So, how was your May 5th….Cinco de Mayo….for some who had birthdays…..Rose, Les, Mark and Sandy….we hope it was a great day of celebration and Monday was a day of rest 🙂 ))))
For us, it was one of those bitter/sweet days. The sweet was waking up, coffee, doing a few emails and discovering we have wifi internet at the boat. I had checked the day before and found nothing, but Kathy checked on her laptop that morning and discovered we had ManuSPOT…..turns out my wifi was turned off…..why do computers do that….it turns off automatically after a while when there is no signal…..arghhhhhhh!!! Anyway, 10 minutes later, we bought 5 hours for $20…..not too bad for FP…..we had bought 50 hours from WDC for $120 when we were in the Marquesas…..and we still have some time left.
So, we excitedly went to download all the AOL emails, Kathy checking all her blogs, John doing online banking….wow, what a treat – market/portfolio way up….sweet…..then got lot’s of weather…crap…..look at this….we have weather coming…..ugh…..we need to find a good spot tomorrow….ok, maybe it will change, let’s check in the morning….ok, let’s go to the village and wonder around….it’s 10:00 Sunday am, maybe we will find a church service with some beautiful singing….ok!!!!
So, off we go….but look, more rain coming….ugh….we walk around getting wet, find two old churches….like 1834 vintage…..but no people…..we walk around some more….see some people dressed for church but not going to the church….hmmmm…..walk around to look at the cut….at 11:00 it was gnarly….note the time and we’ll check the infamous wrong tide tables……walk some more…..yeah, the little store is open….wow, ice cream…..I’ll take a drumstick, Kathy a sandwich….pure joy…..then we run across our Swedish friends on Orkenston…..they are a very young couple circumnavigating….bought their sailboat in Panama 4 months ago….hmmm, sounds like another couple we know…..buy a sailboat and go cross an ocean weeks later….oh, the joy of youth…..anyway, they say…..we came in yesterday morning…..the cut was horrible….how about you….same…..do you think there ever is a slack…..have you asked around…yes, but no one says anything definitive….they say just go out in the am and come back in the pm…..arghhhhhhh!!!!
So, what are your plans…..we think we might go to Fakarava to beat the weather coming in….yes, we saw that too….yes, we think it will come in tonight….15-25 kts E-ESE….not a good anchorage to be in…..guess we’ll leave this afternoon and try the cut again….ok, good sailing….see you in Fakarava in a week or so!!!
Gulp…..we’d better go back to MM and really look at the weather….ok, town is pretty dead on a Sunday…..back on Mystic…..yep, crap, winds build stating at midnight and by 8:00am they are ~15 kts…..hmmm…..do we leave now in calm but rainy conditions…..go west when the light will not be good dodging a gazillion uncharted reefs…..or go east and not know where to anchor…..but, we do have an anchor lat/lon from Idyll Island and Visions of Johanna 16 miles west….ok, decision made….let’s go west!!!!
So, pull up anchor at 12:30pm, say good bye to the village…..why not stay there you ask…..very exposed to E-ESE winds, not a good anchorage, full of coral heads and hard pack….Kathy has read many boats have dragged….and the village/pier is a lee shore…..ok, off we go, Kathy on the FB, John glued to the forward looking sonar and echo sounder…..2.5 hours later we find the anchorage….dodged about 15 coral heads…..it was ok light with the clouds, but for a 20 minute period the sun came out and the lighting was horrible…. the anchorage is tucked behind a reef…..this is beautiful and well protected…..anchor down, passage beers popped….all is good by 3:30 pm.
One other boat in the anchorage…..Wooshie, an Aussie couple with a young child…..we saw them in Hiva Oa and Fatu Hiva….in fact in Fatu Hiva much to our embarrassment, we anchored what we thought was a good distance away…..Les, Rose and I go ashore….Kathy stays onboard to rest…..we get a call on the VHF…..captain, you need to come back now, we are too close to Wooshie….ugh…..we go back and yep, the wind has shifted, chain stretched and we are too close…..so we re-anchor and all is well…..so, this time, we anchor 200 yards away….we hope we are forgiven…..they don’t have their radio on….ok, we’ll go visit manana…..well, that is today and they left….still tried to hail on the VHF but no joy.
Oh, and about 1/3 of the way…..do you smell something burning…oh, crap, I see smoke off the Portuguese bridge….no dummy, that is just steam off the canvas over the bow settee….oh, good, relief, but I still smell something….Captain, you can’t leave the helm, PK will check the ER….she does, no rags or anything burning….I check the link 10…..crap, crap….we are not alternating…..turn on the GEN…..smell goes away a little…..we get anchored…..I check the ER…..nothing burning, alternator belts look good….nothing cracked or dust in bilge, but alternator is way hot….325 deg F…..not good…..normal is <225 deg F…..think we may have fried the alternator……arghhhhhhh!!!!! sounds like a good chore while it’s storming outside over the next few days….ugh!!!!
So, here we are in paradise and guess what…..winds are around 10 knots….partly cloudy but a lot of sun….pulled some weather this am…..conflicting data….some show 15-20 kts some show <5 kts…..go figure….but, hey the sun is out, let’s go explore!!
Sounds like there’s an opportunity for a good cruising guide, tide charts and weather data for FP 🙂
And sounds like there are more challenges with the reefs, cuts, and tides, and navigating through the coral overall. Sounds like character-building 🙂
John, I have decided if ever two people were perfectly designed for this lifestyle , it had to be you and the Princess. Your varied exploits both scary and beautiful are beginning to sound second nature to you all and the processes needed to take advantage of them too. So at this point I say we are very proud of you both and wish you continued thrills and excitement but only that which you can ultimately handle safely.
Therefore a tough question……. after you circumvent this little globe, what next??????????? Have you guys been thinking about another little challenge like maybe Everest or grabbing a peak at the Titanic? ha ha I saw another idea for you on Discovery. They are building these underwater fish farms, huge controlled environments where they scientifically raise these “organic” fish ha ha. Then you would have a much better chance of catching one! Well for sure you have time to ponder this great mystery which we are all anxious to hear about I’m sure.
Kidding aside we continue to pray for your safety and encourage both your journaling. It brings us all right there on the boat with you for just those few moments and it is fun. One of these days, lobster, steak, vino, cognac and a good cigar. Looking forward!
Blessings……….Rich and Vana
After spending those wonderful years on Kasekuchen exploring, and now on Kuchen Too!, we find some similarities. Such as a good RV park is like finding a good marina, many are just so so, and when you find a good one it is hard to leave. The beautiful spots are usually hard to get into with our big rig ( such as state or national parks), and when we enter an area we want to explore we look for an Elks Club ( thanks Les ) that is comfortable but less than scenic, where we can base and explore with our dinghy while paying little for anchorage (teehee). We have spent a week in New Mexico exploring in the south and today are in Sante Fe. Here we will base for a week while we explore the museums, galleries, bike trails, and of course world famous cuisine around northern New Mexico. Todays anchorage is in town where we have power and water and yes a dump site. The tariff is high but convenience and services are abundant. We can ride our bikes to town on the trails, take our dingy to Taos or wineries, and order parts to have sent to the Wendstroms when we land there in a week or so. Today is exploring and chore day as our land yacht is pretty dirty after our two weeks of dust in Arizona and Southern New Mexico. So dinghy (car) and bikes (kayak) will need to be cleaned up. Then off to sample local fare. So much the same and yet so different.
Much Love from us,
Cheryl & BB
You will be interested in knowing that several wineries and family farms offer free boondock overnight parking in exchange for buying a bottle of wine or some vegetables. So off today to get some errands done, our land yacht has two weeks of New Mexico dust then enough rain yesterday to make a mud bath, plus dinghy and bikes are caked with mud….hair cuts and must get toes done, ( after all we are still in sandal weather), trying to plan next gourmet meal in this culinary Disneyland. Also we just redress parts to have sent to Wendstroms as that is our stop next week. So really is there that much difference in yachting and RVing? Yeah….the tourquise
Forgot to erase that last paragraph before I pushed button….hate that send button on computer once it is pushed too late!!!!!