We arrived in Nuie at 0530 this morning with a full moon and got on one of the yacht clubs moorings. After a couple of hours sleep we started to get ready to head in and do the formalities and have a look around but thought I would download one quick long range forecast as the weather has been changing so much. It doesn't look good, another trough arriving in Nuie lunch time tomorrow with strong winds and lots of rain, not really the weather to be sight seeing. Then by Saturday another big system coming with loads of rain and westerly winds, no good at all for us. So our options are to stay, pay $200 do a quick tour tomorrow and then leave for Tonga Wednesday but then all the wind has been sucked away so will most likely have to motor most of the 2 days sailing. We decide to stay, really want to see this place as it's meant to be quite special.
Put sail covers on, pack away sails, pole ect ect launch dinghy and head in.
Nuie is completely exposed from the west and has a lot of surge so is only a fair weather place. There is a crane on the dock and you have to lift your dinghy ashore as it's not safe alongside ......the crane isn't working today but maybe later the power will be back on and it will be? We um and ah if it's worth chancing it for such a short stay with shit weather??
No time to go, back to the boat and get everything ready again. You can't change the weather ☹️
Tuesday 16 July 2019
Sunday 14 July 2019
Catch up of the last month-
After leaving Huahini we sailed across to Raiatea and Tahaa for a week of looking around and were lucky enough to catch a music festival in town the last night. From there we went over to Bora-Bora to wait for a weather window to cross to Tonga.
The weather had been really unsettled the last few weeks and this was no exception with only a few nice days here and there and then the rest very windy and rainy but at least we managed 3 beautiful days in the SE corner of Bora in the picturesque turquoise waters you see on the TV. Then another weather system was coming so back around the other side to hide from the 40kt forecast and got on one of the yacht clubs moorings. A 51ft Outreamer cat in front of us broke his mooring that night and ended up on the reef 1 mile behind lucky stopped by a bungalow on the water that put a hole in its port side but not on the bottom so he managed to get away although still has to haul out and fix a lot including the centreboard, sad story for them but I have no idea why they left the boat unattended in that weather, and also so lucky for us we didn't get hit as we were right in its path.
So we had 2 weeks waiting for weather in Bora along with a heap of other boats waiting to head west and when it finally started to ease we shot through with very fast sailing the first night and then it eased and had perfect sailing the next few days. We wanted to stop at Nuie, 1050nm and a tiny little island on the way to Tonga but at the speed we were sailing we would arrive on a Sunday and they don't do check ins on this day. Right on our path is Palmerston atol owned by the Cook Islands so we decided to make a quick stop here.
Very funny joint indeed, William Masters in 1867 arrived here with 3 Polynesian women and set up camp and ended up having 26 kids to keep himself busy. So now the main island is split up in 3 parts for the different families and has a thriving population of 31 residents, all related off course and either called Will, William or bill with a couple of Edwards thrown in, the grave yards say it all with ALL the last names being Masters!
We were lucky to be the only yacht there the first day and got a very nice tour and had lunch with one of the families. The next morning 8 boats arrived so it was time for us to leave for Nuie 380nm away.
With the weather being so good I got a little casual and only downloaded a big long range forecast with winds to see if we had enough for the next week and no westerlies, all looked good. Then once we were underway for Nuie I download a detailed grib for the next couple of days with gusts/rain/waves ect and it showed a right little system in our path and boy did we cop it the night before last. It came up just before midnight with lots of rain and not so bad at the start but we got the mainsail down and furled in the Genoa just leaving the staysail poled out (wish I hadn't) then soon after it really came in. The seas built very quick with the wind a steady 35-40kts screaming so we just ran NW with it and all was well although a lot of things flying around inside the cabin. It was too rough to drop the staysail but it all was fine anyway and by around 4am it had dropped to 30kts and hung around like this with loads of rain until nearly lunch time and then settled right down ye
sterday afternoon and now the seas are better once again, quite an adventure anyway.
So now we should arrive in Nuie tomorrow morning and with weather permitting we will stay until the end of the week then leave for Tonga which is just a 2 day sail away and arrive in the North to what looks like a beautiful place called Vava'u.
So far just one little Stripey Tuna caught and one full real of line with lure lost to something way too big, maybe today is the day??
After leaving Huahini we sailed across to Raiatea and Tahaa for a week of looking around and were lucky enough to catch a music festival in town the last night. From there we went over to Bora-Bora to wait for a weather window to cross to Tonga.
The weather had been really unsettled the last few weeks and this was no exception with only a few nice days here and there and then the rest very windy and rainy but at least we managed 3 beautiful days in the SE corner of Bora in the picturesque turquoise waters you see on the TV. Then another weather system was coming so back around the other side to hide from the 40kt forecast and got on one of the yacht clubs moorings. A 51ft Outreamer cat in front of us broke his mooring that night and ended up on the reef 1 mile behind lucky stopped by a bungalow on the water that put a hole in its port side but not on the bottom so he managed to get away although still has to haul out and fix a lot including the centreboard, sad story for them but I have no idea why they left the boat unattended in that weather, and also so lucky for us we didn't get hit as we were right in its path.
So we had 2 weeks waiting for weather in Bora along with a heap of other boats waiting to head west and when it finally started to ease we shot through with very fast sailing the first night and then it eased and had perfect sailing the next few days. We wanted to stop at Nuie, 1050nm and a tiny little island on the way to Tonga but at the speed we were sailing we would arrive on a Sunday and they don't do check ins on this day. Right on our path is Palmerston atol owned by the Cook Islands so we decided to make a quick stop here.
Very funny joint indeed, William Masters in 1867 arrived here with 3 Polynesian women and set up camp and ended up having 26 kids to keep himself busy. So now the main island is split up in 3 parts for the different families and has a thriving population of 31 residents, all related off course and either called Will, William or bill with a couple of Edwards thrown in, the grave yards say it all with ALL the last names being Masters!
We were lucky to be the only yacht there the first day and got a very nice tour and had lunch with one of the families. The next morning 8 boats arrived so it was time for us to leave for Nuie 380nm away.
With the weather being so good I got a little casual and only downloaded a big long range forecast with winds to see if we had enough for the next week and no westerlies, all looked good. Then once we were underway for Nuie I download a detailed grib for the next couple of days with gusts/rain/waves ect and it showed a right little system in our path and boy did we cop it the night before last. It came up just before midnight with lots of rain and not so bad at the start but we got the mainsail down and furled in the Genoa just leaving the staysail poled out (wish I hadn't) then soon after it really came in. The seas built very quick with the wind a steady 35-40kts screaming so we just ran NW with it and all was well although a lot of things flying around inside the cabin. It was too rough to drop the staysail but it all was fine anyway and by around 4am it had dropped to 30kts and hung around like this with loads of rain until nearly lunch time and then settled right down ye
sterday afternoon and now the seas are better once again, quite an adventure anyway.
So now we should arrive in Nuie tomorrow morning and with weather permitting we will stay until the end of the week then leave for Tonga which is just a 2 day sail away and arrive in the North to what looks like a beautiful place called Vava'u.
So far just one little Stripey Tuna caught and one full real of line with lure lost to something way too big, maybe today is the day??
Monday 8 July 2019
Societies
I wrote this a few weeks back but never got around to posting it, for those that are interested-
Societies
I returned from 5 weeks work in Aus in the middle of May to Papeete Marina where Julie stayed for the duration. We arrived there from the Tuamotos end of March and it was nice to be in civilisation again, the marina is smack bang in the middle of town with bars and restaurants around and lots of boat/hardware shops around so it was a busy time. We hired a car, drove around the island, refitted the dingy, built new shelves in Sunflowers workshop as well as a few other things you can't do on anchor so it was nice.
Julie enjoyed being in a marina for a change also while I was at work, joining the local gym to keep herself busy as well as making a new dinghy cover which was a fair old task, turned out perfect of course
I retuned and we changed out our solar panels for 2x 315w panels and man what a difference. We can now run watermaker for 3 hours a day if we like and always have full batteries, passages should be a lot better now with the thirsty autopilot also. Not many things at all are cheap in French Polynesia but funnily enough solar panels are subsidised so they were actually a bargain.
After 4 days rushing to get everything finished and cleaned up my dad arrived for a 12 day holiday and we sailed over to Moorea, good times. Hadn't hung out with my old man properly for quite some time so it was really nice. We just explored a few bays around Moorea taking it easy, no big sails or anything. The weather unfortunately was on and off with lots of rain around but it was still a good time.
After dropping him back in Tahiti we did some more stocking up and then did an overnight sail to Huahini where we have been for nearly 2 weeks and what a great spot. Besides the Huahini Yacht Club having happy hour every day what has made it so good is that so many of our good cruiser friends are here, it's been really fun and social that's for sure.
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