they won't last more than a few days!

The water temperature has increased slowly but surely over the past few days, giving us hope that we'll soon be back in tropical weather. Last night we didn't see less than 66 degrees for the first time in awhile. I'm not sure we'll be able to re-acclimate in less than a week (after four weeks of feeling like we were freezing!) but hopefully the Mexican mainland winter temps will be easy on us before we have to face the Baja summer.

On Thursday John's fishing line caught a two foot piece of the kelp. We's noticed several floating by the day before. He reeled it in and we put it in the cockpit well for Ziggy's entertainment. It turned out to have the bonus surprise of half a dozen assorted sized "bugs" crawling on it. These closely resembled what we call "beach roaches" but instead of being black, these were kelp colored. Ziggy was completely captivated by the creatures, but when he decided the "toys" made good food, we pitched it back over the side. Of course Ziggy managed to scoot into the cabin below with one last snack. He spent the rest of the afternoon periodically checking the well to make sure he hadn't missed any.

Friday morning at sunrise we had the pleasure of seeing a fishing boat headed in the opposite direction. We had the twin headsails rigged and must have been quite a sight for them with our blue and white striped drifter. They came in for a closer look, but I was disappointed that they never got close enough to wave. Later we heard Asian voices on the VHF so maybe that was them. Now we seem to be getting the fishermen out of Cabo yakking day and night on channel 16.

Of course after John ran the generator to charge our batteries Friday morning the wind completely died by late afternoon and we had to motor until early evening. It never seems to fail that we have to motor after we've already run the generator. Kind of the opposite of the ukulele effect! This seems to be the pattern lately. Windy sail at sunrise, tapering off by lunch. Motor from noon to mid/late afternoon. Sail in extremely variable, and mostly light, winds all night. Repeat.

Hopefully only to be repeated for five more nights (but who's counting)!

Linda

{GMST}22|15|N|112|12|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 30|Day 30{GEND}

HI to MX Day 29

2011-02-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

NAKIA is back in the tropics! The nights are still cool (the water temp is still just 66 degrees) but at least we're not freezing every night. I haven't shaved since before we left Hilo so I would have the benefit of warming facial hair. It's been very itchy and I'm ready to trim it back today, after taking a 'before' picture for the blog of course.

We have about 600 miles to go, and with fuel to motor for 250 of that we'll probably keep going on to Manzanillo. The forecast looks a little better in the near future and if we can manage to sail 75% of the time we should make it just fine. Anticipating Thursday, February 17th as our arrival time. We'll see.

We're now out of fresh fruit, the last orange went yesterday.

{GMST}23|3|N|113|58|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 29|Day 29{GEND}

HI to MX Day 28b

2011-02-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

We continue to have light winds and had to motor 6 hour yesterday. It seems like the wind comes up a little more at night and we can make good progress with the big poled out to port and the drifter set in the second furler track to starboard (twin head-sails). The main is just in the way with this sail configuration so I just set it with a deep reef to keep it from blanketing the drifter.

Yesterday while motoring, our trusty Yanmar 3QM30 diesel engine ticked over 5000 hours. That's the equivalent of 225,000 miles in a car. A lot of other Hans Christian owners have replaced this motor with newer models, but we're keeping ours until it fails to start at least once. To date it's never given us any major problems (not counting the transmission :-)

It's looking more and more like we'll have to stop in Cabo San Lucas for fuel. We don't really want to as it will be expensive (the marina there is outrageously expensive) but it may not be avoidable if the wind doesn't fill in the next couple of days. Right now we have just enough fuel to motor all the way to Cabo but that's it...

The bread turned out pretty good the other day. This was a new method, where I just mix the ingredients and kneed it a little then place it in the refrigerator in a zip-lock bag over night. The next morning I take it out, kneed a little more then put it in a loaf pan to rise. Once it's risen enough (about three hours) I pop it in the oven and bake. The loaf was much smoother then normal and it rose very well. Also because there was not as much kneeding it was a much cleaner way to bake bread. The only downside is that a gallon zip-lock only holds enough dough for one loaf, so we're going thru it pretty fast. I guess I'll have to make a loaf every other day or so to keep up.

{GMST}23|59|N|115|22|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 28b|Day 28b{GEND}

HI to MX Day 27

2011-02-09T19:35:00.000-08:00

John was a little loopy yesterday and read the day of the week as Thu instead of Tu. So we're back to the counting the days correctly today. I'm counting from January 13 at 4:15 PM local Hawaii time, which means today isn't day 27 until 2:15 PM PST. Confused? Half the time, so are we...

The other half of the time we're wishing for more wind! Had to turn the engine on after lunch today for some more motoring in no wind. We really don't want to waste time making a stop just for fuel.

We can't decide whether Ziggy would make a better futbol (soccer) goalie or forward. He makes some great blocking jumps and captures when we toss him his favorite toy - a curled up twist tie. But once he has it on the ground he likes to dribble it forward where he passes it into the 12-inch opening underneath our enclosed toilet. Goal! Right into the bilge. His coach then has to get down on all fours to stick her arm as far as it will go in the aft direction of this cramped opening. Invariably when we go fishing for the most recent "ball" we find two more just like it. The sun has come out a bit more since I started doing email and he's snoozing under the dodger right now soaking up some rays.

John made bread this morning, and otherwise we're just going along with our same old routine and chores.

{GMST}24|48|N|116|39|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 27|Day 27{GEND}

HI to MX Day 28

2011-02-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how it happened, but we got off on our day count somewhere. Today is our 28th day at sea and Linda's birthday as well.

Neptune has given Linda a nice 12 kt breeze out of the NNW and we're running downwind with the big jib polled out to port and a reefed main out to starboard. You'd think with only 12 kts of wind we'd shake out the reef, but the main bangs too much without the reef so we leave it reefed for a quieter boat.

I keep forgetting to give the fresh food report. The other day we had the last of our potatoes (we only had six big ones for baking, but boy were they good). We still have two oranges, half a cabbage, one carrot and 5 onions. Both fishing lines are out now, as we're down to two chicken breasts and a pound of hamburger in the freezer. Today for Linda's B-Day lunch I'm planning to make cruiser pasta (made in one pot, you cook the tomato sauce first, add some water and then cook the pasta in the sauce). We may take showers too.

The weather forecast is for light winds out of the North for the next few days, we're hoping we can keep moving under sail. If we have to motor we'll probably have to stop in Cabo San Lucas for fuel (our projected track takes us within 60 miles of Cabo as it is). We have about 56 hours of motoring time left in the tank and we're expecting to have to use that on the home stretch South of Cabo Corrientes.

{GMST}25|38|N|118|26|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 28|Day 28{GEND}

HI to MX Day 25

2011-02-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

Yay, wind! After slatting around for hours last night, we finally got enough breeze to make progress in the right direction at 0500 today. Who would have thought our biggest problem would be no wind?! We have about 950 miles to go to Manzanillo and are really hoping we don't have to make a pit stop in Cabo for fuel. That would just drag it out as far as I'm concerned, but on the other hand I'd like to motor when we need to instead of drifting along listening to the sails bang back and forth! When John got up this morning we dropped the drifter and put our big "Mexico" jib on the furler. We call it the Mexico jib because that's where we got the most use out of it before heading south. It's perfect for all the light air sailing along the coast and up in the Sea of Cortez.

Putting up the big jib seemed to work like a magnet. We got some nice wind all afternoon and even hit six knots once or twice. But the biggest charm in conjuring up the wind has been John's ukulele practice. Twice he's gotten out his uke to play in the cockpit and twice we've had wind afterwards. And we had dolphin visits again! That uke is worth every penny John paid for it.

If I made it sound like Ziggy is now a sweet kitty climbing into bed with us, that is dead wrong. He's just a heat-seeking wild child, and you better not stick your hand out to pet him while he's curled up in that cute little ball or you'll get your skin sliced. John and I both ignored the obvious signs this morning that he was beyond playing and lost in the zone of terror (huge black dilated pupils and swishing tail). John came away with a bloody stump (never use the hand as a toy!) while I was ambushed from behind and got bite marks on my calf through two layers of clothing. John grabbed him and put him outside for a timeout, after which Ziggy had the nerve to come join me in bed! His eyes were a little wide as we looked at each other, but I ignored him and he settled down. Why, oh why, do we keep this crazy cat?!

The San Diego voices on the VHF dropped off last night and we've begun hearing Spanish now. [Later: San Diego came up again late this afternoon. Must be propagation. Same thing for the PacSeaNet. John's been able to check in there the last couple of nights.] Just can't believe we're still so far away from even some place as far north as Cabo. Feels like we should really be farther south by now!

Linda

{GMST}26|19|N|120|07|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 25|Day 25{GEND}

HI to MX Day 24

2011-02-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

I guess it's a good thing that the drifter didn't blow up the other day. The wind has all but died and the drifter is the only thing that will fill.

I tried the spinnaker this morning, but the wind is too light and it's too rolly for it to stay full. In the ships log, at 0700 this morning is the following entry:

0700-0815: Pole in (the drifter was poled out); Drifter rolled up; Spinnaker up; Pole up (spinnaker on pole); Pole down; Spinnaker wrapped on forestay; Spinnaker un-wrapped; Spinnaker down; Jibe; Drifter out; Pole up

That is A LOT of sail handling in an hour and 15 minutes, especially with the spinnaker wrap. For those of you who don't know, a spinnaker wrap is when the spinnaker, flopping back and forth in light winds, spins around forestay. The spinnaker will billow out in the middle so that there's no way for it to naturally un-wrap. Think of a hard candy wrapped in cellophane, standing on end. To get the twists out of the cellophane, you pull on both ends. But since the spinnaker is wrapped around the forestay you can't pull on the end, the forestay won't let you. I have no idea if there's a good way to undo a spinnaker wrap, but what works for me is to jibe and wait. For some reason the action that causes the wrap is reversed if you jibe, then you just wait for the wrap to undo itself and quickly take the spinnaker down before it wraps again.

That's enough spinnaker handling for a couple days for me. I'm glad we have that drifter, I just wish it was bigger.

{GMST}27|10|N|121|13|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 24|Day 24{GEND}

HI to MX Day 23

2011-02-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

Nice sailing these last 24 hrs. The drifter has remained up even though the wind has been up to 15 kts at times. This is a little much for that old sail, but it will never get replaced if it doesn't blow up and it won't blow up if we don't fly it in too much wind :-)

It's still pretty cold, but the guys on the Chubasco net said it's supposed to warm up in Arizona soon so maybe that will come our way as well.

We caught a glimpse of dolphins one day, but mostly we hear their squeaks and clicks through the hull at night. They don't stick around for long; must just be curious about what we are, and then they go back to whatever it is they were doing somewhere else. [Later in the day: The dolphins hung around for an hour off and on this afternoon. Long enough to identify them as Common dolphins.]

A few days ago we got the binoculars out to confirm that the white albatross we were seeing was a Layson and not the rare short-tailed. This one definitely had a dark colored back.

We heard Coast Guard San Diego and Vessel Assist on the VHF for the first time this morning. You can tell it's the weekend because they've been answering a lot of non life threatening calls from pleasure boaters.

Anyway, we're making good progress for now, though it's supposed to die off later today and stay light for several days.

{GMST}28|26|N|122|57|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 23|Day 23{GEND}

HI to MX Day 22a

2011-02-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

(I think John inadvertently skipped day 21, and that today - Feb. 4 - is really day 22.)

John put the drifter (light air sail) up yesterday and we went slow ( < 3 knots) for several hours. He also decided that we probably shouldn't have tacked and made all that northing since the forecast is for light winds all the way to the coast. We don't want to be sailing dead downwind in light air, it would be better to be reaching. So we're sailing a little south of our course today to get into a more favorable position.

As I suspected would happen, we are losing voice communications with the Pacific Seafarers Net. Night before last they couldn't hear John and last night he couldn't hear any of them. But he continues to check-in with them via email so that our position is noted on YOTREPS. This morning he went looking for RSL and RSM on the Baja net, but guess we'll have to wait until we're close enough to get on the Sonrisa net before we can hear them (Hi, Jay and Janice!).

Today we had delicious hamburgers on fresh pita bread buns (thanks Hermy!), and we're enjoying another gorgeous sunny afternoon of easy sailing with better speeds (4.5-5.5 knots; yippee!)

Linda

{GMST}29|23.150|N|124|14.000|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 22a|Day 22a{GEND}

HI to MX Day 22

2011-02-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

Well we've been hit by a little contrary wind so we've gone back to Port tack for a day or so. That's ok, we'd rather deal with this then have to deal with the gale force winds blowing in the Sea of Cortez and of the Southern coast of Baja California today and tomorrow. We should be back on Starboard tack by midnight tonight and then slowly getting lifted toward the mainland over the next couple of days.

No more fishing for now. I cooked the Albacore tuna last night and it was very nice, but we still have some meat in the freezer and it's possible Customs may confiscate it when we arrive in MX so we're trying to eat it all up before we arrive.

We changed the clocks last night as we are now in the Pacific Time Zone. We also changed our watch schedule so I can check into the Amigo net . Of course Don Anderson had a few deprecating words about our choice of route from Hawaii to Mexico, according to Don it's wiser to beat straight into the trade winds for 2500 miles then to sail one long tack into the Pacific High and then bear off on the opposite tack for the mainland. Frankly, I'm glad we're not bashing into 25 kts of wind right now (and I'm even more glad that we haven't had to do it for the last three weeks as well) even if we have to sail an extra 500 miles on our chosen route. To each his own I guess.

{GMST}29|58|N|125|33|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 22|Day 22{GEND}

HI to MX Day 20

2011-02-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

John forgot to write his usual blog this morning so here we are at 4 PM local time on Wednesday, 2/2. Still having a beautiful sail although in freezing conditions. As I feared, now that we're no longer motoring the cabin temperature is about the same as the water temp - in the low sixties. Although today was sunny so we managed to get some extra warmth. John says we should only have about 4-5 more days of this bitter cold and then it will just be cold. Ziggy continues to climb into our off watch berth to take advantage of our body heat - both day and night! Yesterday John caught a small tuna of some sort. We've seen ships both last night and again today. One was a fishing boat and we're not sure where the one today was headed (somewhere due south). It's nice to be sailing and on course for our destination of Manzanillo!

{GMST}30|30.890|N|126|17.070|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 20|Day 20{GEND}

HI to MX Day 19

2011-02-01T09:44:00.000-08:00

Wind! and wet, unfortunately. But in any case it looks like the Pacific High has finally released us and we are on our way. We're not sailing off the wind exactly, but we're not hard on the wind either.

Linda noted that there was some water in the fuel. I think it came from the fuel we got at the fuel dock in the Alawai. So note well our friends in HI, make sure to use a water trap if you get fuel there, or better yet, get your fuel via jerry jugs from the gas station. (strangely enough fuel from the gas station is cheaper then the fuel dock. This is strange because the fuel dock fuel is 'off road use' only and is died red. This means it has no road tax on it, so should be cheaper.)

1600 miles left to go to SolCasa!

{GMST}31|13|N|129|05|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 19|Day 19{GEND}

HI to MX Day 18

2011-01-31T19:21:00.000-08:00

Nothing new to report. Still motoring along hoping any minute now for some wind. John got the drifter out this morning and we spent some time barely making headway with that. It was nice to take a break from the noise while John changed the engine oil and got some water out of the fuel. Yesterday he transferred the fuel from the jerry jugs on deck to the tank and noticed a considerable amount of water in them. I've also noticed a fair amount of condensation in various cupboards below.

The big news of the day is that Ziggy actually slept with me this morning. He has never slept with us on our bed. When he was a kitten he was too little to jump up to the Pullman and we didn't encourage it. As an adult he has a very strict sense of personal space (we get lots of "don't touch me" nips), and he won't sit in our laps or even climb over us to get by. So imagine my surprise when he slipped into the quarter berth after I had settled in for my morning off watch. I was so pleased by this new behavior that I didn't want to move for fear of disturbing the moment. I didn't sleep very well, but it was extremely satisfying to break this barrier at last. He will be the happiest of we three when the engine finally gets shut down, though I don't know what we'll do then for heat!

{GMST}31|25.090|N|130|43.170|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 18|Day 18{GEND}

Sunday, 1/30

2011-01-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

Today is windless with the winter sun barely warming us in a breeze of our own creation. A storm petrel flits across our bow. Looking down over the side of the boat I see streaks of bleached indigo where the sun's rays dive into the deep of a glassy calm. A heavy looking white-bodied albatross glides over the contours of the swells like an ultra-light. Is it the rare short-tailed albatross or a more common Laysan? If I get another chance, I'll have to look more closely to see if the white extends over the back of the body making it the former. Later in the afternoon I surprise a pair of black-footed albatross as I come out into the cockpit. They are close enough for me to make out the white patch at the base of their beaks on an otherwise wholly black body. It seems as if the albatross only come in close to the boat when there's no one on deck, making it difficult to get a good identification.

We are drinking tea and hot chocolate on a regular basis now. Enjoying the restful calm, but anxious to turn off the deafening engine and begin sailing to warmer latitudes!

Linda

HI to MX Day 17

2011-01-30T12:52:00.000-08:00

Not much to report today. We've been motoring almost all the time with very short periods of sailing. We've gone through about 40 gallons of fuel, we have another 70 in the tank and 12 in jugs as emergency fuel. Hopefully we'll get some wind tomorrow and can start sailing again.

One good thing about all this calm weather, yesterday we were able to take showers for the first time in the trip.

The weather continues to cool, as is the water temperature. Last night we saw 61 degrees, the low of the trip so far.

{GMST}31|23|N|132|57|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 17|Day 17{GEND}

HI to MX Day 16

2011-01-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

We've been motoring off and on, in between some nice light air sailing off the wind. I hate to jinx it, but this is really nice! Yesterday morning we got enough of a light but steady rain to wash most of the salt off the boat. It cleared before Noon and I got out there with a rag to wipe the rest of it off before it dried. This makes life much more pleasant for John when he has to go forward for sail handling duties. Some days are still mostly cloudy or have that hazy winter sunshine, but today has been very nice with lots of warm sun. In fact it was so nice and calm (motoring) that John decided we should take showers! He got the Honda generator out to run the water heater, and emptied the shower stall of all the junk we had stored there (including two jerry jugs of water which he put in the tank). Normally our head, which is up in the bow of the boat, is probably the roughest place to be. It's the place where I'm most likely to crash into things because it's difficult to brace myself anywhere. But today it was perfect and we are very happy to be really clean again.

Ziggy is happy whenever we shut the motor off to sail. He's also enjoying the freedom to roam the decks outside since it's calm enough for him to go forward during the daytime. He'd like to do it at night as well, but we don't let him out after dark.

John got the regulator working at 100% again! He took it out of the engine compartment and carefully washed it with fresh water and let it dry all day. Then checking it over found a couple of broken wires which he soldered back in place. He says this would have been impossible had it not been calm as the wires are very small and soldering them would be hard enough without having the boat roll back and forth. He re-installed it and now it charges fully just like it used to. It's a good thing, because while he was removing it for cleaning he dropped the light bulbs he was using to get the thing working and one of them broke. That's 2 out of 3 broken, we're down to our last one. Hopefully we won't have to resort to the light bulbs again for a while.

We're counting the miles until we can make that right hand turn!

{GMST}31|17|N|134|36|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 16|Day 16{GEND}

Provisioning Tip - Baby Wipes

2011-01-28T19:44:00.000-08:00

NOTE: The information which follows may be too personal for those with delicate sensibilities. Read at your own risk of embarrassment.

And now a word about personal hygiene on a long ocean voyage - particularly for those boats: still without water makers; which aren't particularly sea kindly; or which are traveling in cold waters. There are many times when it simply isn't practical to take a full shower. You may be conserving water by taking occasional salt water baths out in the cockpit. If you're fortunate enough to have plenty of fresh water and a below deck shower, you might be sailing hard on the wind for days at a time, which would make taking a slippery shower a risky proposition. And even if you are lucky enough to be sailing downwind in the tropics, with the sweat rolling off your palms as you update blog entries on your lap top, you'll most likely want a refreshing pick-me-up in between showers.

We recently met a man from South Korea (with the improbable, but highly pronounceable name of "Doug") who completed a 30-plus day passage from Los Angeles to Hawaii on a small sailboat fraught with breakdowns of every sort. After making landfall he was given a ride in a car to Customs to clear in. During this brief trip he was very embarrassed by and profusely apologized in broken English for his 30-plus day ripening odor. This got me to ruminating about baby wipes.

Not actually baby wipes, but "adult" wipes. Because what you really want to avoid are the sickly sweet, highly perfumed wipes that leave a weird slippery film on your skin. This is what you'll be stuck buying in some place like the Galapagos if you haven't thought it out ahead of time. These are better than nothing at all, but you'll never be able to appreciate the scent of a clean baby's bottom again in your life.

Wipes are a great way to get relief from that sticky, sweaty feeling before climbing into a berth left hot and damp by the crew member coming on watch (preferably your spouse and not some backpacker you picked up in Panama City). (By the way, I think this is why it's called "hot bunking.") Even sailing in cold climates you'll appreciate being able to hit the three hot spot areas - pits, crotch, and dogs - with a quick and easy spit bath. (Don't forget to add a generous swipe of Tom's of Maine deodorant to your pits to keep those pesky bacteria at bay!)

Which brings me to my personal recommendations based on six Equator crossings in the past three years. Forget anything clearly marked for babies if at all possible. Our most recent best buy has been the Walmart house brand (Equate) "Naturally Gentle Wipes" which are hypo-allergenic and alcohol free. The wipes themselves are on the small side, but that makes it easier to dedicate each one to a particular "hot spot." (I don't know about you but there isn't a hot spot I'd want to wipe after either of the other two.) When you get to Papeete (you are going to French Polynesia, aren't you?) be on the lookout for the Carrefour brand wipe called "Absodys" (which must be French for something, but I couldn't find it in my pocket dictionary), which is specifically marketed for athletic adults. These are alcohol-free and are a large size which tears easily into - you guessed it - three convenient pieces.

So when you finally step on shore after a long passage at sea I hope these thoughts about baby wipes will make your first encounter with a clean person a pleasant one!

HI to MX Day 15

2011-01-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well I got the alternator working, if not charging then at least not draining the batteries while we're motoring. Which is a good thin considering we've been motoring 15 of the last 24 hours. The regulators are still out of commission, but I managed to get the alternator to trickle charge by wiring two 15 watt 12 VDC incandescent light bulbs in series. 12 V is attached on one side and the alternator field terminal on the other. The lights light dimly and the alternator charges at about 5 amps. It's no three stage charger but it's better then nothing and now the engine room has a nice cozy night-light.

The wind is forecast to be light the next couple days and then we may finally reach the eastern edge of the pacific high where we'll get some North-ish winds to be able to head South.

The water temperature continues to drop, 65 degrees today, but because the humidity has returned it doesn't seem so cold.

We ate the last of the oranges from Robert and Kelita on Freedom yesterday. We have a few store bought oranges but I'm not holding out that they will be as sweet or juicy as the ones from R&K.

{GMST}30|40|N|137|00|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 15|Day 15{GEND}

Thursday, 1/27

2011-01-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

If passage making could only be this pleasant all the time! Since Tuesday the wind and seas have calmed and we're no longer making slow progress pounding into every wave. Instead we're now actually sailing wing and wing (downwind), making speeds up to 6.5 knots. It's so comfortable that we're well rested and fed and it's a pleasure to do things like write blogs. At the moment the wind is in the process of dying but we had it with us for longer than forecasted so we're happy.

In addition to the plastics passing with regularity (another water bottle, another fishing float, and a kitchen step stool are among the identifiable objects) we overtook a fleet of sailor-by-the-wind jelly fish. I'm not sure that's their official name but it's apt. They are made up of a vivid blue oval-shaped "body" (or foot) that floats on the surface of the water. Sticking up above the water from the body is a translucent oval-shaped "sail." The sail slants diagonally across the body from upper right to lower left, giving the jelly the ability to sail. The sail is only about the size of a walnut and looks like a bubble on the water when the sun hits it. When the wind is calm enough that there are no white-caps you can clearly see their little wakes as they sail across the breeze. We used to see these on trips out to the San Francisco Farallon islands.

Ziggy had a bit of a rough morning on Wednesday. After the almost all-nighter we pulled Tuesday night with the engine snafu I was cat-napping pretty hard on my pre-dawn watch. I caught him eating a rubber band he'd found tucked away in a supposedly cat proof corner. I confiscated what remained of the first rubber band and found one more he hadn't gotten to yet. I figured it would pass through as they have before. But in my groggy state I ignored or didn't hear the rest of his forays into the world of plastics and discovered later that he had torn quite a raged hole in our bag of plastic bags. I fed him his usual breakfast and went off to bed when John came on watch. I got up a few hours later and John had been stuck cleaning up the resulting mess, most of which landed in Ziggy's "binky" - a handkerchief that serves as his security blanket. We're probably lucky that it all came out the front end instead of getting twisted up in his gut. I don't know what makes him want to chew through bags that don't even have food in them, but I'd guess it's boredom. Why don't they make something like a rawhide chew for cats? Could you give a cat one of those little chew sticks they make for miniature dogs?

We made a time change on 1/25 as we crossed 142.5 degrees of longitude into a new time zone. We set our clocks forward one hour and now the sun rises at 0700. We're hoping to be able to check in to the Amigo net soon, and we actually heard Net Control calling Robert on Harmony (a long time fixture in Mexico) the other morning.

The water temperature has dropped below 70 degrees since Tuesday morning and the low so far has been 66.4. I still haven't worn any fleece yet! I'm determined to hold out for as long as I can. Interestingly, I think Ziggy is holding onto his fur coat since he doesn't seem to be shedding as much as usual. Which means we'll have a mess when things do finally start warming up and he drops several week's worth of hair everywhere. He hates to be brushed which makes it a real headache to keep the hair off of everything.

John says he thins I'm losing weight, which was nice to hear until I asked him how he could tell. "Because you're getting a chicken neck," he replied. Oh well, I'll take the bad with the good...

HI to MX Day 14

2011-01-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

We had a really nice day yesterday with a 15 knot breeze just aft of the beam and flat seas. I left all sail up well into the afternoon and by the time we pulled down the first reef we were going an average of 6.8 kts. Early this morning the wind backed off a bit and shifted more aft, so I had to put out the whisker pole and drop the staysail. We slowed a little but are still moving along very well.

We crossed the half way point yesterday, not half way between Hawaii and Mexico, but half way between Hawaii and California. I knew this part of the trip was going to be hard, we're a short 10 days sail away from any number of wonderful places to stop (San Francisco, Halfmoon Bay, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, Longbeach, San Diago ...) so the urge to stop and rest is pretty strong. But our plan is to keep sailing another 3 or more weeks all the way down to the Mexican mainland. The thing that will keep us going is the realization that if we stop we still have to make all those miles to get to Mexico anyway. So we might as well stay at sea and get to our destination, especially now that we have the wind at our backs!

{GMST}29|57|N|139|00|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 14|Day 14{GEND}

HI to MX Day 13

2011-01-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

Well we had our first major failure of the passage last night.

About 10pm I started the motor because the wind had died (we've finally got close enough to the Pacific High to get light winds) and shortly after I put the engine in gear the depth sounder started beeping madly. On the screen it said the battery voltage was too high and I should turn off the sounder. I checked the battery monitor and sure enough, the alternator was putting 55 amps into the batteries at 16.5 volts! (The maximum should be 14.4 volts).

I quickly shut off the motor and removed the cover to find a sea water hose had blown in such a way that salt water was spraying all the way across the engine compartment and onto the alternator regulator! We have a primary regulator and a backup mounted next to each other and both were soaked.

I quickly turned off all electrical to the motor and rinsed down both regulators with fresh water. Then I put a fan on them to dry. In the mean time Linda got under the pullman birth to get out a spare hose.

With the hose replaced and the regulators dried out I started the motor to see if we could still charge the batteries, no luck. One regulator is completely shot and the second will only charge until the batteries are 85% full.

On top of it all, the battery charger which we run on the our Honda generator, also got sprayed. So this morning I took it out and check to see if it had gotten water inside. It looked clean so after re-installing it I ran the generator and thank god, the battery charger works.

I'm a little leery of using the malfunctioning regulator, but I hate the idea of running the engine without any charge going into the batteries. I have a few 1/2 watt resistors on board so I'm going to look through some of my electrical books to see if I can hard wire a circuit that will keep us charging without frying the batteries.

The good news is we seem to have (nearly) turned the corner. If we can make another 400 miles in 3-4 days we can get to the eastern edge of a new High pressure system that's building in and then it's downhill all the way to Mexico!

{GMST}21|32.420|N|152|34.228|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 13|Day 13{GEND}

Tuesday, 1/25

2011-01-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

Well, if you'd told me back January 25, 1991 that we'd be spending our 20th wedding anniversary out in the middle of the Pacific ocean, I'd have said you were nuts. But here we are, celebrating romance on the high sea, with icy toes and fingers, drippy noses, greasy hair, and smelly arm pits. I know there's a silver lining in there somewhere! Considering the fact that we will also be marking our 20th year of living full time aboard Nakia this coming October, I'd say John and I make a pretty good team.

In other news:

The most important item is, with help from Philip on Carina, we've learned a new way to distribute the blog reports directly to our loyal readers. So if you're tired of pulling up the blog daily only to find there's been no new updates in a week, send us an email (trusted friends and family will have our Sailmail address already) and let us know if you want to receive everything that's posted, or only the particularly interesting reports (author's choice). We blog our passage reports daily (these are usually short) and our cruising reports are written a few times a week depending on what we're doing. We can always start you out with everything and if you get tired of too much email from us, you can request the more infrequent reports or be removed entirely. But we won't add you to the distribution list until we hear from you first!

We're seeing a surprising amount of garbage on this passage, although according to Ralph on Our Country Home, Google Earth indicates that we're passing through the area of the floating plastics raft (which by the way, is a bit of an urban legend - it's not actually a raft you can see on the surface, and it's definitely not the size of Texas). Considering we rarely, if ever, saw plastic on the runs between French Polynesia and Hawaii, it's a bit of a shock to see bits and pieces on a fairly regular basis. Especially when you take into account how little time we spend up on deck. This morning while John did email over the HF radio I hand steered for about 20 minutes and saw a water-logged plastic pearl farm type buoy, a bottle, misc. plastic pieces, and we actually crossed a thin current line of small plastics and natural debris running off either side of the boat.

John is letting his beard grow and probably won't shave until we get somewhere warm! He hasn't been getting in much time on his uke. It's been too bouncy to do any serious practicing.

This morning we're motoring under cold and cloudy skies. The sea surface temperature has occasionally dipped below 70 degrees these past few days!

{GMST}27|54|N|142|33|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 12|Day 12{GEND}

HI to MX Day 11

2011-01-24T19:39:00.001-08:00

Another squally day and night aboard NAKIA. The weather has been pretty difficult the last couple of days. First the wind backs off to almost nothing (10 kts). It stays that way for anywhere between 10 minutes and half an hour, and we bob around with very little sail up waiting for the inevitable 25-30 kts squall that lasts about the same amount of time. So half the time we're barely moving and the other half the time it feels like we're going to fly apart. This makes it very hard to make progress.

Later today the wind is supposed to shift into the south again, in advance of a front which we hope will push us close to our turning point (now estimated at 32.5 N 135 W). That is 550 mile away and normally I would figure we'd be there in 5 days, but at this rate I think it will take 7-8 days. We'll see.

If anyone is interested, we've sailed about 1050 miles so far, and are a mere 775 miles from Hilo. That's an average speed of just over 3 knots. Not great, in fact not even good...

{GMST}26|39|N|143|6|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 11|Day 11{GEND}

HI to MX day 10

2011-01-23T09:56:00.000-08:00

We had a very mellow night last night wind wise, the only problem being that it was very shifty, so we were on deck several times adjusting sails and starting/stopping the motor.

Very overcast today and still pretty old.

Not much else to report. All is well.

{GMST}26|11|N|143|46|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 10|Day 10{GEND}

Saturday, 1/22

2011-01-22T19:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's excitement was seeing two ships in one day. I spotted the first one on the AIS when it was 12 miles away and hadn't set off the eight mile perimeter alarm yet. It was headed back from Hawaii and passed astern of us when it was six miles away. We were wondering when all the ships we saw headed to Hawaii during the first days of our passage were going to go back to the mainland! The second ship passed us at 1.9 miles away in the afternoon so we got a good look at it. It was quite a third world type ship with big cranes for un/loading cargo. It was on a weird heading of 281 degrees, while the other Hawaii bound ships were on headings of around 265. So we're not sure where this guy was headed. As primitive (i.e., cheap) a model as our AIS is, it has sure been useful for spotting and tracking ships when we can't actually see them in the distance. It's also reassuring to have the MMSI number (a sort of ID) and the name of the ship appear on the display, along with the heading, course over ground, and speed of approach. That way if we're unsure of the ship's intentions we have an easy way to call them on the VHF.

Yesterday wasn't the greatest, but last night and today have been okay. I still think port tack is the worst. I like the handholds and places to brace myself much better when we're on starboard. Not sure why John always insists that port is better... We have a little more sun today to warm the cabin. Yesterday was mostly cloudy and cold. John plans to run the generator this afternoon to charge the house batteries. This will be the second time we've run it. With the wind vane in use we can't tilt the panel up on the sissy bar to maximize its output or it will throw the vane off.

Today John made a nice tomato beef pasta one pan dish for our mid-day meal. We're out of bread so we've been having cold cereal for breakfast. Instead of dinner we just snack on fruit or crackers. At this rate I'm afraid we're going to run out of crackers before we get anywhere, but John can always make some pita or bread.

Ziggy is not allowed up on deck much, and not at all after dark. It's just too rough. But one evening before sunset he got out without John noticing and went to his favorite hideaway up forward under the dinghy. But it was relatively calm and he came back in on his own after a little while. He's gotten to be a little wild child in his play and it's just as well for me that I'm almost fully dressed now (so his "attacks" don't do much damage!).

John makes noises about bearing off down to the Marquesas when he gets fed up with this beating to weather, but I do my best to keep him on track for Mexico!

{GMST}26|46|N|144|36|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 9|Day 9{GEND}

Friday, 1/21

2011-01-21T19:37:00.001-08:00

The big news today (besides the change to port tack which John has covered) is how cold it is. The sea surface temperature dropped to a low of 70 degrees the other day and has come back up to 71-ish. But for some reason this is the first day that I got up at Noon from my morning off watch and really felt the cold. I actually had to give up my daytime outfit of a wife beater undershirt with underpants (apologies for that visual), and put on a T-shirt with a pair of ancient, baggy, cotton pajama bottoms. What could possibly be next - socks?! Ugh, I didn't go cruising to wear shoes and socks. (Although I have to admit, it's kind of nice not to be dripping sweat on a passage for a change...)

Ziggy's bed got moved to the opposite settee when we changed tacks. He's curled up in a ball with his front paws tucked under his chin and his nose is buried in the tip of his tail. He's very frisky, wanting to play at night, but Teresa, I doubt he'll ever get cold enough to try sleeping with us!

I squeezed the last of our gorgeous Hilo lemons yesterday for lemonade. I hate to see them gone, but it's getting to be time for tea and hot chocolate instead. I also decided to try freezing some of the macadamia nuts to save them for baking some day after we make landfall. We still have a few of the oranges left, but I ate the last gigantic (Haas?) avocado yesterday. Thanks so much again, Robert and Kelita!

We had a very nice sail yesterday afternoon and last night, and today isn't too bad even though it's not exactly the direction we want to be headed.

HI to MX Day 8

2011-01-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

We've had it pretty good the last 24 hours, the wind has been down and aside from the fact that it's pretty cool and there are some big waves rolling through from a far away storm we're doing quite nicely. (Big waves from a far away source are not a real problem for us, they just make the boat bounce around in strange ways).

I've been keeping a close eye on the high pressure system that's off the coast of CA. This is what's protecting us from the storms that are generating these big seas. The last couple days the long range weather models have been showing that the High is going to dissipate and/or weaken in about 5 days, so in anticipation of this I've decided to drop over to Port tack for 24 hours or so. This will get us further South and a little more East, where if the High does completely die and storms start heading directly for the CA coast, we will get a diminished version of the storm. We'll see. Weather models are notoriously inaccurate, especially more than 48 hours in advance, so this may all be for nothing and is just a waste of time. But 'sail safe' as they say...

That's all for now...
{GMST}28|2|N|145|54|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 8|Day 8{GEND}

HI to MX Day 7

2011-01-20T14:16:00.000-08:00

The wind abated a little last night so things are a little better rested here on NAKIA. Of course since it was nice this morning I had to get the generator out and run it for a couple of hours as well as take care of a couple small maintenance issues. There's also getting our daily weather files and digesting them and write a blog, drink my tea... Before you know it a 5 hour watch is just gone and you have no idea what it was that you did that took so long.

Things should be calming even more down over the next two or three days so hopefully the crew will get better rested.

Otherwise all is well.

{GMST}26|44|N|146|31|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 7|Day 7{GEND}

Wednesday, 1/19

2011-01-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

I know John is doing a good job of sending daily updates with our position report, but I thought I'd try and send a note every other day or so to let everyone know that I'm also doing well. What started out as a pleasant sail has turned into an on the wind beat, but nothing we haven't done before. Unfortunately the waves have started splashing over the boat every once in awhile. Just often enough so that you don't want to stand out there for too long and end up getting used for target practice!

We had one period of off the wind sailing which was enough to get Ziggy out of bed and wanting to play. It's been too bouncy and wet to let him out into the cockpit, so I imagine he's going a little stir crazy already. He lies awake all night listening for flying fish (we've seen very few), and has taken to wanting to play when all we want to do is sleep or cat-nap (depending on who's off/on watch). He's back to eating his canned food well, and I water down a small amount of kibble to get some liquids in him since he's not drinking out of his bowl yet (I think he knows he'll probably do a face plant in the water).

I think the biggest difference in this passage has been the wind. Instead of something fairly predictable and constant, these winds are variable and shifty. Thank goodness for the wind vane which is able to keep up with all the changes - the auto pilot would be next to useless in these conditions.

I finished Eric Clapton's boring auto-biography which was a dry account of his life in which he acknowledges everyone he's ever known (as if to get their name in print is some kind of honor; it probably is, but it makes for uninteresting reading). Then I whizzed through A Thousand Splendid Suns by the author of The Kite Runner. Had to skip through most of a book that I chose for it's Oregon setting after I discovered that I'd inadvertently picked up a story about a guy who spends the weekend with the holy trinity! I guess I should have known better when none of the recommendations on the covers were from the normal print media. Finally I was rewarded by On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks. This was a gorgeous, but heart breaking story about a love affair and so much more. Highly recommend it for a good, though devastating, read.

And so the days and nights pass, and we slog on as best we can.

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HI to MX, day 6

2011-01-19T11:10:00.001-08:00

Just a quick note to let you know we're still out here.

It was pretty rough last night so we're taking it easy today.

{GMST}25|8|N|147|27|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 6|Day 6{GEND}

HI to MX, Day 5

2011-01-18T12:06:00.000-08:00

Well the front that was supposed die and give us S-SE winds around 15 kts didn't die, so when it arrived yesterday afternoon we got 25 from the SSE with rain and some lightening off in the distance. It made for tough sleeping but this morning the clouds are all gone and the wind has slackened to 18 out of the SE. It is supposed to increase to 20 and back into the E tonight, once again making it hard for us to go east.

All's well on board, though Ziggy's a little pissed because he hasn't been aloud outside to look for flying fish in a couple days.

{GMST}23|46|N|148|13|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 5|Day 5{GEND}

Monday, 1/17

2011-01-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad John has been keeping up with the blog since I don't seem to find the time or opportunity to sit down on the computer much. It's much easier to pick up a book and read!

We had a very nice night last night after the wind chop went away and left a smooth slow swell upon which we were able to make better speed (in the mid four knot range). We're pretty much stuck in the low three knots when we're headed into both swell and wind chop coming from the east. Over the weekend we had a pair of red-footed booby birds following us. At first I thought they were masked because they were large white birds with black edges on their wings. But with blue bills and no black eye masks I confirmed it in our Seabirds book. One of them dropped off our trail yesterday but the other one persisted. The evening before last John had to go up to the bow pulpit and throw one of them off the boat. And last night being so calm the remaining bird was determined to make another landing. He made a few touch and gos on the windward side of the dodger, but I think my flailing arms finally deterred him.

Today we put a second reef in the main as it's a little windier. It's also the first day we've taken any significant spray into the cockpit. But it's still pretty safe to stand outside as long as you watch the oncoming waves for anything that might break enough to splash the boat. The sea surface temperature is down to 75 degrees and with mostly cloudy days I can't imagine taking our usual salt water bath. I'm sticking to baby wipes for the time being! Otherwise we're eating and sleeping well, and are back into our usual passage routines.

HI to MX, Day 4

2011-01-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

The wind veered into the SE just as predicted late last night and we began sailing East in earnest. According to the routing software Sherry from Soggy Paws gave us, this is not exactly what we should be doing but it makes me feel better anyway.

The routing software says we should sail west of our intermediate waypoint and come in from there, but I'm hoping having more Easting under out belt will make any East wind we encounter easier to sail (the prediction for tomorrow is East wind at 20 kts).

Speaking of the "Intermediate Waypoint"... this is a spot out in the Pacific close to the Southern edge of the Pacific High. Two weeks ago when we were at Molokai, this was at 30 N 130 W. Now it's more like 35 N 145 W. That's both good and bad. Good because to get to 35-145 it is further off the wind, but bad because 35 N is a little more risky place to be in the middle of winter. The Pacific High will protect us from any storms that come in from the West, as long as it doesn't collapse. If we get up to 35-145 and the High dissipates we will no doubt be in for a spanking from the South West. If not, we're safe from all the crazy winds and the only thing we have to do is motor across to the Eastern edge of the High where we will find the North winds that will take us to Mexico.

Today NAKIA exited the tropics for the first time since fall of 2008. Time to get out the long johns.

{GMST}23|3|N|150|2|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 4|Day 4{GEND}

HI to MX, Day 3

2011-01-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the wind fluky. One minute we'd be sailing along at 5 knots and the next becalmed. Along with scattered rain showers it made for slow progress. Last night was the first time I wanted long pants on (and we're only at 22N!) I guess it's a good thing we're going slow as it will give us a chance to thicken our blood. Had to kick a red-footed booby off the bow pulpit this morning, lest he become a victim of the great white death (Ziggy). Though I'm not sure who would have won the fight, the booby or Z.

The wind is supposed to veer into the SE today. Let's hope!

{GMST}22|27|N|151|41|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 3|Day 3{GEND}

Saturday, 1/15

2011-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

I know John's written a couple of blogs already but I thought I'd chime in with a short one to say how much I'm enjoying this passage so far. If we can keep up this slow but steady progress, I'll be happy. Most of the time we can stand out in the cockpit without getting sprayed which is the best part.

We're eating well thanks in part to Robert and Kelita on Freedom. They gave us a generous supply of lemons and oranges so we won't be getting scurvy anytime soon. They also gave us a couple of huge avocados and a bag of hand shelled and slightly toasted macadamia nuts straight from the tree. They have a friend with a farm in Hilo, so it's all good local stuff - not imported. We also picked up some delicious apple bananas and a few papayas from the local farmer's market. None of this will last the whole way, but we're enjoying it while we can. Thanks again you guys!

Ziggy is pretty much parked in the corner of the port settee since we're on starboard tack. Last night he took advantage of John cat-napping on watch and went out on deck to get a flying fish. Of course he brought it down below to the galley to eat. By the time John realized what had happened, all that was left were two big wings! Needless to say Ziggy didn't touch the breakfast I offered him this morning.

We're sticking with a conservative sail plan: reefed main, reefed jib, and staysail. This way we don't go much over five knots in the blustery bits, and are mostly in the four knot area. Slow but John doesn't have to reef and unreef. The Cape Horn wind vane is doing all the steering so far which has been nice. Yesterday was clear and sunny, but today has been mostly cloudy with some misting rain. We saw another ship today on the AIS, but never had a visual from seven miles away in the clouds.

Thanks again to Ed and Nila on Quixotic for hauling us all around Hilo!

Day Two, Happy Birthday to me!

2011-01-15T12:20:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't get everything I wanted for my birthday but when it comes to gifts at sea I'll take what I can get. The wind has turned on our nose (as expected) but remains light so even though we're beating hard into the wind the seas are down and it's not too bad a ride. This is supposed to keep up for another 24 hours and then lighten and turn more South. Both of which help us. We're making ok progress and are happy for our AIS unit which showed us three ships last night, long before we could see their lights.

John, Linda and Ziggy.

{GMST}21|08|N|152|43|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 2|Day 2{GEND}

Underway for Mexico

2011-01-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

We hauled anchor in Radio Bay at 1615 yesterday, a little late in the day to be starting a passage but we just couldn't wait any longer.

Hilo gave a final send of, pelting us with a biblical downpour for 10 minutes as we exited the harbor. Also, the Big Island put on a Big Show for us with lightening and thunder to our south and about a dozen Humpback whales to give us a send off.

In the end we couldn't have asked for a better first night at sea with light winds shifting from South to South East and a beautiful starry sky after the clouds cleared away.

{GMST}19|55|N|153|54|W|Sailing hard on the wind starboard tack|Day 1{GEND}

Molokai pictures

2011-01-12T17:12:00.001-08:00

I've posted some of our Molokai pictures and you can view them at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/Molokai#

We are finishing things up in Hilo with a diagnosis of prostatitis for John (no more Mexican hot sauces or those big ballena cervesas!). Since it's nothing serious he's ready to get going again, and (weather permitting) we'll probably head out of here tomorrow (Thursday).

Diverting to Hilo

2011-01-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

We spent a few days in Lahaina taking care of final business like provisioning, and topping off fuel and water. After a wonderful send off by family friends, we departed for Mexico in the wee hours of Saturday morning (to avoid leaving on a Friday which is bad luck for a sailor). We spent most of the day getting around the north end of Maui, when John realized some pain he's been experiencing had returned. Rather than continue on, hoping that it would go away, we decided to divert to Hilo so he can see a specialist this time.

It's a bummer to have to waste this good weather window on pesky things like minor medical issues. But we've decided John needs to get whatever's going on with him resolved once and for all before we can set out on any major passage. Not sure how long we'll be delayed in Hilo or where we'll go from there, so stayed tuned.

Molokai Touring

2011-01-02T17:02:00.001-08:00

We have had the very good fortune to be given the use of a car, and we spent the last day of 2010 and the first of 2011 touring the island. Friday started off with the disappointment of finding the library closed until Monday. But the rest of the town was bustling after the arrival of a full to capacity Molokai Princess, the small ferry boat which runs between Kaunakakai and Lahaina on Maui. Along with the day or weekend trippers, locals were out in force doing their shopping before everything closed for the weekend. We found The Friendly Market to be better stocked than the smaller grocery store we saw on our first visit to town with Chuck. The doors were open at Kanemitsu's Bakery and Cafe where we bought bread and apple fritters (no malasadas). A limited amount of local produce was being sold from a few small sidewalk vendors. Loaded down with our purchases we bought coffee and sat at one of the outdoor tables in the covered business area across the street from the library. We had both computers with us and I used a Hele stick (Mobi service) borrowed from Infini, while John picked up a free Wi-Fi signal from a nearby video store.

We got a call from Jamie, a Pacific Seafarers Net HAM operator, who let us use his Molokai mailing address to receive some boat parts we've been waiting for. To our great surprise he and his wife, Kim, offered us their old beater car which they've replaced with a new one for their use. As soon as John picked up the car we drove back to the Port to take all of our stuff out to the boat so we could go touring unencumbered. But when we jumped into the car again to begin our adventure, it wouldn't start! We were parked in a 30 minute waiting zone so John pushed us to the main parking lot and raised the hood. After fiddling with it for some time he got through to Jamie who gave him the magic instructions to get it running again.

With great trepidation (I thought we'd be sure to get stuck out in some remote area where the car would refuse to start for good!) we headed off down Hwy 450 East. We passed condos, parks, hotels, and houses and drove 20 miles before the road really narrowed and we decided to turn around (this was after we'd already passed two signs indicating "Road Narrows"). We stopped at a couple of old fish ponds where rock walls had been built to trap and catch fish. At one public beach access road we snooped on a perfect, human-enhanced cove, clearly marked "Private Lagoon" at the entrance from the ocean. Throughout the drive we were both reminded of Huahine or Moorea by the lush tropical woods, fragrant flowers, the same type of hedge fences, and very similar architecture of the houses. The major difference is that in French Polynesia you rarely see homes surrounded by collections of junk like the ones we saw everywhere. Not to mention the For Sale signs which abound here.

We made a last stop at the Kamoi Snack-n-Go for some Dave's Hawaiian Ice Cream which was ono (delicious). We parked the car for the night and took cold showers in the public restrooms next to the harbor master's office. It costs .10/foot for the boat plus $2/person per day to anchor out here so we wanted to get our money's worth out of it, cold water or not! I can't think of another state which charges money for boats anchored in public waterways, but maybe it helps the State prevent permanent liveaboards from choking Hawaiian waters.

Today we drove 17 miles out Hwy 460 West to Maunaloa (but not the additional five miles down the dirt road to Lono Harbor). We circled through and drove a few of the residential streets, and it was a bit reminiscent of Waimea/Kamuela on the Big Island. Only instead of the booming Parker Ranch, here the Molokai Ranch has closed and so has most of the town along with it (the Lodge, restaurants, and the movie theater). In fact this entire end of the island was completely different from the east side, with grassy rolling hills and mostly cleared land. The paved roads are red from the deep red soil. It's a beautiful bright green now, but there's a real problem with drought during the rest of the year.

On the way back we stopped to see Papohaku which is a big, white sand beach with huge winter surf breaking on a reef at the edge of the water. Down the same road we found the Ke Nani Kai which is a top end condo resort, the Kepuhi Beach Resort which looked like it had been turned into apartments for locals (by the looks of the cars in both the long and short term parking areas), and the Kaluakoi Golf Club and Resort which was boarded up. Driving back out to the highway we scared up a flock of half a dozen wild turkeys crossing the road. By this time we were pretty hungry and had the good fortune to stumble upon the Kualapu'u Cookhouse on a side road back to town. We ordered chicken katsu (John's fave) and the roast pork special, and both reminded us of the plate lunches we enjoyed at the Big Island Grill in Kona. Portions were large and we took a lot of both entrees home with us.

The weather has been predictably calm in the mornings until about 9 AM. The wind picks up and it can be very breezy in the afternoons, but then it usually calms down again by 5 PM and remains so during the night. Some afternoons are windier than others, but it's been very pleasant to have a little of both types of conditions each day.

Oh, and we spent a very quiet NY's Eve on Nakia. The fireworks and firecrackers were sporadic beginning after sunset with peaks at the top of each hour (to celebrate different time zones?). We went to bed at 10 PM and heard them going off until 12:30 AM. Fortunately a local law prohibited anything from being fired off after 1 AM, but there was a small party on the causeway which managed to keep the music playing until sunrise. Ziggy did very well, and I think it helped that they were intermittent rather than a concentrated crescendo of noise.

We've had fun playing tourist and it's made our stay here much more memorable than it otherwise would have been. We can't thank Jamie and Kim enough for their generosity. Sunday we'll probably take a break from all the fun and get back to business by taking a drive to the laundromat...

In a bit of local news, Maui County is going to be the first in the State to stop using plastic grocery bags beginning January 11!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family!

Molokai

2010-12-29T16:57:00.000-08:00

We're currently in Haleolono Harbor with plans to move to the town and port of Kaunakakai early tomorrow morning. We're waiting for one more piece of mail to catch up to us here in Molokai, as well as continuing to take advantage of the state library for copying DVDs to watch on our laptop when we can no longer receive English speaking television. We motored here from Oahu on xmas day and had several glimpses of whale spouts, backs, breeches, and flukes.

It was a relief to escape the big city where our days seemed to pass in a blur of trips to Walmart, Home Depot, and Costco, and bicycle rides to and from the library. I didn't even step on a bus until the week before our departure and that was only for a ride to the library after all the rain made riding a bicycle a damp proposition. After spending too much money on "stuff" we let xmas pass without even a hint of a tree, decorations, cards, wrapped presents, or holiday foods. Instead we ran our pedestrian errands amidst people carrying Victoria's Secret shopping bags (oddly enough these were predominantly women), and more people standing in long lines outside the mall Post Office carrying piles of Priority mail boxes. We didn't put a bow on it, but Ziggy got a 22 x 16 x 11 storage box as a new litter pan. He has taken to doing his wet business from only a half squat and we're hoping the high sides will keep it all in the box and not on the teak.

John made a round of doctors visits and lab tests for his annual physical, and we got a reminder of why we prefer to take care of these things in any other country but the U.S. We're used to paying cash for services and receiving copies of the results in turn. Here it was a challenge to get his own medical records given to him, and the bills have gone to insurance limbo. We're told that if the insurance company doesn't pay the full charges, we'll receive a bill "in a few months" which will end up at our mailing address in Oregon. It seems that by the time everyone gets paid, John will be due for another physical!

I enjoyed a two week visit with family in Portland at Thanksgiving time and had a great time getting to know the downtown area there. I was lucky to time my visit before all the bad weather and really enjoyed walking outside in the cold, but mostly dry winter days. Before departing Honolulu John and I took a walk along the Waikiki beach boardwalk, ate hot malasadas (a Portuguese donut) at Leonard's Bakery with Soggy Paws, and watched the xmas eve fireworks with Windy City.

Here in Lono Harbor we finally receive all the major networks, including PBS, which is more than we got in the Ala Wai. But there is no internet, and cell service is only possible from out on the beaches or breakwater - oddly enough, not from the boat, maybe because of the steep cliff backing the bay. A dirt road leads to a very sleepy village five miles away with a small post office and the Mauna Loa General Store which reminded us of the tiendas in Bahia de los Angeles (with all produce stored in a refrigerator). We were lucky enough to be invited to join a local man for the 30 mile drive to the main town in his truck. We spent the day with Chuck and his dog, Kula, with time at the library for internet, a walk-through of the small grocery store (which made me glad I stocked up at Foodland!), lunch at Molokai Burger, stops at hardware and auto parts stores, and a side trip to the Kalaupapa lookout (Father Damien's leper colony).

There are only about 6,000 people living on Molokai now and it seems even sleepier than when I visited in 1984. We've enjoyed slowing down for a few days and concentrating on things like cleaning the dinghy and Nakia's hull (in the murky water), and generally getting back into cruising mode again.

Honolulu

2010-11-13T22:57:00.001-08:00

A week ago today we found out the hard way that the Alenuihaha,Channel is not to be taken lightly. While we didn't attempt it at its worst, we also couldn't wait the extra couple of days for it to get better, so we took it on at about medium strength (forecasted at 25-30 knots). While we didn't break anything the seas were probably the worst we've ever encountered, and we were lucky not to have been knocked down. They weren't the biggest we've seen, but they were steep and breaking and it was scary. We had our main double reefed to practically nothing with just a scrap of jib out. The good thing is that John timed it so we were in it during early daylight hours, and it only took us five hours to reach the lee of Lanai where the wind almost completely died and we had to motor. I sure wouldn't want to do that at night!

We made our Honolulu landfall at dawn after heaving to for a couple of hours to wait for enough light to enter the channel. We tied up to the Aloha Dock at the Hawaii Yacht Club where we were happy to have an opportunity to hose salt off the boat again and fill our water tanks. My sister and her husband drove in from Ko Olina to welcome us and deliver our mail, and we all trekked over to the Ala Moana food court for lunch and some shopping. I bought my obligatory pair of Hawaiian Island Creations custom made slippas (you pick the color straps you want to go with the flip flop bottoms) which I discovered on my first visit in 1984. Leslie and Tom headed back to their resort and we finished picking up the boat before joining Soggy Paws on Infini where we were treated to a delicious post passage/welcome to Honolulu dinner.

While I normally like being tied to a dock with amenities as nice as the ones at HYC (showers, Wi-Fi, communal kitchen, book exchange, TV) it's really difficult when all Ziggy wants to do is get off the boat. The routine becomes: we get woken up at 4:30 when he hears the gardener and housekeeping staff starting work outside and wants to get out to see what everyone is up to; I finally throw in the towel at 5:00 or 5:30 after he's climbed on us a few times, knocked the clock off the bookshelf and, as a last resort, starts meowing; make the coffee and feed him even though he barely touches it because he's far more interested in going outside; and put his harness on and stake him out on the dock with his leash and about 20' of line until it's light enough (the sun comes up at around 6:30 here) to walk him around the club building. It has to be light enough for me to see whether he's eating something or just sniffing. The first day I let him eat all the grass he wanted, including some grassy plant with wide long blades which he was scarfing whole in 2-3" pieces. Well, he threw that up, still whole, in the flower bed, and threw up some more later in the day on the boat. No more eating grass after that! Our last morning there he managed to catch a very small brown gecko which I forced out of his mouth before it became breakfast. He wasn't able to find it again, so I hope it managed to survive intact.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday playing with Leslie and Tom. We took them out for a windy sail along Waikiki during which we passed a pile of fishing net floating in the water. John had only just informed Tom that we had a line out when Tom noticed that we had a fish on! It was a small mahi mahi which made a colorful leap out of the water, but it shook off the lure and was gone. We tried making another pass by the floating "dorado condo" without getting another bite. On the way back to the marina we made a brief stop at a Turtle Canyon mooring where we did indeed see a couple of turtles but not much else of interest in the murky water (only John and Tom actually got in the water). After putting the boat away we drove to a snorkeling stop at Electric Beach where a power plant discharges warm water not far from the small beach next to the plant. This was better with lots of fish but not a huge variety, and the water was murky again. We ended the day with homemade Lynchburg Lemonades on the beach at the Ko Olina Marriott resort where they were staying, a big dinner at the Outback Steak House, and an overnight with L&T in their beautiful suite.

The next morning we were somehow hungry enough for banana pancakes at Koa Pancake House. We stopped for pictures at the Pali Lookout on our way to beaches in the Kailua/Lanikai area. John and Tom burned calories by body surfing and boogie boarding while Leslie and I applauded and soaked up the sun. We tried another beach for snorkeling but L&T reported back that it was dead and murky, not to mention rough.

Finally we were hungry enough to get to Buzz's Original Steak House in Lanikai before they closed for lunch at 3 PM. We were met there by an old family friend from Bainbridge Island, who used to own a shoe store on the island. I have fond memories of our annual late summer pilgrimage to his store where he very diplomatically mediated between what the kids wanted versus what their mothers thought best for the coming school year! Stan treated us to sashimi and the best calamari steak appetizer we've ever had, and we enjoyed our lunches of fish burger, special Caesar salad, fish burrito, and fish Caesar salad accompanied by the house Mai Tais and BFRDs (Big Rum Drinks). There was a special brownie topped with ice cream for Leslie's birthday dessert, plus key lime pie, and huge wedges of ice cream "pie" for the rest of us. It was a delicious meal in a fun setting made even more special by our visit with Stan.

We wound down the day with one more celebratory drink atop the Ilikai hotel where there is a great view of the Ala Wai Marina and we could see Nakia tied up at the Hawaii Yacht Club. Finally it was time to say goodbye to Leslie and Tom, and return to reality after our "vacation" from our "retirement."

The next day we moved Nakia to a "slip" at the Ala Wai Marina where we are on a dock with no fingers; we are med-moored with the bow tied to a mooring ball and stern-tied to the dock. We're almost close enough to the boats on either side of us for Ziggy to jump off Nakia, but at least he can't jump to the dock (which we get to in our dinghy like we did in Honokohau). Now it's time for us to get busy with boat projects!

{GMST}21|17.020|N|157|50.595|W|Ala Wai Marina|Honolulu{GEND}

Kona

2010-11-05T20:03:00.001-07:00

We are just about at the end of our stay in Kona where the only thing keeping us here is the opportunity to spend time with our good friends, Ralph and Glenda. We have enjoyed lunches at the Kona Canoe Club and the Big Island Grill; shopping trips to Costco, Sports Authority, and Ross; and a visit to Honokohau Marina to see Our Country Home and have a quick chat with Chris on Quest. The most enjoyable part of the visit has been hanging out on their new lanai addition, admiring the ocean view and the new covered patio area in progress down in the back yard. Since our arrival the balcony glass has been installed in the lanai and lava paving stones were being set in the yard patio. These two areas add a lot of beauty and resort style living space to an already lovely home.

While we've been playing on shore poor Nakia has been bouncing around like a drunken sailor in the anchorage. Even with the rocker stopper the swell and wind chop have been awful, sometimes to the point of having to hold on to drinks to keep them from sliding across the table. After three nights of this we're feeling a little sleep deprived, and I think we'll be glad to get out to sea where we can get some better rest!

I bought Ziggy a nifty new toy. It's an egg shaped "weeble" type thing, weighted on the bottom half. The top screws off to fill it with kibble or treats and there's a small hole for them to fall out of. The idea is for the cat to manipulate the egg to get the kibble to fall out a few at a time, but the boat rolls so much that the toy is pretty much self-dispensing at the moment. But Ziggy got the hang of it right away and now he has to work a bit for the kibble portion of his meals. Whatever keeps him occupied!

This afternoon we went to lunch with Ralph and Glenda as well as Randy and Lynn (from the Pacific Seafarers Net) before heading over to Honokohau for a short snorkel. As luck would have it our old neighbor from last year, Russ on Lepika (http://www.lepikasportfishing.com/)
was backing into the fuel dock just as we arrived. John went over to say 'hi' and before John could leave Russ asked if he wanted to go fishing Saturday. Unfortunately we plan to sail for Oahu at 1 AM tonight/Saturday morning which should put us into Honolulu early Sunday morning. So no fishing on Lepika this trip.

Linda

Hilo to Kona

2010-11-02T13:49:00.001-07:00

We wrapped up our business in Hilo, including sharing a Sumo burger (two 8 oz patties and a double order of fries) and a hot fudge sundae at Ken's Pancake House. It rained most of the weekend and was still raining when we pulled away Monday morning. Once we were a mile offshore we cleared the rain clouds which continued to spread showers over the windward slopes of the eastern coast. We passed Waipio Valley before sunset but couldn't see into it with the low angle of the sun. We did see lots of waterfalls along the coast, and the peak of Haleakala way off in the distance on Maui. We managed to get some nice sailing in between bouts of light wind motoring and the night was clear and warm especially once we rounded the point by Hawi and headed south for Kona. What a difference in scents on the dry breeze coming off the arid volcanic leeward side compared to tropical Hilo. We anchored off the Kailua Kona pier just after sunrise and got the rocker stopper deployed as quickly as possible to dampen our roll a bit. We'll meet Ralph and Glenda for lunch later today and catch up on sleep tonight.

Before leaving Hilo Ziggy got to meet Tank, a Coast Guard dog in training. John took Ziggy up the wall where they could sniff noses. Tank is still just a big puppy and was very sociable and happy to make all our acquaintance. Of course after that all Ziggy wanted to do was go to shore for more exploring. But we'll hold off on that until we get to the Ala Wai where we can walk him on his leash and harness.

Of the remaining Equator Hoppers, Freedom should arrive late today or early tomorrow morning, Kehaulani still has 400 miles to go, and Alobar is somewhere in between. The weather is clear for them and all are doing well.

We will take care of a few more chores while we're in Kona and should be headed for Honolulu by Friday. We'll skip the overnight to Maui because it's also an overnight to HNL from here and we're ready to avoid even the shortest of additional hops!

Linda

First days in Hilo

2010-10-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, we got our blizzards while waiting for the return bus back to the boat. And the great news is - they now offer a mini blizzard!!!! Even the small was always too much for me and now, for a dollar less, I can get the perfect size. It's enough to satisfy my craving without feeling stuffed. Yay! I had pecan pie flavor and John had Georgia mud fudge.

But first things first. I think I mentioned that John did a fantastic job of setting a bow anchor and backing straight to the wall behind us, in between Tango (catamaran) and M/V Kiska, the small Coast Guard boat stationed in Hilo. I slowly let out the bow anchor rode until he backed close enough to literally lasso one of the ship sized cleats on the edge of the wall. That was enough to get us set until we could launch the dinghy to properly tie both stern lines.

We started the arduous task of rearranging everything below back to its proper place, though not entirely since we'll be going back out to sea again soon. At 8:00 John picked Gary up from Sea Flyer to go check-in with the Harbor Master and Customs. Unbeknownst to me, John got a call back from our Hilo veterinarian, and made a 9:00 appointment. So in the middle of my cleaning and before John and Gary returned from Customs, I heard a call from Dr. Skip Pease on the dock. Since the dinghy was at the ladder where John left it I couldn't fetch the vet but, good sport that he is, Skip climbed down into the dinghy and did his best to row over to Nakia. He looked over an uncooperative Ziggy and completed the Health Certificate required by Animal Quarantine.

The next visit was from a veterinarian from the Department of Agriculture who asked that we meet her up at the picnic table by the bathrooms because she had her small daughter with her. So we harnessed Ziggy and loaded him in his crate, into the dinghy, and up the ladder. She scanned Ziggy's microchip, checked our ID, filled out the Airport Release Card and other paperwork, and gave an unhappy Ziggy another once over. By this time he was really stressed and by the time we released him back on the boat his nose and paws were very pink and he was breathing quickly, though not actually panting. Last year he'd had a day to get used to his new surroundings before going through all this and it didn't phase him. I'm so glad we didn't have to put him through a long trip to the HNL airport, which you have to do if you check in on Oahu.

We took the first afternoon bus to do some shopping at the mall, and get the aforementioned DQ blizzards, and caught the last bus of the day back to the boat. Picked up some not very good Chinese at the Oceanfront Kitchen and plopped down to see what's new on the TV. To our surprise we found there's an election coming up this Tuesday and the TV is full of negative ad campaigning and ads against negative ad campaigning. Welcome back to the good ol' USA...

Yesterday we made an early morning trip to the local laundromat and managed to get all of that done in one trip. I returned in the afternoon for a visit to the library and more groceries. Since we can only buy what we can carry on the bus, it's nice to pick up a few things each time we go into town.

Today we heard from Alobar, one of the three remaining Equator Hoppers, who reports that Kehaulani discovered broken wires on their rigging. The breaks are at the top of the mast where they can't make repairs in the current conditions. They've called the Coast Guard for help and are hoping to divert another sailboat in the area to get a younger person who would be able to climb the mast for them. Otherwise they would have to motor the rest of the way, and they don't have the fuel capacity to do that.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day - nice for the Holland America ship visiting from SoCal - and last night we got a good rain. This morning I wiped the boat down to get most of the remaining salt off, and just now we had another rain shower to complete the rinse cycle. Next I need to polish and wax the stainless which is looking very rough after more than three weeks of taking a pounding of salt spray. But first we are probably going to Kona on Monday to meet up with good friends, Ralph and Glenda. We're sorry we're going to miss Freedom's arrival in Hilo this week, but we've got to get moving on to Honolulu soon.

Linda

Hilo Landfall

2010-10-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

After 24 days we made our arrival at 6:30 Thursday morning not without the usual last minute excitement. First it rained off and on on us and we had to motor the last six hours. Then I almost ran into the green buoy outside the breakwater when I was paying too much attention to an alarm going off on the auto pilot and John talking on the radio to a large car carrier exiting the bay in front of us. Then we had our usual tiff over the fact that I've never learned how to flake the aft section of the main sail and John has to do it for me. And the confusion over getting lines out and chain lockers cleared in preparation for actually tying up to shore. But John did an amazing job of setting our bow anchor and backing down on the wall close enough so he could lasso one of the big yellow dock cleats with our stern line. No assistance required! Our favorite gate grunt (security guard) was there to welcome us back. We're tied up next to Tango, a catamaran we met briefly in Anse Amyot, and down the way is Verite, the catamaran that (nicely) kicked us off their reserved mooring in Uturoa.

Ziggy doesn't know what to do with himself, and is following us around looking quite perplexed. I don't think he'll be going to sleep anytime soon this morning!

We're happy to have the boat still even if it means we now go into high gear fixing things and cleaning up the mess created by such a long, rough time at sea. The blog will be quiet for awhile until we're either settled in or moving again.

Linda

Wednesday, 10/27

2010-10-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had two signs of approaching land - I saw a frigate bird, which we haven't seen since leaving Raiatea, and we overheard Coast Guard Honolulu talking on the VHF radio! Yesterday was another wet and wooly day with one period of calmer wind and waves in the afternoon as big rain clouds passed all around us. The wind and waves have come back up since then; not as bad as before though there's still a good chance of taking spray any time you enter the cockpit.

Sea Flyer should be the third boat making landfall later today, and Nakia will be right behind them in the wee hours of tomorrow morning. There will be a lot of cleaning up to do to put this sailboat back to our cozy home, but we're looking forward to a date with blizzards at DQ.

One more day and night at sea!

Linda

Tuesday, 10/26 (dawn)

2010-10-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

We're getting reports that our latest position(s) haven't appeared on Pangolin or ShipTracker so here they are:

Sunday, 10/24
14 degrees 54 minutes North
148 degrees 24 minutes West

Monday, 10/25
16 degrees 19 minutes North
150 degrees 16 minutes West

Although yesterday was another windy (25 knots), rough (up to 12 foot seas) day, there was more sunshine making it not so ominous. What a funny trick of the mind that when the sun is shining it's all very beautiful, but when clouds color everything grey and dull it looks a bit more threatening. Last night was much calmer and we were able to let out a bit more jib to keep our speed up. John says the forecast is for plenty of wind all the way to Hilo until Thursday. It looks like we may arrive before sunrise Thursday, but we've been in and out of Hilo a couple of times and it's very straightforward and doable in the dark. Now I'm hoping for some nice rain to wash the boat with after we get tied up to the dock.

Ziggy's dinner slide across the table doesn't seem to have affected him and he's been a bit nicer lately. He knows our watch routine, or rather that one of us gets up while the other one goes to bed, and he always jumps out of his bed for a walk around the cabin or a scritchy-scratch on his cardboard "post" before settling back in bed to wait for his next meal. He's been playing with toys a bit, but is dying to get out of the cockpit for a bigger leg stretch. It's been too rough this passage to take him for walks around the decks. Yesterday morning he was out the door after daylight and sniffed out the two flying fish that were still on board - one just in front of the dodger (he was still underneath the dodger and didn't figure out to go around), and one little one in the cockpit well under the dinghy gas can. I was able to toss both stiff bodies overboard before he could eat them. He is truly one of our main sources of entertainment on a long passage like this as you can tell!

I didn't sleep very well last night and am looking forward to getting a solid three hours on my long off watch later this morning. You'd think we'd fall asleep at the drop of a hat when given the opportunity, but sometimes I have trouble shutting down my brain. We are trying to time our book reading to finish before we arrive since there won't be a spare minute with all the work and play to do. But I finished one last night and will see if I can get one last trashy book read in the next two days, before returning to more leisurely literary works. Can't wait to hit the library for some DVD rentals too.

Many thanks to all the encouraging emails from friends and family who are as anxious as we are to make landfall!

Linda

Monday, 10/25

2010-10-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

No long blog for today. Still very windy and rough and we are taking periodic waves breaking in the cockpit. Have the bottom hatch board in and now the companionway hatch roof closed. Before we closed the roof we took a little splash all the way into the galley and on top of my head since I happened to be standing at the foot of the steps at the time. I stopped hand feeding Ziggy some time ago and got him to eat standing on some carpet non-skid on our salon table. Last night the entire contents of the table - books, glasses, head lamps, kleenex, cat bowl, and cat - went sliding off on to the port settee cushion. Poor Ziggy. Now he gets to eat on the starboard settee cushion where he can at least dig in some claw.

We are still broad reaching under double-reefed main, no staysail, and a scrap of jib, making around six knots. Less than 400 miles to go, so at this rate we may be in Hilo very early Thursday morning. Three more nights!

Linda

Sunday, 10/24

2010-10-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday was probably the windiest we've seen it so far, but mostly a nice sunny day, so beautiful in a wild sort of way. Even though they don't really seem that big, I'm sure these are the seas that I've looked down upon from an airplane flying to/from Hawaii, thinking to myself how happy I wasn't out there in a small boat! But they're not really as bad as they look from above. I give the autopilot a break twice a day while John does the radio nets and email (our autopilot freaks out when we transmit on the radio so someone has to hand steer). I was nervous about standing out there for up to half an hour at a time but I think I gained more confidence as I got used to the conditions.

We had a new nature experience yesterday. I went out on deck before 8 AM for a horizon check and noticed a dark grey shape surfing in the waves off our aft starboard quarter. I figured it was a lone small dolphin and that I had missed the main pod (sometimes a few strays will hang around after the big group has left). But when I went back out at 8:15 to steer for John's radio net it was still there. I soon realized that it never surfaced to breathe and was more fish than dolphin or shark shaped. John joined me after the net and confirmed that it must be a dorado (mahi mahi). The amazing thing is that it followed us for the entire day! Every time I went out to check for ships I got so focused on finding the fish in the waves that I had to force my eyes back up to the horizon to scan for ships. It's been too rough to even think about fishing, besides which we still have a freezer full of dorado and I'm not a big fan of anything but salmon to begin with. Besides, it was kind of fun to have a fish mascot for a day!

We are still plowing through the collected works of "New York Times Bestselling" authors - Dan Brown, Nelson DeMille, Clive Cussler, Michael Crichton, Carl Hiaasen, David Baldacci, James Patterson, and Elmore Leonard. I managed to read the latter's "Out of Sight" without remembering the Clooney/JLo movie of the same name until John started reading it and pointed that out to me. Reading one book right after another is making them all a big blur, but it sure does pass the time. I manage to do a crossword puzzle now and then and John listens to pre-loaded podcasts of NPR shows like Car Talk and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me which keep him chuckling.

The second Equator Hopper boat to arrive in Hawaii is Dazzler. They checked into the Pacific Seafarer's Net off the coast of Molokai last night and expected to reach the Ala Wai Marina (their home port) around midnight. The rest of us are making slow but steady progress towards our various island destinations. The sailboat Entelecheia is checking into the PacSeaNet at night. They are sailing from the northern Cook Islands to Hawaii where they will store the boat until Spring and then make the final leg homeward to San Francisco. Now that's a long passage to Hawaii!

Linda

Saturday, 10/23 (dawn)

2010-10-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

We've had a couple of easy nights in light of the fact that we remember nights being much windier than days in our Pacific crossings. But once we got into the NE trades the days have been windy (18 or more knots) with rougher seas (nine or more feet) and the nights have given us some relief with calmer seas. Today has already started off with a bang. At 4 AM John completely furled the jib and at 6 AM he put the second reef in the main sail which, on our sail, is down to almost nothing. The staysail is still out which means we have nowhere else to go with regard to any more reefing. If he gets a calm period, John may drop the staysail and put out a little jib since that can be reefed and unreefed more easily.

Of course by now everything is covered in salt. The throw rugs are still from all the salt we track below on our shoes, the beach towels covering the settee cushions are damp with salt from John's shorts (he has to sit on salty surfaces to do any sailorizing), and our clothes are salty because we sweat day and night in the hot and humid cabin. We'll be doing a lot of washing and cleaning when we get to Hawaii!

Ziggy is bored out of his mind and has become almost untouchable. All he wants to do (except at meal time when he knows better) is take big bites out of us. His eyes are almost constantly in dilated (attack) mode when he's awake. I'm not sure how we're going to make it through five more nights without more bloodshed (ours not his).

But we are counting down the days and nights and are looking forward to a full night's sleep in our own bed on a quiet, motionless boat again!

Linda

Friday, 10/22 (dawn)

2010-10-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Though there may be more motoring ahead if the wind dies we managed to squeak through the ITCZ with only about 12 hours worth. After one (hopefully) last big black cloud covering the sky and raining on us, we've picked up the NE tradewinds. We're broad reaching now (the wind coming more from our side) and taking spray over the bow and into the cockpit again. It's a sharp jerky motion in the bigger seas, but we're moving along fast. We've set a waypoint for the Big Island and, if we can keep up this pace, we could be there by next Thursday or Friday, just in time for Halloween weekend in Hilo. Less than 900 miles to go!

Yesterday I caught a glimpse of what looked like maybe pilot whales. There were puffy spouts and they were much larger than dolphins. They surfed the waves aft of us before disappearing. We're also seeing the very sturdy and graceful shear waters, the little white-rumped petrels, and what I think are tropic birds without their long breeding tail plumes.

Before we left Nila asked me if I do my exercises while on passage. I had to laugh and told her that on a monohull (her boat, Quixotic, is a catamaran) just "being" is plenty of exercise. In addition to constantly bracing for the motion (okay, so maybe it's only isometric exercise), consider that we also climb up and down five steps every 15 minutes over 12 hours in every 24 hour period to scan the horizon outside for ships and weather. That sounds like exercise to me!

In anticipation of our arrival we're planning how to finish up our cabbage, carrots, and onions so that we don't have to waste any by handing them over to Customs. Last year they let us keep our last couple of onions, but other boats we know had theirs taken. So for now it's an onion a day until we can get back to an apple a day!

Linda

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=KE6HUA

Motoring in the ITCZ

2010-10-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning

We slowed down a bit yesterday and finally had to turn the engine on at 10:00 last night. We're still motoring at almost 9 and a half degrees North, trying to reach 10 North where we hope to pick up some wind again. We're much farther east than the boats ahead of us. Maybe that will make our ITCZ experience different (i.e., shorter!). Motoring is the worst for Ziggy because the noise and vibration are terrible. It's bad enough for us but must be torture for his sensitive ears. We put his crate on the pullman berth where it's quieter and he has escaped there even though the motion is probably a bit rollier up there.

Chris and Louise of S/V Quest arrived in Kona yesterday. They left Bora Bora on 10/3 and are a fast looking, custom aluminum boat. They are the first of our batch of Equator Hoppers to arrive in Hawaii.

After crossing the equator on 10/15 our sea surface temperature gradually started rising to 79 degrees by the night of 10/16. It stayed there until the night of 10/18 (at about 3 degrees, 42 minutes North and 141 degrees, 45 minutes West) when it went up to 80 degrees and gradually climbed to a high of 82.9 degrees yesterday at 7 degrees, 57 minutes North, 141 degrees, 59 minutes West. It looks like it may have started to drop last night, but we'll see. This may all be related to the influence of the east bound current which has been affecting us a little.

With the warm waters the air temps have also been warm and humid. Our skies are mostly cloudy with some fat clouds dumping rain around us. We've had a few clouds catch up to us with light rain, but no downpours so far. We've seen some very pretty sunsets and sunrises with all the clouds in the sky. Yesterday afternoon we had a dolphin visit (our second of the trip) and there are always the occasional birds to see. We're heading mostly NNE to try to get to 10 North as quickly as possible where we hope to pick up some wind by this afternoon!

Linda

Tuesday, 10/19

2010-10-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

It's a grey, sometimes rainy day. We're sailing downwind, wing and wing, which means we have to close the companionway doors when the rain starts. This makes for a humid cave below with the sea surface temperature now at 82.4 degrees! The good news is that we're averaging over six knots each hour instead of the dismal four or less we were making going upwind.

Nothing else to report. Just wanted to let everyone know all is well aboard Nakia, and we're making tracks for Hawaii.

Linda

Hawaii bound

2010-10-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

It's a bit of a blue day on Nakia as we have decided to postpone our dream to return to Mexico yet again. John crunched the weather faxes and grib files for the upcoming weeks and couldn't come up with enough days of southerly winds to justify the attempt from where we are now. Beating into more of the NE and E winds just didn't sound appealing especially now that those winds and seas have increased, making for a rougher ride. Turning off the wind to sail due North at Noon today was a relief to both our bodies and the boat.

The other factor is that the Cape Horn broke early Sunday morning. John knew before we left FP that the metal rod that failed was already cracked, but he just couldn't see paying hundreds of dollars in shipping and customs duty for a free replacement part. This actually wouldn't have been so bad for sailing to MX since our wheel lock does very well steering the boat upwind. But if we needed to use the auto pilot much we would have been draining our batteries and our fuel supply of gasoline and diesel would have been stretched beyond the limit to keep them charged for another month or more of sailing.

We have plenty of fuel to keep us charged up for the next 10-12 days of sailing to Hawaii. Now the issue is not being able to transmit on the HF radio when the auto pilot is steering. So we're back to the old days of Linda hand steering while John checks-in to the radio nets and sends/receives email. Since I don't particularly like standing out in the wind/spray/rain for this duty, I may not be generating as much email as I have been!

Now our only decision is where to make landfall, Hilo or Honolulu. We'll see what the weather looks like when we get closer before deciding whether or not to bypass Hilo and continue on to Oahu. Our next major hurdle will be crossing the ITCZ. The two boats ahead of us spent 36-72 hours motoring through it, and we really hope we don't have to do the same.

The good news about making Hawaii our near term destination is getting to see the birthday girl and all our cruising friends again!

Linda

Saturday, 10/16

2010-10-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

Since crossing the equator (our sixth, by the way!) we've continued to see some interesting temperature trends. We reached a new low of 74.7 before dawn today and it's been climbing steadily ever since. This afternoon the latest reading is up to 78.6 degrees. We're also noticing that even though we have a good wind (enough to heel us over), we're only making 4 kts or less. The combination of these things tells us that we must have reached the Equatorial Current which is west bound and is slowing us down as we sail mostly N or NE. We hope to have broken free of this obstacle by the time we reach 5 degrees north in a few more days.

Ziggy is on a strict "catch and release" program with regard to flying fish landing on the side decks at night. It's been calm enough that we're letting him get the fish himself. Although "letting" isn't really accurate since he's usually out the door and gone before we even realize there's a fish on deck. We grab a paper towel and wait for him to return to the cockpit where we wrap one end of the fish (which he conveniently holds by the middle) with the paper towel and yank it out of his mouth, throwing the whole mess overboard. What a stinky mess. I find fish scales in the oddest places because they blow or get tracked down below. Last night he caught a record six fish and we managed to keep him from eating any of them.

We on the other hand have been enjoying fish meals almost every day. Yesterday John made two nice loaves of bread, our first since leaving Tahaa. The morning of our departure we were on a mooring buoy at the Taravana Yacht Club. At dinner the night before I had thought to ask about the hours of the nearby bakery. So at 6:00 that Monday morning I took the dinghy in to the club dock and walked a couple of blocks for a last supply of fresh baguettes. Today we had mahi mahi sandwiches with John's fresh bread.

Today we also came within about 15 miles of one of the other boats headed for Hawaii. Sea Flyer departed on 10/7 from Tikihau in the Tuamotus, and we've been in touch with them daily on the morning radio net. It would have been a great photo op, but alas, even with GPS it's like looking for a needle in a hay stack and we never got a visual on them.

Soggy Paws emailed us that in addition to the Yotreps position reports on Pangolin, we are also being tracked at this site:

http://shiptrak.org/?callsign=KE6HUA&filter=30

Since we haven't seen it ourselves we don't know how it differs from Yotreps, but maybe it will give you a different view of things.

It's another clear blue day and we're sailing well on the wind vane, enjoying the ride and sleeping well.

Linda

Chillin' at the Equator

2010-10-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

We have a Furuno fish finder which we use as our depth sounder. One of the features of the display is the sea surface temperature. We record this along with the rest of our position data each hour 24/7 of any passage. It's been particularly interesting to watch this trip.

10/4 Day One out of Raiatea: 81 degrees.

10/5 Day Two: 81.7 is our high temperature so far.

The temperature was then consistently 80-81 for the next few days.

10/9 Day Six: dropped from 80.2 to 79.5 in one hour and remained constant around 79.

10/13 Day Ten: started dropping at 03 degrees 30 minutes South, 146 degrees 06 minutes West when it went from 78.6 to 77.7 in one hour, and gradually continued to drop.

10/15 Day Twelve: reached a low temp of 74.8 at 01 degrees 7 minutes South, 144 degrees 45 minutes West. Later this day, at 9:15 PM, we crossed the equator.

The cold water temps make for chilly, damp nights but the refrigerator/freezer, full of fish, doesn't have to work so hard to stay cool.

John gave Neptune an extra ration of rum at the equator in thanks for the smooth sailing so far, and made a teeny request for some south winds!

Linda

Good Thursday Morning

2010-10-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

Each morning the dawn breaks and I'm faced with a band of puffy clouds under which rain falls at various intervals. I worry and fret, but by the time we reach the clouds they've lifted a bit, the sun is warmer, and I've won my game of chicken once again. Although I don't like the thought of getting rained on (mostly because it sometimes means increased wind) Nakia would welcome a good bath. She's encrusted in salt - you can't touch a surface forward of the cockpit without coming up with a handful of salt crystals. But I'm in no hurry since I know our turn for a downpour will come soon enough.

Before we left I asked John to use some of our remaining Hotspot internet minutes in Raiatea to download some of our favorite cruiser blogs and web pages. So he pulled up an Explorer window and opened tab after tab of our friend's adventures. Now we're reading about Masquerade in Kwajalein, Nine of Cups and Sarana's summer in the States, Mist in Hawaii, and even Yohelah's 2005 Pacific NW entries. Great fun to have the company of friends during a long passage!

Ziggy got a flying fish on the side deck last night but I grabbed some paper towels and relieved him of his catch as soon as he returned with it to the companionway. They are stinky, slippery things. Freedom reported "catching" one that was a foot long! We've never seen one that big.

It was another nice, quiet night, and we'll hope for another sunny day moving along. Oh, and yes, we have plenty of food on board to get us where we want to go! Just not as many fresh veggies/fruits as we normally would because variety of the former is limited, quality of imported produce is poor, and all are expensive in French Polynesia.

Linda

Wednesday night, 10/13 (midnight watch)

2010-10-14T05:49:00.001-07:00

Nothing new to report, but I thought I'd check in just to let everyone know all is still very well aboard Nakia. We are having a good upwind sail with fine weather. This morning the wind was a bit more out of the north than usual so John tried putting us on port tack. That had us going too far south and we went back on starboard tack after a few hours. Boy, once you're used to being on a certain tack, it's hard to make the transition to the opposite one.

Yesterday John caught a skipjack type of tuna (not the bad kind like in Mexico) just as our morning oatmeal was ready to eat. Later in the afternoon he hooked a bull dorado. So I cleared the freezer of all our baked goods and it looks like we'll be eating our fill of fish. Ziggy can't get enough but we're limiting him to what we hope are small enough quantities to keep him both happy and healthy. (I still don't understand what it is about fish that cats with UTIs are not supposed to eat it.) He gets pretty frisky after meals these days and is really tearing into his cardboard scratching "post."

Linda

Tuesday, 10/12

2010-10-12T09:55:00.001-07:00

If we have to sail upwind, we couldn't have asked for a more perfect first week. We've had a reefed main out, the staysail, and the jib on port tack, and the only trimming has been to the jib. Granted we've been sailing slow - anything over 5 kts feels fast - and are envious of the boats reporting 5.5 - 6.5 average speeds. But we've been much more comfortable this time and I think a lot of it has to do with slowing down. Last night was the first slightly uncomfortable night with the boat crashing off more waves and generally bouncier conditions, even though it didn't seem any windier than usual.

Even though we've seen lots of them the entire way, we had our first boarding of suicidal flying fish last night. Ziggy was coming down the companionway with the first one before John caught him. So now he's in his harness waiting for a dawn release. It will be better once the moon is more full. My theory is if there's enough light to see by, the fish are able to avoid us more easily.

I forgot to mention my latest "home improvements." As nice and clear as the days are we still have to have every hatch and port hole closed up against the ocean spray making it very hot and stuffy below. We take a lot of sun through the hatches above the salon. One day I got the bright idea to open the screens (which hinge down), lay paper towels on top of them, and latch them back in place. Now we still get lots of diffused light without taking the direct sun. I think it also cuts down on the amount of heat entering the cabin. With that in mind I also taped a bandana over the quarter berth port hole where the morning sun was bothering me on my first off watch of the day. That too has helped keep the berth cooler. Can't believe it's taken us going on six equator crossings to think of simple things like that.

You may have noticed that we're sailing quite far east of Hawaii. This is in anticipation of crossing the ITCZ and getting into the northern hemisphere winds where we'll be able to crack off the wind and have a nicer sail to Hawaii. Or it's because we're heading to Mexico. That decision is still out, but we should be making it soon.

Sailing slow, but very comfortable and happy campers!

Linda

Books on Nakia

2010-10-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

Before we left Hawaii, after Ziggy's emergency visit to the vet, I decided we needed some cat health books on board. The vets I asked for recommendations looked at me with blank stares so I started looking for myself. I ended up buying the following three books. It seemed silly at the time to order multiple references, but I'm happy I ended up buying all three of the cat books because they're from different points of view and I can pick and choose what works best for us. I hope all our cat owning friends will pass on their favorites to us as well!

Your Cat by Elizabeth M. Hodgkins - This is the first one I read cover to cover. She's a former Hill's Science Diet exec and an adamant opponent of feeding dry food. Has some good data on cases where merely changing the diet improved health issues. Using her food analysis I now know that the Rx Hill's diet (canned and dry) that we stocked up on for Ziggy is poorer quality than the few Friskies cans we still have on board. I kept looking for the flaws in her logic because I'm sure vets won't agree with her, but she makes a compelling argument.

The Natural Cat by Anitra Frazier - Raw meat diet and homeopathic care proponent. Okay, this one is on the extreme end of things, but she has some good recipes for making your own food, and lots of tips. Who knew roasted chicken neck vertebrae make a good teeth cleaning treat. It's a "feel good" read in that she makes it sound possible to get your cat to do anything, when I know for a fact I couldn't do 3/4 of what she suggests with Ziggy!

Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook by Eldredge, et al - haven't dipped into this one much yet, but looks like a nice middle of the road reference from mainstream vets.

In the reading for pleasure department I have two big recommendations:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - Inspiring read about her family's goal to eat locally for a year, including growing as much of their own food as possible. Makes me want to make my own mozzarella cheese, which is saying a lot! Can't do anything about the gardening at the moment, but lots of good food for thought (pun intended).

The Pickup, a novel by Nadine Gordimer - Although the inevitable ending was no surprise this is a beautifully written story that stayed with me for days afterwards.

Now we're reading mass market "beach books" which for me are simply time passers. I don't normally read many of these and reading them back to back has been kind of interesting. The first one, a David Baldacci, was a fast paced page turner in which every possible suspect, motive and plot twist was thrown out to get the reader off the track. But the author lost me when the killer turned out to be one of the "normal" characters who conveniently became a psycho. Now I'm onto a Clifford Irving in which the real suspects are evident in under 100 pages, but which is much more character and issues driven making it a more thoughtful read.

The reason we're reading these small paperbacks is because they have been stuffed behind our shelf of reference books and literary fiction behind which we again have a small salt water deck leak. I've stuffed towels behind all of them, but we decided we'd better read them before they got water logged.

It's Sunday and we're having another beautiful clear sunny day, although the sailing is slower than we'd like. John estimates that Robert and Kelita on Freedom are about 75 miles behind us, with the rest of the boats up ahead of us, and all are doing well. Freedom happened to pass Caroline Atoll in the daytime and decided to sail NW to get in the lee of it for what they reported as being the best six hours of sailing they've ever had. Said the atoll was beautiful and appeared completely uninhabited, but too deep to anchor for a visit. We passed at night so had to give it a miss.

Linda

Saturday, October 9

2010-10-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

We continue to truck along towards the equator and the ITCZ (Intercontinental Tropical Convergence Zone) which is the hurdle we must cross to get into the northern hemisphere weather patterns. We've had a pretty slow start but that made for a very comfortable adjustment period which was actually almost enjoyable. Spray seldom flew over the dodger making it possible for us to stand outside to look out over the sparkling blue ocean. We were sailing close to the wind (close reaching) using our trusty wheel lock to let Nakia steer herself once the sails were balanced just right. Last night the seas became a bit rougher and this morning John fell off the wind a bit (more of a beam reach) and switched over to our Cape Horn wind vane self steering.

Although I was aware of the jerkier, more side to side motion of the boat I neglected to think about how it might affect Ziggy. He was his usual self, pestering me for breakfast at dawn, and I encouraged him to eat a full breakfast of canned food (which, with additional water added to it, is the only water he's "drinking"). Big mistake. How is it that the volume of what goes in appears to triple when it comes back out? All over one of the carpets, which I wiped and then stuffed in the anchor chain locker to grow god knows what. Poor guy has been sleeping it off ever since.

So far this week's mishaps have been a bit costly but minor. During the worst night with lots of adjustments being made to the jib (in and out) a locking Lewmar winch handle managed to go over the side when it wasn't properly locked in the winch. One day John decided to let the fishing lines stay out well into sunset. When he pulled them in he had lost his big purple and pink fishing lure. It hadn't caught anything yet, but it was one of John's favorites. He was using a 400 lb test leader on it so whatever took it must have had something sharp to cut through the metal.

We are traveling "in company" with a few other boats and John is running a radio sked in the mornings for everyone to call in with their position, weather, and any general comments. The boats are all very different models and traveling at varying speeds so we're pretty well spread out, but it's nice to keep track of each other and hear the various wind/wave conditions. About half are headed straight to Honolulu and the others are going to Hilo. We'd like to go to Hilo first where it's easier to clear in with Customs but we'll see what kind of progress we make. We also wouldn't want to arrive there on a weekend and have to wait around to clear in, so it's possible we'd go straight to Oahu.

The weather has been mostly clear and sunny with a few puffy clouds. We see birds daily and one of the first days out I came out on deck to look around and just happened to be looking in the right spot when a whale with a very white belly breached the water and went over on its back off in the distance. I couldn't see the fins but it was pretty amazing especially when that wasn't even my "scheduled" 15 minute interval to be up on deck. What are the odds of that?!

Linda

Hawaii or Mexico?

2010-10-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears that someone who is celebrating a very special birthday in Hawaii has guessed that may be where we're going! And it certainly is the most likely possibility although you do have to go north to turn east for our other favorite place. However we'll probably wimp out on that one (again) especially since the ship's quarter master (me) didn't do a very good job of provisioning for an extra long passage (really miss all those free pamplemousse, limes, bananas, and mangos in the Marquesas).

So unless something happens to make us change our minds we are Hawaii bound for the time being!

Continuing to have a particularly pleasant passage (there, now I jinxed it), and looking forward to either destination.

Linda (and John and Ziggy too)

(no subject)

2010-10-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm going to leave the position reports to John and keep mine short since time is limited. I know that sounds weird but there is either lots to do or we're trying to get some rest. We're using our time tested watch schedule in which I am up at 0400 to see the dawn begin at 0500. Ziggy lets me know he sees it getting light as well which means it's time for his breakfast. I basically have to hold or prop the food bowl for him while he's hunkered down or curled up in his bed. I think he feels more secure there and is less likely to get thrown about with the motion of the boat. (I already have calluses starting on my hands just from holding on.) After he's done then it's my turn to bolt a hard-boiled egg and a granola bar or one of various baked goods from the freezer. Of course every 15 minutes the watch alarm is going off telling me to go outside and have a look around for ships. And then on the hour we record our GPS position in the log book. More about all this later. My 15 minutes are up!

We are well and happy and enjoying a very slow sail to somewhere or other.

We are posting our positions to the following web site instead of here on the blog, so you can track us by clicking here:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=KE6HUA

Linda

Where's Nakia?

2010-10-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

We finally broke free of Bora Bora but not French Polynesia. After some more kite boarding, baking, sewing projects, swimming, snorkeling, another lunch at Bloody Mary's, and some laundry we returned to Raiatea and anchored near the boat yard. We spent so much time in Bora Bora with no weather window for visiting Maupiti in sight that we decided to stay here a couple of more weeks before making our next big push.

Ed is making a hard bimini for his catamaran, Quixotic, and Robert (on Freedom) and John volunteered to assist him with this big project. So Nila, Kelita and I have been playing haus fraus on the boats until recently when the other women decided to pitch in with the fiberglassing and help move things along. I've been doing much more cooking than usual, and a lot of cleaning and small boat projects to get ready for our departure.

Speaking of which, we've decided to play a little game with the friends and family reading our blog. We were pretty certain of our "off" season destination until just recently. Since now even WE are not sure where we'll end up, we thought it would be fun to let you figure it out as we go. We'll post position reports during our passage as usual and you can follow along on your mapping reference of choice. No prizes will be awarded, but we'll look forward to reading your guesses!

The September weather here was nuts. Even the locals were saying it's not usually so windy and rainy. It's been some of the most changeable conditions I've ever experienced, taking only a few minutes to turn from warm and sunny to a (usually brief) torrential downpour or just a light sprinkle. We've been having half a dozen showers a day and often one or two at night, accompanied by gusty winds. This makes going anywhere in the dinghy, hanging laundry out to dry, and keeping the boat hatches open, all dicey endeavors. But with a view of beautiful Bora Bora in our backyard, we're not complaining!

Linda

Bora Bora

2010-09-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

We haven't been having much in the way of adventures since arriving in Bora Bora. In fact it took 12 nights here before we even stepped on shore at the island itself! Instead we've focused on a motu oriented life which, since they're all privately owned, means hanging out on the boat and in the water around the motus.

The snorkeling is mostly poor here. Places advertised as "coral gardens" were devastated by natural events like El Ninos and cyclones and will take years to recover. But we keep poking around wherever we happen to be anchored and John usually manages to find something interesting like a lionfish or an eel. I'm happy just being in clear water and the smallest things will hold my interest. We had one good day inside the reef west of Motu Topua, but you really have to get right up next to it to find much live coral. The coral garden at the extreme southeast corner of the lagoon (around Pt. Faroone) was a desert of bare tan rock surrounded by black spiny urchins on top of the sand. The tour boats seem to focus on feeding stingrays and sharks since there's nothing much else to see. Probably our best day of snorkeling was on the reef behind the anchorage at Motu Tupe. There's a beautiful live coral reef running the length of the drop off between a green navigation mark and a black and yellow West cardinal mark. We saw corals there that we haven't seen anywhere else, though no big fish. Manta rays are supposed to run along here and John spotted two before it disappeared into the depths. My "trophy" was watching a big moray eel free swim from a small rock with no place to hide to a larger hidey hole. But the biggest surprise was seeing a juvenile Pacific Sailfin Tang for the first time, a very unusually shaped and colorful little fish. Water clarity is an issue when it's been windy, and return trips to this reef were murkier than the first visit.

{GMST}16|29.582|S|151|42.238|W|Motu Tupe|Bora Bora{GEND}

A bonus of hanging out with other boats is getting to play with their toys. Ed on Quixotic is a certified dive instructor and has enough gear on board to share. So John went out with him for a shallow dive on the above mentioned reef. Since John already does a lot of free-diving he was perfectly comfortable with the scuba experience. Ed also has a kite board with small, medium, and large kites. He doesn't have a harness to fit John so Ed and Robert have been taking turns learning the ins and outs of flying the kite with John acting as sag wagon for them in the dinghy.

Before they could start flying the kites though, they had to get together to fix the kite bladders which were all failing at the fill nipples. This was a major undertaking which took so long that they finally perfected their technique using lots of 5200. Other projects for the guys included trying to repair Quixotic's inverter (which proved to be inoperable, but John had a brand new small one which should tide them over until they can get what they really need); replacing a steering eye bolt on Nakia which was literally hanging by two threads of remaining metal - potentially catastrophic had it failed transiting one of the narrow passes we go in and out of at each island; and Robert discovered a leak in his fuel tank on Freedom which he's in the process of fixing before they leave for their long passage back to California - very important!

We've had weather all over the map here. The day I last wrote we had a big front pass through, complete with thunder and lightning which is very unusual. Needless to say we filled our tanks and did laundry with all the excess water we caught by plugging up the side decks. A week later the winds had died, the swell was down, and we should have left for Maupiti. But who wants to move when it's so beautiful and you're enjoying the company of friends? We were lazy and complacent and we missed the best weather window possible for entering the narrow pass at Maupiti. Now we're paying for our inertia by sitting out increasingly breezy days with no end in sight for at least another week. More rain is going through this weekend and the water is murky with the sand getting stirred up by waves coming over the outside reef.

We'll probably move back down to the really shallow water at the SE corner soon for an internet fix. We've been able to buy Wi-Fi time through Hotspot and the signal has been good in places like Motu Taurere (but not at Motus Tupe or Topua) and from the moorings at Bloody Mary's. It's expensive and mostly slow, but it's a diversion and John can get a better handle on weather with the additional resources.

{GMST}16|31.887|S|151|42.358|W|Motu Taurere|Bora Bora{GEND}

I hate to rave too much because we've been restaurant deprived for so long that we may be easily bowled over by any place, but I have to say that we had one of the best cheeseburgers and fries at Bloody Mary's, not to mention their house specialty drink which was a perfect blend of spices and tomato juice. The ambiance (a sand floor where you're invited to check your sandals or shoes at the entrance) was the perfect mix of casual elegance, and best of all the lunch time menu was a bargain for French Polynesia. Burgers (including a generous portion of steak fries) started at 1000 CFP and a Bloody Mary was 650 CFP. We had such a great time that we made the mistake of returning for drinks and appetizers with Sidewinder that night and ended up spending a whopping amount at the bar. Funny how that happens especially when you're saying goodbye to friends you won't be seeing for a long time!

{GMST}16|31.655|S|151|44.660|W|Bloody Marys|Bora Bora{GEND}

We're back at Motu Tupe now where we girls forked over the big bucks to visit the Lagoonarium. This is a private motu with chaise lounges on a sandy beach fronting fenced fish pens and including a "turtle rescue program." We initially understood the cost to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-20 which would be reasonable. But when we started to hand over our 1500 CFP apiece we were told that the cost was 2500 CFP. Since the guys had opted out we decided to go proceed at the higher price (all it takes to reel me in is "turtles"). It turned out to be a lovely, if eco-questionable, place, but sadly short on small, colorful fish. The emphasis is on the big pen containing captive blacktip and gray sharks, along with stingrays and a pair of spotted eagle rays. There were also some large pufferfish, and schools of jacks and other big fish. Two small, shallow pens let tourists get even closer to stingrays. The even smaller turtle pen housed five sea turtles with an elevated wooden walkway for viewing them from above. No swimming is allowed in the turtle pen although you can wade in to hold your camera underwater for pictures. We watched as a group of tourists brought in by boat was herded first to the turtle pen where a guide hauled one of the turtles (flapping its fins in vain) out of the water onto the sand for a photo op and lots of touching. Then on to the shallow stingray pen where guides rode the rays like bucking broncos until they finally hauled one up to show off its two male organs, tail (stinger broken off), and mouth, again with more touching. Finally the big finale - everyone into the water for the shark feeding frenzy. And then everyone out of the water to line up for a buffet lunch with musical accompaniment ("La Bamba" - in French - on the ukulele). Since we weren't part of the tour our admission entitled us to a lovely plate of fruit for our group of three. I have to admit, it was the best pamplemousse, watermelon, coconut, and bananas I've ever paid for!

Linda

Taking it slow

2010-08-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 21

Nothing very exciting to report for the last week and a half, but here are some of the highlights.

From our favorite anchorage on the mostly sandy reef opposite Pt. Tenape in Uturoa, Raiatea we made a return trip to our other favorite anchorage in Baie Tapuamu on Tahaa. Only this time it took three tries before the hook finally found some sandy mud. John was trying to get us positioned a little farther away from our previous spot next to the coral reef on the north side of the bay in anticipation of some forecasted southerlies. In the end we were fine in the same old place, and we spent two nights there while we topped our water tanks from the gas station, did several loads of laundry, and filled up on both diesel and gasoline. This would be an ideal location if only the people in the store were a little friendlier and the dogs on shore a little quieter. Otherwise it's nice and peaceful and has everything we need with easy access to shore in the small boat harbor. Norbert even stopped by to sell us some more bananas and play us a song on his ukulele.

Our laundry chores have been greatly eased with the gift of a spinner machine from Quixotic. They thought theirs was broken and arranged to have a new one delivered by a friend visiting from the States. In the meantime Ed managed to fix the old one, and they insisted we give it a whirl. We still do the washing and rinsing in buckets, but the spinner really cuts down on the amount of wringing we have to do. It also does such a good job of spinning out the soapy water that we're able to reduce the amount of fresh water needed for rinsing. We're able to run it on our inverter and we use it on the side deck where it can drain right out the scupper. We were concerned about taking on "one more thing" but for now it fits nicely in our (unused) shower (along with a couple of water jugs). We are so glad Ed and Nila talked us into taking such a wonderful gift!

The weather was settled so we decided to continue a circumnavigation of Tahaa. First we explored Baie Apu where the Taravana Yacht Club is located. Although we had heard wonderful things about Richard and the YC dinners we were reluctant to spend the money for a mooring. There were a few boats anchored near the mooring field but we weren't comfortable anchoring in 90+' of water. We even nosed all the way in behind Ile Toapuhi - which would have been a long dinghy ride from the YC - but never found anything less than 90'. Several of our friends recommended the Tuesday YC buffet and show, but we'll save the $60 per person for something else.

We continued on to Ile Mahaea near Passe Toahotu to anchor in about 8' of water over a sandy shelf near a few catamarans. We had an uninteresting snorkel out near the reef. Our second day there we drift snorkeled the pass where there was mostly dead coral and no big fish, but we did see a nice variety of colorful eels. John took the dinghy back to Nakia so I could swim the rest of the way by myself over a shallow sandy bottom. I stopped to watch a pretty little nudibranch and eventually counted six of them in the general vicinity. I had passed over an old conch shell, but when I turned back to look at it again there was a tiny octopus crawling out from under it. It came most of the way out of its home, holding onto the outside of the shell with three tentacles. It's always amazing to me that there's so much to see in an otherwise barren looking area.

{GMST}16|38.380|S|151|25.670|W|Ile Mahaea|Tahaa{GEND}

On Tuesday we got an early start back down to Tautau with a brief stop in Patio for groceries. This was our third time to Patio but we were disappointed that we never saw again the lovely French bread of that first visit with Gloria Maris. On to Tautau where, instead of anchoring off the reef in front of the coral garden, we opted for the sandy shallow area to the south of the motu. We think this is the nicest spot for watching Bora Bora's impressive profile in the sunset, but it can get very choppy if the wind is up. Sidewinder and Freedom joined us for their first visit to the coral garden and they agreed that it isn't anything all that special. But when everyone else was out of the water and John and I were bringing up the rear, he motioned for me to swim back to him against the current. I was thinking "this better be worth it" because I was already cold. Well boy, when I looked where he was pointing I saw something the size of a small sea lion and realized it was about two feet of moray eel sticking out from its hidey hole. Then John told me to look carefully because the eel's mouth was wide open and a tiny cleaner fish was actually disappearing into the black void to take care of some eel dental work! I'm not sure novice snorkeling tourists would really enjoy seeing a huge eel, but our guess it that it's gotten so big from being fed by the tour guides.

{GMST}17|32.420|S|149|34.228|W|Ile Tautau South|Tahaa{GEND}

We were anxious to catch up with Quixotic again so we left the next day for Bora Bora where we are again anchored in about 8' over sand. This time John got curious about the exact difference between what our depth sounder reads and how much water is really under our keel, so he got out the metal yard stick and dove down to the bottom. We now know that we have 18" between us and the sand here. We are a bit of a novelty as most monohulls stick to deeper water, and we've even had a couple of dinghies stop by to ask us how much water we're anchored in. We don't mind shallow as long as the bottom is sand or mud, and there's nothing like the feeling of being anchored in a swimming pool. On one clear night John woke up and went out on deck to check on things, and to his amazement he watched a spotted eagle ray swim by Nakia in the moonlight.

We were excited to see John and Kara on Orca underway just after we came in the pass. They followed us over to drop the hook for a couple of hours to prepare for their passage to the Cook Islands. After they stowed the last of their gear and gave Orca a final scrub, John sent them off with a blast of his horn, and they sailed out of the lagoon with their drifter up in the light breeze. We hope to keep track of them (along with Gloria Maris, now at Penrhyn) by HF radio until they get out of range.

Our first night here we were invited to dinner on Quixotic to say farewell to Joe and Adrienne on Blue Bottle before they left for Tonga on Thursday. This is just one of several dinner and happy hour exchanges that we've shared with our friends from various boats recently. Most boats are heading off in one of two directions to the Cooks and Tonga, but there are a few that may be headed in our, third, more unusual direction. In the meantime we're taking life slow and enjoying the scenery and the company of interesting people.

{GMST}16|30.654|S|151|46.368|W|Ile Topua|Bora Bora{GEND}

propane

2010-08-11T16:48:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, August 11

We're back in the general vicinity of Uturoa, Raiatea to fill our propane tanks before we go to Bora Bora. This time we're sharing our special transfer hose with Quixotic. The hose has one end that connects to the local tank's fitting and another end which connects to our U.S. style fitting. The idea is that you hang the local tank up high somewhere (like in your rigging) and drain the gas out of that tank into your tank which is down on deck. It usually works pretty well although sometimes you can't get all the gas out of the local tank. Then you return the (mostly empty) local tank to the store where you bought it to get your deposit back on the bottle.

Gas wasn't available at the village in Tapuamu so the guys had to dinghy up to the next bay to the village of Murifenua to get a full bottle. The Chinese people running the store there were much friendlier than the people in Tapuamu so we were happy to give them the business. Apparently as of August 1 the price of propane/butane has risen a whopping 130 CFP per 13 kilo bottle and the locals bought up all the full bottles at the old price. So until they use up the gas and return the empties, full bottles are in short supply. We managed to get the one for Blue Bottle right after a supply ship arrived, and when the guys returned the empty, all the full ones were sold out again (I guess by the people who aren't hoarding the cheaper bottles!).

The tank for Blue Bottle was slow to drain so we ended up spending an extra night at quiet little Tapuamu before heading north to meet up with Gloria Maris on Sunday. We talked about meeting them at the main town of Patio at the north end of Tahaa, but the wind had cranked up and we back-tracked a little to Baie Pueheru for much better protection.

{GMST}16|35.220|S|151|31.605|W|Baie Pueheru|Tahaa{GEND}

Kim and I went ashore in the afternoon and ended up walking to the store at Murifenua without realizing that it was the same place John had gone for propane. The Chinese woman said they had lived there for 20 years and their children also had houses in the village. It is a very nice store but their baguettes come from an in-house bakery and are probably the toughest we've had even when fresh.

On our way to the store we were walking on the lagoon side of the road which had about 10 feet of landscaping with low grass and tiare bushes (the local gardenia flower). It would be just our luck that an adorable kitten came out from under a bush at our approach, crying vehemently for help. It had blue eyes and was small enough to hold in the palm of your hand - too young to be away from its mother without human aid. We foolishly carried it to the two nearest houses thinking it might have strayed from its "owner" since it seemed to be so people oriented. But no one wanted to claim it or help us find where it belonged, so we reluctantly returned it to where we'd found it. Other than the distress at being left on its own it seemed clean (well, Kim found at least one flea) and not underweight, so we're comforting ourselves with the thought that its mother was simply off hunting for the afternoon and would return to care for it later. :-(

The next morning the four of us walked about four kilometers to Patio where there is a post office, a computer store, several small restaurants, and at least two stores. We were excited to find that the second store had nice big loaves of French bread. They were really nothing more than an overgrown baguette, but they were nice and crusty on the outside and wonderfully soft on the inside. And when you see nothing but baguettes for months on end any variation in the form is a novelty.

Gloria Maris was trying to complete their final checkout with the gendarmerie which is somewhat complicated by the fact that they had to post a bond (we took care of everything through our agent in Papeete and were exempted from the bond requirement). They had been told in Uturoa that they had to do this in Bora Bora, probably because the officials figure that everyone will leave French Polynesia from there since it's typically the last stop for cruisers. But Don and Kim visited BB last year and weren't stopping there again this year. In Patio they were told that they should be able to do it in Uturoa as long as they weren't going to BB. So back we all went to Raiatea in very gusty winds with some sailing and some motor-sailing. It was so bad we even took some salt spray over the decks. ;-)

Don and Kim were able to complete their check-out on Tuesday and got their bond returned from the bank so they're continuing west today or tomorrow. We filled Quixotic's propane tank yesterday and today it's our turn. As soon as we have more moderate weather we'll cross over to Bora Bora to see what that's all about. We've been hearing good reports about Maupiti and Mopelia which are the two atolls beyond BB, and we especially want to stop at the former to swim with manta rays which gather there to feed.

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Tahaa, the Vanilla Island

2010-08-05T17:51:00.001-07:00

We managed to stock up on eggs and baguettes at the little store in Baie Ereea from which I last wrote. We took the dinghy over to a ramp-like opening in the wall at the covered football (soccer) court and it was easy enough for John to land me while he waited in the dinghy. I walked to the road, took a right and the store was only a block away on the left. They apparently have two baguette deliveries so if you don't feel like getting up at 0600, you can go in at 2:30 PM for fresh bread.

After another night of >30 kt gusts we decided we'd had enough. Our anchor held without any problem, but it was nerve wracking being in such a tight, shallow area, filled with coral heads. If anything went wrong, it would have been difficult to maneuver in the middle of the night. Of course since we left, our friends have had nothing but nice calm nights.

So on Saturday we departed for Tahaa in wind and rain. By the time we were inside the lagoon again at the north end of Raiatea, and could see Quixotic anchored just north of Passe Rautoanui, John had had enough of standing out in the rain. We nosed along the edge of the sand on the reef side until we found a spot with few coral heads, and dropped anchor in 40' of water on the sandy slope. We figured the anchor couldn't drag uphill and so we didn't mind ending up on top of the sandy shelf with 9-12' under our keel. Ed and Nila invited us over for happy hour on Quixotic and we enjoyed a slide show of their six months of travel by caravan in New Zealand. It's a spectacular country and we would love to do the same thing some day.

{GMST}16|44.681|S|151|29.662|W|Opposite Pte Tenape near Baie Faafau|Raiatea{GEND}

It rained again the next morning but there was a long enough break for us to finally sail to Tahaa. We stayed inside the lagoon all the way and enjoyed the flat water and well marked channel. Our Bonnette guide book highly recommends the Vanilla Tour offered by Alain Plantier in Baie Hurepiti. This is a very deep bay with four mooring buoys at its head. We weren't certain of where the Plantier home was and we picked up a mooring in front of the clearly signed dock for "Sophie Boutique" thinking that perhaps that was the place (our guide book is over 10 years old). There were no other boats in the bay. We ate lunch and made a circuit of the shore by dinghy hoping someone would come out to greet us at one of the docks. We found the Vanilla Tour dock just next door, but didn't land the dinghy at either place in case there were dogs on guard. We verified that two of the moorings are clearly marked as being reserved for the Boutique and two are less clearly marked for the Vanilla Tour. Since no one had come out to chase us off we weren't too concerned about being on a mooring without a reservation until late in the day when three charter boats arrived one after another. The first boat took its passengers to the boutique dock and John zipped in to speak to Sophie and a charter crew member who were now on the dock. We could stay on our mooring for the night even though it had been reserved for their boat and we could wait until morning to pay a visit ashore. So it finally became clear to us that no cruising boats would have reason to stop at what is essentially a tourist place. The charter boats come in to shop for souvenirs or to take a tour, with the bonus of having an overnight mooring.

The next morning we made a brief visit to the boutique (which had a lovely variety of expensive gifts) where we found a brochure for the Vanilla Tour company. The 2009 rate sheet listed a four hour island tour at 5500 CFP per person. We walked down the road a bit and decided not to stop in at the Plantier place to inquire about 2010 prices since we felt it was already higher than we wanted to pay. On our way back through the boutique property we met Sophie who was just leaving to visit her husband in the hospital. She explained she was late and her children were also arriving from Papeete. She apologized for being so rushed and told us she would be back later. We hadn't planned to stay longer and felt that since she'd never made any mention of payment for the mooring, we were clear to depart.

It was a gorgeously landscaped home below a lightly traveled road with friendly and well-cared for dogs and cats. Until we realized how much she had going on in her life, we had planned to approach Sophie about the possibility of adopting Ziggy. We're coming to the realization that as interesting as he can be, we would far prefer a cat with a loud purr who enjoys being petted and loved. We love Ziggy very much and he seems to enjoy our company but only on his terms. He's recently bitten me twice without much provocation (once on my arm when he demanded his breakfast and I was still laying in bed, and once on the bridge of my nose when I made the mistake of trying to touch noses in friendship). We would also like to return to cruising unencumbered by the limitations imposed by having an animal aboard. So we'll be on the lookout for a new home for him along our way.

{GMST}16|38.634|S|151|30.980|W|Baie Hurepiti|Tahaa{GEND}

On Monday we checked out Ile Tautau but it was too windy to anchor there so we motored across to Baie Tapuamu instead where we anchored in 75' next to the road on the north side of the bay. This is the main port of Tahaa where the supply ships load/unload cargo. But you wouldn't know it by the sleepy little village. Behind the ship quay there is an enclosed small boat basin, a gas station, and a small store with groceries, fresh baguettes, and sundries. There is also a public phone booth but neither the store nor the gas station sold OPT phone cards. The next day we went back in to ask about filling our water jugs and were directed to a small tap on the side of gas station wall which we had missed in our search for water the day before. John went back to Nakia for a longer length of hose and we were then able to fill all our jugs without taking them out of the dinghy (which is always a good thing). We topped our tanks and started a load of laundry soaking before raising anchor and motoring all of one mile back across to the motu Tautau.

{GMST}16|36.850|S|151|32.700|W|Baie Tapuamu|Tahaa{GEND}

JW's guide to French Polynesia is the only source we have that talks in specific terms about the coral garden at this motu, most of which is a private resort complete with thatched huts out over the water. We snorkeled it twice and found it to be best at the end nearest the reef where the water is clearer and it's somewhat less trafficked. We were appalled to see tourists being led by local guides over the top of the very shallow, but very alive, coral. Everyone wore shoes - from crocs, to jellies, to flip flops - and I saw broken coral in the deeper channel through which they swim out. Oh well, it's their coral garden. Both times we snorkeled I found a crown of thorns sea star busily eating the coral. John knocked it off the coral and then got it to attach to a big piece of rock that he could hold without touching the poisonous animal. We were close enough to the rocky shore that he could take it high above the waterline to die. We found the first one melted into a slimy mass overrun by hermit crabs and flies the next day. So that was our good deed for the coral garden.

{GMST}16|36.302|S|151|33.488|W|Ile Tautau|Tahaa{GEND}

It was calm enough for us to spend a couple of nights at Tautau. During the day it was overrun by charter and tour boats, but by evening we usually had the anchorage all to ourselves. A few boats moved to the southern end for a better view of Bora Bora at sunset. Each afternoon "Norbert" came by in his skiff wearing a straw hat to offer us the limes, coconuts, papayas, and pamplemousse he had for sale. We enjoyed the settled weather there but today we returned to Tapuamu to meet up with Blue Bottle for an evening. John is going to help Joe fill his propane tanks using the drain-one-tank-into-another method with the special fitting that we have on Nakia. In the meantime John is equalizing our batteries which means running the generator most of the day, which is why I have so much time on the computer!

Dawdling in Raiatea

2010-07-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

July 30, 2010

Note: We posted some more pictures to our Societies album on Picasa when we had internet outside the marina at Uturoa. That link is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/Societies

I forgot to write that last Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a show of kite boarders, one of whom launched from the marina breakwater steps right in front of Nakia. There were up to four of them out sailing at a time and "our" guy was quite good. He would go airborne and hang suspended before dropping down again, and also did 360's in the air. Obviously it was very windy and I was cold after my shower, but I braved it out in the cockpit until the sun went down and he finally quit.

Monday afternoon we were about to depart in the dinghy for one last look in town for eggs (which all three big stores were completely out of that morning!) when we noticed a catamaran idling slowly off the approach to our mooring. It didn't look like a charter cat (the owner of the mooring) but we turned the VHF back on to give them a call. It turned out they had a reservation for the use of the mooring for one night. We had asked marina residents if it was okay to pick it up for a night or two, but we had never officially checked in with anyone in the marina office. So we quickly got the engine running and went off to look for another place to spend the night.

Thank goodness it was 4 PM and we had plenty of time to motor around the corner to a spot in between Marina Apooiti and the mooring field in front of the Raiatea carenage. I won't bother to give coordinates for this 80' deep spot as there were plenty to choose from. We watched another late arrival anchor all by themselves off of the airport, but it was also deep water and we couldn't see any advantage to being in that (possibly restricted) location.

When we checked our email that night we had a message from our friends Ed and Nila on S/V Quixotic saying that they were anchored at Ile Naonao all the way at the southern tip of Raiatea. This was the only anchorage on my list that we had missed, and we hadn't seen these guys since the Marquesas last year, so how could we not take the time to make a surprise visit to them. We had everything from gusty to light sailing breezes as we exited Passe Rautoanui on the NW side and reentered the lagoon at Passe Punaeroa on the SW end of Raiatea. From there we motored upwind through the moderately challenging channel where the coral extended out from both sides in some places. The wind was up to 20-25 by now, but there was an oasis of calm in the lee of Naonao on the SW tip (the guidebooks more conservatively recommend the northern side in deeper water). The motu is private so we couldn't go ashore but there was some nice snorkeling and a very protected anchorage if you don't mind having only a couple of feet under your keel. Having gotten there first, Quixotic had the best protection from the motu, but the holding in sand was good where we were even if it was a bit breezy. I think this might be the first place we've anchored which was rooster free!

{GMST}16|55.174|S|151|25.910|W|Ile Naonao|Raiatea{GEND}

With high winds in the forecast for the next few days we thought it would be prudent to find a less exposed anchorage to wait out the fronts. We called Gloria Maris to see if they were still where we'd left them and they gave thumbs up to an anchorage inside Passe Tetuatiare back up the west side of the island. So we had a great downwind sail and even sailed out of Passe Punaeroa (look Ma, no hands!). Kim warned us that someone in a skiff might come out to chase us off from anchoring so we weren't surprised when we were met by first a woman in a skiff from Ile Tiano, followed shortly after by a man in a bright purple boat from Baie Ereea. They were very worried that we might drop our anchor over cables carrying electricity and water out to the privately owned motu. They wanted us to anchor in deep water NE of the the northern motu (Ile Horea), but we explained that the other two boats were our friends and we wanted to go talk to them. When we got to very shallow water south of Gloria Maris we asked Gaston (the man; both the locals were wearing Motu Tiano "staff" shirts) if this spot would be okay with him, and he was fine with it. We assume they never dreamed we'd come so far into the shallows of the small boat channel, far from where the cables are laid. We think they were also worried about how many more boats might be coming in after us!

In the process of dropping our anchor we went aground on a raised area of the sandy bottom. But some reverse thrust broke us loose and John reset the anchor in a better position. After lunch I baked a wacky (no eggs) chocolate cake and we tried to deliver it to Gaston as a peace offering. It was easy to find his house (the one with the purple boat in front), but no one was home except for a friendly, blue-eyed kitten. So we went back and invited Gloria Maris and Orca over for happy hour (and cake) on Nakia later. The wind came up at sunset and John and Kara got soaked rowing over in their little dinghy, Coconut, but we had a good evening and everyone seemed to enjoy Gaston's cake.

We are anchored in even shallower water here than we were at Naonao and the depth sounder alarm went off while we were watching a movie after dinner. We sort of ignored it until finally we both looked up at the unmistakable feel of the keel bumping the bottom. John let me finish the movie while he went out into the windy night to set a kedge anchor off the bow to keep us off the shallow spot. It wasn't a very peaceful night as we were hit by big gusts of wind in between the lulls, but we didn't hit bottom again.

{GMST}16|50.014|S|151|29.105|W|Baie Ereea|Raiatea{GEND}

This morning John reset the second bow anchor in a better spot and we are having a quiet rainy day with a few big gusts now and then. The sheer mountainside backing the bay is spectacular with over two dozen waterfall scars. Only one of them is actively running even though our friends have yet to see the top of the mountain which has been hidden by cloud cover since they got here. If we get a long enough break between showers we need to make a dinghy run into the local store to buy some eggs and baguettes. Most cruisers in the Societies are also taking shelter from the bad weather, and we've decided to stay here for the time being.