French Polynesia or Bust

The day has finally come where I, Gail, fly off to meet up with John and Music.  Can't wait!  I'll arrive in the Marquesas on Sunday the 15th and Bob and John Denny will be leaving Music that same time.  Our blog updates will be less frequent since we'll need to wait until we get somewhere with internet access.  But we will post updates and have photos!  So stayed tuned.

French Polynesia consists of 5 major island groups and we'll be cruising among 3 of them.  John and I will cruise the Marquesas another week or so visiting some of the other islands in the group.  Then we'll head to the Tuamotus for a few weeks and then off to what is called the Society Islands which includes Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora.

We have to leave French Polynesia by July 6th which is 90 days from when John arrived.  Then we'll head to Tonga for a few months before we need to leave that area in Oct./Nov.  As with all cruising plans - they are plans and will be adjusted along the way.  But that's the plan for now.

Here's where we're going.

Where's John

Here's the Google Earth link of Music's voyage to the South Pacific.

Cruising Report Hiva Oa

Date: 04/10      

Noon to noon run: 15 NM
Lat/Lon: 04 deg 47.43'S; 139 deg 10.09'W
Course: Enroute from Tahuata to Hanamenu Bay, Hiva Oa
Next Waypoint:    Hanamenu Bay, Hiva Oa 3+ NM distance
                  09 deg 45.89S; 139 deg 08.40W

WE spent the last few nights at anchor in Hana Moe Nou Bay on Tahuata where we walked the white sand beach, snorkeled, collected a few coconuts, opened 2 of them drinking the juice and pealing the meat away from the shell. The day we snorkeled the water had a bit of biologic particulate in it so visibility was perhaps not as much as it could have been. Even so, we truly enjoyed ourselves seeing an odd type of sponge, and a great variety of fishes including parrot fish, trigger fish, butterfly fish, wrasses, angler fish, and many, many more. The predominant coral was a fire coral, but there were also a few brain coral as well.

Yesterday we raised anchor and checked out a small village a couple of miles away, and toured the next village, a couple more miles down the coast before returning to Hana Moe Nou Bay for the night. During the afternoon rain clouds moved in and we got intermittent showers throughout the afternoon and evening. The topography of east side of Tahuata reminds me of the Nepali Coast of Kauai - steep, rugged, and lots of vertical aces all covered with jungle!

Now, we are on our way to Hanamenu Bay on the northwest corner of Hiva Oa. We will spend the next few days and enjoying the anchorages on the north side of the island before returning to Atouna where John D and Bob will depart and Gail will join me. Not that I'm looking forward to Bob and John leaving, but I AM CERTAINLY looking forward to  my sweethearts arrival. Then I can share all of this with her.

Trip End Report

Date: 04/06      
Noon to noon run: 0.0 NM
Time of position: 13:00 Hiva Oa Time on friday 04/06
Lat/Lon: 09 deg 48.204'S; 139 deg 01.917'W
Course: N/A
Next Waypoint:    Bed / Bunk

Statistics:
Our initial planned route (Nuevo Vallarta substituted for Cabo Corrientes) to waypoint 06N 126W, then due south to ooN 126W, then HIva Oa : 2831NM

Revised Route (cutting short the waypoint 06N 126W to cut through the ITCZ: 2729.58

Actual Distance Sailed: 2795.58

Fuel: 110 Gallons Diesel (70 in tank; 40 in jerry jugs) Motoring allowance: 2 Days at the beginning to get to wind; 2 days to get thru ITCZ

Actual Motor useage:

      Approximate 48 hours motor sail at the beginning
      2 Hr early mid trip to charge batteries on our slowest day
      4 Hr for water making near equator
      Approximate 20 Hr the last 2 days at 2000 RPM
Total Fuel Consumption: 57 Gallons
Remaining Fuel at end of trip: 53 Gallons

Trip End Synopsis:

We anchored and checked into French Polynesia at Atuona, Hiva Oa through our yacht customs broker. She picked up up at the dock and drove us into town to the Gandarmerie (sp?). Then we picked up some local currency at the bank ATM, hit a store, and then restaurant for lunch. Lunch, consisting of 2 beers, 1 lemonade, and one each fish salad, fried chicken leg, and tuna carpaccio (mine) total cost was 4,500 FP Francs (our estimate was about $45 US, using a loose conversion of 100 FP Franc to the US dollar).

After that we walked the approximate 1.5 miles back to our dingy dock and returned to Music where we immediately put up all of the serious shade covers we have. It is both HOT & HUMID here. Then we enjoyed a quiet afternoon, made dinner, and retired for a long sleep.

A note on the local time zone: Time here seems to be about 3.5 hours earlier than PV, Mexico. Or about a half hour earlier than Tahiti.

Today Bob and John headed back to the market to p/u  some other necessities while I stayed onboard, checked engine fluids, and restowed equipment, converting Music back from passage making mode to cruising mode.

Cheers, John

Terra Firma at Last

They made it!  John called me on the satellite phone Thursday morning as they were entering the bay at Atuona on Hiva Oa.  It was almost 20 days exactly - they left Friday, Mar. 16 at 11am and arrived on Thursday, April 5 around 11am US mountain time.  I'm going to have to play a bit with time zones, but they are approximately 3 1/2 hrs behind. 

John sounded good, but tired.  Hopefully they all got a good long solid sleep last night.  I'll be joining Music on April 15 when John Denny and Bob Peters head back to the States and Canada.

Haere maru (Polynesian for 'take it easy').

So Close You Can Taste It

Date: 04/04-05         
Noon to noon run: 134 NM
Time of position: 00:00 04/05
Lat/Lon: 09 deg 17.06'S; 138 deg 04.80'W
Course: 218 deg Mag
Next Waypoint:    East end of Hiva Oa: 50 NM distance
                  09 deg 45.03S; 138 deg 45.65W

Last night the sea was totally calm and glassy on my watch, no sign of a ripple anywhere. The moon, now 3/4 full was brilliant and the reflection off the water like glistening spotlights. We passed under and around many clouds, some with rain in them, others flashing lightening from time to time - the scene all surreal. But, for Music herself, there was no rain on my watch, and my 3 hours passed quietly, peacefully. With 120NM to go as I write this note at 11:00AM PV time, tonight will be our last night on the water before landfall. ETA is about 8AM tomorrow morning, which will probably be about 5AM local time, so we will most likely have to heave to and wait a bit for daylight, unless we slow our speed to stretch time out. All of this is assuming that we keep motoring to the end.

When it comes to the weather we've encountered between 8N and here, 8S, the grib files have been generally wrong in wind direction and strength. The fist time they matched our visual information was yesterday. The satellite photos have been a real help in at least showing us where the cloud activity, and presumably ITCZ,was. Initially we also relied on the human analysis (NOAA surface analysis) via our weather fax program in Sailmail. Diving south after breaking through the initial ITCZ zone whenever it looked like it (the ITCZ) would potentially materialize in front of us. And, in that respect it seemed the Zone, as we dubbed it was chasing us further and further south.

Yesterday when dawn brought light winds that grew lighter as the day progressed until they died all together, we decided the Zone found us, and we could outrun it no more. Consequently, we tried several times to download surface analysis weather faxes, but we continually had too much interference and they were unreadable. Sometime in the middle of Bob's watch we finally got a readable surface analysis, and guess what? Despite the fact that we'd been motoring in glassy seas, thundershowers at times all around us and no wind, the analysis showed that we were midway between what appears to be a low on the southwest corner of our geographic area of analysis and a high to the southeast of our position with an outer isobar line indicating 1012 millibars. It seems like we should have at least some wind, but siince we were motoring, we obviously had (and still have) nothing of the sort.

The long and short of this is: Collect your weather data from as many sources as seems reasonable for the situation, make your own correlation, and draw your own conclusion based on the information at hand, GRIB, GOES satellite images, and human analysis, and maybe toss a coin to see how it lands. Then sail the weather you've got.

It is one thing aiming for a waypoint on a chart plotter. It is quite another to actually arrive at a tiny island in the middle of nowhere and actually make landfall. So, here, 50 nautical miles from Hiva oa and we can't see the island because it is night time. But I would truly love to see the island on the horizon. Then I could say "Yes, John, you made it and you navigated here yourself. But now I must sleep and leave that to my crew. I only asked Bob two things when he wakes me for my next watch at 6AM PV time. 1: That we not run into the island. 2: That the island be right there.

Almost There

John and crew should be arriving at Hiva Oa Thursday morning.  Wow, what a trip.

Date: 04/03
Noon to noon run: 145 NM
Time of position: 16:00
Lat/Lon: 07 deg 25.06'S; 135 deg 41.75'W
Course: 220 deg Mag
Next Waypoint:  East end of Hiva Oa: 230 NM distance
                09 deg 45.03S; 138 deg 45.65W
              
For once the grib file I downloaded had both wind direction and velocity accurate. The bad news is that 5Kt of wind is only 5Kt of wind. Plus, put that off the port stern quarter and with white sails only flying, you end up with the boat going VERY slow, and a lot of slatting. But, it seems we have about 1.5 to 2kt of push from the current and that certainly has been helping our boat speed. Without that current boat speed would be painfully slow. The swell passing under our keel is gentle, long and rolling. With the incredible beauty out here, the sun, and the shades of blue on blue, blue sky, blue horizon, and cobalt blue ocean time seems to warp and slow. It may be hot and humid, but it is also incredibly peaceful. But enough is enough and at 15:21 with a speed through the water (STW) of zero, crew consensus obtained, we started the iron genoa, otherwise known as the engine.

Date: 04/02      
Noon to noon run: 176 NM
Time of position: 18:00
Lat/Lon: 06 deg 05.67'S; 134 deg 09.09'W
Course: 220 deg Mag
Next Waypoint:    East end of Hiva Oa: 352 MN distance
                  09 deg 45.03S; 138 deg 45.65W

The winds started going quiet last night about 11:00, but still gave us some push before going really light in the early predawn hours. Today has been quiet, nice breeze, no chop, and low swell. Quite a difference from our sleigh ride of yesterday. Unless the breeze picks up a bit, don't look for much distance covered on our 24 hour run tomorrow.

Date: 04/01      
Noon to noon run: 164 NM
Time of position: 19:00
Lat/Lon: 04 deg 20.34'S; 132 deg 04.81'W
Course: 220 deg Mag
Next Waypoint:    East end of Hiva Oa: 515 NM distance
                  09 deg 45.03S; 138 deg 45.65W

Our low passed over us this morning, and another is bearing down on us, even as I write. There seem to be a series of fast moving lows passing though this area for the next couple of days. They are bringing us more wind than the gribs have predicted, but what else is new for this area. Of course we are putting the miles behind us because the wind is pretty much on the port beam, sometimes a little forward and sometimes a little aft.

Sleeping down below during the day has become impossible. It's way too hot and humid, even with both saloon hatches open. On this point of sail, with all the spray, no way can the foredeck hatch be opened so forget sleeping up there - like sleeping in a sauna. We are all a bit tired, but maybe tonight the temp will be lower and we'll be able to get some sleep then.

Cheers, John

Day 15

It looks like they have less than a week to go which means their trip took right about 21 days.

Date: 03/31      

Noon to noon run: 150 NM

Time of position: 21:00
Lat/Lon: 02 deg 45.30'S; 130 deg 04.45'W
Course: 220 deg Mag
Next Waypoint:    East end of Hiva Oa: 668 NM distance
                  09 deg 45.03S; 138 deg 45.65W

A Bobby bird landed on our bow pulpit yesterday evening shortly before sunset, and stayed all night.  By the time it flew off this morning we had bird poop all over the stem fitting and anchor locker.

This evening, shortly before sunset a large pod of dolphins came to play in our bow wake for about 20 minutes, then were gone as quickly as they came.

The wind built to a steady 15kt today and at this moment shows no sign of weakening. The grib file forecasts a 1008 MB low passing directly over Music tomorrow morning, but we'll be fine. Given our history of the grib files being wrong in this area the low may not even happen.

On a down note - John D was dipping the collapsible bucket from the bow and the handle came off - so the bucket and handle should just about be settling on the bottom about now. It was great for our showers, I'm going to miss it.