|
 |
 |
219
|
|
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
|
In the first issue of MarineZine , we started publishing
letters from Chris Baily, the owner/skipper of 'Prana' who, together with
two crew, his girlfriend Sam and their friend Joe, left Trinidad in February
1999, bound for New Zealand and took us through their transit of the Panama
Canal. We left the all-British crew, heaving sacks of potatoes, and other
provisions, aboard, in readiness for their Pacific voyage. Now we pick up
the thread again as they pull out of Galapagos:
"After farewell drinks with friends we had made on Galapagos, we set
sail for Isla Isabella, some forty miles away.
We arrived there in the early evening and, the next morning, awoke to
beautiful scenery and lots of sea lions playing around the boat.
We were in Isabella five days. Most of the time was spent exploring tiny
lava islands which surrounded the reef. The wild life was amazing. We were
able to see Blue- footed boobies, (yes, they're birds with blue feet!),
marine iguanas, White-tipped sharks, basking in the sun and, also, about
sixty sea lions and pups.
We went horse-riding again here, which took us up to the second-largest
volcanic crater in the world.
We left Isabella on the 15th of May, with two other boats, all bound for the
same destination, Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas.
This was the longest trip by far, and probably will be, until the Indian
ocean.
It took us 21 days and 2949 nm, which was a very good time for a boat our
size and age.
You soon get into a routine which makes the days go by quickly, and the
nights not too bad.
With the three of us on board, we each have three hours on watch, then six
hours off.
Every third day, it's your turn to cook and do the washing up.
Then there's routine maintenance on the boat, fishing equipment to be
checked and, hopefully, the odd fish to clean and cook.
There are the odd exciting moments, when you spot another boat, blow out the
spinnaker, etc.
Every morning and evening, we speak to other boats on a radio 'net', telling
each other our positions and describing weather conditions.
This gives great peace of mind, as you know that if you get into trouble,
someone knows your position and can give other boats, or the authorities, a
very accurate idea of location. It's also a fun way to keep up with the
latest gossip!
From forty miles out, we spotted Fatu Hiva! It was a bit cheesy, the
cry of "Land Ho!", but it was a magical moment that none of us
will forget.
The sense of personal achievement was tremendous, and the excitement grew as
we neared the island.
It is one of the most stunning landfalls in the world, with huge cliffs
coming down to meet the sea.
In one or two places, there are recesses in the cliffs that make ideal
anchorages, even if the water is over a hundred feet deep. Thank goodness
for windlasses!
We arrived after dark, so had no idea what the anchorage looked like, but
were helped in, on the radio, by another boat that was already there.
It wasn't long after the anchor hit bottom, probably before that, in fact,
before out came the champagne, and we were off to another boat, which
already had the crews of six or seven other boats aboard, for a welcome
party.
There are only a few hundred people on the island and no shops, to speak of,
where we were, but we had a lovely time there, going around the island,
exploring waterfalls and watching the locals practising their dancing for
the Bastille day celebrations on the 14th July.
All too soon, we were off, up to Hiva Oa and our first supermarket, and
fresh food.
We caught a wonderful 30 lb yellow-fin tuna which lasted us, and another
boat, for a few days.
Next stop Tahuata for a couple of days RNR (rest and recuperation) on golden
beaches and in warm waters, then on to Ua Pou for a few days and my
birthday, to celebrate which, we managed to get 14 people on board for a BBQ
and had a riotous time.
Fathers day was a couple of days later. We were invited to celebrate it with
local villagers. There was a pig roast, a feast of local food, and the
village Boles championship, at which the people on the yachts put up a good
showing, but were soundly beaten in the quarter finals!
Our final stop in the Marquesas was Nuka Hiva. Here, we provisioned up and
prepared the boat for the trip down to the Tuamotos, also known as the
Dangerous Archipelago due to the number of atolls and reefs.
In the days before satellite navigation and radar, a fair number of boats
sunk there, and they still claim their share every year.
The islands are, basically, the tops of volcanoes, with a pass or two into
the central bowl. Dotted around this are several atolls which are not more
than four or five feet above sea level.
The rest is reef, which rises from thousands of feet deep to the surface in
a couple of hundred yards, so you don't get much warning of the impending
disaster unless you're very much awake, and spot on with your navigation.
The other problem is that the passes that you travel through, to get into
the lagoons, are fairly narrow, and when the tide is flowing in, or out, it
is possible to get currents of up to nine knots in some places.
Our boat pushes six knots, so we had to choose a fairly tame pass, but even
that was exciting when we left, as there were large over-falls and
whirlpools, which made life interesting.
One of the main reasons for visiting these atolls, apart from the sandy
beaches and palm trees, is that they are at the centre of the Polynesian
black pearl industry.
We had a fascinating three hours at one of the pearl farms, diving for the
oysters, watching them being prepared, opened and the pearls being removed.
We were then shown how black pearls are obtained and the implanting of
nuclei to produce other pearls, next year.
We were also, very generously, given a few pearls as a memento of our visit.
All too soon, it was time to head off to Tahiti, since we wanted to be there
for the 14th July celebrations, and my sister would be visiting, from
England, for three weeks from the 21st.
Papeete is an interesting town, and is one of the biggest in this area of
the Pacific.
We were anchored, stern-to, near the center of town, and had an interesting
few weeks there.
The actual celebrations were a bit of a let down, they consisted of a march
past of the local military, and that was it.
We made up for it by inviting ourselves to the French High Commissioner's
party afterwards. There were some splendid local dancers and bands, not to
mention the free beer tent and plenty of food!
The HC's wife seemed to be giving us a few rather unpleasant looks.
I supposed it might be because we were the last to leave but, it would
appear, the cause was more likely to have been that the very pleasant local
woman, with whom we were conversing, was widely rumoured to be the HC's
mistress so, I guess, the daggers where aimed at her!
Throughout the time we were there, there were dancing competitions going on,
to which each island sends a team. It was a fascinating insight into their
cultural heritage, which had nothing to do with the short grass skirts and
coconuts the wahinis were wearing. I don't know where my sister got such a
cynical view!
I noticed, though, that the girls didn't complain about the lack of clothes
on the blokes!
Troubles with the outboard motor kept us there a few days longer than
planned, then we made the short trip across to Moorea, one of Captain Cook's
favourite anchorages in the Pacific.
We had a very relaxed few days there, going round the island with some
friends and managing some great snorkeling.
Next stop was Huahine, another idyllic island, with even better snorkeling
than the last.
Time was pressing on, towards my sister's departure date, so we decided to
do a quick sail to Tahaa, spend the night there and then go on, the next
day, to Bora Bora, reputedly the most beautiful island in the Pacific.
Bora Bora definitely lived up to it's reputation for having water of the
most amazing colours, there was just about every colour of blue you could
imagine.
We went beyond the reef, saw several black-tipped sharks and spent a lovely
few days doing nothing but relax.
We managed to get a table at the World Famous Bloody Mary's restaurant.
No, we hadn't heard of it either but, judging by the roll call near the
door, most famous people had!
We enjoyed several of their famous cocktails and a very nice dinner was had
by all.
|
|
Well, we hope you enjoyed that as much as we did. We
were almost tempted to head that way...
You may like to visit Chris Baily's
Prana Sailing Ltd. website on www.pranasailing.com.
Sam, on returning to the U.K., opened a delicatessen in Salcombe, with her
cousin Alison.
|
 |
|
|
|
