Sept 23, 2014 in Suwarow by Axel

Today was one of the best days of my life. I started the day on board Nirvana, my family's sailboat, in Suvurov. Suvarov is an atoll in the Cook Islands, it is also a national park. The first thing of the day I did was school, 2 pages of math, then at noon we went for a field trip to a ship wreck.
While we started going toward the wreck we did a little trolling for fish from the dinghy. I got my lure snagged on the coral bottom so we had to go back to the boat and get another. We trolled for a little while more before reeling in our gear and heading to the ship wreck.
The ship wreck was up sitting on top of the outside reef of the atoll. We had to do a long walk across the reef to the wreck. The wreck looked like a medium sized fishing boat with around half of it on the bottom of the ocean. I got a cool piece of the wreck that was a brass pulley that we might be able to clean up with muriatic acid.
We went back to the fishing spot and went fishing. I got a strong pull on my line, but that fish got away, my dad thought it might have been an emperor fish. I got another bite, this one was a small trevally, I got it right next to the dinghy but at the last second it got off the hook. I got a third bite, this one was a gianormous trevally. I was able to get it into the dinghy and back to Nirvana for tomorrow night's dinner. I was so excited to catch such a huge fish.
Tonight we had beef bourguignon for dinner because it was my parent's anniversary. For dessert I had banana cream pie, it was epically good.
Axel

Sept 22, 2014 Suwarow

We have been safely in Suwarrow for a couple of days now. Enjoying the insanely warm water, it is about 90F. It is so warm that even Axel doesn't complain it is cold, he actually wants to stay in the water longer. We are also enjoying chatting with the ranger, Harry, and his wife, Vaine, both native Cook Islanders. They have many jobs including doing all of the customs and immigration formalities, plus rangers plus working for the ministry of environment. They get dropped off on the island May 1 and picked up Nov 1. They arrive with all of their supplies for 6 months, so needless to say when we offered them a few cold beers they were extremely happy.
Suwarrow, or as it used to be called Suvarov, is an atoll consisting of numerous motus spread out about 8 miles in each direction. The atoll is famous for its former inhabitant, Tom Neale. He lived alone on the island for about 25 years. He didn't spend the entire time on the island, he would go back to Rarotonga to his wife and kids every so often. He wrote about his adventures in an entertaining book called "An Island to Oneself." Since he omitted to make any note that he had a family in that book, the locals have mixed feelings about him. Thanks to Dan Stroud, we had the book, and I finally got a chance to read it during our 3 day passage to the island.
The pass into the lagoon is interesting as you line up with an island across the atoll until you are almost in the pass then you must turn to port to clear a barely sunken reef. Not hard during daylight, but still challenging, but impossible to do at night. Luckily we arrived mid afternoon, but while I am sitting here typing this I am watching a sailboat standing off the island for the night as they arrived at 5:00 pm, just barely too late to see the reef, so they must sail back and forth until morning to safely enter the pass.
The anchorage is beautiful, but the threat of peril from coral reefs is omnipresent, as there is a sunken boat only a few feet away from us. This boat sank only a month prior to our arrival. We saw this boat in previous ports, it is a 52 foot Amel called Amiable. This is an expensive boat, beautifully outfitted. Not surprisingly Gary has been perusing the vessel for any parts that we could use, even though the ranger said it was strictly off limits to go on the vessel. Maritime salvage rights rule. So far we have some new lines and a 60 lb stainless plow anchor.
This atoll has amazing fishing. Gary has so far caught a yellow lipped emperor fish, a trevally, and hooked up with a sailfish, but unfortunately did not land it. We have had so much fish lately that we are concerned we may waste some of the nice beef we bought in Bora Bora, so we have been eating a lot of protein at every meal. Harrison has been hard at work climbing coconut trees to supply us with drinking coconuts. On the baking front Gigi and Axel made pretzels, Gigi made another banana bread, and Gary made wheat bread.
We have been back at school work, punctuated with snorkeling, kayaking and an exploratory walk around anchorage island today. Tomorrow brings Gary and my 19th wedding anniversary! This trip is our present to each other, and it is an adventure that will fill us with years of memories. We couldn't have got here without the help of so many friends. Thank you.
Fair sailing,
Julie

Enroute to Suwarrow

We are approximately 125 miles to Suwarrow, in very light wind, so we unfortunately are motor sailing. Let's hope the wind picks up soon. We made exceptional distance the first 24 hours, about 170 miles. Of course our best speed was at night sailing wing on wing going about 8.5-9 knots. Quite fun sailing, but quite tiring. If we keep going at our current pace we should arrive in Suwarrow midday tomorrow. Everyone is excited about having a break from being at sea and going ashore.
We have been occupying ourselves with baking and eating all sorts of good food. Gigi made cinnamon rolls. Axel made pizza. Harrison has made 2 banana breads so far. We have an abundance of bananas that are all ripening at the same time. We have had no shortage of good fish either. Gary caught a red snapper in the pass at Maupihaa that we ate the first night out. Harrison just caught a mahi mahi that should feed us for a few days. Axel also caught a mahi mahi, but when Harrison tried to gaff it, the fish got away. Plus we have all the good provisions we got in Bora Bora.

After a few days in Suwarrow we have the next long passage of about 525 miles to Niue. Hopefully we will have more favorable winds for that segment.
Julie

It's Harrison now, blogging for the first time at the request of friends so here it goes. It's been good to be back on Nirvana after a month in British Columbia although that month was an adventure on its own, joining another boat delivery, getting in a few nights of racing at WVYC, visiting Haida Guaii and the Cariboo all in one short but action packed month. As I said it's good to be back in the land of coconuts and boardshorts. Maupihaa was a taste of the tuamotus and I quickly fell back into the pace of snorkling and collecting coconuts.
A big thank you to Angela and Larry for the recipe for banana bread, I have been honing my at sea baking skills with tasty success. I had just started today's loaf when the call of "fish on" came from on deck and I bolted to the rod to see a blue flash off the stern. After adjusting the drag I had the upper hand and slowly but surely brought a decent sized mahi mahi alongside and Gary quickly brought it on board with a well placed gaff. I am looking forward to some hand pressed tortillas for some mahi fish tacos!
I'm sure the course on the tracker looks a bit shaky and that is an understatement to how the breeze has been. I'm looking forward to seeing Suwarrow which we have read about in Tom Neal's book An Island to Oneself as his tale was an interesting read.
That's all for now, I will try and post more through the passages to New Zealand.
Harrison

Maupihaa

We sailed from Bora Bora and got to Maupihaa yesterday. We caught a delicious red tuna along the way that we have eaten for 4 meals. Otherwise the passage was uneventful.

The Maupihaa pass is quite gnarly. It is about 40 feet wide with intense swirling current flowing out of the pass at about 4 knots. We lined up on the pass, then turned before heading in. Both Gary and I were flustered be the current, the coral heads in the pass and the fact that you can't turn about once you have started in. You really have to commit when you go through this pass. We circled a couple of times trying to decide whether to go in or head straight for Suwarrow. We decided we should not risk it, when a dinghy from another cruising boat came out and said it really wasn't that bad once you got started. They offered to be our guide, so we decided to go in. I let Gary steer this one and Harrison and I stayed on the bow to guide him. After the initial strong current, the pass spits you out into a deep lagoon, but not before you have to avoid a rather large coral head. And of course none of this is marked.

Once in the lagoon, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief, and realized that we were in one of the most beautiful atolls we had been to. We traversed the lagoon and anchored near the south end off a white sand/coral beach. We were greeted by black tip reef sharks swimming around the boat in the aquablue water. We relaxed, snorkeled, checked out the beach, kayaked and Gary went spear fishing and caught a good sized snapper. There is no cigateura on the island and we confirmed with the locals that the fish was ok to eat.

Tomorrow we head out to Suwarrow. That is about 550 miles from here. The winds look good, but not great. Maybe a little too light. Oh well, we will get there eventually. Hopefully the weather is right for entering the pass there, otherwise it is another 500 miles to Niue or 750 miles to Tonga. We have quite a bit of sailing ahead of us. Hopefully it is all fair winds and gentle seas.

Julie

Sept 10, 2014

My first entry to the blog is a salutation to French Polynesia. Seems like I've been spinning for the last year trying to get here and now we're on our way to the Cooks.

How lucky can a person be? my family, my friends…the boat, the trip!

We lie at anchor near the south tip of Bora Bora, Harry's strumming some Neal Young on the stern perch after splurging at Bloody Mary's.  Looking back there's no favorite place so far, it's all just such a great experience. Departing Point Loma with a green boat our crew of Shala, Harry, Angela and Scott made it work. The Pacific was blue and windy and green and warm and white capped and full of fish and lit by the moon. The Marquesas are impossibly beautiful and rugged to the core. The people, the pitching anchorages and the mountains, real mountains that rise from the bottom of the sea and scratch the sky with their saber toothed tops. I wilt before them but they embrace me. The people know no fear and call us Brother.

The lush and fertile slopes of the Marquesas are a striking contrast to the stark atoll plains of the Tuamotus.  Mountain men are replaced by smiling lowlanders whose only bounty comes from the sea. Crystal lagoons and the first flat water since Point Loma. The advent of charging surf is an eye opener after six months of boat prep and travel, but welcome.

Tahiti seems a metropolis but is actually another laid back Polynesian bastion, only with ice cubes. All of a sudden anything you could possibly want, even surf, maybe more than you need. I'll just say one thing about the Society Islands, Huahine!

Not a day goes by that I don't miss San Diego and anticipate our return but there's so much left to do. I really want to shake all those hands in appreciation for helping make this trip possible. First John Craig for decades of friendship and patience and diligence to see us off, of all the help the goofy trick to bypass a sticky thermo coupler on the stove may be the most appreciated. Ian and Nuka Storer for their generosity and passion for our quest. Chuck and Kathy and the gang at Ullman, more than sailmakers; special shout out to Charlie Jenkins for saving our bacon via random act of kindness. Both Rigworks and Sailing Supply for their integrity and enthusiasm.  Steve Harrison, from anchoring to using the head nothing happens without that guy. Mark Butler, always there in a pinch. Baker Marine, you really need a good compass out here. Julie's dad, Ed Petersen, we sleep well with his anchor. Congratulations to Damien and Tomira Craig on their forthcoming child and thanks for watching our home. Thanks to the members, staff and board of SDYC for absolutely helping in every way possible. Steve Harris, Tamajama kite is great in under 10 knots, too bad that's the breeze we have plenty of these days. Mark and Dorothy Steinbeck for everything. Winnie Baekkelund, we couldn't do this without you. And all our jillion friends who we can't wait to hug.

It's on to the Cooks, Tonga and New Zealand, stay tuned.

Gary

Bora Bora.

Bora Bora

We arrived in Bora Bora on August 29th. We anchored beside Ile Toopua. Amazing swimming pool blue water. Set up the swing/climbing rope and enjoyed our surrounding.  We went snorkeling with blacktip reef sharks and lemon sharks. We have snorkeled around a lot of blacktip sharks, and they can be slightly intimidating, although Gigi likes to chase them and try to touch them. The lemon sharks are quite big and they were intimidating. It took a little convincing to get Axel in the water, but he did join us. Gary grabbed the dorsal fin of one of the lemon sharks and went for a ride. We have a great video, but it is too big to upload on the really slow internet here.

We spent 3 days there, then went into town for a few nights. Sometimes you need food, internet, …

Gary and Axel hiked Mt Pahia, the second highest mountain in Bora Bora. It was a very gnarly hike that people have told us was irresponsible to bring a child of Axel's age on. To get to the peak you have climb a few completely vertical ascents that have sketchy ropes provided to assist.

Mt Pahai with the anchorage in the foreground.

One of the challenging ascents and even more challenging on the way back down.

Success!

Nirvana from the top of the mountain.

Then around to the south end of the Bora Bora lagoon. Traveling around the Bora Bora lagoon is quite interesting since you have to cross areas with less than 10 feet of water over live coral reef that is continuously changing in size. The first obstacle consists of a red mark and a yellow-black direction mark. These direction marks tell you which side of the buoy you should pass. These 2 marks are set so that you must zig-zag through them. So if you look at them on the chart it takes a while to understand how you are supposed to pass them. Then there are a handful more of these marks, sort of lined up, that you must zig-zag through to get to deeper water. On the approach to the first mark the chart states there is as little as 7 feet of water. We draw 7'8", so that could be a problem. We managed to get through the first group of mark with seeing as little as 10 feet of water while the wind was blowing 20 knots. I wanted to go slower, but you can't or you would be blown onto gnarlier reef, so we charged forward at about 3.5 knots. There is a big break between the first group of challenging marks and the next group, so I went down below to keep the kids focused on their schoolwork. I knew we must be approaching the next challenging mark, so I came on deck. My first reaction was, holy ****! Gary slowed down a little. I ran to the bow, and when I got there I could see no appropriate direction to turn without hitting reef. So I did what first came to mind, jump up and down and yell and wave my arms in all directions. Of course this didn't help Gary figure out which way to turn, but there was no good way to turn. So we ran aground on the coral reef.

We tried reversing off, that didn't work. We tried reversing off with the dinghy pulling also, that didn't work. S we proceeded to get ready to kedge ourselves off with our stern anchor. In the meantime, I left the motor in reverse and the wheel locked in the direction we wanted to go. All 4 of us were running around trying to get the situation dealt with quickly. We got the anchor and line out, but then the reverse started to kick in. We managed to pull away from a bad situation with only our nerves frayed. We went to a nearby anchorage and realized when we checked the keel, that thankfully we only lost a little paint. After the incident Axel said he knew something was wrong as there were many words said that he is not supposed to hear.

This is what it looks like as you are going through these areas. Nerves of steel everytime, of course until they are not!

 

The anchorage we stopped in had the most incredible water. You could see every depth transition, the lighter water is really shallow, the darker water is sufficient for our boat, about 12 feet. Around this motu is a vibrant, alive coral reef they call the coral garden. We got to swim with a sea turtle there. It checked us out for a while before swimming away.

Harrison arrived back yesterday, so we came back to the main town. He got treated to the rainiest day we've had in our entire trip today. We got completely drenched coming back from the grocery store. And he has already given Axel a ukulele lesson, which Axel missed doing while he was away.

 

I realize that I haven't written anything in a while as we have been busy with schoolwork, boat projects and snorkeling. We are currently trying to finish the 2nd month of schoolwork and prepare a package to mail back to the US before leaving for about 2 weeks of sailing. We plan to sail from Bora Bora to Suwarrow, in the Cook Islands, then Niue, then the Vava'u island group in Tonga. We expect to be away from internet and most forms of contact for 2 weeks. So for schooling this means we need to get things done in advance. For the passage this means we are provisioning for at least 2 weeks without any new food. And for sailing this means we need to make sure things that didn't work perfectly the last passage are all fixed. I am especially happy that Gary has installed dogs on my cabin hatches so they hopefully won't leak any more.

I will try to shoot a quick message out before we head out as we are off to Suwarrow.