Hiking, eels and Mai

Yesterday we went on one of the most beautiful hikes of my life! We're anchored in Daniel's Bay, just a few miles from the main anchorage on Nuku Hiva where a river flows into the ocean. After securing the dinghy on shore at the river's mouth, we followed the dirt road through the village where a local man waved to us. His name was Mae (pronounced ma-ae) and he is one of the fifteen village residents. Immediately Mae offered us fruits from the surrounding trees. He pulled down a pomegranate; something called a "pistache" and another nameless fruit foreign to us and had us taste them. The fruits here are unbelievably sweet and delicious. You think you've had great tasting bananas before, but you haven't until you've tasted the bananas here. Mae pointed the path to the waterfall and we set out, walking through glorious smells and brilliant colors of the fruit trees and flowers.

Along the way, we passed a few well-kept houses, grazing horses, pet dogs tied to trees and a small open-air church. Further into the jungle, the path narrowed to single-file and slightly muddy, requiring one eye on the ground to navigate rocks. Ancient ruins lined the route. Hundreds of years ago, 20,000 people lived on this island before the white man's diseases slain them. This appeared to be an important route in its day because of the size and depth of the rocks lain along the way.

It was a two hour walk to the waterfall, which again was just a trickle due to lack of rainfall. The guidebook said this is the third largest waterfall in the world. With water, it would have been spectacular! As it was, the depth of the canyon and surrounding beauty of the spires and lush green valley was breathtaking in itself. The pool at the base of the falls offered a cool freshwater bath but our swim was cut short. Not sharks this time. Eels. That's right. Two-to-three foot long, black eels as thick as fire hose, were swimming in the pools. Later Mai told us they were not dangerous but loved to swim around people and play. That sounded a little freaky to us especially after we fed them baguettes and saw their large mouths.

After the hike, we accepted Mae's invitation to his home for fruit. He had cut up papaya, mango and banana and served fresh coconut milk still in the shells and some coconut meat. Bear played with his myriad of animals: a gaggle of baby ducks, eight week old kittens, and a baby goat were among the collection. With our every compliment came an offer from Mai to take the item with us. We left with an assortment of fruit and almost a kitten! In return, we invited Mae to the boat for dinner that evening which he readily accepted with the addition of a friend.

Mae and Alexander came to dinner toting another bag of fruit, a liter of homemade hooch (fruity but nasty) and a French/English dictionary. (Mae's English is pretty good but Alexander did not speak any.) We had an interesting and entertaining conversation throughout the evening while serving many cold beers and Swedish meatballs. It was fun to experience firsthand the hospitality of the islands that we've read about all these months.

One Who Swims with Sharks

Anchored in a small, calm bay a short distance from the main town on Nuka Hiva, Bear and I decided to go snorkeling in the heat of the afternoon. Karl nosed the dinghy near shore and Bear and I jumped out with our snorkel gear in tow and went ashore. I stashed a few things on the beach then we put on our snorkel gear and headed to the water. Just as we were about to step foot into the surf, Bear said, "Look Mom! A spiny dogfish!" Bear had experience catching spiny dogfish, a small type of shark found in the Pacific Northwest, on a rod in Alaska. I looked where he was pointing. Yep, that was a shark. Nope, not a spiny dogfish. It was a small (two and a half foot) black tip shark and it was in the surf just a few feet from shore with its dorsal fin sticking up out of the water.

 

Just then, four French sailors were launching their dinghy and saw our astonishment at the shark discovery. In their broken English they said, "No worry. Man here said no bite. Just black tip. No tiger shark in this bay." Then they launched away from shore.

 

Bear and I stood there alone, stunned and nervously laughing at our situation. We radioed to Eric on Oso and asked him to send Karl to retrieve us. As we stood on shore awaiting our ride to safety, it occurred to me that we were going to have to swim out to the dinghy, through the shark infested surf - and Bear was going to have to do it as well. Don't panic, don't panic. "OK Bear. Here's the deal. We have to swim out to the dinghy. That shark is small. It can't kill us. We're going to be fine. We'll just wait until Karl gets as close as he can and we'll put our flippers on and kick real hard out there.  Our flippers will scare the shark away." A wary Bear, who suggested that perhaps its mother was around, kept it together - until it was time to launch. I had one foot in the water and he yells, "There it is!" And he was on the verge of tears. He scared the bee-geebies out of me but when I looked around I didn't see it. He said it wasn't there but it could be. I scolded him to not "cry wolf" and sternly said, "OK, let's go." And guess what? He came. We plunged into the water and scurried out to the dinghy. Bear scampered up the ladder with his fins still on - I've never seen him move so fast. We got in the dinghy, laughing and sighing.

 

Then Karl says, "Uh, I saw Bear's snorkel fall off and sink to the bottom." Bigger sigh. His reallly nice, new, expensive snorkel now sat in ten feet of shark infested, murky water. What do to.... I contemplated going back in for it but that thought passed quick as lightening. Seeing my frustration over its loss, brave Karl came to the rescue. Taking no time to ponder sharks, he jumped in with my mask and went in search of the lost snorkel. After five dives, I was about to call off the search when he came up with it! We cheered all the way back to Oso and made up a story about how a shark snatched the snorkel from Bear's head only to be wrestled away by Super Karl who, facing the jaws of death, kneed the beast in the stomach forcing him to cough up his bootie.

 

Chalk one up to experience!

 

Now I know from other cruisers' accounts of the area that sharks are very common here and if you refuse to swim with them, you won't be swimming much. But my first experience with them wasn't going to be alone on a beach, with only Bear, in murky water with one looming right on shore. I'm sure when we get to the Tuamotos in clear water with lots of other swimmers, we'll all be called "one who swims with sharks".

Fatu Hiva

Considered by some to be the most beautiful anchorage in the Marquesas, the bay at Fatu Hiva offered us perfectly calm seas nestled between fjord-like mountainsides, peering into a valley at the head of the bay. The wind whips fervently down the valley to cool us and stabilze the boat direction - no stern anchor needed here. A constant cloud cover looms over the peaks, providing much needed moisture to the lush foliage and occassionally blessed us with a refreshing rain shower. Hoping to bask in the glory of a 300 foot waterfall, we hiked more than an hour through the tropical forest only to discover the low rain levels converted the falls into a 300 foot trickle. The swimming hole was yet inviting and refreshing.

With a population hovering around 300, little activity rustles this pristine setting. Rather than wait for our arrival, the locals with something to offer came by our boat soon after we anchored. We were invited to dine at Seirge's home where the women would cook a traditional meal while Seirge played the ukelele with his cronies and displayed his wood carvings. A couple other men brought tapas (ink drawings on flattened bark) and carved wood statues for our perusal and purchase. They also made it known any extra wine on board would be appreciated - valuable information when later we elicited their help in jump-starting our dinghy battery for which we happily exchanged a couple bottles of the red stuff. Maurice likes his wine!

Traditional dinner at Seirge's consisted of cooked goat in coconut milk atop rice, marinated raw fish with cucumbers and tomatoes, breadfruit (a local fruit with a starchy texture), and bananas prepared in unique ways that made them look like vienna sausages but squishier and very sweet.

Of the eighteen cruisers who turned out for dinner at Seirge's, we were the only Americans. This is truly international cruising grounds. We have seen boats from all over the world - South Africa, Scotland, Norway, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, to name a few.

Hiva Oa

We have been exploring Hiva Oa for the last few days.   Yesterday we rented a car and driver and visited some very small towns on the other side of the island and an archeological site that has the largest tiki (ancient stone statue) in all of French Polynesia.   It was quite an exciting ride with narow dirt road switchbacks over 1000' above the ocean.

 

It has been great to get of the boat to hike and have dinners ashore!   We had hoped to have good wifi here so we can post a more detailed update and some photos, but that will have to wait until later this week.   Mystery Ship is still here with us and we have been exploring inland with them.

 

The anchorage here is very rolly since the inner harbor is full of sailboats.   there were 22 boats here when we got here  with more arriving daily.   The boat is rolling around more than on the passage, so this morning we are heading about 40 miles to Fatu Hiva.  

 

Eric

 

Land Ho

 

Today at 5:30 am we first sighted land at Hiva Oa in the Marquesas.   At 8:30 we entered the bay and found a place to anchor after 380 hours (15 days 20 hrs) and 2714 nm.

 

The boat ran perfectly for the entire journey and we arrived with over 1000 gallons of fuel to spare.   We are headed in to explore this beautiful tropical paradise.   More to follow .........

 

E

48 Hours

 

 

It is early Thursday morning, April 15 and Oso is starting to smell the barn.   She may also be startig to smell like a barn, but that's a different issue.

 

We are down to 370 nm miles and expect to arrive in Hiva Oa early on Saturday morning (around noon CDT).    Since crossing the equator, the wind and seas have been much more "active".   The long gentle swells, light winds, and wide open doors and hatches of our early days have been replaced with winds of 15-20 kts, seas that are much closer toether and a bit more lively, and the need to keep dors and hatches closed to keep the salt spray out.   Luckily, we have the luxury of A/C and can keep our staterooms comfortable.   The occasional loud slap of bigger waves against the side of the hull frequently interrupts our sleep and the ride is a little rougher, but overall, the seas are being good to us.

 

It has been over 14 days since we left Puerto Vallarta and we have seen very little other than our buddy boat "Mystery Ship".   There are always flying fish popping up and most mornings we find a couple that missed their landings and ended up on our decks, but other than that, we have only seen 3 ships in the distance or on radar.  We have yet to sight another cruiser and we have also seen no floating garbage besides one stray fish net float and an old rubber boat fender.  Yesterday was a beautiful day with clear skys, brilliant blue ocean, and scattered white caps.   The water is typically 12,000 - 14,000 feet deep and nothing but blue upon blue as far as you can see in all directions. We are continually humbled by how small we are and how immense and powerful the ocean can be.   

 

E

 

Crossing the Equator

At 6 pm local time on Monday, April 12 we were approximately 3 nm miles from the equator. Earlier in the day we had received a summons from the Roayl Court of King Neptune informing us of his intent to challene us as we approached the equator and determine our worthiness to be recognized as Shellbacks. It is an ancient tradition of seafarers to transition from being a 'polywog' to a Shellback as the equator is crossed. This, however, is not an automatic status and becoming a Shellback is not without proper evaluation, trial, and punishment.

For boats or ships with Shellbacks aboard, the polywogs can be evaluated by their senior crew members. In our case, having no Shellbacks among our crew, King Neptune himself chose to board Oso Blanco and conduct the trial and ceremonies. As we approached the equator, the crew members presented themselves before the King wearing proper attire and were appropriately humbled. Due to the list of charges and sins against the Sea that had been bestowed upon our degenerate Captain, he was afraid to present himself before King Neptune and he was later found hiding in the bilge. Before the King slipped back into the sea, he granted authority to the newly recognized Shellbacks to bring the Captain to justice as they saw fit. After dragging the sniveling Captain from the bilge, they were able to purge him of his sins and he also crossed the equator as a Shellback. Perhaps it is better for everyone following this blog that we are unable to post photographs while at sea.

When we actually reached 00.00 128 20'W at 1820 local time, we celebrated with champagne and offered gifts to the sea and to King Neptune. We then stopped the boat and swam in 83* water at the equator.

The 6 new Shellbacks are now well below the equator and looking forward to arrival in the Marquesas. We have 740 nm to go and hope to be there sometime on Saturday.

E

IMPERVIUM NEPTVNI REGIS

 

Let all sailors, wherever ye may be, and all mermaids, whales, serpents, porpoises, dolphins, eels, skates, crabs, lobsters and all other living things of the sea bear witness that the scurvy crew and degenerate Captain of the M/Y Oso Blanco have been ordered to appear before the Royal Court of the Realm of Neptune and be initiated in the mysteries of the Royal Domain.

 

If these polywogs fail to appear, they shall be fed to the creatures of the sea which they have so violated.  Charges against them include:

 

1. Brutally torturing Marly the Blue Marlin.

 

2. Disposing of "Pacifico alumino" in most disgusting manners.

 

3. Showing good spirits when bad attitude would be more appropriate. 

 

4. Flagrantly disregarding the esteemed position of the good and benevolent Captain of the M/Y Oso Blanco.

 

5.  Showing a lack of sophisticated sense of humor.

 

6. Hiding various ships stores under the guise of 'organizing the storage'.

 

7. Adherence to the principles of the "Strawberry Monkey Yacht Club" and other similar cult practices.

 

These and other charges are serious and the punishment may be sever.  As a lowly pollywog, these crew members have NO rights and all charges will be assumed to be true and valid.

 

The so mentioned crew and Captain of M/Y Oso Blanco are therefore ordered to appear before the Royal Court upon reaching the Equator.  Should any of them survive the administered punishment, they shall forever be recognized and respected by all sailors and landlubbers as honored Shellbacks.

 

 

Neptunus Rex                           Davey Jones

Ruler of the Raging Main             Scribe

 

 

1/2 Way to the Marquesas ....

but who is counting?   Well, we certainly are.   "Only" 1350 nm miles to go and extra rum for the scurvy crew.   The seas today are glassy with nearly no wind and 4' - 6' gentle swells.   A good day for a power boat to travel.

 

Our satellite email has been intermittent the last couple days, so don't be concerned if our blog updates are less timely.

 

No good fish stories today, we sighted a few birds, but all in all a peaceful 'pacific' day.

 

Eric

More Tropics

Position: 8* 41' N   119* 02' W  1060 nm down  and  1640 nm to go. 

 

20 kt winds and 12+ ft seas have been replaced with light winds and gentle seas - yea!   Everything seems like slow motion today as Oso glides along at 7.5 kts in long gentle swells.   Air and sea temps are around 83* day and night so we have entered the world of luxury cruising and turned on the A/C in the staterooms.   Humidity is high and we are frequently visited by scattered showers.  

 

Today will be a 'big day' for the Oso crew.   We will get our every-other day weather briefing from our land based weather guru and we will set our clocks back another hr as we move west.   Yes, we are easy to please and celebrate each little milestone.   From PV to the Marquesas we cross 3 1/2 time zones.  To make our adjustments easier (especially Bear's) we decided to change 1 hr every 4 days.  That keeps watch schedules on track and minimizes the days Bear gets up before 5am.   With this change, we will be GMT -8, or 3 hours behind CDT in Minneapolis.

 

Simple pleasures as we roll along.

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

Tech stuff

And now something for the boat geeks and gear heads .... fuel and boat issues.

 

Having enough fuel to get where we are going is high priority!   We know how far we have to go and how much fuel we stared with, but other than that it seems to be as much art as science.   At each RPM seting on our engine we get different fuel flow rates and boat speeds.   It seems simple, but the sea conditions, ocean currents, and the whims of King Neptune all impact our speed.   We also have to generate electricity for our refrigerators, lights, navigation equipment, water maker, air conditioning, etc.   On Oso, we are running a 16kw generator continuously, which consumes just under 1 gallon per hour and needs to be added to the engine fuel use.   For our Marquesas passage, we will use 400 gallons of fuel just to make electricity.

 

When we are in our normal cruising, where we don't have to worry about long range, we run at around 8.5 - 9.0 kts.   At that speed, we would not have enough fuel to reach the Marquesas, so we have to balance speed and range.  

 

The normal useable fuel capacity for our Nordhavn 64 is approximately 3000 gallons and we chose to add an additional 300 gallons in a rubber fuel tank for extra range.   We don't know of any other Nordhavn 64/68 that has made this long a passage, so we did not have actual range data and it gave us comfort in our planning knowing we could make it easily.   As it looks today, we will arrive with close to 1000 gallons in reserve.

 

We started out this passage running at 1100 rpm, which is a very low power setting for this boat.   That gave us approximately 6.4 kts through the water and burned 4.0 gph for 1.6 mpg (+ generator use).  After a few days, we were comfortable with our fuel levels and raised to 1200 rpm which gave us approximately 5.0 gph at 7.1 k for 1.4 mpg.  It doesn't seem like much, but 1/4 of a gallon per hour over 2700 miles adds up.   When we hit our 1/2 way point, we will look at the weather forecast and our remaining fuel and expect to speed up a little more.   Do to fuel consumption and high food consumption, Oso is also over 5000 lbs lighter than when we left PV, so we are a little more efficient.

 

Boat issues:

 

Oso Blanco has been cruising along with few problems.  We regularly do engine room checks and monitor temperatures, fluid levels, and general impressions.  Noises are often the first indication of a change or problem.  We have over 12,000 nm miles logged over the last 2 yrs, so we have a good idea what is 'normal'.    One of the most important systems on the boat is the hydraulic system, which powers our stabilizers.  These minimize any rolling from wave action and are critical to our comfort.    Yesterday, the port side stabilizer (fin) began making a distinct clicking noise.   The potential loss of one of our stabilizers is a cause for high anxiety, so we dug deeper into the cause.   Jeff and Karl spent a couple hours crawling around in a small space.   We had assumed we were having a bearing failure, but eventually found the yoke on the hydraulic cylinder has slipped down on the shaft and was wearing a groove into the bottom plate.   We greased it as a temporary fix and will consider a permanent adjustment if we have smooth seas this afternoon, or when we get to the Marquesas.   From a boat maintenance point of view, this is a very boring trip and we hope to keep it that way.   These boats are designed and built to cross oceans and Oso Blanco seems to love it.

 

Eric

 

Day 7

Today is Wednesday April 7 and we are 950 nm from PV.   Only 1767 miles to go!    After the first few days with relatively light winds and seas, we are now in the trade winds.   For the last 36 hrs we have had winds 15 - 20 with some gusts.  The seas have built to 10' - 12' coming from nearly straight beyond us.

 

Welcome to the tropics!  The sea and air temperature is now 83 and humid.   Our first few days we felt little motion aboard Oso.  Our current conditions are comfortable, but we need to hang on as we move about.   Bear still gets his school work done in the mornings and he plays his computer games, reads, or gets anyone that is 'off watch' to play cards or a board game.  I typically have the first night watch from 9 - 12 and Bear has been begging to stay up for the whole watch.   I finally gave in, but he has yet to make it past 9:30.  

 

It sure is a long way across the Pacific.   We look for milestones to celebrate and today marked the 1/3 point of the crossing.   Extra grog for the crew!  Life is good aboard Oso Blanco and we are all enjoying the grand adventure.  

 

Eric

 

 

 

Quarter of the Way There

This is Lindy writing.  Last night at 10:00 we passed the 1/4 mark.  Only 1,100 miles to the Equator! Yahoo! 

 

Eric brought a spinnaker with us and yesterday the men tried flying it.  Tried, because no matter how they rigged it, it refused to stay filled. Still, Bear claimed that we got an extra knot of speed out of it and indeed who wants to argue with that?  They'll try again when the wind picks up a little more from it's current 5 - 10 knots. 

 

The swells have decreased too so we are having as smooth as ride as you could expect at 750 miles at sea.  The water has hit 81 degrees so it will be very warm swimming when we take our dunk at the Equator.

 

We have about 4 or 5 booby birds accompanying us, but luckily they are roosting on the roof of "Mystery Ship", our companion boat.

 

Wish us luck as Karl is going to fish today.  A fish supper would be great, not that we have anything to complain about so far - BBQ'd pork tenderloin last night.

 

Best to all, Lindy 

 

 

 

Easter Marlin

Happy Easter to All!

 

We are approximately 450 nm SW of Puerto Vallarta on course to Hiva Oa.   The Easter Bunny found us during the night and hid eggs for Bear.   He also brought the Captain's favorite Easter treat - PEEPS!

 

The weather has been excellent with light winds and relatively smooth seas.   We made a wager with some of our sailor friends before leaving PV on catching the biggest fish and the bar has been set!.   When the seas are kind to us, we often troll.   We don't call it fishing - we are really just traveling and dragging a lure behind.   Today we hooked up a beautiful Blue Marlin.   Karl fought the beast for 35 minutes and we got it along side the boat for video and photos before releasing him.  Truely a beautiful fish!

 

Life is good aboard Oso Blanco

 

EB

 

 

 

Swells

Life is good aboard Oso Blanco on the morning of Day 3.   We are 260 nm out of PV and we all had a great night.   The seas are being good to us so far.    The winds are light at only 10 kts which makes for small surface waves.   Out here the primary waves are swells which come from conditions far from where we are.   These are the long slow rising and falling of the sea and are measured in height (size) and period (frequency).   Even relatively large swells do not affect us much if they are of a long period.    We currently have swells that are approximately 6' high, but they only arrive approx. every 15 seconds.    If you remember your physics class wave theory, these long swells are the smooth rounded waves that stretch out. The nasty waves are the sharp pointed zig-zag waves that are tall and close together.   In long swells like we have now, the boat gently rises up and down with the waves and we are hardly aware of them.

 

 

On Our Way

At 1900 CST on April 1, 2010 we departed Paradise Village Marina in Puerto Vallarta bound for the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. We are buddy boating with Mystery Ship (Nordhavn 6410) which is nearly identical to Oso Blanco. Our goal is 2710 nautical miles across the Pacific. Weather conditions for our departure were nearly perfect.

Passage Basics

In recent weeks, we have been asked many questions about life aboard Oso Blanco during a long passage.   Here are the FAQs:

 

Where do you stop to rest?

 

There are no rest stops between Puerto Vallarta and the Marquesas.  We travel 24 / 7.   There is always someone "on watch" monitoring the engine and navigation instruments, looking for interesting sea life, watching for other boats or ships, and generally being alert.   We will take turns in 3-4 hour shifts.    During our off watch time (which is most of the time) we eat, sleep, read, watch movies, or tend to boat maintenance needs.

 

How much fuel do you have and how far can you go?

 

We are currently loaded to our max capacity which is 3200 gallons of diesel fuel.   For a passage as far as the Marquesas, we will run relatively slowly to conserve fuel and assure our range.   We will start traveling at 6.5 - 7.0 knots (about 8 mph) and spped up a little as we get comfortable with our fuel use and range.    This crossing should take 16 - 17 days and we shold have

 

How much fresh water can you carry?

 

Oso holds 500 gallons of fresh water.   We also have a reverse osmosis water purifier which converts sea water into fresh water.   We are careful with our water use, but we do have the luxury of regular showers, and plenty of drinking and wash water.

 

What do you eat?

 

We have a lot of storage, freezer, and refrigeration capacity.   The boat is stocked for 4-6 months with basics and we have prepared and frozen many meals to minimize our cooking needs underway.   Of course we are going to catch lots of fish for sushi and grilling! 

 

What about communications?

 

Underway we have a satellite telephone that can be used for regular phone calls anywhere in the world.    We also use it for daily email and weather reports.    The sat phone does not allow us to surf the internet, but the email works well.   The main limitation to our sat phone is that the email is very slow and it is expensive to use, but it is a wonderful luxury.

 

 

24 Hours and Counting

We are getting VERY excited as we approach T-24 hrs and counting!   It looked like there was going to be a "hold" on the countdown when we found out that the goverment offices we need to oficially check out of Mexico were all closing for the Easter weekend.   In Mexico, the holiday hours go something like this:

Close early on Tuesday to get ready for the holiday.

Open late and close early on Wednesday to get ready for the holiday.

Closed Thursday - Monday for Easter.

In order to check out, each crew member must be present when the immigration officers come to the boat.   Jeff and Lindy Howe arrived this morning (Wednesday), too late for checking out.   With the government's  schedule, it looked like we were going to chill in Puerto Vallarta at least until Tuesday!

 

To our rescue came "Paperman".   He makes a good living helping Gringos navigate the intricacies of officialdom.   After having everyone who "knew" tell us we were going no where quickly, Paperman took charge.   He picked up our documents, disappeared for a couple hours and returned with the immigration officers to the boat.  We are now officially checked out of Mexico and good to go.

 

Planned departure is 1800 CST Thursday, April 1.  The clock is running.