On the move!

And before sunset!!
We were getting off the dock around 1500. 
The retreiving the anchor took us some effort and assistance. 
But Yay! We got it clear before the fuel dock closed at 1600!!
Almost got in trouble crossing by the airport, but we managed to get an English-speaking port controller to clear us. 
About to set some sail, and make some tracks! 
(Finally!!!)
Love and light
Fair winds and following seas!!
~e.

Contact & follow us

Our ais (via satphone emails) will drop breadcrumbs and you can follow our progress on this site:

https://www.noforeignland.com/boat/6211132538748928

Notes of encouragement (and other correspondence) can be sent 
via text to the Sat Phone
 808-353-0126
Or via email:
hiva_oa@myiridium.net


Soooo ready to set sail,
Love & light
~e.

Still trying...

Customs? Check!
Immigration? Check!
Bills paid? All but one, Eric is still working... he's on the leaky oil-line job... the repair didn't work. Now he's building a new one?! ((Whimper))
Rigging? Checked.
Hatches? Secured.
Radio check? Meh... hand held works better than the ship-to-shore... so Jeff is occupied with cleaning connections and wiring improvements.

Hoping to get off the dock before 3... (It's 1030 now)

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Sunday, May 30 - Day 26

The weather system from the South blew in Saturday afternoon...
It has been SO HARD to sit here, tied up, when we could have been making tracks.
Aaargh!
But it is, what it is.
Deep breaths.

The diesel mechanic is our least favorite person this weekend. He stopped by for 15 minutes early afternoon on Friday to replace the Injectors and bleed the air. So, Thanks. The engine starts again. Cool. And he declares that there is some blow-by on the Injectors just installed and he'll come back on Monday. What the?! WHAT?!

I spent the next two hours watching the reef fish that live on the coral that's growing on the dock. Very Zen.
Jeff struggled not to loose his cool in his own way.

So... that nice strong South wind blew in, and caused a bit of drama around the marina.
We think we actually slipped our bow moorings... we cannot otherwise account for the 12-18 feet of line we took up on the marina's bow lines.
We actually ran the engines to ensure our stern would stay off the dock. Crazy. Jeff was so pissed.
We remained vigilant and adjusted lines throughout the night whenever the wind intensified enough to wake us.

After running the engines last night, we began an intensive search for possible oil leaks this morning. And found one... a weird little pipe that corroded and needs to be re-"brazed"
Can we get it repaired- immediately?
Hoping so!
Que Será, será.
Love & light,
~e.

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.

Days 12 & 13. Sailing to Tahiti

I think I mentioned that we estimated 25-30 hours... yeah. We were way off. We had some flukey winds as part of an all up-wind sail, plus a couple exercises that took some time.  So ... we did not make it to Tahiti before sunset.    Which was a bit of a disappointment.   We chose to manage the many inherent risks of boating in an unknown place in the dark... narrow channels, unknown anchorages, and a strange tie up at a marina where everyone has already gone home for the day.  ... Nah... we'll just low-key drift around until sun rise.  LOL

The night sky & tropical breezes, the pretty lights along the shore... it's pretty good. And much better than whatever anxiety ridden close calls or accidents we might have had doing tight maneuvers in the dark. 

Yesterday afternoon we had a close call when the main sail halyard  almost split completely! Luckily the core of the line held, and we were able to take the sail down, and run a new halyard  and re-hoist the sail... all before night fall. 

 The new halyard is very slippery and we've had some trouble with it slipping the various "clutches". But we can adapt for now, and add it to the work scope to make some adjustments in port.

This prescription scopalamine patch, has been great! I'm very grateful to not feel yucky during all these rough hours, bouncing around on these waves. I'm still enjoying my ginger candies and sharing the love with Torsten.  

Did I mention how great it is to have him on the boat with us? He's a great mechanic, a good story-teller, he knows lots of interesting & even relevant things! He has helped with so many projects,  he's cautious and capable, and is really good company. The whole package! We feel so blessed!!

Love and light.

~e.

Our First Overnight

And we are all here at sunrise, a little sleepy, but doing fine. 

Recap of yesterday (Day 12)

Most of yesterday was beautiful. 

We even enjoyed a delightful rainbow, and some light, not cold (!) Rain.

But in the late afternoon, the main halyard partially failed when the red sheathing just parted from itself at the cleat on the mast. Luckily, the core of the line stayed in tact. 

With some fast ugly whipping, we kept it from getting much worse, and we were able to lower the sail. And replace the halyard. ... at least the boat is stocked with supplies & extras.  And luckily, we were able to complete this exercise before it got dark. Whoop! 

We put up our smaller amount of sail for night sailing, set the auto helm to steer to the wind. And passed a mostly uneventful night. 

This morning (Monday, 5/17: Day 13)

We can see Moorea, and Tahiti is just on the other side. With a little luck we    will  arrive before noon. 

Or maybe not... whatever.   We have confirmed with the harbor master that there is a space for us. 

Love and Light,

~e.

Sailing! (Day 12)

We are a couple hours out from the barrier reefs surrounding Raiatea and Ta'a; having embarked on our fist overnight sail.

We had a good early start with minor obstacles that were quickly overcome. 

15-20 knots of wind. Heading about 40° off the wind. Running 8-9 knots (speed over ground).  Feels pretty good! ... still getting accustomed to the movement of the big multi-hull, but I think we will! 

Raiatea - again. May 9-15

I think I left off with our frustrating last day in Bora Bora. 

13 May - Day 9

We left the mooring yard at about 9:00. 

We saw a pod of small dolphin on our way out. I always see them as a good omen and was happy to see them early on that day.   The boat sailed very well and the second hand Main Sail with one reef in and our smaller stay sail in about 20 kt of breeze.  And we arrived back at Raiatea at about 3:00 pm.  We had every possible contingency plan prepared and in our pocket if we lost and engine or steering or any other weirdness!  But we cruised right in... Jeff handled the boat very well!!! Torsten and I got lines on and we successfully did the thing!! LOL

Thursday was a French catholic holiday, so not much was going on in the boat yard. And there was a regatta happening around the island which occupied most of the local professionals.  LOL

Friday, May 14 

Not much assistance available to us, but we got a few helpful tips from professionals via text. 

One of which may have mostly solved our steering issue with the starboard rudder drifting out of alignment... fingers crossed!!! We'll test it out tomorrow.  

We (mostly Torsten) made some real progress on the generator mess. Apparently it swallowed one of the blades off the cooling water pump impeller. SONOFAB$$$  

...and still trying to solve what we believe is an issue with air in the fuel line. 

Decided to get the new sail modified with new, smaller-diameter luff rope in Papeete. 

And we discovered that Percy couldn't stay with his awesome foster family. Apparently his vocalizations were giving their little dog horrendous anxiety.  What a bummer! But our dear generous friends Patrick, Yvonne & Leilani welcomed him to their home in Ewa Beach. He even has his own YouTube channel now! 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZn4Zz9pfmGPkJzp-fpDM1hiJief8Y20V

Saturday, May 15th

This was our original target departure date. Oh well. C'est la vie. 

The generator runs again! Thanks to many many hours of Torsten's labor in the "hobbit hole"

Jeff re worked the way the new rudder bearings & stock were landed took care of a fair amount of wobble... so that should also help the steering situation.  

Replaced a couple of lines, and cleaned the seals on all the hatches, put in some significant effort to cleaning the engine rooms. (Man, these engine rooms have been neglected!)  I should have taken "before" pictures. ... I always forget that. LOL.

We head out sailing tomorrow- early morning.  And are planning on the trip taking 25-30 hours... as it is nearly 100% upwind sailing for the 130 miles. 

Love & Light 

~e.

Day 8

Thanks for the prayers.
We are all safe and well.
The new main sail sails very well. We saw porpoises on our way out of Bora Bora! I always think it's a good omen. :)

The boat... meh. It's giving us some trouble. We came back to the boat yard on Raiatea. Will learn more about the scope and timeline tomorrow. (Fingers crossed)

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Aaackkk!!

Still on the mooring in Bora Bora. It's still hot & beautiful here. So we've got that going for us. LOL

The generator and steering system are still being problematic.

At one point this morning we tried hoisting the beautiful new jib sail we ordered last fall. The luff rope doesn't fit in the fore-stay channel. (ie. We can't hoist the sail.) So that totally blows. We intend to go back to Raiatea AGAIN and ask the sailmakers to re-make our brand new sail. Grr.

These are some significant obstacles, but we try to stay positive and solution oriented. We are safe and comfortable (if sweaty) and friendly to each other. The avocados are huge and very tasty. The bananas and papayas are delicious. I made the first loaves of boat-bread in our funky little gas oven.
It's Fine. We're Fine. Everything is going to be Fine. ;)


Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Tuesday/ Wednesday morning

Yesterday was a frustrating workday trying to get the generator and steering in consistent & excellent functionality.
At least it's beautiful here.
We are going to try sailing again today.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Beautiful Polynesian sunset

Good morning. Day 6. Monday. 

The picture is of Hiva Oa from the dingy yesterday evening. 

I'd say we are pretty dang blessed. Many thanks to everybody out there praying for us. We are surrounded by your prayers on angel wings! 

I'm going to switch over from my google-based phone & email to the Iridium/satellite phone. Please send any messages to these addresses:

Text: 808-353-0126

Email: hiva_oa@myiridium.net

LOVE AND LIGHT!

Fwd: Arrived Bora Bora

Everything went well!  

A beautiful day for a sail (no lightening.. not even any rain... not like last time. LOL)

Torsten's face aches from grinning so hard all day. 

We will probably take the dingy to shore and eat at a restaurant to night. 

Sunday, 6 May (Day 5)

Day 4 was another productive work day:

Dingy fully functional. 

Sails rigged.

Bilge pumps fixed and tested. 

Anchor Windlass fixed and tested.

More stores & provisions brought on & stored. 

Radar tested.

And more, I'm sure... 

This morning we had a hearty breakfast of potatoes & eggs and papaya. And started getting ready to leave the dock!!

clearing shore power and water, taking ashore our rubbish,

Securing the dingy

Securing the decks and hatches 

Checking instruments 

Checking the steering AGAIN!

Checking the weather. 

And finally leaving the dock before 9 am. 

Currently, we are tied up at the fuel dock in town with nearly fuel tanks of hopefully excellelent quality fuel..   The guys went to do what may or may not be our final shopping trip. (Probably not, we intend to go to the island of Tahiti, city Papete, for last port)

And we pulled off the dock without incident in a nice 10 kn headwind about 1045 am

 Bora Bora bound!!!

Day 2-3 @ the Marina on Raiatea.

She floats! 

The engines run! 

The rudders & steering system work (so far).

We have a main sail.

Things are looking good.

We splashed the boat before midday on day 2 and now sit at the dock in the marina. The launch went smoothly, Jeff drove well, we had coaching and line handling assistance from the workers. 

In the afternoon on day 2 Jeff and the local sailmaker, Henrique, went over to the sail loft at the nearby "moorings" charter facility to sort through their inventory of used and damaged sails for something suitable. And they found one! It's a pretty good fit. The sailmaker made whatever necessary repairs and modifications, and rigged it up today (day 3). 

Meanwhile, Jeff has been spending way too many hours working on the 20hp Honda outboard for the dingy, with little success and less enjoyment. Torsten and I have been chipping away at provisioning and the high priority work scope. 

It is now our intention to put in one more work day and then set sail Sunday morning for nearby Bora Bora. 

The island, the water, the sky are all beautiful.  The night sky is stunning.. I am really looking forward to the night sky at sea. And hopefully doing some snorkeling in the near future. 

La Orana! Aloha!

We made it! The 207 point return plan worked!  LOL

The days of travel, while not grueling, did at times seem interminable.  We triumphed over all the obstacles in our path. (... so far.)  Some of the hurdles were bureaucratic, some were expensive,  some were painful; like saying goodbye, or like nasal swabs. (Cringe)

We met up with our wonderful crew mate, Torsten, in Los Angeles. And spent some of those endless waiting hours talking story and getting better acquainted.  

Upon arrival at the boat yard in Raiatea, we were pleased to see the new rudders, but a tad disappointed at how easy it was to see them... we had hoped that they would have splashed the boat before we arrived. However, she still sits "on the hard." We were also very disappointed to find that they had not removed, inspected, repaired, rerigged the Main Sail as we had asked.  That's going to cost us some time. But we like to believe that "everything happens for a reason" so we will just take these obstacles in stride like the others.

It is awfully nice to be back in Fr. Polynesia and onboard our Hiva Oa. 

Pura Vida! as they say in Costa Rica.