SUWARROW ATOLL (Cook Islands):

Suwarrow Island is unlike anyplace we have ever been before. Upon arrival it appeared to us as the epitome of the idyllic south pacific atoll. Geographically, Suwarrow is several little islets, motus, clumps of land, interspersed with long, hidden and very malevolent reefs.

We arrived during an uncharacteristic period of very high winds. This tested our ability to withstand a gale a anchor, doing without much sleep or comfort, as GRACE pitched and swerved and moved constantly in the large swells in the lagoon. We anchored off Anchorage Island, which is where the atoll's only residents live, the "warden", his wife, and their four sons.

Eight boats were with us in the anchorage. One each from the Canada, Holland, New Zealand and Australia, two from France and two from the US. Amongst them, six kids, a professional crew couple, and a dog. Radio calls come in several languages, although English is the lingua franca. Courtesy and goodwill abound. Astounding to note that French sailors have heard of s/v Grace as an American boat that does speak/understand some French. Ha! We even got credit for another radio relay that was done by a Frenchwoman NOT by us.

When the seas died down a bit the brave crawled into their dinghies to hazard the crossing to visit other boats in the anchorage for some tea/coffee/scotch/ intellectual stimulation/games/books, magazine and DVD trading. A relatively recent Economist Magazine is a hot item.

You can’t help but wonder how many boats and gear etc. are eaten up by these reefs over the years, as they get mercilessly stolen by the seas as one clambers up and down from the dingy to the sailboat, with waves smashing you and boat and gear against the hull. Suwarrow lagoon is filled with sharks, rays, and large sea turtles. We were amazed at how the sharks would congregate around the boats, as if waiting for us to either jump into the water or to throw them some goodies. All they got from us was Sally’s rubber shoe.

We have loved Suwarrow. Not just a small bit, but alot. The atoll is gorgeous. There are more colors of blue in the water than one can possibly imagine. We have seen colonies of sea cucumbers, eels, lizards, and plenty of coconut crabs. The family living here is quite lovely. "John" is serious about protecting the atoll and its natural beauty. He is also a wonderful storyteller. One night, we all had a potluck ashore. John and Veronica's sons had caught some grouper, so Geoff helped grill those for everyone; they also made coconut pancakes, and had Sally slicing and then frying breadfruit -- like potato crisps. Veronica and Sally traded family stories in the "kitchen" while cooking together. During the time they are there, their protein source is either freshly caught fish or SPAM. (What a choice!)

We left an IHYC burgee at the "Suwarrow Yacht Club" with s/v Grace and our names, just in case any others come by and recognize it.

It was easy to feel part of a family here on this atoll. When we sailed off, we were given pleasant goodbyes via radio from the other boats in the anchorage, and Jeremiah, John and Veronica's 12 year old son, stood ashore blowing a conch horn in honor of our departure.

FRENCH POLYNESIA

Ou vas tu nuage?
Je ne sais, enfant
Je fait mon voyage
Comme il plait au vent.
(HS French class – merci Mme. Feinglass!)

Meeting and Leaving:

We have found that the cruising life is either very social or extremely solitary. When in a larger port, we often find ourselves part of nightly social events with friends and other cruising sailors. On the other hand, we are in such ports infrequently. Much of the time, we are in quiet anchorages with few if any other boats. On passage, we are very definitely alone. The contrast is striking and makes us appreciate both our solitude and our periods of frequent interaction with other cruisers and the locals we meet along the way.

Cruisers have different reactions as they meet each new environment. A few miss the comforts of familiar food or language. We find that we relish the differences, adapting well to the change from fresh tortillas to fresh baguettes, from tacos to steak frites. While our French is far from fluent, between the two of us we can communicate well enough, earning comments from the locals who are surprised to hear Americans speaking any French, however bad.

Some things remain the same. Everywhere, we are able to find local cookies to stoke Geoff’s habit. Despite Sally’s culinary prowess, she has thus far proven herself incapable of making bread in a pressure cooker that is palatable. Some things are best given up.

MORTALITY AND MORBITIY (human and equipment):

Human: We have been struck by the number of friends and acquaintances amongst the cruising community who have suffered from serious illness during this past year. For example: three heart attack/stroke victims; one case of leukemia; one case of brain cancer; one case of heart failure and, of course, Sally’s injuries from being hit by a motorcycle. Fortunately, all of these folks are still very much alive and kicking.

At first, we thought this record of illness was pretty extraordinary. But perhaps not. The average lifespan in the US is in the 70s for both men and women. So, if the arithmetic is to work, a lot of us have to be moving-on in our 50s and 60s. This, of course, is just the age group constituting most of the cruising community. So, we have concluded that what seems a high rate of morbidity is likely just a reflection of the age group of which we are a part and with which we generally travel. A reminder not to take life for granted.

Equipment: Stainless steel is an oxymoron. Sally has not been happy to see how much rust can accumulate on supposedly “stainless” steel. After years of using “NeverDull”, fellow cruiser Carl on s/v Liberty, has introduced us to the best defense against rust on a boat: a good scrub with WD-40. It removes the rust and keeps it away for much longer than any other product we have tried.

We have also been surprised at how much chafe and general wear-and-tear there is on lines and equipment, even blocks. A new Lewmar block (2 ton safe working load!) suffered from a bent axel after only a few days trial at sea. These are not just annoyances, but real problems as one cannot just replace gear at sea nor in the tiny anchorages we often frequent.

BORA BORA:

We had a lovely time on Bora Bora. We were able to anchor in the lee of a motu inside the reef, and it has been the calmest anchorage we have been to yet. We were welcomed by friends Horst and Julia on s/v Pacific Star, and felt like we had arrived in paradise. We dingyed to the main island for groceries, bank, and official documentations, and to the reef for spectacular views of literally dozens for large manta rays that would come up to the dingy looking for snacks. Sunsets were gorgeous.

We enjoyed the local festival of “artisan mamas” making items out of palm leaves, and virile men husking coconuts for the copra. We walked from the famed restaurant “Bloody Mary’s” (where we ate some of the best fish ever) to the other side of Bora Bora to the beach which was full of children playing in beautiful waters.

Our final night in Bora Bora was at the Bora Bora Yacht Club, where we had a lovely hot shower “a deux”, cool drinks and delightful atmosphere. In general, we found French Polynesia to be beautiful, affluent, and verdant. We were able to find all sorts of culinary delicacies -- even in small stores in Quaint villages.

It is easy to understand why it is such a popular vacation destination.

RAIATEA:

This is where the only boatyards outside of Tahiti can be found. We arrived as our friends Dave and Candy put s/v CHINOOK on the hard. It was sad to say “goodbye”. They will be back to cruise French Polynesia next year. This is also where Paul and Gina left s/v SOLACE while Paul gets much needed medical care back home in New Zealand. We will miss both couples as we move ahead. Some people you meet while at sea are “keepers”. We plan to visit Paul and Gina on South Island sometime in coming months.

In French Polynesia, they do not use propane for cooking, they use butane. OK, no big deal, yet they also use different nozzles and do not necessarily use a pump to transfer the gas. We had to watch while our tank was gravity-fed with butane. Effective, but seemingly a bit crude given the explosive nature of butane.

TAHA'A:

The Vanilla Island. This has perhaps been our favorite place thus far. Everything can and does grow here. We learned about Nono fruit which produces a serotonin equivalent, it also has roots that have an antiseptic quality.

A local woman commented that the men here are lazy. Why work if they don’t need to in order to survive? Fruit and veggies grow wild and in abundance here. If you are hungry you just can grab a fish or a chicken or some fruit from anywhere around you, you don’t need to work hard.

We took a free mooring at a Pearl Farm. The farm guide (Maurice) was very talkative about island agriculture and life. Tahitian pearls come from an oyster called the “pinctada margaritifera”. The characteristic hues of the Tahitian pearls come from the variegated nacre of the shell. He arranged for Karl, who used to teach native Tahitian dancing in Papeete, to give us a ride in his car to a neighboring vanilla farm, inherited by a Tahitian woman from her grandfather and run by her and her Danish ex-French Foreign Legion husband. The air was redolent of drying vanilla. This couple’s family farm does not use greenhouses, a practice that is being promoted by the local government. They must first plant a host tree and cultivate the vanilla orchid on its host. After 3 years the vanilla is suitable to be harvested. The vanilla must be dried (like tobacco leaves). It is difficult for this small producer to sell to world markets. Prices to the grower are very low, yet vanilla commands a very high retail price. Smaller vanilla beans are the best. We left feeling as if our pores were secreting vanilla. It was wonderful, and we had a great walk back to the boat.

Flowers adorn everything, bougainvilleas on drinks in bars, flowers behind left or right ear (depending on married or not), and it seems all elderly ladies heads are encircled with wreathes of mixed flowers in their hair, going about daily lives.

Taha’a is characterized by deep anchorages, with mooring balls if we’re lucky. There is a circling reef with beautiful scenery in every direction one looks; Bora Bora hovers in the distance. After a nasty squall where visibility was nil, we found a safe spot just two boat lengths from very large scratchy reef for two nights. We were alone in paradise and it was beautiful. Geoff did a drift dive in one of the passes and got to see lots of coral and fish.

At Marina Iti (really a small pension, not a marina), we were met by Maui, a local from Bora Bora. The dockside is an aquarium of all sorts of fish. Trumpet fish, lemon yellow butterfly fish, sea cucumbers, urchins. A veritable Tsukiji Fish Market of live fish. Beautiful. We arrived when they have their weekly local buffet dinner. Dined on breadfruit, taro root, poisson cru, mahi-mahi, chicken stew and other local yummies. (Breadfruit tastes like starchy potato.) While we enjoyed the food, a family from down the bay came by and began to entertain us with local drum music, singing, dancing and ending with fire dancing on the beach. Three generations of family members were there – from the sons (aged about 9 and 12) to the sisters, the parents, the uncles and aunts and perhaps even the grandfather. It was a magical night. And it was neither touristy nor hokey. Oh, and we got shore side showers here. What a real treat!

HUAHINE:

The “island of women”. We were stuck here by high winds and rain for 4 days, anchored in a deep harbor. We found ourselves adapting to a routine aboard the boat, even though we did not go ashore nor move the boat. When the storm passed we were able to move closer to the main town, and go ashore. Not a lot of French is spoken here, and people are very loyal to their Polynesian past. Sally rented a car (only manual transmissions available) and we circumnavigated both Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti islands. Since Sally has not driven a stick shift in 30 years, and not very often even then, it was quite the adventure driving around in huge rainfalls, up and down mountains, stalling whenever we had to come to a stop while going up a mountain. Sally worked the steering wheel and pedals while Geoff manned the emergency brake. It was certainly an adventure.

Wednesday was market day, so it seemed everyone on the island, just for the fun of it, came and hung-around the grocery store. Sounds of drumming and singing resonated in the harbor every night as different neighborhood groups prepared for the Haeva (singing and dancing festival) in July.

We joined several other boats in a beach picnic. It was great fun with Dutch, Kiwi, French, Italian, German, Canadian and American boats participating, and watching the children all playing together in the sand and water with each other and local kids who joined in the fun.

Geoff is thrilled to finally have Sally back aboard GRACE. One, because he has no intention of ever cooking again, and two for all the obvious reasons.

This is a voyage that we have planned together and we are both happy to be sharing our adventure again.

Less than 24 hours after her arrival in Tahiti, we were able to get together for dinner with our friends from sv Solace, sv Chinook and sv Fearless. (all of whom were together in Mexico right before the crossing -- and 2 of whom were with us when Sally was hit). It was really terrific of them all to make a point to be in Papeete to see Sally again.

In Papeete, dinner can be had for less than a king's ransom at the "roulottes" (food vans) that congregate in specific places at dusk. We dined amidst crowds of locals on folding tables and enjoyed our delicious "steak frites".
These roulottes reminds us of the "hawker stands" in Singapore, they are exotic and tropical, yet are clearly heavily marked by a strong French influence. Geoff has also found that it is quite easy to consume not only one 18" baguette sandwich at lunch time, but also at least half of Sally's. The central market here is great fun with everything from fresh flowers, tahitian pearls to fresh fruit and meats.

At anchor ourside of Marina Taina on Tahiti, on the starboard side of GRACE, we see the island of Moorea, with a radiance of pink and salmon colored clouds over the mountainous peaks -- one with its own lenticular cloud. On the port side is the quiet town of Faa'a, with its houses and cottages running right down to the water. This is where the roosters we hear all day long sing from. Also where the locals come out from at dusk in their single person or multi-person outrigger canoes. Drop dead, gorgeous, shirtless, heavily tattooed men paddle by GRACE with the setting sun. The wind is shooting by at 20kts and there is a sliver of a moon in the sky.

Upon our departure from Papeete, we had to hail the harbor control three times for permissions as we sailed past its almost water-surrounded runways. While we have both been doing quite well communicating with our meager High School French, we were happy to hear that airport control does speak English. After exiting Papeete harbor, we were met by a squall which was followed by a splendid double rainbow from Papeete all the way to the island of Moorea 10 miles away.

Moorea is better than a dream. We are currently anchored in about 10 feet of turquoise water with perfect visibility, with sv Solace as our only neighbor. We woke up here, just outside of Cook's Bay to even more beautiful views of craggy mountain peaks, pristine water, and verdant landscapes.


You realize how lucky you are when you see that your surroundings start to mimic the tropical screen saver on the laptop. The nights are filled with stars -- the Southern Cross is quite apparent, and the Big Dipper is now upside down.

We've been largely confined to GRACE over the past 24 hours as a good blow, with winds occasionally gusting to 40kts, has come through.

We are looking forward to spending some time ashore here on Moorea to soak in the beauty and the culture.
It is so good to be back together.

On May 21, we arrived at Manihi, an atoll in the Tuamotu archipelago of French Polynesia. This place is about 280 nautical miles from Papeete, Tahiti. It took us five days to get here from Nuku Hiva, at least a day slower than I had hoped and was due to a really remarkable lack of wind during the first several days of the passage.
I first sighted Manihi at 05 50am. It appeared to the north as a series of low hummocks standing individually in the sea. By the time it was fully light at 06 00am, it was clear that Manihi is quite long at about 20 nautical miles and shaped roughly like an amoeba. Lots of Palm trees and fringing reef which is usual to this sort of volcanically-formed island.
We had to wait for low tide to transit the pass into the atoll's lagoon. So, we took a quick look at the pass to see how hard it might be to get through and then waited outside for about two hours until the tide was low and the current slack. We came through easily and anchored in about 45 feet about 3/4 of a mile from the Polynesian village here. Unfortunately, I think that I may have landed our anchor in some coral that I could not see at that depth. Tomorrow, I will free-dive as much of the rode as I can to see if the hook is trapped. If it is, there is a local diver here whom I can hire to retrieve the anchor for me.
Part of Manihi's economy is based upon farming black pearls. Before we leave here, we plan to take a tour of one of the family-owned pearl farms to see how they are operated. Should be interesting. Incidentally, the diver owns the pearl farm and is also the baker - he's a one-man conglomerate.
On May 23, we arranged to have dinner with the extended family and friends of this fellow - named Forneau. (He is the one who is his own little conglomerate.) We arrived at the Forneau house about 18 30 and were treated to an hour or so of conversation with the men of the family while seated on chairs in front of the house, more or less in the road. So, we also met a number of the islanders who passed by on what appeared to be evening paseos. The women were typically well-dressed and all were very friendly. We discussed US and Tahitian politics (the locals like McCain), relations with France (not wild about the French role in local government), the quality of fishing here (good - everything from mackerel and grouper to large tuna), etc.
There were three generations of Forneaus at dinner ranging from a four month old to Forneau himself. We had a spectacular spread with a 'poisson cru' salad, breaded and fried fish, various kinds of potatoes chow mein (a favorite here), baguettes etc., etc. etc. It was very delicious. It was also quite nice for me as it gave me a break and I did not have to cook dinner. Forneau's best friend, his wife and youngest son were there too. He is a fascinating guy who was born on a 'motu' (a little island made up of nothing but coral and it's derivatives), moved to Tahiti as a young man, started a successful construction company, was a nightclub singer, married a Frenchwoman and has 8 children (living on three continents) and 7 grandchildren. All very interesting and fun.
We will get ready to leave tomorrow morning as early as possible for Tahiti. Hopefully, we will have a good wind for the passage. Sally will join me in Papeete on June 1 and we will continue our trip together from there.

GRACE arrived in Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia in the South Pacific on May 2 after a 21 day ocean passage from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Our friends Gina and Paul from SOLACE and Dawn and Tom from WARM RAIN were in the anchorage and hailed GRACE on VHF as we approached. It was great to hear friendly voices after three weeks at sea. Within 15 minutes of dropping the anchor, Geoff and crew were treated to a visit from Paul who came by on his dinghy and dropped off 3 beers, and some of Gina's famous "ginger crunch". What a wonderful welcome!

Passage Recap:
GRACE sailed about 2,800 NM at an average speed of approximately 5.5 knots. Given that this year's winds are were often variable, I'll take that as a pretty good result. Our maximum sustained speed was around 7.8 knots and our lowest speed under sail was 0 knots. We motored for about 50 hours when the winds failed us from just North of the Equator to around 2 degrees South. Our best day was a passage of 174 nautical miles. GRACE provided a generally comfortable ride with only the usual downwind rolling that you expect in a mono hull.
We did make one interesting discovery: on a deep broad reach, GRACE will carry both her headsails poled-out (on opposite sides)as well as the full prevented main. She moves-along well under this rig with minimal slatting even when rolling. This is a very good configuration at night as we can easily shorten sail by rolling-up the jib and reefing the main when a squall comes through. We saw only a handful of ships on the passage and no yachts until we made landfall. It's a big ocean out there.

Things that went BANG in the Night :
We did have our share of breakage although none of them was beyond our ability to jury-rig a repair. Those of you who have been following this story will recall that, about a week and one-half into the passage, we bent our gooseneck. About the same time, I noticed that our Forespar boom vang had broken some of the fasteners that hold the cast aluminum end fitting to the vang's tube body. This has happened before and I have now realized that the vang is defective either in design or fabrication. Something to take-up with Forespar as this is an important piece of equipment. During the last 36 hours before our landfall in Nuku Hiva, we had three other items break: part of the deck fitting for the inner forestay let go; the whisker pole folded-up in a squall (too light a spar for GRACE); and the connection between the traveler and the mainsheet exploded. With the exception of the whisker pole, all of these failures were occasioned by the fairly heavy slatting and rolling GRACE underwent at various times combined, leading to weld failures. In fact, the failed inner forestay fitting was newly fabricated in Mexico. Turns out that the welder did not do the job correctly which the broken part now lets me see. We will get all of these things repaired permanently (I hope) in Tahiti.

Food and the Refrigerator:
GRACE still has her original refrigerator box which is now 27 years old. I am sure that it was poorly built to begin with and, after all this time, now has very soggy insulation. I had expected that the whole system might just stop working at some point. That has not happened. In fact, we still have frozen meat in the box which is a real surprise to me. Of course, the refrigeration compressor runs about 15 hours a day sucking-up tons of electricity. But, we have been able to keep-up with this demand so far. No surprise, but having three guys on a boat, none of whom is a cook, leads to a certain monotony in the menu. However, we've done OK. We have had chicken and beef for meat, rice and pasta for starch and our Romaine lettuce lasted until almost the end of our third week at sea. The cabbage is still in the fridge, untouched as yet. Those green plastic gas-absorbing bags really work for vegetables.

Nuku Hiva:
This island, our first landfall in French Polynesia, is a fairly prosperous place. I walked around one of the local neighborhoods yesterday and the houses were generally neat and in good repair. It even looks like those in the town have running water. Compared with many Mexicans, the Marquesans seem to live well. Our yacht agent here, a fellow named Moetai, tells me that life here for a Marquesans is pretty good. When they want meat, they go into the hills and hunt wild pig or cow. Fruit grows on trees and there are plenty of fish around. It seems that the economy is an interesting combination of hunter-gatherer and modern money economy.
I had heard that there was resentment of the French here. So far, I have not heard of anything like this. In my small sample of conversations with Marquesans, I have been told they understand they have no real economy and recognize that French support is essential to their life-style. I hope to hear a bit more about all this over the next week that we are here.

Sightseeing:
I am told that there are some very nice anchorages on the North side of the island. We plan to move there Tuesday morning and then to spend a few days cruising around to other anchorages before moving-on to the Tuamotus in about a week. It also looks like car rentals are not too expensive here so we might give ourselves an island tour by road, as well. There are many archaeological sites here as well as the world's third tallest waterfall. So, there's plenty to see. We're looking forward to enjoying our brief rest from the sea.