TravelStream™ news feed for member marmaladejenn on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/marmaladejenn en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:31:41 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246421447/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246421447/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246421447/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:31:41 -0400 Gadding About

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Noumea, Grand Terre, New Caledonia

Well, we arrived! Four months of sailing and island hopping, and we delivered Lunambule to her new home and to her grateful owner. The last 7 days of sailing from Fiji were some of the toughest we've encountered since leaving Panama. First, our motor broke down again about five minutes after leaving the harbor at Savusavu, Fiji. We were all so anxious to get to New Caledonia, though, that we decided to keep going anyway, hoping that Marcos could devise some solution, and if not, determined to make it with just the sails. In the end, Marcos did find a way to temporarily fix the motor. Then, Marcos and I got the flu, the wind turned cold, and we hit a storm that had some of the biggest waves and strongest winds that we've seen this trip. We had to lower all the sails and put up the storm jib for the first time during the whole trip.

New Caledonia is a beautiful island, with a rich Kanak heritage and beautiful natural landscapes. I didn't take advantage of them as I should have! I spent my two weeks here only going on one hike with Adrien, visiting the Tjibao Cultural Center, and spending most of the rest of my time wandering in downtown Noumea. We did go to a music festival to celebrate the first day of summer (winter here), where there was a bona fide hiphop dance off. It was awesome.

Well, it´s been a long trip, and I´m not going say I wasn´t ready to arrive, but still I feel a little sad to leave this temporary home. I like moving at the pace of the elements, taking what Mother Nature gives you and respectfully using it to make your way. I like the way people on boats help each other, knowing that when they need something others will do the same. We met people, locals and other boaters, in each harbor who shared their food, their time, and their stories, and made this trip unbelievable. But as Marcos said as he was leaving for the airport, "Life goes on," and so on we will go!

A mis dos piratas vampiros, gracias por las risas, las buenas comidas, las fiestas, y las increibles memorias. Siempre tendran una amiga en Portland City!!




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246413206/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246413206/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246413206/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:44:33 -0400 Gadding About

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Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

Sailing from the Galapagos to Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, took 28 days, so I thought it needed its own entry. For the most part we passed the time the same way as in the trip from Panama to the Galapagos, except perhaps that we moved a little more slowly, read a little less quickly, and obsessively checked how many miles were left a little less often. Yes, there was boredom and restlessness enough, but always punctuated by some hilarity or small crisis. Luckily, the crises were small. Some highlights for those of you who are curious about life at sea.

First, my shipmates:
Captain Marcos—30-year-old Colombian skipper. Doesn't drink much himself, but was always the first to pull out the rum. Never once got really mad or yelled at us that I can remember (we were really lucky). Kind of a nervous guy; lots of energy, with twitchy feet and hands. Makes damn good rice! Last-minute decision maker...and then last-SECOND decision changer. Liked to ask me if I was feeling "brava" when I was mad, and when I was lazy, he'd ask why I couldn't give the boat a "toque feminino." I think that means cooking and cleaning stuff. I ignored these comments and may have put him off of American women for good. Sorry, ladies.

Crew Adrien—27-year-old Frenchie! Self-declared artist of life. Probably couldn't have a bad time if he tried. Bread maker on board. Too good at chess for me to play with, but I could sometimes whoop him at backgammon or Quarto. Water lover and scuba freak, who can hold his breath longer than anyone I've ever met. Moody in the mornings. Silly, silly guy, but there's alot of wisdom there too. If you meet Adrien, ask him to say "Frank Sinatra." Trust me, you won't be sorry...and he'll know I sent ya.

On being at sea:

I didn't always love being at sea. I much preferred sleeping through the night in a calm bay, with the possibility of a freshwater shower at some point. But there is something awesome in knowing that you are in the middle of the ocean, with miles of water underneath you and only the clouds above you. Time slows down when you're only moving 4 knots per hour, and at that pace, a few extra days or even a few extra weeks seems almost insignificant.

Night watches, while painful to think of when my alarm sounded in the middle of the night, were actually some of my best memories at sea. It was the only time I felt I actually had some privacy, and the privacy I enjoyed was complete. Most nights, the Milky Way stretched above me, the wind carried the boat on its way, and that was all I had to focus on if I wanted to for 3 hours. I spent one watch, on a night of the brightest full moon I've ever seen, taking long exposure photos of the sails. Other nights I would close my eyes and try to notice subtle changes in the wind just by how it felt moving across my face and ears. Sometimes while looking for other boats, I'd suddenly get a glimpse of a fiery light on the horizon. Every time, my heart sped up thinking it was some explosion or fire, but it was only the moon rising, and soon it would be back to its yellowy-silver color, sometimes with a bright Venus by its side.

An overview of sailing would not be complete without a mention of salt. I was a bit crazy when it came to salt—it didn't seem to bother the guys as much as me. Salt becomes everything when you are at sea. It coats everything. You wash dishes with saltwater, shower with it, use it to clean your clothes, even use it to cook sometimes. Things starts to rust quickly, my bobby pins rusted, my glasses rusted, my zippers stopped working, either because they were coated in salt or because they rusted. My towel became a scratchy, sad thing that would retain its shape when I picked it up after it had hung to dry. Drying with it often meant I was applying more salt to my skin rather than wiping it off. Freshwater showers were like an almost forgotten, but much cherished dream. In Spanish, freshwater is "agua dulce," and you know what? After so much salt, there is nothing sweeter than that.

Highlights and lowlights:
We caught only 1 small fish in 28 days, so my fantasies of sashimi every days and grilled fish every night were completely frustrated. Apparently, we were using lines and hooks that were too small for the big fish in the open ocean. Every time we pulled in the line, some part of the hook, lure, or both, were missing. Once, the hook was broken clean in half. Imagine how much sashimi that fish would have given us. Instead our meat was canned sardines, tuna, and (shudder) vienna sausages.

After more than two weeks at sea with only each other as company, we spotted another boat—a Japanese fishing boat that passed right in front of us. The presence of other people nearby sent a jolt through the crew. We got on the radio to say hello. Our primary, most desperate, goal was to try to trade a bottle of rum for some fresh tuna. Despite having a crew that speaks three languages, no one on board could communicate with the Japanese man who answered the radio. The man, who seemed incredibly happy, could only say, in English, “Japanese fishing boat,” and in Spanish, “un poco.” In the end, the captain of the fishing boat had a good laugh and continued on his way; we cracked open another can of tuna.

We enjoyed consistent winds from the east (behind) most of the journey until about halfway through our trip. We entered what seemed to be a bit of a depression, with clouds, some rain, but no wind. Usually this was not a problem, as we just turned on the motor to keep moving and get to where the winds were. This day, however, still more than 1,500 miles from the Marquesas, our motor died, with a grinding noise that left us essentially at a standstill in the middle of the ocean. After a thorough investigation, Marcos found that a piece that goes into the transmission (a damper, I think) was completely stripped. With no replacement and with no wind, we drifted at 1-2 knots (that´s 1-2 nautical miles per hour, with 1,500 still to go) for almost 2 days until Marcos devised a Frankensteinish way to temporarily fix the motor. The first time he fixed it, it worked all night and then the repair gave way, the bolt completely worn down. The second time, the repair was so good that we couldn´t take it apart again once we reached the Marquesas. As if by design, it lasted almost another month, until we were in the process of anchoring in Tahiti, where a replacement piece had been ordered for us.

About the same time that the motor died, we came down to our last small bottle of propane. I´m not ashamed to say that his was a dark period for the crew of the Lunambule. The weather was terrible—clouds, rain, but NO wind. With no motor and no wind, night watches consisted of sitting in the cockpit with foul weather gear on feeling the main sail bang around with each wave. One of the things that had taken up much of our attention and time—cooking and eating good food—was reduced to a tense and utilitarian affair. To make sure we had enough propane until the Marquesas we went on a regimen of cooking huge quantities of rice or pasta only once every 2 days, and then making cold meals using those as the base. When we did use the propane, every drop of the hot water was used to cook something—at times making a huge pot of pasta, then using the leftover pasta water to make two breakfast´s worth of oatmeal and one meal´s worth of instant mashed potatoes.

After Marcos fixed the motor for the second time, spirits picked up a little on Lunambule. That same day we had the spinnaker up as it was getting dark. Just as everyone was below deck involved with cooking, we heard a big bang from above. The wire that supported the spinnaker to the halyard had snapped sending the entire spinnaker over the bow. It was only supported by the two sheets on the sides that were still on the winches. The sail was completely under the boat and partially caught up in the rudder. With some maneuvering and after almost losing both Adrien and Marcos overboard, all in the dark, we got it untangled and up on deck, fully expecting to see a mangled sail in the morning. Miraculously, the sail was unharmed.

A few nights later, however, we were not so lucky. I had begun my watch at 9 pm with clear skies. We had the spinnaker up to try to catch as much of the wind as possible. About half an hour into my watch I saw some dark clouds approaching. The problem at night is that all the clouds look dark and ominous. It´s hard to tell if they are harmless puffy, white clouds or if they bring strong winds and rain. Because of the spinnaker, I woke Marcos up. At first he thought they were nothing. Then the wind shifted suddenly and we had to move the main sail to the other side. Almost immediately the wind grew super strong and the spinnaker was yanked to the port side of the boat, causing us to heel strongly. Marcos ran to try to put the sock over the sail and lower it, but it was already tangled and filled with wind. I woke up Adrien, and it took the 2 of them a few scary minutes of being thrown around the bow to get the spinnaker down. This time the spinnaker did tear at the top, and we vowed never to leave it up at night again.

We saw lots of dolphins all during this trip. They would pop up day and night and swim along with us for a while. If they came at night, you could see in their wake trails of phosphorescent plankton. We spotted a big whale one afternoon off the starboard side of the boat. Actually, we heard it first; it was moving fast, spraying water out of its blowhole. It crossed behind us, and just as it was directly behind us, up went its tail as if to wave goodbye, and it dove underwater. Beautiful.

The guys sometimes jumped in the water when we were going slowly and then swam around to the platform at the back of the boat to climb back on. They also would drag behind the boat to rinse off after showers. I was too paranoid that I wouldn´t be able to pull myself back onto the boat so usually I just used the bucket. Also, one day after Adrien had jumped into the water a few times, the guys saw the fin of a big shark approaching, so the seas were not quite as empty out there as we thought. One day, Marcos was feeling especially antsy, so after wandering around the deck a while, he suddenly jumped into the water near the side of the boat. This day, however, he miscalculated our speed and jumped too far towards the back of the boat. By the time he surfaced, we had already passed him, and as we were going nearly 5 knots he couldn´t catch us. There was no free rope nearby, so Adrien tried to put his leg out for Marcos to grab. Didn´t work. Marcos thought that his swim shorts were filling up with water and slowing him down, so off they went, a gift for the sea. Still he couldn´t catch us. Then Adrien threw the hydrogenerator, which is basically a rope with a propeller at the end, into the water. The propeller sank immediately, and Marcos had to dive underwater to grab it. He eventually pulled himself in, buck naked and panting. Good times!


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420991/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420991/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420991/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:37:21 -0400 Gadding About

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Nuiatoputapu Island, Tonga

Maloleilei! Lunambule was only the second sailboat to arrive for the season in Niuatoputapu, after 7 days of sailing. We arrived at night, on a day of strong winds and big waves, but since we weren´t sure we could trust the lights in the pass, we ended up motoring back and forth outside the reef all night so we could enter at first light.

Tonga is a fairly poor country, and Niuatoputapu is quite isolated from the rest of the country. They have a small airstrip that has flights maybe once a week, and once a month a boat arrives with supplies. There was no diesel available on the island when we arrived, and no one knew exactly when the next boat would arrive. The village we were anchored in front of had no electricity. The main source of income for the people is the weaving that the woman do. They make mats that are used as clothing and to sit and sleep on. All day the women sit together in houses weaving these mats. You can see the materials they use for these mats dying in the sun in every village.

The people were really friendly, and if they spoke any English at all, they were eager to try some out on us. We spent most of our time in Niuatoputapu walking the main road that connects the villages. The first thing people want to know when they meet you here is whether you are married. Like some of the other islands we´ve visited, the Tongans complained about a lack of suitable mates on the island. There are about 1,000 people who live here, and so they explained, everyone is related in some way to everyone else. Marcos and Adrien, both single and young, were especially in high demand here. The women loved them! In the back of a pickup one day, we were riding with 3 women. One of them asked Marcos if he was married. When he said no, she very confidently said, “What about me?” Adrien was popular too, but for a special reason—he shares his name with a popular Filipino TV star. They don´t have lights in the houses, but apparently, they all have generators so they can watch DVDs of this show. Every time he said his name, the women started giggling and got very excited.

One night, 4 young women from the village came to the boat and brought a typical feast of Tongan food—fish in coconut milk; boiled cassava, yams, and taro; a fruit drink made with something they called ki; and a salad made with local greens. All of the women had studied in Rarotonga, and had recently returned to help their families in the village. They explained what life is like in the small village. People are generally very religious, and on Sunday everyone goes to church. Women work hard in Nuiatoputapu, doing the weaving that brings in most of the income and taking care of the house and cooking. There are kava ceremonies almost every night in at least one of the 3 villages on the island, but women don´t drink it. They serve it to the men. Before the ceremony, the men request which women they would like to serve them. It´s a chance for the young people to socialize, maybe find a partner. These women didn´t seem very interested in Tongan men, however. They liked Marcos and Adrien! The population of the island is slowly decreasing as more and more young people move away to make their lives elsewhere.



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246421197/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246421197/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246421197/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:35:46 -0400 Gadding About

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Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji

Bula! The weather began to turn foul just as we were arriving to Fiji. We spent the first night in the shelter of a cove of one of the first islands in Fiji, hiding out from big waves and strong, gusty winds. The entrance to this lagoon was difficult. We had to wind our way through a pass in a coral reef that was no more than 10 feet wide and poorly marked on our charts. We had to raise the centerboard all the way to squeeze through.

It was Adrien´s birthday, and I had hoped to make him some good food. Unfortunately, with the bad weather, this was impossible. He got Ramen noodles for lunch and beans for dinner. I had made him a really good papaya and coconut cake the day before, but this day, with the waves, a ceramic bowl (the only ceramic thing we had on the entire boat!) fell and shattered right on top of the cake, showering its entire surface with tiny shards. We had to cut off the top layer of the cake to be able to eat the rest. He was quite sad, but I could only laugh—it was such bad luck.

After a rough night where the wind made our anchor drag until finally it got caught on some coral, we set sail for Savusavu. At first the day was ok. The sun came out for a while, and the green hills of Fiji were beautiful. Then it turned miserable…beginning with the snakes. Miles from shore, with nothing else in the water, we saw 3 striped sea snakes swimming on the surface of the water. I had heard stories from another boat about these snakes making their way onto boats, so this was not a good sign for me. The strong winds picked up again at midday, and the rain started up. We all hunkered down in the cockpit in foul weather gear while each wave sent a splash into the cockpit—splashes that for all I knew could have been filled with sea snakes! In the middle of this bad weather, we did have a bit of good luck—a big mahimahi that Adrien claimed was his birthday gift from the sea. It was quite a feat and a testament to Marcos´s skills that he was able to pull this fish in, get it into the cockpit, and then filet it, all while the boat was rocking with the waves. We arrived in Savusavu Bay at about midnight, and even though the one light that marks the reef wasn´t working, we decided to head in to escape the weather. Relying on Seamap and the little we could see, we slinked into the bay like pirates.

We spent our time in Fiji hiking, eating curries, and walking up and down the main strip. Fiji´s population is about half of Indian descent with the other half being Melanisian, so the people look very different here than in the other places we´ve been. The main strip of the town is lined with curry shops and stores that sell pirated DVDs. Music from Bollywood movies plays from all the stores. In the harbor, steam rises from the water in the mornings, from the hot water springs nearby. Near the marina, the locals use these springs to cook food like yams and cassava. In the papaya trees in the bush, huge fruit bats hang upside down in the trees, making spooky sounds.

One night, when some locals came to our boat, I drank too much and ended up dancing with more than half of Savusavu at the Sportsman´s Club, which is 1 of 2 nightclubs here. I made lots of friends that night apparently, because the next day everyone in the marina knew my name and wanted to talk to me. The locals here can party!! The next day, as I was still recovering, they were all gathered in the marina, ready for another bender.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420254/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420254/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420254/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:01:15 -0400 Gadding About

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Tuamotu, French Polynesia

Rangiroa is the type of place people think of when they think of paradise—white beaches, palm trees, clear water that goes from turquoise to pale green to indigo. Every time we rowed to shore we saw rays and coral fish scattering under the dinghy. One time, from shore, we stopped a while to watch an octopus slinking among the coral. This is scuba diving and pearl country, so I snorkeled and toured a pearl farm. I think the snorkeling we did near the Tiputa Pass here was the best snorkeling I´ve ever seen—huge clams with neon lips embedded in the coral, fish of every shape and color, a huge Morey eel that showed us his teeth, and even some small black-tipped sharks. I was snorkeling without flippers, and at one point the current in the pass started to pull me. I panicked a little and ended up kicking a piece of coral. It didn´t hurt so I didn´t notice that I had cut the top of my foot. Good thing because I was far from the dinghy, and I´m not sure what I would´ve done if I´d known that I was bleeding in water with sharks.

We ate well in Rangiroa. We caught a huge tuna on our sail from the Marquesas. I woke up for my watch at 3 am one morning to find the fish tied to the back of the boat. The guys had hauled it in in the middle of the night. The meat from that fish lasted us almost a week. We ate it raw, sautéed, packed in oil, and dried with salt. And best of all we made poisson cru with it. Poisson cru is a Marquesan way of eating raw fish. Basically, you mix raw fish with coconut milk, onions, garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Let it sit for a while and voila. You can also add green pepper, tomato, and cucumber if you like. The fish gets all creamy and savory. Mmmmm.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420703/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420703/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420703/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:03:08 -0400 Gadding About

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Suwarrow, Northern Cook Islands, Cook Islands

The sail from Tahaa took us 7 full days. We were only the third boat to arrive in Suwarrow for the season. This remote atoll in the Cook Islands is a national park, and no one lives there except for the caretaker John, his wife Veronica, and their 4 boys. They spend half the year here and then live in Rarotonga the rest of the year.

Suwarrow is absolutely the most beautiful and peaceful place we stopped during the entire trip. The water is clear, blue-green, and full of fish. The island has white sand beaches and coconuts trees that lean over the water. Birds fill the skies, and even when you can´t see them they call out with their high pitched wails. At sunset, John´s boys play a conch shell while lowering the Cook Islands flag on the pier. At night, with no lights except those coming from the few other boats in the lagoon, the Milky Way stretches across the entire sky, and even though the days were always clear and hot, flashes of lightning lit up the sky every night.

The best, if scariest, part of Suwarrow was the sharks. As soon as we anchored, 2 of 3 black-tipped sharks came to check us out, and they stayed the entire time we were there. Mostly they were small, and if you jumped in the water they scattered. But it´s hard to go against your instincts and get in water with sharks, even if you know they are harmless. During the day, the sharks slowly cruised by the boat, maybe a handful at a time. At night, when they began to seriously hunt for food, they picked up the pace. Even without light you could see their white shapes, like ghosts, darting all around the boat. The guys fed them some fish guts a couple of times, and then you could see why we find sharks so scary. Once blood was in the water they would attack anything that they could. After seeing them attack the ladder and go after our bucket a couple of times, we started cleaning our fish on land.

The reefs around Suwarrow are full of fish and with no ciguatera to worry about, we stocked up on fresh meat. Every day we went to the pass and trolled for trivali, tuna, and rainbow runner. The trick was you had to pull in the line before the gray sharks in the pass came after your fish. We lost a couple of lures to the sharks and got a few burns when we were too slow. I´m proud to say that I won the fishing competition, catching WAY more fish than Marcos and Adrien. Of course, Marcos was driving the dinghy so he gets a pass. Everyone in Suwarrow shared their fish with each other, and we had quite a few meals together either barbecuing on shore or on other boats.

In Suwarrow, we met the crew of Life´s a Dream, a catarmaran that arriving from Hawaii. Robin, Mark, and Andy shared meals with us, took the guys diving in the pass, and just generally were great to hang out with. They lived on a catamaran that put the Lunambule to shame. Fully stocked with everything you could ever want, showers with hot freshwater (they even let me have one, bless them), and space to spare. We joked that you could spend a whole day on that boat and never even have to see the other crew if you didn´t want to. In Lunambule, Adrien can barely stand up without touching the ceiling, the only place to have some privacy is in the head (but no one wants to spend any time in there), and showers consist of a bucket at the stern of the boat. I´m not complaining. Truth is, I´m used to it. It was just a shock to see how sailing could be.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420430/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420430/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246420430/tpod.html Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:58:19 -0400 Gadding About

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Tahiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Iaorana! After the calm of Tuamotu and the Marquesas, the traffic and concrete of Papeete came as a bit of a shock. I can´t say it´s been my favorite stop so far, but there have been some highlights. We went on a spectacular hike of the second highest peak on the island, Aorai, with Francois, a man Adrien met in Tuamotu. It was a hard climb of 21 km, and I was dragging by the end, but the views were spectacular. The smells and textures of a forest were wonderful after so much time at sea. This part of Tahiti is one that most people don´t experience. In fact, the only people were saw after the first refuge were 2 military guys who were in Tahiti for some training. The forests look prehistoric, with oversize ferns rising up like trees and flowers blooming all over the place. The hike involved some climbing using ropes and tree branches, which took some maneuvering.

There was also decent snorkeling in the reefs near our boat, so I could always jump in the water and have a look. Good thing, because it was hot! and jumping in the water was the best way to cope. Time on the boat was spent swimming, snorkeling, watching the sun set behind the nearby island of Moorea, and observing the little dramas on neighboring sailboats. Specifically, a very busy young Don Juan, who had every adolescent girl in the marina visiting his boat at all hours.

In Tahiti, we met up for the second time with Magi the magician, a Catalan we first met in Nuku Hiva. Why do I say he was a magician? Well, his name, for one. Also, he would pop up everywhere just as we were talking about him. We would joke that the old woman with the child passing by on the pirogue was really Magi waiting to reveal himself. That 70-year-old sailor in a Speedo? Magi. Need more proof? At night, Magi returned to his boat, the Santana, where his familiar, Tom the black cat, waited. And, when we swapped music with Magi, our Ipod was filled strange medieval songs in some dark, pagan language…

We also enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of Eric and his wife Caroline, along with their two daughters Coline and Lana. Eric and Caroline are friends of the Lunambule´s owner. They live on the beach near the Point of Venus, and they initiated me to the wonderful French way of eating, with luxurious meals on the weekends that lasted 3 hours and consisted of more courses than I could count. We ate so well a couple of times that we had to spend the night, so blissful we were that we couldn´t be bothered to go back to the boat. Honestly, though, spending time with them, eating, swimming, trying to follow the French conversation, was a highlight of Tahiti.

When we left Tahiti, we briefly stopped in Raiatea and then in Tahaa, just before taking on the 600 or so mile trip to Suwarrow. It was a nice sail there and around, but really I just enjoyed it because it kept us from being back out at sea for a few more days.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246417087/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246417087/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1246417087/tpod.html Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:02:52 -0400 Gadding About

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Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

We made it! After 28 long days at sea, we finally reached the Marquesas on the morning of Wednesday, March 25. We spotted land for the first time around midday the day before, but having no wind, we had to just look longingly at the dark spot on the horizon, knowing we were moving towards it at only 2 knots. Imagine waiting 27 days to get somewhere and after almost 3,000 miles traveled having to finish the remaining 50 miles or so at 2-miles-an-hour. Still, we knew we had arrived, and we awoke the next morning with Nuka Hiva rising large ahead.

The Marquesas are beautiful volcanic islands, with steep cliffs that drop into deep blue water. The hospitality of the people of the Marquesas is what made the place special. In Nuku Hiva people hang out by the dock to see what fishermen are bringing in, to drink a few beers, to play the ukulele, and just to hang out. Many of them also do a good business trading and buying goods from people on sailboats. We were asked if we had all kinds of goods, from alcohol, to clothes, to firearms and ammunition, to saddles. Luckily, we brought a couple cases of rum from Panama and were able to trade for some fresh food, like pamplemousse the most delicious grapefruit that you have ever tasted. At one point I was eating one and a half of these a day, and they are BIG.

People like Andre and Sebastian invited us to dinner, drove us around the island to see the sights, and took us fishing. The men in Nuku Hiva, like much of Polynesia, are really good at fishing with harpoon guns. They slowly swim down to depths of more than 15 meters and then stay underwater until a fish comes close enough to shoot. I didn´t try fishing with the gun (Adrien and Marcos did), but I snorkeled at the surface while they did. Amazing how long they could stay underwater. And after all that time they would swim up slowly as if they didn´t need to breathe at all. One guy in particular was always the first in the water to see if a spot was worth stopping at. In each place he went in the water he came up with a fish on his harpoon in only a few minutes, even in places where he said there was nothing to catch.

We did have another small crisis with the boat here. Our outboard motor for the dinghy died, just as we had motored to the entrance of the bay to do some snorkeling. We had to take turns rowing for over an hour to get back to the boat. The motor was old so we left it behind, and rowed every time we wanted to go to shore thereafter.

After Nuku Hiva, we stopped for a few days in Ua Pou, a small island south of Nuku Hiva, where every tree is laden with fruit, and if you can remember how to say hello in Marquesan (Ka-O-ha) the people are eager to have a chat or offer you some fruit. We spent a few days here, hiking in the hills, snorkeling, and just enjoying the views from the bay. The island has spectacular gray rock spires that rise out of the green hills. They are often covered in clouds, so when they are visible it is like a hidden, dark part of the island is suddenly, temporarily revealed. Near the bay, under a rock cliff surrounded by lush trees and guarded above by a bearded Billy goat, is the most idyllic shower I´ve ever had the pleasure of using.

One night, the village had a movie night for the kids, so we went to shore and cooked a big leg of pork on the barbeque. We ate along with the village, and watched movies in French under the open air roof of their community center, right on the water. We met a couple who invited us to their house the next day to get fresh fruit. The next day, Adrien and Marcos set off with two big bags and loaded up the boat with mangoes, avocados, lemons, bananas, breadfruit, pamplemousse, and other fresh goodies. Only then were we ready to set off on the 5-day journey to Tuamotu.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1235597520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1235597520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1235597520/tpod.html Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:30:42 -0500 Gadding About

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Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

After eight days of sailing (and some motoring) we arrived safely at Santa Cruz in the Galapagos. The trip was calm and easy, which is a good. Our days were spent thinking about food, preparing it, eating, and cleaning up after. That and roaming around the deck of the boat, trying to stay within the shade of the sails. It got really hot during the day, but that could be fixed by pouring buckets of cold Pacific Ocean water on our heads or by jumping off the back of the boat while holding on the the transom. I´m reading alot. We spent some days motoring because there was absolutely no wind or very little wind. Other days we spent hoisting and lowering the spinnaker in attempts to catch the slight breezes that came from behind us. At night, we rotate covering the 3 night watches, and I spent that time practicing trimming the sails, looking at the stars, and trying not to fall asleep! Anyone who knows how much I love to sleep, knows how hard that is. Along the way we saw lots of marine life--a whale, dolphins, turtles--and even though it´s 800 miles from Panama to the Galapagos, we saw sea birds fishing in the waters around us every day!

We arrived in the Galapagos Saturday morning and spent the day touring the town of Puerto Ayora. Since then we´ve gone snorkeling, hiking around the island, and buying more provisions for the long trip ahead. Wildlife is why people come here, and there has been plenty to see--sharks, iguanas, blue footed boobies, finches, rays, sea lions everywhere, and even giant tortoises mating! One day, I was snorkeling with Adrian, a fellow crewmate from France, when we saw a whitetip shark. Then I looked down and saw that all along the sea floor there were maybe 10 more of them, just waiting. It didn´t help that Adrian told me that they were incredibly aggressive and kept humming the theme to Jaws underwater. They are not that aggressive it turns out, but a shark is a shark, you know? I took a tour of a nearby island, Isabela, yesterday, and swam with sea lions not two feet away. They kept circling us strange humans trying to figure out what we were about. Some wanted to play with us and we tried, clumbsily, to oblige.

Tomorrow we head to the Marquesas, the longest leg of our journey at about 25-30 days. I´ll update again once we reach land again! Hope all is well!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1234541580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1234541580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/marmaladejenn/1/1234541580/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:20:37 -0500 Gadding About

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Panama city, Panama

I know it´s been a while since I´ve updated. Sorry! I don´t have much time to write. Heading to the South Pacific on the 38-foot sailboat Lunambule, with a final destination of New Caledonia. We´re heading to the Galapagos hopefully this afternoon. Other stops on our three-month trip will include Marquesas, Tonga, Cook Islands, and who knows where else. I´l try to update whenever we stop!
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