I have developed a new mantra on this passage: At least it's not cold.
I've been repeating it over and over to myself. It's not helping. We're so ridiculously hot. I'm having trouble sleeping during the day and everything is just uncomfortable and icky. It got so bad that garth actually pulled open the electrical cupboard and installed a fan while we were sailing. It's a computer fan and does almost nothing. But just enough air is being moved around now that we can sleep during the day for short periods of time.
Seems legit...
The other day we gave up and hove to for a swim. The water in this part of the world is body temperature, which was not ideal. But at least it's not cold.
It's been really pleasant sailing aside from the heat. We were going along at a steady pace with light winds and a smooth sea for days, which was lovely. No seasickness. This is the nicest sailing we've had since the trip to Australia from New Caledonia last year. The wind eventually picked up over the last few days, but the waves were still small and we actually managed to stay on a beam reach for most of the way. Yay for not going straight upwind!
Rarotonga disappearing into the distance
Thanks to all the work we did in Rarotonga the boat was a lot more secure this time. We fixed the broken window properly so it didn't leak all over the kitchen as soon as it got splashy or rainy. The net I installed in the bathroom stopped all the junk that usually ends up on the floor from flying around on the floor. It was actually weird walking through the boat and not having to climb over stuff. We're getting better at life, which is exciting. I blame Jerry. He motivated us to actually get off our asses and do things.
The sun setting over Rarotonga
The bilge pump broke on the passage. When Garth's dad sailed with us, he nagged and nagged Garth about leaving bits and pieces floating around in case they ended up in the bilge pump. Which was both amusing and realistic. So after he left I took over the job of constantly picking things up and saying 'Garth! This will end up in the bilge pump!' When it broke, he took it apart and found some slivers of wood rattling around inside. Nobody had to say I told you so. He knows. Though to be fair it probably wasn't really his fault. So hopefully we can fix it, and for the first time we made use of something we bought for our Cat 1 cert in NZ that we wouldn't have bought otherwise: a seriously intense manual bilge pump with pipes long enough to reach from the cockpit all the way through the boat. It's huge and annoying and I'm glad we have it. We're still getting a lot of water in the bilge, so being able to pump it out was important. We're slowly getting closer to figuring out where it's coming from, eliminating one thing at a time. It's not coming through the mast any more anyway!
Obligatory passage sunrise picture
We arrived in Bora Bora early this morning and found a cosy anchorage outside the main town. We're moving onto a mooring buoy tomorrow for the free wifi - it's around $55AUD for a week and you can break the week up by leaving and coming back later on. Which is awesome. If you just come into town for a night and buy a meal at their restaurant you can stay on their moorings for free, which is really nice. Especially considering you get access to toilets, outside showers and an infinity pool as well as the wifi. But if we didn't need Internet access I'd be happy just anchoring like we always do. The anchorage is straight in front of a supermarket, just down from where the moorings are. It's a lot closer to town when you have to row, but we'll unload the push bikes tomorrow and everything will suddenly be a lot easier.
Bora Bora
Our anchorage
Customs here is amazing. We didn't have to radio anybody or stress about anything. We just headed to shore when we were ready and found the police station, where they did all the paperwork. Total cost was $1 to post copies of our forms to Tahiti. We were done in less than half an hour.
Bora Bora sunset
We just explored town today, and spent a lot of money on French cheese, French chocolate and French bread. We also acquired some cheap French wine. Life is good.
Xxx Monique
The sun setting over Rarotonga
Watching the reef as we entered the harbour
I've been repeating it over and over to myself. It's not helping. We're so ridiculously hot. I'm having trouble sleeping during the day and everything is just uncomfortable and icky. It got so bad that garth actually pulled open the electrical cupboard and installed a fan while we were sailing. It's a computer fan and does almost nothing. But just enough air is being moved around now that we can sleep during the day for short periods of time.
The other day we gave up and hove to for a swim. The water in this part of the world is body temperature, which was not ideal. But at least it's not cold.
It's been really pleasant sailing aside from the heat. We were going along at a steady pace with light winds and a smooth sea for days, which was lovely. No seasickness. This is the nicest sailing we've had since the trip to Australia from New Caledonia last year. The wind eventually picked up over the last few days, but the waves were still small and we actually managed to stay on a beam reach for most of the way. Yay for not going straight upwind!
Thanks to all the work we did in Rarotonga the boat was a lot more secure this time. We fixed the broken window properly so it didn't leak all over the kitchen as soon as it got splashy or rainy. The net I installed in the bathroom stopped all the junk that usually ends up on the floor from flying around on the floor. It was actually weird walking through the boat and not having to climb over stuff. We're getting better at life, which is exciting. I blame Jerry. He motivated us to actually get off our asses and do things.
The bilge pump broke on the passage. When Garth's dad sailed with us, he nagged and nagged Garth about leaving bits and pieces floating around in case they ended up in the bilge pump. Which was both amusing and realistic. So after he left I took over the job of constantly picking things up and saying 'Garth! This will end up in the bilge pump!' When it broke, he took it apart and found some slivers of wood rattling around inside. Nobody had to say I told you so. He knows. Though to be fair it probably wasn't really his fault. So hopefully we can fix it, and for the first time we made use of something we bought for our Cat 1 cert in NZ that we wouldn't have bought otherwise: a seriously intense manual bilge pump with pipes long enough to reach from the cockpit all the way through the boat. It's huge and annoying and I'm glad we have it. We're still getting a lot of water in the bilge, so being able to pump it out was important. We're slowly getting closer to figuring out where it's coming from, eliminating one thing at a time. It's not coming through the mast any more anyway!
We arrived in Bora Bora early this morning and found a cosy anchorage outside the main town. We're moving onto a mooring buoy tomorrow for the free wifi - it's around $55AUD for a week and you can break the week up by leaving and coming back later on. Which is awesome. If you just come into town for a night and buy a meal at their restaurant you can stay on their moorings for free, which is really nice. Especially considering you get access to toilets, outside showers and an infinity pool as well as the wifi. But if we didn't need Internet access I'd be happy just anchoring like we always do. The anchorage is straight in front of a supermarket, just down from where the moorings are. It's a lot closer to town when you have to row, but we'll unload the push bikes tomorrow and everything will suddenly be a lot easier.
Customs here is amazing. We didn't have to radio anybody or stress about anything. We just headed to shore when we were ready and found the police station, where they did all the paperwork. Total cost was $1 to post copies of our forms to Tahiti. We were done in less than half an hour.
We just explored town today, and spent a lot of money on French cheese, French chocolate and French bread. We also acquired some cheap French wine. Life is good.
Xxx Monique
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