Sunday, June 21, 2015

'Sea'-nile

Perry with our Dreamsicle-colored spinnaker.
Photo courtesy of Marie-Claude Osterrath.
The other day, one of the 'kid' boats that we hang around with celebrated their son's birthday on the wrong day (they thought Saturday was Sunday) . Although that's an extreme example, we are often forgetting the day of the week. It's one of the things about cruising that makes it seem like we mostly sit around drinking cocktails in exotic locations, watching the sunset. We do a lot of that, along with diving/snorkeling with hundreds of sharks, having beach bonfires, and exploring remote islands.


Flotilla for birthday relay races.
Of course, we have lots of inconveniences that 'normal' people don't. During one relatively calm crossing when we should have gotten a lot of rest, the freezer decided to stop working in the middle of the night, requiring Matt to replace yet another black box controller. On the same night, the generator stopped working and Matt had to troubleshoot it and replace the impeller.
A pearl farm in Raroia (Tuamotos).
And we can have very limited fresh vegetables for long stretches. The kids got really excited about the broccoli and cauliflower (weirdos!) that Matt brought back to the boat after arriving to Moorea, which is near Tahiti. 
That's Mark in the yellow circle. Baie Hatiheu (Marquesas).

We'll hang out in Tahiti for a bit to see if we can get our mainsail restitched and restock on some boat parts. Then we'll head through the rest of French Polynesia until we have to leave by the end of July.

Our anchorage in Baie D'Anaho (Marquesas).
Mark adding a memento to the Thor Heyerdahl memorial (Tuamotos).

A lot of the towns are energy independent with solar panels
and rainwater collection systems.
Giant clams
Copra collection hut on Taotaona (Tuamotos)
Mark with a black tip reef shark in Fakarava (Tuamotos)
Baiting sharks. Anyone for a swim?
A Napolean fish so big that it has 2 remoras. Not that they're picky.
One tried to attach itself repeatedly to Matt's leg while diving.

5 comments:

  1. Is that Conrad windsurfing?? Looking good.
    Mark, are you shrinking or is that tree really that big.

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    Replies
    1. It is Conrad. One of the 'kid' boats here has a guy who used to be a top freestyle windsurfer in Australia and taught kids. He gave lessons one day for all the kids. He thinks we need a centerboard to allow our board to turn without being on plane so we will probably put one together. The tree is really big; Mark is definitely not shrinking with all he eats. :-)

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    2. Good news on both counts.

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  2. Try moving the sailboard mast foot way back before "modifying the board. That should help with the upwind sailing if you keep weight on the windward rail.

    should not need to plane to move up wind if you don't let yourself get too far downwind.

    advice from Grandpa Bob!!

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  3. Actually, a centerboard will make it much easier get upwind in light air and may prevent the dreaded "walk of shame"

    ReplyDelete

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