What day is it?
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Wed 14 Jul 2010 04:41
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To be honest I am not really sure what day it
is........ but I know we are in position
20:21.35S 173:19.68W
The Wagon keeps rollin west. Since we last blogged
a lot has happened.
First of all I was barely off the keyboard on the
last blog on our passage to Niue when brrrrrrr - zeezzz. Fish on! Fish on! We
were a bit slow to slow the boat down as I think we had lost hope of ever
landing more fish and were out of practice. Anyway it was the usual story
- several hundred kilos of aluminium, hundreds of metres of rope and acres
of white stuff sticking out over the both sides of the boat which all had
to be reigned in. After Trish's customary "which way is the wind coming from?"
reaction from the helm to my request to her to turn downwind, and my
customary "look at the bloody dial!" response, which is always followed with
(after the "which dial?" question) by "for god's sake turn left!" and finally -
"your other bloody left!" This seems to be a regular ritual before a fish fight.
I think she is practicing not knowing which way to turn in case I ever fall off
the boat one day...............
In the meantime, for this fish
fight Niall stepped up to the mark. He
fought hard and fought well and landed a vigourous, firm 8lb tuna which we
brought to a standstill with the recommended alcohol poured on the gills. OK
that's a lie, but just to keep the greenpeace type off our backs. As all
the winches on Rhiann Marie are electric we find the best use for the otherwise
showpiece winch handle is for the swift despatch of fish to fish heaven (our
fridge). Anyway have you lot got any idea whatsoever of the price of alcohol in
French Polynesia? Priceless - when most islands dont even have a
shop.
Straight back out with the line and up with all the
kit. Then sure enough another fish on. Niall bravely stepped up to the rod
again and this time hauled in a ten pounder. With all the blood and guts, the
back of the boat was like a scene out of ......... oh I don't know what, but
suffice to say, it, like us, was now needing a good wash. So off to
the shower I went and had just finished all the soaping up and chipping off of
fish guts bit, when - oh good grief, there goes the rod again. So I go careering
out of the shower skidding and sliding all over the place, fending may face off
the bulkheads and other hard bits (of the boat) with one hand and dragging a
towel in the other. I should have saved the effort and left it Niall - I lost
the bloomin thing! Of course it must have been the biggest of the
day.............
Next moring Friday the 9th we arrived at Niue. Niue
is an "independent" (actually it is dependant on New Zealand) country and boasts
the only yacht club in the world whose membership is greater than the population
of the country in which it is based. This fine institution is run by the
commodore Kieth Vial and his team of volunteers and exists to help visiting
yachtspeople. Kieth is a record breaker in that he must be the only yacht Club
"Commodore" who has never sailed! All Niueans are very friendly and very helpful
and Kieth, who is actually a retired schoolmaster from New Zealand is
simply humbling in his helpfulness and selfless dedication to supporting
yachtspeople - which may in itself be doing more for tourism and the Niue
economy, than any of the government initiatives! If you are ever sailing in the South Pacific please take my advice
and stop at Niue and visit Mamata (another saint) whose premises host the
biggest little yacht club in the world.
We arrived on Friday after the bank was closed and
there was no ATM but with a sub from Kieth and his good name we were able to run
up a tab anywhere we wanted, just on our word that we would be back to pay on
Monday when the bank opened and we could get some kiwi dollars. One restaurant
said, when we explained the situation (nobody takes credit cards) "no problem
we are very happy to give you food anyway - even if you dont have any
money!"
There are many natural sights to see on the
island including spectacular gorges and caves including underwater caves. The
most poisonous sea snake in the world and whales both of which we saw!
Whales were in the bay where we were moored on Sunday morning and the
sea snakes were everywhere. We will post a photo. Dont let the snakes put you
off. There has apparently never been a recorded incident of a bite (I was a bit
worried that "recorded" was the key word here) and their mouths are too wee to
get anything more than a little finger in, which apparently would have to
be forced down its throat before they would bite. Hmm...
All that said the highlight for us was the annual
Alofi show, which was like a country fare, but with, it seemed, the whole
village performing various dances and shows from 8 in the morning till early
afternoon. It was spectacular and worth going all the way to Niue just to see.
The whole village doing a traditional Meke "show of strength" war dance was
something we will never ever forget.
Like many other places we would have loved to have
stayed longer and we truly felt we were being rude by leaving so soon after
arriving. However ......... it was in Niue in a casual conversation that I
discovered Tonga was a day ahead of Niue. This was despite Niall saying that he
thought that this was the case. "No, no, no " I said, "The 180deg E/W meridian
is between Tonga and Fiji". What on earth are they playing at? Tonga
is only at 175deg West so should be 11 or 12 hours behind UTC! As it is it seems
they are 23 (or 22 or 24) hours AHEAD, ahead, of us in
Niue.
So on an already tight timetable we had to muster
up 600 lites of fuel in jerry cans and tranship them aboard and get moving.
Rush,rush. rush. It was such a shame but there was no way we could not be in
Tonga for Craig, Rhiann and friend Amy. As it is we hope to arrive at 0815
tomorrow Wednesday morning. That is Wednesday morning at this location - 173deg
west. But Thursday morning the 15th I think in another hundred or so miles. Also
we think we know what day it is there, and therefor probably here but we are not
altogether sure what time it is. We are just going as hard as we
can.
Last night I stayed up - along with all sail - all
night and we had between 25 - 30 knots most of the night. The boat was sailing
too wildly to leave the fun to others. I'm just a greedy blighter! Today we are
now under engine in 5 knots of wind and in between we had the full 360Deg
treatment and the heaviest rain we have seen since the last summer I spent in
the Hebrides. Still, our tanks were needing the water and we filled one
with the deck collection of water.
Tonight I am now faced with picking my way
into Tongatapu at about 0400 ETA - through the reefs - which you guessed it
- the pilot book says aren't where they should be relative to where the GPS
says you are and "only enter in good light" and "the starboard hand marks are
missing (1990) and are unlikely to be replaced". So I think I will go and have a
sleep and think this one through a little bit
more.
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