Dec 2012 RE-IMMERSION & INTO QUARANTINE

December 2012

Re-Immersion

P’s sister Deb comes north from AKL to welcome us home and the first night we immerse in the moment of being home with a great yachtie meal at the top little Opua Yacht Club where most arriving cruising yachties land.

The next day we drive to Waitangi and do the tourist thing on the Treaty grounds before heading for Keri Keri and it all feels just so great driving through the parkland that is NZ, on superb roads.  We cannot help noticing it’s a first world country, the first we have been in since leaving Europe with the possible exception being parts of Puerto Rico.

The green green grass of home - Keri Keri Bay of Islands

Walking into a supermarket and recognizing all the labels of honest to goodness food is not half bad with the dairy products and fine NZ wines standing out plus marinated green lip mussels says P.

One of the first things we do when we arrive in a new country, we get a simcard for the cellphone but in this case as we are home for good its ‘his & her’ simcards, noting that NZ is the most expensive country on the planet for mobile telephony with the competing systems using  gross obfuscation via costly advertising campaigns to tell unknowing Kiwis they are getting superior services, not.  Nothing has changed on this front.  Next we need WiFi data connectivity and its no different to the cellphone just more expensive and far and away the most costly of the 30+ countries we have visited.  

Opua is a great little spot for cruising yachties but its isolated from everything other than boating services with the supermarket and retail shopping in Paihia 7km distant, but no public transport, so all the cruisers are buying cheap Jap imports from a car dealer that has conveniently set up shop near the marina to service just cruisers. The deal is buy a car and use it for up to 6 months until around April 2013 when the cruisers all sail away and this dealer will guarantee repurchasing the vehicle paying 66% of the initial purchase price.  So budget minded cruisers are buying a cheapy for $3k driving around the North and South islands for 6 months for just $1k !!!  whilst big spenders are spending $6k and doing it for $2k. The guy must have sold 250 cars in the last few months and he seemingly even repairs or swaps the duds if buyers not satisfied.

We thought it all sounded too good to be true but there was just something that did not ring true when the guy did not seem interested in dealing with us when he established we were Kiwis.  So, like a zillion others we bought a car on TradeMe and now we are mobile which is a nice feeling after walking and riding bikes for 6 years, but we better watch the waistline, particularly P.

Xmas

We had promised family we would sail to Wellington for Xmas and we accordingly asked the Quarantine Services for approval to relocate from Opua down to Wellington and this was agreed provided we tied to pole mooring at the Seaview Marina so WiFi can not get ashore.  Booked the pole mooring and then waited for a weather window…. but you guessed it the weather window never came as the first half of December variously blew and drenched the month to tethers.  So we vacillated on the merits of not sailing and convinced ourselves that it would be our luck we would get hammered on either the southbound or the northbound passage after sailing right around the planet, so why would you.   P has memories of always getting hammered off the Wairarapa coast or Cape Palliser so we decided to stay anchored off Opua with P driving down to spend time pre-xmas with grandchildren and B flying down later.   

As it happened the weather in the week before Xmas stabilised over Wellington with sunny hot swim every day record temperatures whilst another  tropical cyclone that had hammered Samoa and Fiji turned down on Northland with severe gales and 45knot winds centered over the Bay of Islands until the morning of 24 December.  As we are only anchored due to all the moorings being taken it was decided B would change her flight and she finally departed on the afternoon of the 24^th with the stormy conditions still hovering but predicted to moderate that night.  We took a punt and she departed leaving a fellow cruiser to visit the boat each day to check the anchor situation and to feed the quarantine bound WiFi. This is the add we prepared to hunt for cat sitters.

MEOW

CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME…....

                            

Hi my name is ships cat WIFI and I am in a spot. My owners are desperate to fly away for a week 21/28 Dec.  So I need some kind person to look after me aboard your yacht or mine at anchor in Opua. 

I am low maintenance and come with my own food supply and water plus my own easy care toilet with odour-free crystals.   Being a long term live-aboard circumnavigating lady feline I am a breeze to look after as I sleep 23 out of 24 hours. 

If you can help please give me a signal on my personal email

wifinz@gmail.com

or txt/phone 022 320 4973 to talk to my owners Barbara and Peter.

Meow WiFi

The low remained over the Bay area for the bulk of the time between Xmas and New Years Eve dropping large volumes of aqua pure, thankfully without wind, as Wellington sweltered.   We returned 30^th Dec to a very happy cat and a boat externally all fresh and clean from the rain.

New Years Eve

The weather cleared on que during the last day of the year and we saw out the old year with the cat minders Canadian Colin and Mercedes his Spanish lady, aboard their monster 55ft long by 30ft wide catamaran “Segue” anchored between Paihia and Russell with a grandstand view of the most magnificent little fireworks display on a still clear cloudless night silhouetted by a near full moon. The international flavor aboard Segue was complimented by a wooden boat aficionado American and his Panamanian wife.  

Happy New 2013

Nov 2012 TONGA TO OPUA & HOME !!

November 2012

Weather Watch in Vavau

For the first two weeks of November in Vavau we are looking at the weather systems roaring across the Great Australian Bight into the Tasman and onto New Zealand,  because this is where the weather that affects the South West Pacific originates.   We are specifically looking at the volatility and intensity of the spring equinox gales that should start decreasing over southern latitudes from mid November so we can commence our passage south to make landfall in Opua. 
  

Sadist Sailors we are not.  If we can use technology and weather predictive software to our advantage we will, because getting there in safety, comfort and in one piece without outside assistance is half the fun for us. 

At this time of the year there are literally hundreds of yachts from round the world either currently on the water en route to New Zealand or in the starting blocks in Tonga, Fiji and New Caledonia assessing weather data and sharing their thoughts on the 1000 mile nowhere to hide open ocean passage south, with a reputation for ever linked to the Queen’s Birthday.  Irrespective these cruisers have selected New Zealand over summer as the place to avoid the cyclone season in the Pacific as they split time and budget between working on their boats and sailing or driving the length and breadth of the country, before they start heading back up to the Pacific islands in April to continue their mostly westward cruising around the planet.

In Tonga, Fiji and New Cal pre-departure inter-vessel communication is mostly in group huddles in the waterfront bars and cafes or literally in the public domain over the VHF and SSB Radio frequencies and it’s the ultimate in live reality entertainment going.   The same weather broadcast can be interpreted in dozens of ways by dozens of different cruisers with the resulting misinterpretation becoming misinformation in short order.  Cruisers are prone to act like reef fish swimming every which way depending on who has the gift of the gab on the airwaves.  Well that’s how it sounds to us.  We feel it’s more ‘Caveat Emptor’ let the sailor beware; select your weather source, make your own call and stand by it until further updated information is available for analysis and interpretation. 

Compared with just five years back there are countless weather prediction websites, software programmes, professional weather routers, government agencies, satellite system providers, weather fax, pactor modem and good old radio operators out there vying for business.  Some are free and others only a credit card or PayPal debit away.   Either way the cruisers challenge is to find the most user friendly and lowest bandwidth method for downloading data whilst at sea.

Notwithstanding the humour generated listening to the cruisers, the reports of Hurricane Sandy pushing 14ft tidal surges into New York harbor and downtown Manhattan this week confirms the importance of heeding weather warnings and getting interpretation correct.

Underway

Finally we decide the time is right to up anchor so we visit the authorities to clear out of Vavau for Opua, top up the fuel tanks with duty free diesel and head to Port Maurelle our favorite anchorage at the western end of the island where we can operate the watermaker, scrub the hull and have our last swims in the tropics in crystal clear waters.  There are a dozen yachts in the anchorage all with the same plan prepping to sail for either  Opua, Whangarei, Auckland, Tauranga or Nelson.

Pic 1 At anchor Port Maurelle

False Start

Sitting at Port Maurelle we learn of a possible cyclone, maybe the first of the season developing north of Vanuatu which looks like it may track southeast over Fiji, Tonga and then toward NZ over the course we are planning to take to Opua so we defer our departure and return to Vavau to anchor in the shelter of the landlocked lagoon and clear back into the country until the system passes.   A small number of other cruisers surprisingly make the decision to press on from Port Maurelle and sail south to NZ with dire consequences in one case, for a yacht named “Windigo”.

Meanwhile back in Vavau waiting for the next Weather Window

Sitting back in Vavau waiting for the cyclone to materialize all we got was a bit of rain and a few hours of 20+ knot winds with the worst passing to the west on a southerly course to affect the yachts en route to NZ many of which either weathered it in Nukualofa or at Minerva Reef or toughed it out at sea. 

SSB Radio listeners soon picked up on the aforementioned “Windigo” rescue unfolding and were counting themselves lucky they were not out there.  

Meantime the local Vavau Radio VHF  airwaves were alive with amateur weather forecasters to entertain us with their take on the weather until news of local intrigue took precedence.  A yacht was reported high and dry on the reef to the south east of Vavau and all cruisers were asked to refrain from going out to look or help as it was a police matter, but they asked if any cruisers knew of any small white stock European yacht overdue from crossing the Pacific this season.   This got the cruiser net gassing and it was subsequently announced that there was a body in the cockpit but no other details were being released at this stage.  All and sundry cruisers were trying to recall who it might be because in the course of sailing across the Pacific you tend to recognize yachts from different ports of call.

Being a single male in a small white yacht we immediately thought of an elderly Kiwi gent from Tauranga we had met in Panama who had not responded to an email we sent him from Tahiti.  So P trundled up to the Police Station to ask if it was this particular yacht.  Instead of being helpful the police sort of interrogated him without answering his request and simply asked that he leave his mobile phone number and he left rather confused with the police informing they would be in touch.    Later the same day on checking out for the second and final time as the weather was now coming right we asked the Customs officials about the yacht on the reef and they had no trouble advising us it was definitely not our friend.  Phew what a relief!!

To add to the intrigue, we later heard the boat on the reef was loaded with illicit drugs and the subject of a major trans-national border control collaboration that was tracking the yacht across the Pacific from South America enroute to Australia, until it came to grief on the reef.  

Off Again

So off we go again from Vavau out to the Port Maurelle anchorage, where we wait for another few days until the swell left from the passing weather dies down. When we finally get out its still rough and blowing 15/20 knots so we tuck in a reef to power through it sailing for 6 hours at 8knots but then the primary GPS that drives the main navigation system fails and we have to connect a backup system via a laptop chart system, which is ok but not really satisfactory.  To fix the problem we  decide to stop the night in an anchorage at Nomuka -Iti  in the Hapaai’s, where we had previously stopped back in 2007.  

B to her credit remembered reading something about this problem and hunted out some notes.  Turns out the GPS aerial has a small miniature battery that speeds up satellite acquisition and if this battery fails the system simply needs to be turned off and rebooted to acquire in a slower manner.  That’s all it took so we stayed the night had a good sleep and did not subsequently turn the system off again until we reached Opua.

Pic 2 Sailing Pic Departing Vavau,   Pic 3 At Anchor Nomuka-iti

From the Hapaii’s we sailed south for 36 hours to spend a night at anchor inside Minerva Reef North which is a strange experience literally at anchor inside a low near round reef about a mile in circumference in the middle of the ocean sheltered from the ocean swells outside.

Pic 4 Minerva Reef

The 5 day sail from Minerva to landfall at midnight off Cape Brett and subsequent berthing on the Quarantine Dock at Opua at 3am was the end of an uneventful often calm but at times a typically gutsy sail particularly as we neared the NZ coast. 

Home at Last

That’s it back at the point of departure…deal done, loop the loop, threesixzero, circled the bubble.  Time for some shut eye until the border control people wake us with the Customs Patrol reality television show people in  tow !!!   But guess what, they are not coming aboard Musketelle with their sniffer dogs because we have a certain Turkish national feline on board that will disrupt their precise sniffing role, so we get the low profile no less thorough no camera treatment by the same official who checked us out back in 2007, and that suits us and WiFi just fine.

We cannot go into the marina and are required to anchor off until the border officials can give us more information about how they are going to handle WiFi.  We anchor in clear water and are pleasantly surprised when our former yacht ‘Lion New Zealand’ aka ‘Phantom of the Straits’ that we owned for 10 years takes her mooring next to us.  Talk about 6 degrees of separation with our two Ron Holland designed babies side by side, that brought back some memories.

Pic 1 Lion NZ Opua

We are subsequently informed that WiFi is required to be quarantined aboard Musketelle at anchor either off Opua or anywhere else we nominate for six weeks until 11 January at which time she then goes ashore to a land quarantine facility at Takanini, South Auckland for 10 days before becoming eligible for liberation to terra firma NZ.   We promised her this outcome in Marmaris way back in 2009 when she said she wanted to come all the way to NZ with us.  What were we thinking, many thousands of dollars later this wild Turkish Kedi is about to become a Kiwi Kat.   Turkey to Takanini to life on the Tamaki…..what a story, we cannot wait for her book.

The Windigo Rescue Saga

The 38ft yacht “Windigo” en route from Port Maurelle to NZ is ultimately hit by the predicted heavy weather south of Minerva Reef and its crew of two knocked around in the dead of night resulting in them requesting rescue, which involved another yacht electing to sail back to assist, multiple flights by both RNZAF and New Caledonian rescue aircraft, a container ship diverting and the RNZN frigate Otago which steamed at full speed from Auckland for over 30 hours to reach the scene.   The couple were initially rescued by the container ship and then transferred to the frigate Otago for return to Auckland.  Clinically efficient and on the surface a credit to all concerned in rescuing a couple in distress on the high seas.

But maybe not……

The decision to proceed with the rescue was no doubt predicated on the initial call for assistance from Windigo which may have been premature but that is the role of professional rescue experts to ascertain before setting the full rescue mission in motion.  Subsequently watching television footage of the rescued couple merrily disembarking RNZN Otago in Auckland and looking at other media reports had some cruisers obviously concerned that this very costly rescue effort was maybe due to misjudgment and misinformation by the crew of Windigo.  Worse the decision by the rescue co-ordinators to allow the yacht to be left drifting as a hazard to other vessels in the knowledge that tens of cruisers would be sailing from Tonga and Fiji through the same waters in the weeks following, never mind its fate beyond.   Apparently the rescued couple naively harbored plans to reunite themselves with the yacht at a later time, so they requested the yacht not be scuttled and the rescue authorities obliged!!! 

Musketelle on the last leg of her circumnavigation was one of those following yachts and we were not impressed with the lack of knowledge and whereabouts of Windigo, with Taupo Maritime Radio requesting details of any sighting position to be reported.  Not at all comforting.  

We departed Vavau, Tonga with the yacht ‘Follow Me’ and indeed this yacht became entangled with one of the liferafts dropped by the RNZAF Orion, and after diving over to cut away the tangle then knifed and sank the liferaft on instructions of NZ authorities.  It could have easily been Windigo that ‘Follow Me’ or any number of us could have collided with possibly requiring another rescue, so ‘Follow Me’ decided to guesstimate the drift factors then went looking for Windigo, successfully sighting her happily drifting on her waterline with sails neatly furled and after 5 days the diesel engine still idling away.  This was not a disabled yacht.  

The fact is Windigo was knowingly sailed into the path of a possible cyclone resulting in a no doubt bad but not life threatening experience for its crew but also a costly multi craft rescue effort that was probably not necessary.   There were numerous yachts in the greater area of water en route to NZ at the time Windigo called for assistance, most of which had departed before the cyclones path was accurately predicted and they all got through the same weather system and seas with known discomfort and tension associated with open ocean passage making, with individuals on other yachts also getting physically knocked around.   

NZ registered yachts departing NZ are required to comply with the at times contentious safety requirements of ‘Section 21’ which involves costly safety and communications equipment with an emphasis on accessing weather reports.   Incredibly during our six years circumnavigating we regularly listened to some cruisers lacking the most basic adequate equipment instead relying on other cruisers for relaying weather forecasts and conditions, which is the equivalent of nautical Russian Roulette that relies on others covering the cost of mopping up the collateral damage.   The cost of an SSB Radio is often sighted as the reason for inability to source weather at sea but in recent years the more reliable alternative, the SatPhone has brought the cost down markedly. Unfortunately many yachts that have satellite phones hold them exclusively for that last resort emergency call without researching the options to source and download compressed weather data in all its various on-screen formats.  

For the hundreds of ocean cruisers sailing the planet that go out of their way to dig deep to fund training and maintain the systems and safety equipment required to survive at sea this sort of high profile rescue might make for good social media footage but that’s all.  Notwithstanding any sailor wants to be caught out and be hit by heavy weather there is an absolute necessity to plan for the worst, have storm sails and contingency plans to ride weather out.  There are today countless weather prediction programmes freely available at little or no cost to avoid and minimize weather impact so it is not unusual to meet cruisers who circumnavigate without ever unfurling their storm sails.

Windigo was a retired charter yacht from the Caribbean being repositioned to NZ by its owner to be imported on arrival and such vessels are renowned for being built for purpose and minimally equipped for off shore sailing.   Adding solar panels, a wind generator and a satphone as a last resort backup for emergency calls do not make a bluewater cruising yacht.  Ironically if Windigo was to have reached NZ safely and then been used to depart offshore again as an NZ vessel she and her crew would be required to meet the onerous Section 21 safety and training requirements alluded to. 

Making that emergency call was an easy get out of jail for the Windigo crew,  but the ramifications are far reaching,  not to mention in this case a major financial loss to her owners with the yacht at last reports still drifting out there as a major hazard to other mariners.

Little wonder this rescue is being thoroughly analysed because to the genuine cruising sailor the Windigo saga grates as it impacts negatively on cruisers, and the reality is this weather system was not much more than a gale. 

Oct 2012 STILL WESTWARD HO

Oct 2012

Westward Ho.

We leave French Polynesia behind departing from Bora Bora and head for the NZ protectorate of Niue a distance of 1100 miles.  The breeze has us passing close by a number of small atolls one of which is picturesque Aitutaki in the Cook Islands group and another NZ protectorate. We decide to make a small detour to port to make a stop at Aitutaki for the renowned Friday night festivities but the anchorage is rolling and with current sweeping round the island we were not happy at the prospect of leaving Musketelle anchored off the reef whilst ashore.  We drifted around from arrival 0400 in the approaching dawn light until we could raise the Port Captain at 0800 and get more information. That information confirms with our deep draft it is impossible to enter the channel to the shelter of the lagoon so therefore stopping is not viable.  We continue on the remaining 570 miles to Niue having an amazing ride in enhanced trade wind conditions.

Idyllic tradewind sailing

We come across a massive flock of seabirds the largest we have sighted. The birds are massing around ducking and diving down to the water with a surprising number on the surface feeding on bits and pieces resulting from the dive kill activity.  In places the water is white with the interaction of fish and birds meeting.  We can only imagine the size of the bigger unseen fish below causing these smaller fish to stay on the surface for the lesser evils of the unseen flying peckers from above. Nature at work on an impressive scale.  Amateur pics’s never seem to catch the excitement and enormity of the moment like Attenborough would.

Mid ocean seabirds conducting mad feeding frenzy

Niue Island

A  0200 arrival in the dark without any moon to show the way but that’s fine as this is an island without an outer reef and lagoon and with deep water right up to steep cliffs.   We approach from the east with wholesome southeast winds and enhanced swells but once we round the southern end of the island we are quickly in the lee and the swells dissipate.   In pitch dark we drop sails and motor with radar overlaid onto electronic charts on the chart plotter to locate one of 20 mooring buoys laid close to the shore by the NYC (Niue Yacht Club).  The water is too deep to anchor without getting too close to the narrow slither of coral that surrounds the island.  In the light of morning Niue reveals itself to be a pancake flat rock sitting 20/30 meters above the sea with lush vegetation atop surrounded by unwelcoming cliffs.

Niue open roadstead deepwater anchorage off Alofi township

We go ashore to complete quarantine, customs and immigration formalities with locals that have a cute kiwi twang in their island speech that has us acknowledging we are nearly in our own backyard again.  But that is jumping forward because landing on Niue involves timing the constant ocean swells to position the dink adjacent to a crane lift out pulley hook that you must tie the dink to then jump onto the concrete wharf and push the buttons to activate the electric motor to lift  the dink on to the wharf away from the energised swells that continually ply the coast.  This is the only way ashore and if the wind decides to come from the west then it’s time to high tail it off Niue or risk being pummeled on the coral and cliffs.

The Yacht Club promotes itself as the biggest little yacht club in the world with 1600 odd foreign members when the island only has 1400 inhabitants.  Although in reality it’s not a real yacht club as it only provides the moorings and the social aspects.

Navigatoress outside NYC with local member

The NYC is located below the backpackers lodge and is the nexus for visitors by air or sea and the central point for guidance and information over a coffee or a beer.  Within an hour we had the obligatory where how and when questions answered and also a local Kiwi by the name of Jim from Motueka had offered to run us around the island the following day to show us the sights.

Next morning the swells were tame as we came ashore and off we went in Jims clapped out Mazda Bongo van now accompanied by wife Patricia.   

Patricia alongside their Bongo van……note Port passenger side window

They spend 8 months of the year on Niue running a string of Kiwi style bach self catering cottage stays and we visited one of the properties in a magnificent situation with spectacular cliff top reef and ocean views with access to a private reef swimming spot below plus its own network of caves beneath the grounds. To top it off paw paw and mango were growing wild everywhere.

 Kiwi style holiday bach “Clifftop Fale” with ocean and reef views

By 1000 Jim was offering refreshments in the form of NZ brown ale from the chillybin so you can visualise the laidback style of the island with just 40km to drive around and only 1400 people including children, and being a midweek morning we seemed to have the place to ourselves.

Jim with “brown can sandwich” for morning tea driving us round Niue

Zero traffic on a mid week morning

Interesting village hall usage sign....read line 5

You can park your outrigger canoe inside or outside

Stopped along the way to walk down some of the ‘Sea Tracks‘ to excellent swimming and snorkeling spots on the reef with pristine waters, not to mention the numerous caves. The eastern coast is windswept whilst the west more benign.

Stunning coastal vistas

On return to the NYC mid afternoon we were somewhat pooped not just by the physical tour but by the volume of information we had been given by our enthusiastic hosts including their take on the current politics, economy, tourism opportunities and overall future of the little island.

Avatele Village Show Day…and more

Each of the 6 major villages on the island has a Show Day to exhibit its cultural, cuisine and handicraft capabilities providing an opportunity to outdo its neighbors.  This was the Avatele Village show day at their village located on the southeast side of the island.   We had hired a car so we could make our way nice and early as recommended for the traditional food.  The day dawned typically fine and sunny although we noted the swell was running as we made our over way to an American yacht whose crew who we had offered to take along in our rental car.  They were anchored closer to the wharf and had been monitoring the swell situation and they reluctantly declined to come to the show sighting concern about getting ashore.   So we pushed on alone monitored the swells for a few minutes and then gunned the 15hp Mercury outboard to time the swells to perfection and get on the crane hook and  ashore in a lull in the swells without major drama, but yes it was a bit hair raising. We get to the show early for the colourful action……..

Handicraft and traditional food including Uga (big crabs)

Colourful cultural scenes at the Avatele Show Day 

We have a memorable time at the Vaitelle Show until lunchtime when we motored back into the main settlement to check the dink at the wharf and we were concerned to now see waves practically breaking on to the wharf which is about 3 meters above the normal water level. 

Waves all but breaching the top of the landing wharf

We decided to move our dink up to a higher ramp area above the dock further away from the wharf proper.  Aussie cruisers, Scott and Karin who we had just met at the show also decided to shift their dink at the same time. 

Drama Time

Later that afternoon we  were having a beer at the NYC when the Commodore came rushing in to say there was mayhem at the wharf, which saw everyone scarper the 500 meters to the wharf to witness kids body surfing on waves surging across the top of the wharf and one of the 2 dinks plus the club’s trolley gone.    And yes it was Musketelle’s dink that was nowhere to be seen. Phew what a calamity....until a local lad Oscar who turned out to be the local dustman informed the Commodore that he and two other local kids (children of the Government Treasurer) had rescued a dink from the foaming surges and wrestled it over the reef to a rocky cove beyond the surging waters.  In no time we all scampered after  Oscar and we were reunited with the sad sight of our half inflated dink full of water with the 15hp Mercury outboard slumped inside the hull but still padlocked by chain, the fuel tank floating and oars still lashed. 

Sad sight of Musketelle’s beached dink and removal of outboard motor

Within 30 minutes we had the outboard and tank up at the yacht club and a combined effort had the motor flushed with freshwater, plugs removed and cleaned and the carburettor stripped and cleaned and in no time the engine was running again.   

Resuscitating outboard back at the NYC and getting sprayed in the process

The rescue of the actual hull was left until next morning when conditions had moderated somewhat with Scott and Karin giving us a hand to retrieve the damaged but repairable now leaking hull.  The clubs launching trolley was also recovered the following day. We made a contribution of $50 and the Club $25 to the young people who had helped out. Thanks to Oscar and friends and to the NYC.

We observed that this all happened on the 13^th, we were tied up to buoy 13 and it was the skipper’s birthday !!!  

Next Stop Vavau Tonga

We head off west on the 250 mile passage to Vavau Tonga and for once it’s a magic sail in a stable 15 knots Southeast in 1 meter seas that has us reaching at 7.5 knots the entire way with the only hiccup being the fact our autopilot is still not holding course on a port course when it holds perfectly on starboard.  We have another request for information and help into the Raymarine Tech Desk.

Westing to End

17 Oct was our last full day sailing east to west so we savoured our last Sunset on the bow, for from this point on we turn to Port and head south for NZ which will see us with sunsets on starboard. Likewise dawn 18 Oct we have our last Sunrise over the transom before we arrived off the entrance to Port Refuge at the northern tip of Vavau, Tonga. 

Last westbound Sunset over bow and last Sunrise over transom before turning South

Big 360 Achieved

0700 18 Oct 2012 off Port Refuge, Vavau, Tonga after sailing over 28,000 miles Musketelle crossed her outgoing wake from 2007 so completing her circumnavigation. Done Deal !!

It was a perfect morning and following a congratulatory peek on the cheek we took pics to record the event which is momentous for us as a sailing couple although looking at the half asleep faces in those pics you would never know. 

Vavau Tonga at dawn

 The 360 Moment

We had both been up all night both willing Musketelle over that line and silently worrying something might stop us even though we were in clear waters in benign tropical conditions.   Ironically the last 20 miles were self imposed  tough because we were running dead downwind with the prospect of gybing challenging ourselves to not change course to ensure we got around the northern tip of Vavau, and we did.

When got into the protected waters of Vavau we proceeded to anchored in the hurricane hole of Neiafu town and completed the same old border control formalities which in Tonga include Customs, Health, Quarantine and Immigration all of whom work independently of each other, without any changes since 2007.  With in excess of 400 yachts coming through each season coming up with a simplified system would be a good PR exercise.  The following morning we tuned into the vibrant local cruisers VHF radio net and when the coordinator asked for any new arrivals B still excited got on and announced Musketelle and added our circumnavigation milestone here at Vavau.   A few listeners said congratulations and that was that.   We are not normally big on such public consumption stuff like but it’s not every day you circumnavigate….but so what.   However since then numerous cruisers have rocked up to us to say wow! Congratulating us.  Most of these cruisers are seeking the same outcome and we wish them well telling them it’s a breeze……all you need is time and a bank balance that can live with negative gearing for the duration.  

Circumnavigation Cake

Its a time for momentary reflection as we revisit what we have achieved on this loop of the orb readily recalling the good times and experiences and conveniently forgetting the not so good.  Looking again at those pics as we arrived off Port Refuge we are reminded we respectively had a 4 and a 5 in our ages when we were last in Tonga, and now we decidedly do not  !!

We have had a celebratory Kiwi roast lamb dinner swilled with a nice Turkish White followed by peach melba dessert.  To continue the celebration B has promised a ‘Circumnavigation Cake’ and Cookies.

Vavau Worklist

Celebratory reflections aside the near landlocked lagoon of Neiafu is the perfect place to cull the worklist in sheltered conditions without the Pacific swells.  

Musketelle at anchor early morning calm off Neiafu town, Vavau

We currently have a  short list with the dink repair following the Niue incident now the most pressing so we will try to hire a dink whilst we repair our dink on the aft deck.  Three or four days should see us sorted. Then we have to drop the mainsail on the deck to repair the section damaged on the top spreader before we head south into more boisterous conditions. Finally on the mechanical side its change engine oil, filters and anodes.

Sadly October is the last full month of our voyaging, in fact the 66^th month of the voyage and as if time has momentum of its own this month has literally flown more than most. Musketelle has a sniff of the finish line, not to mention WiFi who says enough is enough is enough.                                                   

We unashamedly acknowledge we have been chilling out swimming, reading, imbibing and dining and savouring our remaining days in the tropics in the knowledge of our pending return to more the volatile temperate climate of NZ.

Yes the end really is in sight as October closes.

SEP 2012 PARADISE PASSES QUICKLY

Sep 2012


Paradise Passes Quickly

This is one of those months that just flys by. We are enjoying French Polynesia and for 10 days we have the benefit of a French speaking boat visitor join us, P’s sister Deb, which makes it even more enjoyable.

But first back to the beginning of the month - at Rangiroa Atoll from which we depart for the simple 15 hour trade winds sail southwest to the big island of Tahiti Nui and the capital Papeete. The forecast was for bad weather setting in for the next few days so we were keen to get to Papeete to make sure we could met Deb on time. The trip was uneventful, even slow, with less wind than we wished for, even to the point of having to motor – until that is, the final 3 hours when a southerly blast accelerated by the high island peaks comes in. It was a little snotter, 25 knots gusting over 30 knots at times, which saw us surfing down waves at 10 knots in the dark (of course) until we got well into the lee of Tahiti-Nui when the wind crimped out again. We were relieved to get in to the shelter of the lagoon guided by the leading lights for Port Papeete, just after midnight.

We made the compulsory call to the Harbourmaster and requested permission to anchor in the usual spot off the Church only to be told all anchoring was prohibited in the harbor area and we should tie up at the yacht pontoons. In the dark we assumed that the Med moored yachts had dropped their anchors and so dropped ours and backed in only to find in the morning that there were pickup lines (but not on the bit of pontoon we just happened to choose) and that our anchor was firmly stuck in a mooring chain.

Ken, the very nice port captaine in charge of the pontoons and responsible for clearing us in and out, sadly informed us that the Port divers were angry that so many yachts kept tangling up and breaking the mooring lines (hence the absence of them at our position on the pontoon) and were refusing to repair them and refusing to untangle any anchors, until the end of the season. We were a little stuck!

However as we had a few jobs to do and as we were waiting for Deb, we stayed put and keep up a continuous but friendly dialogue and email traffic with Ken and his boss to facilitate the attendance of the divers to release us. Fortunately they turned up at 0830 on the Friday morning that Deb arrived.

For us the vibrant city of Papeete turned out to be a very pleasant stopover, ironically due largely to the “decision” to pay to moor at the yacht pontoons which are located right in the city center adjacent to the OPT (Post Office). Everything was close to hand within walking distance….the central marketplace, officialdom in the form of the port captaine, supermarkets, boulangerie, marine services and suppliers. Access to fresh fruit, veg and the excellent selection of NZ meats, Anchor Tasty Cheddar and Tip Top Ice Cream plus the best of France really made it for us.

We’re all going West

A gaggle of other cruising yachts came and went from the Papeete pontoon during our weeks stay so we had a bit of socialization which was good. Most were like us sailing west with 50% going to NZ and 50% either direct to Australia or finding a Pacific hideaway haven for the cyclone season. We noted with concern that 1994 Queens Birthday Storm still influences many cruisers decision on not including NZ on their circumnavigation. With the improvement in forecasting and accessibility to reliable onboard weather information it seems incredible that this situation persists. Although we are biased, a NZ layover from November to April really does offer cruisers a great experience with the added bonus of access to excellent marine services. We were impressed to see copies of excellent individual publications promoting cruiser services for Opua , Whangarei and Tauranga but we only noticed them by chance in the Papeete Port Captains office so it is questionable how many cruisers they ultimately get to.

Deb to the Rescue

Deb joined us in Papeete flying in with essential supplies…….Vogels Bread, Vegemite, Easy-Yo Yogurt mixes (which we later found in the supermarkets), Newspapers , Magazines and other Kiwiana treats. Most importantly she carried the replacement rigging parts to replace the fractured lower D1 toggle.

Literally at the last moment we also lumbered her with an extra 8kg of hand baggage in the form of a new 95amp Bosch Marine Alternator that EAL (Electrics Afloat Ltd) in Auckland, at very short notice, supplied, adapted to suit and drove out to Auckland International Airport to hand deliver to her. Trouble was she had already checked in and was though customs casually browsing the duty free shops when she received a call from EAL that a man was on the way with the alternator necessitating Deb come back out through customs escorted by a customs officer and then be escorted back through with said alternator. Deb obviously had to do some smooth talking to carry this off and we are indebted to her and Keith of EAL for making it all happen. (Our existing alternator was only discovered to be kaput 5 hours earlier and a local supplier was indicating a week to supply if we were lucky).

Brick Bat

If the alternator story is all good the availability of new fan belts to fit the new alternator took a day to track down in Papeete and that was with Debs French language assistance. But the real disappointment was the Rigging Toggles supplied by KZ Marine were not to specification with the clevis pins holes being only 19mm diameter when we ordered 22mm so this required a reputable local engineer a day to drill out, at a not insignificant cost as most everything in French Polynesia is expensive to say the least. We checked our instructions to KZ Marine and can only conclude our emails were not read. We were not impressed. As riggers they know all rigging part measurements are critical. This was disappointingly sloppy service and a glaring contrast to the superb effort put in by Electrics Afloat.

We spent a day driving around Tahiti-Nui, a small circuit in sun and rain showers.

Photos of Tahiti Nui – a quiet lagoon, P&D, Point Venus Light where 

Captain Cook observed the transit of Venus, canoeists, inside the passé in 

Tahiti-Nui with Moorea in the background

Moorea

The following day we sail for Moorea and spend a few days in idyllic anchorages inside the lagoon and walking ashore. The highlight was approaching the lagoon entrance and coming across pods of large whales noodling around in the seaward shallows off the fringing reef beyond Baie de Cook. It was up close and personal whale viewing and stunning to watch these creatures of the deep swimming around and inquisitively right under Musketelle. This is another wildlife highlight of our travels up there with the Manta Rays of the Maldives, Dolphin Reef of the Red Sea and the Orangutuans and Komodo Dragons of Indonesia.

Whale spotting up close and personal is very exciting

Moorea –approaching Bay du Cook, at anchor, Deb, Moorea countryside, WiFi was there

Hua Hine and Raiatea

Next stop for a day is Hua Hine before pending inclement weather suggests a quick passage to better shelter behind the reef on nearby Raiatea. The weather packs up on queue and stays showery for four days. B has to take a quick trip back to Papeete on the ferry to recover our Ships papers that the Skipper left behind when completing the duty free paperwork at the fuel station. The blood pressure went up when these were discovered to be missing as it is similar to losing one’s passport. However Deb’s French did the trick again as we used Skype to call the fuel station and ascertain that they definitely had the papers. Before long it was time for Deb to return to NZ, regrettably without a tan thanks to time spent in engineers’ shops in Papeete and unexpected cloudy days.

Tahaa - Vegetation and History

Tahaa is the island immediately to the north of Raiatea and within the same lagoon. It can be circled by yacht within the lagoon. The topography of these islands is high and rugged with prolific tropical vegetation particularly on Tahaa. We take a tropical plant tour with a French yachtie who dropped anchor here 27 years ago, building a traditional home and developing a vanilla plantation. His ‘Vanilla Tours’ using his open deck Land Rover saw us trundling around this tropical paradise learning the origin and uses of a multitude of plants, fruits, fauna, flowers and their use in everything from food, medications to customary potions, clothing and traditional house construction. The fact that the majority of plant life in French Polynesia has been introduced either by the wind, the sea but mostly by humans is most notable.

Of particular interest is that the canoes that departed for New Zealand around 1250AD left from Raiatea and most probably would have transited inside the reefs to exit from the Tahaa pass to then island hop west via the then known islands before embarking on the star path to Aotearoa.

It is clear everyone in Pacific Oceania is an immigrant from the bordering continents, including Taiwan, at some time in history but with no written history and the erosion of physical evidence in the harsh tropical environment the Polynesian story is limited to a small number of stone artifacts supplemented by the telling of the tales and passing down of carving and tattoo imagery.

Tahaa Photos – at anchor, vanilla flower and pods, on tour, rain at anchor

Bora Bora

Claimed to be the world’s most picturesque tropical island, it‘s peaks were shrouded in mist as we sailed towards it. We arrive in the dark and initially take a mooring off the Bora Bora Yacht Club but move around to find an anchoring spot off the town of Viatape next morning so we can check-in with the local gendarmerie, only to be informed checking in is not necessary and they only want to see us on checkout.

Bora Bora – reef waves crash near the passé, B at the Bora Bora Yacht Club, 

P and B at Vaitape town dock

The Bora Bora lagoon is surprisingly deep with very few shallow anchoring opportunities so having 100m of chain and large 40kg anchor is sort of essential for deep water anchoring, so bolstered by finding a spot so easily off the town we headed for some reef anchoring and snorkeling.

Snorkeling around the underwater world is not unlike a submerged Sahara. The prolific stingrays were easily spotted over the white sand shallows as were the colourful tropical fish. The only let down is the lack of colourful coral.

Lagoon colour

Tourism Blues

Tourism in French Polynesia is under huge pressure and is being savaged due to the global downturn and we have seen headlines of major hotel staff layoffs and the prospect of Air France reducing daily flights from Paris to maybe just two per week. Some of the tourism infrastructure is not being maintained and major hotels have been simply shut and mothballed. In Bora Bora it’s even more evident as a number of highly visible waterfront hotels in classic picture postcard settings with bungalows built over the water are abandoned and not only self destructing but being assisted by locals for building materials. The sight of the once famous Hotel Bora Bora on a prominent peninsula crumbling away is not good and one would expect the government to be stepping in to have such sites quickly demolished and replaced by fauna rather than eyesores that send the completely wrong signal to the tourists that are still coming.

The cruise business as everywhere seems to be about the only sector carrying the numbers but the all inclusive nature of this sector only delivers ‘day look and depart’ visitors many of whom trundle back and forth on the ships ferry boats for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea aboard the mother ship without shelling a shilling to the local economy. French Polynesia may have to give up on those traditional European and US tourist markets and sharpen the pencil for other new markets and work hard to dispel the high cost image because it’s a stunning year round destination that delivers the iconic tropical getaway with French flair.

Auto Pilot Saga continues…..

Our autopilot has continued to malfunction intermittently but particularly in strong winds and seas when the wind is on the Port side but not when on the Starboard side. We clearly had a problem with the hydraulic fluid which was rectified back in Panama so the ongoing problem sailing on Port is obviously of concern. Given we have replaced all components except for the Hydraulic Ram we initially saw this as the only possible cause. However without any Raymarine representation in French Poly it is left to team P&B to continue looking at all angles to find a resolution. And guess what !, we think we finally cracked it last week while we were sitting out the inclement weather in Raiatea. We had both noticed the steering had become stiffer and on checking at anchor it was noticeably stiffer when manually turning to Port compared with Starboard. To double check P disengaged the wire steering cables from the steering quadrant and confirmed the quadrant with the steering mechanism disengaged was definitely stiffer turning to port. Next he removed the bearing collar and the Teflon impregnated bearing seal packing and the quadrant flowed from side to side freely. Turns out the packing was binding the 130mm diameter stainless steel rudder boss, but only to port. So after a thorough clean and grease the steering at the cockpit wheel is now like having power steering. We await the big test on passage but the gut feel is we have cracked the nut.

Another Month Passes

As September comes to an end we are prepping for the passage out of French Polynesia but first we had to visit the bank to whom we paid our $3300 bond. This bond was paid when we arrived in French Polynesia back in Hiva Oa on 15 August to ensure that we would actually depart . Armed with our exit document from the Bora Bora Gendarmes we went to the Bank expecting our bond to refunded directly to our credit card. No, read the fine print, they only refund in cash and only in Pacific Francs. Guys we are leaving, we can’t spend all that! OK so we have to change it to NZD at the going rate – the Bank wins again….

So, very soon we will be heading west to the island of Niue, then Vavau in Tonga where we will cross Musketelle’s wake line of June 2007 thereby completing our 360 !!

Musketelle from atop at mooring off the Bora Bora YC whilst P does a pre-departure check

Bring it on….see you in October.