Yep, time to leave Polynesia!

We’re headed to Hawaii, Saturday morning. The trip plan has it at 18 days, but we know that will change. In the mean time, from here to the equator looks pretty good. 10-15 knot reach with no forecast convective activity. Maybe we’ll even catch a fish. I just made a new lure that is suppose to catch tuna. We’ll see.

In the mean time, here’s Ann’s post on Facebook for today:

“Pasta salad, pasta sauce, curry dinner, fajitas, banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, ginger cookies,hard boiled eggs—-check! All vacuum packed and stored. Top off water tanks and we are headed to Hawaii tomorrow!”

All that’s left is for me to get some fresh bread in the morning and you know Ann will be “walking the dock” saying goodbye to all our new friends.

Fuel runs are often a bit stressful. It’s a lot of close-in maneuvering with a bit of wind and some current and you have a mixture where one little lapse or goof and you become “entertainment” for everyone.

So…we went about six miles down the lagoon inside the barrier reef to the fuel dock at Marina Taina (there’s no fuel dock up in Papeete). It’s a concrete sided wharf that is made to scrape off the side of your boat and has a shed roof that comes right to the edge of the dock so one false move and you either tear your mast off or the shed. Fortunately we managed to avoid either and topped off the tank and our two jerry jugs on deck.

OK, so now that we’re done, the wind has us pinned to the dock and there’s very little room to get out and turn in the tight space of the (small) marina. No problem, just get a bunch of Tahitians who were fueling their motorboat to push our bow out against the wind. This gave me enough room to gun the engine, and get on some speed so I can maneuver and avoid the catamaran docked about 20 yards in front of us. OK, so now we’re deeper in the little marina and have to do a 180 to get out. Fortunately, I can do a starboard turn into the wind, crank it in full reverse and do a pivot with Charisma’s “prop-walk” in about 1/2 a boat length. Phew! Try and do that turn the other direction and the tightest possible radius would be about 30 yards which would have us smashing into, oh, about the fourth row of boats in. That’s one of the stressful bits. You always have to keep the good options open in a very tight place you have never been in before.

All in a day’s work/adventure.

Just for the heck of it, another view of the waterfront at sunset.

Oil change!!

OK, not exactly, but the galley is the staging ground for the process. Change oil, new oil filter, new primary diesel filter and drain Racor filter and new secondary fuel filter. We didn’t need it just based on hours, but we’ll likely do a 24 to 48 hour straight run without stopping to get through the equatorial convergence zone (lightning and other bad stuff with little wind and/or squalls). Not fun and clean, new oil and filters is one less thing to worry about.

Good thing Ann wasn't here to see this.

We’re about done with our boat projects list. Ann walked to the store on a provisioning run – every day she makes the twenty minute walk down and back (in this crazy heat) and shlepps back a backpack load of stuff for the trip. On Wednesday or Thursday we’ll do some pre-cooking and vacuum bagging – several meals worth of pasta sauce and half a dozen curry in coconut milk that we add to rice for a one pot meal underway. Oh, and beer.

Oh, and did I mention that Ann first made a batch of cookie dough and then oiled the teak in the cockpit in this heat prior to going to the grocery store. All part of getting it done!

Plan to leave Saturday the 27th. Once again, three weeks and some change enroute.

The Puddle Jumpers just left for the party in Moorea and in the space of about two hours this morning, the docks have gone from jam full to less than half. Those of us still here describe it as: “Ahh, we can breath again”, as in lots of open space.

Space!

So…we’re just “hanging”, doing a little boat work, socializing with the cruisers that are left, waiting for a weather window for the next leg to Hawaii. As of now, it looks to be next weekend. Likely Saturday. Couple things left to do. Change the oil and filters, service the batteries, top off the rum supply, stuff like that. Oh, yeah, stock up on fresh food.

Stay tuned.

Ya know, we’re just chillin’.

A little boat work, some provisioning (for the next leg to Hawaii), and a lot of just, well, chillin’. Except it’s hard to call it that since it’s so bloody HOT (and humid). Fun to be here, but it will also be good to leave.

We’re currently looking at a window roughly June 28th. Give or take a couple days and the weather may change, but right now it looks like a good shot.

So… In the mean time what’s fun (in between boat work) is; we’re the guys who have “Done It”. You know, sailed across and now back. Most of the folks here in the marina are like us three years ago. They are good, competent sailors, but are feeling the “unknown” as they go west. From here it definitely gets less “charted” and there’s some mystery about what’s over the horizon. Since we’ve been there and back, we’re enjoying the attention we’re getting from folks who want a read on “what’s next”? Since there are plenty of significant hazards, I hope we are doing our part in helping to educate people on what to look out for. Anyway, it’s interesting being the “sage” advisors.

Tonight was another pot luck down the dock. So fun to mingle with all our new friends. Day after tomorrow is the Puddle Jump party that we did three years ago as our group continued from Mexico toward New Zealand. I think we’re going to go now that we have connected with so many of the new group heading across. And…there are a couple boats who are leaving here for Hawaii like we are, so we’re connecting up and will try to set a radio schedule to stay in touch over those 2400 plus miles and 20 some days of ocean voyaging.

Hardly seems like it’s been almost a week already.  Well, the first couple days we were zombies, so that doesn’t count.  Then we had to get used to the heat all over again.  It’s smokin’ hot here but it’s the humidity that takes the most getting used to.  We are just dripping all the time.

We’re forcing ourselves to drink lots of water to stay hydrated.  Once we sort of got used to the hot/wet conditions – in other words, you stop “fighting” it, we’ve been able to start getting stuff done.  At this point, we know where all the grocery/wine/baguette stores are and have walked all over town looking for new LED lights for the compass.  Yes, it finally did give up the ghost.  I tried to solder the connections back together but they were so old and corroded, they just kept falling apart.  So – we went to every marine store, “sorry sold out”, several electronics stores; “Non!” even found an LED light store.  The helpful but slightly snarky young lady there looked at the LED and said, “ooh, that’s really old, we don’t have anything like that!”  Me; “Yes, yes, but do you know where I can find one?”  She (after pausing a beat); “Hmmm, maybe in the past?”

So…as luck would have it one of the other cruisers on the dock has a box full of them that he bought upon leaving the US for a project he’s working on to replace some of his.  He gave us two.  An hour’s worth of tweaking, soldering, etc and we are the proud owners of a fully functioning compass light.  Yay!

Other projects completed to date:

-New jib sheet.  I had to cut one that I inadvertently (and terminally) jammed into the self-tailing jaws when I wound it into the jaws twice.

-New main boom topping lift.  I was looking at the rigging with binoculars and noticed some chafe.  Pulled it down and found chafe through the cover and a nick in the core.  130 feet of yacht braid later and we not only have a new topping lift, but also the two new storm jib sheets I’ve been meaning to get (we’ve been using the spinnaker sheets, but they are too long.  The topping lift was perfect once I cut it in half and threw away the chafed part which was right in the middle).  I also spliced the shackle on the end instead just a knot, for a clean finish.

-Took down and folded “the Whomper” and put the Yankee jib back up.  I think we’ll be beam to close reaching in trade winds (i.e. 15-30 knots) and don’t need the monster jib for the next two legs.  I list this as a “project” because in this heat, it’s a major project to do this much work.

-Ann has polished every bit of stainless – stanchions, blocks, pulpits, binnacle, etc.  People walk by and their mouths drop at how beautiful Charisma looks; no one believes we just got in from NZ.

-Ann has begun provisioning…she made a batch of ginger cookie dough today to be cooked as we get closer to departure.

-New toilet seat.  We actually found a toilet seat that exactly fits our 25 year old marine head (toilet).  The hinge on one side broke – unfixable.  I was going to fit blocks underneath the seat as a sort of fix until we could get back to the US and source a new one, but we sound it here.  Surprise!

One more big project is to fix the deck prism that started leaking.  These are foot long prisms mounted flush on the deck to let light into the cabin.  They are awesome, but every some years the sealing “goo” breaks its seal and springs a leak.  I’ve done the other three over the past several years and now it’s this one’s turn.  This is a two or three hours project in the direct sun, so I’m avoiding it as long as I can   😉

So…another week and then we’ll look for a weather window for the next leg from here to Hawaii.  About another 2400 nm trip.  Different conditions though.  This one starts in warm weather, crosses the trade winds at about a 90 degree angle and two to three hundred miles go through the doldrums of the equator.  More on the trip conditions and trip plan as we get closer, but if you’re looking at a map – we’ll head NNE to the equator, then north to get through the doldrums as direct as possible (they stretch East/West), then stay east of Hawaii as much as the wind lets us until we can sail direct even if the wind turns NE.

OK, enough “sailing talk”.  Time for a shower and some ukulele practice.  I’m practicing now in the cockpit (quietly) but am actually getting compliments from the other cruisers so I’m a little more confident in my playing these days.  I’m still using sheet music though.  Next step is to memorize some of the songs.  I understand that John and Lisa from Orcinius are practicing “Tiny Bubbles” so there’s going to be a crazy cacophony when we catch up in Hawaii!

For those who are reading this and want to employ an agent to handle the paperwork and in particular the bond exemption, we are using Polynesian Yacht Services and have been most ably served by their agent Laurent Bernaert.  He will also arrange duty free fuel, discounts on boat parts and loads of other stuff.   He was recommended by a fellow cruiser and yacht delivery captain (Dave Berg) in New Zealand.  Laurent makes the customs and immigration process soooo easy, it has been a pleasure.  So if you want “easy” when you enter French Polynesia, Laurent’s email is;  pys@mail.pf  

He has been incredibly responsive.  Highly recommended!

Here's Laurent on Charisma taking care of all the paperwork.

We slept a full 12 hours last night. Got up to do a little more paperwork at the marina office and walk over to the market to buy some fresh tuna. I’m going to make tuna steaks done very rare with a salad for dinner. Tried to find baguettes as well and can’t find ’em! Damn! We’re going to ask around. They are so ubiquitous here, they are probably right under our noses and we just can’t see them.

Nice to be back.

View from neighbor's mast.

Taking it really easy today. We folded the sails, put on the covers and once we figure out how to use the darn card system for the water, we’ll hose down Charisma to get all the salt off, but that’s it for today, then nap time.

We’ve already been invited to a pot luck tomorrow night…so it starts. Kaila Vosa has been on the prowl. Can’t keep her away from people after being gone three weeks straight. We weren’t here five minutes before she headed down the dock looking for people to talk with 😉

So…feels really good to have made it here in pretty good time too. I’ve already got the full cruisers’ amnesia – good thing I blogged the passage, ’cause I can’t even remember the scary parts at this point. 😉

Papeete is nice, but very hot. We turned the boat around this morning so the sun isn’t glaring into the cockpit. Now we have some shade and the other bonus is, we’re looking right out onto the waterfront instead of across the bay at the shipyard. Great view! Also, the new marina here is really nice. Holds lots of boats, but with only another week or so before the Puddle Jump boats get here from the U.S., they still have a lot of organizing to do. For example their credit card reader doesn’t work. You have to pay everything in cash. The head of the marina was telling me that the marina is half private and half “administration”, which is “code” for French. He said the administration side is very, very slow to get things done. I told him I knew and that last time we were here three years ago, the Harbormaster had a leak in his ceiling sprinkler. Because things are so slow, he just put a garbage pail in the middle of the room to catch the water since for since for months he couldn’t get someone from the administration to fix it. He said; “That was me, and the ceiling still leaks”!

Ah, the French bureaucracy. Soon, it will almost be as bad as our congress.