Land Ho!

I just received exciting news via text from Kevin, after three very long, hard weeks of sailing he finally had a land sighting off his port beam! Now comes the frustrating part (at least for me it was) he can see land; however, he is still about 200 miles from his destination of Honolulu. Hopefully the wind will continue to blow and he won't be drifting or resort to motoring.  If he has to start motoring then he has to hand steer the entire time and that is not conducive to fishing, or sleeping, or eating for that matter.  The past few days he has been having a lot more fun than the rest of the trip combined.  The wind finally shifted and he was able to put a fishing pole in the water.  it wasn't a few hours later I received a text letting me know he caught his first mahi mahi of the trip!  He was really excited for a fresh fish dinner!  He said he had to stop fishing because his arms were getting tired.  I think that really lifted his spirits to be able to do some fishing and actually catch fish!

As of yesterday at one in the afternoon (Alaska time) his position was 19.02 North 153.09 west.  He made good 132 miles, his biggest day for the passage. He is expecting to get into Honolulu on Sunday.  His dad is meeting him in Honolulu on Wednesday and they hope to leave for Seattle (weather permitting) at the end of the week or possibly the beginning of the following week at the latest!

Happy (late...oops) Birthday to Kevin!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Kevin, Happy Birthday to you!  Kevin turned the big 2-6 yesterday, whoot!  I did get to call him and sing him happy birthday (which I know he totally appreciated, because he LOVES my singing!) He wasn't having all that great of a day sailing wise. his big birthday breakfast, a granola bar. Which i'm sure was 5 months old, from when we bought them in New Zealand and mostly melted because they had chocolate in them!  He did have big plans for his birthday dinner, a can of Salmon! Which i'm sure he ate directly from the can, bones and all (makes this pregnant lady want to be sick!) The good news is he is easy to please and I don't have to eat the canned salmon!

The past few days he has been battling 15-20 knot east northeast winds during the calm times and 35+ knot winds during a squall. And then on top of everything else it has been raining off and on all day.  Needless to say he is not having the best time ever.  When I spoke to him this morning he was heave to waiting out one of the squalls that hit over the night.  even with the bad weather he has still been averaging 80 to 100 mile days, Still not as good as we would have liked, but it is getting him there!

His current position is 5.28 North and 145.41 West making good 95miles.  he now has less than 1000 miles to go.  We are hoping he is able to make Honolulu in about 12 days.

Nearly halfway!

Kevin's current position is 3.57 south 146.07 west. He is averaging about 80 miles a day. Not as good as we had hoped for when he left but the weather is starting to improve. The wind has been steady the past few days blowing 10 to 15 on average. He is still getting the occasional squall but starting to get more and more fair skies! As he nears the equator I've been keeping tabs on the winds. So far it looks like there isn't going to be much of the doldrums to contend with (knock on wood.) which is a vast improvement from when he was heading south and spent 7 days trying not to travel backwards! W are hoping this second half of the trip will go a little faster than the first, even though he is still making decent time!

Day 7

So I have not been all that good about keeping updated with Kevins daily progress. He is making decent time but still struggling with getting good wind. As of today at 1pm (Alaska time) he only had 1698 miles to go! He has been struggling with squals that bring decent wind but are usually followed by periods of calm. He is getting plenty of time for movie watching! His current position is 7.51 degrees south and 146.45 degrees west. He made a solid 80 miles yesterday! For anyone who is curious about his unpublished previous position updates: 2/25/12 09.01 degrees south 147.25 degrees west 2/24/12 10.14 degrees south 147.19 degrees west 2/23/12 11.34 degrees south 147.26 degrees west 2/22/12 12.30 degrees south 147.58 degrees west

Day 2

Kevin made good time yesterday too. Not quite as many mies as the day before but he was still able to put 100mies behind him. Last night the weather turned squally and has continued through most of the day. Good thing he has plenty of movies and a few books to read! His current position is 14 degrees 01 minute south and 148 degrees 37 minutes west. Until tomorrow! Gotta love a sat phone with virtually instantaneous communication out in the middle of nowhere!

Day 1: Tahiti to Hawaii

Kevin left yesterday morning on his solo sail to Hawaii. He was lucky enough to get good weather and plenty of wind from the right direction because he planned on leaving on either Saturday or Sunday no matter what the weather was doing. He was able to make 120 miles in his first 24 hours, which is a good day for Pahto! Although he is not having as much fun as he should be because he said there is too much motion to do any fishing. I think he is a little disappointed about that since that is one of his favorite parts of being out on the water! He sent a message later in the day saying the wind had started to die a bit, but he was still able to make decent time. Hopefully he can keep up 120 mile days and make it to Hawaii in 3 weeks! His position as of this morning was 15 degrees 39 minutes south and 148 degrees 56 minutes west. I will keep everyone posted as he heads north!

Scuttlebutt

For those who may not have heard, we found out that Katie was pregnant a few weeks ago. Our plans at this point of course changed quite a bit! Rather than continue cruising polynesia we decided we needed to head home. This meant a 2500mile passage to Hawaii to start with, and then the final leg back to Seattle. After waiting a week for a weather window we decided that it might be best for Katie to fly. Being in the middle of the ocean for weeks might not be the best idea so she left on a jet plane.  I was hoping for a window shortly after she left but it just would not materialize. Despite what my pilot charts said, and what the locals had to say about how nice the weather should be for a passage to Hawaii, the weather just would not cooperate. Not that I am unfamiliar with uncooperative weather, but there is a bit more sense of urgency now than there has been before!

I decided after looking at the long range forecast that I would go to Moorea to wait for it to change. The timing worked perfectly, Our friends Neville and Catherine on S/V Dream Time, were heading that way, so we met up in Oponohu Bay, on Moorea's north coast. With nothing but time to kill and all of my boat projects finished when they asked if I wanted to go on a snorkeling/spearfishing/feed some rays expedition I agreed. We spent most of a morning and afternoon in the water for one of these reasons or another. With a nice little restaurant nearby, and a rather long dinghy ride ahead we decided to grab a bite to eat before we headed home. A couple of Hinanos and a nice meal later we were on our way. The eight foot inflatable loaded with our gear, there was not much room to spare.

We were motoring by a more remote portion of the reef(although there is quite a bit of local boat traffic) we saw two locals out on the reef looking somewhat out of place. As we were wondering what they were doing so far out without a boat they started waving that "I need help" wave and so we quickly changed course and headed their way. As we approached we could see their belongings floating around at which point we knew whatever kind of vessel they had was now on the bottom. We quickly pulled them into the dinghy, And began rounding up there belongings. With a language barrier to get around it took a while to figure out exactly what happened, by the time we got to shore it had become obvious that they were both cut up pretty bad by the coral, and they had a boat on the reef that they needed to get back. We let the woman off and unloaded what we had been able to gather up, and headed back out to try and salvage their boat. It wasn't until we were practically standing in the breakers on the edge of the reef that it dawned on us that these people had been out on the ocean, and most likely due to engine failure them and their 14 foot aluminum skiff had been caught by the breakers and thrown onto the reef. It was quite a sobering thought, and amazing they weren't more seriously injured. Breaking waves no matter their size are very powerful, and on this particular afternoon they were not small. Coral reefs are not a soft or gentle landing place when there is tons of water throwing you onto it. It can be incredibly sharp, and easily cut you to the bone, there are crevasses and holes which can quite easily break bones if tangled up, and yet somehow this couple had managed to escape with only cut up feet and legs.

Neville and I and Max, the local man then went about trying to refloat his skiff. It took quite some time as the water we were in was turbulent and waves kept sweeping the boat and undoing all the bailing that had been done! We did evntually manage to float the skiff and tow it ashore. Both Neville and I had thankfully had shoes to wear to save our feet, but even in the relatively short time were were working we were pretty scraped up. it makes what Max and his wife went through even more amazing.

Through all of this Max had been focused and didn't show much emotion despite having lost most of his belongings, his engine, and his skiff now being quite beat up, but when we came across his tackle box floating in the water, he picked it up and when he realized it had been completely emptied, its contents scattered across the reef you could actually see his heart sink. It was as though up until that point there was hope that maybe if nothing else he would be able to recover some of his fishing gear. In the end all were safe ashore, with as much as could be recovered, the skiff loaded on a truck, off to be repaired, and Neville, Catherine and I trying to wrap our heads around everything that had just happened on our otherwise completely usual day. We debriefed that evening with a few cold beers still trying to grasp the whole event.

The rest of my time in Moorea, Neville and I spent a good deal of time trying to catch some fish for dinner, which we failed at miserably! On my last day there we decided we would give it one more go, pull out all the stops, and we fished and fished and fished, not returning until dark, and still empty handed! Catherine thankfully was able to bail us out by making a nice chicken dinner, not without having a laugh at our failed efforts! Now by the time we had finished dinner it was getting late, and we started to hear fish splashing around the boat, and unwilling to be beaten I started casting into the darkness and was first rewarded by one rather large fish which I quick released, and another slightly smaller trevally soon after. By this time with our bellies full, and it being late we could not be bothered to process them so there were no fish harmed that evening.

I am now back in Tahiti at Marina Taina, getting ready to check out. With a good weather window, I am counting down the hours to departure time. I will be sailing the 2500 miles to Hawaii solo, but hopefully the weather will not let me down and it will be a fast passage(you have to be an optimist out here!). The fish will gather for Pahto and her crew, the tradewinds will blow steady, and the doldrums will not develop until I am far north, and I will be home soon. Well, at least its a nice idea anyway, right?

Post Script

 

Mid-morning this morning we decided that being such a beautiful day, and the wind being a nice breeze from the right direction, we would get underway for the nice relaxing 10 mile trip to Tahiti. We had to come here anyway so why not make the trip on a nice day right? Well, we were right, it was an absolutely beautiful day for a sail(although not for fishing).As our peaceful, relaxing, easy-going sail was nearing its end. We noticed that the swell was actually rather large, and the nearer we approached the pass the larger the swells appeared to be. Once we were within observational range, we furled our sails and stowed our fishing gear to make a cautious approach. After having a good look from seaward we decided that based on our previous experience and knowledge of the area, and our observations, that there should be no problem.

We could see that the swell was high, and the waves thundering over the reef unlike anything we had seen before, but in the pass there appeared to be no danger; Only the close proximity of such immense power as these seas to rattle our nerves. Well, as every mariner knows there comes a point in many situations from which there is no going back. The point of no return, the commitment, the hail mary, the point at which all things come together to allow or disallow said souls to continue to inhabit this earth. We were there. We had to make a decision. To go was to commit 100 percent to the unknown, to go back was to go another day without cold drinks. We went for it. As benign as the pass had appeared from seaward, upon entering we found the truth to be anything but benign. The current was pushing against the swell, and Pahto, the small yacht that could, with her engine turning full power, carrying on for all she was worth, could only just push against the current. As our small battle continued, we could see that in all directions there was nothing but the angry foaming whitewater that showed us the reefs, and many a mariners unfortunate end. We had only one direction to go, straight down the chute, to run the gauntlet of reefs and rapids, rips and whirlpools. The current tossed us like a toy dock on a pond, and we fought on, having no choice but to carry on. The battle seemed to carry on for hours and in reality could have been no more than fifteen minutes. We steered hard to starboard as the currents tried to carry us on to the reef to port. Then just as quick, turn hard a port as the currents tried to throw us on the reef to starboard. The tension on board could have been cut with a knife. We held our breaths, just 3 more boat lengths; oh such long boat lengths they were. We could see the end and yet could not reach it. Our desire to be free of the grasp of this horrible current was like nothing I had ever wished before.

Finally, we pushed passed the rips and eddies, whirlpools, and reefs that could have so easily have been our demise, and we pushed into the familiar lagoon of Punauia. Happy to have made it through our brief yet overly exciting adventure. We cruised around like a dog preparing to sleep until we found a spot that was just so, where the stars aligned and told us we should drop the hook, and relax into an afternoon of beer and cards. Well deserved I must say. We may have given up a day or two of our lives in the long run as a result of an extra dose of stress.The adventure that is every day in our lives afloat is worth all of the stress and turmoil that we only occasionally have to find a way to cope with.

Unexpected Adventure to Moorea

 

Our boat anchored in Oponohu Bay, Moorea

I sit here writing while listening to the wind whistling through the rigging, and enjoying the rays of sunshine which have not shown themselves for a couple of days now. Our plan was to leave Tahiti for hawaii several days ago, but wouldn’t you know it, the day we want to leave to sail north the wind decides to blow from the north. So here we are still in Tahiti, waiting for the wind to blow from almost any other direction!

Actually, we are in Moorea, Tahiti’s next door neighbour, Moorea Although seperated by only 10 miles, has a much different pace of life. Tahiti is all hustle and bustle with the largest city in the south pacific feeding and supplying over 200 outer islands, entertaining tourists and cruise ships from all over the world. Moorea on the other hand, people fish a little, maybe farm a little, and in their spare time they might go for a paddle in an outrigger canoe(locally known as Va’a). We have only just begun to explore Moorea, and the more time we spend here the more we like it. Anchoring in deep bays surrounded by volcanic pinnacles, or in the lagoon between the fringing reef and the island,we spend our time watching the waves breaking on the reef, schools of fish, and rays cruising the shallows.  We spent the first night in Oponohu Bay anchored out from a park.  This is one of our favorite spots to date.  We then moved to Passe Vaiere where we picked up a mooring ball (which Kevin likes because it saves him from having to set and then pull the anchor.) The location here is wonderful. Crystal clear waters, protected from most sides from the wind and there is even a store close buy if we need anything.  However, we have spend the last two days hunkered down on the boat because there has been one squall after another blow through. 

Kevin has spend the last week doing as much fishing as possible to try to catch a fish. Last night he found success in catching a reef fish.  He painstakingly kept it alive for as long as possible so he could use it this morning as bait to catch more fish.  Unfortunately, we cannot eat the fish we catch around the reef’s because often times they are siguatoxic.  But that won’t stop Kevin from trying to catch them!

We have spent a fair amount of time observing the weather patterns here. Not as a hobby, or out of curiosity, but because when cruising a small boat to distant ports, nothing is more significant to your life as the weather. It affects what you can do on any given day at anchor; where you can go, whether it be the grocery store or another island. At times we are boat bound, in a crowded anchorage with poor holding, leaving the boat when the wind is blowing is out of the question. This means no cold drinks, or ice cream, NOT EVEN BEER! If you were to leave and your anchor was to drag, the least that could happen is just a little confusion in finding the boat, but the worst case is coming home to find that home is now on a reef and full of holes. If you are en route to another island however, then the same breeze could be just what the doctor ordered, unless of course it is blowing directly from where you want to go. Then 200 miles becomes 400, or even more if you get an unlucky shift! You might lose a full nights sleep due to light and or shifty winds. So you see the weather dictates our lives in many ways. Currently it has dictated that we relax in a beautiful lagoon on Moorea’s eastern coast while we wait for a shift in the wind to return to the hustle and bustle of Tahiti to complete the necessary paperwork for our northbound voyage.

And so continues the saga of the good ship Pahto, Fair winds.

Adventure to the Leeward Islands

 

Kevin and I at Teahupoo beach on Tahiti Iti, one of the most famous surf spots in the world.

 

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks for us. We sailed to the leeward islands. OK, maybe sailing isn’t the best description, it was more like motoring across a millpond on a quiet evening. That is until a huge Marlin decided to give us a run for our money! The boat and the ocean went from quiet to ecstatic in nanoseconds,  the sea monster was thrashing the water just 30feet behind us, waving his massive sword in preparation for attack, and then he was gone. For unknown reason the hook failed to set, the sea monster escaped to fight another day and our evening went back to calm and quiet.

We arrived at the entrance to the island of Huanine in the predawn hours the following morning, we trolled some gear around while waiting for daylight to enter the lagoon of Huanhine which was entirely unknown to us. We spent several hours winding our way between coral heads trying to find anchorage before turning into a rather large bay which we hoped would offer a resting place. Alas, there was no water shallow enough for the good ship Pahto to drop her anchor so we had to make a decision to either quickly run for Raiatea, or spend another night at sea.

That afternoon after escaping the clutches of the island without anchorage, we arrived in an old stomping ground. Faaroa Bay in the eastern coast of Raiatea Island. Here we recovered from our journey, views of the surrounding mountains and the jungle to keep us company, and offer welcome shade in the afternoon hours. The following morning we arose and hauled our anchor and set off north to explore Raiatea and Tahaa Island. Tahaa being The northen neighbour to Raiatea and sharing the same reef. We stopped in Uturoa the capitol of Raiatea and the center of commerce for the leeward islands. We restocked our supplies and carried on to Haamene Bay on Tahaa where we discovered a diamond in the rough, the “Hotel Hibiscus.” Here was a place that not only saves injured sea turtles, but serves the best seafood lunch on planet earth. Even Katie was impressed with how good the Mahi Mahi tasted and cleared her plate.

We did  a little more exploring around Tahaa only to find most businesses closed for Holidays that seem to go on for weeks, and with the weather turning, anchoring near enough the reef to snorkel was out of the question. Tahaa is known for both its pearl farms and vanilla plantations, which we were all looking forward to visiting, but we either couldn’t find them or they were also closed.  We turned our bow south, back to Uturoa to restock once more before heading for Faaroa Bay to prepare for winds that were forecasted to 50-60 knots. We set our storm tackle, consisting of two anchors separated by 30 feet of chain and an additional 300 feet of chain attaching the anchor to the boat totaling 500 pounds of gear (That Kevin had to hand pull onto deck at the end of the storm, well okay Dave helped too!), during the rather blustery afternoon. Satisfied we had done all we could we committed ourselves to cards and a few drinks. The wind did come the following morning bright and early, but lasted for only 4-5 hours. While the wind speeds were expected we were relieved that it did not continue to blow for days like we thought it might. However, the rain came down, and down, and down, and down some more. It rained so hard for so long that the entire lagoon became a sea of chocloate milk. This is where the story gets good, the wind came down enough that we comfortably put the boat on a mooring, in front of a hotel, where we stayed for a couple of days while the rain came down. Yes, we know that it’s cheating, but it’s a small boat, and the hotel had air conditioning, and a bar and amazing food we didn‘t have to make (or dishes we didn‘t have to clean) and a shower! Can you blame us? The rain did eventually stop falling and the sky did show itself once more and there was joy in the land.

We set off for the return trip to Tahiti, after spending three days happy as clams in a hotel, early in the morning after a good nights rest ashore, the wind was very light with some left over seas from the previous storm. We hoisted the main and turned on the motor and headed for the north point of Huahine. About Halfway across the 25 miles from Raiatea to Huahine Dave asked Kevin if They could tow some fishing gear. The seas had come down and the motion of the boat was such the fighting a fish would not be too dangerous. About 5 minutes after the gear was set there was a burst of excitement as a Marlin began his attack. Soon we had another Marlin against Man battle of the ages playing out on the back deck of Pahto. Unfortunately our Mahi Mahi gear did not stand up well to the punishment the Marlin was giving it and he broke free from our grasp and swam off taking the lure with him.

The rest of the passage was mostly uneventful with the exception of two very unwelcome wind squalls. It was actually some sort of strange weather phenomena that none of us on board had seen before. We dealt with them, and otherwise thoroughly enjoyed our sail. Dave was an awesome addition to the crew for the time he was here, making the on watches shorter and the off watches longer. Somehow the anchor got easier to pull, and a few things managed to get fixed in between hooking sea monsters and drinking Hinano (the local beer).

We have spent the last three days anchored back in Punauia, 10 kilometers south of Papeete, and are waiting for a weather window to move east to the Tuamotus. Unless of course we decide to change our plans and do something different.

Fair Winds to all from the good Ship Pahto

Happy New Year

 

Our Boat Anchored in Cooks Bay on Moorea

Happy New Year everyone!  We have had a pretty busy last few weeks.  Dave, Kevin’s dad, arrived on the 27th for a two week vacation!  It has been fun having him with us we took him into the market and also to the Te Fare Manaha Museum, a museum on the history of Tahiti and her islands.  It told if the history of the islands from when it was settled to present day.  For my birthday Dave and Jeanie (Kevin’s mom) got me, well and Kevin, a hotel room for the night.  A real bed and a stand-up shower!  I seriously took like 4 showers in a less than 24 hour period. It went something like Check in, shower, go to museum, shower, go to dinner, shower, wake up, shower, breakfast, shower, time to check-out, shower again.  It was quite possibly the most wonderful shower I’ve ever taken.  Dave also took us out to a nice dinner at the restaurant at the hotel.  The food there was superb but Kevin had this mahi mahi with a vanilla sauce.  I really don’t like fish all that much but this sauce that they cook the fish in was heavenly. 

The day before new years eve we pulled anchor and headed for Moorea and anchored in Cooks Bay.  The trip took about 4 hours and was pretty good sailing.  The seas were a little rough but we had the perfect amount of wind and a cloudless sky!  We successfully managed to find the only bar in Cooks Bay and anchor right in front of it!  Worked quite perfectly.  I just so happened that in this anchorage there were three other boats already tied up.  Two were Americans and the other from England. It didn’t take long to make introductions and head to the local pizza joint for some beer, pizza and good conversation!  We ended up spending new years with the group on one of the other boats as well. (Kevin wasn’t all that excited for me to see this boat because it had things like refrigeration, and a freezer and a shower… I think he thought I would either jump ship or demand a bigger boat.  Thankfully neither happened, but it was a nice boat!)  It was a great way to spend new years with some new friends! 

Our plan after Moorea is to head to the leeward islands starting with Huahine!