Navire's blog

Rotuma, the final Fijian Island=09 Position: 12 29.239s 177 07.227e (Posted from Majuro September 2016) David We arrived at Rotuma early this morning, negotiating our way through coral=20 heads, to drop anchor in five metres of turquoise liquid jewels over clear white=20 sand. Black, chunky volcanic rock cloaked in palms and huge mango trees with=20 virgin sand oases tucked among the muscular rock. *** Janet Anchor down on this last piece of Fiji, I squeezed in an hour of sleep but a visit to=20 shore was a more pressing need than a longer nap. We wanted access to internet=20 to get a wider range of weather forecasts than we could get aboard. But first, a=20 long overdue shower was in order. Ladder down, lifelines down, solar shower=20 rigged in the cockpit, I dove over the side. The water was silky on my skin, the=20 warmest temperature to date now that we were 12 degrees of latitude south of=20 the equator. To give you some perspective, Wellington is at a chilly 42 degrees=20 south. I climbed out of the water, soaped up, leapt in again and washed off. Then=20 a fresh water rinse under the camping shower and layers of sweat and salt=20 lathered off. I felt clean, for about an hour, till the next outpouring of sweat=20 liberally coated me. David wanted to stay with the boat to make sure the anchor was set safely, so=20 Kailopa and I headed to shore in the dinghy. There was one other yacht in the=20 anchorage, a French boat, Menkar, with a father and son team. We stopped for a=20 brief chat about weather. We'd been hoping to leave on Monday of the following=20 week but Giles and Sylvan said there was very light wind and it had too much=20 east in it, which the weather map later confirmed.=20 We were now in a band of weather called the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone=20 (ITCZ) otherwise known as the doldrums or horse latitudes. This is an area=20 where the northern hemisphere trade winds meet the southern hemisphere=20 ones. This creates an area of low pressure with light winds or no wind at all, and=20 is often punctuated by unpredictable squalls. These mostly hit at night, usually,=20 accompanied by torrential rain and a sustained blast of wind from any direction.=20 They last about ten minutes. This band of low pressure floats up and down=20 between the north of Fiji and the equator, and is sometimes broad and=20 sometimes quite narrow in width. Ideally we would set sail north when it was=20 narrow to reduce the chance of being becalmed and having to motor. If the cloud=20 we saw on the charts was the ITCZ it would be squally out there. We changed our=20 plans, again. *** Stepping on land after being at sea was like going from black and white to full=20 colour. The sea was bright blue, the sand intense white. Behind the beach there=20 was a park-like area laid out with vibrant green coconut palms, then the burst of=20 bright colours of the gardens in the village. Just along the road we met a=20 Jehovah's Witness family (Kailopa's religion) who were just lovely, Leta and=20 Funmanu, and their son Ian. We arranged with Ian about where to watch the=20 rugby, the final game of the World Cup, on early the next morning. *** David We started our second day here at 4 am, ashore watching the All Blacks win the=20 Rugby World Cup. Wahoo!! =20 We meandered back to our dinghy in blissful euphoria, as though we had=20 personally secured the win. Our first glimpse of the anchorage was of Menkar=20 slewing down the face of a two-metre swell, surely headed for the black rock=20 shore. High on the crest she slid down the back of the surging wave which broke=20 in a cloud of foam and green water, Menkar rolling gunnel to gunnel but safe. Janet and I picked a moment between surges to push our wee dinghy through the=20 foam into deeper water. The darling outboard started first pull and we motored=20 out to Navire, also rolling alarmingly. Where had this frightening surge come=20 from? We had to get out of there. We shipped the outboard and dinghy in double quick time while close by the=20 supply ship, rolling hard on the concrete wharf, prepared to leave. We had=20 wondered and worried about how this small ship would maneuver so close to us.=20 Perhaps the wind would catch the bow as she tried reversing out and force her=20 down onto Navire. I had little time to worry about this as we wound in our=20 anchor. As it turned out she made a graceful exit stern first, well clear of Navire. In the meantime Menkar noticed their own predicament and were getting under=20 way.=20 Our two yachts and the small ship left the anchorage together. All re-anchored=20 well out from shore and the breaking rollers. *** Janet The French came for a drink. They were great company and they too were=20 heading north. We communed about weather. Another boat arrived that evening.=20 Exodus is a 40' catamaran with an American family aboard. Deanne and Tim a=20 pair of aeronautical engineers, and their two teenage boys. They were to become=20 our close companions for the next two months.=20 *** Monday Nov 2.=20 So near and yet so far. We slid up and over the swells as they rolled into the=20 anchorage, the stunning white sand beaches, black rocks and palms trees less=20 than half a mile away but it was just too rough to go and anchor closer to shore.=20 I woke at four that morning and downloaded another weather forecast- the next=20 two days good wind but then going light. We were hoping that with lighter winds=20 the waves would stop wrapping around into the bay, and we could get in to=20 shore. Usually we use the internet to get our weather from a number of sources -=20 Windyty, Metvuw, New Zealand Metservice surface pressure charts, and more=20 latterly Hawaiian ones that cover the equator region. But at Rotuma we had to=20 rely solely on what we could get through the single sideband radio. We have a=20 modem that translates radio signals into something the computer reads. Our=20 main weather information source is grib files. On a map of the world on the=20 computer screen I highlight the area I want a forecast for, identify the duration=20 and at what hourly intervals I want the forecast for. Usually I get seven days at=20 12 hour intervals. I often get up in the night to get a good signal which means a=20 fast download. During the day its often impossible to get a connection, mornings=20 and evenings between six and nine are an okay signal and speed but its hard to=20 find a free channel as everyone else in the Pacific is using it at that time.=20 *** The constant roll of the boat made me feel like I was on the alert all the time. I=20 didn't feel safe out there compared to being tucked in the bay. However Kailopa=20 didn't seem concerned at all and sat in the cockpit and fished patiently for hours.=20 He really was serenity embodied. A salutary lesson to me, this perpetually busy=20 Palangi.=20 He caught us a pilot fish (Remora) for lunch. This skinny fish has a suction pad on=20 the underside of its head, which it uses to stick to sharks. It stuck to the chopping=20 board while I was cutting through its leathery skin. I asked Kailopa how to cook=20 it and he said, "Boil it." as they do with most foods here. Despite thinking 'Surely=20 boiling fish must make it tough,' I put the chunks of flesh, skin and all into a pot=20 and boiled them. As I took the pieces out of the water the skin just fell off. I put a=20 chunk of fish into my mouth and to my delight it was tender, succulent and=20 sweet. We had a futile attempt at taking Navire into the bay but it was still too rolly and=20 squally and we retreated further out again. *** November 4 David and Kailopa toured the island. See next post. *** Nov 5, No Guy Fawkes celebration for us in this land, despite it too being colonised by=20 the British, but what a party we attended for our last night on Rotuma, our final=20 night in Fiji. David had been in to the wharf to collect Kailopa and came back without him. "There's a kava party on at Phillippe's house, Kailopa is there," he said. "Want to=20 come?"=20 "Love to." I'd been on board all day preparing to go to sea and was glad to get a=20 change of scenery. On shore we walked through the coconut palm grove talking about the likelihood=20 of a coconut falling on our head. Along the road we saw Phillippe's house, a grand=20 affair amongst the typical small Fijian houses. The only sign of life in the rapidly=20 falling dusk was a rhythmic banging sound. We'd been in Fiji long enough to=20 know the sound of kava being pounded. David peered around the back of the=20 house and there was Kailopa sitting on a mat with a group of Rotumans,=20 gathered around a kava bowl. Two of the men were playing guitars. A lively woman, Rikiti, greeted me warmly, having met David earlier. She was of=20 Banabian (Kiribati) descent, from the Fijian/Banabian island of Rabi. We were=20 immediately offered bowls of kava. Despite being evening and being near the=20 shore it was hot and sweat dripped down my face. Rikiti disappeared around the=20 corner of the house and came back five minutes later with woven fans and=20 mosquito coils By then I had covered myself from head to toe with a sulu to=20 prevent the insects feasting on me. "Every night we do this," she said, "after working our at jobs on the farm we=20 come here and have kava and music."=20 What, no rushing home to cook dinner, answering emails, cleaning house? I could=20 learn from this. *** November 6, 2015 6am ritual. Computer on, radio on, Airmail programme up, select the gribs, send,=20 connect. I was still looking for a weather window to get us to Tuvalu. There were=20 several conflicting forces. For sailing ideally we should wait for wind, from a=20 useful direction too. For seeing Rotuma we should stay another week and keep=20 exploring. For Kailopa we should get him to Tuvalu. For this time of year we=20 should get out of there as it was now cyclone season and we were still in the=20 zone.=20 In the end we used the "go anyway, the forecast is often wrong" strategy, which=20 works as often as not. We got word to the officials in the village on the other side=20 of the island that we wanted to check out of Fiji. They came aboard the next=20 morning to carry out the formalities giving our passports a final stamp. We were=20 on our way north into new territory. ***

Kioa to Rotuma, Nov 27, 2015 Written from Majuro July, 2016 David and Janet The phone rang early in the morning. "I'm coming with you." It was Kailopa. He had spent a greater part of the night wrestling with the proposal and=20 consulting his family. They were cautious and protective but in the end relented=20 in the face of Kailopa's plea.=20 We met on the beach where he heaved his suitcase in the dinghy along with a=20 broad smile. He could not stop grinning at this turn of events. He hoped to step=20 ashore in Funafuti and surprise his grandson. *** Ten hours out from Kioa. Destination Rotuma, Fiji's northernmost island. 260=20 miles to go. Wind 19 knots and steady from the east. We had to tack a bit as the=20 wind was directly on the stern. The swell and sea state were not too bad. Nov 29 1600 to 2000 watch. David and I are doing four-hour watches, and Kailopa is=20 sharing some of our time. After Rotuma he may progress to his own watch. Bring=20 it on. I long for six hour sleeps. I had initial misgivings about taking on someone we hardly knew as crew, but=20 Kailopa has been wonderful company, generous with stories of his people, a=20 teacher of his language and fishing methods. Tonight, he says, we will try for=20 barracuda. He sits patiently on deck, endlessly watching the sea and sky. A=20 stillness and connection with his environment that I admire but cannot emulate.=20 He explained how he can tell the tide from the movement of the moon. The tide=20 drops with the rising moon and rises with the setting moon. When directly=20 overhead it's low tide. He was the first to notice a fish on the line and to sight=20 Rotuma on the horizon. Today we passed the afternoon comparing Maori and=20 Samoan vocabulary and found a lot of similarities. He taught us some basic=20 phrases to use on our visit. *** 0300 Janet Will I ever get used to being woken in the middle of the night? I couldn't get to=20 sleep at 8pm at the end of my evening watch. By the time David woke me at=20 midnight I was virtually unconscious. Fortunately Kailopa was on deck and I=20 dozed through the first hour and a half of my watch. Fortunately no squalls to deal with. I downloaded some weather through the single sideband radio and the Sailmail=20 modem. We had to watch out for hurricanes from then on. We were in the season=20 but not yet out of the zone. The weather behaved differently in that area, north of=20 Fiji, and I had to draw data from new and different sources. I was getting Hawaii=20 weatherfaxes, the New Zealand ones didn't go far enough north. I downloaded a=20 large grib area to include the Solomon Islands just to check, that area being a=20 breeding ground for cyclones.=20 0900 100 miles to go to Rotuma. Perfect sailing conditions - blue sky, half metre swell,=20 12-15 knot breeze. Very tired though. Sometimes life at sea for me becomes all=20 about getting enough sleep. On passage I get lethargic, so things like doing dishes=20 takes a lot of motivation (I know it normally does anyway, but much more at=20 sea.) Yesterday I bagged up the dirty dishes for each meal and put them in the=20 'garage' (a crawl space for access to the starboard side of the engine).=20 Several times a day I wash myself down with a wet flannel to try and keep the=20 stickiness at bay. Tomorrow, tomorrow! Swim, shower, full night's sleep. *** Kailopa spotted Rotuma in the last of the evening sun. Arriving at land is intense=20 and we were on full alert. We hove-to offshore for the night before landing,=20 wanting to go into the anchorage in daylight. We often heave-to in really big sea=20 and wind conditions, and usually the movement of the boat is immediately=20 calmer, but this time it was more uncomfortable. David woke me at 11pm after=20 three hours sleep, and reminded me of the set up. Tiller lashed to port side to point us=20 50 degrees off the wind, and the main set on the port side too. Each force=20 balances the other thus holding the boat more or less in one place. The boat=20 moves about a knot forward and a knot sideways. We were only four miles off=20 the island and it took me a while to feel confident that our drift was away from=20 the island, after we started off drifting half a mile towards it.=20 Three weary hours later I woke Kailopa for his first solo watch. I showed him=20 how to fill in the log book; time, latitude, longitude, bearing, boat speed, wind=20 speed and direction, barometer reading, and miles to go, which we do hourly=20 then explained the hove-to set up. Yay! Five hours, five hours shut eye. But no,=20 after four hours I was shaken awake and came into the cockpit to see the island=20 nearby, Kailopa on the tiller and a whale spouting ahead. So, so tired but thrilled=20 too. Motoring into the anchorage, we steered a slalom course through the coral=20 bombies, David up the mast directing us away from danger. Then we dropped=20 anchor in five metres of water, surrounded by reef, wharf and ship. What would=20 this new land bring?=20

:position 43=B042n 79=B024w ;image totem First stop British Columbia

The holiday continues...