So flat
Ripple2
Mon 17 Jul 2006 07:54
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This is like living on land. With water
views.
Not since Wreck Bay in the Galapagos and before
that at the yacht club marina in Colon (and that was subject to large random
swells broadside from passing tugboats [sorry John]) has the boat been so
flat.
We are anchored in the lee of a small "motu" or
small flat island (everything here is an island so there are degrees of island)
called Mahuehue, a part of the atoll called Kauehi in the Tuamotu
Archipelago in French Polynesia. Whew! Another one of those long paradise
addresses.
And this is paradise. Low, flat coconut covered
islands and motus and islets with clear blue water and gently sloping shorelines
(gone are the towering cliffs of just a few days ago). It is a lot like the San
Blas. But nobody is here. Local or Yachtie. Again we are the only boat and there
is only one village at the far end of the atoll 8-10 miles away. The
rest is our personal playground. Quite amazing. And now we are really into the
classic South Pacific.
This is just the tonic we needed. After landfall in
Fatu Hiva in the Marqueseas, things have been busy. Waterfalls, trading with the
locals, touring, shopping, dinner out, internet cafes, banks, and
yachtie socials. And the sailing has been .....well rough. With sleep
sometimes elusive on the Marquesean passages.
We had a mostly comfortable 500 mile sail here. We
started off in clear tradewind conditions sailing at about 6.5 knots heading SSW
on a beam reach. The second evening low clouds moved in and we had an increase
in wind and rain.The first decent rain sailing since Panama (lucky we have
a watermaker). The rain passed but the low cloud persisted.So we sailed,
with a reef in the sails in case of another squall, at about 5 knots.
Sometimes the wind would die off for a while and we slowed to
about 3 knots. The dawn broke to an absolutely clear sky. No cloud at all! And
the wind was light and the sea.......nice. No pointy bits and white bits
everywhere for a change. Just blue water and sky. That was our "blue day". The
blue bowl Annie calls it. We saw a "green flash" at sunset. After a beautiful
calm almost-full moon night the next day was the same! And again a green flash.
Around midnight of the 4th night there was
so little wind we powered up the shiny red throbbing Perkins 4108. This was
necessary because I wanted to arrive just 2 hours after sunrise as this was the
best time to go through the entrance pass into the lagoon of the atoll of
Kauehi. Because of the position of the moon at this time the flow (which
sometimes reaches 5 kts) would be at it's minimum around 9 am.
We motored for 22 hours SSW with a tiny
breeze from ....the south! The tradewinds had now completely gone. Again a clear
night.
The morning of our landfall scattered low
rain clouds moved in still with not much wind. We got in the pass as planned at
9am. Even then there was some turbulence. I don't look forward to the day when
it is rough. Dolphins welcomed us. In the lagoon I found out the depth sounder
no longer works. It worked a few days ago in Daniels Bay and most of the
way here and now I'm in lago........ I can't believe what has just
happened! The pen I was writing with *just flew into its' constituent
parts. It's one of those pens with a spring loaded button on the top. Well
something just happened and the whole pen shot out like a missile launch (sorry
North Korea and Lebanon). Anyway I now have another pen. Where was
I?............on (as in lagoon) area now where a depth sounder is really
handy.
We got anchored in sunny skies ( important so
we can see the bottom and any coral "bommies") but the afternoon was a
succession of showers. Never mind we can stay here a while and ........ THE
BOAT IS FLAT.
Cheers to all
PS. Fishing news. On the sail over we lost 3 hooks
and lures. We got a 3 foot mahi mahi to the back of the boat and had several get
of the hook. These French fish DO NOT want to be eaten. Which is a shame for us
as they are so tasty.
* I write the blog entries out with a pen and paper
before I type them in on the computer. The rare original manuscripts will be
auctioned when we get back to Sydney so that we may have money to
eat.
OK it's really finished
now.
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