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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

"Creating a Village", Rays, Tattoos, and the famous "Green Flash"."

July 23, 2011
Ships Log

Lat 09 degrees 54 min S

Lon 139 degrees 06 min W

In our last stop we watched in action how "it takes a village to raise a child". In this anchorage, the quintessential Tropical Paradise that one thinks of with white sand beaches fringed with swaying coconut palms, gentle surf coming from the turquoise coloured water in the bay...we created a village... a floating village.
Some of the members of the 'floating village' of Hana Moe Noe, Tahuata

There were a number of families and couples whom we had met on their yachts in Atuona, Hiva Oa and again in the Bay of Virgins on Fatu Hiva and we were delighted to find them again in this beautiful bay of Hana Moe Noe on the island of Tahuata. As soon as we arrived people dropped by in their dinghies to say hello and soon each night there were different groups visiting and having drinks, nibblies and shared dinners. The first evening we were there one of our friends, Sheryl, snorkelled over and checked our anchor setting for us while we were visiting with our friends, John and Jason from SV Spirit ( couple of great Australian yachties who were sailing Jason's trimaran back to Eirlie Beach Australia where his friend and crew, John was getting married - after 35 years, John I'd say it's about time!!). Everyone there was eager to help everyone else and the feeling of comradery was so strong. Because our cockpits are so small it is hard for everyone to get together so yesterday someone suggested going to the beach for a big barbeque. Everyone was in for that! Ian from Faraway spent the day beetling from one boat to another making sure everyone was informed and seeing if they needed help ferrying everyone to the beach. Finally, we all made it and had a wonderful time barbequing chicken, sausages, chops on an old metal grill and eating tons of salads and fruit (some of it lying around under the trees behind us!).

Sheryl (the kindly anchor checker) also told us that there were a number of Manta Rays that came to feed in the bay every morning just behind their boat and if we would like they would let us know the next morning where they were. Sure enough, the next morning Ian, Sheryl's husband snorkelled over to tell us that the group of rays were back behind their boat. We hurriedly grabbed our snorkelling gear threw it all in the dinghy and rowed out to where we could see many of our neighbours already swimming. Bill got in the water first as I struggled into my shorty wetsuit and organized all my snorkelling paraphenalila all the time worrying that I would miss them. Finally I slipped into the water and swam over to where everyone had been swimming and motioning to where the rays were swimming. As I got there I was so disappointed since all I could see were a number of small brightly coloured fish but no rays. It looked as though the rays had finished their breakfast... I was so disappointed... then Bill motioned to me to look and there were two rays swooping and swimming with mouths open scooping the plankton as they swam. Wow!!! As they swam away our friend Ian excitedly pointed past my shoulder to behind me. I turned to find a beautiful huge (6 feet wide and 8 feet long) grey and white manta ray gliding straight toward me! Just as she came within an arms length of me she swooped and turned opening her mouth (at least 2 feet when open) and gracefully sliding within inches of me. I put out my hand and her wing lifted just at that moment and we connected... I was able to stroke almost the whole length of her wing and back... I was mesmorized! I had never experienced anything so moving as this... what can one say?
Rowing out to our first "Manta" experience... very exciting!

Sheryl from "Faraway"took this one and all the others of that magic morning.

...closer...

...closer... and then the manta and I touched each other's arms (as it were)!  What an experience!

The next big event was when Bill and I got tattooed on Tahuata!! Yes, can you believe it??? Resolution Bay (yes, the famous Captain Cook named it after his ship, but it was re-named after that by the French to Bay du Potain - or prostitute's bay, which has a huge story behind that one but that story is for another time... and finally it is now Ivavia Nui). We had heard that one of the most talented tattoo artists in all of French Polynesia has his studio there so we took off with our Aussie friends, John and Jason, in their motor dinghy to investigate. Well, the long and the short of it is that all four of us got tattoos by the end of the day!! Yup!! Cathy at the age of 60 now has a beautiful tattoo of... a manta ray on the top of her foot - incredible! Bill's, which is about 6" X 5" is on the back of his right shoulder and it is an incredibly detailed Marquesan stunning design of a whale! These designs are unique and Felix Fiit, the artist creates them with you and each one is totally unique and found nowhere else! As Felix said when I was leaving - we are now part of the 'family of Felix'! I know you are dying to see photos and we will hopefully be able to send some when we get to Nuku Hiva, where we are heading for with the evening tide tonight (after I send off our Sailmail).

Photos yet to come...

As I have been typing this 3 of our friend's have left and 2 more have arrived to add to and change the makeup of this beautiful floating village.

Fair winds

Cath and Bill

.. and another great event tomorrow is Bill's oldest son Willis's birthday... HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIS!!!

P.S. Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that I saw the "Green Flash"!!! ... the story goes that if there are no clouds on the horizon and one watches as the sun drops down below the horizon one just may be lucky enough to spot the Green Flash... AND I DID!! I was so excited but Bill was down below and didn't see it. Luckily Jason from Spirit saw it too... and neither of us had had a spot to drink. That's my story and I am sticking to it!!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

ALL PEANUTS - July 19th

Hana Moe Noa Bay , TUHUATA Island, Marquesas

Lat 9 degrees 54 min S
Lon 139 degrees 06 min W

This is paradise, no question. Tropical in the South Pacific and we are here and it is postcard beauty and it is very good.

Sail or laze all day, anchor off white sandy beach, swim, fish and then swap parties throughtout the night with new cruising friends from all over the world. Austrian, Australian, Swiss, American, Brits, Kiwis, Hungarians and us. Everyone from far away and yes just like us. We have lots to talk about, swap sea stories, distant lands and great scare stories.

The Peanuts. After all the above of course we love our boats and I love comparative anatomy. I wanted to compare Terrwyn with the 2 dozen boats with whom we have been watching and gunkholing down wind here in the Marqueses.

Thirty five years ago in NZ I met a similar "cruiser" initially as my patient who had just crossed the Tasman Sea in his yacht. A 29 foot glass sloop. We talked all night i.e. I asked and he answered sailing stories. I was hooked and now we are here in Terrwyn. These boats here are all bigger than Terrwyn. Averaing 43 feet I guess, glass, half are retired charter boats from the Carribean and now very much "off white" i.e. dirty and bruised, littered with stuff on deck after years afloat . We are newly out a whoe 2 months, they are 2 years out. Basic, beaten up working sails all furling gear and an inflatable dinghy with outboards hanging off their painters. They - large, spacious windows; we small portholes.

About 1/3 are big boxy catamarans. Big and loaded with children, no safety anything, minimal visible supervision and scary as heck but they are happy and the young parents relaxed. Power to youth.

The guys all love Terrwyn (we all love everyone else's boats) and its great sport comparing gear. Below decks in the few we have gone below are palatial and lovely. (Terrwyn is a boat, small and largely filled with stuff).. Cathy's eyes have been dilated for sure. But it is amazing these big boats all have water makers, use electronic charts virtually exclusively, generators, no sextants, no paper charts, and no pee bucket that I have seen. Amazing. Out boat is 10 feet 10 inches and our breeboard id 13 feet. These boats are 14 - 16 feet across and 5 feet freeboard at least. We have a tiller and a windvane, they have a big wheel often double wheels and internal electronic auto helms. I grew up reading the Hiscocks' (Wanderers 31-35 feet; the Roths' (Whisper - 35 feet) and the Pardeys' (Serrafyn and Taleisin at 24 and 28 feet) and felt BIG and

Boorish with Terrwyn's lengthy 37 feet, but this generation of boaters are at least 1/2 as big again or double our size and displacement and we look small. Amazing. We are smaller for sure, however every bit or more seaworthy (I believe.) but as my English yachtsman in NZ back when was saying "29 ft - 60 ft yachts in the big open ocean are all peanuts ' big or small'. All just peanuts." Coming from the smallest peanut around... I just love that phrase.

Back to business, just putting about on this boat,

Love
Billy

Howdy from Hanavave Bay (Bay of Virgins) Fatu Hiva

Dear Blog readers,


Howdy from Hanavave Bay (Bay of Virgins) Fatu Hiva

Lat 10 ,28 S

Long 138 30 W

Sorry to been so long quiet ...been lost in paradise here all is well and busy busy "resting" , fixing boat stuff, and exploring Fatu Hiva . Cath will fill in Fatu Hiva details ... great place and we are now even rested and all packed up for an early departure tomorrow AM for Tahuata Island AND Hana Moe Noa Bay.

All is good and we are settling into Cruiser mode working anchor settings,and dinghy details and hanging out only on our own time frame and routines.

Couple of details... Glad to have my suba gear as have used it to check and refine our tandom anchors in the teeth of the williwa gales coming down the moUntain side, replace our prop Zinc (again), and retrieve the speciAL Bucket in 40 Ft of water after I threw it overboard ... OOOPS.

Cath is a monster in the making regular ever ready Bunny visiting all her new Marquesen lady friends and oh yes shopping for Tapa cloth, wood work , fruit and veges. Me I am so happy to have sheets that need whipping, sails to change, and various boat jobs to keep me from going to shore every time. Works great. The July 14th Bastille Celebrations (that happily last the whole month of July have been wonderful and the nightly dancing, drumming, singing and performances amazing.

But I will leave that for Co-cap our Communications Officer.

YOurs in Paradise,

Billy

Hi everyone!

We have been having such a wonderful time here in Hanavave Baie on Fatu Hiva. We were here all by ourselves last Thursday and so were able to go ashore and get to know many of the wonderful Marquesans who live in Hanavave = a small community of about 200 people about 80 of which are children. They live the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child." One little girl told me she had 3 mothers... We have watched as the whole community has gathered by the sea to play volleyball, soccer, bingo, set up little food huts for people to order "barbecue" meat with frites (my favourite was the one with Roquefort sauce!! Unhuh!!! My least favourite was the poisson with rice (small red fish ...raw... chopped up with bones, fins, tail and eyes all included and served in a fermented coconut milk sauce over rice- the eyes were particularly big for such a small fish and made eating quite an adventure avoiding their gaze!!!).

We have had 5 days in absolute paradise!! It is like living in the Bouchart Gardens with an idyllic little village of tiny huts, backyard animals, located beside a lovely stream and dotted with coconut trees, banana trees,mango trees, papaya trees and then of course the flowering bushes of frangipani, hibsicus, magnolia and all of the plants and ferns that I have always attempted to grow as house plants in Calgary. The jungle has no biting insects, there are no poisonous bugs or creepy crawlies... there are no large predators, no rats, nothing bad on this island!! Unbelievable!! Oh no - there is one stinging insect - a very large wasp that are not very numerous and are so slow flying that one can usually avoid them. Now, did I ever tell you that Bill has an anaphelactic allergy to wasp stings?? We were visiting on one of our fellow cruisers boats (a very cool trimaran) when Bill felt something on his back, took a swipe at it and... yup!! he got stung on his hand!. Now despite having taken over a year of de-sensitizing shots he started to react and luckily we had all the intravenous paraphenalia that he needed. So, sitting around the corner of the dock Bill shot up and then I rowed him back to the boat where he could sleep it off. Luckily it worked and he was right as rain the next day. (oh and while Bill slept I was able to row back to the village and have a lovely time visiting with all my new Marquesan friends). Phew! That was a close one...

Having been sailing for over 6 weeks without being able to replenish our fresh food supply we have been craving fresh fruit and my, my we have come to the right place! The fruit that is in season right now is pamplemousse (delicious sweet grapefruit - that must suffer from a thyroid problem they are so huge!), oranges, citrus (limes and lemons), a few papayas were big enough and I illegally pulled a couple off as we were on our walk - everything here belongs to someone so one must ask permission to pick fruit - I quickly stuffed them in Bill's back pack and no one was the wiser. Yesterday we walked up the steep hills that surround our bay and at the top were able to take photos of Terrwyn with our zoom lens.

We were searching for a 200 ft waterfall that was supposed to be spectacular to visit and swim in the pool at the bottom ,, though very difficult to find. True to the description - it was very hard to find and it was spectacular once we found it (back down the hill and through the jungle clambering over roots and huge rocks through mud and finally to the waterfall. The swim in the beautifully clean fresh though cold water was a treat (even for me who hates cold water!!).

We came ashore last night to enjoy the traditional Marquesan dancing and singing = these people are the Welsh of the South!! Everyone sings and everyone knows their part of the harmony. They play ukeleles and drums - and today groups of men and women were sitting singing under the palm



trees or at the side of the fishing outriggers. I went over and joined in with one group and hummed my altpart - then one of the men let me look at his home made uke - with 8 strings, 4 pairs and the hole was in the back of the instrument!! It sounded like the cross between a banjo and a ukelele. I so want to find one of those to buy for us!!

We have taken hundreds of photos and many video and can't wait to share them with you. We will try to do that but probably not until we get to civilized Papeete in Tahiti.

Well, must get back to paradise now - love to you all and wish you were here!!

Love from Cath and Bill on Terrwyn in Tropical Paradise.

Safely Anchored in Taahuku Bay

Big News from us... We have made landfall!!! We are now safely anchored in Taahuku Bay on the South side of Hiva Oa (lat 09 degrees 48 min S Lon 139 degrees 02 min W) and have contacted our Pacific Yacht Service person (Sandra)on VHF who is so helpful (she even is getting our laundry done for us!). Monday morning we meet her at the dinghy dock at 7:30 am and she will take us to the Gendarmerie in Atuona for our official entry paperwork and money paying. In most countries one must not leave one's boat if one has not done the official customs etc. paperwork... not here... even though we are flying the yellow quarantine burgee (which we must do until all paper work is done) we are allowed to go ashore...

Let me back up a bit though, before I talk about our first step on solid land. The whole night sailing on our approach to Hiva Oa was the wildest night with rain storm after rain storm (not just little squalls) and winds of 20-25 knots and seas of 2-3 metres... both of us had to be on close watch 3hours at a time. When daylight finally came Bill was on watch and we should have been able to see it but all there was were clouds... and then he saw a bit of land and he won the prize... first one to see land gets an extra beer when we get to the village. After the initial excitement of seeing land and watching in awe as the clouds lifted we could see more and more of the tall sentinels of peaks of the tropical island that we were approaching. We still had a few hours of difficult sailing beating against the wind with huge waves and big winds... and we did it! We sailed along the coast of the island with Stan Rogers playing full blast and Bill dancing in the cockpit (it's tricky avoiding those stamping feet in such close quarters!). At the entrance of the outer bay we had to drop the sails and turn on the motor... not a small task with the huge waves breaking across our bow... so with Bill out on the bow taking down the storm staysail I was on the tiller manouvering through those waves and then Bill yells back to me to fall off (that doesn't mean to fall of the boat!! It means to head downwind) and then turn on the motor and head into the bay. Yeah right!! Not in those waves!! I was scared stiff so I pretended I didn't hear him and waited until he got back to the safety of the cockpit and then we both worked the tiller and the turning on the motor... and that wasn't the end of it! As we came into the little bay and motored around the boats already anchored there one of the guys on a big catamaran yelled over to us that he had lost two anchors on a wreck that was nearby. We then carefully dropped our anchor in the fairly rolly water and then set a stern anchor wo we wouldn't swing into anyone else in such close quarters. Despite all of our care we have had to move a couple of times and reset the anchors and the result of that is that our stern anchor is now a permanent mooring buoy in this little bay - a gift from us to the island!

OK enough of sailing stuff... I know you are dying to know what our first step on land was like... well, first Bill took the dinghy over to the dinghy dock so that Sandra's husband could pick up our laundry and Bill checked out what was there... we could see a few buildings near the dock. He came back saying that there were showers and we should go and have a shower and then head off for the village of Atuona a couple of kilometres away. I was very reluctant to leave the boat saying oh why the rush - why don't we wait and go tomorrow - very weird... for some strange reason I did not want to leave the boat!! After some sweet talk Bill persuaded me to get in the dinghy and at least come and have a shower so off we headed for my first step on land. As I jumped out of the dinghy to help drag it up the dock I felt the land moving! Yes, the land was rolling and I was having to hang onto Bill to keep myself steady. Unbelievable! Anyway I got a bit steadier on my feet and we headed for the showers... they turned out to be a line of holes along a rusty horizontal pipe about 10 feet high and one turns all of them on and stands on a very nice concrete floor and lets the water stream down. All of this was just on the side of the mud and gravel dock where we dragged our dinghy out of the water. It was very primitive but felt like heaven with the endless supply of cool fresh water flowing over me as I soaped and shampooed my body and hair (wearing a bathing suit). Once I finished showering Bill was turning off the tap as I stepped down off the platform (about a six inch step)... and the world tipped just at that moment and I fell right over, full freshly showered body, right into the muddy road... Bill watched the whole thing in speechless shock as I lay there in the mud. His first thought was thank goodness it was not his fault and secondly that it looked like I was OK just really muddy and helpless so he raced over and helped me up for my second shower of the day (during which I hung onto Bill as the world finished rocking and rolling). We both still laugh about that and I know we will always have a giggle about that scene of me wallowing in the mud as helpless as a tipped over turtle!

On Tues, July 12 we left Hiva Oa and had one of the most beautiful day of sailing of our lives! Despite us having to beat windward it was fabulous and we spent the day luxuriating in a brisk breeze clear blue skies, warm sun on our bare backs and our destination of Fatu Hiva (the most southerly of the Marquesas Islands on the horizon). We arrived at the island of Fatu Hiva in the Bay of Havivave (Ha-vi-va-vay) or the Bay of Virgins (named by the Catholic Priests of long ago) or more correctly The Bay of Penises - because of the uniquely shaped spires surrounding the bay (Yes!!) purported to be the most beautiful bay in the world... and we heartlily agree!! We are in the most beautiful place and in the world!! Today is Bastille Day (July 14th) and hence huge celebrations all over French Polynesian, and one of the best with traditional dancing and food will be here - and even better is that we will be the only white faces at the party!! Yes, both boats that are here with us have to leave to check in with the Gendarmes at Hiva Oa today and will miss the celebrations here with us... what an experience for us.
I will stop now as I know you have all been wondering what we have been doing!! It is hard to find time to send off these notes but I will try to do it as often as possible (still haven't been able to get internet to send photos... will still try).
Much love

from Cath and Bill in Tropical Paradise of Fatu Hiva

Friday, July 15, 2011

Phone call from Fatu Hiva

Dear Readers,

I just recieved communication from Cathy and Bill via Cam (Cathy's son).  All is well...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi Gord,


This morning I looked down at my phone as it rang to see my moms name pop up on the caller ID! They have arrived at the Marquesas safe and sound but the only form of communication available to them is Mom's iPhone (possible advert there- will talk to apple). They wanted me to send you a short update to be passed on to their friends and family.

They were moored at Fatu Hiva but as of that call had not yet stepped onto land. Later they planned on visiting the island to celebrate Bastille Day in the village and take in some traditional food & drink. Since they are so far south in the island group and it's not a point of entry they will be the only white people in the village.

Bill also let me know that the Bay of Virgins was initially called the Bay of Verges (Penis) due to the phallus shaped rock formations on either side of it. That prude Captain Cook or his band of missionaries thought that name too unsavoury and changed it to Vierges which people now just call Virgins which makes much less sense. He also mentioned a 5' Manta Ray followed their boat for the end of the journey there.

They will hopefully have access to some form of communication soon.

Hope you are doing well and please say hi to Rhonda and the kids.

Cam

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where is Fatu Hiva?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-10.4833,-138.6333&ll=-10.483761,-138.633728&spn=0.135037,0.213203&t=h&lci=org.wikipedia.en&z=12

Friday, July 8, 2011

A Voyage of Trust

Ship's Log Wed July 6
Lat 7 degrees 29 min S

Lon 138 degrees 52 min W

Heading for our waypoint at Lat 09 degrees 45 min S Lon 138 degrees 45 min W where we will tack and sail nm until we reach our first landfall...that of Atuona, Hiva Oa of the Marquesas Islands!

A Voyage of Trust

Two major events each illustrating the polar end of trust, in my mind, have occured quite late in this 5 week leg of our voyage that have made a profound impact on my thinking, my perspective and yes, even my life! Not to appear to be too full of navel gazing I did want to share with you some of my thoughts!

The first event happened one beautiful evening just at dusk (which does not last long here in the tropics) as Bill and I were enjoying a quiet time in the cockpit almost mezmerized by the long rolling swells that were rocking us almost to sleep. All of a sudden one of our bird friends, this one was a fairly large - 18 inch wing span- Shearwater flew very close to us following wing stroke by wind stroke to our port beam... beautiful as he flew confidently forward yet eyeing us as he kept pace. All of a sudden he headed up and as I stood up to follow his path I watched as he attempted to land on one of our mast steps near the very top of the mast. He would swoop near the mast and stall to attempt a landing then flutter to the side as the mast swung past him...me holding my breath until I saw him safe. He did this a couple of times getting closer to his target each time then, to my horror I watched as he made a final brave effort to perch on the top step... just as the boat and hence the mast rolled wildly toward him!! I yelled out at him as I watched with heart in my throat the mast strike him very heavily on the side of his body and wing... down he went plunging into the sea just aft of our stern landing heavily in our stern wash. Both Bill and I sat paralyzed unable to help watching as he struggled to bring his damaged wing close to his body. To our great relief he was able to get his wind back, wing tucked in, take a few breaths to recover then slowly fly away close to the waves... we watched as he flew out of sight seemingly getting stronger as he went. This poor bird had so much trust in his deep belief in a steady perch staying where he trusted it to be... and a near tragedy happened.

Surely he will put this lesson in his brain when he next decides to trust a moving perch. Learning to trust with a pinch of salt can be a good thing too.

The second event was not at all dramatic and, in fact, it was something that we had been living with for at least three weeks before I noticed it .. our gimballed stove in the galley. To give you a bit of background I will explain that our stove is on gimbals which allow it to swing freely with the movement of the boat. In fact sometimes it swings so well to counteract the heeling of the boat that one finds it holding at 45 degrees or more. You can well imagine how startling this might be and what the cook who might be in the middle of, let's say, boiling a big pot of water for a nice pasta dish for dinner... might be tempted to do... uhuh ... automatic response is to steady that ol' stove and get it even right???

Luckily this cook did not grab at it but was so traumatized by it and was sure that our stove was misbehaving - I mean it is not possible that cooking pots should be swinging so wildly. I decided to create a nice little brake which would not allow the stove to swing beyond a certain point... so I loosely tied a teatowel from the stove to the steady bar in front of it. It worked... sort of (my bread came out with a huge bulge on the lee side of the loaf...funny thing that!)... and nothing spilled... then one day I forgot to tie on the towel'brake' having put a pot of stew on to cook and I headed up to the cockpit to enjoy a pre-dinner drink with the crew. As I glanced down at the stove during one particularly severe heel of the boat I watched holding my breath as the stove took off - swinging at an unbelievably steep angle... and I noticed with disbelief that the surface of the stew was level and cheerily bubbled away as though it were not almost perpendicular to me!! I could not believe it but I decided not to use the buffer teatowel when I put the water on for the pasta and... guess what??? Yup! Same thing happened - boiling pot of water, boat heels sharply and pot of boiling water happily stays even! Needless to say since that time I have not tied up our stove and I could trust to let nature do its thing.

Since those two events of the testing of trust I have noticed many events in this voyage of ours that require trust... sometimes blind trust.

Trust in our boat Terrwyn that she will not flip over when holding an almost impossible to believe point of heel or fall apart with the incredible forces of wind and waves... trust in our brave and knowledgeable co-cap Bill with the decisions he makes while on watch while I am sleeping peacefully below decks... trust that I can go out (well harnessed in with double tethers at all time) and do my turn in our daily check all around our Terrwyn... trust in the fact that even though we have seen only rolling waves (at times along with huge swells) for weeks on end that yes we will eventually come to land... trust the charts that show the location of those tiny pinpoints that apparently represent our destination... trust the Pacific Seafarers Net that they (volunteer ham radio operators all over the world) are there waiting to hear from us each evening and will take steps to inquire if we do not check in at our regular time... trust that the messages we send through Sailmail and Spot will get to the appropriate destinations... and finally trust that our family and friends have not forgotten us (thanks to our relentless BB - Blog Boy- Gord).

In trust I will now sign off (listening to Placido Domingo with the swoosh of waves in the background as a soundtrack to this voyage).

Cath - with Bill on watch in the cockpit, trusting that I won't go on too long with this little entry :-)

Now a few words from Billy:

White horses, right. We got them and had them now for seems ages, maybe a week "to windward".

She rises to the Waves and feels definitely Alive. The crew (captains) are losing a little weight (which in my case is a good thing) but gaining cute little bruises most everywhere.

Never pooh-pooh the Equitorial Current setting west, just as we do our best to eke out a few minutes of easting. But this too shall pass and we'll turn right and ride the seas to the west.

Terrwyn continues to teach and we do our best to learn her and the ocean's way. It's still infatuation with these variables but enough for now the Polynesian culture and Islands are not far away!!

Your Billy

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

High Noon... Wine with dinner day!

Sunday, July 3rd
Ship's Log

Lat 6 degrees 20 min S

Lon 139 degrees 57 min W
Cathy writes:

We have just come through a very tumultuous night of one squall after another rolling through which made for a very noisy violent ride all night (with calm in between which allowed us to fall back to sleep between squalls). The good news is that we stayed right on course (thanks to crew members Monti and Tilly and particularly Cap'n Billy who set up the perfect sail combo and trim).

We knew that we would have to tack to be able to head on a good course for Atuona, Hiva Oa ... our destination in the Marquesas. It seems weird that we are now heading ENE!!! All instincts scream out NOOOOOOOOooooo... WRONG WAY! But our (read Billy's) careful planning shows clearly that we need to do this tack (oh my gosh! one tack in three weeks!! - just not used to all this activity!!).

We have decided to put on the engine for a couple of hours so that our freezer unit will do it's work freezing numerous bottles of freshly filtered fresh water so that we can keep our necessary foodstuffs (read beer!!) nice and cold even with the refrigerator unit turned off (it powers only through the boat engine running)! Makes for a very noisy and deisel smelling ride but oh so worth it in the end.

We are doing very well and have contacted our 'people' (Pacific Yacht Services that dave and Rhonda Mancini put us on to - yet again another HUGE thanks to Dave and Rhonda!!). Our PYS point person is Laurent on Tahiti who is guiding us through all the eport entry paper work, accessing duty-free fuel etc. and we will be contacting Sandra also of PYS (VHF Channel 11) as we approach Atuona. Having them there waiting for us is an absolute blessing... so nice to know that there are people expecting us to show up! We are also thankful to Dan and Alice who told us about the Pacific Seafarers Net for whom I prepare a report for each night at 0300 Zulu time (8pm BC PST) and they enter all of our particulars into a database that is available for others to use (you may want to check out Yotreps as that is one place that our nightly report goes to - search by our vessel name SV Terrwyn or our call sign VE0WCN - and 0 is the digit zero...).

That's it for now...

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Thank you Everybody!

July 1st
Ships log
Lat 03 degrees 15 min S

Lon 138 degrees 14 min W

Thank you Everybody!

Hello aagain from Terrwyn in the South Pacific! Course 190 degrees True, Speed 6.3 kts Canada day!!!
Our daily routine opens 8-9 am (BC time) with OJ, coffee and Jerry J. Walker. This is a tearful moment for me as my Poppa passed away just a week before we left and he was my personal mentor and older male go to guy, great friend and started me out on this adventure. Art Jones was a great man and I only wish you were reading this. Thank youPoppa. I miss you so.

The sails are now re-set, re-focussed fiddled, tuned, trimmed, walked about and admired.

Our kids are all flown and out there. Angie and nick are coming to Papeete for the duration of the voyage. Sorry Cam, Eric and Willis but your guys are here with us always. Mikey, thanks so much. You have been here and remain to be our closest contact. And Phillip thanks for being there. Gerry and work buddies thanks for giving us this LOA in so many ways. Please say hi to our team for me... is it all the big and half the small  syringe or the other way around?  Gord our Blog Boy a HUGE ongoing thanks to you!! Dan and Alice we love you and scorpio with Shaula at the stinger is in full glory as we keep hoping to hear Shaula's name story. Dave and Rhonda ... the mallet, black bucket, and zinc oxide cream are all golden... thanks! Randy's satellite is here as is our Bolivian mega tea kettle and our bivvy overbag from Foster is a middle night watch staple. I think about our alpine trips daily and below decks are now approaching our advanced camp in macho roughness only here everything is wet, sticky and in perpetual motion. Uncle Iain and Aunty Iris and extended Yusep, Mcleod, Hopkins clan thank you for our Catherine and for being so supportive. Brothers Jim and Don howdy guy. Boatyard Alan TY! Of course Chrissy and Dick for Lively lady II and our visits on Brown Island. Hasse and crew, Christian and BToss, and the entire Blackline Gang - great jobs. We appreciate all the TLC and CC berth. Peter J. this is your vessel. I cannot recount the umpteen projects your skilled hands have done and the good times we've had aboard. APM community - Diane, Howard, Merle and Karie. It was secure and fun to be part of your neighbourhood. TY. CRH - thanks guys for the work and time with you expecially David and bev, Richard and Carole.

There, sorry for the oversights no doubt.

We are now calculating our expected first landfall in less than one week.

It's been a boisterous few days pounding south into these 2 mtr SE swells... everything is wet and sticky with all hatches and portholes are closed protection from the perpetual spray, We keep hoping for a lift (backing breeze) but not looking hopeful. We got an extra 5-10 kts of SE wind last night which forced us to turn down and reach a touch SW but at 7 kts its was a wild ride nevertheless and we will likely need to throw in a tack back East to 137 degrees West for our final approach to Hiva Oa. Calm will be nice.

The flying fish are everywhere... red-tailed Tropicbirds, Storm Petrels, Shearwaters are our little buddies.

That's about it for today. Thanks to all readers for suffering through my thanks.

Yours

Co-cap Billy