Tag: sea life

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The UN says it’s cool

South Pass of Fakarava, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

I don’t feel like I am giving a fair scope for the distance between these islands.  I could tell you about each voyage of about 100 miles from remote isolated desert island to remote even more desolate island but really, that would get boring.  If you want to know what it’s like sailing the high seas, look at the blog entries about us crossing the Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas.  It’s like that.  FYI, my ukulele and French continue to improve and I’m learning stuff about Solomon I never knew before.

I do not wish to bore you with the details while I also do not want to deceive you that these transits are just afternoon “hops” from one island to the next.  Typically, a trip between islands typically takes a day and can take as many as 5.

The trip to Fakarava took 1 day but during that day we broke into another can of butter.

You see, Polynesians and cruisers have a similar problem: we both don’t have a ton of refrigerator space so we both minimize what needs to be put in there as much as possible.  Did you know that as long as you never refrigerate your eggs in the first place that they actually don’t require refrigeration?  Neither did I.  How about butter can be preserved for long periods of time in a can?  And that certain kinds of milk don’t need to be refrigerated until the carton is opened?  I have learned on this trip that Americans refrigerate way too much stuff.

The coral reef of Fakarava was very exciting for all of us because it the only Tuamotu to be designated a UNESCO world heritage site.  Tiffany knows more about this than me but the short of it is that the UN thinks that this place is awesome and should be preserved for it’s natural significance.  Translation: Awesome stuff here, come check it out without destroying it.

(Again, I got this off a picture of the visitor center’s map.  Don’t use this to navigate.  Buy a chart.)

The voyage in was another hair raising experience where we were stationed on the bow watching for coral heads in the perfect crystal clear blue water.  Just to add a little spice to the mix, we had currents flowing around the pass to make our lives extra interesting.  Now maybe you think after our Kauehi adventure we had relaxed about the whole sailing over a coral reef thing.  Let me point something out to you:

Narrow channel + Sharp coral reefs on both sides + lateral currents going every direction = nervous crew.

Upon completing our transit of the channel we discovered the “south pass village” that would be our home for the next few days as we indulged ourselves in figuring out just exactly what the UN thought rated this place international recognition and protection.

Also, we got invited over by one of our fellow cruising boats to experience one final taste of the Marquesas: a goat dinner.

The Marquesians raise goats to eat and they are very good at this particular skill.  A fact I learned regrettably after I had left the Marquesas…

– Greg

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Playing on a desert island

Kauehi, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

Ok it’s, uh, pretty and all.  Really, really pretty but what do you DO there?

Well all throughout the village and along the islands are coconut crabs.  Which are crabs.  That eat coconut.  They also live in little burrowed holes in the beach sand and the islanders are good at catching them for supper.

If catching your next meal gets old and/or frustrating (fast little buggers) you can always go for a swim.  Remember how I said Kauehi had clear water?  Yeah, and lagoons are breeding grounds for everything from tropical fish to coral to the most colorful clams I have ever seen.

If the lagoon gets old, you can wander down the road (“the” as in singular.  As in the only one on the island) to the other beach.  It’s not like it’s a long walk.

Since the island is an atoll surrounding a lagoon, it has beaches on both sides.  The “inside” beach has sand but no waves.  The outside beaches, which face out to the ocean, would be really great for surfing or boogie boarding except for one tiny detail.

**20100510A – archive – Kahuei beach**

Allan is really excited because he has dragged his board, sails and gear all the way from California in order to go windsurfing in the Tuamotu.   The barrier reef islands provide a good shelter from the ocean waves but are also low enough to the water to allow the wind to blow full force over the lagoons.  Big wind but no large waves creates an ideal windsurfing environment.

I know I said this before back in Mexico but it bears repeating.  Allan loaded all of this gear onto his sailboat.  He then proceeded to sail his boat from California to the middle of the South Pacific.  We have been sailing for months now to get here.  So we sail here, on a sailboat, using the wind to sail our sailboat to this lagoon and the thing Allan wants to do here?  After all that?  He wants to go sailing on a smaller sailboat…

…really?

He insists it’s different.  It goes faster or something.  Me, I know addiction when I see it.

-Greg

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Seriously, you live here?

Kauehi, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

So that’s the city sign.  Guess they don’t exactly have a city line, being as there aren’t a lot of other cities out here to butt up against.

So the semi-obvious question I left out of the previous entries (I ran out of space!)  was, “Greg, I get how the islands got there, how did the PEOPLE get there?!?”

Good question, and the short answer is…no one actually knows for sure.

Some people say they sailed from South America.  Some dude name Thor (no, really, it’s his name) sailed a raft from South America to prove this theory.  He made it to the Marquesas, so, it possible.  However, the current popular theory is that the ancient Polynesians came from Asian stock:

(thanks to httpthe.honoluluadvertiser.com)

The summary version is that the Polynesian people were beyond comprehension badasses at seagoing navigation.  They were human sextants capable of determining their exact position on the largest expanse of bleak nothingness on the planet Earth (the Pacific Ocean) by doing things such as watching the stars, checking the angle of the waves, looking at birds in flight and…no that’s it.  That’s what they did.  I am not a Polynesian.  I use a GPS because I suck with a sextant, much less reading the angle of a wave bounced off an island 100 miles away (not making this up or exaggerating here.)  So these people sailed against the current and upwind in what amounted to two canoes tied together by some wood and some sails lashed on top.  Why did they sail against the wind and current?  So that if, while exploring, they failed to find any land, they could easily get pushed back home once all the food and water was used up onboard.  Doesn’t that just sound swell?  Well it sure did to them because they got really, really good at it.  Therein how they found, charted and settled all these islands long before we Europeans with our clunky tall ships (and syphilis!  Let’s not forget what we brought to share!) showed up on the scene.

As for Kauehi city, well, city is a generous term.  Here’s me in the center of town, which also doubles for their beach:

They have a “store” (it may one day grow up to be a 7-11) where they sold baguettes!

Our elation at being able to resupply our junkie fix for awesome fresh French bread was short lived when we found out that the baguettes were frozen.  It did lead us to wonder though: are they frozen because they got shipped here?  Or do they just turn on the bread baking over once a month to save energy?  Unfortunately my limited French skills did not cover such complex topics of conversation.  I did manage to find ice cream though.  Hey, if they can freeze bread they can have ice cream.  More importantly, I can have ice cream.

The main structure of the town is the church.  We were lucky enough to be here on a Sunday and we attended a Catholic mass in Tahitian.  Though we couldn’t understand the service, we did get to meet the entire town (maybe 100 people in total) and they were really nice to us.  Also, the percussion instrument in the choir was an Alhambra water jug.  I felt that it would be disrespectful to tape this guy playing during mass but man, WOW.  You’d be amazed how good people can get at playing an empty plastic water jug when it’s the only instrument available for 600 or so miles.

They have a dinghy dock and yacht anchorage.  The monthly resupply ship, their only semi-reliable (weather depending) means of contact with the outside world, stays offshore and sends in small tender vessels with supplies for the residents.  No exports that I am aware of or could find evidence of are taken back out to the ship.  With only 100 people on the island and about 30 yachts a year that visit, they have an almost untouched natural beauty and crystal clear blue water right up the edge of the dock.

These people LIVE here.  Perched on this tiny ring of coral in the middle of the ocean.  They fish, collect rain water to drink and they have been doing it for hundreds of years.

-Greg

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Transit of TERROR!

Entering Kauehi

Kauehi, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

And so there we were, sailing through a coral reef, hundreds of miles from any possible source of rescue, all in the name of good times.  We chose to do this, for fun, I might add.  Funny thing happens when you loose about 4 miles worth of sea depth in the span of a few feet…you get some odd wave activity.  Go figure.

After that little bit of oceanographic adventure we proceeded down what I like to call the “Transit of TERROR.”

(Yeah, just in case you are lazy enough to use a photo with PowerPoint arrows on it to steer through a reef, this is not a chart for navigation.  Exact ship track line may vary in actual practice 😉

You see, the people who settled this little oasis of land decided to found their village on the largest spit of land they could find, which makes sense being as the majority of the island’s width would not allow for an arena football field (50 yards to the uninitiated).  Downside is the spit of land is on the exact opposite side of the friggin’ lagoon from the only navigable entrance!  Remember this tropical “lagoon” is actually a ship’s minefield of jutting rocks and coral heads that hang just below the islands surface.  Just low enough to not be seen and just high enough to go though your fiberglass hull like a spear though butter.  No, not a knife, a spear.  There is a chart of the lagoon that shows where the clear water is, but yeah right, how accurate is that?  Personally, I don’t see a lot of oceanographic survey ships making regular rounds of these islands so for all we know, good ol’ Capt Cook provided this information with his lead line a few hundred years back and my guess is that the coral has grown since then.

The end result is that for the next 3 hours Allan drives the boat while the three of us peer over the bow in the vain hope that we will be able to see any uncharted rocks, shout a warning and turn the boat before we all sink.

Again…we did this for fun…really.  It was great.

In the end though, our fears were largely unfounded.  The chart was pretty accurate and by that I mean we didn’t crash into any unexpected rocks, though a few did loom frighteningly close out of the depths. (water magnifies things, FYI, makes ‘em look closer).  We got in, dropped the hook and departed to explore the village of people who call this place home.

-Greg

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Swimming with eels and Island travel

Time for a nature hike kids!

There is a waterfall lagoon in the center of this island (Nuku Hiva) that is known for it crystal clear waters and abnormally large eels.  Naturally, everyone thought it would be a good idea if we went swimming with them.  Apparently this is what one does at Daniel’s bay.  Hike for two hours, eat lunch, toss some baguette to the eels the size of my arm (literally) to draw them out, then go swimming with them.  Good times.  Oh and yes, eels have teeth.  So after leapfrogging over rivers, sauntering through canyons hundreds of feet deep, climbing through ancient Polynesian ruins and scaling some fairly large boulders…

You know what?  Describing natural perfection week after week is hard.  Here’s what we saw; you should watch it:

The eels were smart.  They grabbed the baguette, saw kids and got right back under those rocks before anyone got in the water.

Like I said above we also saw some ancient ruins and genuine historic tikis.  Much like the mangoes, these people have their history just scattered about them.  However, unlike mangoes, their history is not overly abundant.  Due to lack of funding & personnel, much of these ancient ruins are simply left.

Also the flowers.  I mean, wow, the flowers are everywhere.

Overall a great hike and yet another example of the fantastic beauty these islands have to offer.  This is the end of the Marquesas for us and we are off to the Tuamotu island chain.  We’re leaving behind our “Buddy Boat”, PROXIMITY, here at Nuku Hiva.  There are so many islands out here, which is shocking to me because my perception of the South Pacific was “ya know…there’s Hawaii, Tahiti, Guam, Bora Bora…and a couple more.  Ok, so here’s some numbers for you:

There are tens of thousands (yes, that’s plural) of islands in the Pacific Ocean.  In the South Pacific there are 3 “regions” of islands, of which Polynesia is one.  The Polynesian region is about the size of Canada & the US combined.  It’s big.  The other regions are also lacking smallness (kind of a theme out here).  French Polynesia is one of the larger countries in Polynesia and is about the size of the continent of Europe (yes, the continent).  In French Polynesia, there are 141 islands and they give you 3 months before they kick you out, unless you’re European, then you can stay way longer (thanks France… :P)  I know 90 days sounds like a lot, but really, it isn’t for so much space…and this is probably the first, last and only time you’ll ever get out here.  So this is your one shot to have an amazing life experience.  Here’s the dilemma: You want to stay and meet people and make friends and have awesome cultural experiences.  You also don’t want to miss any of the other cool stuff on the other 140 islands in this country…and let us not forget that our boat needs to be through the entire area in 90 days or less.  Important to remember those boats are slow and a couple of hundred miles between each island does make a significant difference.  You should also add in about a week or two for boat repairs, supplying, customs, etc.  What we’ve done so far has used up about 20 days.  It goes fast.

Everyone has a different way of dealing with this.  There is no way you’re going to be able to explore every island in 90 days so ultimately, you have to pick and choose.  How much time do you want to spend finding the out of the way more remote islands like Fatu Hiva vs. enjoying the people and culture of more developed main islands like Nuku Hiva?  Ok, and by “main island” remember I am talking about 2200 people on this entire island.  So a tiny US farm town population…it’s isn’t exactly crowded.  For the really adventurous, the Gambier island chain is a few hundred miles south and while it’ll eat a ton of time and there aren’t a lot of people there, you get a see a grand cathedral made entirely of coral, by hand (crazy priest, thousands of locals die in the construction, it’s a long story.)

Everyone says they want “off the beaten track” but we’re basically doing that by being here.  So how far off do you want to go?

Rod & Elizabeth from PROXIMITY are staying in Nuku Hiva to enjoy the culture of the Marquesas and make some friends.  Rod helped me learn the ukulele and they are both a lot of fun.  We will miss them and hope to see them down the line.  They expect to hit maybe one island in the Tuamotus before heading to Tahiti.  As for us, we want to see some of these coral reefs floating out in the middle of the ocean, so we’re heading out.

I know, we have to “rush” though French Polynesia because we only have 3 months living here.  It’s a heavy cross, but I bear what I can 😉

~Greg

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Polynesian Snorkeling

(Continued from previous post… Tahuata, French Polynesia)

As we continued to travel north along the island to our next anchorage, Hanatefau, reportedly the 3rd prettiest in Polynesia, we saw some spectacular waterspouts along the shoreline.

Upon arriving we found that the anchorage was indeed gorgeous.  Beautiful living reefs no more than 10 feet below the surface on each side of the anchorage, a pristine white sandy beach, crystal clear water with 30-50 feet of visibility, and gorgeous sunshine.  A Manta Ray swam right past our stern.  It was amazing.  Tiff started off the day helping out a fellow cruiser by free diving 30 feet straight down to get a dropped piece of equipment, which is a rather impressive feat.  (Actually, I started it by swimming some banana bread over to Rod and Elisabeth on Proximity, and when I swam back, I saw the Manta Ray fly past our boat! ~Tiff)

As thanks for helping them out, Michael and Gloria of Paikea Mist, a beautiful Beneteau Custom 50, (www.PaikeaMist.com) invited us out to go snorkeling with them.  Now, again, I am still learning how to use this camera well underwater.  That being said, there are some absolutely amazing parts of sea life just wandering around a few feet below the surface.  This is a taste of what I saw:

Unfortunately for us with this much unrestrained beauty below us, perfect warm, clear water all around us and a baking sun above us, it is quite easy to lose track of time.  We did just that, much to both of our extreme regret.

Let me tell you, it hurts.  It hurts a lot.  A LOT!  I took a shower, used a wash rag and some warm water by accident two days later and was laid out on the bed for a good hour writhing in pain as it felt like someone was jamming broken glass into my spine.  It took two ice packs and not moving much for the rest of the day to bring me back to a degree of normalcy.  Needless to say, a bottle of waterproof sunscreen has been permanently added to my ashore backpack.  But such are the risks for living in paradise.

Needless to say the tiny island of Tahuata was supremely amazing, well beyond any of our expectations or even our imaginations.

–          Greg

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Stopping over in Tahuata, French Polynesia

Tahuata was going to be a quick, overnight anchorage on the way from Fatu Hiva to Ua Pou (all still in the Marquesa group of French Polynesia).  Hardly worth noticing, probably about a sentence or two in the next blog post.  We pulled into the first anchorage and set down for the night not expecting the quiet little island a stone’s throw from Hiva Oa to have much for us in the way of lasting memories.

…and then we woke up early the next morning to go swimming with the wild dolphins who had just popped by to say hi and handle some business.

That little comment by Tiffany at the end make you feel a bit voyeuristic?  Imagine being 15 feet from them and watching.  I was serious about them handling some business.

Now I apologize.  Dolphins are faster and more maneuverable than me in the water and I’m still getting used to the whole “filming rapidly moving objects in the water while bobbing like a cork on the surface and unable to see my display screen because it’s in a waterproof bag” thing.  I will endeavor to improve.  Please bear with me.

So after what was agreed on by all to be a most auspicious start to our day we thought it could not possibly get any better, but you’d think after our first shocker we’d stop underestimating this little island of nirvana-like joy.

We sallied forth onto land and found the picture perfect village of Hapatoni.  The whole island’s population is around 650 and this is the tiny village next to the big town, so I do mean small.

You may have noticed during that video that there was a streetlight above the street Tiffany and I were on.  This may lead you to the question, “Gosh Greg, how do they have power out there?”   Tiffany and I were curious so we took a look around and found the island (or at least the village’s) main and only power plant.

We also saw a really nice little local church.  Did I mention that French Polynesia is by overwhelming majority Catholic? They have a couple of assorted Protestant churches and, interestingly enough, one island that is predominantly Mormon.  Ha ha!  Yes, I learned French, I play the ukulele and I’m Catholic.  I’m almost a local!

–          Greg

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Cruiser bikes and exploring Hiva Oa

By the second day of doing the 3 kilometer hike every day, Tiffany and I decided to break out the cruiser bikes.  No, not Harleys.  Cruising bikes have a slightly different meaning in the sailing world:

They look like clown bikes because they fold (the better to store inside a boat).  We managed to find our way down to the beach in Atuona where we encountered some beautiful corpses rotting in the sun…

…ran into the world’s largest rainstick

…observed the elusive Marquesan ninja jumping crab

…stumbled upon a Marquesan dance practice (they didn’t look like they needed practice though)

As a final note of the extreme distance we are from anything even closely resembling civilization, I leave you with Tiffany & Alison’s observation of some powerboats that made the same trip we did.  The prices they are discussing in the video reflect the amount of money each boat paid in US dollars to refuel with diesel fuel (which is cheaper than normal gas in case you didn’t know) at Hiva Oa after transiting from Mexico.

We were that far from the last gas station, just so ya know.

– Greg

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All that’s missing is a Kracken

Despite our best fishing efforts, pickings continue to be rather slim

 

 

(If you watched that…I apologize.  My only defense is that when you’re this long out to sea some things seem funnier than they are.)

 

We did manage to hook a deepwater fish.  Before parting the strongest line we had onboard, our finned friend hung around long enough to make sure I received an extensive education why I need to keep my big mouth shut when I think about talking smack about a sport I know nothing about.

 

 

What’s on the dinner menu for Greg?  Looks like a double portion of humble pie.

 

To pile on the humiliation, it appears that my role as a B-movie sci-fi horror flick victim was prophetic in nature.  Either that or the booby birds have enlisted the help of their fellow sea creatures.  Either way, the ship’s cockpit is becoming a nightly target for the beasts of the sea.

 

 

In that video I mention the term ITCZ.  This is sailor slang for Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone.  Basically it’s this place where all the horrible weather from the northern hemisphere has gigantoid WWE style thrown downs with all the horrible weather from the southern hemisphere.  If you take Michael Jackson’s music video “beat-it” replace the street thugs with rain squalls and take out the really cool dancing and hit music single, you have a good idea what it’s like.

 

Despite seemingly every creature of the briny deep, with the notable exception of an actual edible fish, deciding to make our ship their vacation home, morale remains high.  Just a few days ago we took solace in the stoic example of Captain James T. Kirk as we conducted another installment of our mandatory ships training regimen.

 

 

Even though we have not seen dry land for weeks, we remain confident God has not flooded you all out of house and home.

 

 

That’s a Bible reference yo.  Noah, from that first book.  Told you I was listening to it.

 

-Greg

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A Day in the Life

Tiff thought we would start out by giving you some perspective on what we see all day, every day. (PS- don’t watch this video if you are prone to seasickness.)

[Tiff thinks this one is better 🙂  It’s kinda long though, I was having editing issues.]

My daily schedule basically looks like:

Noon – wake up, shave, brush teeth

12:30PM – eat lunch, do dishes

1:30PM – personal projects (like sewing zippers in my pants pockets, doing laundry, showering.)

3:00PM – Stand 4 hour watch

7:00PM – Get off watch, eat dinner

8:00PM – Do dishes

8:30PM – wrap up personal projects, putz around

9:00PM – Practice ukulele

9:30PM – Practice French (usually involves me making spitting sounds at my computer)

11:00PM – Pre-watch nap

12:45AM – wake up, stand 3 hour watch.  Listen to Bible on audio book.

2:30AM – midnight snack time!  More Bible on audio

4:00AM – Get off watch, go to bed

Aside from occasional interruptions for critical ships business

…  and pods of dolphins using our bow as a jungle gym

Our days are much the same.  This would drive some people mad, but I love the relentless progress I make daily toward mastering my ninja-like French-Bible-quoting-while-playing-Beethoven-on-ukulele skillz.

But heck, I sleep until noon every day, so they could all be learning kung-fu and naked tribal dancing in the morning for all I know.

– Greg

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