Island Life

Our first few minutes on land...see Savannah in the back!

Our first day here was exactly what it should be… relaxing, sunny, full of exploration.  After a glorious nights sleep, we had breakfast and got ready to go to shore to check in.  We called our Agent, Sandra on the radio and after a bit we took the dinghy to shore to meet her.  She drove us the two miles or so to town and helped us with all of our paperwork for checking into the country… which was virtually nothing.  All they wanted was our bond exemption paper that we received from our agent in Tahiti and our passports and boat documentation.  They didn’t even glance at our Zarpa from Mexico or the equipment list we had.  The whole process only took about 10 minutes.  I’m not sure if it’s because we had the agent or because it’s just that laid back, but we sure did appreciate it.  After a few Merci’s and getting directions to the bank, we said goodbye to our agent and set about our exploration. 

I never really appreciated how much Spanish we actually knew until I was standing at the counter at the bank trying to speak French.  It was a site for sure…  I had my “French for Cruisers” book out (highly recommend it already) and my hand gestures ready.  All I was trying to say was that I needed Pacific Francs.  Well, I butchered it…  but lucky for me the guy spoke in perfect English “The ATM is outside”. 

“Yes, but it has no money”

“You need to talk to him” and he pointed to the next window over.  Lucky me, he spoke English too.  They were a bit grumpy so I tried to participate by asking them how to say certain things and pointing out the Tapa on the wall (they make beautiful almost fabric like pieces here out of bark, I’m sure I’ll write more on that later as I fully plan on finding me one).  In the end, they only loosened up a little but I got my “Trent Mil Francs” and left feeling like I had accomplished something.

Speaking of money and Francs….THEY’RE HUGE!!  It’s like trying to fit a bunch of postcards in your pocket.  And the coins are just as big… the smallest one I got was the size of our silver dollar.  I can’t quit looking at them.  And we’re dealing in large numbers here.  They come in denominations of 5000, 1000, 500, etc.  The coins are 100, 50, 20, 5.  The exchange rate is about 80 Francs/ 1 dllr right now so trying to do the math in your head can get a bit complicated with all those zeros.  I totally sympathize with those people in Mexico who used to get confused with the conversion (I thought they were just mathematically challenged).  When you have no grasp of the language or the money, you just feel lost.  But so far, it’s a good lost…it’s kind of fun.

Everything we heard about the prices is true…they astronomical.  Luckily we didn’t need anything so we just wasted our money on some sodas and lunch.  I did buy some veggies because they were absolutely beautiful, but for 3 eggplants, 1 bag of bok choy, a large cucumber and 2 grapefruit thingys, I paid almost $10.  Our lunch consisted of two hamburgers (no fries), 1 large bowl of fried rice, 1 juice, 4 beers and it was….hold your breath….grab your seat…. $65!  The beer was good, but really… it’s a good thing we still have a ton of Tacate from Mexico left!

There are quite a few stores and they’re stocked with everything you could need and then some, but the prices continue to amaze me…a jar of Skippy peanut butter was $990 Francs – over $10.  But it was fun going up and down the isles…they have tons of makings for Chinese food, lots of meat (albeit not stuff we normally eat – lamb, goat, etc.), really good cheeses.  They even have Nike Air tennis shoes.  They have all the fishing lures you could possibly want and all the hardware stuff you would need for repairs.   Lucky for us, we don’t really need anything right now.  Hopefully we won’t need anything until Tahiti so we can save a little money.

We finally headed on the 2 mile trek back to the boat.  We found a tiny shortcut that met Jake’s requirements for hiking in the woods and met my requirement for shade.  When we got back to the boat, I lugged out our wifi booster to see if I could get a connection.  Sure I could….for $5/an hour!!!  So everyone who had all those fancy requests for changing the blog and/or maps or had any ideas of me going back and posting pictures for each blog…sorry!  Not going to happen!  What I decided to do was just do one big blog post with all the pictures as that won’t take as long.  So look for that coming shortly after you read this. 

We ended our day with cocktail hour(s) with our fellow “yachties” from Songline, Sara Jean II, and Lardo…all very nice people that we had not yet met in person but had talked to every night on the radio during our crossing.  It was fun to hear about their experiences…Songline was out there for 37 days!!!   Lardo made the same time we did, 21 ½ days, and Sara Jean II beat us all at 19 days.  All of our boats are very different and we obviously had different strategies for getting here (ours being very simple….just get there), but everyone is pretty giddy about it.

Today is a lazy day…Jake’s watching movies, I’m going to do laundry (you would think I would be done with that by now…but everyone keeps wearing their clothes!) and Andy is building a set of dinghy wheels to make our life easier.  Looking forward to another day in paradise!

We have arrived!

As we neared land, Andy and I both got really quiet. I wondered what he was thinking. He wondered what I was thinking. Turns out we were both thinking the same thing...looks a lot like Mexico. You see, the island looked like a desert. But not to worry, after 2700 miles, we were not to be discouraged. It only took an additional 6 hours to get to the anchorage and see the beautiful, vibrant green we were expecting. To our surprise, there were 9 other boats in the anchorage (and here we thought we were unique). After a few attempts at setting our stern hook, we were set.

We had a nice tuna dinner (did you expect something different?) with our obligatory bottle of champagne (which we fully enjoyed) and enjoyed relaxing in an environment that seemed solid compared to the last 24 days of rolling around. Jake, for some reason, felt the need to put on his pirate costume and immediately, defend the ship. What would we do for entertainment without our swabbie?

Andy and I thought of something that would make everyone laugh and be a really good blog post, but by the time we got in here to write it, it was lost. So, if I write something out of context in the near future and you laugh, you'll know that we remembered what it was.

We are absolutely thrilled to be here. It was cool pulling into the anchorage and having other boats we've been checking in with along the way holler out our name as we passed by. Looking forward to a full night's sleep. As a matter of fact, that's where I'm headed now. Thanks for sticking with us. Pictures to follow as soon as I crack the Marquesan Internet code.

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Land ho!

Less than 50 miles to go and we'll finish our 21 1/2 day trek across the Pacific. I'll save the official stats for a later post to give us time to figure it all up, but boy are we happy. We see land!

I thought it might be appropriate to give a "What we loved" list and a "...not so much" list here to show that it wasn't all wine and roses... While these are written from my perspective, I've checked with the crew and there's a general consensus here. So here goes...

"What we loved..."
1) Fresh fish - while we only caught 3 fish, they were good ones. Two yellowtail tunas and one giant skipjack. By far the best sushi we've had since we left San Diego.

2) Getting to spend time with my two favorite guys with no interruptions - this sounds like it might should be on both lists??? But seriously, this wasn't nearly the issue everyone thinks it's going to be. I think we all fully enjoyed each other's company and this was touted as one of Jake's top reasons to go sailing with mom and dad..."so I can spend every day with you" (I'm going to have to show him this when he turns 12. He'll never believe it)

3) Swimming across the equator - well, who wouldn't think that was cool?

4) The doldrums...yep, I loved 'em. It was the only time I was completely fear free :). It was also the only time we got a full night's sleep.

5) Saving money - we didn't spend a dime at the Costco buoy by the equator and thank goodness the Target was closed!

"...not so much"
1) Only getting 4 hours of sleep at a time - while it was much better than our usual 3 hours on/off watches, it still wasn't enough (I've grown accustomed to at least 10 hours of relief a night of this really high stress lifestyle I live). For anyone contemplating this and likes their sleep as much as I do, try to do at least 5 hour watches.

2) 24/7 with my two favorite guys with no interruptions - ok, so I had to put it on both lists or people wouldn't take me seriously. There were times when I just didn't want to "play" anymore or talk anymore. I just wanted quiet, alone time. It's pretty easy to get that from a spouse, sometimes a 5 year old just doesn't get it.

3) 8-10 foot swells coming at our beam for days on end - ok, 8-10 foot swells coming any direction. I just don't like seeing it come and coming on the beam makes for a very strange, not so pleasant sensation as it hits the hulls. At least they weren't 20 foot. Add to that, we're in an aluminum boat. Can you imagine anything louder? When I'm laying in the rack trying to sleep and get woken up by a wave that I swear sounds like it just cracked the boat (or a whale or large bus), my first instinct is to jump up and see what's wrong, but what I really want to do is just roll in a ball and suck my thumb until it's all over.

4)Cooking, washing dishes, cooking, washing dishes, cooking, washing dishes - not so much once a day, but two and three times a day every day was too much for me. Andy helped a lot but it seemed like groundhog day for sure when it came to my domestic duties. Would stepping on legos fit here too?

5) Not being able to stand still without holding onto something for fear of falling, bruising, or just dropping something. Our seas were active to say the least.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. I learned a lot. I gained a lot of confidence. And I watched a lot of movies :). Now for the real exploration...

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Biscuits

OK, a little off topic today, but it's pressing on my mind. Despite living the first 34 years of my life in the south (and the first 21 in the same house), I've never been the most southern of southern people. At least in my mind... I don't like sweet tea, never have. I hate gravy. I won't even make it, it disgusts me. And my idea of chickenfried is the title of a good country song, not something I would put on my plate to eat. All of this baffles my husband, born and raised in Texas and Oklahoma.

One thing I LOVE LOVE LOVE is a hot, flaky,biscuit in the morning. To all of my friends down south, did you know that there is a huge majority of people out there that have never heard of eating biscuits for breakfast? There are others who actually think it's a cracker! Well, about 6 years ago, I decided there was no reason to learn to make biscuits as long as Pillsbury kept producing their bag o frozen ones. They're fantastic. What I didn't forsee is being in the middle of the Sea of Cortez/Pacific Ocean/anywhere outside the US and craving a biscuit. I have spent the last year trying to figure out how to make biscuits. I'm not a bad cook, mind you. I'm even pretty good at baking. But I stink at making biscuits. I have tried every recipe I could get my hands on and they always come out like hockey pucks... That is, until this morning! I sifted my flour. You guys may all be laughing at me, as it may be common knowledge to sift your flour, but no recipe I ever read told me to do that. Andy woke up to the smell of bacon and biscuits and before he could let out a joke about chipping teeth I took the towel off the bowl and he saw piping hot biscuits! All ate them, and all enjoyed.

I haven't mastered it by any stretch of the imagination, but I've cracked a big part of the code. Now, a call out to my cousins for any recipe resembling my granny's biscuits. I've asked my mom and she can't remember (presumably because there was no recipe...I remember a little bowl made of flour and a big pile of shortening in the middle and a lot of hand mixing, but the rest of the ingredients are a mystery to me). If anyone deems themselves a good biscuit maker, could you send me a recipe? Better yet, send me specific instructions on how not to screw them up. Please don't call it fool-proof, that will only make me feel bad.

So that's how our day started...good biscuits. It continues with Savannah clipping along at 8 knots. We did 188 miles yesterday, a record for us. We have 180 to go! It looks like we may be sipping champagne and eating a nice steak dinner this time tomorrow in front of a beautiful Marquesan landscape.

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Day 20

Day 20 brings us to a very somber mood. It's changed from being about the journey to "Are we there yet?" Everyone is still somewhat happy, just getting pretty tired. Jake has even lessened his words dramatically (and this is definitely a shocker). We're still doing very good at about an average of 7 knots. We've even seen it as high as 9.5, but the motion is ridiculous and far from comfortable. It's like being the star rider of a rodeo on a very lively bronco. The good news is that we are only 380 miles out from Hiva Oa, which translates to about 2-3 days (assuming we stay at this speed).

Right after I posted our last fish story, guess what? I was doing laundry and standing on the deck and saw our fishing lines were crossed. I called it to Andy's attention (after all, I was busy) and when he started pulling the line in, there was a huge, beautiful, bright blue fish fighting for his life. I gave Andy the gaff and woops...there he goes. The sucker was huge...and he was gone. I thought Andy was going to cry because not only did he get away, but he took one of the hooks off our lure (if you're keeping track, that's two squid lures and one hook we've lost so far). But before a tear could fall, we noticed the other line had ripped free of the bungee so we started pulling. Andy got it close to the boat then we changed tactics and I pulled it in to ensure he could get a good angle on it and concentrate on gaffing it good. It was the same kind of fish as the other one (we still weren't sure what yet), with a bright blue back, black stripes and a white underbelly...and it weighed about 25 lbs (and measured 28 inches according to Jake's fish log). When we got it in the boat, it didn't quit fighting. I have some pretty good pictures of Andy trying to keep it in the bucket. We looked it up and it looks like we caught ourselves a good sized skipjack tuna. Neither of us had eaten this before so we weren't sure what to do with it. We grilled it the first night and last night, the little sushi king (aka Jake) was having a fit so we made sushi with it. It was the best fish we've caught to date. I think this is the kind of tuna you get in sushi restaurants when they don't have bluefin (or you don't want to pay for bluefin). It was a deep red/pink and melted in your mouth. We'll probably have it again tonight, we certainly have enough of it.

The next few days will be filled with cleaning the boat and getting the last bit of laundry done before we arrive. I don't want to have to do any "work" when we get there. As somber as it is on board, we're all a little giddy too...we have no idea what to expect. I did get a response from our agent though and if we were to arrive on the weekend, we would not have to stay on the boat as I previously posted. Just put up the quarantine flag and call it a day. Good to know. But it looks like we'll make it well ahead of the weekend...

As always, keep the prayers and good wishes coming...we're not there yet.

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Less than a week to go (hopefully)!

We are now less than 700 miles from Hiva Oa, Marquesas. Last night we had no wind so we decided to heave to again and drift while we got our second night's sleep. When we woke up this morning the wind had picked up and we were able to put the sails up and make some way.

There's really only one rule for arriving in the Marquesas. Don't arrive on the weekend. The agents don't work on the weekend, therefore you can't check in, resulting in you staying on the boat until Monday. Guess what day it looks like we're going to arrive? If we don't pick up speed, it's going to be Friday afternoon or Saturday. While I don't think motoring last night would have made a huge difference, it sure makes you feel like you're paying for your sleep. It's still too early to tell, but judging from the boats in front of us, it doesn't sound like any major wind is coming our way. There are boats drifting with little to no wind from 04 degrees north all the way to 05 degrees south. We're somewhere in the middle going about 4.5 - 5 knots now, which isn't bad but it's not good enough to arrive Thursday like we wanted to.

In all fairness, it's really hard to plan your arrival day for a 2700 mile passage. Heck, we still don't know how many days it's going to take us! But to look on the bright side, we're almost there! Which is a good thing...I threw out our last cabbage today as it was stinky and not too pretty looking. We're down to apples, potatoes, onions and some chayote that looks to be sprouting it's own roots. Plenty of food, but it will be nice to get some fresh fruit when we arrive. An apple a day may keep the doctor away but it also gets extremely boring.

I know the commentary gets a little boring (It's not too exciting out here either), but don't forget about us! We enjoy getting email, so feel free to drop us a note!

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Day 17

We woke up this morning well rested and 10 miles further than we were last night. We turned off the motor and drifted, finally getting a full night's sleep. Before breakfast, Andy put the spinnaker up and we began trotting along at a whopping 3 knots. It's almost 5:00 and we have gone a total of 21 miles today. Woo Hoo! Marquesas here we come!

To kill the time, we have played trains, watched movies, completed a day of school, taken naps and Jake and I even made fresh squeezed orange juice with the 10 or 12 oranges left over threatening to mold. I started a new book. I was trying to read Anna Karina. It's a pretty good book, but is extremely long and not exactly edge of the seat reading. So today, I put it down and started a much lighter read that I picked up from one of the many book exchanges in La Cruz. As I was reading in the front net, I heard Andy say "Holy Cow!" and then he jumped up and ran off.

"What was it?" I ask.

"A tuna the size of a small car." he responds as he quickly lets out our fishing lines.

What exactly would we do with a tuna the size of a small car? I don't know, but Andy obviously really wants to find out. So out the fishing lines go. You can guess that we didn't catch the giant tuna, but maybe we'll catch his son and have a nice dinner tonight.

In the meantime, I'm going to either go back to my book or play with Jake and his trains. If you've followed our blog long, you probably know by now that no play is peaceful on this boat. It's a war zone on the Island of Sodor. As a matter of fact, it's floated dangerously close to Somalia and is under severe attack by the enemy aircraft. Half of the city has already been bombed to oblivion. But don't worry, the ammunition of choice today is berries, apples, oranges and sludge. The island must be saved, and quick. Almost as quick as Jake needs to find land.

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