July 14, 2008

Today we got fuel and checked out of Bora Bora so that we would be ready to leave in the morning. We went to shore to spend the last of our francs. We went to the gift shop and tried to buy to pops but the cost was 390 and we only had 384. The clerk knew what we were doing and let us have our purchase 6 francs short. We then went to town to see the Bastille Day Parade. The church was part of the parade, everyone was dressed in white just like they were on Sunday. They had many sports teams and a few floats that were pretty cool. It looked like everyone on the island was in the parade, so I was surprised that there were any locals to watch the parade. After the parade Charisma and Sea Otter came over for appetizers.

July 15, 2008

Time to leave French Polynesia! We put up our main sail before we pulled our anchor only to find that we were hooked on Sea Otters anchor. It looked as though they had gone ashore and so we were stuck. If we kept going we might pull their anchor loose and set their boat adrift, couldn’t do that! Then after about 15 minutes Jeff showed up and we pulled our anchor up again and to discover we were no longer hooked. Thank you Jesus! I took the 8PM-Mid shift and when I woke up the wind had kicked up. We reefed the main and took down the jib, mostly to keep pace with Charisma. We had 25kt winds with gusts at 31kts and large swell. Water came in our port holes that we had failed to close. Our bed is really wet with salt water, bummer. Mike ended up staying up through my shift due to the weather.

July 16, 2008

Finally at 5:30AM Mike went to sleep for a few hours. At 7:30AM we were 20 miles ahead of Charisma, wow! The winds are lighter now 12-15 knots and 3’ swells, much nicer. We put up the staysail to slow down so we could meet back up with Charisma.

July 17, 2008

The wind stayed at 10-15 knots with our boat speed 4-5knots. We have only gone 190 miles in two days, not good, we should have gone more like 250 or more. The winds have picked up and we are going 8 knots but need to slow down to wait for Charisma. The swells are bigger to and we have lots of water on deck with water coming in the cockpit too. Yuk! Our fishing lines got tangled together so we just brought them in, if we did catch a fish it would be difficult to manage in these seas.

July 18, 2008

Mike is still not feeling good, no fish today and the seas are huge, as big as a house, per Kristen. The troughs seem like canyons. Waves are crashing on our boat and water is coming in closed window by the bucket! Everything is soaking wet, there is no dry place to sit or sleep. We are wearing our rain gear!

July 19, 2008

Mike is still not feeling good, the symptoms seem to change daily, and he still can’t get much sleep. The winds are 19-30 today on our beam with large swell crashing over the boat and the boat is slamming down off waves. Are we having fun yet?

July 20, 2008

We sailed between 4 and 5 knots all night so we would arrive in Rarotonga in the light. We now have between 15 to 20 knots of wind. We can see the island but it is difficult to see the pass into the bay. We wait for light but find that Alan has already gone into the bay and so we decide to go for it. We start the engine, take down the sails and the lazy jacks broke allowing the sail to fall everywhere making it difficult to see around them. If that is not enough the engine alarm sounds letting us know it is overheating! And as if that is not enough the GPS quits working! But thank you Jesus another boat has arrived and we are able to follow them into the harbor! We were able to drop our anchor and throw lines to 4 guys on the wharf so we could med moor. It all worked out but we were stressed to the max. Just as we thought all was well we realized that Charisma’s anchor and ours were dragging. So Mike and Alan got in a dinghy and took both our anchors out farther into the bay! We can now take a nap. But first we have to take the wet mattress off the bed and remake the bed on the hard but dry cushions. We had appetizers on Charisma along with Present Moment. Nice time.

July 21, 2008

Beautiful sunny morning, Mike goes ashore to check us into Rarotonga. It is approximately $35 per night to stay here but after our crossing we agreed it was worth it for a while anyway. Our boat still rocks with the surge but it still beats swells ‘as big as a house’. It is a lazy day and we stay aboard to wait for the health inspector, who supposedly comes aboard and fumigates and collects $20. We had fun going from boat to boat or ashore by pulling ourselves along the lines tied to the wharf. We went out for burgers tonight and they were 8” in diameter, so Mike and I shared one. They were huge and very good.

July 22, 2008

Mike started working on the wind generator, he had to get it down from its post first and almost dropped it overboard, I helped him catch it. It was so heavy. I did a load of laundry and started cleaning salt off the walls in the salon. Salt is everywhere! We notice the bilge pump keeps coming on more than normal so we start looking for a leak. We discover the leak is a crack in the hull taking on about 2 gallons an hour. This is a shock, what are we going to do when there is no where to haul out in Rarotonga. The closest place seems to be in Tonga or Samoa about 700 miles away. Tonight we went to the FBI restaurant and had fish and chips. When we got home we got out our down comforter as it is so cold here at night.

July 23, 2008

Today it is a beautiful and sunny day. We went to talk to a local fiberglass person named Ken. He comes to look at the leak and says he recommends that we just dive and fill the crack with marine caulking as it would be more flexible given we have so many miles to go before we can haul out. Mike doesn’t dive so that is a problem but other cruisers offer to help. Mike helped Alan go up his mast today, Kristen helped too. After dinner we all went to the Whatever Bar to hear a local string band. We met Priscilla and Antonia a young couple celebrating their tenth anniversary.

July 24, 2008

Today is another beautiful day! A cruise ship is in the harbor so there are lots of people in town. Today Mike fixed the salon windows that were leaking and we visited the local hardware store. I stared washing the salon cushions, they were soaked with salt water. We were able to get laundry water on shore but the water pressure is so slow it took forever. But the good thing is we were able to get water!

July 25, 2008

I did more laundry today. We also went with Charisma to the community center auditorium where local churches performed for a couple of hours, it is a holiday called Christian Day. Afterwards we went to the Salsa Café for pizza, pretty good but very different and not very filling, Mike was still hungry. Morning Star and Crux arrived today and all the boats moved down to make room. Later we took hot showers on shore. So nice!

July 26, 2008

We went to the police station so Mike could get a drivers license so we could rent scooters. It is kind of a joke but you pay $10, take a ride/test on the scooter while the police follow and then they take your photo and you can now rent scooters. They rent for $85/week which compared to other islands was a great deal. At the police dept. they asked Mike if everything on the license was spelled correct and he didn’t have his reading glasses, so he said ‘yes, everything was fine’. So he is Mike Millen on Aivego. HA! Rarotonga has a great market on Saturday mornings, it is like a fair, with food, produce, arts and crafts, music and clothes. Fun time! Today we went on a short scooter ride with Charisma on inner island roads. We saw a few plantations of papaya, bananas and taro. Lot of animal’s goats, pigs, cows and dogs. The local people had their family graves right in their front yards and often tied their livestock next to the grave. Very different then in the USA. Later we met Priscilla and Antonio at the Whatever Bar for dinner. It really wasn’t very good, Alan told the waitress the fish wasn’t good and she just said ‘don’t eat it then’. I guess they don’t cater to tourists.

July 27, 2008

We went to the Christian church this morning via our scooters and in our dresses. The church had a balcony, which is where we were told to sit, and the church was packed. From the balcony the music was beautiful. Afterwards the ‘mamas’ invited us to tea where we were given sandwiches and cakes and tea. They told us a little history and how Christianity came to the island. Very nice people. Back at our boat some of the boats had left so we moved again so that we were more in line with our anchor.

July 28, 2008

Today is cooler and sprinkling. Mike and Alan walked to the welders to have our wind generator welded and Alan’s whisker pole. My eye seems infected today, so Teri on Morning Star gave me some eye drops. We went to dinner with Charisma and Morning Star at the hamburger joint again.

July 29, 2008

Mike walked back to the welder to pick up our generator. Once he got it back he painted it all up pretty. We rode around the island on scooters with Charisma and Morning Star, it was really fun and only took about 2 hours even with stopping several times. My behind is really sore too. We had dinner on Morning start tonight, they cooked mahi mahi, Kristen made rice and I made a nice green salad with lettuce we got at the market. We mostly buy cabbage because it lasts longer. Teri also made home made bread, yum!

July 30, 2008

Today Mike hung the boat ladder up on the wind generator pole so that he could get high enough to install the wind generator now that it has been fixed and painted. He climbed the ladder and I handed it up to him. It was still difficult but he managed to get it done. I went to the pharmacy and was able to purchase eye drops for common eye infections and eye wash. So I gave Teri her stuff back. I thought I might have to see a doctor so I am hoping this stuff works. The pharmacist was so nice and helpful, he said to come back if not better in 48 hours.

July 31, 208

Several boats came in today so there was more shifting around to make room. Airstream came in and invited us on their boat for a beer. It was nice to finally meet them as we keep seeing them around at different anchorages. I bought a few groceries and some new flip flops as some one stole mine out of our dinghy. We also bought a tarp so we can try to catch rain water.

August 1, 2008

It was really windy and crowded in the harbor with 14 boats tied up. We thought it was tight with only 7 boats moored here, so now it really is, I really don’t think one more boat could fit. We didn’t sleep well either with it being so rolly with the wind. This morning the boat next to us, Traveler, arranged for the yachts to have a flat bed truck to decorate so we could be in the parade later today. They had coconut bras and skirts that the men wore and the women wore parea’s and leis. There were 15 boats, a banner that said ‘Women of Courage’ which was the theme of the parade. There was a grass skirt around the semi, and flags hung from a whisker pole, and a dinghy on top of the flat bed. The women and children were on the flatbed and the men walked in front carry flags. We represented 7 countries and 7flags. Dennis on Shilling played his guitar “what do you do with a drunken sailor” and we all made up verses to go along with sailing. We also threw candy to the local kids. It was a fun time and the local seem to enjoy it.

August 2, 2008

Today is Kristen and Alan’s anniversary so we went to dinner with them to celebrate. It was a nice and rather spendy dinner so since our anniversary is tomorrow we decided we were celebrating ours as well. Kristen bought a flower wreath, at the market, for her hair to celebrate, it looked very pretty. I bought one of those skirts that you can tie 100 different ways. The give you a DVD that shows you how but it was still difficult and now I am not sure I like it so much plus mine had snags. I spent the afternoon reading “Adrift”, boy I hope we never have to abandon ship after reading that. It rained all afternoon but by the time we went to dinner it had quit and I wore my new dress. We went to the Tamarand Restaurant. It wasn’t open quite yet when we arrived but they seated anyway at a table with a view of the water and sunset. Very pretty. The food was very good and the service was exceptional which was especially appreciated since we were celebrating!

August 3, 2008

Today is our 34^th anniversary! This morning we rode the scooter to an Assembly of God church. It didn’t start until 10:30 so we were early but it all worked out. It was a very small church and the service and worship was in English, so very nice. There was a Fijian group there that did a special dance to the Lords Prayer. We enjoyed that and after they had fruit and donuts for everyone. There were extra bananas and they gave them to us and said they would bring more to the boat. They said a prayer over us and our boat and Mike said a prayer over their church. After the service Mike took me on a bike ride to the sailing club and we had a lunch plate with crackers, assorted spreads and cheeses. It was so good. We watched remote sailboats race, and kite boarding, nice afternoon entertainment. Later Charisma and Airstream came over and celebrated our anniversary with us. Nice time had by all.

August 4, 2008

Jayla’s birthday is today and she is 10! We didn’t do much today except go to the grocery store, it rained so hard the rain stung our faces. The store was out of peanut butter. Can you believe that? The other store in town said they had a recent run on peanut butter, maybe all the cruisers restocking.

August 5, 2008

A nicer day today. Mike got diesel since the fuel truck was on the wharf. We only needed 20 gallons so we emptied our jerry cans and then just had them filled. Much easier that way. We went on a hike today to the “Needle” with Teri and Rick and Alan, Kristen wasn’t up to it. The hike was steep and you basically climber the tree roots up the steep parts to 1239’. It took about an hour each way, but I am sure I slowed the guys down. Once near the top there was one more part where you climbed up a chain to the top, but that was not for me, so I waited for the guys. Teri had not climbed all the way up either. The guys had spectacular views around the whole island but I felt my view was fine. While I waited a chicken and rooster waited with me, I could have done without that! I threw a small rock at the chicken and he went about 20 feet from me and the chicken wouldn’t leave, so I got a stick. That didn’t detour her much either. Once back at the boat we went to pizza with Airstream to celebrate our hike. Charisma and Morning Star went to the local dance competition.

August 6, 2008

Ashley’s birthday is today and she is 10! My grand daughters are growing up too fast! Today we are getting ready to leave tomorrow. We went to buy groceries using the scooter. We had to make two trips we had so much. There was storage under the seat of the scooter which helped and I carried 2 bags and Mike had a bag between his legs and a back pack, we were loaded down twice. Now to get it aboard, we almost dropped a case in the water and while trying to rescue it I knocked Mike’s glasses off and into the water, however I was able to rescue them and now I am soaked. Now to reorganize and put it all away.

August 7, 2008

We are almost ready to leave but first Mike goes to shore with a long list. We need a propane lighter, eggs and crackers, (he bought eggs and chicken, he forgot what I asked) returned the scooter, checked out or Rarotonga. We did a final email update and gave Charisma our unused WIFI Card we had spent $50 on. We bought a USA flag from Teri, I was totally tattered and torn from the wind. Ready to go so someone let our lines on the wharf go, I pulled up the stern anchor by hand and it was so slimy, stinky and just plain gross! Then we were off, we raised the sails after we left the harbor, great wind and nice and sunny. The wind picked up and we reefed both sails, we need to be conservative due to the hull leak. We could barely see Airstream ahead of us. Later Eelyos and Meridian followed us. After we were underway a little while later we heard a loud noise, we hadn’t secured the anchors, we had both the stern and bow anchors on the bow and the bow anchor fell off. Mike fixed it all easy enough, except he couldn’t get the stern anchor back in its proper place as the seas were too rough. The generator and the refer motor both won’t start. So now our refer is broke, and we had stocked the freezer up more than normal in Rarotonga. It is 5 days to Niue, I hope we don’t lose all our food. God can make a way where there seems to be no way. I believe it.