After our crossing from Moorea, we arrived in Fare Bay in Huahine, dropped the hook, did some cleanup and spent the afternoon and early evening just relaxing and napping. When it was time for bed, I took first shower. The shower sump pump worked fine, but I couldn't hear the volume of water exiting the boat that I should have. Finally, I heard the water being pumped out of the boat and enjoyed the hot water shower. After my shower the water pump came on and didn't seem to go off. I brought the matter to Russ's attention. Are slow start to shower sump pump and fresh water pump not turning off unrelated or related? It's late. We decide to turn off the fresh water pump and sleep on it. We were planning on renting a car in the morning, but looks like we have some maintenance work to do instead.
Monday, July 26, 2010 - Fixing things and Grocery Store Adventure
We get up early in the morning, after a night of howling winds and us checking the anchor alarm frequently. We held tight. Russ starts to sleuth down the water pump problem.
Good news: We have an extra pump, if the pump is the problem.
Bad news: Our dry bilge has several gallons of unaccounted for water.
Good news: It's not sea water. Bad news: Shower sump overflowed once again. Not sure why, maybe it lost its prime during the rolling seas. Russ cleans out the bilge. But there is more water in the bilge than could possibly have come from the shower sump overflow.
Good news: Water pump is working. Good pressure at the pump.
Bad news: There is not enough pressure building to fill the hoses. There is a leak somewhere.
Good news: There is no leak forward of the pump.
Bad news: That means the leak is behind the pump (engine room, aft head or shower).
Good news: Russ finds the leak in the aft head cupboard. A T-joint stressed out during our rocking and rolling. My shower blew it off the hose. Russ has the right replacement. We are fixed and just need to dry out by 11:00 a.m.
Moral of the story: Turn off the fresh water pump at night and when we leave the boat. (Fortunately, we were onboard when the fixture broke and we could hear the water pump on. Had we not been on board, the water pump would have continued pumping all of the water (250 gallons) out of water tank into the bilge. Hopefully, the bilge pump would have pumped it overboard as soon fast as it was being pumped into the bilge or we could have had major problems with flooding on the boat.) So many lessons to learn.
We still are having problems connecting our WIFI system to local provider. Seems to have gone haywire after Russ fixed the gooseneck on the mast….hmmmm. More later on that. We had done enough fixing for the day and went ashore to walk around.
Grocery Store Adventure
The cruising guide said there was a fabulous grocery store on this little island. It was not an exaggeration. Actually, the variety of merchandise was amazing rivaling the biggest Carrefour (similar to Walmart) in Papeete. We even found things here we couldn't find in Papeete or Mexico……Denty Moore Stew, Chilie Con Carne, etc. Who would have evers thought we could get so excited about these little things!
We also found some powdered yogurt mix call Eaziyo from New Zealand. Of course, I had to buy a few packages.After our exciting grocery store adventure, we met up with friends on The ROAD, for happy hour, then returned from the dingy dock on shore to the boat for some chilie con carne.
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| Dinghy Dock in Fare |
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - Rain Forest Walk
The vanilla yogurt was delicious! I'm going back for some more of those packages before we leave here. We took a lovely walk with friends from The Road into the rainforest today just outside of town. And of course, it rained while we were there, but the canopy was so thick, we could hardly feel the rain, only the secondary drips as the rain slid off the leaves to the forest floor. The variety and beauty of the vegetation here in Polynesia is incredible. Here are some photos of our rainforest exploration.
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| Shirely, Taffy from SV The ROAD, and Russ |
After our morning walk, we returned to the boat. Russ started sleuthing out the problem for the WIFI problem. Basically, the router was working fine, but the "bullet" that picks up the signal from the antenna didn't seem to be working. Next step is to investigate the wires in the mast. Did Russ nick or pin them when he was repairing the gooseneck?
We decided he had done enough work for one day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon snorkeling in a nearby reef and getting our exercise by swimming from the reef back to the boat towing the dinghy behind us, just like Jack LaLane swimming from Alcatraz towing a rowboat with the line in his teeth……well not quite, but it still brought that image to mind.
We are renting a car tomorrow with Shirley and Taffy on The ROAD. This cruising couple is from South Africa. They have been cruising for ten years. We met them and their crew member,Collin a fellow countryman , and their very intelligent parrot Rubbish while we were moored in Tahiti. The ROAD stands for the Royal Order of the Ancient Druid. Taffy claims to be the ancient druid and is the head of the royal order.
Wednesday, July 18, 2010 - Island Tour
We got an early start with Taffy and Shirley for the rental car agency on Wednesday morning, but got there later than we intended because there was quite a bit going on in town. We could hear the Tahitian drumming coming from the pier.
A dozen women dressed in their Polynesian finery with headdresses and arms filled with fragrant leis were waiting for the approaching cruise ship, the Tahiti Nui.
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| La Head Director |
Highlights of our tour around the island were:
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| Ancient Terraced Gardens and Foundations |
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| Shallow rooted palm trees lean into the wind |
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| Fish Traps Still in Use Today |
Coral City - On the end of a peninsula on the west side of the island near the now defunct Sofitel hotel, we went for a snorkel. A local woman, Michele, suggested that we not wear our fins, but sandals into the water. She pointed out to what looked like a kilometer away to the reef and asked if we could see the exposed coral reefs sticking out of the water. We could. She said we could wade out to them and because of the current, it would be better for us to keep our feet on the ground so we didn't drift south.
Had Michele not suggested that we go out to the rocks, we would never have ventured that far from shore on our own. It was truly spectacular to see the variety of fish, coral, anemones, sea cucumbers, clams, and spiney urchins in the crystal clear water. After our snorkel we got back in the car and continued on our tour.
Blue-eyed Eels - Just before crossing the bridge that joins Huahine Nui to Huahine Iti, we came to a little village with a fresh water stream that was nearly dry. Purportedly, on the downriver side of the bridge that crosses the stream, there live some blue-eyed eels that are revered on Huahine. By the looks of the very little amount of water in the stream, we wondered if the eels were still alive and about.
To our amazement they were. A tour group came through and had a bucket of meats that they started to through out to the eels. Thee eels, many four feet long, sucked in the meat like slimey vaccuum cleaners. The tour guide was sure to keep her fingers out of the way. When the eels got close, she and her tour would pet them. We were happy to stand on shore and watch the whole experience. And yes the eels do have blue eyes.
Within minutes the overlook parking area filled with cars and people. The cyclists were coming up the hill and we had front row seats. Fortunately because they were huffing and grinding up hill, we got a bit more time to watch them before they crested and disappered in a flash on the downhill side. It was very exciting.
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| Here They Come! |
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| Rah! Rah! |
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| And, There They Go! |
Vanilla Plantation - On the eastern side of Huahine Iti, we stopped at a vanilla plantation. The owner showed us his crops and how the vanilla bean is grown. He only spoke French so we just got a little information from him. We will have to learn more. And of course, we each had to buy some fresh vanilla beans.
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| Vanilla Vines in Screened Greenhouse |
We returned to Fare, dropped off our car, and proceeded to happy hour. We had had a wonderful day. Our friends Gene and Gloria on Pincoya had come into the bay and joined us for happy hour.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Last night, the Tahiti Nui, loaded with all of the cyclists disappeared out the reef while we slept. We decided to stay close to the boat and relax today. Tomorrow, we plan to cross the channel to Raietea and Taaha, about 20 miles away.
In the meantime, Russ is still sleuthing down the problem of our WIFI. It turns out that he didn't pin the wire inside the mast while fixing the gooseneck, but he had nicked it breaking one of the wires inside the casing. He soldered it together and is now seeing if that will be enough to solve the problem. We hope so since direct connect to the Internet is painfully slow.
This afternoon, we will make one last trip to the grocery store and maybe do one more snorkel adventure.
Huahine is not to be missed. We have had a great time here.
All is well on Worrall Wind.
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