Aaarrgh.

No wonder that's the noise pirates are known for... I've said that way more times than I ever expected to (which, tbh, was about zero).
If it's not one thing, it's four. 
Aaargh!
As usual, I exaggerate. But...
(#1) we did not clear customs this morning & we are not setting sail on a promising South wind this weekend.
(#2) Our new sail still doesn't fit right and needs *another* (!!!) modification. However, the local sailmaker, Sebastien, is wonderful, and came out to the boat early this morning.
(#3) it's like a thousand f-ing degrees in this marina.
(#4) we still haven't tested (...or even finished diagnostic testing) the starboard engine.  A week later!!!!
Aaargh!!

Marina Life

Facts about our location.
We are staying on the northeast side of the island of Tahiti, south of the main sea port and south of the airport.  We are on the outermost southern dock of Marina Taina in an area named Punaauia.
We are docked with our aft to the dock and our bow facing the channel. We spend our evenings on the bow, our view is inspiring! 
Across the narrow navigation channel is an anchorage full of sailboats, beyond that the flat water of the barrier reef and the rolling, breaking surf outside, and then in the near distance, spectacular Moorea, misty shores, soaring mountains, cloud-wreathed peaks. And beyond that the sun sets and the southern stars begin to shine through the darkening blue-violet-black.
 
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Day 22

We've been here for 3 weeks.

Much longer than we had hoped.

Still held up by the same 3 issues: Steering, Engines, Sails.

To be fair, the sails thing is pretty much resolved, the second hand Main is more than adequate. And the new jib should be altered and back on the boat later today... (I must have mentioned that it was originally sewn with a luff rope that was too big for the track on the forestay, and new luff rope was flown in with somebody else's new sail.)

The drifting rudder problem: we *believe* that we finally narrowed down the root cause to an old ball valve, where the "stopper" for the closed position had rusted off and we had likely been "over-closing" (so that it was actually a little bit open & oil was leaking by on the far side). Unfortunately, that valve couldn't be removed; the fittings were all totally seized. So we had great lengths of the hydraulic hoses (they reaching all the across the width of the boat to connect the 2 rudders) removed and a number of fittings and valves replaced.
Infuriatingly, they didn't fit together & seal... so we sent them back!! All with language and culture barriers for extra fun.
The hoses and valves and cylinders and pumps are all reconnected in their proper configuration, holding oil, and we spend a bit of time everyday working any air bubbles out... Air in the system is more compressible than the oil.. and acts like a spring and makes the rudders less responsive and less predictable. So we work to get the bubbles out...
But we won't know until we are underway, and there is real and constant pressure on the rudders, if we've actually solved the drift issue. Sigh.

Starboard engine was misbehaving on our early days & on the way here. Weird noises. Missing oil, some leaked, some burnt. Failing to start. A little bit of everything to make it really difficult to diagnose. And while we had a mechanic here working on diagnostics, the starter failed. O.M.G. So we sent both starter motors out to be rebuilt. And we sit here over weekends and random holidays puzzling over what could be wrong with the engine.
The working theory is that long ago, the exhaust was configured differently, and that salt water got in that way, and made a mess of the turbo, the valves, the seals, & pistons, etc. But that the engine has mostly adjusted to this but has some integral imperfections.
Jeff currently believes that a piston ring became stuck. Leaked a bunch of oil. Became unstuck, and runs fine again now.
Tell me this isn't maddening! Good grief.

Even so...
We've filed our exit request papers, and hope to have departure clearance as of Friday.
Current wind/weather forecasts have favorable conditions early Sunday morning.

For now, deep breaths and lots of hydration.

Happy Birthday Torsten

Tuesday we celebrated Torsten's birthday.   

Went out for dinner at Casa Bianca for Italian Polynesian cuisine.

Sigh

It's been days since I've updated but nothing much has happened. We are still in the marina waiting for parts and hoping they fit/work.
It's been a bummer, mostly. A hot sweaty bummer. But we try to keep our spirits up and accomplish other repair/improvement tasks.
Torsten is excellent company and an enormous help! We feel so blessed to share this adventure with him.
Anyway. Things are progressing, on island time, and we are watching for favorable weather this Saturday/Sunday.
Wish us luck.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

2 weeks...

We arrived in French Polynesia two weeks ago, yesterday.
We are all getting a little whiney about these persistent obstacles of the hydraulic steering system and the starboard diesel engine.
Oh! And the second-hand mainsail. Grr.

We have a diesel mechanic [Eric the Red - Don't call him that!] and a sail maker both with excellent reputations. And we found a decent hydraulics shop.

And the generator runs great.
And the water maker works well.
We have cold storage, shore power & water, and access to a laundromat.
Things aren't terrible, but we are all ready to be on our way home to our loved ones.

~e.

Day 14 - Tuesday 18 May

The pass through the barrier reef was very narrow, not terribly deep and whirling with strong currents. I can't imagine doing it for the first time in the dark. Ugh. As we motored up the channel we saw dozens and dozens of boats at anchor... don't want to think about that in the dark either. Nope. Nope. Nope.  It was definitely the right decision to stay out over night!

This marina is really nice, clean, well organized,  in good condition 

.. and FULL!  

 We waited until 0800 when we had support & got tucked into a slip no problem.  We were all a little confused about the "Mediterranean style tie" where you drop the anchor a ways out in front of the slip and then back up to the dock. Then a diver goes down to ties bow lines to a couple moorings... But it worked.  So that's fine.

It's HOT!  I was not expecting it to be so much hotter! But I guess we are sheltered from any breezes, and the sun shines so intensely brightly. 

We  were introduced to a sailmaker who will put a new luff rope on our sail in the next day or so. 

We have a couple leads on a diesel mechanic, but nothing "real" today. 

We will run some errands and fuss with some other fix-it tasks, hopefully we can be done here by the weekend?!

~e.