Ports

One of the things that our kids miss while cruising are typical stateside milestones like the First Day of School. Where I grew up the first day of school was the day after Labor Day, which happens on the first Monday of September. Five year olds begin kindergarten, and while Olive doesn’t turn five for another couple of weeks, she would be a kindergartener now. We were lucky enough to send our kids to the General Primary School in Matamaka Village for their first day last week! ...

The Tropicana has become our hangout. It’s got good espresso, Internet, courtesy flags, a gluten free sensitized owner and is very cruiser friendly. Add to that the fact that Lisa(the owner) is our goto girl for local information and you start to see why we stop in every time we walk down the street. So yesterday we were walking down the street, the kids were doing well, and we had a few hours to kill before the laundry would be ready (or so we thought). I realized that it was high past time to get that haircut I had been talking about for the last 6 months. Knowing that Lisa would be able to point me in the right direction, I popped my head in and asked the question. “…the guy in the back is a barber,” she answered, turning back to her bookkeeping. ...

We arrived in Apia, Samoa early in the morning yesterday. Thankfully the internet was fast enough here to upload a few photos.

When I talk about our time in Papeete (Tahiti) I am inclined to describe it as all work and no play. When one is bogged down with projects like the Frankenfold (a.k.a the mainfold from hell), it is easy to forget that much fun has also been had. So before elaborating further on All The Fun® allow me to describe this particular bit of boat owner’s misery. Frankenfold Convivia has had numerous small fresh water leaks since we bought her. These have been dealt with more or less as they came up, and along the way I have even managed to improve on the system. On passage we started to develop a leak at the kitchen faucet, the location and disposition of which made it very difficult to fix. The short term solution was to decommission the faucet. Plumbing then took top priority on my project list. I had plenty of time to think about how best to address the situation. I wanted to remedy the existing problem and also make a substantial improvement to the overall stability of our ship’s pressurized water system. Ultimately this would have meant removing all of the hose and replacing it with Sea Tech hose. This being the middle of nowhere, I was not holding out of that. Plan B was to replace as many of the nylon fittings as I could and add a manifold as close to the pump as possible. After several (though it seemed like several hundred) trips to several hardware and marine stores, I was able to get all of the part together and complete the project. The result (as seen below) is not beautiful, but it works and solves a problem that would have been inevitable had I not taken the time. ...

I’m still catching up with my thoughts on Fakarava. The passage was too short to properly transition from the fierce rugged beauty of the Marquesas to the low, almost delicate Tuamotus. Our first night on Fakarava was spent catching up with long lost friends from Estrellita. The next day was spent snorkeling and watching the kids learn how to swim on the beach in front of the White Sands Resort. This place is just too… much. I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking and I’ll try to be more articulate in my next post.

Peer pressure was (for once) well placed when it was applied to our reluctance to hike “5 hours” to see another waterfall. We had already seen one in Fatu Hiva and it was quite magnificent. That hike was great too, but I just couldn’t motivate for a much longer hike, even if it was the 3rd highest waterfall in the world. “It’s amazing,” “It’s breathtaking,” “You’ve got to see it, really.” We heard nothing but praise and even from people who had already trekked to the one in Fatu. In the end it was Wondertime that brought us around to the hike. They hadn’t arrived yet and we didn’t want to leave for the Tuamotus without catching up with them. For so many reasons, this was the right call. ...

I’m not sure I knew that Daniel’s Bay (aka Hakatea Bay) was the site of Survivor 4 when we decided to check it out. By the end of our 5 days there it seemed to be the theme for everything. So much so that when I organized a little beach bonfire on the last night, I sheepishly touted it as the Survivor Beach Bonfire. Our stay there was nothing like the reality show though. We spent our first day on the beach, collecting limes and coconuts and generally making ourselves at home on the abandoned shore. The gendarme from Taiohae was there, which we thought was a little weird until we discovered that he was probably investigating the sensational cannibalism case* that has made the news (though thankfully not enough to catch our parents attention) lately. ...

I kind of pride myself on having a “feelings” kind of blog. You know, the kind that is more interested in how a place, or thing, or experience made me feel rather than (strictly speaking) a description of the place/thing/experience in question. Which is sort of by way of explaining why I’ve been a little short on blog posts lately. The problem, in vague terms, is that I have been feeling the same thing over and over again. This whole chapter in my life can be summed up in one short word; WOW. I feel like I’ve been sailing, hiking, and bumming around in an ever increasing state of slack jawed amazement and revelry at the immense cultural and natural beauty. And while this is certainly no regrettable state to be in, it is a little overwhelming and, well, not entirely conducive to introspection. ...

Four days after making landfall on Hiva Oa we sailed into Baie Hanavave on Fatu Hiva, the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It is the most beautiful place I can even imagine. The hills are high and covered with a hundred colors of green. Palm trees lean toward the ocean cliffs. The grassy areas are dotted with mountain goats. The sky is a dark blue, heavy with mist, and threatens to explode into a squall or a rainbow. I wonder if rainbows are overlooked here. I can’t find a local person that can tell me what they’re called in French or Marquesan. ...

Chamela For some reason I didn’t take as many pictures as usual, but I did manage to capture the flavor of these two stops, with just a handful of good exposures. Chamela is an unassuming, quiet harbor frequented (it seems) more by Mexican tourists and RVrs than by cruisers and foreign tourists. I loved the chill, laid back beach scene and Ruby worked up the nerve to ask a spanish speaking girl to play. Once she got over the initial static barrier of communication, they played for an hour or so in the surf and on the beach, while Vick and I enjoyed a great grilled snapper. Perhaps we will get another chance to enjoy this harbor on our way back to La Cruz. ...

We have now visited and reported on so many beautiful anchorages and towns that I’m feeling a little sheepish about declaring the new best place. So rather than declare La Cruz “the most awesomest pueblo en Mexico,” I’m going to provide some qualifications. Since we are planing to leave here tomorrow I have taken a moment to reflect on some of the things I’ll miss until we return. In no particular order: ...

Oh man. We had such an awesome time in Chacala. We sailed straight from Mantanchen Bay in pretty light and variable winds but the day was beautiful and we were all excited to see what was next. Chacala had been recommended by more cruisers and friends than pretty much any other harbor, so the bar was set pretty high. Truth be told, I was expecting a let down but that never materialized. From the moment we sailed around the point I was smitten. ...

We were hesitant to go to San Blas. We’ve been warned about crazy Norm Goldie on s/v Jama. We’ve heard about dingy and surfboard thefts. We’ve heard about the terrible Jejenes (no see ums). Ultimately our decision to visit San Blas was made when we discovered that we needed a boat part and it was the closest port. We had an easy daysail from Isla Isabella and anchored before nightfall in Ensenada de Mantenchen (sometimes written as Matenchen). Our Mexico travel has been on the Baja and then in the city of Mazatlan, then a short trip out to a remote island, and this was the first place that really felt tropical. The bay is large and the land around it is low and surrounded by palm trees, the hills behind are amazingly green with a few obvious plantations, perhaps coffee, coconut and banana. ...

When you ask a dozen cruisers about Mazatlan (as a potential stop) the resounding sentiment is “skip it.” I wanted to write a quick post to add some weight to the countervailing position. Mazatlan is a great city to visit, especially if you are following the common pattern of Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Mainland. After a solid month of desert landscape and beach towns, the bustle and unique character of Mazatlan was a welcome change. If I were to equate my two favorite Mexican cities (so far) with their familiar counterparts, I would say that La Paz reminded me of Santa Cruz and Mazatlan reminded me of Barcelona. For sure it has it’s grime, and apparently it has it’s crime (though we didn’t see or hear of any directly) but it also has character, a proud congenial populace, and some really great sights. ...