Saturday, 4 August 2007

The Schooner Maggie B is back in Rairua Harbor, Raivavae, Austral Islands. We woke up this morning just off Motu (small island) Vaiamu, known locally as "Le Piscine" -- the swimming pool. We had an idyllic day and evening. Photos to follow when we get to Tahiti.

But at about dawn, we woke up to 35 knots of wind from the NNE. This was more or less as expected, maybe 10 knots more and more northerly. We were in a lovely spot for a quiet afternoon, but not for a blow. We raised anchor, with some difficulty due to coral heads rather entangling the chain and anchor, but accomplished marvelously with tight teamwork and early attention of divers.

We motored over to Vaiuru, where some had seen a five step series of marae, and found what seemed to be a nice spot. The day was calm for a bit but then started to blow up again to 25-35 knots, and the bottom proved (on inspection) to be bits of sand and then coral shingle. Not great holding. We passed on staying for a tour of marae to head off for the end of the island, Isle Hotuahua. It proved to be a brief respite. We anchored in 20 feet of water, dried out a bit, and had a cup of tea. The wind switched from 35 knots from the NNE to 35 knots from the south. In about 10 minutes. Much of the time it was raining at about one inch (2.54cm) per 15 minutes. What in Oklahoma they would call a frog choking gully washer.

We continued along around Raivavae to Rairua Harbor. The hills were incredible with waterfalls falling 200 meters off the cliffs, blown away by the wind, while all of the wetness whipped around us as we dodged the coral outcroppings to find our way back to a safe anchorage.

In Rairua, our Norwegian friends were still there. We woke them up as we arrived, by passing close by and giving them a big blast of our marvelously loud Kallenberg horn.

In the evening, after a celebratory round of Hot Toddys, we fixed a "comfort dinner" of baked potatoes and "garbage" soup. While dinner was fixing, it HAILED on us. Maybe typical for some places, but a shock for us. We tried to gather enough for ice for our rum and cokes, but it was a bit too transient. Movie Night was "Whale Rider" which seemed so much more significant from knowing a bit more about Maori culture.

All is well.

Location 23° 53S, 147° 37W
Thursday 12:00, 08.02.2007

The Schooner Maggie B has moved around Raivavae Island to 23° 53S, 147° 37W. We are anchored next to a small island called Motu Vaiamanu. This area is called "the swimming pool" and is just lovely. We plan to explore lots tomorrow.

This morning started poorly. We are out of cooking gas, having left Opua low in one bottle and the other "full" one apparently short filled somewhere. No coffee this morning made us all slow starters. I went into the lady who has gas cylinders in her yard and asked if I could get mine filled. She said that she had the cylinders which were for sale or exchange, and they were filled in Tahiti and shipped out and back and she didn't fill little ones.

I went back to the boat and got my assortment of fittings and tubes and came back in to try to decant some. An additional problem is that I only have US dollars. She wasn't interested in dollars and didn't know of anybody who might be. Maybe the shop keepers in the next village as they had some American family, perhaps. A wonderful older ex-pat Frenchman, who had happened by, said that we could get gas on his account, if we were able to hook it up. Stunned by his lovely gesture, I offered some wine or whiskey from our locker, but he said that he had never drunk alcohol. It was moot in any case as we were unable to get any gas as the only connector she had that fit the French bottle had a built-in step down valve.

Back at the boat, we set about going to rescue our kayak, Strika, which had pulled out her bow attachment and escaped downwind, ending up on some coral just before the barrier reef. We upped anchor and motored down as close as we could get in Maggie B, a few hundred yards away. Hannah and Theresa set out in Reepicheep for the rescue. Ben's wrist is sore and he can't row and I had to stay on Maggie B to maneuver her in the narrow channel. When they were about half way there, the wind rose from 15 knots to 25 knots and the Strika rescue soon became a Hannah and Theresa rescue. They were able to get down to Strika fine, but were unable to make any headway back out of the coral field with the wind up. Friends from two other boats, who had been over at Maggie B the previous evening for "movie night" (Calendar Girls -- great fun), hopped in their rubber inflatables and pulled everyone out. It was a very sobering, trying time.

We then motored around the island to the other store, anchoring off and rowing ashore. They also refused to have anything to do with our gas bottles, but showed some interest in the US dollars and were happy to sell us a huge French butane bottle, including deposit and attachment fitting, plus some supplies for only a small fistful of US$50's. We now have our coffee! Our gas bottle assortment now includes bottles from Canada, South Africa, Brazil and France, plus a huge variety of connectors and fittings.

We ended up at this lovely place about 3PM, made some scrambled eggs, toast and bacon and collapsed.

It looks as if we will have favorable wind for the 400 NM run to Tahiti by this Sunday, the 5th. A little system is due through here Friday and Saturday, with a nice Southerly following it.

All is well.