Monthly Archives: September 2010
Quick Monday Update – back to Marina Taina!
So much going on! Fast & Furious is the style at the moment, so the post will be fast too….
Sunday afternoon our friends from Maya Ray headed out and East towards the Tuamotus, where the boss will fly in on Thursday…. A real special thanks to Capt. Dave, Philip, James, Esmie & Hanna – we met them first and briefly in Panama at Shelter Bay, then they shared high-tech weather info with us on the passage from the Galapagos to the Marquesas, then they came out in their power dinghy here in Tahiti, at our pleading request for nervous help, to help tow us in, and then… We got to know them here at Marina Taina through socializing and such. Great people, really great people. Dave runs a great ship, this beautifutl 100 foot B. Farr designed boat (on which we got a delightful tour… WOW!) – and he & the crew are a special bunch. After Friendship and Espumeru leaving, they were are nearest and `oldest` cruising friends around… Now the marina feel nearly 100% empty (more on Silandra V later!). Hope they have a great passage – quite a beat to windward though, predicited 20 to 25 kts on the nose the whole way…
A few pics as they passed us in the anchorage:
Monday morning we were up quite early. The plan was to have the two hooks (anchors) up by 8, and then maneuver Walk On into the Marina, a fairly tight, reversing stern to behind a Super Maramu on a starboard side-to tie up… Anyway, we started out just fine, taking it very very slowly. A while later, Patrick, from an alloy boat we’d seen in the Caribbean (Elegantine) and just arrived in the anchorage this very morning, came over in his dinghy to help out. He was great! Helped me heft up a lot of chain and run me over in his dinghy to pull up the second anchor (our Fortress, dug in VERY well I might add). I need to go over when there’s free time, offer him a six pack for his help, and clean his dinghy after pulling up all that dirty rode. Cruisers are the nicest damned people – always helping! Thank goodness, as my herniated lombard discs were feeling it. Anway, just before we started pulling up the anchor, another superyacht, called Aquamarina, came cruising past on her way out and on to somewhere else…. Just check out the paint job, with a bizarre mother-of-pearl glow to it. I heard from the crew that a paintjob on this boat costs about a million bucks. Yep, that’s paint.
Then we started the slow move over to the marina. I had to get a shot or two of Lara. She was manning the dinghy in ‘tugboat mode’, tied alongside and providing the propulsion as I steered the way over. When we got close, a tender from the marina helped out too and so it was easy, calm, and without stress. We were tied up by about 9 am.
More on the engine stuff soon.
Ciao!
We’re surrounded! It’s a feeding frenzy!!!
That’s it! More about Monday soon. (From the Marina….)
Boa sorte e bons ventos!
I hadn’t even noticed, but a comment from my old colleague Sergio Falcao, from Recife, reminded me that today was the start of the 2010 REFENO!
Wow, has it been a year already? Such great memories of the race and the victory from last year.
Just wanted to wish everyone luck – looks like there are a lot of boat this year.
Wonder who’ll take the ACO A trophy this year?
Entre Polos, Triunfo II, Jamaluce…?
Wish I were there competing, but I guess there are worse places than Tahiti. 🙂
sunny saturday morning
freedive & whale pictures
For these magnificent photos, we have to thank the freedive prowess and photographic expertise of James Kirkaldy, from Maya Ray, and Sara, from Espumeru…. and their capacity to hold their breath for a very long time and reach depths of 20 and 30 meters, with no dive gear. 🙂 Anyway, these are from just outside the pass, where a mother and calf have been ‘hanging out’ in recent weeks.
Enjoy!
P.S. Lara says she wants to get into freediving now…. 🙂
let it rain let it rain let it rain
We got up early to head to town and do a little running around… visit the old market, perhaps a little internet cafe time, take some pictures. But just as the coffee was about ready, the pitter patter started. It’s been raining every since, for several hours now, and we’re resigned to a relaxing Saturday on the boat. For now at least. I had planned to do some stainless steel cleaning before we went to town, and then decided to do it anyway. Nothing like a natural morning shower and I think the rain helps wash off any remnants of the acidic cleaning solution better than my sponge or rag. Now we’re discussing a lazy lunch, a little book reading, and perhaps a game of cards later. The only drawback is of course the lack of wind and sun for battery charging – so it’s not likely that we’ll be charging the laptops up today for film watching. Oh well.
We did get the engine quote from New Zealand, thanks to the efforts of our favorite designer, David de Villiers (he designed Walk On, in case you didn’t already know). In the end, however, the cost difference is minimal compared to the option here in Tahiti, so we’ve decided to go ahead and buy our new Yanmar here. Plus we save a few weeks as from NZ it would take more time to get it here and installed. We also had a friend helping get quotes from Yanmar in the US, but apparently our model engine is not currently sold there, so this proved more difficult than I had expected. In any case, we really appreciate Brian’s help and Michael Nelson’s intervention!
From the boatyard? Silence. I wrote them a very straightforward, if not a bit harsh, letter the other day and so far, they haven’t responded, for whatever reason. I believe it’s because they know I’m right about the whole issue. But with them, you just never know. I know they don’t agree, but deep down, somewhere in the ‘let’s be honest’ part of the brain and the soul, they likely agree with me and would feel the same in my shoes – it’s just they’ll never admit it. What a shame it all is. Lara and I are consulting professional legal sources to see what that plan of action might be should we reach that point – it would be time consuming and probably more costly to everyone involved than if the yard simply had the gumption to assume responsibility… but sometimes that is the way it goes.
We have had tons of great feedback and support from family and friends, mostly by email but also by comment on the blog. Unfortunately, I don’t have those comments here on my laptop but I will endeavor to get them and respond in turn. Thanks to everyone for your support!
So what did you guys think of the pictures? Pretty soon there are more coming – the special whale and freediving stuff that I promised. I think you’ll love those photos.
We heard yesterday from Espumeru – now in Cook’s Bay just across the way in Moorea. Their saildrive leak has acted up worse than before so they are planning to haul out in Raiatea in the next 10 days or so. I really hope it goes well for them – quick as possible and painless ($$$) as possible too. Friendship is apparently in the other bay on the north side of the island, as Espumeru didn’t see them. The Clara Katherine left a few days ago and I believe the Larabeck is leaving soon. Tough to see friends moving on and being stuck here, that’s true enough. But we’re thinking all the time of how best to make lemonade from the lemons we’ve been dealt. Hell, I think I’ll make a caipirinha!
Anyway, hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday. If the rain keeps up, I’m going to put on my swim trunks again and go scrub the deck! mm