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Monday 7/01/2013 20:00 17 34.727 S 149 37.341 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:17%2034.727S%20149%2037.341W Papeete, Tahiti Posting by Barb: HAPPY CANADA DAY! Livia and Carol from SV Estrellita ceremoniously dingied around our boat proudly flying the Canadian flag. Yay! It was a beautiful sail to Rotoava on the west end of Fakarava. We stayed there for three nights waiting for the wind to die down so we could snorkel. It blew twenty knots every day while we were there. As we could not snorkel we explored the little town, ate at the local restaurant and did some shopping for supplies, specifically eggs (there seems to be a shortage of eggs in French Polynesia) and Baguettes. We left Fakarava on June 21st, the 100th day since we left Chile, and headed to Tahiti. We anticipated it to be a 3.5 day sail. The first day was a great sail despite the fact that we started it with catching a bird on our fishing line we were trolling. Dennis had to reel it in and use the pliers to free it. It flew away and 2 minutes later it tried to unsuccessfully dive for our lure again. On the second day the wind just disappeared and it was a motor right to Tahiti, 36 hours. On the third night, the moon was out in full color and the ocean was dead calm. I have never experienced such tranquility in the ocean. There was not a ripple to be seen for as far as the eyes could see. It was eerie and unnatural. The ocean is meant to have waves, ripples and rollers. We motored into Papeete and we were anchored by three in the afternoon. I sat in the cockpit for a while and looked out at the city pinching myself with the realization that we had made it to Tahiti. We quickly got the dingy inflated and attached the outboard motor and headed into town. We found the grocery store, just a 5 minute walk, Carrefour, and what a store it was! Dennis and I walked around in awe. We could find anything and everything we needed and have craved for since we left, although at a hefty price. We came back to the boat with everything we needed to make a fully loaded green salad and a couple of fresh pork chops to BBQ. After two days anchored at close proximity (10 feet) to every boat around us, we decided to rent a mooring ball. It felt a little safer plus we got the keys to the showers, cold showers but plenty of water! For the remainder of the 5 days before Pat’s arrival we explored the city, did a little shopping, bought a spear gun, socialized with a few cruisers, cleaned and did maintenance on the boat, washed clothes using $10 a load washers and just enjoyed hanging out. At 3:00 am on Sunday morning, June 30th we left the boat and headed to the airport to pick up Pat. We planned on getting the security guard to call for a taxi but he did not know any taxi phone numbers and neither did we so we hoofed it to the airport. It was a nice, 40 minute fast walk on well lit streets, with the smell of freshly baked baguettes everywhere. There must be a bakery on every corner. We arrived at the airport and waited for Pat’s flight. It arrived a little late and Pat was the last passenger to walk out of the arrival door. Dennis was getting nervous and thought maybe Pat was having trouble with customs due to all the boat parts he was carrying for us. I greeted Pat with a beautiful flower lei and the traditional Tahiti greeting of kisses on both cheeks. Pat was happy as he could now tell people he got leid in the airport! Dennis exclaimed “It took me 3 years to get here but it only took you 16 hours”. As you can tell we will be having lots of fun together. We are so excited to have Pat here. We decided to stay in Tahiti for one more day and celebrate Canada day at the Marina for ‘Happy Hour’ with our great friends Rick and Kyra from SV Nyon who just arrived and with Carol and Livia from SV Estrellita. On Tuesday July 2nd we will leave Tahiti and head for the sister island of Moorea. We are so looking forward to doing a little sailing and spending a few weeks with Pat!

Monday 6/17/2013 14:00 16 31.403 S 145 28.408 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:16%2031.403S%20145%2028.408W Fakarava, Tuamotu Posting by Dennis: We have been here now for six days. The first couple of days we spent exploring the little atolls that are just off the bow. We had a fire on the beach one night with Dreamtime and Estrellita. The next day while I was trying to repairing the grill, which I failed at, Barb added to the graffiti and added the signature ‘Land Fall 2013’ on the floating bar that was there along with other tables and benches that the cruisers have built around the fire ring. At night by flashlight we searched for a glimpse of the elusive coconut crab that lives on the atolls, with no success. I went and tried spear fishing. I think that I am going to try to buy one when I am in Tahiti. It is a lot of fun and gives you a purpose to go out and explore the coral heads that litter the lagoons of the atolls. Some of the coral heads that we have gone out to are four or five miles from the boat so one needs a good dingy and motor. You use a lot of gas running around. The last couple of days we have been snorkeling the pass which is the channel that you go into and out of the atolls. The snorkeling is incredible; you just fly along over the coral that is alive with all kinds of fish. You get used to having all the sharks around. A lot of the time you can see four or five at a time. They said that a couple of weeks ago a six meter hammerhead was seen in the pass with a five foot gray shark in its mouth. I would love to see that. The reef sharks we see are only five or six feet max and are pretty skittish if you try to swim much closer than three or four feet from them. It is like fling through an aquarium, with the unbelievably brightly colored fish. We are trying to take some under water pictures without much success, they just will not hold still long enough. So don’t look for many focused pictures to show up on the blog. Last night we were watching a movie and all of the sudden we hear a hard clunking noise, so we went on deck to check the anchor and the chain was tight straight down, which meant that it was snagged on a coral head. So at eleven o’clock I put on my snorkel gear and went over the side. With the dive light I could see that it was wrapped around the coral head so I had Barb start the engine and let out some more chain while I dove to the bottom and untangled the chain from the coral head. It took me several dives before I was able to get it all unhooked. Then I had Barb back down on the anchor and reset it. I turned off my light and it was really neat snorkeling around by moon light. It gives the coral heads dark eerie feel against the white coral bottom. Shortly I was back on the boat, rinsed off and we resumed with the movie. I love movie night, we have popcorn and lay and watch the laptop. Tonight we had another bonfire on the beach. There were probably eight dingys anchored just off the shore, you never run your dingy onto shore, the coral eats them. It was a great time chatting with people from all over the world and all heading to new and exciting places. Everyone is sharing information about different islands and were to go and were not to go. I find it very enlightening and I learn so much. Tomorrow we will be leaving this anchorage and heading to the West end of the atoll, it should be an easy forty mile sail.

Monday 6/06/13 16 39.422 S 143 23.590 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:16%2039.422S%20143%2023.590W Makemo, Tuamotu Posting by Barb: It was a fast sail from Raroia to Makemo. We even had to reef the main to slow down the boat. We arrived at the channel entrance at 4 am so we still had to heave to for 2 hours before we could motor through the pass. This pass was a ‘piece of cake’ now that we have the right time for the low and high tides. We headed into the small town and noticed that Rick and Kira on their boat Nyon were still there so we anchored nearby. It was a rolly anchorage and at times the boat would rock so much that the bow would take a dive and disappear into the water. We only stayed there a day and night to explore the town and pick up supplies. A couple of Baguettes, 2 small packs of Velveeta cheese (to use for Dennis famous bean dip) and a six pack of beer came to $30. We will not be stocking up the boat much in the Tuamotos. The next day we followed Nyon, navigating carefully through the hundreds of coral heads hiding inches below the water surface. It took us 3 hours to go 10 miles. We arrived safely at our new anchorage and we were greeted by white coral beaches, palm trees and teal, blue water. We were the only 2 boats there. Sitting on the boat and taking in the surroundings I realized that this is what I would picture as the dream vacation place! Hopefully the pictures we took will bring out the beauty of this anchorage. The flat dry, atolls are so different from the Marquesa islands. As soon as we were anchored, the four of us headed out to explore the islands. Dennis wandered off, as he usually does, and joined us back at the dingy to inform us that he had bumped into a local man who, in French, had invited us for dinner at 6. Rick, Kira and I were skeptical of the plan as we weren’t sure Dennis had interpreted the message correctly. Dennis insisted that we go. So at 6 we took the dingy to shore. We were greeted by the local, Otto, and his 2 friends. We were escorted to their home which was a 12X14 hut on posts and corrugated metal for a roof just a dirt floor. They sat us down and served us coconut milk straight out of the coconut. They were drinking some kind of alcohol drink straight out of a large plastic jug. It was obvious that they were getting drunk very quickly. Despite that, they served us a fine meal of Parrot fish served as Sashimi (raw fish), Poisson Cruz and deep fried. To go with that they had a huge pot of cooked rice. They stood over us and made sure we had everything we needed. With each sip of coconut milk they would come running with a new coconut for re-fills. Otto actually just tore the top of the coconut with his teeth and handed the coconut drink over to us. We asked that they sit with us and eat but they told us it was their custom to eat after the guests were gone. Kira could speak great French so she had to do the conversing and translate for us. It was an interesting night and of course we had to thank Dennis for that adventure. Otto invited Rick and Dennis to come back the next night to go Prawn fishing but that never happened as for the most part the ‘local boys’ seemed to be intoxicated every night. We gave them homemade banana bread as gifts to thank them for the fine welcome they showed us! We went snorkeling for the first time since we landed in the South Pacific. There were lots of coral heads to explore and an abundance of reef fish. Getting to the coral heads meant going in the dingy and heading out miles away from the shore and the boats. We would find a reef, jump in, snorkel for a while, get back on the boat and search for the next reef. I will have to get a ‘Coral Reef fish’ book so that I can start identifying all the fish that I see. There were of course a few 3-4 feet sharks swimming about. They were more interested in Rick and his spear fishing. Even though the sharks didn’t seem to be interested in me, they still made me nervous. Rick managed to spear about 5 fish in total. Dennis seemed to be very interested in the spear fishing so that may be a new toy for him. On our last night we were invited to have a fine meal of fish and chips on Nyon. It’s been so long since I have had ‘Fish-n-chips’, although it was the healthier version of Newfoundland’s Ches’s battered fish and deep fried French fries. After 4 days of hanging out together and spending the days doing boat chores and snorkeling, we said our goodbyes to Rick and Kira and motored out of the atoll on to our next island destination, Fakareva, a 20 hour sail.

Monday 5/30/13 16 02.419 S 142 28.284 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:16%2002.419S%20142%2028.284W Raroia, Tuamotu Posting by Dennis: We left the Baie D’ Hakahau on the May 30 and headed for Raroia in the Tuamotu atolls. The sail was very fast and we covered the 450 miles in just over three days. We caught another tuna the first day out, which Barb was not that excited about because she was a little sea sick. It was the first time she was sick since we left Chile 78 days before. I admit it was pretty rolly having twenty plus knots on the beam will do that. Having the wind on the beam gives you amazing speed, and at night it seems even more so. The first night the seas were at least twenty feet and were often breaking into the cockpit. The wind howled around in the rigging which just adds to the total sensation. We had the yankee out and the main triple reefed, it was a great ride! The tuna we caught just before dark and we made poisson cruz for dinner. The next day we had fried fish sandwiches and then the rest we made tuna salad. Fresh tuna makes the best tuna salad sandwiches. It tastes nothing at all like canned tuna. When we got to Raroia we plunged through the out flowing current, because Dennis didn’t figure the tides correctly, I had the plotter set to UTC time. Once inside the pass we motored along the islands and anchored in front of the village. The spot was very tight with coral heads all around us. We even scraped up against one as we circled around. The anchorage turned out to be terrible because the wind blew across the entire atoll and the boat bounced around badly. We blew up the dingy and got the motor on it, in spite of the back of the boat leaping up and down three feet. Then it was off to shore to explore. We had hardly gotten off the pier when we were approached by a woman who greeted us warmly and insisted that we come to her house for dinner. We were both taken back and basically just said ok. Barb was pretty nervous about it and very suspicious. She also told us about the town. From where we were standing we could see the entire town, one block south was the airport, one block north was the pearl farm, one block west was the stone church, and the pier was behind us to east. The airport was kind of funny because it had a huge parking lot and with only a half dozen cars on the island, it seemed pretty ridiculous. It is surprising just how many pickups there are on these little atolls, from what we can see it is more of a status symbol. There is nowhere to drive to. Anyway, after walking every street in town we headed back to the boat. After a couple of hours of rocking and rolling it was time to head back into the village for dinner. Barb was coming up with every excuse she could, she did not like going to someone’s house she did not even know. But off we went pounding the dingy through the waves. When we reached the pier Tatiana was waiting for us. Let’s just say that Tatiana has a gift of gab. So we learned all about her family and all the things that went on around the town. She cooked us a wonderful meal of steamed jack fish and some fresh poisson cruz, which is raw fish in lime juice and olive oil. By the time we finished that it was ten o’clock and we needed to head back to the boat. So we promised to stop by in the morning and look at some black pearls she had to sell. The next day was so windy that we ended up not leaving the boat at all. We just hung out, read, and did a few little projects around the boat. The next day the wind was not all that much better but we were tired of sitting on the boat and we were ready to leave. So we took the dingy to shore wearing our rain coats, not that they did that much good, walked over to Tatiana’s house were as soon as she saw us we had to have lunch. After lunch we watched her daughter do her traditional song and dance and then Barb was ushered into the other room to look at all the pearls. After her big purchase we said our goodbyes and headed back to the boat. The wind was still blowing twenty knots but we decided to leave, it is always blowing twenty knots. As soon as we started pulling the anchor up the wind went to thirty and it started to rain. By this time we were committed to leaving and the wind picked up even more. Barb ran the windlass and I was at the wheel. I did not realize that the anchor was free and the wind grabbed the bow and pushed it hard to the port. I yelled to barb asking if we were free and she nodded her head yes, so I gave it full throttle and spun the wheel hard over then Barb yelled that there was a coral head just ahead so I threw it into reverse. As soon as I did the wind grabbed the bow and spun it down wind. I tried to back us out of this little hole we were in but couldn’t back against the wind, we were slowly heading for the beach. So I put it into forward and slammed the throttle wide open and spun the wheel hard over and prayed that we did not hit the coral head that was right in front of us. I did not know whether I would have enough power to push the bow around into the wind, but we cleared the coral head and the bow came around and we headed out toward the pass to the ocean and safety. By now the wind was blowing over forty knots and the rain was coming down in sheets. I just headed us for the pass. It was raining so hard that at times I could not see the markers and the wind was on the beam pushing us sideways toward the beach. I just watched the plotter screen and at times we were crabbing sideways at a forty-five degree angle. I was shaking so badly, not just from the cold but from the adrenaline rush and the fear of knowing how close we came to losing the boat. As we entered the pass the current was blasting out and it met the current that was trying to come in it created a very messy sea with waves four feet high and eddies that were pushing the boat this way and that. Once we cleared the pass the current settled down. We raised the triple reefed main and rolled out the yankee. Soon we were doing over seven knots toward the next island, Makemo.

Monday 5/30/13 16 02.419 S 142 28.284 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:16%2002.419S%20142%2028.284W Raroia, Tuamotu Posting by Dennis: We left the Baie D’ Hakahau on the May 30 and headed for Raroia in the Tuamotu atolls. The sail was very fast and we covered the 450 miles in just over three days. We caught another tuna the first day out, which Barb was not that excited about because she was a little sea sick. It was the first time she was sick since we left Chile 78 days before. I admit it was pretty rolly having twenty plus knots on the beam will do that. Having the wind on the beam gives you amazing speed, and at night it seems even more so. The first night the seas were at least twenty feet and were often breaking into the cockpit. The wind howled around in the rigging which just adds to the total sensation. We had the yankee out and the main triple reefed, it was a great ride! The tuna we caught just before dark and we made poisson cruz for dinner. The next day we had fried fish sandwiches and then the rest we made tuna salad. Fresh tuna makes the best tuna salad sandwiches. It tastes nothing at all like canned tuna. When we got to Raroia we plunged through the out flowing current, because Dennis didn’t figure the tides correctly, I had the plotter set to UTC time. Once inside the pass we motored along the islands and anchored in front of the village. The spot was very tight with coral heads all around us. We even scraped up against one as we circled around. The anchorage turned out to be terrible because the wind blew across the entire atoll and the boat bounced around badly. We blew up the dingy and got the motor on it, in spite of the back of the boat leaping up and down three feet. Then it was off to shore to explore. We had hardly gotten off the pier when we were approached by a woman who greeted us warmly and insisted that we come to her house for dinner. We were both taken back and basically just said ok. Barb was pretty nervous about it and very suspicious. She also told us about the town. From where we were standing we could see the entire town, one block south was the airport, one block north was the pearl farm, one block west was the stone church, and the pier was behind us to east. The airport was kind of funny because it had a huge parking lot and with only a half dozen cars on the island, it seemed pretty ridiculous. It is surprising just how many pickups there are on these little atolls, from what we can see it is more of a status symbol. There is nowhere to drive to. Anyway, after walking every street in town we headed back to the boat. After a couple of hours of rocking and rolling it was time to head back into the village for dinner. Barb was coming up with every excuse she could, she did not like going to someone’s house she did not even know. But off we went pounding the dingy through the waves. When we reached the pier Tatiana was waiting for us. Let’s just say that Tatiana has a gift of gab. So we learned all about her family and all the things that went on around the town. She cooked us a wonderful meal of steamed jack fish and some fresh poisson cruz, which is raw fish in lime juice and olive oil. By the time we finished that it was ten o’clock and we needed to head back to the boat. So we promised to stop by in the morning and look at some black pearls she had to sell. The next day was so windy that we ended up not leaving the boat at all. We just hung out, read, and did a few little projects around the boat. The next day the wind was not all that much better but we were tired of sitting on the boat and we were ready to leave. So we took the dingy to shore wearing our rain coats, not that they did that much good, walked over to Tatiana’s house were as soon as she saw us we had to have lunch. After lunch we watched her daughter do her traditional song and dance and then Barb was ushered into the other room to look at all the pearls. After her big purchase we said our goodbyes and headed back to the boat. The wind was still blowing twenty knots but we decided to leave, it is always blowing twenty knots. As soon as we started pulling the anchor up the wind went to thirty and it started to rain. By this time we were committed to leaving and the wind picked up even more. Barb ran the windlass and I was at the wheel. I did not realize that the anchor was free and the wind grabbed the bow and pushed it hard to the port. I yelled to barb asking if we were free and she nodded her head yes, so I gave it full throttle and spun the wheel hard over then Barb yelled that there was a coral head just ahead so I threw it into reverse. As soon as I did the wind grabbed the bow and spun it down wind. I tried to back us out of this little hole we were in but couldn’t back against the wind, we were slowly heading for the beach. So I put it into forward and slammed the throttle wide open and spun the wheel hard over and prayed that we did not hit the coral head that was right in front of us. I did not know whether I would have enough power to push the bow around into the wind, but we cleared the coral head and the bow came around and we headed out toward the pass to the ocean and safety. By now the wind was blowing over forty knots and the rain was coming down in sheets. I just headed us for the pass. It was raining so hard that at times I could not see the markers and the wind was on the beam pushing us sideways toward the beach. I just watched the plotter screen and at times we were crabbing sideways at a forty-five degree angle. I was shaking so badly, not just from the cold but from the adrenaline rush and the fear of knowing how close we came to losing the boat. As we entered the pass the current was blasting out and it met the current that was trying to come in it created a very messy sea with waves four feet high and eddies that were pushing the boat this way and that. Once we cleared the pass the current settled down. We raised the triple reefed main and rolled out the yankee. Soon we were doing over seven knots toward the next island, Makemo.

Monday 6/03/13 16:00 09 21.482 S 140 02.909 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:09%2021.482S%20140%2002.909W Baie De Taioa, Nuka Hiva and Baie De D’Hakahau, Ua Pou Posting by Barb: Baie De Taioa was probably the prettiest anchorage that we have been at the Marquesa. Once inside the bay you could no longer see the ocean so it was very safe and protected. The east facing pinnacles were magnificent and Dennis did manage to take some good pictures there. There were only 5 boats anchored there and one of the boats, Nyon, belonged to our friends Rick and Kira. Nyon is a 55 year old wood boat that they have refurbished over the last ten years. We arrived in Baie de Taioa shortly before lunch and within an hour we had jumped in the water and started the now weekly task of cleaning the water line on our boat. It is amazing just how fast the algae grow on the boat and how hard it is to scrub off. The next day Rick, Kira, Dennis and I set out at 8 in the morning for the 4.5 hour hike to the world’s third highest waterfall. The hike was breathtaking. It started out with a walk through the village surrounded by flowers and fruit trees. The place was like walking through a garden with all sorts of very unusual plants, at least for us. From there we had to cross over several swollen streams due to all of the rain that had fallen on the last couple of days, sometimes the water was waist deep with a pretty strong current. We walked through an overgrown forest which contained trees with twisted roots and thick foliage. Some of the trail went through ancient ruins with stone lined paths using boulders that would have taken dozens of natives to carry and ruins of the foundations of the Polynesian people that had lived there hundreds of years ago. All of it over grown with thick trees and vines. As we got near the falls the trail started meandering through a canyon and the wet mist intensified until we felt like we were in perpetual rain surrounded by lush green foliage. We could only see the top of the falls as the base was behind a canyon. Dennis and Rick attempted to swim to the base. They disappeared around the canyon bend and it left Kira and I wondering what was going on. I asked Kira how long we would have to wait before we could go ahead and eat their portion of the lunch! They returned after 10 minutes unable to get to the base as the water was too deep and the current was too strong. They encouraged Kira and me to jump into the murky water as they said it was very refreshing. Kira jumped in but as I am not a water baby and nervous about the large fresh water eel I saw the day before, I opted to sit and watch. Suddenly rocks started to tumble into the little pool from the overhanging cliffs and all three were very, very quick scrambling out of the water. We should have probably heeded the posted ‘falling rock’ warning sign! On the way back, as we were crossing one of the streams, Kira and I spotted an eel. It swam towards me and it had plans to go between my legs if I had not screamed and jumped. I had a premonition that I would meet the eel on our hike! We got back around 2:00 in the afternoon and had to row back to the boat as our dingy motor had died on the way in to shore. No fear, Dennis had it working within the hour after he cleaned the carburetor. We had supper on Nyon, Rick cooked us a wonderful spaghetti dinner, and we were relieved that we didn’t have to cook. In the morning we said our goodbye’s with the hopes of meeting up with Nyon in the Tuamotu atolls and headed south towards island of Ua Pou thirty miles away. Baie d’Hakahau in Ua Pou was a very rolly anchorage which required a stern anchor. The view of the town included a back drop of several beautiful spires which only made themselves visible occasionally due to the cloud cover. We of course hiked through the town and scoped out all the grocery stores. Dennis is such a wimp when it comes to the heat. That is our normal routine now at every anchorage. We had a great meal at Rosalie’s restaurant and we ordered our meal with the help of the Custom’s officer, who said he eats there everyday. He spoke relatively good English and suggested we order the ginger beef and the tuna tartar, both dishes which were not on the menu designed for the tourists. While we were in Baie d’ Hakahau I took advantage of the good internet connection and uploaded pictures to the blog. It meant staying up most of the night to get the best internet connection. During the day we hiked around town looking for the few supplies we needed. What we needed most of all was fruit, because we know that it is not going to available in the Tuamotu. They don’t seem to sell fruit in the stores because everyone has fruit trees in their yards or know someone to get it from. We managed to arrange to have a huge bunch of bananas, a dozen pamplemousse, dozen mangos, and a half a dozen unknown fruits delivered to the pier. After securing them to the radar arch, Dennis continued to work on the head again and it still is not fixed. So we said goodbye to the Marquises and started our 425 mile sail to the Tuamotu Archipelago islands.

Well we have finally uploaded the pictures we have taken so far!! They are listed by the islands we have visited but are not organized in order yet. You can see them by hitting the photo album tab at the top of the web page. Posting the pictures turned out to be a real feat with the internet we have here. Barb ended up staying up most of the last to nights working on it. Tomorrow morning we will be leaving and heading for the Tuamotus. The trip will take us about five days, if we have good wind.

Saturday 5/25/13 9:30 08 54.873 S 140 06.079 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:08%2054.873S%20140%2006.079W Baie De Taiohae – Nuku Hiva Posting by Barb: It was only an 8 mile sail from Baie Du Controleur to Baie De Taiohae. The bay is fairly long so we had to motor out for a while until we got to open sea. We spotted some more Manta Rays and I think Dennis would have jumped in again had we not put away our Dingy. It was an easy sail with about 10 knots of wind. When we pulled into Bay De Taiohae there were about 40 sail boats here. The bay used to be a volcanic crater and the south facing side of the crater collapsed and created the bay. By chance we ended up anchoring next to the Vancouver couple, Rick and Kira, which was nice as we have a great time with them. We have been in Taiohae for a week and are now moving on. It has been great to have internet again, although not cheap, and we have re-connected with many family and friends. The internet is very slow during the day so we have gotten into a schedule where we are in bed by 7:30 (it gets dark here by 6:30) and we are up at 3:00 am making phone calls and sending emails. Even then, the internet was unreliable. We have walked from one end of town to the other many times and we have found 2 grocery stores (the size of a 7-11), a small hardware store which is behind a counter so everything you need requires a clerk who barely speaks English, 3 restaurants as well as a nice water front dock with a few more open snack bar type restaurants and a few stores. There is also a 3 star resort here which seems to be for the most part deserted. We have gone out a couple of times to enjoy the local cooking and also had a night of Pizza and beer, much to Dennis’s delight. I am still waiting for the place that will serve wings and beer (there seem to be enough chickens running around free to make that possible)! We have also had a movie night out with Rick and Kira to watch some French Polynesia documentaries (one about the nuclear testing in the Tuamoto by the French Government which had English sub-titles and another about locals of Vanuatu attempting to make a living by entertaining tourists with re-enactments of the way they hunted-trapped humans when cannibalism was an accepted practice (this one was in French only but we could interpret the jest of the story line). The best part was that the little theater was air conditioned and for the first time in 60 days we were actually cold! On one of our daily walks we stopped at the dock and watched some local fishermen cleaning their Yellow Fin Tuna fish catch. We wanted to see how they cleaned it and learn from it so we would know what to do the next time we catch our fish. They were throwing the fish remnants into the water and the water was just boiling and churning with sharks all fighting for the fish snacks. There were about 10 of them and all about 5-6 feet long. After that we were extra careful getting in and out of the dingy and climb the slippery ladder to the dock. We decided to take on the project of fixing our Auto Pilot. We will need it for the longer sails. One of the things we had to determine was if it was fixable or whether we would have to purchase a new Auto Pilot. So we tore the boat apart, took out all our tools and emptied out the lasarette which holds our generator, 100 lb’s of spare line, spare anchor and many other important spare parts. Dennis contorted himself into a little ball and crawled into the 4 foot space where the Auto Pilot is located. It was no easy feat to disassemble the base which was corroded and completely seized up and no longer rotating the way it was supposed to (no wonder it quit working). With the help of the internet and a B&G technician in Florida we managed to get the help we needed to bleed the RAM and get it working. The base we took to the Yacht Services who would, for a price, bring it to a mechanic with the right tools (a torch) to make the corroded base rotate again. From there we had to use some creativity to come up with the tools to bleed the RAM. And if you all know Dennis, we creatively fixed the Auto Pilot. Yes, we are good to go! So we have re-filled the propane tank, re-fueled the boat, bought a few fresh vegetables, fruit and French Baguettes and we will be leaving here shortly. We plan to make a one to two night anchorage stop at Bay de Taioa, about 5 miles from here, and then on to the last island we will visit in the Marquesa, Ua Pou. We have a tighter timeline now because we have to get to Tahiti by June 28th as Pat Moriarity is coming for a 17 day visit. Yay!! We are so excited. We welcome visits from friends, especially since our ‘bed bug’ issue is no longer an issue, we think?

Friday 5/17/13 20:30 08 52.874 S 140 02.832 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:08%2052.874S%20140%2002.831W Baie D’Anaho and Bai Du Controleur – Nuku Hiva Posting by Barb: We left Baie the Vaipaee at 6:00 am, Saturday on May 11th. The wind was still gusting and I was apprehensive about leaving and having to navigate through the narrow channel but it all worked out ok once we struggled with the stern anchor for a little while. We had a great downwind 5 hour sail. We sailed wing on wing with the Main and the 160. It was a pretty tight course so we could not use the wind vane and so we took turns at the helm. We so miss the auto pilot!! We were joined by a pod of dolphins again and they kept us company for part of an hour. Baie D’Anaho was a beautiful sheltered anchorage with white sand, Coral reefs, sea turtles and mountains. As we motored into the bay it didn’t look like there were any other sailboats there but as we got close we saw the boats anchored around a point. There were about 6 boats there. We decided we should stay here for a couple of days. We got a chance to clean the boat, wash some clothes by hand and socialize a little with a couple from Vancouver and do a couple of hikes. On one hike we went over a steep divide to the town on the other side. It was a 3 hour hike in total. It was a nice little town with a great restaurant. We ate lunch there. We started with a nice cold beer and then I had the Poisson Cruz which is raw fish marinated in lime juice and then tossed it coconut milk with other vegetables such as cucumbers, ginger and little tidbits of carrots. Dennis had curried goat. The food was great. The restaurant was just an open deck and there were chickens and cats roaming around and we were served by a Polynesian lady who ran around in bare feet. This along with the lizards crawling around the ceiling eating the flies made it an interesting experience. On the hike back we got caught in a downpour which turned the trail into a little trickling stream. It was difficult to run down hill on the slippery slope. Dennis did fall and got covered in mud. I, being the conservative one as well, did not laugh, ha ha. Well it was pretty funny!!! The next hike took us to a vegetable garden where we bought some vegetables such as cucumbers, Kale, tomatoes and green peppers. We also bought a little water melon. From there we went to a beautiful beach that had great waves rolling in. We stripped naked and tackled the waves. The white beach was a mile long and other than the large population of small crabs, we were the only ones there. The price we paid for such a beautiful hike was a barrage of ‘no-no’ bites. The next day, after spending every waking moment scratching I tried to count the bug bites and kind of lost interest after the 100th fly bite! They didn’t seem to like Dennis as much. On Thursday we left Baie D’Anaho and sailed to Bai de Controleur. It was a rough sail into the wind and we sailed to close to shore so the waves were erratic and it made for a rough sail. We again could not use the wind vane and took turns at the helm. There were no sail boats here and the anchorage was not as pretty as the last. There was a small town at the head of the bay but the people did not seem as friendly as the locals on the last island. We hiked up hill for an hour to the ruins of an archeological site which had several large tikis and a marae which is a ceremonial platform used by chieftains for worship, burials and sometimes human sacrifices. Although the site had historical meaning it really did not look like much. Tomorrow, Saturday May 18th , we leave here and sail the 8 miles to the largest town in the Marquesas called Taiohae. There we hope to get access to internet and we will have to stock up supplies, propane and fuel for the next 30 days as we make our way through the Tuamotu Archipelago.

Friday 5/10/13 20:30 08 56.418 S 139 34.362 W http://maps.google.com/?z=7&t=k&q=loc:08 56.418S 139 34.362W Baie de Vaipaee Posting by Dennis: We had a wonderful sail here the night before last. We pulled up anchor around 6:30 in the evening and headed out of Baie Hanatekuua and headed northwest to the island of Ua Huka. It was a great sail with the wind on the starboard beam and the windvane steered us pretty well the whole way, that is with a constant eye on it. We had the 60 mile run in less than ten hours, which got us here at four in the morning. We had to then heave to until it got light, around 6:30, and then wandered in to this anchorage. It is a narrow canyon like bay with vertical sides and shallows up to twenty feet about half way back. After dropping the bow anchor we blow up the dingy and put out a steer anchor so we do not swing into the sides of the canyon and also helps keep the bow pointed toward the opening were the waves come rolling in. And they roll in continuously, they then ricochet off the walls of the canyon and roll the boat this way and that in no kind of pattern at all. So moving around the boat is unusually tricky. You tend to bounce off things more than usual. We went for a hike around the little village, people are very friendly and everyone greets you and waves as they go by. Most of the homes here are very nice and most seem to have fairly new pickups. Where they drive to is beyond me. But the place seems pretty affluent. The water in the bay is really disgusting because everything from the village dumps in there, and I mean everything. The water is pretty much trapped in the harbor and without much tide it does not flush out at all. This afternoon we went for a hike up into the valley. It is very lush. Barb insisted on picking some mangos but in doing so she ended up tumbling twenty feet head over heels before she snagged on a tree branch. I being the conservative one did not laugh as she whimpered over a couple of minor scrapes. I just pointed out a couple of other mangos she should get while she was down there anyway. They were very tasty as we ate them on our march to the top of the mountain. On our way back to the boat we found a little restaurant. The menu was taped to the fridge and consisted of four things, Steak and fries, chicken and fries, Chow Mein, and Raw fish marinated in lime juice. After seeing were they get the fish we decided that would not be a good choice. So I had chicken and Barb had Chow Mein. They were both very good. Mine was barbecued over a split 55 drum and Barbs was chicken and fresh vegetables. I asked the lady about some fruit she had there and ended up with four more Pamplemousse. I love them, we have one every morning for breakfast. Just as we were leaving it started to pour. So we ended up running to the boat when we reach the pier there were four guys that were cleaning a pile of goats they had shot. Wild horses and goats are a real problem here and are the main cause of the land being stripped of its vegetation. They say there are over ten thousand on this little island. The people in the islands here are so friendly everyone waves as the drive by and if you walk by their house they always greet you. I was talking to a guy a few days ago and I asked him if he ever that about leaving his little village of less than three hundred people. He looked shocked and dismayed and asked me why would he. I asked him if he went to town and he said once a year and said it cost about 5000 Polynesian francs, about fifty five dollars. He had no car and worked collecting coconuts. He had a wife and three children and was perfectly content with his life. As I left he gave me three Pamplemousse. I felt bad I had nothing to give in return. It was a very humbling experience.