Nikita

New Zealand

2010-11-17T18:23:00.001Z

I need to get one thing off my chest ... to fellow cruisers planning their South Pacific voyage: New Zealand is NO longer an inexpensive place to have boat work done. There are long faces everywhere from this years cruising group. Not sure if it is inflation, exchange rates or just too much demand. Some of the costs come in weird ways and are unavoidable - like having your electrical system certified (100,if you pass otherwise double) propane tanks certified (40, yes even brand new ones if they are not NZ). Lots of mark ups on all parts etc - a guy needing to replace his engine got a quote with a 2,500 mark up over the U.S. or U.K. - now shipping might be a tiny portion of this but taxes are not as you buy everything tax free as a foreign boater in NZ.

Fortunately, we had lots of cosmetic things but nothing major, we are definitely re prioritizing our work list though.

The adjustment to NZ has been difficult, the relief of safely making it through all the passages, the uncertainty of what you will do with yourself now that the schedule is blank for 6 months, and the cold..... we are freezing. We are also looking forward to the holidays with family back in WA State so a bit distracted and excited.

We have decided to buy a car and go camping as our way of touring NZ, that way we are sure we can get down to the South Island, which otherwise would be a 2,400 mile round trip sail. Used cars are very inexpensive though you are picking up a beater for sure. Ours is a Ford Taurus, wagon, 1996, with 80,000 miles, though clean on the inside for 2,700.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

To New Zealand

2010-11-08T23:45:00.000Z

We left this past Monday for our last South Pacific leg of this cruising season. A trip of about 1,100 miles from Tonga, so expected 7-10 days. This is passage is notorious for bad weather and the problems always occur near to New Zealand so therefore difficult to depart Tonga with a reliable weather forecast.

We are now on Sunday, 67 miles to go and have had a good passage overall. The first three days were typical trade wind sailing with us running a SSW course across the winds to it was boisterous. We then ran into the high pressure system and horse latitudes where winds are usually light. They were for us and we pushed ahead under motor, our goal to get south of 30s before a strong low moved through.

Usually the lows move south of 35-40s so if one is to pass your course you slow down, because it will invariably have gale force winds a very rough seas. This one though was running well north so we hustled and did make 32s, avoiding the low and the worst of the weather. We did have to go through the associated cold front and got 20 knots of wind on the nose thus pushing us backwards for about 12 hours, but managed that well.

So the last few hours of our trip, weather is very clear, we are motoring in calm winds, and hope that it stays that way. Oh ya and it is cold...... we are all in winter wear.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Canadian Thanksgiving - Written by the s/v Artemo

2010-10-22T22:58:00.000Z

Thanksgiving day started off like any other cruising Thanksgiving in the beautiful shelter of a Tongan anchorage. We had made plans that we would have dinner on the beach with everyone in the anchorage since one boat could not hold 40 people. The kids all went to the beach and we played for a while.

At the beach we started to get bitten. The mosquitos here have Dengue Fever, so there is a chance of disease. We were marooned on the island with two kayaks since the dinghy had been taken back by the adults on Tyee. They had brought the kayaks there and left on the dinghy. They told us if we hollered loud enough they would come and get us. At this point we were getting frantic about the mosquitos, so I jumped in the kayak to go and grab a dinghy to collect everyone. Jake a 7 year old from Nikita jumped on the back. Just as we pushed off the kids on the beach got a hold of my mom (Julie) and she came to the beach to carry everyone back to their boats.

The idea of having dinner on the beach was crossed off. Simpatica had just came back from the main town and anchored and they dropped their dinghy in the water and came over to Artemo. They had heard that the beach had mosquitos and Captain Louis was looking for a new plan. He had heard that our friends on another kid boat called Stray Kitty were coming in so as quick as a flash Louis was downstairs on Artemo radioing Stray Kitty to tell them that they were rafting up to Simpatica and Artemo would raft up to them. Captain Chris on Stray Kitty thought this was a fine plan. We aren't sure he realized though at this point that he was agreeing to hosting the party!

Artemo and Simpatica had both their anchors out to relatively the same distance so they were parallel to each other. The theory was that Stray Kitty would tie up to Simpatica and then two powerful dinghy's would push Artemo up to Stray Kitty to tie on. After all was said and done it turned out pretty well. The end result was two multi-hull boats tied up to Artemo a mono hull.

As the night progressed Artemo presented itself as the boy boat because we had the Wii. Simpatica the other outside boat was the girls boat and the middle boat Stray Kitty was the party boat. Lucie on Tyee had cooked a delicious turkey and Christine on Stray Kitty had made pumpkin pie. Everything you would expect at a Thanksgiving dinner was on the table which in this lifestyle is surprising since comfort food from home is hard to find. During the nights conversations you could hear, "...that was my last jar of something or other".

As the night went on the girls made a show which included a number of Taylor Swift songs and a song Amelia made up awhile ago. Simi on Tyee even got up and sang "Skater Boy", much to Captain Louis's chagrin because he said he would get up and dance if Simi sang. The next song he got up and danced with Kerry who is around 6 and it was hilarious.

As the night went on more beers were downed and the party started getting pretty funny. Later that night I learned how single malt whiskey is made and what chasers are and how to serve beer, which by the way is drinking the first couple sips! (thanks for the lesson Captain Dave)

Everyone started to leave before the rain started and when it started to rain it filled the dinghy's to the brim which is a lot of water. The morning after Captain Louis organized a boat cleaning party and we scrubbed Stray Kitty till it was spick and span and generally wasted a ton of water.

We disbanded from our rafted up formation and later that day I thought to myself that this Thanksgiving might just tie with my Auntie Theresa's Thanksgiving.

BY:(well i hoped you guessed it) Alex Perry

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Ha' Apai

2010-10-19T22:01:00.000Z

We have spent the last week in the Ha' Apai group in Tonga. This group of islands lies between Vavau and Tongatapu, is lightly populated and rarely visited. There are numerous reefs and shoal areas with average charting of such. The anchorages are all exposed to one or more directions and the islands principally low lying atolls.

The snorkeling, beach combing, fishing and whale watching have all been superb. Last night we had whales in the harbor with us, swimming within 300 feet of the boat. Most of the anchorages we have shared with only one other boat and most of the anchorages have been off of uninhabited islands. The coral has been the most lively in memory with very little algae growth or other damage. The fish life has been good, with lots of pelagics and several reef fish, though the reef fish are heavily fished by the locals so tend to be on the smaller side.

Our next stop will take us to Tongatapu where we will stage for our trip to New Zealand.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Whales Redux

2010-10-12T08:54:00.000Z

Hmmm, well that blog post was a little early. No more than an hour later, we were off for a snorkel in the dinghy when we came across a female (mom) and baby humpback. They were playing a little, coming up out of the water, but as we approached began to swim. I jumped in the water but could not keep up with them and then they dived. We waited and they surfaced again, we moved closer and Jake and I got in and began to swim with the whales, this time they let us approach and the baby came over to our side to have a look. Rae Ann got in a bit later, though they were swimming away and got a good glimpse as well. We then proceeded to our snorkel spot......

After our snorkel we get back in the dinghy and all of sudden the mom is completely out of the water splashing down with a huge slap. The baby follows, they put on a 20 minute show of breaches and fluke waving before diving again.

We were still back in time for lunch.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Whales

2010-10-11T07:55:00.000Z

We have a great couple of weeks in the Vavau group. It is currently humpback whale mating and calfing season. We have been able to see several sets of whales, some from afar and others up quite close. Amazing animals.

We have also met a boat that carries their own dive compressor, and they have kids..., so we have been having a blast diving and playing. I saw my first set of clown fish, pretty cool after watching Finding Nemo 400 times.

Slowly all the boats are now starting to head south with the official start of the NZ crossing season being October 15, we will plan for an early November trip. Hard to imagine that our cruising season will actually be coming to an end as we reach NZ.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

The Big Race

2010-09-27T12:12:00.000Z

We arrived in Vavau just as the annual regatta started. While we were unprepared to participate in the around buoy race, we did get our act together for destination race. The race course was about 12 miles in length and contained downwind, beam and upwind legs. We got Nikita in here most sleek condition, but that still including the dinghy on deck etc... not much of a classical race look. But this was our first official race in Nikita so we were excited.

The race started with about 40 boats ranging from 30 feet to 60 feet, monohulls and multihulls. Nikita got a good start, about 30 seconds off the line, others were better. We quickly closed on the first bottle neck of the course a narrow point leading out of Neiafu harbor, we had about 5 boats within beer passing distance as we rounded the mark. With some quick work including using the deck to stop the free fall of the pole, we got our genoa polled out and ran wing and wing downwind, quickly separating from all but the boats flying spinnakers. Rounding the next island 4 miles later, we came up on a beam reach quickly unpolling the genoa, we then gained on the spinnaker boats whom slowed down getting their spinnaker down. We raced along in 5th place at that point separating from the pack on a strong beam reach. Through the next bottle neck we came up hard on the wind, side by side with the 4th place boat, a 50 footer, we crossed behind them nearly putting our anchor in their davit hung dinghy. We fell slightly back and worked hard, rail in the water down to the pass and the final turn.

At the final turn we tacked in behind the 3rd place boat hoping we could hold a very tight angle. The 4th place boat held for a later turn. We shot ahead crossed through the reef lined pass and headed for the finish line 3 miles away.... in 4th place and we held that all the way beating the 5th place boat by 100 feet. Great fun, close racing. The first and second place boats were all 50+ monos, the third place boat a 42 foot Jboat, and then 40 foot Nikita. The multis finished behind, as well as several, probably 10 50+ monos... a great showing for Nikita.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Tonga

2010-09-25T15:23:00.000Z

We had a fairly easy 48 hour sail from American Samoa to the Vavau group in Tonga. We arrived in the middle of Regatta Week here, so immediately were thrown into the festivities including a kids day and a yacht race. Unfortunately, the pub crawl was the previous night, though there is a full moon party over the weekend.

We lost a day on the way here, basically getting very little of Thursday before crossing the date line. All the better as what little we had was pretty squally with a mean SSW swell to bash into - glad it was Friday three hours later.

The cruising fleet has basically split in two, with most of the Australian bound boats off towards Fiji and beyond, with many miles left to go. While the New Zealand bound boats are now in Tonga with one large passage left to complete by mid November or so, thus plenty of time to enjoy Tonga.

Isabelle has had trouble on the last two passages getting sea sick as we departed on both occasions. Each time she very pitifully asks to go home/buy a house.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Leaving Samoa

2010-09-21T05:13:00.000Z

It is a sad day for Nikita. We will be leaving Samoa on Tuesday, bound for Tonga. This time though s/v Broken Compass (Chad and Bret) and s/v Liquid Courage (Don and Devin) will be going separate ways. We have developed very special friendships with all four of them, based on our mutual lover for snorkeling, card games and beer. The kids as well got along well so it is a sad day, lots of miles covered together - about 4,500 all together. Fair winds and following seas boys.

American Samoa has been great, we got our refrigeration repaired, provisioned the boat very cheaply, did some hiking and ...... visited Tisas Barefoot Bar, a dangerous haunt 15 years ago, is still the same in a gorgeous setting on the beach with cold beer, fabulous food and great people.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Return to American Samoa

2010-09-12T17:45:00.000Z

About 14 years ago, I used to travel annually to American Samoa to audit the local power company, spending about 6 weeks a year here. I have many fond memories, including the great house we used sitting on beach, which because the Samoan's thought it was haunted did not want it. Well we drove by and as it was no longer being used by the audit firm it has since sat abandoned. The Samoan's are very superstitious people.

The trip to Samoa from Suvarov was miserable, repayment I guess for having so much fun in Suvarov. We had high winds (30+ knots for 18 hours) and very confused seas, reaching as high as 15 feet. Basically, any activity other sitting or laying down AND holding on was out of the question. The galley served up cereal or ramen noodles. A tough 3 days, Isabelle announced that we are selling Nikita in New Zealand and buying a house.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Night Fishing

2010-09-03T05:46:00.000Z

Still in Survarov, not sure when or if we ever want to leave. The other night we went out lobster hunting which requires a low tide, night and no moon. We had the perfect conditions and went out on the reef at about 30 minutes before sundown. After the sun set, with a green flash no less, we started to walk the 3 miles to where we could get picked up by the boats a taken back to the yacht anchorage.

Jake and I went, finding an octopus that eventually escaped by inking us, several eels, many small fish, crabs and birds. About an hour after nightfall the fun stuff came out, 3-4 pound parrot fish and grouper were then found sleeping just off the edge of the ocean under ledges in the reef. We used a hand spear, stood over them and with a swift down thrust got 7 fish. The lobster, though in similar areas, where much harder to find and we only caught one. Though others in a different part of the reef picked up several.

We finally met with the rest of the group (about 16 people in all went) after a long hike at about 10 pm and got back at about 11, still needing to clean the fish and lobster. A very fun and exhausting night.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Suvarov

2010-08-30T18:09:00.000Z

What a magical place. A short list of adventures:
- whales in the lagoon
- coconut crab hunting
- spear fishing
- trolling
- bonfires and beach bbq's
- snorkeling on the many lagoon reefs - water clarity is to 100 feet
- refurbishment of Tom Neale's coral wharf

Add to that two great park rangers, James and Apii, who are both great hosts and fun people, plus on average about 15 cruising boats with fun loving people. The topper for Jake and Isabelle has been, at the peak, 13 kids ranging from 4 to 13 years of age, leading to great games of capture the flag until 11 pm at night under a full moon.

It will be very difficult to leave, basically running out of fresh produce will one day force our hand........

Rae and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on Sunday as well. Hmm not sure we can top this one.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Suvarov Arrival

2010-08-23T04:35:00.000Z

After a long 14 hours of being hove to, we entered the pass to the atoll of Suvarov at 7:30 am this morning anchoring behind the western side islet. Overall it was a reasonable passage with about the right amount of wind and ok seas. We made a tactical mistake not motoring on Friday night when winds were light and thus messed up the timing of our arrival. Being hove to was not ideal for Nikita and a fair amount of work so we are tired.

Suvarov is part of the Cook islands of which there 15 small islands totaling 93 square miles of land spread over 750,000 square miles in the South Pacific. Basically, you pick one or max two of the Cook islands in the northern or southern group and have to miss the others, just to much sea in between and bad wind angles.

Suvarov is a deserted atoll with two park rangers on sight during the winter months to meet cruising boats and collect a park fee. The island was made famous by Tom Neale a New Zealander who lived on the atoll for a number of years as a hermit, ultimately penning the book, An Island to Oneself.

We have a shark circling our boat right now, seems very interested in Isabelle.

The Crew of Niktia

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 5

2010-08-22T05:12:00.000Z

Well we made it. Sort of. We are hove to about 12 miles off the island. The winds died away last night so we went very slowly resulting in too late of arrival today to safely navigate the coral into the atoll.... so that is for tomorrow morning. Position 13.15s 162.53w

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 4

2010-08-21T05:30:00.001Z

Well we had a good night with a glorious moon set in the early hours. The winds have died away and shifted to the ESE which puts us dead down wind and slow going. Probably means we will not make it to the anchorage before nightfall tomorrow, unless we turn on the engine..... stay tuned.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 3

2010-08-20T04:37:00.000Z

We had a difficult night. First a wind shift of 50 degrees required us to jibe the boat, and with main prevented and jib to windward on the pole we had much work de rigging, switching sides and setting everything back up. I then had a couple of squalls with rain and 30 knots of wind... usually I reserve those for Rae Ann. Today has been a bit calmer with less wind and seas so we have been catching up on our rest. Position 14.53s 158.00w.

The Tired Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 2 - Suvorov

2010-08-19T04:35:00.000Z

Well it must be a passage for Nikita, as we have 20 knots of wind and 8 foot seas..... hmm, well at least we are making good time. A little to rolly but otherwise all is well. Position 15.26s 155.30w.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Leaving Bora Bora

2010-08-18T05:17:00.001Z

We have departed and are en route to Suvorov in the Northern Cooks. Conditions are favorable with 15 knot winds and 7 foot seas, we expect similar conditions for the entire trip. Position 16.07S 152.57W.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

A Way A Birthday Should Be

2010-08-17T16:39:00.000Z

Well I turned a young 38 on Sunday. The day was rung in Saturday late night over too many beers, a BBQ at the Bora Bora Yacht Club and cards. We then took a convoy of dinghies around to the east side of the island to find the elusive manta rays. We had the tides right and manta rays were in feeding, one with about an 8 foot wing span. We then came back to the west side of the island and went out the pass into the ocean to look for sharks. One of the guys with us speared a puffer fish to chum with. We were rewarded with 5 very large bull sharks and 14 smaller black tip reef sharks. Though none of them ate the puffer, we wonder.... do they know it is poisonous as well??

Back to the boat for rest, cake and some reading on my birthday gift, a Kindle.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Bora Bora

2010-08-15T02:12:00.000Z

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We had hauled about 10 days ago to apply new bottom paint as we were getting much marine growth. This was our first time living on the boat well in the boat yard so we were expecting the worst but found it to be a rather easy few days. The work, done at the CNI yard in Raiatea, went very quickly with the yard providing some help on some tasks. The kids did great climbing up and down the ladder to use the facilities. Jake got into the hull waxing thinking it was a great "treat" to be up on the scaffolding 8 feet off the ground with his dad.

After getting back in the water we sailed over to Bora Bora. I hiked the mountain, and if memory serves the first peak I have ever been to the summit of, a grueling 5 hours but well work it. We have been snorkeling on various parts of the reef and lagoon and Jake has been knee boarding until his arms nearly fell off. Other than the cruisers everyone else in Bora Bora is on their honeymoon, which makes for a interesting contrast in the bars and restaurants.

We will likely leave French Polynesia in the coming week, weather permitting, heading towards the central south Pacific, and the widely spread Cook Islands.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Raiatea & Tahaa

2010-07-29T23:56:00.000Z

We left our very comfortable anchorage in Moorea, sailing overnight to Raiatea & Tahaa, which are two islands that share the same protective reef. The sail was about average, with good winds but lumpy seas. We arrived to the SE pass of Raiatea and entered the lagoon having a beautiful sail through the lagoon with only our Genoa out. The lagoon is very deep with about 100 feet in between the reef and the islands. Rae made a great breakfast and we drifted along looking at several quaint villages nestled along side ruins of what was once the cultural center of Polynesia.

We are scheduled to haul out Nikita on Monday to apply new anti fouling, which is desperately needed. So we will hang around these islands for a week or so before moving onto Bora Bora.

A near disaster - I was running back and forth bringing some additional toys to the beach when someone swam out from a boat across the anchorage in front of me. I quickly decreased speed, not really close to the swimmer.... but the outboard engine flew off the transom. I had not tightened down engine clamps. In a somewhat surreal event I caught the engine in mid air, stopped the engine and secured the engine with out issue. We are in 100 foot water here so retrieving the engine would have been very difficult and ultimately not much would have been salvageable.

Jake has lost both his front teeth, he looks very different.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Beautiful Moorea

2010-07-24T21:06:00.000Z

We have been anchored in Oponohu bay Moorea for the past several days. The bay use to be home to a large Maori village, the ruins of which are preserved in the higher parts of the valley. We took a long hike one day, about 6 miles round trip which earned the ire of the crew towards the captain. However, the views and the forest, particularly all of the different tree types including pines, banyans and some sort of canopy tree that looked like it would be at home in Africa.

Yesterday we took the dinghy down to the western corner of the island where there are a couple of motus and an area where you can snorkel with sting rays and sharks. The sting rays come right up to you, attempting to brush against you in a search for food.

We have caught up a couple of boat projects, including repairing the wind generator and replacing the foot switches for the anchor windlass. Jake has completed first grade to school is in summer break mode for a while.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Photo Albums

2010-07-23T17:59:00.001Z

Three new links for photo albums have been added 1) Galapagos, 2) Marqueses, 3) Tuamotus - look to the right hand side of the blog. Haaa the wonders of a good internet connection. Enjoy!

Tahiti

2010-07-22T16:53:00.001Z

We spent a very busy 8 days in Tahiti, mostly re provisioning the boat with food stuffs. We received a handful of parts, arranged a haul out for Raiatea (need new anti fouling) ate several meals in restaurants and caught up on the world via the internet. All in all very productive. We had been warned that Tahiti is very expensive. We did not find this the case noting prices on par with the Eastern Caribbean. Though you do spend alot of money because you are catching up on so many things given that the last 4 months were spent in such isolated areas. One however and that was eating out was very expensive.

The anchorages in Tahiti were marvelous, very protected and calm with crystal clear water. You do not feel like you are in a tropical paradise though as there are now so many people, cars and commercial development. All in all we were very happy to have all the services and happy to leave as well.

We are now anchored in Moorea..... definitely a tropical paradise under any definition.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Tahiti

2010-07-10T18:21:00.000Z

Umm, well it has been a while. Frankly a little too much fun being had in this part of the world. Well where to start.... the last days in the Tuamotus.

We stayed about a week in Taou, with Free At Last, our Australian friends we met in the Bahamas in 2008, making a 24 hour stop en route from Miami to Australia. We had a great if short reunion. We then enjoyed the family living in Taou having a potluck dinner with them and the other cruisers to celebrate the 4th of July. Alas we had run out of some very important provisions, namely beer so off we went to Tahiti.

The Tahiti leg is 250 miles so about 36 hours. The winds were good but the seas did no cooperate so not much fun. It was fantastic though to watch the sun rise as we sat outside Papette harbor, as so many vessels have done throughout history. During the transit we had a sailfish become very interested in our towing generator. I dropped a bare hook on a handline and got four hits with him but could not get the hook set.

On Sunday we will get to see the eclipse of the sun, or at least about 98 percent of one anyway.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Squalls

2010-06-24T03:13:00.000Z

The last few days have seen very unsettled weather in French Polynesia, bringing high winds, squalls, large seas and lots of rain. The Tuamotus can be a bit of a problem in this type of weather because the anchorages are usually only protected in one direction and open to weather coming across the lagoon. So normally you move from one place to the next to make sure you have protection. But here is the rub the lagoons are large, 30 miles if not more, and there is coral everywhere so if you have overcast weather you cannot see the bottom well enough to dodge them.

We were lucky in that the anchorage we had moved to, was in fact protected to the south which was the direction of the worst of the weather. However, there is coral everywhere in our anchorage so it is unnerving to constantly be passing over it and around it with our anchor chain.

There is a pass near our anchorage where the current runs out at nearly 6 knots. Jake has had a blast drift snorkeling the pass, seeing the bottom race along. We counted 6 sharks circling us yesterday and uncountable number of fish, including some Napoleon fish that are nearly as large as Isabelle.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

How does one determine a great passage?

2010-06-14T02:50:00.000Z

I suggest that it is when I can leave the bow hatch open and use the bunk for reading and relaxing without any threat of a wave washing in. Under that standard we have had a great passage and our best yet. We are anchored in Fakarava, after transit of the relatively easy reef pass. We have swam in the crystal clear waters of the lagoon and will soon join some other cruisers for a sundowner.

An amazing change to the Atolls of the Tuamotus after the Marqueses. The Tuamotus used to be large volcanic islands but the interior of the islands collapsed leaving on the fringing coral, which many times is just at sea level or slightly below. The interior is now just massive lagoons. Fakarava's lagoon for example measures 32 by 15 miles.

The Happy Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

In The Tuamotus

2010-06-13T10:04:00.000Z

As I write this we are passing the northwestern most atoll of Takaroa. As it is past dark we cannot stop and are thus going to continue on, looking to another atoll about 110 miles further on that we should arrive at by mid day Sunday.

The wind was not as cooperative today as we entered an area of unsettled weather. We had 4 hours of squalls last night from 3-7 am. It was my watch, so I made sure to get Rae Ann up to share some of the misery. The pattern has continued today with winds sufficient for sailing only outside of the squalls. We have been becalmed since late afternoon, so we took a swim and turned on the engine, expecting to motor the rest of the way in given the weather forecast. The seas remain very calm and the captain has retained his skipbo champion title.

A loyal reader asked - what does "lost" mean when referring to a vessel. Well that means sunk, destroyed, or run aground and unusable.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 3

2010-06-12T09:39:00.000Z

Glorious sailing today. We worked a bit at it, getting both the spinnaker and the genoa poled out at one stage, using the boom for a pole on the spinnaker, netting us 4 knots of boat speed...

The wind has filled in now and we have a nice 10 knots from the E pushing us along at 5.5 knots. The seas are very calm.

The Captain won the skipbo games today so all is right in the world. We have seen a nice pod of dolphins and came across two sailboats today. Fishing was a bust again as we caught something all to big again loosing all line and our last lure.

Position 13.13s, 143.41w.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Why are the Dangerous?

2010-06-11T03:06:00.000Z

A valid question. The Tuamotus have never been accurately charted and as a result while we can have an accurate GPS position, the positions of the islands can be off by 2 miles or more on the chart. As the islands are really nothing more than coral atolls, the limited visibility means at best you can see them from only 5 miles or closer. The result is that over the years many commercial and pleasure yachts have been lost on these islands.

Today have been a very nice day though ultimately we lost our wind and thus are now motoring. The seas are very calm with a slight swell from the south. Jake won the family skipbo game, I claim distraction of slatting sails.

Position 11.17S 142.01W, motoring 220 degrees at 6 knots.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Marqueses to the Tuamotus

2010-06-10T11:50:00.001Z

We have departed the Marqueses, having had a great time. Many cruising guides speak of rolly anchorages and impossible dingy landings, and while the cruising was more difficult than average we found the islands very pleasant with comfortable anchorages and great hiking and exploring.

So now we are on our way to the Dangerous Archipelago, noted so because of the low lying nature of the atolls, only rising 50 feet in heigth, and that is because of the palm trees, with strong currents and very old and inaccurate charts.

So far conditions have been good with winds 15-20 knots and comfortable seas. Position is 10.08S, 141.02W. We have about 8 boats in route with us again.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Nuku Hiva

2010-06-08T16:44:00.000Z

We have spent most of our time in Daniels Bay, an idyllic spot where one enters seemingly running into sheer cliffs before the right side opens up into a gorge with a valley at its head. We took a 3 hour hike (one way) to a waterfall, which Rae Ann described as the best hike she has ever done. the water fall comes down at least 1000 feet into a great pool. The cliffs absolutely enclose the place such that there is no sun light that gets through except for a few minutes each day.

Last night we went to a traditional pig roast having helped during the day with the slaughter, cleaning and laying out of the pig in the coal fire. Covered with banana leaves and earth it was left for 6 hours to cook. About 30 people gathered for the feast with music a conversation. Great fun.

With that though we are coming to the end of our Marqueses interlude. The Tuamotus beckon, all 76 of them, lying roughly 450 miles or 5 days sail from here. We expect to leave tomorrow after finishing some last minute provisioning today.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Hiva Oa

2010-05-30T16:47:00.000Z

We have spent the past week on Hiva Oa, first in Traitors Bay and now in Hanamenu. Traitors Bay was ok, small and tight so everyone has to use two anchors to stay both correctly oriented with the swell and to not hit anyone. The village of Atuona where we checked in, had good food provisioning and a great hamburger joint that we ended up visiting twice. Otherwise the water was a little dirty and the dinghy landing a little dodgy.

Hanamenu is a beautiful spot, in the dry area of the island with steep cliffs, like a miniature Grand Canyon. There is a fresh water spring that creates an oasis at the bottom of the cliffs. We hiked and swam near the pool, then followed that with a beach BBQ and bonfire, that lasted through the entire night (though the crew of Nikita did retire earlier than that).

We will move to the northern islands of the Marqueses in the coming week.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Bay of Virgins

2010-05-24T04:35:00.000Z

We have had a marvelous week here. We have done some hiking and snorkeling, took a dinghy trip to the other and larger village on the island, attended the Sunday church service, attended a Polynesian dance, played soccer with the islanders and caught up on boat projects. All and all a great introduction to the islands of the south pacific and nice way to recover from the passage.

The panorama of the anchorage is absolutely stunning with the sheer cliffs coming down to the water and the village nestled in the valley at the bottom. The village is absolutely spotless with fruit bearing trees growing everywhere. Our favorite local fruit is the pamplemousse, a relative of the grapefruit.

The interaction with the villagers has been a mixed bag, we have traded for fresh produce, been bullied a bit, especially the kids, felt at times welcome and at others very much out of place. It is a very small village with about 300 people and very isolated as they get only one ship per month of goods and have no airport or other intra island ferry service. I think at times they resent the crush of cruising boats and at others are happy for the economic opportunity. Though with the support of the French government there does not seem to be much incentive to work hard.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Butchers Bill

2010-05-20T06:47:00.000Z

A term used by the British to describe casualties after a battle at sea. While those types of casualties are fortunately rare occurrences now, the sea does take a toll on the boats.

Nikita lost a spinnaker block, which also destroyed the sheet, the tachometer failed, and the spinnaker attachments both top and bottom are partially broken and in need of attention.

Other boats fared better, and some worse. The list includes; a lost propeller, a fuel tank that chafed through from the motion and dumped all the diesel into the bilge, a broken shackle on a genoa letting it fall into the water, transmission with water ingress, failed impellers.

We stayed close to the boat with the fuel tank issue to assist if needed. As it turns out they made harbor without issue, but have no way to service the tank until Tahiti. We are not sure how the propeller issue has been addressed as that boat is still some days out, but sea conditions were much to rough to try to attach the spare.

This by the way is just the eight boats that left with us.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Passage Summary

2010-05-18T01:22:00.000Z

The Facts
2,900 km in 420 hours, or 6.9 knots. 40 hours motoring and 380 hours under sail. Wind speeds averaged greater than 15 knots and seas about 7 feet. Highest wind was 33 knots sustained and seas maximum was 15 feet for about 6 hours. Lowest winds were 3 knots and seas were nearly flat.

The Expectations
The pilot charts show a wind average of 12 knots and 5.2 foot seas on this passage. A multitude of cruising guides suggest that while the longest passage most people undertake, it is also one of the most comfortable. We were expecting to have a "life" while on passage, planning home schooling, projects etc. We did none of that, we simply existed. We also thought the passage would take 25 days, so there is the upside of higher winds and seas. Overall, this expectation gap weighed heavily on moral.

The Kids
While Rae and I huddled in our bunks or in the cockpit, the kids had the run of the boat. They were never seasick, never complained about being out there so long (Jake wants to go on a longer passage in fact). They built forts, watched lots of movies and were all in all quite happy and content.

The Dreams
About one week into the passage I could not stop having dreams about being on land. I would always wake up at the same moment in the dream, at the point when whoever I was speaking to would ask "where did you leave the boat?", which of course immediately confused me because I could not leave the boat anywhere for many many more days. I always woke up very confused and disoriented.

The Watch Schedule
Many cruisers complain that the watch schedule is too draining and ultimately leads to sleep deprivation. Rae and I did not have any issues with this and felt rested nearly every day. The one exception was when we had lost of squalls one night and both of us were awake to manage sail changes.

After being in the Marqueses for one day, the answer to the question "would you do it again?" has already changed from Hell No!, to Ya Probably. It is pretty darn cool here.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Arrived - Fatu Hiva

2010-05-17T07:15:00.000Z

We are anchored in the Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva Marqueses. We arrived just past midnight (using old Galapagos time, no idea what time it is here, but it is dark), having motored the last 12 hours in light winds. The trip took us 17 days and 12 hours and we covered 2,900 miles. We sighted the island of Fatu Hiva about 25 miles out and almost immediately had an escort of dolphins for about 5 miles.

All is well with everyone.... the boat is not moving.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 17

2010-05-16T08:06:00.000Z

Well the wind and waves will not give up, even to give us a last couple of days of nice weather. A boat which just arrived today in the Marqueses had so little wind that they motored for about 30 hours to the final harbor. We are only 150 miles away but have 20-25 knots of wind and big seas... hmm... tough passage.

All is well and we are looking forward to arriving, looks like about midnight or so on Sunday. We are not sure we can make harbor at night so will may end up waiting and floating outside until day light on Monday to anchor.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 16

2010-05-15T08:04:00.000Z

Wind and seas back up today, though from behind so reasonably comfortable. Sailing slowly tonight to allow some rest for the crew. We are about 315 miles away so expect to arrive Sunday night/Monday morning, though need to wait for day light to enter the harbor.

All is well on board.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 15

2010-05-14T08:17:00.000Z

Oh what a difference. Winds and seas have been light and from behind us.... finally a beautiful trade wind sailing day. We did little other than enjoy it. We are less than 500 miles from the Marqueses, shooting for arriving at Fatu Hiva. Of the 8 boats we left with, one we are very close to, about 30 miles, which is quite amazing after 2400 miles. However, this boat has a problem with their diesel fuel so we are going to stay close and help them into the anchorage if necessary.

We think we should have some nice sailing the last few days of our trip as the weather outlook is pretty good.

Now bring on the rum and those island girls, we are ready for landfall.

The Excited Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 14

2010-05-13T09:22:00.000Z

Conditions have improved substantially. We still have about 20 knots of wind but the seas are way down. Actually an enjoyable day of sailing. We have less than 700 miles to go, I guess that is the upside of having so much wind, we covered many miles in a hurry.

It was amazing yesterday to come down the face of a swell and at the bottom see nothing but a wall of water in front and behind, then rise up on the next one to see for miles on the horizon. Nikita handled everything very well, feeling solid the entire time. I did a bit of hand steering as the autopilot reacts rather than anticipates the next wave and thus slides side ways many times, which can be dangerous.

We are now beginning to smell the end of the passage.

The Relieved Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 13

2010-05-12T07:15:00.000Z

Well this is the roughest weather that Rae and I have ever been in on a boat. We have had 30 - 33 knots of wind with seas building to 15 feet. It seems that the worst is behind us as we have had only about 25 knots for the last few hours or so, but the seas remain the same size. We are not sure when the weather will break and begin to subside. Nikita is doing very well as are the kids, who watched alot of movies today.

position 6.06S 125.49w

The Crew of Nikita = Hanging On

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 10 & 11

2010-05-11T01:02:00.000Z

Conditions continue to get worse with 25+ knot winds and seas up to 8-10 feet. Nikita is handling everything very well and we are running in front of all of it, thus somewhat off course. We expect at least another 24 hours but likely 48 hours of these difficult conditions. Hmm.... not what was promised for a trip to the south pacific.

Down to 3 reefs main and genoa, essentially nothing in sail area, making 7-8 knots. Position 5.42S 122.20W.

The Tired Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 10

2010-05-08T22:43:00.000Z

Well conditions have gotten worse, mostly as forecast with much higher winds, we have had 25+ knots all day and large seas. Nikita is handling all well, we posted our fastest 24 hour run at 178 miles today and passed the half way point.

The Crew on the other hand is a little tired of the boistorus conditions, unfortunately they look set to last for another few days.

We have started to have problems with our email, so updates may not be as frequent, though in a pinch we can have another boat send on for us.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 9

2010-05-08T17:04:00.000Z

Well we continue with alot more wind and seas than we had expected. The wind though is slowly turning east allowing us to begin to sail down wind more and more. This makes things a bit more comfortable as well as sailing fairly fast. We will experiment with alternative sail plans tomorrow to try to find the best combination.

We had many squalls last night again, much more equal opportunity with both Rae and I's watches having many wet and windy hours. Tonight though as I write this things have been much clearer and thus relaxing.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 8

2010-05-07T00:05:00.000Z

What a night. We had squalls throughout, but the early evening until 1 am was particularly active with lots of rain and wind. Fortunately Rae Ann was on watch, so I just woke up occasionally to see if she was alright. Rae did great navigating Nikita down wind in the 25 knot gusts and keeping her going as the wind would die away at the end. After a particularly massive squall the wind died completely, when we fired the engine we smelled a sharp burning smell. So we tore apart the instrument panel in the middle of the night to discover the engine hours meter had stopped working. Looking at it again today it seems that, it now works again, and it must have been moisture that got in and created a short. We saw no damage last night but need to look at it again carefully. When we fired the engine today there was no burning smell.

We also found that our genoa clew was chaffing through, normal for this much continuous use. We taped on a piece of rubber hose over the chafe area. Should hold for a while. Got plenty of hose and tape.

The day turned out better with good sailing winds and calming seas. As I right this though the squalls are building for another night time assault.

The Rain Soaked Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 7

2010-05-06T01:51:00.000Z

An odd day all the way around. It started with very nice conditions, that in the afternoon changed to lumpy seas, ever changing wind directions and then multiple squalls. In between we hooked up with a true monster fish that threatened to snap the rod, huge, largest I have ever had on. Of course now said fish has our lure and 300 ft of line. Rae and I also looked at each other today and say why in the ..... are we out here, old fashion mid passage blues.

We did cross our 1000 mile mark today, having a small celebration, next up, likely on Saturday is the half way mark.

The Rain Soaked and Fish Poor Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 6

2010-05-05T01:17:00.000Z

Well the nuttiness in the seas will just not go away. We now have several forecasts that call for diminishing seas the rest of the week.... lets see. We have a running joke now, every time Rae goes down to make a meal the winds and seas pick up making it very miserable for her.

Our watch schedule has settled so that during the day the watches are just informally shared, with Rae preferring the cockpit anyway so taking the majority of the watches. Rae then takes the 8-Midnight watch and I take from midnight until everyone is up, some time around 7am or so.

I take all of the navigation, communication (we have two radio nets with other boats each day) and sailing responsibilities. Rae takes galley and primary responsibility for the kids. We jointly make all sail changes of which there have been many this trip so far. The kids take responsibility for cleaning the squid and flying fish off the deck (6 this morning) and of course playing.

The Bumpy & Grumpy Crew of Nikita.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 5

2010-05-04T05:10:00.000Z

Conditions of deteriorated significantly with winds out of the SE at 20 knots and building seas. We are deeply reefed and sailing on a course of 260 at 6 knots. All is well on board.

Isabelle caught breakfast with a flying fish making it in through her window and into her bed this morning. Earlier at about 5:00 am I was treated to a dolphin show that lasted about 15 minutes as they played in our bow wake.

The Over Winded Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 4

2010-05-03T01:16:00.000Z

Well it has been another mixed day. Winds came in quite nicely but the seas are still quite lumpy and from a more SSW direction so tend to throw us around a bit.

The only minor mishap was Isabelle splitting her lip open when she was playing in the cockpit and slipped banging her mouth into one of the winches. Not a happy moment, but no significant issue.

The Bloodied Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 3

2010-05-02T00:51:00.000Z

Winds have been mixed today, sometimes perfect, sometimes non-existent. The seas have been both very calm and bumpy. We have been making sail changes nearly every hour it seems, not the relaxing set and forget of the trades yet. Progress continues to be good and the crew is doing well.

We saw some dolphins today, our first wildlife of the trip, unless you count the birds that fly around the boat at night dropping fish guts on the deck for me to step on during sail changes.

The only drama so far was a bent swivel on the top of our Spinnaker, which with liberal application of hammer and rigging tape is fixed. Does not look good, but is fixed.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 2

2010-05-01T00:12:00.000Z

We have had good progress today with good winds in the 10-15 knot range and ok seas, still on the bumpy side. Really just a day at sea as everyone gets their sea legs and adjusts.

Position 1.46S, 94.11W
Sailing 260 degrees at 7.5 knots.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Departure

2010-04-30T05:57:00.000Z

We are under way, having left Isabella at 1 in the afternoon. We currently have decent winds at 10-15 knots and are sailing in somewhat bumpy seas. We had a bolt in the top swivel of the spinnaker come undone so that is a fix it project for the day light hours. We are sailing a course of 260 at a speed of 7.5 knots, currents are very favorable. There 6 boats that left together today. Umm 25 more days......

Position 1.26S, 92.14W

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Isabella

2010-04-28T23:29:00.000Z

What a fabulous island. The penguins have been a real treat, zooming through the water at 100 miles and hour after fish. We have seen lots of turtles and got our first sighting of giant tortoises in the wild, which was very cool. We took a panga ride out to a volcanic reef system, which was thrilling as the driver waited about 15 minutes for a break between swells to race in. We then were within the volcanic reefs with natural arches and tunnels. The sea life was amazing with sea horses, white tip sharks, sea lions, penguins and turtles.

We are D-1 for departure to the Marqueses. We are physically ready and mentally gearing for the 25 days at sea..... Rae Ann said over drinks tonight that no one can really be ready mentally because there is no comparable experience.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

The Penguins of Isabella

2010-04-26T01:59:00.001Z

We moved over to Isabella on Friday. The anchorage is a tiny nook on the south coast, facing the prevailing seas and winds. However, you thread your way in between several volcanic out croppings ending a fairly well protected spot.

In addition to the normal (Galapagos normal that is) parade of wildlife, sea lions, turtles, giant tortoises, booby's we now get to see penguins. They swim around the anchorage seemingly never going less than 100 miles an hour. Very fun.

We took a long panga ride today out to an area where you can get in behind the surf and wander via boat and foot in labyrinth of volcanic flows, with tunnels, arches and pools. Very remote, rugged and beautiful.

Hmmm, now there are no more islands to the west of us until French Polynesia, 3000 miles, 25 days of sailing. We are slightly anxious to say the least having a great deal of respect for the usefulness of a 5 day weather forecast.... We have listened in on the various SSB nets that keep cruisers in touch and the conditions have been a bit variable with periods of higher winds and seas as well as more southerly winds than normal. I suspect hang over from El Nino. We expect to depart within the week, there seems to be a large group of boats getting ready to leave about Thursday.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

San Cristobal

2010-04-18T16:51:00.002Z

We are having a blast. We hired a taxi for the day yesterday, visiting the southern volcano and hiking its perimeter. The volcano has the only fresh water lake in the Galapagos, the lack of fresh water being a constant problem thus. We then visited the Giant Tortoise reserve, observing about 30 different animals at all stages of development. My take on the situation is that as soon as the first pirate/whaler stepped ashore as did the first rat and since then the competition from rats, cats, goats, pigs, dogs has essentially wiped out the native tortoise except for those kept in reserves. We then visited a beach on the southern side of the island for a much needed swim after all of the hiking.

In the "town" area they have built a long board walk and a park. Part of the park is a set of slides that goes down into the ocean at high tide. Well after some warming up the kids want to play there everyday now. The only problem is that you have to wait in line.... for the sea lion pups to go down the slides as well. The kids are in heaven with all of the wild life.

There is some work going on. We needed to replace all the diesel we used (65 gallons for 100 hours of motoring, which is pretty efficient). The only way to do this is by jerry jug. We hired some jugs from our agent and got them on board. After some experimenting as we had not done this before a combination of siphon, hand pump and pouring the last third of each jug worked with very little spilled. The process took about 3 hours, with Jake providing much needed assistance the entire time.

Arrival

2010-04-15T01:53:00.000Z

We arrived at 9:00 am in the Galapagos, anchored in Wreck Bay, San Cristobal Island. Overall the passage was average. Too much of headwinds and motoring at slow speeds. But alas it did work out.

We have been ashore poking around. The sea lions are everywhere. There is a slide into the ocean where kids can play with the sea lions, obviously high on the must do list for Jake and Isabelle. Cruisers from all over the world - some make their first trip out and a guy I met today who has been out for 10 years, and now on his third time through the South Pacific.

If I had to do this leg again, and I think our experience was about the norm,clearly taking the much longer route, way to the south to begin with (think 3.00S) and then sailing WNW with the prevailing winds aft of the beam and current favorable. It would though probably double the sailing miles and thus trip, but make it more enjoyable.

Now where is my tortoise soup I have heard so much about?

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Polywogs No More

2010-04-14T02:20:00.001Z

We just passed the equator and as a right of passage for any mariner who does so, one becomes a shellback. We made an offering to Neptune, one dram for each of us of our finest wine. As each of us was uninitiated we all were dressed up in some outrageous garb and then..... we had cake.

We are about 60 miles for our island of destination in the Galapagos, so should be in during the morning on Wednesday the 14th.

Position 00.00.000 and 89.04W

The Shellbacks of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 6

2010-04-13T00:48:00.000Z

We have had a good 24 hours, with a great sail overnight, followed by light wind and seas during the day that saw us motoring most of the way. It looks like alot of motoring is left so we are getting close on fuel.

Quote of the trip, by Isabelle as she was playing the other day down below and we were hit by the largest wave of the trip, sending the boat over 60 degrees. in a calm tone "holy crap" and then continued on playing.

The wildlife has been very interesting with countless pods of dolphins, the most enjoyable of these at night when there bioluminesence lights the water it a trail behind them. We have seen leaping rays, sharks (one looking seriously at our fishing lure), turtles and each night several birds that fly with the boat all night.

The saga of the oil seepage continues. It is clearly not the drain plug but is related to the pan seal to the block. There is a constant tiny bit of oil on the seam. Again nothing that is causing any measurable loss of oil, but still concerning.

Position 0.53N, 87.14W, motoring at 5.5 knots on a course of 234.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 5

2010-04-12T01:26:00.000Z

Ok first apologies for repeating Day 3, there really was a Day 4.

A few hours ago this would have been a much different missive, as we fought 20 knot winds and 10 foots seas, heeled at 30 degrees. Now the winds are of course gone and the seas slowly dying out. The kids had been a little on edge the first few days and I was expecting the worst when they got up this morning. But.... they had a great day playing down below, making up new games etc. While Rae and I curled up in the most cozy corners and hung on for dear life.

I am not sure what makes this passage so difficult, but pretty universally everyone runs into the nasty weather, which of course was not forecast by any of the three weather services we use. Well touch wood we are on the other side and looking at a favorable forecast the rest of the way in.

On the bad news side, I noticed a small (very small) weep of oil, seemingly from the drain plug, which has never been touched I pump the oil out of the engine via the dip stick tube. At the moment it is nothing but something to monitor, but I do not have a fix if it gets worse.....

Position 1.51N, 85.27W
Motoring at 5 knots course 238.

The Salt Encrusted Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 4

2010-04-11T02:32:00.002Z

It has been a rough 24 hours with a stiff southerly wind and large confused seas. We did get a 10 hour sail out of it, but all hard on the wind so lots of heeling.

Seas are quieter now. We are motoring overnight on a southerly course to get out of the ITCZ, though we did clear the more convective area last night.

Position 2.35N 83.51W, motoring at 205 degrees, speed of 5 knots.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 3

2010-04-10T02:09:00.000Z

A mixed day. We did get about 10 hours of sailing, however the rest has been motoring and fighting currents so moving no better than 5 knots.

We are very much in the middle of the ITCZ tonight, so we have thunderstorms all around us and bumpy confused seas. None of this I would describe as pleasant.

We are continuing our course south of the rumb line to try to exit the ITCZ. It looks like it will take us longer than anticipated, having to make southing all the way to 2 degrees north before turning towards the Galapagos. This likely means about 24 more hours of motoring at least.

Other than that how was the play, Mrs Lincoln?

Position
3.41 N
82.19 W
motoring on a course of 205 at 5 knots.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 2

2010-04-08T23:56:00.000Z

Well the wind has gone and we are firmly in the ITCZ, otherwise known as the doldrums. The seas are absolutely mirror glass with some residual swell. Overall very comfortable. We are looking at a rather long motor over the next couple of days to exit the ITCZ and pick up the southerly trades. We have altered course to move south quicker.

No fishing today, but we finished the tuna so lines go back in tomorrow. A couple of boat projects (cleaned the curtains), a couple of dolphins and a turtle spotted. Otherwise a quiet day spent calculating fuel requirements.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Panama to the Galapagos - Day 1

2010-04-08T01:44:00.000Z

We set off today with a fair wind and light seas. As forecasted though the wind has gone away leaving us to motor. We are outside our range under power so we are using lower RPM's to conserve and stretch our fuel.

We were uncertain how the fishing would go without Bruce, aka the Fishingmaster, thus imagine our surprise in catching two black fin tuna about 10 pounds each. Much different than losing all your fish and ultimately tackle as well.

We have had dolphins swimming with us nearly all day, especially with the kids up on the bow the dolphins do not seem to want to leave.

Position 7.16 N, 79.54 W motoring at 6 knots course 234M.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

One Small Step

2010-04-05T12:30:00.001Z

Well we have left Panama, more accurately Panama City, and are now anchored in Contadora Island, part of the Las Pearlas Islands of Panama. A slow sail of 40 miles brought us 10 miles further away from the Galapagos.... hmmm. All part of the plan I assure you. We need to finish our passage preparations and get a weather window, and the Las Pearlas are a very nice place to do this from.

Our time in Panama was very hectic. While the visit with the grandparents (both Rae and I's parents visited us) was great of Jake and Isabelle, it was hard for Rae and I to relax as either we were getting ready for the canal transit or we were chasing and endless list of projects. There is a common held phrase in the cruising community that when you finish one project on your list you get to add two more. Some of the issues were surreal such as our oven door shattering mid-breakfast preparation. Anyway most of the items got taken care of, and the ones that remain are manageable.

Panama City was very polluted. The black muck that covers our boat is sickening while the water line sports a sludge like substance, some of which flaked off while sailing yesterday but the remainder will require me to get in the water a scrape.

The route to the Galapagos crosses the ITCZ, commonly referred to as the doldrums. As I have monitored the weather on route it has been particularly windless in the last few weeks. We may have some nice dins in the next week to at least get us away. We will probably wait a little to see if that materializes, if not we will set out for a long motor trip.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Photos

2010-03-24T13:51:00.001Z

We have put up a new photo album titled Panama in the links on the right hand side of the blog. The photos include stuff from our passage, time in the San Blas and canal transit.

Thoughts on the Panama Canal

2010-03-22T00:41:00.000Z

To transit the canal one goes up about 100 feet and down 100 feet, in a series of six locks, three up and you guessed it, three down. In between you travel across Gatun lake a man made lake from damming the Charges river.

The first step is to receive an "advisor". The advisor is working this job as a sideline, and is not interested in anything but the fastest possible trip and what food and drink you are serving. In the case of our Sunday advisor, he took it to another level, eating two breakfasts and two lunches, the last lunch while we were going through the locks.... advice was minimal. The advisor will also have a cell phone for being in constant contact with his girlfriend.

Step two is to raft up to another like minded cruiser boat. The advisors talking over their radio decide on the protocol and communicate this to the crews. As in the example below, the crew of at least one boat then promptly ignores the advisor and does what ever they want.

In our case we were to pass the "spring lines, loop end first, and receive bow and stern, loop end first". We were ready, pulled along side. The "professional crew" then shouted pass us you bow and stern????? Quick adjustment on by the Nikita crew and we pass bow and stern - loop first. Thus the receiving boat was to put the loop over their cleat and we would then pull tight and make fast. This worked at the stern, but at the bow, well this played differently, the professional crew promptly attached the line to a winch and began cranking with all their worth, our crew member with line in hand only tried to hold on to no avail. Splash goes our line. Nikita adjusts again, throwing the stern line, pulling away, circling and lining up another pass. This time successful.

Step three is to pull into the locks where the line handlers ashore toss a monkey fist. I was very excited about this prospect, having imagined for the last 10 days lots of one handed Panamanian monkeys(obviously taking more than one hand from a monkey would be cruel). You can imagine my disappointment to see a ball of rope instead of a hairy, smelly monkey hand, hit our boat. We were then suppose to attach the monkey fist and messenger line to our mooring line. The Nikita crew practiced bowlines all week! Well a crew member, who will remain nameless, except he goes by Tony, went to work on his bowline producing something similar to a rats nest. Our advisor looks at it, shrugs and says "haul away". The shore handler gets the line and loops it around the bollard, then goes to work for the next five minutes undoing Tony's rates nest.

The last step is properly tension the mooring lines as the water is either raised or lowered. The Nikita crew was again outstanding here, several times doing exactly the opposite. For example the advisor (in between meals and phone calls) would say something like "slack line" and we would tighten and cleat off. The advisor would look puzzled, mumble something in Spanish and then say "cleat off line", thus firmly regaining control of the situation.

So we made it without a scratch, proving that really about anyone can do this.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Hello Pacific Ocean

2010-03-21T23:33:00.000Z

Well we had a rather uneventful transit of the Panama Canal, just as one would want. We had a bit of fun with it, were rather hot and worked fairly hard, but came through unscathed. We are now anchored in the very rolly/bumpy anchorage of La Playita, which is where we will have to stay until visits from Rae Ann and my parents are over at the end of March. I am looking for an alternative.... anchorage that is.

On the way up the Gatun locks Saturday night we were rafted along side an old maxi yacht with a professional crew (term used here means that they were paid). They really had very little knowledge of what they were doing, but that did not stop them from issuing contradictory orders and shouting alot. The captain of the boat turned to me at one point and using his fingers to point at his eyes said "focus now focus on me". Well ok...

On Sunday we locked down rafted with other cruisers we knew and had a very nice time. Jake really enjoyed the changes in the water levels, while Isabelle wanted only to see one of the fresh water crocodiles. We did not see one, and apparently they are a protected species now as a result of hunting, so no surprise.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

The Saga of the Canal Transit

2010-03-19T14:50:00.001Z

Well after several delays in looks like we will start on Saturday and finish on Sunday (webcam probably about 12:30 Panama time Sunday). It seems that the "advisor" group, of which each boat needs one during the transit, have been on soft strike. As it is not legal for them to strike they all called in sick this week (there are 65 of the them), though it is not clear if this is true or not. Anyway, there are some hackles up around the marina. As we do not plan to go on to the Galapagos until April anyway it is not really an issue to us and more mildly interesting to fun to stir the proverbial pot.

We tried to go fine the howler monkeys that wake us up every morning, and although we got much closer based on the sound we still did not see them. The area of the marina is the old U.S. Military Base from when the U.S. ran the canal. Now completely abandoned so it is a little weird walking around looking for the resident monkeys.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Canal Delay

2010-03-17T13:58:00.001Z

Well we have been pushed back one day, so transit is expected to start on Friday and finish on Saturday (webcam on Saturday). Will update.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Panama Canal

2010-03-16T12:58:00.001Z

We have been getting ready for our transit. I did a line handling job for another boat so that I could get a sense of what we were up against. Overall nothing to dramatic, but there is alot of force involved. Very little shipping activity though, a commentary no doubt on the struggling state of the world economy.

We are scheduled to transit on Thursday, though it takes two days so we will not be through until Friday, spending the night in Gatun Lake. When we go through the Mira Flores locks you can see us on the Canal's webcan at http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html. The way the scheduling works is that we will likely enter the Mira Flores locks on the second day of our transit (Friday) at about 12:30 - which is 1:30 pm EDT or 10:30 am PDT.

There has been a slight shuffling of boats the last couple of days with boats being pushed one day later. We will not know if Thursday is a go until Thursday, but will update the blog if anything changes.

We are all very excited.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

San Blas

2010-03-07T22:50:00.000Z

We have spent the last week in the San Blas, or more properly the Kuna Yala. The area is made up of offshore reefs and islands and inland mountains containing virgin rain forest. The Kuna's live much as they have since before being discovered by the Spanish. The won their "independence" in 1923 and have lived as an semi-autonomous part of Panama since. They are very strict about travel even among the other Kuna villages, so much of their contact with the outside world is from cruising sailboats and backpackers. About the only thing that could be considered modern civilization is the use of cell phones, which itself is only about two years old. They do not have a way to charge them though, so you can often barter fish or vegetables for charging their phone on the your boat.

The Kuna's are very open, allowing one to tour their villages. The kids have had a great time playing with the Kuna children. It has been great for Jake and Isabelle to experience the first truly different culture since we started our cruise. Jake clearly understands the differences and has some interesting questions.

Unfortunately, the weather has been terrible. The squall system we surfed in on a week ago, remains and keeps the winds elevated, with lots of rain and generally overcast skies. So we have not yet had a good chance to appreciate the great snorkeling... hopefully this week.

We have run into many cruisers, including a couple of families, that are all headed to the south pacific. We will go over to Colon and get in line for the canal this coming week. We are very excited about going through the Panama Canal and everything that waits beyond.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Passage Recap

2010-03-03T14:09:00.000Z

Overall we had a pretty good passage. This particular passage is somewhat notorious particularly when rounding the Colombian coast. We met head on currents and some messy waves in this area but nothing serious which apparently it can be very nasty.

Rae Ann did a great job of provisioning and pre-preparing food for the trip giving us meals for nearly 4 days without much preparation.

The kids did the best, though Isabelle was sick the one day, she slept it off in the cockpit and rallied. The last day with the boat really flying and rolling and bouncing, Jake wanted to know why we would not play cards with him down below because it was "flat". Jake asked as soon as we got up on Monday when our next trip was.

Having a third adult allowed a marvelous watch schedule. Bruce and I would switch every 4 hours, with Rae taking two 2 hour watches each day, allowing the watch schedule to shift and for Bruce and I to have to 6 hour rest periods each day. The extra pair of hands for the numerous sail changes made a big difference as well.

We sailed much faster than planned, the current being the biggest factor. Arriving anywhere at night is inadvisable, but in the reef infested area of the San Blas, a bit crazy, and many boats on the reefs attest to the folly. We had confirmed our charts to our pilot book and eventually were able to raise another vessel in the islands that confirmed the accuracy of what we thought we knew. We entered the most heavily traveled port (relative here as everyone goes about in dugout canoes), though this is unlighted and bordered by reefs. We went slow, and with several look outs, but we were also fortunate. We had tried slowing the boat down and heaving too, but neither worked to our satisfaction. I hope I never have to make the choice again.

The lone boat that answered our radio call Sunday night, came into our anchorage on Monday.... with three kids on board and Hallberg Rassy 46. Needless to say we are having a great time together.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 7

2010-03-01T11:47:00.001Z

Arrival, 6 days and 15 hours saw us putting the hook down in the San Blas. Yes a small detour but we had gone far enough ahead of schedule and we really wanted to see this area and meet the Kuna Indians.

The last 36 hours of the trip were a bit different than than anything else. We started with winds at about 8 knots and surfed into the San Blas on 30 knots, squalls and 10 foot seas. We are a little tired and a bit stressed because of needing to thread the reefs in the middle of the night, with no moon due to the squalls. But we are also very happy.

Now back to the cruising life, beaches, beer...... and more beer.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 6

2010-02-27T23:04:00.000Z

We had a rough start last night with a large NNW swell coming. It though diminshed and though a residual remains making the ride bumpy it is mostly pretty tolerable. We are sailing at about 5 knots in decent winds out of the NE. We have only 170 miles left to Panama, so we expect to arrive very early Monday morning at this stage.

Position 11.32 N 76.56 W

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 5

2010-02-26T21:16:00.000Z

This morning after about 24 hours of motoring, though we had a nice four hour sail last night, we said motor off spinnaker up. We had a slow day, so slow even we stopped to swim for an hour. Everyone had a nice time and cooled off. We now have a bit more wind and are moving at a little over 5 knots. We expect a little more wind through the evening.

We had a great pod of dolphins (20 or 50 who knows they were everywhere) join us just at sunset last night. One danced on its tail and another flipped his tail to splash the boat getting the decks wet. Alot of fun.

Position 12.29 N 74.37 W

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 4

2010-02-25T21:38:00.000Z

After a night of off and on sailing we have had a day of nearly no wind at all. Seas are very calm. We have been motoring along, hoping for wind to come up as we get along west of a cold front coming down from the Gulf of Mexico tonight. Will need some wind some time because we will run out of fuel if we have to motor the rest of the way.

Two fish on today, the first threw the hook, the second took every last bit of line and the hook - we got spooled.... no more fishing.

Saw a few more ships today, but none would answer our radio call, wanted to get some more diesel and fishing line!

Position 14.35 N 72.40 W

The Fishless Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 3

2010-02-24T22:42:00.000Z

Position 15.54 N, 70.26 W
Sailing under spinnaker but slow.... what a difference a day makes, winds have all but died away and seas our down to 2-3 feet and declining. We had a short visit from a pod of dolphins. We also found a nut on the deck of the boat.... after a search including a trip to the top of the mast. Yes it swings around alot! up there in a sea way, we found the lone bolt on the lower attachment of the spinnaker and all was saved. It took Bruce (winch man) and Dave (bosun guy) a few hours to recover from the mast trip.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 2

2010-02-23T23:28:00.000Z

This SUCKS!!!

We picked up a SE to S to SW wind today bringing us close hauled on our course and seas 5-7 feet. Not down wind sailing in the tropics to say the least. Isabelle gave over to seasickness but the rest of the crew held out. Jake had a blast spending several hours hanging on the steering module and calling the ever bigger waves getting ready to splash into Nikita and shower us with salt water.

Position 16.55 N 68.26 W sailing 260 at 4 knots.

The salt encrusted crew of Nikita.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Day 1

2010-02-22T22:50:00.000Z

Position 17.48N, 65.51W
Winds about 10 knots out of the ESE
Seas 3-5 feet, mostly comfortable but occasionally bumpy.

Averaging about 6 knots flying spinnaker and full main. Fish tally is one barracuda, half eaten by the time we got it reeled in..... shark?!?

Overall a great start. Will continue to update once per day position via Yotreps and if conditions permit send a quick email.

The Crew of Nikita

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

T - 12 hours

2010-02-21T15:49:00.001Z

We are ready with the last provisions being put on board. We have moved into the Crown Bay marina to receive our crew who arrives late tonight. We will clear customs and head out early Monday morning. We will try to update the blog and position daily.... seasickness and ssb propagation permitting.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Two Steps Forward and At Least a Handful Backwards

2010-02-20T22:17:00.000Z

We have been furiously getting ready for our trip to Panama. Monday the 22nd looks like a go, with weather predictions favorable for at least most of the trip. We are very excited but also quite nervous. We expect the trip to take 7-10 days.

We have been rearranging alot of items on the boat, basically getting everything that we will not use stowed and tied down and getting out several of the items that we may need. In particular safety equipment needs to be tested and refreshed, alternative sails out and readied. We have also been provisioning food for the 10 day trip, which is no easy task. As well given the lesser alternatives for provisioning beyond Panama we have been adding a few months to the non-perishable stores, both food and non-food.

As we were finalizing the last items today our water maker and wind generator both failed. Not great timing! The water maker is an ongoing issue and I think we have it sufficiently resolved. The wind generator is not as easy so we will limp with this one to Panama. We have a couple of other ways of generating electricity so we should be ok. We will also take some emergency water stored in jerry jugs for the trip.

Just challenges......... right.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

A Close Shave

2010-02-14T11:19:00.000Z

While anchored off Water Island in St. Thomas we swung close to a couple of boats that were on moorings, one of these happened to be a rather large, dirty, steel dive boat. At about midnight, I was aroused from a deep sleep by a shuddering collision. Rae Ann, who was still up, darted up the companion way while I stuck my head out the forward hatch to see our port bow resting on the stern dive platform. Rae Ann let out a couple of loud "wholly s**t" waking a few of the near by cruisers.

We pushed ourselves off, only to drift right back down, so anchors up and we found a new spot. The next day I rubbed off the grease mark from the collision.

We have been quiet on the cruising front, laying low in the Virgin Islands. However, we have been busy preparing for the next part of our adventure. We have decided to sail to Panama from the Virgin Islands, which is about a 10 day sail. This will be by 8 days our longest continuous sail, so we approach it with excitement and uncertainty.

Rae Ann has been busy stocking food supplies for the trip and laying out additional storage places for the fresh food as she does not expect floating grocery stores in route. I have been updating boat maintenance and miscellaneous projects completed like adding securing straps for certain boat equipment.

We have decided to take on one additional crew, a friend and experienced sailor. Many of the cruisers we met and most with families were taking the route of using a third crew member, allowing for everyone to get at least one 6 hour stretch of sleep during the night. It also frees Rae Ann from watch keeping during the day where she can assist the kids.

We are now looking at possible weather windows, but hoping to be off soon.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Tracking Nikita

2010-01-31T13:08:00.001Z

We have added a link to YOTREPS under the Favorite Links section on the right hand side of the blog, titled "Nikita's Location".

Using this link should take you to a google map with our latest position report on it. We thought we would try this out as we begin to prepare for some of the longer legs of our cruise in the next months.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Midnight Run

2010-01-29T02:54:00.000Z

We were comfortably enjoying the Hawksnest anchorage on St. John Island. A northerly flow set up as predicted but other than some chop, no issues. Then at sundown the wind died. Then a couple of hours later the roll started. How the waves found there way in there I have no idea, and they probably never will again. It got crazy, the final straw was when the binoculars got launched out of the cockpit into the salon. At that point it was safer to leave the anchorage, taking our chances with all the mooring balls, fish traps and the large reef just offshore from the anchorage. We threw off the mooring lines, tied the dinghy as well as we could and went slow at about 3 knots trying best to spot all the obstacles. we moved around the corner to the Francis bay area, a trip of about 3 miles, but then we were in a calm anchorage again, collapsing into our bunks for the night.

We are now anchored in Charlotte Amalie, watching the massive cruise ships come and go. The largest in the world, the Oasis of the Seas, a mere 220 feet TALL, 180 Feet Wide and who knows how long. It has only about 3 ports it can enter in the Caribbean because of its size.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Night Swimming

2010-01-17T23:12:00.001Z

So with reluctant hearts and minds we left Saba and turned northwest to the British Virgin Islands. The route takes you across the Anegada passage, a notoriously rough stretch of water. We did not classically plan this passage as to weather, deciding that we would go when we felt we had to leave Saba and not before. Well ultimately waiting about 3 more days for better weather would have been ideal, but as I mentioned in the previous post, the anchorages in Saba were just to rough.

As we set out the winds were rather light, less than 10 knots, so we were flying our full canvas an putting right along. The north swell was running and I saw at least 15 feet in the highest, but were not breaking so just pushed us up and down.

The the sun went down. About 8:30 pm the wind really picked up, so we started to shorten sail, but it was already 25 knots and rising in a squall. We lost one jib sheet overboard so had to furl the jib all the way in to retrieve it. With deeply reefed sails we set in for a long windy and rainy night. The seas continued to grow out of the east to compliment the north swell making things very rough.

About 3:00 am Rae Ann was trying to sleep in the aft bunks with the kids and had opened a window on the lee side. Well we got slammed hard by a breaking north swell, I heard it coming and saw some of the white water but with is so dark because of the squalls it was more a sense than anything. We took on a lot of water and were knocked way over. Then the girls were screaming, as gallons upon gallons of water poured in through the open window.

We are safely in the BVI's, drying out, and vowing never to open hatches again.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Saba

2010-01-17T23:12:00.000Z

We ventured to the little visited (relative term here) island of Saba. It is an old volcano having last erupted 5,000 years ago. The island is small with about 1,500 people living on it, 400 of whom are students in the medical school. There are no beaches and other than the recently constructed small boat harbor on the southern end. Until the southern harbor was built access to the island was via a stone stairway carved into one of the cliffs. Larger vessels would anchor offshore, send in their tenders that would come within 50 feet or so of shore and then people standing in the water would hand goods to land and then carry them up the staircase that rises about 1,500 feet.

The anchorages around Saba are nearly all untenable and unfortunately we had a north swell running during our visit of about 8 feet which made the calmest anchorage on the north west side more like a roller coaster as we hung on to our bunks to stay in them. The first day there we did an island tour visiting all the different villages and getting a bit of history on the island. On the second day we hiked to the top of Mt. Scenery, about 3,000 feet, which happens to be the highest peak in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The buildings on the island are all picture postcard perfect with red roofs, white washed buildings and green/or blue trim. Extremely friendly people and the cheapest food and drink we have found in the Caribbean.

The roughness of the anchorages chased us away though, but with a great couple of days on an unforgettable island.

A sad note on departing was another family tried to land at the aforementioned old staircase but because of the north swell running were upended with the father/husband hitting his head and being seriously injured, ultimately requiring a medical flight out to St. Martin. We do not know the outcome as we left the same day as the accident but are wishing them well.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Barracuda

2010-01-11T22:41:00.000Z

Well the fishing as been active, but all Barracuda. The last one we caught had to weigh 10 pounds if not more. The one previous to that had its tail bitten off by something larger as we reeled it in. We throw these guys back because of the risk of cigatura, though some people do eat them.

We finally left Antigua moving over to St. Barts. St. Barts is a very neat island, though with somewhat exposed anchorages. The main (and really only) town of Gustavia is very fun, with great eating and drinking spots in a great setting along the three sides of the port.

Rae Ann has been working on here swimming. Having returned to the boat in the dinghy from running an errand she went to stop the dinghy engine pulling the key and watching it fly overboard. It began to sink very quickly and as the water in Falmouth was none to clear she went in after it fully clothed. Jake, Isabelle and I were completely unaware until Rae Ann appears in the salon dripping wet. She retrieved the key though.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Barbuda

2009-12-28T12:49:00.001Z

Well we have not moved much, but what a treat. Barbuda, geologically different than most if not all of the rest of the Eastern Caribbean, is a limestone up cropping rather than a volcano, the same as the Bahamas. Barbuda's main export is sand.... to the rest of Caribbean. So if you step on to a beautiful beach somewhere in the Eastern Caribbean and feel a soft texture and think you have seen nothing better... it was imported from Barbuda.

We anchored off of the 7 mile beach, and visited the 11 mile beach. While we were there a north swell build up to about 13 feet, which crashed onshore. Jake and I swam ashore to body surf two days in a row. We are still cleaning sand from our ears a week later, marvelous fun.

The waters around Barbuda are teaming with fish life and the coral is outstanding. We landed a tuna on the way up and had 5 hard strikes on the way back to Antigua but landed nothing.

Barbuda also houses one of the 4 frigate bird mating colonies in the world. The season was in full swing when we visited, with the males puffing their throat area into huge red balloons to attract the females. Birds everywhere.

The most charming thing about Barbuda, however, and probably directly correlates with the magnificent wild life we observed, is the people. There are only 1,500 people living on the island, the vast majority descendants of the Corrdington slave estate. Barbuda, having no good natural harbor and poor soil for cane growing was forsaken by the British, and leased for the price of "one fat sheep" to Lord Corrdington. After Lord Corrdington passed away the estate was given in common to the slaves he was using on the island. They heirs continue to hold the land in common, with no private ownership today. Development is frowned upon, the locals have gone so far as to push the construction site/vehicles of a to be foreign hotel over a cliff into the water, stopping the development permanently.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

New Photos

2009-12-16T16:04:00.001Z

We have added a new photo album for the Windward Islands. There are also additional new photos in the Leeward Islands photo album.

Antigua

2009-12-08T03:22:00.000Z

We have been enjoying Antigua, one of the few islands in the Caribbean that has several different good anchorages which allow a near circumnavigation of the island while stopping every few miles. We are currently in Jolly Harbor having been in English, Falmouth and Green Island. Green Island was fun as it is protected by a barrier reef and has very little development. There are quite a few reefs in the area, that netted two boats while we were there, that we assisted off. One of the boats that got stuck on the reef as a charter boat. The captain of the charter boat had the engine in full throttle forward for about 45 minutes as he was trying to get off. Word to the wise never buy a used charter boat.

We plan on staying around Antigua through the holidays. A very festive atmosphere with all of the large mega yachts moving around, many of which are about 5 times larger than us.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Stuck in English Harbor

2009-11-19T11:24:00.000Z

As we went to leave for a trip around to the east of Antigua we found that we could not raise our anchor. I donned my snorkeling gear and grabbed a dive light. We had hooked an old anchor chain.... a really old one. About 6 inch by 3 inch links. We worked a line around the chain then lowered the anchor again, swimming it forward and then raising it. It only took about 5 minutes but was intimidating because of the size of the chain we had hooked. I guess that is the danger of visiting ports that have been used for the last 200+ years for shipping and bases for war ships.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Antigua

2009-11-16T22:06:00.001Z

Well is was a difficult and dangerous run, but we were able to beat past the gun batteries and anchored caravels to make a successful landing a take, without a shot fired, Nelson's Dockyard. The dockyard and fort areas have been fabulously restored and maintained in the English Harbor area of Antigua. The buildings now house various businesses and services. The park service maintains great trails to allow hiking to all of the various fort, gun encampments and look outs. We are anchored in English Harbor about 50 yards off of the dockyard.

We left Dominica on a disappointing note. There was a tremendous southerly flow in the winds and seas ultimately leaving us rolling gunwale to gunwale in the anchorage there. So after another hiking expedition around the former English fort in the Cabrits we upped anchor and headed north. The sailing was tremendous with a nice beam reach all the way up Guadalupe. We were running for much too early arrival in Antigua, which has several reefs to navigate so we stopped for about 5 hours in Guadalupe, then carrying on at 1:30am arriving in Antigua at 8am, again with nice sailing though a bit more on the wind as we were making quite a bit of easting.

We are planning on staying in Antigua for 4-6 weeks enjoying the sites, sounds and many anchorages. So far we have felt that it will be too little time.

On a side note, I am amazed at the number of forts built by the British/French/Dutch in the islands. Two out of three of these never saw a SINGLE shot fired. I guess an early demonstration of deterrent force. The French forts are usually high on a hill, small and all enclosed. While the British had spread there defenses out, always with several gun encampments, look outs, commandants quarters etc. The islands, no doubt in an effort to improve the tourist trade, have made great efforts to maintain and restore these forts. They are a fun part of exploring each island, picking up a bit of history, a bit of exercise through hiking and expanding the imagination with respect to life styes of 200-300 years ago.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Antigua

2009-11-16T22:06:00.000Z

We are planning on staying in Antigua for 4-6 weeks enjoying the sites, sounds and many anchorages. So far we have felt that it will be too little time.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Dominica

2009-11-10T10:43:00.000Z

It has been a busy week. Isabelle turned 4, collecting enough princess, fairy and doll house loot to keep her quite busy and happy. Jake has lost his first tooth, which had been loose for about 2 weeks. He is very proud of his hole.

We sailed to Dominica from St. Lucia and nice 100 mile leg. We took off again for an overnighter, though suffering some rougher seas this time, had great sailing conditions under the still nearly full moon. Fishing has been a bit of bust lately, netting only one barracuda on this last trip.

Dominica is an exceptional island, having been much slower in development of the tourist industry than the other islands. Now with the agricultural base eroding due to competition/changing importation tariff protections from Europe they are feeling the economic pitch resulting in lots of land being sold to developers. The island has 11 volcanos, 7 still active, 365 rivers, lots of water falls and some interesting geography resulting from the volcanic activity such as the red rocks. The island also protects about 60 percent of its forest as national parks maintaining very nice hiking trails and informational stands at the more interesting sites. The island was th site for several of the scenes from the second Pirates of Caribbean movie; 1) the Indian River, which you go up in a row boat, was the site for the visit to "Tia Doma" 2) Hempstead beach where the Black Pearl was beached 3) the area where they battled on the water wheel and fought through the grove of palms.

Guide books lead you to believe that the last of the Caribe Indians live on Dominica, those same Caribe's that were to have been wiped out by Europeans, many jumping to their deaths from cliffs into the sea to avoid forced labor in the plantations. Well supposedly Dominica was just to wild with all the mountains and river gorges so a handful were able to hold off the Europeans and survived. We went to tour their village. It was a made for tourist reproduction, we were led by a tour guide and met several people who did look "different" from the average Dominican of African decent. We were also told that the Caribe's did not practice cannibalism, even though the history of the Arawak Indians tell a different story. The tour guide actually said "the bones that the Europeans saw hanging in our homes were from those that died naturally but were so revered in their life times, like great warriors, we would keep a bone from their body before burying them." Lets say I am a sceptic on many of the Caribe accounts provided in the "tour".

Needless to say we have had some fun exploring thus far on the island.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

The Wait for Weather

2009-11-01T13:10:00.001Z

We are now in St. Lucia, Rodney Bay. We had decided to stay in Bequia through Jake's birthday and at the time (Monday) had a favorable weather forecast for the passage to St. Lucia which is 70 miles, but very much to windward at about 35 degrees. Jake's birthday was a hit with too many presents for him to even play with them all. His favorite are the legos now that he can build with them more easily. We had a nice pizza party with some cake back on the boat.

Then Wednesday morning the weather forecast, due to a slow moving tropical wave, went pear shaped. With our morning weather guy admitting Thursday morning he had no confidence in the forecast beyond 12 hours. Anyway we were patient (trying to apply those lessons from last year) waiting first for the seas to decline, then ideally a ESE wind, and finally a low chance of strong squalls. We waited until Friday night then took a chance leaving at 5 pm for an overnighter. The seas had settled, which was the only real known, but the wind initially was ENE, which was fine to go across to St. Vincent from Bequia. However, as we came around the north end of St. Vincent we got an ESE wind at 12 knots.... 4 foot seas.... a near full moon and one of the best sails we have had. I was reluctant to give up my watch, making coffee and giving Rae Ann an extra couple of hours of sleep. The squalls even stayed away moving around us but never over us.

Our insurance company says hurricane season is over on November 1. Some say December 1. Though what seems to be the most important is that we were blessed with a very light season this year. So we cross our fingers as we move north that we do not get any late season blows.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Bequia

2009-10-26T13:17:00.001Z

It has been a relaxing week in Bequia. We have got to do some very nice snorkeling, seeing many small and unusual fish but nothing big (read edible). We did see 4 eels and an octopus near Petite Nevis which was fun. Jake and Isabelle discovered a beach with caves along the rock cliff, so that is nearly a daily routine now. Bequia is a nice stop from a cruising standpoint with a very protected anchorage, lots of services, food, beverages and generally just very hospitable to boat people.

This is a big week with Jake's 6th birthday on the 27th. He is very excited. Isabelle announced that she would like a baby sister for her birthday, unfortunately with that only 3 weeks away we probably will not deliver. Fortunately Jake is focused on his fishing pole, which I have stashed on board so at least there we will deliver.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

The Race

2009-10-18T18:45:00.000Z

After motoring clear of Horseshoe Reef, The Race, was on. We had given 2 miles to the boat in front of us, having raised anchor later and following it our through the reef. Winds were 15-19 knots out of the ENE, finish line was 18 miles away bearing 27 degrees, seas were running 4-5 feet in a NE swell. The competing boat, and the one in the lead at the start due to their earlier anchor ups, was 40 feet in length and carried a cutter rig.

Given we are still a cruising boat and the kids were below watching movies, we had to be careful about the angle of heel as we made this beat to windward. Thus we began flying a single reef in the main and a triple reef in the genoa, effectively cutting the sail to a 95% jib. Our competitor was flying full canvas, main, jib and cutter. We were easily making 5 knots with the gusts pushing us to 6 knots. For the fun of it we were also fishing as well as for the electric energy towing our water generator. The first hour yielded very little change in the relative position of the two boats.

As we came out of the lee of Canoan, the wind dipped ever so slightly, and we shook out a reef in the geona. Suddenly we were closing the gap. We gave them a faint, showing a pass on their lee side, then hardened up, took yet another reef out of the genoa and ran up onto their stern, barely a half a boat length away. After a momentary stare down, we effortlessly moved up their windward side. We put them in our wind shadow and our lead quickly grew.

The the squall came. 35 knots of wind, lashing rain. We reefed ourselves back down, slowing to 4.5 knots. The competitor still slogging after losing their wind to us, took in their jib.... and turned on their engine! Powering forward dead into the squall. Needless to say our lead vanished and we were again behind by 1 mile, with only 11 to go. We knew though from watching the squalls pass while we were anchored in the Tobago Cays that the strong one brought a temporary but nice SE wind shift. We prepared and when the shift hit, we let out our reefs and pointed up to 50 degrees, picking up speed to 7 knots.

The wind slowly shifted to the ENE again, settling just below 15 knots. We shook out the remaining reefs, working now under full main and genoa. We rounded Admiralty Point 1 mile in the lead.

We are now anchored in Bequia, enjoying this beautiful island and its favorable orientation towards boats of all kinds, having formally a successful whaling station, a strong fishing tradition and a good boat building tradition.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Return to Mopion Island

2009-10-13T20:31:00.000Z

After a nearly 10 year interval we return to Mopion Island. A 50 foot square patch of sand, surrounded by coral reef nearly too shallow to get the dinghy over and sporting nearly all the comforts of civilization; namely it has one 5 foot circular thatch roofed, single pole dwelling.... and nothing else. Bordered on all sides by the Caribbean sea, which breaks up on the island, moving it each year to the left or right. This time rather than the aforementioned "dwelling" was well to the east of the island rather than in the middle. The kids had a blast playing in the sand, getting crashed by the waves and generally running around the island as many times as possible.

This week we left Grenada/Carricou and moved up into the southern Grenadines, visiting Petite St. Vincent, Petite Martinique and Union Island. The fishing has been thinner though I was able to get one more lobster.

We did have a near scare. The water maker failed due to excess salinity above the preset threshold. Running through all the possibilities, bad salinity probe, membrane in need of cleaning, bad membrane or loose connections, I only had the ability to look into the last item, having no membrane cleaning supplies or salinity testing equipment. Very fortunately another cruiser came to our rescue, notably having both cleaning supplies and a hand held salinity probe. We ran the water maker, bypassing the automated salinity alarm and tested the output with the hand held probe .... the water quality was excellent, alas only a faulty automated salinity probe. We have water, which I find better than the alternative .. rum rations only.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Farwell to Grenada

2009-10-04T17:23:00.000Z

We left Grenada this week for the southern Grenadines, Carricou to be exact. Even though we had spent the better part of 6 weeks in Grenada it feels like we left many things unexplored. It is truly a magnificent place to hang out. We wonder if we will be back?

The sail up to the Grenadines held a little bit of everything, no more than 30 minutes out we were hit with a squall that kept building until we had 30 knots of wind and a downpour of rain. Quick work was required to get the sails reduced as we had a full main up. We then had little wind and motored up the coast hugging the depth contours, which rewarded us with a Black Fin Tuna. This was the first fish we have caught trolling, Jake and Isabelle had a blast helping us land the fish. As we left the coast of Grenada the trades began to fill giving us between 13-19 knots of wind. We set sail with a double reef in both main and Genoa making good between 30 and 80 degrees averaging 5 knots, depending on the wind flow around the islands. Our course took us right over Kick'em Jenny and undersea volcano that last erupted in 1989.... but still. We were able to make Carricou in one tack, pretty good for the easting we had to do. We are now anchored off of Sandy Island, which as one would guess is very sandy, though only about 100 yards long.

The fishing of late has been outstanding. I finally found a clean reef on the south side of Grenada (they tend to be covered in algae, which I understand is seasonal, e.g. it is warmer now so more algae) and was able to take a nice sized lobster. Then on the sail up in addition to the Black Fin Tuna we also caught a Mahi Mahi, both smallish, but good fish none the less. After we had anchored we cubed the tuna and ate it raw, a fabulous treat.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com