Ruby Slippers

Aloha! We are now in….oops, wrong dialect!  After that terrible hurricane, we are 500 miles off the coast of Africa.  Auto pilot broke down, and we were blown WAY off course.  To top it off, Mom ran out of chocolate!  Dad had to feed the chocolate to the Loch Ness monster to keep it away from the boat, because it thought Mom was its cousin.  They do look similar, especially since Mom got dread locks (or is it ‘dread lochs’)….

Mom is freaking out because there are cockroaches in her dreads.  The other morning, she woke up to find a huge one sitting on her nose. We think that he was trying to ask her why she had so many antennae. They have since invaded the freezer, and Dad says that we’re going to have to make cockroach stew when we run out of Spam.

Dave, our crew member who was supposed to fly back to Hawaii from the Marquesas, isn’t very happy.  Since he is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat Spam or cockroaches, and he is trying to catch a fish.  Right now, we are becalmed, and he wants to go bottom fishing, but we don’t have enough line to reach all the way down. He is fishing from a great big hole that the Loch Ness Monster put in the side of the boat. It is really handy because you can sit on the settee (couch) and fish, but not great for sailing on a starboard tack.  Whoa!  He just got a bite!  It’s coming, it’s coming…. Oh, no!  It’s an extremely rare and deadly crew-eating fish, found only in the waters off the coast of Africa.  Watch out, Dave!! Oh, rats -there goes Dave.  He was such a nice guy, too.

Now it’s just the four of us, and we really need to find our way back to the Marquesas.  We have no instruments, no autopilot, no refrigeration, no water maker, no Dave, and only one good side of our boat.  I wonder, if we click our heels three times and say “I want to go to the Marquesas”, will it work?

We did pick up a new friend when we were in the Galapagos - a cute little black and white penguin.  He is really cute, but he is also a little bossy, and is eating us out of house and boat.  We have fed him every OREO cookie we have on board - he insists on only eating black and white things.  We fed him black beans and rice, and he passed gas all night long.  We won’t make that mistake again.  He insists on sleeping with my (Molly’s) black and white panda bear, and has made it clear that he wants the aft cabin on the port side to himself.  Well, now that Dave’s gone, we can handle that problem, but still, is this little guy going to take over the ship???

We are currently, according to a freighter that passed by us, at 20.44S latitude and 002.54E longitude.  We need to be at 9.48S and 139.01W, near the Marquesas. Can anyone tell us how far we are from our destination, and how to get there???  I hope we make it before hurricane season…

HAPPY  APRIL FOOL’S   DAY !!!- Molly and Jessie

last Wednesday, after 17 days at sea.  It was great to see the little hump of land in front of us, right where it should be.  It got bigger and bigger, and then we were anchored in a beautiful bay in Hiva Oa, one of the southernmost islands of the Marquesas.  We had made it!  I learned from a guide book that if you are on a yacht halfway between the Galapagos Islands and the Marquesas, you are farther away from land than on any point on earth.  I felt that way many times during our crossing.  We flew the spinnaker for at least 9 days, 24 hours a day.  It was so nice to look up and see the friendly slippers on our chute dancing in the breeze.

Hiva Oa was a feast for the eyes and the tummy.  It is very mountainous, with sharp spires going up into the clouds.  The valley is lush and green, with fragrant flowers everywhere.  The women put a fresh flower in their hair every morning - on the right if they are available, on the left if they are married.  Every tree is laden with fruit - mangoes, papaya, noni and avocados.

The baguettes here are about two feet long.  The French government subsidizes bread for the islands, so every morning truck loads of bread get delivered to the stores, gas stations, and tourist sights.  It is fresh and hot.  This bread delivery is a bit like the manna from Heaven that was delivered to the Israelites in the wilderness.  Only enough is delivered for one day’s supply - everyone meanders to the store and buys what they need, knowing that tomorrow there will be more.  There is no stocking up or over buying.  I kept wondering what the effect of our buying 10 baguettes at once would do to the supply and demand.  All stores are closed on Saturday and Sunday, so there is a bit of a frenzy on Friday.  If you get to the store too late, the bread is all gone.

We rented a car for a couple of days and went up into the mountains.  The roads are not paved, and there is about a 1,000 foot drop right into the ocean.  The hairpin curves were pretty exciting, and the mountain goats that we encountered were a lot more adept at navigating than we were.  Way up in the mountains is a small village that holds the distinction of having the oldest archaeological site in all of the Marquesas.  There are stone Tiki statues and a burial ground that has been there since the 1600s. We also visited the gravesite of Paul Gauguin, the painter, who died here in 1903.  It was a very simple grave, as he did not become famous until many years after he died.

We stocked up with what food the small town had to offer, and headed north to the next  island.  We went snorkeling and Jim speared a few fish.  It was a pitiful sight to see him raise his spear from the water and there was a little tiny fish on it; he said they looked a whole lot bigger underwater!  We will use them as bait, I guess.  Right now they are in a plastic bag in the fridge - staring sadly at me every time I open the door.  Snorkeling was great - there were lots of angel fish and even some lion fish - which are highly poisonous, but beautiful - great big wavy, feathery fins floating above them.

We are now in a cove on the island of Ua Pou, about 100 miles north of Hiva Oa.  This little bay is surrounded by steep green cliffs, and the island is full of wild goats.  We could hear them bleating all night, competing with the waves crashing onto shore.  The water here is crystal clear; we are anchored in about 50 feet, and can see all the way to the bottom.

Jim finally caught some skipjack tuna yesterday - after a month of not catching fish - and we had a great dinner last night, plus we had enough left over to make poisson cru - fish “cooked” in lime juice, onion and fresh coconut milk.  It will be ready to eat soon.  I know I sound very worldly and adventurous, but I probably won’t eat very much!

We are slowly making our way north to Nuku Hiva - the northernmost island of the Marquesas.  There, our friend Dave will fly home to Hawaii.  He’s been great to have aboard, and has taught us a lot about vegetarian cooking, botany, and has entertained us with some pretty tall tales.  The four Rards plan to hang out in Nuku Hiva for a couple of weeks and do some exploring, boat maintenance and serious school work - we really need to catch up.

We have yet to find an internet café where we can download some pictures onto this website.  Maybe in Nuku Hiva.  Happy Easter and happy spring to all of you!

is the largest island in the Marquesan chain, and we are anchored in the bay by Taiohae, the largest town on the island. Nuku Hiva was formed by two volcanoes, creating a lush valley between the two that is devoted to farms and pastureland. The scenery here is awe inspiring; sharp jagged peaks of green surrounding crystal blue water.

Jim has been busy sewing a large shade cover for the boat. He brought an old sail from home, which he is trying to turn square. There is much muttering and grumbling coming from the cockpit, where “sewing central” is located, but I think he has it about done. We scramble up to help with “fittings”, draping the sail over the boom and front of the boat; otherwise, we have discovered it is just best to let the poor guy sew.

We have been out of water for about three days now – we haven’t been out to sea to make water with our watermaker, and the water on the island is not clean enough to put in our tanks. We have been going ashore in the dinghy with jerry cans and filling them from the spigot. Then we come back to the boat, add some Clorox, and heat some of the water for dishes. There is a shower on the quay – no electricity or warm water. Usually we don’t get around to taking showers till after dark, so we are in the pitch black, feeling around cold concrete walls and floors for the soap and the shower handle. That first blast of cold water is always breath- taking to me. Literally. See, it’s not all fun and games out here!

Molly, Jessie and I have been catching up on math – I feel like we are way behind. I’m not worried about the other subjects. They have read almost all the historical fiction books we have on board, and know a lot more history than I will ever know.

We found a beautiful little church to attend on Easter Sunday. The front was filled with flowers; frangipani, plumeria, tiare, gardenia, and ginger. The singling was so pure and sweet – even the children harmonized perfectly. There were 6 men who sat in the congregation, playing guitars and ukuleles. Instead of bread and wine at communion, they served coconut chunks and coconut milk. After church, we went to the best restaurant in town and had a three-hour lunch. Jim had goat – the rest of us didn’t. For dessert, we had these amazing little lava cakes – chocolate with a soft chocolate center and ice cream. I thought I had only ordered one for the four of us, but somehow we each got one. I wish I knew a lot more French than I do. The long walk back to the boat helped us digest our delicious lunch.

Our plan is to head to an internet café today and download some of our pictures. If we succeed, they will be in the media gallery!

…that there are boats coming here soon with KIDS on board!  Pure music to their ears.  Evidently, 24/7 with mom and dad isn’t as thrilling as it used to be.  So, we have been hanging out on Nuku Hiva Island, watching each boat as it come into the anchorage, scanning each deck for signs of youth.

We spent a couple of days in the next bay to the east, called Daniel’s Bay.  Evidently, Daniel and his wife settled there a while back, now his grown son and family live in a bucolic beach setting at the head of the bay.  There is a nice little house, plenty of fruit trees, a horse, 2 dogs and a boat, surrounded by a white sand beach. Jim says he could live like that for a couple of years, no problem.

Down the river, which connects to the bay, is a little village with about 20 homes.  This is the only place on this island to get clean water, so Jim traded some guitar strings and fish hooks for about 100 gallons of water, which we carried in jerry jugs from the village, to our dinghy, to our boat, and put it in our tanks.  The men of the village were so thrilled with the trade that they gave us bananas, papaya, mango and coconut.  It was a lot of hard work, but it’s been so nice taking showers on our boat again.  We are much more careful with water now - pre-washing our selves and our dishes in salt water before giving them a fresh water rinse.

We hiked up to the world’s 3rd highest waterfall.  It was an arduous hike - about 2 ½ hours each way, through raging rivers and ancient stone structures.  The waterfall was very tall, although not much water was coming down.  Most of the fun was hiking between gigantic volcanic mountains and lush green pastures.  The trail was not very clear, but locals had marked the paths with little piles of stones every so often, so you could find your way.  When we finally arrived at the end of the hike, there were twenty or thirty little stone markers that hikers had built showing that they had arrived at their destination.  It looked very Zen-like!

Here is how our hikes go:  Jim and Molly stop to study every bug, bud and bird.  A two- hour hike could easily take them four hours.  I am pretty goal-oriented; I want to get to the waterfall, take a picture and get back down so I can take a nap.  I march at a ferocious pace.  Jessie is a little like me, with slightly shorter legs.  She keeps up, but asks politely if we could stop to breathe every once in a while.  So, we all get together at the end of the hike, and have a fun time comparing notes.

Molly and Jessie and Jim went snorkeling in Daniel’s Bay early one morning, and played with an octopus for about an hour!  He was hiding behind a rock, but seemed curious and came out to check out his visitors.  He would change color when he was feeling nervous, or if the girls touched his head or made him feel threatened. In fact, he was able to change color on just parts of his body, to show where he didn’t want to be touched.  They are very smart animals, I hear.  There are some great huge coral reefs in the bay, and the snorkeling was fun, but not very good visibility.  I am looking forward to the Tuamotus, where we keep hearing about 100-foot visibility and a zillion varieties of fish.

The main town on this island is Taiohae, which circles the bay that we are in now.  They have a Saturday morning market right at the wharf, with fresh pastries, fish and vegetables.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is, it starts at 4:30 in the morning and ends at 7:00 am!  You need a flashlight to see what delicacies you might be buying.

We rented a car yesterday and toured the island.  Most of the roads are unpaved, and follow the steep cliffs.  One wrong move and you are heading down a thousand foot bank.  It was a bumpy ride, but we went to the other side of the island and checked out the anchorages to see where we might like to go next.  The scenery is amazing - the mountains are tightly packed with all sorts of vegetation.

Before we went on our car ride, we discovered that the local medical association was distributing elephantitus pills to the entire island, as they do every year.  It is evidently a big problem here - certain mosquitoes carry the bacteria.  It is an awful disease; some part of the body swells up to huge proportions - usually an arm or a leg, and it never goes away.  We dutifully took our pills, so we feel well protected.

We have been on this island, at different anchorages for two weeks now.  I am getting a little antsy to get moving, although it has been nice to get to know a few of the locals well enough to get kissed on both cheeks when we see them!  Everything is so expensive here, and we are afraid it will only get worse as we head towards Tahiti.  We have pretty much stopped buying meat - only fish, and the fresh local vegetables and fruit.  Honestly, baguettes are the only real bargain here…

There will be new pictures in the media gallery in a couple of days - it takes a long time to upload them when there is only one satellite that serves all of French Polynesia!

Here is an e-mail I received from a reader, along with my answer. Maybe it will help someone else who is trying to make some decisions, also –Jim

We are getting our (J SO 45.2) ready for about 10 month trip from NW to NE of US.  We are stalling on the cost of water maker and can’t decide if it makes sense.  I know that hauling water in jugs is a hassle and that water quality in Central America/ Mexico is an issue.

Is your water maker working?  Was Daniel Bay too polluted to use it?

Good to hear your plans are coming along. Our water maker is working great. The water at Daniel’s Bay is fine; I had to pack it about fifty yards to the dinghy, so that slowed the process a bit. We treat all water from questionable sources with Clorox just to be on the safe side. A test kit would be a good thing to have onboard. We were able to make all our water, till we slowed down and started spending extended time in ports and anchorages. The filters tend to plug up in port and the unknown pollution is a concern. So, as a backup to a water maker, it is still necessary to have a plan to carry water. After packing 300 gallons of water the last month I recommend some sort of collapsible container and a long hose. And while you are at it, you might as well have one for fuel. (Except for the Baja race, we motored about 80% of the way to the Galapagos.) I would love to have a couple of bladder tanks and a cargo net to lift them on board. (I hate having jerry cans on deck.) Fuel and water would be much easier to move, and in larger quantities. The only problem we had with the water maker was my installation. We were not able to make water over about 7 knots. After jury rigging a scoop on the thru hull, and venting the sea strainer, the only problem is plugged filters in the harbors. I think I will add two more pre-filters ahead of the water maker so we can make water in the non-polluted bays. I have one 5 micron filter now, and I am thinking a 30, 20, and a 5 would save on filters. The 30 micron would catch most of the problem. Most anchorages we have been have too much silt or sea life, and the 5 micron filter gets clogged up.