May 18, 2008
It has been just
over two months since we left Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, it seems like
yesterday. Most of you have been receiving our daily or weekly
updates so we are only going to address the highlights of the trip
here. After all, we know that it's all about the pictures
anyway!! Sorry no center fold here.
The crossing
was an incredible self learning experience. Even though it was 26
days it seemed so much less. The first week was full of strong winds
and decent sized seas that came from a storm off of Santa Barbara,
Calif. We did get into a nice rhythm of our daily activities.
Constant sail trimming, following course as best as we could but to
also keep a good speed going for comfort. The normal day was the
change of the watch from Yvette to Carl at 6am. 8am checking in on
the radio net with 15 other boats to make sure that we all were Ok
and writing down cordinates with sea and wind conditions. 9am get
the boys up for school. 11am Yvette would wake up and make us lunch.
The afternoons were just relaxing or reading, and tests for the
boys. Dinner would be around 5pm and a last check in on the radio
nets. 6pm Yvette would go to bed and Carl and the boys would sit in
the cockpit watching the stars come out. 8:30 was bed time for the
boys and Carl would do the watch until midnight then get Yvette up
for her watch until 6am. One day easily led into the next. The
crossing of the ITCZ was uneventful, full of squalls, but no
lightning. The winds were light from about 5 degrees North to 5
degrees South. During that stage it was mixed with motor sailing and
light wind sailing. At about 6 degrees South we began to feel the
Southern Hemisphere trade winds and it was an easy sail down to the
Marquesas. Our first stop was Hiva Oa, but that was short lived for
only one night as a heavy swell was predicted for the next day and
the bay turns into a sea of breakers. We did a nice sail North up to
Nuka Hiva, the 85 miles trip was a one nighter. Nuka Hiva was a nice
large bay with a few stores to provision at. The prices are
absolutely outrages though. After a week at Nuka Hiva we sailed
across to the island of Ua Pou (wa poo). There we enjoyed a nice
peaceful anchorage and lots of swimming. We met up with a local
retired French English teacher that would swim by our boat twice a
day for exercise. Xavier would join us every afternoon on the boat
for a cold drink and conversation. He even took us on a nice picnic
to the "Valley of the Kings". After the picnic he took us to a
few of his friends houses for fresh fish and fruit to help stock us
up for the rest of the next couple of weeks. The generosity of the
local people is just overwhelming, they have such a giving spirit
about themselves. After being there for nearly a week we set
sail for the Tuamotus. This a group of islands that have since
disappeared and only have the coral reef that was once around them
left. They are called atolls. A few of them have a small pass in
them to allow us to get inside of the protected lagoon. The lagoons
are teaming with tropical fish and coral. Our first stop was Manihi.
We came in at slack tide and had no problems even though we had
breakers on both sides of the entry. There we set anchor next to our
friends on the Pacific Star, Horst, John and Helene. Once our anchor
was down they came over to see us and let us know that we are all
taking a black pearl farm tour tomorrow right after the local baker
drops us off some fresh bread, we felt special. The pearl farm
tour was a very special day, we learned so much watching
each stage of the black pearl culturing. There we bought a dozen
un-opened oysters and as each one was opened we felt like an old
gold miner with excitement of what riches were inside. The man
that owns and runs the farm Fernando joked with us each time he
opened one of the oysters and it had a nice pearl in it that he
wanted to keep it. By the time we were done we received about two
dozen black pearls. Each one of them were wonderful in it's own
way. We actually got 4 that were in very nice shape and color
that we have seen at about $150 each on the retail level.
Yvette has plans for them all and is already wearing one that has
been set into a bracelet. We went on to see a couple of other
Tuamotus and then took off for the 3 night passage to Tahiti. It was
on this passage that we finally filled the freezer with fish. Kyle
landed a nice 50 pound dorado (mahi mahi) and we even had a double
hookup and landed two good sized yellow tail tunas. We have now been
in Papeete, Tahiti for a week and plan on staying maybe one
more. One of the devilish things we did after first setting anchor
was walking to a nearby McDonalds, that was a mistake. Four big mac
meals, $48!!!! But we did enjoy them. Each day has been
filled with getting our visas, exploring downtown, fixing an
alternator, and taking in evening shows of polynesia dancers. Yvette
and Helene have been enjoying daily polynesia dance lessons. We
will be here for another week and let a storm pass then we are
off to Morea and the islands up to Bora Bora. The boys are done
with school now and both finished with solid
A's.
 
Saying good bye to
Mexico Carl
and our agent checking in with the Gendarmes
 
Ancient rock carvings most everywhere
 
Very famous Nuka Hiva Tatoo
artist
Crossing the Equator
 
It's laundry day on
passage
Fresh Mangos !!
 
At anchor in Nuka
Hiva
Ham (spam) pizza with, yep an egg
 
What can we say, He was proud of
it
The boys with their pompelmouse (lg grapefruit)
 
Fresh bananas ripening under
sail
No longer pollywogs, but majestic Shellbacks!
 
The spirals of Ua Poa
(wapoo)
Breadfruit everywhere
 
Heave-Ho, Anchors
Up
So that's why the generator was running warm!!
 
The days of the "wodden" dugout are being
numbered Xavier taking us
on picnic, Ua Poa
 
The Valley of the Kings,
Picnic
She's camera shy. Fresh Star Fruit, yummy
 
South Pacific Evening
at
anchor
Blue billed, red footed Boobie on the bow
 
The Atoll of Manihi on the
radar
Bob and Kay's private reserve get's opened
 
That's a big ray
!
Private island, ham radio sailmail station. Manihi
 
String of black pearl
oysters
Delicate surgery, placing culture seed
 
Black pearls and
dinner
oyster, octopus and a squeeze of lime, we all enjoyed!
 
Let's take a coconut
break !!
 
Postcard
anchorage
Shy, but they know how to ask for bonbons (candy)
 
Local store owner/mayor, and she had us over for
dinner
too!
Catholic church Kauhani - atoll
 
Kyle and his nice 50 pound
dorado Pair of yellow tails, we
are eating well
 
Coming into Papeete,
Tahiti
The famous "Maltese Falcon" for sale $189 million
 
The local farmers market, handcrafts, produce, fruit, fish,
material, snack bars
 
Polynesia dance
lessons
Helene with her new coronet of fresh flowers
 
Each night they race by, what a
sight
Come on Yvette, I have to have one of these?
 
Fresh
Pinapple
The end of another days adventure
June 12, 2008
After
nearly four weeks in Papeete, Tahiti we are now enjoying some very
nice peace and quiet anchored in Cooks Bay, Moorea. We are sitting
in crystal clear water with three feet of water under our keel. The
snorkeling is wonderful, the water temp is 83 and life is good. The
stay in Tahiti was prolonged, as we had to wait for a transmission
seal from the States. Twelve days ago we left for Moorea, but had to
turn around to fix the $2 seal. As luck would have it we couldn't
find the right seal and had to wait 10 days for it to come from
Seattle. Just in case we had 4 shipped. The first one lasted 25
years so we should be set for a while. Separating the engine from
the transmission was a snap and only took four hours, and Carl was
able to do it by himself. Even lifting the 500 pound motor wasn't
that difficult with the help of two "all thread rods" and four nuts,
hanging from a chain.
The stay in
Papeete was fun, and we did get to enjoy some nice Polynesia shows
at the local resorts, and at a price that was affordable. We
got to visit with most all of our cruiser friends taking turns in
the evenings for dinner, movies and potlucks. The
anchorage just South of the airport was a big attraction for Joel
and Kyle, they get such a kick out of watching planes land and take
off.
Last
night we took in a very famous dinner and show here at Cook's Bay in
the resort of the Bali Hi. Polynesia dancing is so much fun to watch
and the drums are just spectacular to listen to. From here we will
be moving the whole 3 miles to another bay here on Moorea to
explore. All of these bays were made famous by Captain Cook. It is
humbling to enter each of these narrow reef passages with all of our
electronic navigation systems and to think just how did the early
explorers do it with hardly nothing but their own
eyes.
From
here we are headed to Bora Bora with a couple stops at different
islands between. After Bora Bora we are taking the high road to the
Samoas then South to the Fijian group.
 
They are just hypnotizing to watch.
 
What a smile, this was one really happy
lady! Every evening race
staging from the Liberty
 
One of the world
traveling yachts by
us.
South Pacific bungalows, COZY!
 
The ultimate party
barge
Moorea in the sunset
 
At anchor in Cooks
bay
Afternoon squal brings a daily rainbow
 
Dancing
girls of the South
Pacific
OK, I was forced into this, but fun was had
 
Mom, look what we
found, can we keep
them?
We be jammin
June 10th,
2008
We have been completely enjoying the Society Islands!! Moorea
was fun, and very beautiful in a San Juan Island, WA State way.
Lush, over grown island, slight sandy beaches, and great hiking. We
were anchored in Cook's bay for a few days, then moved the 3 miles
West to Opunohu Bay. We were held up there in a great holding
anchorage as storm winds that touched in the 30 knot range came by.
We caught the end of that system and did the 85 mile sail North to
Huahine. We left at 4 pm and held on through the night. It was the
most uncomfortable ride we have had so far since leaving Washington.
The seas were 12 to 15 feet which is no problem, but the spacing was
close, 7 to 8 seconds, we knew it was not going to be fun, but we
didn't want to wait for the wind to stop and have to slug our way
through sloppy seas, so we went on. The wind was directly off of our
stern and the seas were off our beam, just slightly behind us.
Needless to say there was not any sleep had that night, but we did
make good time. We are always amazed on how well the
Liberty does in that kind of stuff, her weight is just the ticket at
17 tons she doesn't sway fast.
We are now in Huahine and this is what it is all
about, white sandy beaches, great marine life, and even a little
town to explore. The Polynesian indigenous people, the Maori's say
this is their "belly button" where they all came from. They don't
have a lot of good things to say about the French and only speak
Tahitian, do not say Merci or Bonjoure here!! They fire back with
Marurru or Yuranna!! We have enjoyed anchorages with only two feet
of crystal clear water under our keel. There has been a full moon
and it is magical to go out at night and see your shadow on the
white sandy bottom. We have been snorkeling everyday or hiking. We
have seen lion fish, morea's, barracuda, octopus and lot's of
beautiful shells everywhere. Huahine is our favorite so far.
Tomorrow we are going to set sail for a 30 mile run
to Raiatea which is the hub of the Society Islands. There, we will
be taking in a turtle nursery and stocking up on provisions. The
North island of Raitea is Tahaa, this is where the best vanilla
comes from. We are told that top chefs world wide will only use
vanilla beans from Tahaa. We have gotten our hands on a few beans,
wow, do they smell good. We will enjoy that area for a week or so
before we head up to Bora Bora. We have mixed emotions about Bora
Bora, it is going to be so touristy and expensive, we will probably
only stay a couple of days there and then head West for a 10 day
passage to the Samoas, with a possible stop half way at Savoarov
(Sawarrow) if the weather is decent. Our French Visa's expire in a
couple of weeks. We will be looking forward to a few American things
and the better prices. Come to find out every four years there is a
South Pacific Arts and Music show and this year it is in American
Samoa, and during the time that we will be there! It sounds like
every South Pacific Island will be represented there, with art,
music, dancing and outrigger races!
 
Maori
Site
View from the chiefs foundation 950AD
 
What a
View
Copra (coconut) Drying
 
It's a Good
Life Grandma
makes new mats for the livingroom
 
Fresh
Fruit makes this ladies day!
Think they have Safeway brand Caviar?
 
Hiking group, Vari / Linda /
Liberty
Like sitting in a pool
 
Hey Ma, what's for
dinner?
The colors of Moorea
July 24, 2008(latest
Update)
After leaving Raitea
the sail North up to Bora Bora was a very pleasant sail. It was a
simple overnighter with following seas and enough wind to keep us at
a nice pace for landfall the next day. Just inside the entry into
Bora Bora we were greeted by a friend on their boat that got here
threes days earlier. They directed us into a wonderful area for a
lovely anchorage. After setting anchor we set out to explore the
Island. The little town itself is a bit run down, it is obvious that
all the tourist money goes to the resorts and not the town. The
people were very friendly, and it was less "Frenchy" Bora
Bora is an incredibly pretty "South Pacific" Island/Atoll. But as we
were told, it's a busy touristy place with lots of tourist boat
traffic. We did make the dingy trip to the famous "Bloody Mary's
Yacht Club/Restaurant" There you are greeted with two very
large signs that are filled with the multitude of famous people
that have been there. The list included names from as far back as
President Roosevelt to more recent names like Johnny Depp. Of the
two hundred names, most of them were well known actors and
actress's. We all had a drink or a soda and bought two shirts
to say we had been there, $100.00 later we left for the long dingy
ride back. After just three days we were ready to make
the nearly 800 mile trip to Sawarrow. Sawarrow is one of
the further most Northern atolls of the Cook Island chain. This
island was made famous by a man named Tom Neal that lived as a
hermit for over twenty years. During that time he wrote a
book called "An island to oneself" This island is what
many people dream of, of all the atolls and islands this
island was exactly what you would come to know as one of the perfect
"South Pacific" Islands. It is a protected island and has been
deemed a "National Park". On this island there is a caretaker and
his wife and 4 sons that live there in Tom Neals old house for
six months out of the year. This family is one of the nicest people
you could every want to know, their hospitality was so warm and
friendly. One day they organized a dingy trip to a nesting island
that was filled with frigates, boobies and tropical birds. There
were young birds from the very recently hatched to fledglings
getting ready to spread their wings. One of our greatest memories
was made here, we asked one of the caretakers sons to help us find a
coconut crab. These crabs are on the endangered list and have been
hunted to very low numbers on most South Pacific islands. It didn't
take long before one came out of thick palm frond pile with a crab
that just takes your breath away with astounding beauty and size. It
was a pleasure to enjoy it's timid behavior and hold him closely and
inspect such a fine specimen of the crab family. The next
couple of days were filled with exploring and windy anchor watches.
We were not able to do any swimming here as the lagoon is filled
with sharks. Most any time we could watch a group of 4 to 6 black
tip sharks around our boat. Black tip sharks are normally not a
problem, but these guys have learned how to "pack up"! At one point
we were swimming off the back of the boat and watched a group of 5
about three to four footers that just kept coming up towards us and
they seemed to be thinking "lunch". It was the last time we did any
swimming at this anchorage! One evening we all went ashore for
a potluck dinner with the caretakers. Veronica the caretakers
wife made bread fruit chips and coconut pancakes, they were a big
hit. We feasted on the variety of dishes and visited for a few
hours before it was "cruisers midnight" 9pm. Two days later we
pulled up our anchor along with our sister ship Grace another
Formosa Peterson 46, also from the Seattle area. The weather was
stinky and the seas were going to be big, but it was time to get out
of dodge and do the 3 day passage to Pago Pago, American Samoa. The
winds maintained 30 knots for one of the days and we watched the
seas grow, but the Liberty just charged along at 7 knots and kept us
safe. We heard later on the radio that a couple of cruisers we know
behind us one day out of Sawarrow had a "knock down" (mast in the
water) One of them was a good friend of ours Mike and Liz on the
Arganaut. We quickly got on the radio and contacted them and found
out that all was well for them and they and the other sailboat are
anchored in Sawarrow. The other sailboat didn't fair as well and
badly bent their mast. They will have to motor the 400 miles to Pago
Pago when the weather lets up. We may see them when they get here
if we are still here and get some pictures of their mast.
We had a fast sail to Pago Pago, 72 hours and covered 450
miles. Luck was on our side, we made it here two days before
the "South Pacific Art Festival" started. This festival includes all
South Pacific Islands and is every four years, this time being
hosted by American Samoa. We have spent most days watching the 27
countries dancing, weaving, singing and just visiting with them.
Some of the people from the visiting countries were just so
wide eyed and had never been off of their island. They were so
primitive, and so very friendly. Check out the pictures following.
Pago Pago (pronounced like the drums "bongo bongo" but with a P) has
been a welcome treat for us, their are large stores, American items
that we have not seen for a long time and the prices are great! The
boys and I even went and bowled a few games and hit some balls
at the batting cages, how American is that? The bay of Pago
Pago itself is not a real pretty sight, water you wouldn't swim in,
trash floats by, and a big Star Kist Tuna cannery plant close by on
the water. When the wind changes it smells like someone opened a big
can of cat food. After being here nearly two weeks we are ready
to make the 80 mile overnight sail to Western Samoa. They are trying
to change their name to either Independent Samoa or just plain
Samoa. There we will be taking advantage of a brand new marina, with
showers, and water and electricity at the docks for only $15 per
day. After nearly five months it will be nice to be tied up to
land. Samoa is about 5 times larger than American Samoa
and should be fun to explore. Farming and industrial is the
mainstay of this independent country. They are also known for the
manufacturing of car parts for all around the world. We are looking
forward to the sail over as the reputation for some great fishing.
One of our friends just called us on the radio and caught a nice 20
pound blue fin tuna just outside of Pago Pago
harbor.
 
At Anchor with romantic Bora Bora in the
background Horst and
Julia from Pacific Star
 
Famous guests at Bloody
Mary's
Cool Tiki Man
 
Nesting boobies and frigates
everywhere
Can you feed me?
 
Hey, got a newspaper I can
read?
Now that's fresh fish, right off the bone
 
Joel with a large coconut
crab
Mom with her catch, hurry up, it's pinching me!
 
Nice
anchorage
Watch your ankles
 
The
caretakers, yep, twins in the
front
Island Tatoo??? Nope, just a little gecko
 
After 3 hours
she's ready to
sail
The welcoming and goodbye commitee
 
The Governer of Am. Samoa at the S. Pacific
Festival
Tribal dancers - Tahiti
 
Yvette got involved too
!
Two lovely ladies from Fiji that we'll meet when we get there.
 
Australian's, what a hoot they
were New Guinea, yep took Joel to see
topless dancers on his
16th.
 
Very proud men from New
Guinea
Great costumes from the Solomons
 
Fresh pork, tarro root and
polysami
!!
Joels 16th B-Day with Marta of the yacht
club
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