5 July 2011 Huahine
The EJ's Voyage
Mike Everton-Jones
Tue 5 Jul 2011 22:32
|
A few lively moments have been lived since our last
blog...
We decided to leave our paradise anchorage in the
Baie d'Avea last Saturday because the swell was coming in and
increasing causing the boat to rock 'n roll uncomfortably. We explored the
next bay, Baie Haapu, by dinghy and decided that the water was a lot calmer in
there. So we rushed back to the boat, lift up the anchor and...caught the anchor
ball line in the propeller! However, for some reason it didn't affect the
forward gear but as we realised later only when in reverse, so we
managed to go to our new anchorage unaware of the problem, through a narrow
passage between coral heads. We dropped the anchor in about 16m of water and
when put the boat in reverse to pull on the chain, and all was revealed. So here
we are in deep water, shallow reefs all around us and no engine! Luckily, there
were 3 other boats around us and they all jumped in their dinghies to come to
our rescue. We eventually got settled and the next issue was who would dive and
remove the rope round the shaft. Neither of us are good divers nor are we very
comfortable in the water. Luckily, we had met that morning a very nice fellow
sailor from Glasgow, Stuart with his beautiful daughter Anna. When we
decided to move anchorages we told them where we were going and they had decided
to come in Baie Haapu with us. Lucky us as Anna is a good diver and after a few
attempts managed to free our shaft of the rope which was she said well squeezed
in.
We offered Anna a warm shower on board (they do not
have hot water) and both of them stayed onboard until quite late having a few
drinks and a meal. It was a good evening. It turned out that Stuart knows Mike's
cousin John and used to know Mike's uncle (John's father) and also another
friend of ours Bernie. Talk about a small world!
Baie Haapu is beautiful. I will post pictures but
the weather is not very good right now and we'll have to wait for the sun to
return before I can take some. The worst of the front should pass tonight so
hopefully we will see an improvement by tomorrow.
There is no internet access in this bay so we have
to use our Iridium phone to send emails.
Mike changed the engine oil filters yesterday
because the engine started to hunt again due to dirty fuel and all went well
until we tried to start it...and it wouldn't! But after a lot of manual bleeding
for what seemed hours and a few swears it came back to live and all is well. It
did cause some anguish for a few moments though... The wind is quite strong, we
are anchored in deeper water than usual and we are surrounded by shallow
coral reefs. So having no engine wasn't exactly ideal!
So let's hope the blow tonight will pass quickly
and that we will be ok.
Otherwise, all is well.
Love
Mike and Catherine
|