Day 9 (July 31, 2011):
After I finished yesterday's blog, I managed to get another hour & a half of sleep before Curt woke me up. At 7:30AM he wanted to get an early start since we were heading out of the passage and into the ocean. Our sail to Huahine would take 7 hours (and that estimate was with us motoring most of the way). We untied our boat from the mooring & Curt took us out towards the passage.
I started coffee & breakfast in the kitchen. I was preparing the white bananas to bake in the oven when Curt told me that we were about to hit our first ocean swell & I should just be careful in the kitchen. BOOM...we hit the swell, went up and over the wave and smacked back down pretty hard. “Curt, do you think you could take the waves from more of an angle?” He told me he was doing the best he could but the channel was really narrow, so I'd have to make due for a little.
We spent the next half an hour doing the exact same thing. The waves & swells came one after another & I was crouched in the kitchen doorway (in earthquake ready position) with my hands bracing myself on either side of the sliding door. “Honey, are you sure this is normal for ocean sailing? We're not even going to be able to put the sail up.” We were headed dead into 25 knots of wind, with dark rain clouds up ahead. The swells seemed to almost swallow our 40 foot catamaran (Curt said in actuality there were probably only 10-12 foot swells).
I tried to continue brewing our coffee but stopped when the entire pot almost ended up on the floor (we hit a huge swell while I was pouring the hot water in the pot). I did manage to bake the white bananas & we each had two. With about 6 & ½ more hours ahead of us, I didn't think this would be a very comfortable sail. I hadn't even changed out of my pajamas, brushed my teeth or washed my face yet (basically jumped out of bed to untie the mooring). I didn't think going below was a smart idea because I was still afraid of nausea (although even in the ocean swells I wasn't nauseous at all).
“Curt, will the swells ever let up a bit?” “Is this a smart idea?” “What if it starts to rain or storm?”
I was pretty nervous as our boat was approaching rain clouds up ahead. I imagined that we'd go into survival mode & it would play out like a scene from the Perfect Storm. Curt thought about all my questions for a bit longer and then told me that we were turning back. I told him if he was certain that we'd be safe I could suck it up (we both really wanted to go to Huahine, as it was supposed to be gorgeous). He said he didn't really want to spend the next 6 & ½ hours so uncomfortable & that he'd rather enjoy a relaxing sail.
We turned back & instantly things calmed down. We were now surfing the waves instead of smacking over top of the them. It was still not ideal sailing, but enough so that I managed to get out of my crouched position & climb next to Curt on the captain's bench. Once we were in between the two motu's and safely through the passage, the wind died down to about 15-18 knots. We anchored at the same motu that we successfully managed to anchor at yesterday.
We had anchoring down!! I manned the anchor & the lead, while Curt manned the wheel. Perfectly in sync & a million times better than our first attempt yesterday. The anchor was set & the rain cloud opened up over top of us. We headed inside to come up with a new game plan, since Huahine was out of the question. We decided to keep our anchor set here until after lunch, at which point we'd head back into Haameene Bay (where we anchored last night) & check out the town that was set to the back of the bay (about 10 minutes from where we anchored & completely out of the wind).
The first set of rain clouds passed & the sun came out. We put on our bathing suits, lathered up with lotion & took our books/magazines out to the trampoline. We spent about an hour working on our tans & catching up on reading. I headed inside & heated up our leftover tuna & macaroni. Once lunch was over, we fed the fish with our giant baguette. There were a lot of fish near the motu & they were coming in schools for bread.
After feeding the fish an entire baguette, Curt decided to go for a snorkel. We both couldn't go at the same time, since we lost our mask the day before, so I encouraged him to go and shoot some video of the fish. He was in the water for about 2 minutes when he came up franticly and asked me to guess what was at the bottom. I instantly got nervous that he was going to tell me there was a giant shark below us. He didn't wait for an answer & blurted out that our snorkel mask was directly below the boat.
What are the odds that we'd anchor over the exact spot where the mask ended up? We were in 5 meters of water & Curt thought he could dive down to retrieve them with our boat hook. He made three valiant attempts & almost had it but his flipper came off. I told him it wasn't worth it and worried that he'd smack his head on one of the pontoons when he swam up quickly.
He came back on board & I asked if he wanted me to give it a shot. He told me where it was and what I needed to do. I put on my flippers, my mask & swam in between the pontoons with the boat hook in my hand. I made sure there weren't any giant sharks waiting for me at the bottom, took a deep breath in and dove down to the bottom. I managed to snag the mask with the boat hook, but it slipped off. I swam down a little deeper, felt a lot of pressure on my ears & gave it one last shot before I came up for air. E VOILA...in my first dive I was successful. Curt was really impressed (& probably a bit jealous that I was the one to rescue our snorkel mask). We both couldn't believe our luck of anchoring directly over top of the mask. We pulled up our anchor & set off for our next destination. I was feeling super confident after my successful dive that I offered to take us in to the bay. I think Curt nearly fell on the floor. He told me I've come a long way from our first day on the boat & I felt really good about actually earning my title as “first mate.”
I took us all the way into the bay, dropped the anchor & we assessed whether we wanted to take the dinghy over to the town to check it out, another rain cloud was over top of us. We waited out the rain & chatted about the town, with a glass of white wine in hand. This rainstorm was really short and we decided that the town looked too sleepy to check out (it was Sunday and many places looked dark inside).
We pulled up the anchor and headed out to the mouth of the bay & another rain cloud was over top of us. I asked Curt if we should set the anchor again and he told me we were moving on. I gave him his foul weather gear (really just the poncho from the St. Regis) & he began to navigate his way back to the island of Raiatea (where we picked up our boat).
Our plan was to explore the east side of the island & anchor for the night in Faaroa Bay. Curt motored along because he said we had a lot of ground to cover to make it to our anchoring spot by sundown, so motoring was our best option...I was bummed we hadn't had the sail out at all today. I opened up our guide books and checked out things to do on the East Coast of Raiatea. For this afternoon, we wouldn't be able to do any of the fun things that I found, but we'd get an early start in the morning to check them all out. Somehow I thought we'd be able to see & do it all with our 5 day boat rental. I think if you actually wanted to see the 5 main Leeward Islands you would need about 2-3 weeks with the boat, which would account for long sails & days actually exploring land.
We motored past the capitol city. It was actually supposed to have some decent shopping, a variety of restaurants and seemed to have people bustling about (even on a Sunday). We decided we stop their for lunch on August 3rd, after we returned our boat to Sunsail. We passed Passe Teavaapati, which was supposed to have grey sharks, morey eels, barracuda & other fish swimming in it's dark waters. We didn't have time to stop and snorkel at the nearby motu, so I sat at the front of the boat with my toes hanging over (hoping to attract some sharks & sea life). I had my camera in hand & was ready to capture something...anything, but the only thing I saw bobbing around was a mooring near the motu.
I manned the wheel for a bit, which gave Curt some down time to take some pictures and enjoy our beautiful surroundings. The sun had been shining since we exited Haameene Bay & the afternoon was superb for sailing. I really wished that we could put our sails up for a bit, but it was already 4PM & we had to have our anchor set securely by 5PM.
We entered Faaroa Bay & the wind dropped to about 7-8 knots. This was an ideal spot to set our anchor for the night & essentially promised that I may actually get my first good sleep since we boarded the boat. We took our boat near the entrance of the river (the only river in the Leeward Islands) & set our anchor. We were in 10 meters of water & Curt wanted to make sure that we were properly set for the night, so I let out 140 turns on the winch. I set the anchor lead & we were letting out a bit more rode when we reached the end of our chain (not a big deal because we had 20m of rope after the chain). The only hitch was that the knot at the end of the rope was a bit large to go through the turn into the winch. We made some minor adjustments to the anchor lead & rode...e voila PERFECTLY set for the night.
I wanted to take our dinghy into the river to check out the hibiscus & the botanical garden, but Curt said the sun would set soon. Instead I prepared cheese & crackers, poured us some wine & we enjoyed the sunset. There were giant clouds over the tops of the mountains, so the sun set just shining it's light through the clouds. The light was beautiful, with lots of blues, purples & pinks shining through the clouds and onto the water. I took many pictures.
After the sunset, I decided I must squeeze a Kettle Worx workout in before dinner (I skipped the past two days – 1st day Marseille was on the boat & I really didn't want to work out in front of him & the 2nd day I got sea sick around the time I had planned to workout). Tonight's resistance workout was just what I needed to end the day.
While I showered, Curt prepped the veggies for our dinner. I made a delicious coconut curry sauce that I mixed with carrots, peas, onions and rice. It was very tasty & felt very Tahitian. Once our leisurely dinner was finished, we checked our navigation system to make sure we weren't drifting (I have been insisting we do this even though Curt is certain we won't drag the anchor) and settled on the trampoline to finish Avatar.
Even though it had rained periodically during the day, the night had beautifully clear skies & the stars were shining brightly. Even though we opted not to take the journey to Huahine, we both agreed that today was a huge success. Curt told me I was impressing him with how well I've adapted to life on a boat.
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