8:30 pm 7/26
We left Bora Bora today around 8:00 am. We have had a pretty boisterous day/ride so far. The winds have been 15-25 kts ESE-E and the waves 8-12′ occasional 15′ ESE…..all pretty much behind us. We do ok and then the occasional bully wave, maybe 15′ comes and gives MM’s stern a spanking and a rock and roll we go…..we’ve had 4-5 of those….not sure how much we rolled but we knocked a few thing around.
We were glad to see Bora Bora off our stern….we were there for 18 days which was about 6 days more than we wanted. The winds blew 30-35G40 for over a week and just started to calm today. As we have witnessed there are still some big waves still out here!!! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Bora Bora – we both got tattoos, ate several times at the iconic Bloody Mary’s restaurant, participated in the Bastille Day parade dressed as pirates and had numerous happy hours and pot lucks with other cruisers!!! We needed a passage to rest and give our livers a break 🙂 )))
We saw 4 nights of the local Heiva dances which are excellent. The men do these warrior/hunter dance routines that are quite masculine and I found myself picturing their ancestors doing these dances after a war or hunt. The woman…..yes, it is very true, there are some very beautiful Polynesian woman and wow, can they shake their hips….many times we both would say….how do they do that..very graceful and sensual!!!
3:00 am 7/27
Back on watch now – not too bad of a ride now. winds have calmed a bit to 12-19 kts and the seas are in the 6-10′ range. It’s also rather cool…..air temp in the low 70’s….we have a lot of the windows closed so no salt air coming into the boat which is nice for a change!!!!
Boat Stuff: The Hynautic engine control reservoir has been repaired….yeah!!!!!! It took 2 weeks for the new tank to arrive in Bora Bora from Seattle!!! It got to Papeete in one week but then got hung up in customs…..ugh!!! When we got the old tank off and apart, you can see about 20 different spots where the tank was corroding on the inside.
It took us 6.5 hours to get the job done. The nylon connectors on the 8 lines connected to the charging valve did not initially want to swivel so took some time to get the connections off and clean the connectors. I did not want to cut the lines and install new connectors as the nylon hose is cut pretty exact with not a lot of extra hose so I was concerned there would not be enough length if I cut them.
Once we got the new tank and hoses all connected then the real fun began…..flushing and bleeding. We have a total of 14 lines to flush…..6 on the senders and 8 on the engines……the old fluid coming out was a brownish color….no good!!!
Bladders: We decided to use the 115 gallon bladder this trip to ensure we have enough fuel to make Tonga. After Suwarrow we are going to Nuie where we can get fuel, but according to the Commodore at the Yacht Club, it is a PITA and if the weather is not right almost impossible. So yesterday Kathy and I took MM over to the fuel dock where we took on 365 gals of diesel and filled the bladder. Well…..this was a much better fill than the Galapagos (ie almost no spills) but we have still not quite learned the burping sequence……during the last 15 or so gallons as we are trying to get all the air out of the bladder, it suddenly burped, spraying both of us with a diesel shower…..hmmmm……ode de diesel…..yuck!!!!!! Also the discharge ball valve started to leak…..not the fitting but the ball valve itself…..fortunately we had a 1″ plug that worked!!!!
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Stats as of 7/27 7:00am or 1700 UTC:
Position: 15 44S 154 23W
Traveled: 158nm today: 528nm to go; ETA Tuesday 7/30 am
Course: 274M COG
Wind: 15-22 kts ESE-E during the day; calming a bit to 10-18 kts overnight but is picking back up to 15-22 this am
Waves: 8-12′ ESE waves short period; calming to 6-8′ overnight picking back up to 7-10′ this am
Speed: current speed is 7.0 SOG, has varied 6.5 -7.1′ avg is 6.9 kts; maybe a slight adverse current of 0.2 kts for most of the day; 1400 rpm
Weather: 50% cloud cover; some squalls during the day in the distance and again this am; sea temp 80 deg F
Boat sightings: 1 – s/v Bella Vita – we know them and they left 2 hours before us; they are tacking back/forth and we came w/in 700 yards as they passed to our stern after about 100 nm; what a small world!!
Fishing: Fished in the afternoon…..nada 🙁 ((((
Sail: not up; apparent wind is 7-12 kts at 170 deg to the boat – almost dead behind; we can’t get the boom out enough for our little sail to do any good 🙁 ((((
Hope all is well!
John
Mystic Moon
