Reflections of a Galley Slave 2
Sue's Reflections post Atlantic have been copied here.
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or click on the link below. At the bottom of any section either carry
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© 2002-2003 Sue Campbell-Ross except certain photographs taken by Rich
Macey and Brian Basset.
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We have made it! We have crossed the Atlantic. Our first ocean
crossing and probably not our last! It was amazingly exciting to see the
outline of Martinique at sunset last night. Just to say "so
long" to us, the sky gave us a sunset to remember forever. Most
spectacular so far. As we all sat watching it with a glass of wine (or
coke .... depending on age) we saw in
the distance a big square rigger sail boat and an aeroplane was flying around.
The children (and me!) were standing on the deck shouting "Come here
aeroplane"!! And so it did, it came towards us really low and past on
our port side. It goes without saying that we all waved like mad and
raised our glasses. Then it turned around and came back over the top of us
- and then turned again and came down our starboard side! It was a
smallish plane, probably a 8 seater. The children found it terribly
exciting. It took about another 4 or 5 hours to go round the top of
St.Lucia and then into Rodney Bay. During that time I showered the all the
children, dressed in our Tintin kit, had supper and listened to the boats coming
in ahead of us and waited...... It began to pour with rain as we sailed
into Rodney Bay and over the finish line. Marcella and Carmine (from
Timetama) were jumping up and down on the pontoon as we came up to it and in no
time at all we were all hugging and congratulating and drinking our rum punches
with the ARC people on the pontoon. We had done it - sailed 2800 nautical
miles in brilliant time, coming in 99th overall!
As we drank that wine, we made some toasts. First we drank to Tintin who
sailed so well and kept us all safe, then we drank to St.Lucia and to good times
ahead. Rod and I drank to our crew, the Brians, who have been simply
brilliant, hard working, considerate and very responsible members of our Tintin
family. We enjoyed sailing with them and having the opportunity to spend
17 days squashed into a tin can with them. We all drank a toast to
our Skipper, Hairy Rod, (now sporting a fuzzy beard!) who kept the whole shabang
on the right course and climbed up the mast for us and fixed and welded and
sweated blood to get us here (!!), and we toasted the children who have been so
amazing on this crossing. We were all very proud of them.
So a general feeling of satisfaction and success on Tintin! We have neatly
forgotten the first few days where the seasickness, the incessant rolling and
the depression made us miserable. It has been a good experience. I
am so glad I have done it! It was an adventure which exceeded our
expectations and will never be forgotten.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all our friends and family who supported us
with all those wonderful, encouraging, thoughtful and often, very funny emails.
I think it was probably the emails and the thought that you were all rooting for
us that made all the difference!
Now it is the time for concentrating on Christmas and the coming year.
Here is to all of you. Thank you for "staying with us" and lots
of love to everyone,
Sue
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Wallilabou
Bay, St.Vincent
Dear Everyone
You cannot believe the beautiful place I am in now - this bay with high cliffs
at the sides, a beach with black sand and palm trees, the sun is going down for
the last time in 2002 and the gentle, pastel sunset colouring the cirrus strewn
sky leaves me humbled and grateful and happy to be here. Timetama and
Tintin share this bay with very few others and with the help of the twins, Ron
and Ronnie, we are planning to celebrate in this little piece of paradise.
We arrived here last night from St.Lucia. For one reason and another, we
were held up in St.Lucia and instead of being in Mustique for New Year, we only
got this far.......... and decided to stay. It was 10 o'clock and
pitch, pitch dark as we came close to the bay. We radioed Timetama and
Carmine flashed his spotlight so that we could get a bearing. He then came
out on his tender with a very helpful local called Ron (not to be confused with
his twin, Ronnie) and they guided us in and took a line ashore to hold us in
place. We slept fitfully, not completely sure that we were going to be in
the same place in the morning! But we were and it was a nice place to wake
up in! After a breakfast on Tintin with Timetama, we decided to stay here
and take up the offer of New Years Eve dinner at Ron and Ronnie's restaurant,
"The Golden Spoon". Marcella and I walked up to it with the
children to have a look at the menu, finding that it was simply his verandah
with "The Golden Spoon" painted on the wall! Just perfect!
The menu was eagerly being drawn up in the depths of the house and so was not
ready, "I'll bring to you later"! We then came and piled the
tender up with all our beach toys (or "crud" as the Skipper describes
it), and went to the beach. A curious group of children came and watched
us and realising we were friendly, all came and jumped in the water fully
clothed and full of enthusiasm. Once introduced to the beach toy bag, they
pounced on it like ants on jam and tried everything. Almost all of them
had at least one arm band on! We played a kind of beach
volleyball/football/water polo game - the little boys doing spectacular dives
into the water to save the ball and all 4 of them diving onto the ball at once,
everyone very good humoured even when head butted. Later, we built an
amazing castle with walls and palm trees and a paved road. One little boy
paid special attention to the yard and kept it immaculately raked and tidy.
I was most impressed with his devotion to the task. When Marcella talked
about some pasta for lunch on Timetama and we packed up to go, the sad faces and
slumped backs as they wandered off really made me feel like a spoilsport.
It had been such a fun morning.
The little village, rather, the little cluster of buildings in this bay are at
present being transformed into Jamaica, circa 1700, for a film "Pirates of
the Caribbean" which is going to be filmed here in January and February by
Disney. The effect is really quite surreal, but does add somehow to the
magic of this place. The concrete and prefabricated houses that used to
exist here are now covered in stone cladding and reed roofs....... it's
that Disney world perfection of what paradise coves should look like. I
like it. Reality is round in the next bay but I will stay here and
pretend. We left Tania in St.Lucia on Tarok and picked up Moosh, who had
flown in from Barbados where he landed with Trust Me on Boxing Day. The
children all reclaimed their favourite positions on his shoulders, head and lap
and we were all so thrilled to see him. He will spend another 2 weeks with
us before heading off to see family and friends in America. Timetama have
a guest too. A wonderfully charming and ebullient man called Lucio who
will add much flavour and laughter to tonight's celebrations! Isn't it
funny? Yesterday as we traveled here from St.Lucia, I started to write a
letter and found myself feeling so down and miserable that I couldn't really
find the words to write. The last 10 days has been wonderful. We
have adored having Candy and Bill Jones and their family in St.Lucia for
Christmas but as ever with me, it is so hard to say good-bye, especially when
the future is so fluid and we don't know when we will see each other next.
That feeling of "aloneness", which is the one challenge that I find
hard to overcome living this lifestyle, creeps over me and takes a place like
Wallilouba and people like Carmine and Marcella to shake off. We also had to say good-bye to the beloved Brians in St.Lucia. There was a
big gap in our family and rum punch just doesn't taste quite so good anymore without them to enjoy a glass or two with. But as I always have to remind
myself, "Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened".
We had a great time, a really, really happy time and we were so blessed to have done
our crossing with such lovely people and spent our Christmas with such dear friends. So, tonight as I look over 2002 it is with a happy heart.
What 2003 holds for us is a mystery, a blank canvas waiting to be coloured.
I can't say that I don't feel weak with trepidation and fear. I just hope
I am able to stand up to the challenges and experiences ahead. Once they
are over, I always look back on them and think, "if only I had known how
easy that was going to be from the beginning!" I must remember that
now.
Well, now my daughter, all 10 years of her, has just walked up here into the
cockpit all dressed up and ready to go out to dinner. She is so beautiful
and sweet and has tried so hard to outdo nature. Her experimentation with
make-up, without the guiding hand of Tania, has resulted in the post boxing
match look and our observation of this has sent her rushing to the front of
the boat to be alone. It is New Years Eve and Ron and Ronnie won't care
about her blue-green eyed look and so I am going to make my apologies to her and
make her smile. It is also time for me to do something about my
appearance and put on something that's comfortable to dance in. Ronnie
told
me he has some good music for tonight!
So HAPPY NEW YEAR to all - may it be a very, very good one
1
January 2003
Admiralty Bay, Bequia
Last night was probably the most bizarre evening I have known - some have
quite close, I will admit, but I think this one takes the biscuit. At
about 8 ish last night we tied our tenders up on the jetty in Wallilabou Bay and
wandered up the steep hill to "The Golden Spoon", to be welcomed with
the broadest and happiest of smiles from Ron (or it could also have been Ronnie)
and he showed us to our table. It was one of the two available. They
had gone to such trouble to decorate it with bougainvillea in a jam jar (with
Table 2 painted in black paint on it) and he had little bowls with chopped up
local fruit and coconut from his garden. We had brought our own drinks and
so we helped ourselves and waited in anticipation for the freshly barbequed
tuna, the local dishes, the music. We were aware of the strong smell of
marijuana wafting through the restaurant and then when one of the twins appeared
we realised that he had been sampling the goods with the what seemed like an
endless stream of men walking through the restaurant and out the back.
Every now and then a vacant, stoned individual would come and stand and have a
long look at all of us. The children by now had been waiting an hour and a
half for their chicken and chips - they had been read to, had drawn pictures,
had run up and down the road, played with the dogs on the step, cried, fallen
down, fought over toys, climbed under the tables and generally had a very wild
and exciting time. Rod had broken two of the plastic garden chairs that we
were sitting in. The first one broke sounding like fireworks on Bonfire
Night, the second a more discreet smash and bang sound. Not to make Rod
feel awkward, Carmine's chair broke too! Ronnie brought out his photo
albumns and we spent a while paging through all his photo's of the different
marine engines he has worked on over the years, his dogs - past and present, and
one of him standing at the wheel of a yacht ...... "You see, Captain Rod, I
am a international sailor"! Our tummies are rumbling and we are all
drinking on empty stomachs - I am beginning to feel that if I don't eat
something soon I will slip off my chair onto the floor. Finally the food
came out plate by plate with great ceremony and style! Ron and Ronnie were
trying so hard and doing very well considering how stoned they were. The
food had all been cooked several hours before we arrived and had obviously sat
on the kitchen counter waiting for us to arrive. It was very cold and the
tuna was very hard. But the presentation was fabulous! We ate what
we could. Harry was obviously suffering the effects of the ganja fumes and
he lay down on the floor and went to sleep. Pippa on the other hand sank
into an emotional low and spent much of the evening with her head on the table
sobbing. No amount of comforting could console her. Now that
dinner was served, Ron and Ronnie relaxed, if that was possible, and with their
rum punches in one hand and one big "roll" or "zol" of ganja
in the other ("a gift for you, my customers") they came and joined us
at the table. For the smokers on our table this roll proved very effective
in altering their state of mind - Lucio lined up the wine bottles in front of
him and conducted an imaginary orchestra, and Mosh sat in his chair,
giggling, with a smile that worryingly looked like it would split his
face. For the rest of us, it only added to the atmosphere. Pippa sat
up and said "Hey Ronnie, you said I could have ice-cream", so he
staggered off and came back with ice-cream for everyone. Almost
without us noticing it, the clock
was about to strike 12 - so we grabbed the last bottle of champagne and
cracked it and toasted and celebrated 2 new years - Ronnie's watch was
faster than Lucio's. Once finished, we collected up our sleeping and
weeping children and followed Ron's torch as he led us back down the road to the
dinghies on the pontoons. I got back to the boat, put my babies in their
beds and then sat down next to a sleeping Emily and burst into tears thinking
"what the hell am I putting my poor children through?" - how can they
grow up into solid, good citizens when they spend an evening of total confusion
and ganja smoking with their parents? I think that they ganja fumes had
worked on me and I was reacting to it just like Pippa did!
Early this morning, there was a knock on the side of the boat and there was
Ron (or could have been Ronnie) with two freshly baked loaves of bread. I
said "Ron, you wonderful man, how kind of you..................." and
he said "No problem, you can just give me 15 EC's for them"!
There is no such thing as a free breakfast!
We left later on in the morning with the Ronnie's waving us off, shouting
"come and see us again soon" and paddling alongside us on their
battered and broken surf board. What a fantastic pair.
We sailed down here to Bequia with wonderful, strong winds - an exciting sail.
Skipper and Moosh in heaven!
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Hog Island, Grenada
Dear everybody
I know, I know, it's been awhile. So much has happened and as I sit here
reflecting on where we have been, what we have done, who we have met, I am
simply exhausted at the thought of writing it all down - so I will have to be
selective and only put in the juicy bits. Suffice it to say, there have
been moments of pure joy and wonderment, laughter and fun and moments too
of frustration, anxiety, exhaustion and sadness. Please don't any of you
think this life style is all about gin and tonics and sunsets! (Although
saying that, there is abit of it here and there..............)
So. The juicy bits. Well, after such a fascinating New Year
everything else seems tame. We sailed on down to Port Elizabeth, Bequia
and spent a good couple of days there eating lobster and playing on the beach.
It is a very pretty and relaxing place. We had a good lunch at "The
Whaleboner" - a
restaurant where the bar stools were whale vertebrae and the bar made from a
huge bone from somewhere else inside a whale. We sailed out of P.E and
went around the point to Friendship Bay. Anchored in the bay was a huge
yacht, Parsifal, and it didn't take Pippa and Harry long to notice (with the
help
of the binoculars) that there were children on board climbing all over the
rigging. Carmine (from Timetama) was sitting chatting on Tintin and was cajoled by my persistent children into taking them over to say hello. He
did. He came back later minus P and H saying that they were just about to
go on the "banana" with the boys from the yacht, and he thought it
would be a good thing if I just went over incase there were any problems.
Exploiting any opportunity to see inside a luxury vessel, I jumped into my
dinghy and went right over there. I was offered a nice cup of tea by two
of the women on board - and then sat down and got stuck into some serious
chatting with all on board. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. The
"big honcho" was a man called David and his wife was Polly and they
had 7 of his 8 children on board. My cup of tea turned into a drink which
then turned into an invitation to supper. Rod had by this time come over
to Parsifal to see what was holding me up. We were standing chewing the
cud with David when I said, "So David, what do you do?", he
replied "I am in rock band", abit gob-smacked I said "Oh.
Which one?" and he replied, "Pink Floyd". The only response
I could think of was, "Oh. What instrument do you play?" He said
"I sing, play the guitar, that sort of thing." I was utterly
lost for words but Rod managed to neatly step in and change the subject to
something completely different like Hobie-cats and light aircraft and we carried
on chatting. Moosh had given Rod a Pink Floyd CD for his birthday in
October and so I could not wait to get back to Tintin to collect Moosh and bring
him back to Parsifal for supper. And of course, to grab the CD and look
and see who David was. It turns out that he IS Pink Floyd just about.
We had a very delicious evening with everyone sitting around the table on deck
and periodically someone would pick up their guitar and strum away, sometimes
someone else would join in harmonising (not me I must add, I have no tone
although I was tempted at times - humming is a much better medium for me).
I loved the way David and his children all played their guitars and sang
together - it was very beautiful. There was a real sense of family and
unity and of course, David turned out to be a normal man and was slumped fast
asleep in his seat by 10 o'clock! David and Polly's boys all got along
very well with Harry and they spent alot of time on Tintin. They would
start calling us on the VHF first thing in the morning and ask if they could
come and play - nothing on this trip has tickled me as much as the fact that
those three boys had 112 foot of unimaginable luxury and comfort, not to mention
the 6 crew members and their nanny, but they only wanted to be on 44 foot, very
scruffy Tintin with no crew, except poor, old, long suffering mother dear and
playing with Harry in his funny, little cabin - all cavorting with laughter.
When we left Friendship Bay, we lifted anchor with Parsifal but we couldn't
understand why they weren't leaving and were hanging back waiting for us to
go....... they were videoing us!! That really made us laugh.
We saw them several more times along our journey through the Grenadines and kept
seeing
other boats who would say to us that there was a boat called Parsifal that
had been calling us and calling us! What a scream! They were great
people,
we had some fun with them and I really enjoyed meeting them.
Saltwhistle Bay in Mayreau is one of my most favourite places in the world.
Such an incredible beach. At one end of the beach the sand thins down to
just a strip and there is another bay on the other side. The other bay is
the wild side with rolling waves and banks of seaweed. Sitting on the
beach, you can watch the pelicans gliding over the sea and marvel as they make a
death defying dive into the sea to catch a fish. It was such a magical
place. For me it was paradise. We anchored very close in on the
beach and could swim to the shore through turquoise sea. Pippa did some
snorkeling with Marcella and she saw some incredible creatures. Harry is
like his mama and found the window into the sea too "in your face" and
would hyperventilate and get hysterical whenever a fish swam past. My
reaction, just perhaps not so vocal, was just the same and I decided that
looking at the view and watching the pelicans was more my style. Call me a
woosey, but I would rather not know what is down there. One evening, some
ineffectual knot tying on my part resulted in our tender coming loose and
drifting off - it was well on its way to Venezuela by the time we noticed it was
gone. It was a disaster for us as a tender is your life line to the shore.
Luckily we were with Timetama and they were very good and patient and carried us
to and fro whilst we made enquiries about a second hand dinghy. In the
Grenadines there are these boats that come out to the yachts at anchor and
provide various services - selling fruit, lobster, bread, water taxi or they
help you into anchorages or onto moorings. None of this is done from the
kindness of their hearts. No, no, they need to be paid handsomely for
these services - but it is worth it just to see them. They are always
brightly coloured - the Rasta colours being the most popular - and their names
all very individual and original. Our particular favourites were "Mr.
Fabulous" (with his dog), "Jesus saves", "Let them
talk", "Why worry", "Don't give up" and finally,
"Orgasm"! The guys from "More Future" took on our case
with great enthusiasm and they were determined to find us a replacement
tender. The result being that we went on many a wild goose chase that
ended up with us looking at deflated, filthy, completely broken dinghies that
would take more than a pot of glue to get them back into the water! They
are such characters, such desperado's, racing around in their boats and bringing
so much noise, energy and colour to the otherwise peaceful anchorages.
We finally made our way down to Grenada where we managed to find a second hand
dinghy, almost identical to the one we lost. We met up with our
friends from Trust Me, we bumped into Tarok and saw Tania again, very
briefly for one evening, we said a very tearful farewell to our beloved Moosh
and just prepared ourselves for a visit from Suzanne. Tintin was (is) in a
dreadful mess and needed sorting out, so we went into True Blue Bay Marina so
that we could empty all our lockers onto the pontoon and sort them out, repack
and tidy up before Suzanne and the girls arrived. We had hardly been there
an hour, when, as I was crossing the passarelle from the pontoon onto the boat,
it buckled and so, because I had Emily on my hip, I grabbed the rope and tried
to hang on to prevent her from falling into the water. I slipped right
down on the rope into the water giving my hand the most terrible rope burn.
Emily was pulled out before she really realised that she was in the water and
then two big, strong guys hoiked me out, soaking wet with my dress around my
neck and hand feeling like it had been stuck into a pan of boiling oil. I
had some awful blisters and my hand was wrapped up and in no condition to clean
up a boat. So - Suzanne and the girls arrived to a Tintin in her
natural state of disorder and mess! After the first few days of feeling
queasy, the girls all settled in and we had an incredibly happy, if not very
drunken, week together. Suzanne took an instant liking to rum punch and
found she even liked it for breakfast! We did a island tour with taxi
driver, Ken, had beach barbeques, did some shopping................... We
came and anchored up in Hog Island and met another boat called Wanderer.
They had two girls the same age who provided more entertainment and fun for
Pippa, Clarice and Esme. Trust Me and Timetama were anchored with us so Harry
had the boys to keep him happy and Emily had Milo to play with. Rod put up
the swing from the spinnaker pole so that they could swing out into the water,
Suzanne and I being unable to move from the sheer strength of our rum punches,
were just forced to sit in the cockpit and watch them whilst we drank another
one. Supper provided us with an opportunity to try out all those tinned
foods I promised I would never eat unless I was desperate. All we needed
to do was to heat them up in a pan and slap them on a plate and then the
children stopped complaining that they were hungry and we could settle back down
in the cockpit! Pippa and I were heartbroken when they left and later,
once back on the boat, their plane flew over us and we screamed and jumped up
and down waving wildly with tears rolling down our cheeks. One week flew
by far too fast.
My tears were dried away by the arrival of Camar with my fabulous Georgia
and Francesco, and little Andrea. We had not seen them since before
Christmas and it was like being back with old, dear friends again. They
are
still with us and will stay here until the last moment when we leave Grenada.
After threatening to leave for about 5 days, Trust Me finally left to move back
up North today. Harry has lost his "best friend in the whole
world", Christopher, and has been a very sad boy today. This is a
life style of good-byes. It can sometimes overwhelm you. Another
"good-bye" has been to Tania. Tarok have taken her.
She will now be with her Jakob and since they are all such wonderful Vikings and
we love them so much, we won't hold it against them!! I do miss Tania -
she is such a lovely girl and has been part of our journey almost since the
beginning.
So now we prepare ourselves, our boat and our charts and set off on the next
stage of our voyage in the direction of the Panama Canal. We hope to stop
off in Bonaire, Curacoa and Aruba before we cross over to the San Blas Islands
and then on to Panama. We seem to have found some temporary crew, a young
English couple who will travel with us to Panama and we are in contact with some
other people to carry on with us from there on. I am full of my usual
pre-voyage anxiety and angst, but I am sure once we set off I will
cope far better than I am now and the mood swings will stop!! But first we
have a deck being painted by hard-working Skipper, parts to await delivery
and as much time as possible to be spent with Georgia before we leave.
It's
a hard life.
Much, much love to everyone
Sue
=================================
San Blas Islands
Panama
Dear Everyone
Prepare yourself for a letter in book form. This will take days to read!
I have so much to tell. We have taken "the road less traveled"
and stepped out of the world as we know it. Incredible, amazing,
terrifying................... nothing I write will possibly do it justice but I
will give it a try!!
We left Grenada finally - and not a moment too soon. We had had every hold-up known to man and "Caribbean time" was beginning to take its
toll on our collective sense of humour. Together with our English couple,
Kate and Leo, as crew - we set off to La Blanquilla, a very remote Venezuelan
island. It took us about 24 hours - of which I was sick for about 22! Blanquilla was a
welcome sight and will always be remembered for its beautiful
and reassuringly calm anchorage, and the enormous fish that we caught there.
It was a 25 kg Wahoo which reached up to Rod's chest - much bigger than Emily!
We anchored in a bay with one other yacht and lots and lots of pelicans, all
going about their business of diving and catching fish. The island itself
was near desert - stunning in its rugged bleakness - but the beaches were
unspeakably beautiful. Next stop on our journey was Los Roques which are a
group of Venezuelan islands, most uninhabited. We went to Caya Agua which
is an uninhabited strip of land - just a beach, lots of mangrove trees, coral,
pelicans, pelican chicks, boobies and booby chicks. Rod, Pippa, Kate and
Leo all snorkeled and saw incredible fish and sea life. In the evening we
had a barbeque at sunset - the sun set over the sea, the sea birds flew around
us, it was balmy and warm and we had our drinks waiting for the green flash as
the sun goes over the horizon. There was not another living soul for miles
and miles around us. It was an incredible moment in our lives. The
bubble burst however, as our dinghy drifted off from the beach in the dark,
carried quickly out to
sea by strong winds and current. It all happened in a matter of a few
minutes and although Rod swam out after it desperately trying to get it back, it
was of no use. We had bought a new engine in Grenada, a 15 horse power
engine, which was on the dinghy and so we lost it too. Personally, I felt
that of all the things that could have gone wrong, loosing a dinghy, although a
very expensive mistake, was inconsequential and could be replaced. Rod was
devastated! But by the next morning we had put it all in perspective and
carried on. We went on to another island called Aves de Barlovento
which is named after the huge numbers of birds that make it their home. It
was like being in an aviary of sea birds - quite incredible. Again we were
all alone but for a few fishing boats in the next bay. The last leg of the
journey was an exhausting overnighter to Bonaire.
Call me ungrateful and a philistine, but there is nothing better than a few good
shops, a well stocked supermarket and inviting restaurants to make me positively
bristle with happiness. Bonaire provided all that. It is an
amazingly friendly and welcoming place. It is efficient and clean and well
organised (it is Dutch!). What a culture shock after 3 months in the
Caribbean! Years ago, the people of Bonaire realised that the success of
their island was dependent on their coral reefs and sea life. They had the
foresight to make very strict environmental laws to protect their natural world.
It shows. The marina, normally water you would not want to dip your toe
in, had crystal clear water and simply leaning over the guard rails and peering
into the water would reward you with spectacular and exquisite fishes.
Again, the island itself is incredibly dry and covered with cactus and shrubs
and salt pans. The wonderful thing about the salt pans is that they
attract flamingos which was a very pleasant sight! We met up with our
Italian friends on Timetama in Bonaire - they were waiting there for us.
It was great to meet up again ................... and commiserate over the loss
of dinghy number 2! Pippa took the chance to do a diving course with Kate
and Leo which she absolutely loved. I admire her so much - I am far to
frightened to do it! I could easily have stopped in Bonaire and still be
there now but for our pressing schedule to keep moving onwards and westwards.
And onwards and westwards meant Aruba. In Aruba we collected our new
dinghy and engine, passed Leo and Kate over to Tmetama and welcomed our
new crew members - Bob and George. Bob has come to help us
sail and help with the work load on Tintin and George, all of 7 years old, has
come to play with Harry! We allowed them one night to get accustomed to
life aboard and also the opportunity to enjoy the delights of the Aruba
carnival. They were both so exhausted but they put up a good fight!
The carnival was amazing – hours and hours of entertaining, brightly coloured,
dancing and gyrating individuals. I was amazed that Aruba had enough
people to man all the costumes, although on closer inspection we did notice that
many of the groups had had to pull granny, big fat cousin Juanita and old Aunty
Bonita in to fill the gap. But I don't need to tell you who enjoyed
themselves the most - never before have I seen more grooving grannies and more
fat girls enjoying the limelight. It was fabulous.
Now that we felt Bob and George had rested for the night, we set off for
Cartagena, Columbia. A small detail that the skipper forgot to pass on to
me, was that this crossing was noted as one of the most dangerous and
temperamental of crossings........................ It took us 3 days and 2
nights of howling winds of up to 52 knots, huge seas - which occasionally broke
in the cockpit flooding down the steps into the saloon, sickness and vomiting
and a very, very, very miserable Skippers wife. I made him pay for my
misery in serious tongue-lashingly angry tirades and lots of very dirty looks.
I must say it was particularly awful and there were times when I felt afraid.
Our newly acquired crew were desperately sick and poor little George cried and
cried for his mama. Fortunately, we arrived in Cartagena in one piece and
found that it was the most exceptional place – Spanish colonial mixed with
South American heat and passion and sensuality and style. It is an oasis
in an anarchic country where the government is waging war on the guerrilla's and
drug traffickers. I walked from street to street with my mouth hanging
open in wonder at what I saw. I loved it so much. The Colombian people I
met were so open and warm, and such good people. It is hard to imagine
that violence cuts through this society. Cartagena has so much history and
colour. We learnt that Drake came to Cartagena, that an Englishman called
Vernon almost took Cartagena but finally, with a navy dying of malaria and
yellow fever, decided to withdraw, that the Spanish inquisition was very active
............................. so much to tell. One night
in a children's play area in the park, I met a man also there with his children,
who came to talk to me to practice his English. When he found out I was from
South Africa he was overjoyed as his passion in life is South African music.
He told me that if he ever made enough money he would like to take his family to
South Africa, to Table Mountain especially and to listen to the music of Africa.
I told him that if he did my family (hope you don't mind me volunteering your
hospitality there!!)
would show him everything. He was almost in tears by this stage and we
parted as very dear friends. The reality of the situation is, of course,
that it takes years to get a visa to leave the country and the likelihood of him
ever earning enough to travel are very slim. I am privileged to have been
to Cartagena - I doubt I will ever return there, it was so hard to leave.
Another god-forsaken journey of 2 days and a night to reach this complete and
utter paradise. Words cannot describe this. This is truly the palm
covered islands, white sands, turquoise seas of every man's dream. Here in
the San Blas islands, the Kuna Indians live. They have chosen to maintain
their traditional way of life as much as possible and live by a strict code of
rules of behaviour. They adore children and when we visited the nearest
village, Nagana, they only have eyes for the children. The Kuna children
are also very friendly, curious, mischievous little things. There was a
group of children all running along after Emily shouting "Emaleeeeeee"
and
loving her and carrying her around. Harry and George were invited to sit
down at a table of men and were arm wrestling and burping like the best of them.
We took the dinghy up the river into the rain forest and although the children
were very disappointed that we never saw any seawater crocodiles or any white
faced monkeys, dodging all the submerged trees and seeing the birds and fish in
the river seemed to make up for it. Kuna women traditionally make these incredibly intricate embroidery designs called molas, which they use in their
dress. The work that goes into these works of art is unbelievable and I
absolutely adore them. Every dug out canoe that comes by with a pile of molas for sale gets a hearty welcome on Tintin. Sadly, we are almost out of
dollars and my obsession with molas is going to have to stop.
Tonight, we have had yet another feast of seafood - it was crabs (provided
by Timetama) and one side of a huge fish - name unknown (provided by the Argentinean boat next to us), so we are not struggling to scrape together a
meal. We have run out of beer which is a slight disaster but we still have
some coke and if I dig down to the bottom of the locker I can probably find some
rum. All Rod's Spanish rot-gut wine in cartons is finally coming to an
end, thank heavens, because I don't know how much longer we could stomach it -
alot of the cartons exploded and festered, whilst most of the rest quietly
turned into vinegar which Skipper has rigourously knocked back. The children have spent the day playing in the sea on a deserted island. They
have frolicked amongst star fish and rays and hundreds of little fish. Timetama,
plus Kate and Leo and Lucio, have been frolicking too, plus another Italian boat
called Oruwa. Oruwa is a catamaran owned by Ricardo and Elena - they are a
wonderful couple. At the moment they have a young Italian girl staying
with them called Caterina. I think Rod and Bob would describe her as very
pleasing to the eye, especially since she usually only wears a thong
............. no bikini top to speak of. Well, there might be one but we
haven't seen it! She is showing alot of interest in Lucio, who
is absolutely terrified and when asked what he thought of her, he said,
"Yes, she is very healthy" (!!!!) "Very big personality, very big
smile................." Very big boobs is what he meant.
So now it is just another week of island hopping, days on the beach, get togethers on other boats, barbeques at sunset - I can't complain. This is
unreal.
But as always, we must press on and move towards the Panama canal. Bob and
George have a big decision to make - whether they stay on or leave us in Panama.
Bob is so sick on the crossings and George, aswell as being sick misses his
mother. Harry and George are the best of friends and life is so different
for Harry now that he has a companion. But it is in their hands and it is
their decision to make. One way or another, Tintin and her crew will press
on. For now life is simple and pleasant and we will deal with tomorrow
when we get to it.
Thinking of all of our friends out there and hope to hear from you soon.
Lots of love
Sue
=================================
Balboa Yacht Club
Panama City
Dear everyone
I must say that tonight I really could do with falling into my hot, stuffy,
little berth and getting an early night - I have had a tiring day - but we are
leaving Panama City soon (and, I suspect, all forms of communication) and
beginning a new chapter in our adventure and I need to finish off the last
chapter, so that we can begin the next one! First, I will tell you why I
have had a tiring day. Panama City is a hot, dusty, higgledy-piggledy
place and whilst you walk from one shop to another to find all the provisions
and all the "boat bits" that we need, you have to watch your back (and
your bag), you are offered a ride by every available taxi passing by, you have
to negotiate the street layout and the broken pavements, not walk over any of
the street hawkers and dash between the cars ............... but that is not
actually the tiring part. That the interesting part! The tiring part
is trying to find all the bits and trying to plan what you are going to eat and
to need for the next 5 or 6 months. Every little corner of Tintin is
stuffed with cans, rice, pasta, toilet paper....... There is no space left
and I still don't think I have enough to feed my crew for the next month, let
alone 6 months. I think I will have to go back to the
supermarket tomorrow to get more stuff! Tomorrow is also the fresh fruit and veg
day. Where I am going to store all of that is anyone's guess. Each
time we come back from the supermarket with bags and bags of provisions we worry
about where it will go, but somehow Tintin swallows it all up! Once fully
victualled, Tintin will pull away and begin the Pacific chapter of our journey.
The San Blas Islands were magical and beautiful - a very special place. We
had a wonderful time there. We sailed away from the San Blas archipelago
and on to another island on the Panamanian coast called Isola Linton.
There were already quite a few boats anchored there and no sooner had our anchor
set, than a dinghy came bouncing over with some children in it. You can
always tell the "genuine" boat kids. They have an unbounded,
wild, perhaps a little desperate, happiness at the sight of other boat kids and
these kids showed all the signs! They were very welcoming and offered to
take us to the beach to see the monkeys. What an offer? We all
clambered into their dinghy and went ashore. There were monkeys in the
trees and on the grass, who, as soon as we stepped onto the grass, came rushing
towards us on their hind legs waving their arms, tossing palm leaves and
screeching wildly. The children all ran screaming down the pontoon and
jumped into the water. The monkeys hate the water so they didn't follow
them in. Once the monkeys had wandered back to their posts, the children,
full of bravado and false
courage, walked back towards them and they all rushed forward again and the
children screamed off down the pontoon. Both parties seemed to be enjoying
this immensely. I noticed that one monkey did not join in. He
had a deformed foot and no thumbs on his hands. He watched all the
screaming and running with interest and joined in by baring his teeth
periodically and adding the odd yelp or howl to the noise. Then he looked
straight at me, pursed up his lips and went "hooooo hoooo hoooo" - of
course, I pursed up mine and went "hoooo hoooo hooooo" too. We
looked at each other for a long moment and I felt we connected on a spiritual
level. The next morning we went back to the beach and all the young
monkeys were gone, only the handicapped monkey was there. He came walking
quickly towards us, pointing at me and pursing his lips and "hooooo"ing
frantically. He wrapped his arms around my legs and made happy
little sounds, and then climbed up my body and sat on my shoulders with his
hands clutching my face and bearing his teeth (very lovingly!) at me. I
must admit, though I felt loved, I also felt quite frightened and very worried
about his very big willy dangling down my shoulder. I motioned to Rod to
get him off me, but when he tried, my admirer screamed very loudly and hung on
even tighter. Fortunately, some workmen came to my aid by tempting him off
me by offering him a banana. What an immense relief. From then on, I had
to keep one foot in the water to keep him at bay. He didn't want to come
too close to the water so we would hold hands - both our arms stretched out.
By the next day, I was able to sit on the floor and he would stay next to me
(resisting the temptation to sit on my shoulder) with his hands holding onto my
leg and his tail wrapped around my back. I loved that old howler monkey
and he loved me. The sad truth is that only monkeys who are deformed find me
attractive these days. Oh, and the old Skipper is quite keen on me too -
but he has been for a long time.
My broken heart was quickly mended by our next port of call - Portobello. This
incredible, crumbling, mystical place was at one time the richest port in South
America. All the Spanish treasures, silver, slaves and more was traded and
sold in those early, desperate days. The English caused the Spanish a lot
of grief and aggravation so they built spectacular forts and walls to hold them
off. Sir Francis Drake, the famous English hero who took on the Spanish
Armada, known in these parts as the famous English pirate, actually died of
yellow fever in Portobello and is buried on the aptly named Drake Island.
Christobal Colon (Christopher Columbus to you and me) was blown into the bay in
a storm and it was here that he made his first step onto American soil.
The place is so dripping in history, so full of decaying relics and
monuments from a violent and greedy past. It was such an important centre
in that period of history, yet we had never heard of it before - and all around
the history, the locals scratch a living in slum like conditions. I still
have so much to learn!
If poor old Christobal knew what a dump had been named after him, he would not
be amused. It is not an honour to have Colon named after you. Colon
is a pitiful place. Guide books simply say, "don't go there".
Unfortunately, if your wish is to avoid Cape Horn by transiting the Panama
Canal, you have to visit Colon. This visit cannot be fleeting because the
good men of Colon, realising no one wanted to hang around for too long, decided
to make the beaurocratic preparations and paperwork for transiting the canal so
tortuous and complicated that you are compelled to spend at least 4 days there
just to fill out all the forms and visit half a dozen offices to hand them in.
Our skipper lost his will to live on many occasions and at one time was saying
that Cape Horn seemed more attractive an option! All yachts at anchor in
Colon, actually anybody in Colon for that matter, is forced to endure what we
called, the Eau de Colon. The burning rubbish smell from the rubbish dump
drifted over in acrid, ashy clouds all day, making breathing unpleasant and
probably dangerous to your health. Bob and George managed to escape the
worst of it by finding flights back to Iowa. It all happened so fast and
without us really coming to terms with the fact that they were going, they were
gone. Harry was, and still is, bereft without his pal George. (We
miss you George...how are we going to get by without any armpit farts or
man-sized burps?) Finally, we were given the go-ahead from the canal
authorities and we joyfully left Colon at 4.30 am last Friday and set off into
the canal. We went through the locks rafted up to our friends on Rapparee
and it all went very smoothly and without any delays or hold-ups. At first, it
seemed as if we would not have enough line handlers for the locks and we began
to panic - the upshot of it all was that we ended up transiting the canal with
12 people on board - the 5 of us, Rich (our newest crew member,
richaroundtheworld.com), two Spanish back packers, a long-haired Aussie hippy
and his Austrian girl-friend, Eric the hired line handler with attitude and a
hang-over, and the personality devoid canal pilot, Edwin. A real mix
of characters and countries!
Lying at the other end of the canal from Colon, is Balboa. Normally not a
place I would wax lyrical about, but when compared with Colon... lets call it
heaven. The yacht club even has a pool! Luxury!
But, the main thing is that we are now, well and truly, in the Pacific ocean.
From here we begin our second 7500 miles to Australia. We are half way
there! There is a lot of sea and sailing to be done, and as we all know
this is not my favourite way to spend my time ...... think of me! I can't
complain though, because I am on my way to the Galapagos islands and the
mystical South Seas (only 3 weeks in a boat from the Galapagos) and heck, that
is quite nice. So I will grit my teeth, take my seasickness tabs and try and
imagine I am
already there. Please remember to write to "Lonely of the
Pacific Ocean" and keep me sane.
So from all of us here in sunny, sweaty and sultry Panama, it is
"Adios" and much love from
Sue
=================================
Pacific ocean (80
nautical miles from the Galapagos Islands)
Dear everyone
It's like floating on a lake out here. There is not a breath of wind -
well, there is a small puff or two of wind, (9 knots - pah, useless!) but
certainly not enough to power us along at the speeds we would like in order to
get to the Galapagos in good time. Actually, today has been very pleasant
and relaxing. One of our crew members, a young English guy called Leo, who
has been with us on and off since Grenada, is celebrating his 19th
birthday today............................. We like nothing better
than a really genuine excuse to have a party! All morning was spent
cooking up a storm in the galley - roast smoked chicken, roast potatoes and
pumpkin, creamed spinach, pudding, birthday cake and then we decorated the
cockpit with paper chains and happy birthday banners, and had a lovely lunch.
After lunch, Skipper dropped all the sails and threw some lines off the back of
Tintin and we all went for a
mid-Pacific swim. It is spooky to think that you are swimming with
5000 metres of water below you ............ of course, all I can think of is all
the creatures that are dangerous to my very existence who lurk in the darkness
below and I tend to stick very close to the boat, hanging on to the stern line
with a firm grip. Everyone else on Tintin is dive bombing and cavorting in the
sea with complete abandon and exuberance. The sea is quite cold but very
invigorating and welcome after 4 days of imprisonment on the boat.
Up went the sails again and we sail slowly along. The birthday cake is
decorated and we have a nice sing song and cup of tea and slice of cake.
In about an hour we will sail over the equator - 0 degrees -
Richroundtheworld.com (our crew member, Rich - we just call him that!) is
planning a some sort of a "do" and apparently we have to sacrifice something (or
someone) to Neptune to keep him sweet on the rest of our journey. After
that, tonight's activity is going to be Pictionary.......... so much
excitement!!!
The crossing has not been completely stress free though. On our first full
day out, I was laid low (as always) with seasickness and was aware that Emily
was complaining of a sore tummy. I thought she must be feeling abit
seasick aswell and just let her lie down with me and gave her seasickness remedy
That evening she was in alot of pain and discomfort. She writhed and
rolled, was restless and crying out. All signs pointed to appendicitis.
Our nearest port was over 200 miles away on the Ecuador coast. Rod tried
several emergency frequencies and could raise no one. Our medical books
suggested stabilising her situation with antibiotics and then try to get her to
a hospital as soon as possible. We wanted to speak to someone first but
eventually decided that the antibiotics would do her no harm in the long run, so
mixed some up and tried to give them to her. The first dose she vomited up
after about 2 minutes, then the replacement dose came up and finally the third
try ended up in more vomiting, so we stopped trying. Although, once she had
vomited she seemed to settle down and went to sleep for a few hours. She
was pale, lifeless and had a temperature. Rod and I felt anxious,
helpless, so desperate and utterly alone. In the morning we had a
pre-arranged appointment on the SSB radio with our traveling companions,
Timetama and Oruwa, and they sprang into action. Timetama have a satellite
phone and were able to phone doctors, they spoke to other Italian boats, they
spoke to people already in the Galapagos about the hospital facilities there and
rescue services, and they spoke to us every hour on the hour. I was
weeping with relief. Our feelings of isolation and desperation were over.
They told us how to cope with her until we got help, what help we could call on
and just made us feel alot better. During the course of the day she
improved, no tummy pains, her temperature went down and she began to sit up and
play. Since then she has got progressively better and is back to her usual
self, but still periodically complains of a sore tummy so when we get into the
Galapagos I will try and find a doctor to give her a check up.
On day two we ripped our main sail - a very big rip right across on the seam and
down vertically to the next seam. It was taken down and a
fantastic repair job was carried out, mainly by Rich, and in two days the
sail was back on the boom in full working order. On day three, in the
early hours of the morning, we came to an abrupt halt right out in the middle of
nowhere! We had got caught on a fishing net from a trawler which was on the
horizon. Rich and Rod got the boat hook, grabbed the line, cut it then retied it
and threw it in. By this time the fishermen had realised something was up
and had put their dinghy in the water and were making their way towards us.
Knowing that fishermen get very angry with yachts who cut their lines, we
decided to get out of their way. We pushed the engine to full power and
got as far away as possible. They followed us for a while but eventually
gave up. Who knows, they were probably very friendly, amiable people who
only meant well ................. but we didn't hang around to find out!
Once we finally left Balboa and Panama City, we sailed over night to a bay on
the Panamanian coast called Ensenada Benoa and anchored there to rest for a day
and a night before we did the longer crossing to the Galapagos. Timetama and
Oruwa were also anchored there and rather worryingly, there was catamaran
recently wrecked on the beach. Just a little warning to the skipper to
never take his eye of the ball! We spent the evening on Timetama and on
the way back to Tintin in the dinghy, noticed that the phosphorescence in our
wake was very bright and active. Back on board, the men all decided to see
what would happen to the phosphorescence if they jumped into the sea.
Immediately, there were big splashes and they were all in. Each dive bomb
would throw up a million sparks, like fireworks. If they dived in, their
moving bodies under the water looked like underwater torches. As they
moved in the water, the phosphorescence sparkled and it looked like the world
was inverted and they were all swimming through the stars. We were
all squealing and whooping like we were watching a fabulous fire work display.
We were watching a fabulous display! The next morning on the beach I got
chatting to one of the guys from another boat in the bay. He told us all about
the salt water crocodiles that were on the little island just next to us. He
suggested we don't allow the children to swim from the boat as he had often seen
them swim right alongside his boat!
Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador 9 April 2003.
My tapping at the computer was interrupted by the
Equator. I had to stop and take part in the little ceremony and
sacrifice made to Neptune as we crossed over it. We asked for a safe
passage and good winds on our journey and then Pippa poured a glass of some of
Rod's rot-gut rose wine into the sea, apologising as she did for the poor
quality of the beverage. Our offering did nothing to help the lack of wind
situation and so I can only surmise that Neptune did not like the rose' either.
If it was me I would be insulted too! We sailed, or rather, motored
through the night and arrived at Santa Cruz first thing in the morning. As
we came into the anchorage we saw all our sailing flotilla already here (blame
it on bigger engines and no stops to swim in the sea!), plus some other boats
that we haven't seen for a while. There was much shouting of names and
waving and jubilation! We were so excited to see them, especially our
friends on the catamaran "Tortuga". They were just leaving when we arrived, but
engine trouble forced them to turn back, so we were able to spend a really good
evening together that night and catch up on lots of travels and excitements.
In the Galapagos, as you would expect, you are suddenly aware of all the animal
life. Seals swim around the boats and jump up onto boats' swim platforms
to sun themselves. Pelicans,
blue footed boobies and frigate birds are all flying around and diving for
fish all around us. On the jetty in town, the marine iguana's all sit in
the sun with the Galapagos red crab scrambling about all around them. It
is wonderful. The first thing we did when we were off the boat and on
land, (apart from going to a restaurant for lunch) was to hot foot it up to the
Charles Darwin Institute and see the
giant tortoises
and all the other tortoises that they have at their breeding centre. It
was such an incredible sight to see them. They are amazing to look at so
close up - really prehistoric and extraordinary. The park rangers,
however, on seeing the children with us, followed us around, watching us like
hawks saying, "don't do that", "get off there", "not too close". What did
he think we would do? These tortoises weigh in at 250 kg's and have a hard
shell! Did he not understand what exertion was involved in reaching this
place! Would we have made the effort to come here if we didn't love
animals and care for the environment? I suppose he was just doing his job!
Good man in that case.
We have spent a few days doing all our land jobs - internet, post office,
supermarket, launderette. Yes, even in exotic places like this the mundane
jobs need doing! We are seeing doctors and having blood tests for Emily
and hopefully will be able to find out what is making her tummy hurt so much.
The medical facilities are primitive but clean and the hospital staff try very
hard to help. Whilst we are rushing around dealing with the mundane, Rich
has taken the older children to the beach and has taught them to surf.
Yesterday, the Galapagos Surf Champion gave Harry some impromptu lessons aswell.
Harry has found his calling. He is a surfer. He wants a surf board
for Christmas. This is what he likes best, he says. Pippa loves
surfing too and by all accounts, does it really well - just as long as someone
else will carry her board to the beach! We are booking up a couple of day
trips to the uninhabited islands and planning to see some more of this strange
and wonderful place. Watch this space and I will come back and tell you
all about it!
Lots of love to everyone
Sue
=================================
I
love Boobies! 27 Apr 2003
Mid-Pacific Ocean, 1633 nautical miles to the Marquises
Islands
Dear everyone
My present circumstances are not really conducive to sitting and typing up a nice long letter. Tintin is heeling at an angle, the waves are hitting us from
the side which causes us to lurch from side to side periodically and to stay
seated here at the chart table, I have to take on the posture of a contortionist
just so as not to fall off my seat. I have my legs wedged in at two separate
points and I have to hang on with one hand when things get desperate. But the
thing is, I am on my own on my night watch - I have the time, the radar is
keeping a careful eye out for any passing traffic (to date we have seen one boat
in 8 days!) and my head is spinning. I need to tell you about the Galapagos. If
I don't write it all down, how will I know, years from now, that it wasn't a
dream. That it actually happened to me. Little old me. Sue from Ladysmith. I saw
it - I was there. I stood on a beach with sea lions sunning themselves and
gazing, really quite affectionately, at me. I watched baby sea lions play in the
mangroves - throwing sticks up and then diving down to catch them and bring them
back. I watched blue footed boobies dive bomb all around me. I can't capture all
that happened. I can't capture the atmosphere and the light in the evening and
the sense of being somewhere quite different and special - but I can try to tell
you about it.
Arriving in Santa Cruz island was wonderful - the bay was pretty, the town invitingly close and the air teeming with welcoming birds so different from
anything we had seen before. A bird with bright blue feet!! Never seen that
before, have you?! Another joy and delight was that we knew so many boats
already in the bay. I just knew that my next few days would be very social,
lots of fun - and I would walk down the street of town and be able to say
hello to people I know! What a feeling! We busily sorted out Emily's stomach
problems and got all the essentials done. Then it was time to explore....
The Galapagos is not in South America for nothing - all the same
"rules"
apply, most notably the one that says everything is against the rules but
the man at the top is capable of bending the rules if the price is right.
For visiting yachts, it would be incredible to be able to cruise from one
island port to another, but that is not possible. Against the rules. Once
you have cleared in to one of the ports in the Galapagos you are not allowed
to visit another one. What you then have to do is to leave your boat
anchored and see the islands in the local tourist boats at vast expense. We
had great plans - quite extensive plans to visit as many islands as possible
and SEE the place. But two things happened. Firstly, the costs involved
caused a huge sucking in of breath and secondly, we went in a local tourist
boat and the experience sort of put us off going again!
We organised and
paid for a trip to a small island off Santa Cruz and when we arrived to
board our boat, were told that the boat was full but we were going on an
extra boat - actually just one of the harbour taxis. We set off at speed
ahead of the tourist boat and were at the island in good time. On the way, I
thought "I wish I had brought Emily's life jacket", as all the life
jackets
were on the other boat. I remembered her arm bands in my bag and began
scratching around for them. We were moving through a throng of slippery,
shiny, diving, dancing sea lions. As we watched them we went very close to
the rocks on this volcanic island. We warned the driver and he reversed hard
and we moved off. But he brought us in close again and this time we were
swept onto the rocks. We were pinned on a rock like a pivot - the wooden
side of the boat crunching and snapping. As the swell pulled back and
exposed the rock, we hung suspended by the hole in our bow, then the swell
came in again, swung us around and we then hung down sideways almost,
almost, almost tipping over. Rich, Kate, Leo and Rod were all high siding
from one side of the boat to the other as it swung, to keep it from tipping
over and throwing us all into the sea or onto the rocks. All this has taken
a matter of minutes, but it was surreal, like living a nightmare, thinking
"This can't be happening to me" and feeling totally helpless, hanging
onto my wailing children, waiting for the inevitable fall into the water. The
driver jumped out onto the rock and as a swell came up, pushed like hell and we swiveled
and plunged back into the water. He took his T-shirt off and stuffed it into the
hole and started to bail. Leo put the spluttering engine on full blast and we
sped off as fast as we could. The men were all bailing now but the water was
coming in too fast. We were a long way off and the likelihood of us making it to
shore was getting slimmer and slimmer. As if by magic, another speed boat came
roaring past us. I must have looked like a woman possessed when I hailed them
and frantically called them over. We all transferred to the speedboat and the
guys from the speedboat transferred to our boat to help the driver get the boat
back. They made it in to harbour, just driving the boat full speed right up the
slip way. We were so grateful. We were so shaken. Harry was still hysterical. A
coffee at our favourite cafe helped to calm us all down.
Rich went and got all
our money back and rebooked us with a very upmarket, even more expensive boat
(the boat looked solid, not overcrowded and life jackets were standard) and we
pulled ourselves up and got on with it. Emily handed me a life-jacket and I
zipped it up - she stood back and looked at me with satisfaction, "Mum, I
love you in that life jacket"!! We had a fabulous time, saw lava lizards,
great blue herons, lava heron, marine iguana's and Rod and the crew swam with
the sea lions. The guide was fantastic, Alberto - a big, jolly man with the
physique of a boxer - he did a great job. Alberto was also the bouncer at the
local night club and he gave us free tickets which we made use of a few nights
later to go and see a Colombian band. The old Skipper and his galley slave
salsa-ed the night away with most of our flotilla of yachts, plus extra's; what
a night!
We went inland and walked around the two volcanic craters on Santa Cruz,
walked through a lava tunnel and saw Giant Tortoises in their natural habitat.
(Actually, we hiked for nearly 2 hours, carrying Emily most of the way, through
a jungle maze and saw 2 tortoises in their natural habitat. They hide!!) It was
amazingly lush and green. We went to a National Park hut for a drink afterwards
and sat and watched the sun set over the islands on the horizon. It was so
peaceful. Like we were the only ones on all those islands. I had to pinch
myself. The next morning Kate and Leo left Tintin to head home to England. They
had been such wonderful crew and we loved having them on board. All we were left
with was Rich (who we picked up in Colon, Panama) but he is big enough, in every
way, for the job!
We heard through the yachtie grapevine that if we wanted to go to another
island, the Harbour Master of Isla Isabella was turning a blind eye to
yachts coming and staying a couple of days. That was all we needed to hear.Up went the anchor and off we went. Isla Isabella was what we were looking
for. In Isabella you didn't have to take a tourist boat anywhere - you just
had to look. We walked along a path past a channel in the rocks where 6 foot
White-tipped Reef Sharks come in to lay their eggs. There must have been 20 of
them slowly swimming up and down. Kneeling on the edge of the water, the sharks
were swimming past literally centimetres from us. Sea lions were
swimming in this calm passage and came up onto the rocks at our feet,
looking at us with intense curiosity and friendliness. A few steps further
and a group of locals were swimming - completely unphased by the sharks. We
walked on further to a beach full of sea lions - gorgeous, big, macho and
loud males, adorable, wide eyed and downy babies, sleek, shiny females. They
were all there, in and out of the water. On land they seem so clumsy and
heavy, but in the water they are so full of grace and fluidity. There is that
space in-between when they ride the wave onto the beach, get dumped and then try
to regain their composure and lumber out of the waves, barking and groaning and
telling the whole beach all about it. It is brilliant to watch. Further along
the beach we must have walked past a hundred marine iguana's all huddled on
rocks, clinging on with their massive hands. In each group there was the
unmistakable "Big Daddy" - looking like he had seen a few battles, as
well as a few years, and with the look of a wily, old cowboy. To clear the
excess salt from their systems they blow, or spit, it out of their noses and
generally at you as you walk towards them! It is there unique adaption to living
in sea water. On a big clump of rocks near the boat was a group of Galapagos
penguins. They dart around the bay, very busy little animals, their little heads
popping up from time to time to see what's happening. We saw turtles and white
spotted rays and wonderful, small, bright fish when we went snorkeling. A group
of 4 dolphins had for the past few days played with a group of sea lions at a
place where there is a current through the reef from the
sea. Amazingly, it
seems that the animals are all
playing, diving and jumping together just for
fun. The locals had not seen it happen before and there was alot of interest.
Rod and Rich swam with them - an amazing experience. No amount of attention
seemed to worry them. They were having such a good time! I think the
creature that entertained us the most (we never tired of watching them) was the
Blue-footed Boobies. They are the Kamikaze/demon racers of the bird world.
Sometimes there would be a feeding frenzy and we would see big groups of Boobies
all dive bombing and crashing into the sea like madmen. But it was also as good
to catch the "lone ranger" belting into the sea. I always loved the
way they would pop back up to the surface and shake their heads, as if they were
thinking to themselves, "I must try and slow down a little on entry next
time - that one hurt abit"!! There was wonder and amazement at every turn.
It became so common to find yourself amongst such diverse and extraordinary wild
life, but it was impossible to take it for granted.
The Harbour Master at Isabella gave us 3 days, so we saw what we could and
enjoyed every minute of it. Up the anchor went again and we set off on our
longest crossing of all - three thousand miles across the Pacific. I had
been led to believe (I won't mention by whom) that this was going to be "an
absolute doddle" of a crossing. The Pacific means calm seas and easy
crossing .................. hhmn. I am reserving judgment on that one. At
this point, I feel that the Atlantic rollers were more comfortable! And (had
you been there you would really understand this) that is saying something!!
Today I have been dumped on by a wave three times. I dread stepping out into
the cockpit for fear of another dumping! We had a little panic one night
when we found that the saloon floor was under water - desperate checking of
the sea cocks and pumping of the bilge pumps until finally the culprit was
found to be the water maker. Old Mr. Resourceful, our Skipper, fixed it and
now we are taking no water on board and the watermaker is back in operation!
We have been very successful with the fishing gear and a steady supply of
fresh fish has been deposited in my galley. We have put the fishing lures
away for a few days because 2 days ago he caught a 25 kg Wahoo. We had Wahoo
for lunch and supper for two days running. I pickled enough for another 2
days eating and we still had half of the fish in the freezer! Wahoo is the
best fish for eating in my estimation. But I must say that the thought of
some meat tonight instead of fish is quite tantalising!!
The children are
fine and coping extremely well with their confinement and circumstances.
School takes up much of our day and we are finishing work we should have
done a year ago! Rich has taken on the challenge of teaching maths to Pippa
and it has been a great success - she is listening to him and learning more
than I have managed in a year of home schooling. I think that the difference
is that he is a big, strong man with whom she flirts all day - she is only
10 ........... nearly 11!!
My sister-in-law, Angelique, will be joining us in the Marquises to sail
with us for 6 weeks. I don't think she realises it yet, but I think she has
bitten off more than she can chew this time! It should make for interesting
reading further along from now! We are really looking forward to having her
and introducing her to the gypsy way of life.
Anyway, we have the mystical south sea islands a mere 10 days away. My Pacific Sailing Pilot says it is the cruising sailor's dream! Lovely!
Thoughts of that and of seeing Angie will keep me sane and happy through the
rest of this crossing as I brace myself against the sideways lurching, down
another G&T and scan the horizon for land!
Lots of love
Sue
Read on or
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=================================
Nuku Hiva, Marquises Islands, French Polynesia
Dear Everyone
Well, can you believe it? We made it. We finally reached land
after a challenging 24 days at sea. The journey made interesting by the
"disaster of the day" and the huge shortage of wind. However, it is
over now, we arrived safely at Fatu Hiva, we caught alot of tasty fish and when
we sit and look over the past month and consider the "disaster of the
day" that didn't happen, we are very grateful. Not to mention bloody proud
of ourselves. (Even if I say so myself!) Once again, my children outdid
themselves on this crossing and were a help, a comfort, entertaining, long
suffering and loving. They did have some enthralling experiences which helped to
make the crossing unforgettable - watching killer whales in the distance,
dolphins spinning, a dolphin "tail walking", racing in front of a
fishing trawler to escape the nets, looking at the stars and watching the sun
set and the moon rise! Pippa and Harry had their night watch duty - every
alternate morning from 6 until 9, which they carried out stoically. As ever,
they are their mothers pride and joy.
I had to carry out a night watch on this crossing too. I was
dreading it and worrying about how I would cope during the day after a broken
night. After the first couple of nights, I actually looked forward to my watch.
I resented anyone who was awake during my watch. I longed for the calm and the
peacefulness of the quiet, sleeping boat and the grand, enveloping closeness of
the stars and empty sea. I read my books by torchlight or just let my mind take
me anywhere. It is funny what (and who) you think about in quiet moments like
that. I will admit that my thoughts on the first few nights, rather
neurotically, were of "emergency evacuation plans" - many hours were
spent running through every possible calamity and how to deal with it. It is
always good to be prepared! Most nights I would hear the rushing and splashing
of the sea on the side of the boat and think for a moment that is was a whale,
but on closer inspection always find it was just my imagination. On one
particular night, I heard a "whoosh" and thought, once again, that it
sounded like a whale. I leaned over the side to check and at that moment a whale
surfaced and blew. I got such a fright that I jumped into the cockpit and lay on
the floor, leopard crawled to our hatch and rasped, "there is a bloody
whale out here"!! A snoring Skipper went from fast asleep to hanging over
the side trying to find the whale in a matter of seconds. The whale surfaced
another two times and then disappeared into the black depths and we never saw it
again.
Sailing into The Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva was incredible -
not only because we had arrived, Tim and Marilien on Rapparee blowing their
foghorn and waving furiously, but also because it is indescribably beautiful.
Lush, voluptuous trees and flowers growing amongst waterfalls and rugged
volcanic mountains. It was impossible not to be delirious. Marilien and Tim
roared over in their dinghy and collected the children, and then Rod, Rich and I
joined them on Rapparee for a wonderful celebratory breakfast. It felt so good
to be there. After breakfast we set off up through the village, onwards and
upwards to a waterfall - nothing like stretching your legs after 3 weeks at sea,
tramping over fallen mangoes and frangipani and hibiscus, breathing in the
heady scent of the flowers, feeling the urge to leap and yelp with joy. The last
few kilometres were steep, slippery and like an obstacle course for thrill
seekers - doing that with Emily on my hip gave the whole exercise a farcical
quality. Once at the waterfall, dripping with sweat and covered in mud, we fell
into the pool and had the most deliciously cool swim of our lives.
Fatu Hiva is a remote island, the local people have no real
use for money and prefer to trade or barter. I realise that I could shift alot
of junk and useless clutter from Tintin onto Fatu Hiva in exchange for fruit,
wood carvings, beaded necklaces - I even traded some shoes of Pippa's for two
loads of washing to be done in a local lady's washing machine. It felt very
satisfactory. The children began to get quite paranoid about their things and
had to guard them fairly carefully because before they could say, "where is
my ......", I had already traded it for a bag of mangoes! Tim on Rapparee
organised for a Marquisan feast for all the anchored yachts, to be provided by a
local lady called Angela. She cooked up a truly wonderful meal - all completely
different to anything we have ever eaten before - roasted breadfruit, chicken in
a coconut sauce, pickled bananas, fish and banana fritters, fish in lemon, pork
......... delicious! Angela is part of the Fatu Hiva Dance Team getting ready
for a competition in Tahiti in July, so we had to wolf down our meal and head
off the basketball pitch to watch the rehearsing. To watch them dance is sheer
delight and wonder. Those ladies can shake their hips!! For the men it is just a
matter of growling and stamping and looking fierce! It is a village affair - if
you aren't dancing, you are watching - the children running around the dancers,
dogs wandering through and also the village idiot wandering in amongst the
dancers mimicking their moves and touching them. It didn't seem to put them off
their stride. The people are friendly and open. The children (there seemed to be
hundreds!)were very vivacious, lively and loving - always running up to us and
saying "bonjour" or (more often) "bonbons" .....sweeties!
They all remember your name and each time I went to the village I felt like the
Pied Piper with a growing band of kids running behind me shouting, "Swooooo,
give me five"!! It is a very God-fearing community and the church clearly
plays an important role in their lives. One balmy evening as I walked down the
road to the dock, the sun was setting, no children were chasing me, I was all
alone and just marvelling at how incredibly beautiful this place was. As I
approached the church, the sounds of the children singing from within made me
stop and wipe away a tear. The world still has these little simple, special
places - Fatu Hiva is one of them.
We couldn't check into French Polynesia on Fatu Hiva and we
had already been approached by the local policeman, who first told us that we
needed to depart that day (our third in the anchorage)for one of the larger
island to check in, but after enquiring whether we had any spare sun-glasses on
board, told us we could stay an extra night and bring them in to him the
following morning! So we traded a pair of old sunglasses for another night in
paradise! Reluctantly we sailed away from Fatu Hiva. We sailed on to Nuku Hiva
to wait for my sister in law, Ange, to arrive. In the bay at Taoihae we met a
whole flotilla of South Africa boats - lots of beers and wine and reminiscing
followed! Ange arrived, her bags bulging with goodies, food, flip flops and
books. She was immediately thrown into the thick of life aboard Tintin and is
slowly adjusting to the chaotic, untidy, very social, noisy boat. Rich left for
Tahiti to have a persistent eye infection dealt with by a specialist, so Ange,
who has never sailed in her life has to also take on the role of crew member. So
far so good. We're impressed!
Rehearsing for the dancing competition in Tahiti was also
being given alot of time and energy in Nuku Hiva. In the evenings from Tintin
anchored out in the bay, we could feel the drums and hear the singing. Off we
went to have a look and see. It was the most powerful, dynamic, alive
performance I have ever seen........... the noise of the drums, rhythmic, loud,
overpowering and the grunting and growling of the men, the haunting, sweet songs
of the women. It was totally, totally wonderful. I was shouting on the top of my
voice, "I love this!" Ang felt that if this show was in America, or
Europe, it would be a $100 show - and I am telling you that it would be a small
price to pay for the opportunity to feast visually on some of the best specimens
of male body forms IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! (Apart from our skipper, of course,
...... naturally!) This was a testosterone charged performance, amazing in its
drama, muscle and might. We left the rehearsal reeling and full of wonder. Our
thoughts did turn to the poor souls in days gone by in their prison under the
sacred Banyan tree, awaiting their turn on the altar of the gods, for whom this
kind of performance must have been utterly terrifying....
Before we left on this trip, I was sorting through Rod's
grandmothers papers and found a letter that he had written to them, aged 17,
thanking them for a subscription to the National Geographic. In it he talks
about a young man who sailed his yacht, Dove, around the world and said,
"If I win the jackpot, that is what I am going to do"! This little
story is relevant now because our next stop on Nuku Hiva was a bay called
Daniels Bay. It is named after the man who has lived there, with his wife
Antoinette, for 60 years welcoming sailors to his home, guiding them to the
waterfall and providing them with fruit, friendship and fresh water. He has
visitors books dating back to the 70's with entries so varied, artistic and
interesting that one could spend days just paging through them. His first
visitors book, actually a ships log, was given to him by the young man from
Dove. I held it and stroked the cover, his cover, his log book and felt a huge
sense of gratitude towards him - I would probably not have been there if he
hadn't planted the dream in my man's head. Daniel and Antoinette, although older
and in Antoinette's case, crippled, still welcomed us like old pals. Daniel
cracked open coconuts for the children to drink the coconut water, he gave us
bananas and limes and more coconuts to take back to the boat. Their generosity
and generosity of spirit was humbling and beautiful. A two hour hike from behind
their house takes you up to a waterfall that is reputedly the third tallest in
the world. The walk takes you along an ancient path, past moss covered stone
tikis, through thigh high streams, past tree roots two stories high and through
breathtaking scenery. Our reward for carrying Emily up, over and through was a
spectacular lake with a rock cutting that you had to swim through to find the
waterfall's end.
Pippa's birthday party was held in Ananaho Bay on the north
west of Nuku Hiva. We had a breakfast party – Timetama, Rapparee, Oruwa and
Jammin all came and spoilt her rotten. She even got a toe ring!! Heaps of fun
was had by all, tea and coffee and food consumed, candles blown out and lots of
tails were pinned on the donkey! The party drifted on until the afternoon, when
everyone transferred to Oruwa and sailed over to the next bay - we were told
about a very good, local restaurant in the village. We arrived in this
spectacular bay, a statue of the Virgin Mary watching over us from the top of a
high, volcanic spire and dropped anchor. On the dinghy dock was a group of local
people, sitting around with a variety of musical instruments (one man even had
pair of spoons!) and singing. We stood and listened, amazed and danced and
joined in where we could. They heard it was Pippa’s birthday so they sang her
“Happy Birthday” in French and English. One of the ladies gave Pippa her
floral headdress made with bouganvillea and frangipani blossoms. A very special
11th birthday in a very special spot!
Friday, 06 June 2003
I am full of shame! I have been having far to much fun with my
sister-in-law and have been horribly distracted so this letter has remained
unfinished for weeks. I am going to give Ang hell about it.
We are now in the Tuamotus. An archipelago of coral islands
called Motus. We had to sit through two days of very bad weather at the start,
but since then we have experienced days of sublime pleasure. More to follow
………………….. this has gone on too long already! And anyway, we are
supposed to be at Timetama for a meal of pasta and octopus now and we are
running late………………….
Love to all. Please write even if I have been abit slow on the
uptake myself.
Sue
=================================
(A little warning ................. this
is very long!! And way overdue!)
Oponohu Bay
Dear Everyone
What you are about to read is true! I
know you will read this and think, "surely she is exaggerating", or
think that places and people like this don't exist. Well, I kid you not! The
world is a truly beautiful and wonderful place when you get out there and look
at it!
So on that note, let me finish off my
rather unfinished previous letter - the last island that we visited in the
Marquises before leaving them and heading south to the Tuamotos, was the island
of Oa Pou (pronounced Wapoo). It is a small island with spectacular, high peaks
and spires - a dramatic coastline. A woman from one of the other boats in the
bay came over and told us that the local mayor of the town, a man called
Etienne, had invited all the boats in the bay for lunch at his house the
following day. We were planning to head off in the morning but instantly changed
plans so that we could attend this little gathering. In the pouring rain we
rowed over to the village dock - a wave neatly picking us up and planting us, at
a jaunty angle on the dock - with Ange (my sister in law), the children and I
holding on to our seats and understanding in one instant why the Skipper
insisted on rowing and not putting the outboard on the back of the dinghy! We
waited at the meeting point and got wetter. Etienne arrived in his battered
truck to fetch us - we grappled, dripping, with the broken seats, lack of
windows and suspension, but none the less enormously grateful for the ride up
the hill to his house. The dash from the car to the front door in the continuing
tropical downpour, (plus the lack of windows in the truck) meant that Etienne
was now wet through like the rest of us, but unlike the rest of us who sat
steaming and drying off through lunch, he just took off his shirt and sat bare
chested (it was vast)at the head of the table. We said grace and then ate - us,
all the new faces from the other boats, the shirtless mayor and his wife. They
both could not have been more welcoming and we had a great time, apart from Ange
who was suffering from a stomach upset and found the lack of a door on the
bathroom very inhibiting.
We arrived in Fakarava, in the Tuamotos,
after the 4 day crossing with one sister in law who was very ready to get off
the boat and fly home! The crossing, though calm and uneventful, had been a
stretch of her endurance. For me it was exhausting, with Skipper and I sharing
the nights and not having much sleep. No sooner had we dropped anchor, than a
weather system moved over us and trapped us in very uncomfortable and volatile
conditions for 2 days. We were pitching and rolling at anchor, with the wind
howling around us and the coral heads and reefs lying menacingly close should
that anchor slip..... Once the weather cleared sufficiently for us to be able to
move through the pass out of the atoll, we lifted anchor and left Fakarava. So
far our experience of the Tuamotos had not been good. Apart from the wind, the
sea and rolling, a new quay was being built in the village and we woke to the
thump of the pile driver and the groaning of the earth movers! We had not found
the South Seas Paradise and quite frankly, we were thinking of just leaving and
going to Tahiti. Timetama convinced us to come to the next atoll, Toau, and meet
up with Rapparee there. Imagining there might be a possibility of a good get
together, we just couldn't resist and followed them like an obedient puppy!
Toau is a small atoll and we had to make
our way through a rather temperamental pass in order to get inside the lagoon.
We called Timetama and they said it was quite frisky, but manageable. Imagine a
small bit of cork floating in pot of boiling, frothing water ............ that
is what it was like! Once through the pass, all wild eyed and screaming,
"We did it!", we called Timetama and Rapparee and said, "We are
through Thunder Mountain and heading in your direction"!! Then began a
couple of idyllic days in total isolation - we had a day on the beach with a big
barbecue, children and adults swimming and snorkeling, walks along the shore
finding shells and coral, cracking open coconuts and drinking the water, making
dens out of palm leaves................. absolute perfection. The following day,
Ange and I went with Carmine in his dinghy, smashing and bouncing around,
hurtling along over a choppy sea to a small island belonging to a young woman
called Pamela. (Ricocheting through the waves with an Italian driver and his
dinghy is a truly unmissable experience!) 15 minutes later, we arrived at the
island, we were totally drenched and our sides were aching from laughing. We had
heard that Pamela would trade items for black pearls. The Tuamoto's are the main
black pearl farming area of Polynesia. Meeting Pamela, was yet again on my
travels, an occasion when I am humbled and touched by a person's kindness,
hospitality and open friendliness. Not only did we trade for some pearls, but
also left laden with more pearls given as gifts, beautiful shell wall hangings -
basically anything she could find to give us. Her and a gorgeous young man,
called Velto, (She swears they are only good friends. Impossible. He is
irresistible!) live alone on this island, miles and miles from anywhere else -
they farm pearls, they fish, they live happily and productively. Velto had
caught 9 coconut crabs - big, bright blue creatures that are supposedly the
pinnacle of crab gourmet. Velto opened up the cage to show us the crabs, took
one out and after a quick photo session, turned around to find that the rest of
the crabs had all escaped and were scrambling all over the place to try and
secure their liberty! Two of them were successful and were never seen again!
Velto also caught us some lobster and casually asked us if we would like an
octopus. Carmine's eyes lit up. He has a brilliant recipe for octopus and pasta.
Velto simply stepped onto the rocky shore of his island, stuck his hand in the
water, whipped out an octopus, flipped it inside out and hung it on a tree.
Pasta and tinned tomatoes here we come! It was beginning to get dark and we had
our forbidding journey back to Tintin in Carmine's dinghy to think about!
Wrenching ourselves away from Pamela and Velto, we picked our way through the
coral heads, waving madly all the time. Pamela ran from one side of the island
to the other as we passed, waving her pareo and blowing kisses.
Back onboard, it was the ugly business of
cooking the crabs. Learning from past lobster cooking experiences, the skipper
was instructed to cook them outside on deck on the camping stove. It took the
entire evening - in desperation, I finally cooked beef stroganoff and we ate it
AND THE CRABS STILL WEREN'T COOKED YET!!! At one point, one of our crabs climbed
out of the bucket. We thought he must have escaped into the sea, but he was
found hanging onto the back of the boat grimly with his huge pincers, was then
returned to the bucket to await his fate. In the bucket the three of them turned
to open warfare with one another and had to be separated! The pan fell off the
camping stove, the water spilt and the crab scrambled up the steering wheel,
they stubbornly refused to die forcing the lid up and making their way out of
the pot. Things seemed to reach an all time low when Ange came in and said,
"Sue, now he is trying to drown the crabs"! All through this
experience, Skipper had invaluable and priceless advice from his first mate,
Harry. It was amusing to listen to and observe, but quite an ordeal for the
crabs and for Rod who really hates killing the things! They tasted great - but
what alot of effort for just a morsel of meat.
Our last stop in the Tuamotos was an
atoll called Apataki. We went through the pass, paused momentarily in our tracks
(we were getting the lines ready to tie up to the quay in the village) and
dropped our jaws in sheer awe at the beauty of the place. Turquoise sea, houses
on stilts over the water painted in pastel colours, open fishing boats moored,
palm trees. Two men came along and took our lines and told us we could stay on
the quay for a few days because they weren't expecting the next ship until
Wednesday. They showed me where the water spiggot was, pointed in the direction
of the store and generally made us feel very welcome indeed. Ange and I grabbed
the washing basket (a plastic bucket)and headed off, armed with our Omo washing
powder, for the tap. I had just begun to wash, when a man came running up to me,
smiling broadly, and said, "Madame, non .... come with me". Always
obedient, and curious, I dropped everything and ran after him. He stopped,
shuffled me round and pointed to my washing. I was most confused. However,
through a combination of sign language and my very poor French, we discovered
that he wanted us to come to his home and use his washing machine! Oh right,
BRILLIANT!! Without giving him a chance to change his mind, Ange and I grabbed
the washing and scrambled after him. He had an old twin tub out the back of his
house. He stuck our washing in, filled the twin tub up from the garden hose and
switched on. Much less back ache that way, I can tell you! We sat on his steps
chatting, a few of his cronies had joined us by now, and they told us that they
worked on a pearl farm. We showed adequate delight and interest obviously,
because at that point he dashed inside and brought out a little bag of pearls
and told us to choose some. Ange and I were completely taken aback - he was
washing our clothes AND giving us his pearls! What was this place like?!!
By the time Ange and I returned with our
washing, there were a lot of children around the boat - mine, Milo from Timetama,
and lots of local children - some playing cricket with Harry and Pippa, some
playing on the scooters with Emily and Milo, some riding bikes and running
around, and a small group just standing next to the boat looking in through the
windows. At the end of the day, when all the games were over and most had gone
home, two children still stood looking in, so we asked them in. They were
gentle, loving, enthusiastic and sweet - and played until long after dark. The
following day, the little boy returned with about seven of his pals and they all
wanted to come aboard. Someone had just stolen Rod's flip flops from next to the
boat, which were, unfortunately, his only pair of shoes and one's that he had
"walked in"! (Therefore even more special to him!) He was feverishly
looking for the culprit, marching purposefully around inspecting every person's
feet looking for someone who might stupidly wear a pair of shoes he has just
stolen! Need I say that it was a fruitless search....... Hence, our Skipper's
feelings of generosity of spirit and his "open house" policy was
immediately withdrawn and the 8 little boys had to content themselves with
standing and looking in the windows!
After lunch, we threw the left over rice
over the side and became aware of how many absolutely, unbelievably beautiful
fish there were under our boat. We were tied up to the quay with a very strong
current passing by, so Rod threw a line out for us to hang onto, and we put on
our goggles and jumped in. It will be one of the most amazing experiences of my
life - I have never seen so many species of fish, one more beautiful than the
next, in my life. Not even in an aquarium! We just hung onto our bit of rope and
looked down at an ever changing selection of fish. Harry, who usually finds
snorkeling too frightening, found it made him feel secure to have the line to
hold onto and the boat so nearby, and he spent hours with his head down,
enchanted by what he saw, pointing out extra-special ones .... until I pointed
to a green moray eel poking his head out of a hole in the quay wall! He was out
of the water like a bullet. I must say, I didn't linger much longer myself!
Every afternoon, when the fishing boats
came in just near our quay, a group of woman would gather to gut and fillet the
fish. It was always a colourful, noisy place to go and hover around. One
afternoon, the fishing boats had brought in some amazing fishes. Two huge,
bright blue and turquoise Napoleon fish - the children loved their big, jelly
like lips. As the fisherman gutted the fish and threw the insides into the sea,
rays and a nurse shark swam over. This sent the many children gathered around
into a frenzy of excitement and they all ran along the quay throwing stones and
yelling at the shark. As the quay narrowed down to the slipway, we noticed a
black Moray eel sticking his head out, so we got some fish heads out and threw
them at him and he came out and grabbed it - all accompanied by yelps and
screaming and hysterics from the children. One boy, obviously needing to affirm
his place as the He-man of the play ground, jumped in to the water a this point,
with a shark, two rays and a moray eel. (I must admit that once his body touched
the water, there was a "walking on water" style return to the side!)
The crowd went wild! Then other boys who didn't want to be outshone did the
same! The shark and the rays just gently swam away and the eel slipped back into
his hole ..... perhaps the boys knew that already and that is why they did it!!
I was reeling with excitement and delirious with the crazy, dementedness of it
all! As all this was happening, one of the fisherman had the job of taking all
the fish gutting left-overs out to sea in his little skiff. He motioned to Ange
and I - did we want to go with him? OH Yeah! (The "devil may care"
attitude of the boys had rubbed off on us!) We jumped into this little boat with
all the fish heads and set off at hight speed - at that point we realising that
we were going to have to go through the pass, and if all the surfers were
anything to go by .............. those waves were big enough to surf! It was a
thrilling ride but probably the last time I will volunteer to go and take the
fish heads out.
Now, this bit is hard. I can't do it
justice. We went to an anchorage where a family live and farm pearls, vanilla,
chickens and fish. They are the family Lau, headed by Ah Sang (pronounced
Assam)and Mimi. This is the world's loveliest couple. Look at me now, I am
actually crying just thinking about them. I am all choked up. I loved those
people. They were so good to us, so loving and so completely giving of their
time, their food, their home and precious water. They made us feel so welcome.
We had such a good time there. Mimi had "tamed" two nurse sharks and
they swam around the pontoon and waited around for any tit-bits of fish that she
brought to them. It took a while for someone so conditioned to see huge DANGER
signs when simply the word, shark, is mentioned, to walk into the water, wait
for the shark to swim up and then stroke and pet it. They liked a nice scratch
on the top of the head! Ange and I even surprised and stunned ourselves by
snorkeling with the sharks........... How is that for facing your fears! Bloody
hell. I was very impressed with myself. And so was Ange. With herself. Every
evening, Rod and the children, plus Tim and Jim on Rapparee, Philip and James on
Abracadabra and so on, would all be collected by Ah Sang and his son, Alfred,
and they would go fishing. It was such a precious moment for Harry - to go
fishing with the guys! One evening Mimi did supper for all of us. We sat at a
low, long table down on the beach with bouganvillia and frangipani all twisted
down the middle of the table. They had lights hanging in the trees and candles
down the table in jars. Ah Sang put a bunch of fish heads on a peice of fishing
line and he threw it into the water, slowly pulling it to the shore. A
collection of sharks and amazing fishes trailed behind it. Harry would then run
down the beach, just at the water's edge, with this crowd following along after
him. I had to stop and pinch myself later in the evening when I said to the
children, "Come on, why don't you go and play with the sharks"! When
Emily got tired, Ah Sang went and got a mattress and put it on the ground near
the table and first, Emily, then Harry, went and lay down on it and went to
sleep. Mimi went and got a blanket and covered them. We sat and talked, Mimi
asking us all to tell her about ourselves, where we came from and how we grew up
and where our parents were. I learned alot about the people at the table and
about real hospitality and goodness. One evening, we had supper with Alfred.
Earlier in the day he had taken us to the pearl farm to see how they lay the new
lines and string out the oysters. He brought some oysters back and after supper,
opened one up for Pippa to show her the process of retrieving the mature pearl.
Pippa looked into the oyster shell and saw the small, black, shiny pearl sitting
there. She squealed with delight. Alfred took it out and put it in her hands and
said, "For you". It was such a touching, generous moment. She watched
her very own black pearl being born.
Whilst in that bay, Ange and I went to a
"girls night" on Rapparee. Tim and Jim were sent off their boat and
had to come over to the comforts of Tintin for the evening to watch a DVD with
Rod and the children! We had great artistic activities planned for our girls
night, but in the end spent the evening eating, drinking and bitching about our
husbands. Girls nights are the same the world over! In our case, we had the
world in one cockpit - we had one Italian, one Russian, one Dutch, one Spanish,
one American - plus, Ange and I, the South African contingent!
We left on a Sunday and Ah Sang and Mimi
had gone into town to church. Ah Sang is the local pastor. We passed them as
they were returning home. Mimi went to the bow of their boat and waved and blew
kisses. We ran to our bow and waved and blew kisses. We continued to wave and
blow kisses until they were just specks in the distance. A few minutes later,
Rod went up to the bow to put up the spinnaker but the wind took it and wrapped
it around the genoa. I was sitting with Emily on my lap in the cockpit, so I put
her down and ran forward to help Rod unwrap it. As I did the spinnaker filled
out and the line was in the boat. It whipped past me almost knocking me
overboard and as I turned around, realised Emily had followed me and the line
whipped her up and carried her out over the sea........... she was hanging on
with her hands, stark naked, with a look of absolute terror on her face. We
screamed, "hold on Doodie" and bless her, she held on with all her
might. Rod pulled the line, we grabbed her and she went straight into my arms.
Everyone rushed to put their arms around her. Rod said "Are you
alright?" and she said "I was quite scared daddy". It was hard to
get the image of her hanging there out of my mind - it was a terrifying moment.
A small reality check.
With Apataki behind us, we sailed on down
to Tahiti.......... Another whole story!
Lots and lots of love and gratitude to
all you who have managed to wade through all of this and have got to the end! It
was so long - but as ever, there is so much to tell!
Sue
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============================================================
Encore
au revoir!
6 August 2003
Pacific
Ocean
Dear
everyone
It's
nearly midnight. There is only a
sliver of moon. I have been leaning
over the side watching the phosphorescence sparkling on the waves as Tintin
moves through them. It is so
delicate, dainty. We are swaddled
in blackness as Tintin slams forward, mile after mile, towards our destination,
the sails slap and growl in the darkness - but the stars and the phosphorescence
somehow make it cheery, magical and calm outside.
So,
French Polynesia, Tahiti and the Society Islands are behind us now as we sail
further west. We first arrived in
Tahiti in early June - it has been almost 2 months to the day.
Once you have recovered from the shock of the cost of anything in these
islands, you just have to lie back and enjoy.
It is hard not to. Tahiti's
full name is Tahiti-nui-te-vai-ur-rai - I'll translate - "Great Tahiti of
the many coloured waters". I
couldn't have described it better myself! This
name could easily apply to all of "Tahiti et ses Iles", Tahiti and her
islands. They are all
surrounded by lagoons of calm, glittering, opalescent colours of turquoise and
blue. A mile or so offshore is the
reef, constantly pounded by surf and circling the island with a frothy ring of
white. The islands are covered in
lush, tropical vegetation. The
scent of flowers - in particular, the Tiare flower - saturates the air. I am
always walking along sniffing the air and saying to the children, "Can you
smell that flower? Isn't it lovely!
Sniff that!" - so no matter what, you are immediately drunk on the scent,
your spirits soar and you throw you head back and walk on with a smile.
The
main town in French Polynesia is Papeete on Tahiti.
We arrived there from the Tuamotos and anchored out of town, but near the
supermarket and McDonalds! I am
ashamed to say that we were in there having breakfast within 10 minutes of that
anchor hitting the sandy bottom of the anchorage!
Fortunately, too, because also having breakfast there were two English
girls who were crew on a big yacht with a washing machine. I sucked up to them
in the most disgusting way and by lunchtime one load was already done - they did
another 3 and swopped books, not the usual trashy paperbacks you end up with at
bookswops, but some brilliant books that have kept me quiet and in my cabin, out
of the way and in good humour (mostly!) on all the next crossings. Ange and I went to the large Carrefour supermarket and
reprovisioned - 2 trolley loads and $900 later, (I mean it when I say that this
is the most expensive place we have been to!) we were pushing the trolleys all
the way back to the dinghy, along Tahiti's only, and notoriously dangerous,
circular island road, almost losing our trolleys down the verges on many
occasions, cars hooting, sweat dripping and falling all over the place laughing.
My brother, Mark, (Ange's other half) arrived the next morning after a
very long flight but lost no time or energy settling in - he just threw himself
in and we all had a blast together for 10 days.
We sailed over to Moorea - first to Cooks Bay and then moved along to
Oponahu Bay. Both bays are
breathtakingly beautiful - a grand sweep of mountains behind them.
We passed our days snorkeling, swimming, chatting, eating and drinking
before returning to Papeete. Papeete
gets a very bad press everywhere - but we rather liked it. I think it grows on
you. It is a scruffy, messy place
but we liked the energy and buzz. Sadly,
her time with us over, Ange left and 2 days later Mark flew off in the direction
of Seattle as well. I was lost
without my right hand lady and laughing buddy.
Now that Ange was gone, I was going to have to do all the washing up
again. I also missed my old "boet".
We had had such a good time together.
Ange was by now, part of the furniture after being with us for 6 weeks.
After all my anxiety about Ange not being able to cope with this life, I
had to eat my words, she reveled in it and made the very best of the experience.
We seemed to spend alot of our time laughing - that is how I think of her
time on Tintin. One morning, the
two of us went to the local church in Moorea.
It was a beautiful service with uproarious singing and rejoicing, all in
French of course, so we were merely observing rather than being able to take
part. We loved watching the
families, the children running up and down the aisles, the beautifully dressed
mama's all with flowers in their hair, decorated hats, full of colour.
A young man came and sat down just in front of us, a little boy draped
all over him. This man had the
perfect Polynesian physique - he was absolutely gorgeous. Every move he made was a joy to watch. After a while, Ange leaned over to me and said, "Sue, I
am having impure thoughts", I nodded my head, "I know, me too"!
You'd think we had just heard the world's best joke.
All
alone now on Tintin, with no crew for the first time since the Mediterranean, we
limped out of Papeete and went back to Oponohu Bay in Moorea.
As we came into the anchorage, deciding on a spot to anchor, we noticed
that most of the boats were "Kid Boats" - almost every kid boat we
knew was currently at anchor in Oponohu Bay.
The children were frothing at the mouth with excitement.
Before the anchor was down, a dinghy arrived from the beach to collect
Pippa and Harry for a game of football. In
the anchorage was a catamaran called Dragonfly - we had met the previous day in
Papeete when they had entertained my children all day as lay flat out in bed
with a migraine. We went over to
thank them and to say hello properly. You
know that joyful feeling when you meet some people and you know, immediately,
that you are going to get along?
Well, it happened with us and everyone on Dragonfly!
Dragonfly were on their way to Fiji, where they are planning to settle.
They have already circumnavigated in their old boat, called Zoo, but once
back in England, they found themselves thinking of Fiji.
The children (all four of them!) said to Jerry, "Dad, we would
rather be in Fiji"! So they
bought Dragonfly, a very beautiful catamaran, and now are en route back to Fiji.
Whilst paging through their photo albums and scrap books of their last
trip, I came across a newspaper article that had been in the English papers
about them finishing their circumnavigation - this was the very article that Rod
produced as proof (when he was trying to convince me that this journey was
possible) that families can do this, even with a one year old on board.
This was the article that made me think I could do this, that made me
think that this was what I wanted my children to experience, that made me think
that if I said no I would be closing the door on adventures and unforgettable
experiences. These people were my
inspiration! And now they are my
friends! I can't believe it!
One
morning, Tintin, Dragonfly, Timetama and Oruwa crews all went out to the reef to
a spot where we were told there were alot of Stingrays.
We got there, and at first, saw one or two rays below us, but once in the
water with our goggles, we realised that in the area around us and swimming all
about us were about ten or fifteen rays - some very big, about 4 foot across.
Once again, old scaredy pants here, found herself enthralled - positively
rejoicing - in an experience that previously would have sent me screaming into
my dinghy! It was absolutely
incredible. I loved looking up and
seeing all the children, including our little Emily, bobbing around with
Stingrays gliding all around them. I was drifting along with Emily looking at
the wonderland below us, when I noticed a small sea snake darting through the
coral. Understanding that sea snakes are seriously venomous, I swam (with a
definite sense of urgency) away with Emily to warn all the others of the snake's
proximity. As I was sermonising
about the venomess of these creatures and feeling satisfied that I had saved
them all from an early death, the children rushed over and inspected the snake
very closely! We saw a Scorpion
Fish, an incredibly beautiful, but also quite dangerous, little fish if you make
him angry. It was a rare treat for
a snorkeler. Parrot fish are
wonderful creatures - I love their colours, their pointy little mouths and the
look of constant surprise in their eyes. I
saw my best ever Parrot Fish on this occasion.
I called him Picasso Parrot. He
had the funkiest, most vibrant pattern I have ever seen.
I can't tell you how astounding and varied and individual the fish are.
Each as amazing as the next, but totally unique and original.
From
Moorea we sailed on to Huahine, Raiatea and Bora Bora.
Each island provided us with unique and amazing experiences. At each
place, the natural beauty and our enjoyment of them, was enriched by our
traveling companions and the wonderful people met along the way.
In Huahine, we watched Polynesian spear throwing, boulder lifting,
dancing and enjoyed the beaches and sacred Maraes with Dragonfly and our
floating "Circus". Our
time there was festive, busy and fun. A
jolly good time was had by all - and that is, of course, the main thing.
Raiatea
was especially memorable because we took Tintin out of the water and on to the
hard, so that our hard working Skipper could scrape her undersides and repaint
with anti-foul. I had tried to find
a hotel room with no success and was bemoaning our situation to the Skipper,
when a man came over and asked me if I needed a place to stay.
I said, "actually, yes"! He
took us to a house. It was about as
close to perfection as you could ask for, the view from the deck brought tears
to the eyes, the rent was a quarter of a hotel room, it was big enough for us
and Timetama to stay in, was close to the marina, was perfect for entertaining
and had a big barbeque ............ but joy of all joys, IT HAD A WASHING
MACHINE!!! We stayed there for 6
days during which time, the washing machine never stopped working (except
perhaps for a few hours in the very early morning).
We had people popping up all day and barbeques every night - and every
boat crew that came up to the house brought their washing.
One friend arrived with 6 loads!
The house, understandably, became known as "My Beautiful
Launderette". Philippe, the
Frenchman who rented us the house, also lent us a car, popped in everyday to see
if we needed anything ........ he was a really nice man.
Once Tintin was looking smart (from the water line down!) and the paint
had dried, she went back into the water, I whipped the last load out of the
machine and left the house - then we set off for Bora Bora.
Arriving
in Bora Bora is breathtaking, the colours of the lagoon bedazzle - aquamarine,
jade, turquoise. We anchored in the
picture postcard paradise. Under the water, it was just as sensational.
Floating face down witnessing a whole other world - the silent world of
fish. The experience so intimate
because I have a child holding on to each hand.
I am watching the reaction this world has on them - unbounded pleasure!
We
planned one last stop in French Polynesia, a small coral atoll called Maupihaa.
Rapparee was already there and they were raving about it ....... Timetama
were almost there. We were on our
way! It was worth raving about.
This was a semi circle of beach, backed by palms and green bush, looking
out onto aquamarine sea. Tim came
over with our social diary and I was told that a very special barbecue was being
organised by one of the local families that night and that I should "bring
a dish". Still slightly "dipsy"
from my seasickness pills and exhausted from the passage over from Bora Bora, I
did my level best and produced a salad. I can now produce a salad made almost
entirely from tinned foods! And it
is edible - even if I say so myself! I
am quite proud of that. We arrived
at the barbecue and met another truly gentle and hospitable family, welcoming us
into their home and their island. We
were shown the special treat that they had caught that day for us, in our honour
- turtle. Pippa's face crumbled and
she sobbed, "But mummy, how can they do that, they're endangered".
I had to pull her to one side and explain that these were our hosts and
we should not be rude, or seem ungrateful for the food that they were providing
us with, whether we approved of it or not.
We then went on to enjoy a very merry evening with lots of laughter,
singing around a fire on the beach and real enjoyment of our host, hostess and
their family. Fortunately, there was the biggest pile of lobster I had ever
seen on one end of the table - my end - and so I managed to get by with only a
small nibble of a chunk of turtle as Frankie, our host, looked on, beaming with
happiness and pleasure to see if I liked it.
I don't know what it tasted like. I
was using every inch of my composure to chew and to keep smiling and nod
appreciatively, while resisting the temptation to spit or to shout out, "I
can't eat turtles Frankie"! The
children joined the local boys in building a huge bonfire and spent many happy
hours feeding the fire with dead palm leaves and driftwood.
All Harry's pyromaniacal tendencies fully satisfied for just one night.
Emily had long fallen asleep in the hammock with Milo and was oblivious
to everything.
Well,
this is yet another piece of paradise. Unfortunately, we saw a dark side to paradise and for all fun
and kindness that we enjoyed on Maupihaa we left feeling very sad about the
place. On the beach the day after
the barbeque, we came across a makeshift enclosure where 16 turtles were tied up
with fishing line in tragically inhumane circumstances.
The family that caught them sold them on the other islands for as much as
$500 per turtle. That hopeless,
broken look in the eyes of the turtles broke our hearts.
The "main man" came and told us not to take photographs and not
to talk about what we had seen. The
fine for killing turtles is enormous and they knew they were breaking the law.
And those turtles were just this week’s haul. I feel that all over the
world people are buying into these "adopt a turtle" schemes,
supporting organisations that "protect" endangered species, and we all
believe that work is being done to save the endangered species of the world,
that beautiful creatures like the sea turtles won't be allowed to disappear.
But here, on the ground, the locals don't care about whether they are
endangered or not. If someone
catches the turtle, someone will kill and eat it.
It is $500 and he was hiding $8000 worth of turtle - who cares whether
they are endangered or not? Only
you and me, and we are powerless to do anything about it.
It is a tragedy.
I
am not going to let French Polynesia finish on that note.
For me, it will always be frangipanis in your hair, bright floral
curtains flapping in the wind in windows of brightly painted houses, aquamarine
sea, Ah Sang and Mimi, friends and family, flower fragrances, coconut milk,
coconut crabs, shell covered beaches ..........
And
so I end, once again with tears in my eyes, memories and snap shots filling my
head and leaving me touched at how fortunate I have been to be have been here at
all.
With
love to all of you from all of us,
Sue
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=========================================================
Half
Way Round
17 Sep 2003
Yadua Island
Fiji
Dear Everyone
Another six weeks has flown since I last wrote. And in that time ....... so
much to tell. My goodness, this is going to be another long one I think! Well,
after leaving Maupihaa we set off for American Samoa. The crossing seemed to be
for me one of the toughest so far. It was a challenge to "keep my pecker
up" - I felt sick, exhausted and depressed. Sick, mostly. I should remember
it as the crossing where Pippa cooked and cleaned and lovingly cared for her
sick and pathetic mother, where we watched a whale breaching, where we caught
our most amazing fish - a 7 foot sailfish. I do really remember it as all of
that now, but at the time I found it almost impossible to focus on the good
things. But finally we were about to reach American Samoa. Oruwa was just
leaving Pago Pago, the main town, and we were talking on our usual morning radio
net wanting to get some helpful information on the place. They said the best
advise they could give us, was not to go there. "It is a dump - I can't
think of anything nice to say about it". Skipper dived for his charts. A
change of plan was obviously being called for. He felt perhaps we should just
bypass American Samoa and head straight for Tonga - only another 3 days away. My
opinion was very clear. "We keep on course for the nearest piece of land,
my friend or I could become quite uncooperative." I stood over the
autopilot ready to bite anyone who attempted to change our course. So, it was a
happy surprise to find Pago Pago Harbour so spectacular - Pago Pago itself, is a
ramshackle, spread out, grubby place, with old, rusted Taiwanese fishing boats
lolling all around the two huge fish canneries, which pump out very fishy smells
24 hours a day - but, on the slopes of the bay, verdant bush and tropical trees
and flowers grow and as you look around you can see waterfalls, overhanging
rocks and crevices. It really is magnificent. It just smells bad! But, from the
moment we walked into the customs office and met the first friendly Samoan, we
were hooked. We liked it.
Plus it was my birthday and I didn't want to be in a place I didn't like on
my birthday! For about a fortnight prior to my birthday, my children had
presented me daily with beautifully handcrafted birthday cards and the
excitement about the "big day" was mounting. Lots of frantic,
squealing, jumping up and down, saying, "Ooooooh, only 3 more days until
your birthday, mummy! Aren't you excited? 'Cause I am!" Of course, this
being American Samoa and all, McDonalds did feature quite strongly on the days
agenda. Everyone in the anchorage, the bus to McDonalds, the supermarket that we
popped into and the launderette knew that it was my birthday. My children felt
it was important to spread the word. (I did feel very loved though!) In the
evening, we went to the smartest restaurant in Pago Pago for supper - everyone
washed up and in their Sunday best. In the anchorage, we met up with some
friends we hadn't seen for a while and made some wonderful new ones. It was a
happy time. American Samoa is a sunny, friendly place. The Americans evidently
support the island - in Pago Pago there is a big sign with "God Bless
America" on it - "and American Samoa" obviously added a few years
later! It is therefore, influenced by American culture in many ways, but the
"Samoan way" still shone through. A deeply religious society, they
have a prayer time every evening from 6 t 6.15 pm where everyone has to stop
what they are doing and pray. Bells, gongs and hooters go off all over the place
and from that moment everyone keeps still, cars stop in the road, buses and
taxis pull over and silence falls over Pago Pago for fifteen minutes. A
wonderful library was in town, very well stocked and on our family ticket we
could take out 10 books at a time. We spent many hours in the children's section
in the mornings and took out our full quota of books every night! What joy to
read some different books at bedtime! Another benefit for being there is that I
felt so slender and dainty. In American Samoa, Big is Beautiful. I have never
seen such huge woman in my life. Waiting in the crowded hospital waiting room
with Pippa (she had a sty), wedged in between a couple of supremely solid
ladies, we looked pale and delicate! It made for a change!
Pago Pago didn't want to let us go ...... we had had too much fun there and
it was engineering to keep us. Firstly, as we pulled up our anchor, we brought
up a huge mass of chain, rope and junk and we had to try and get it off our
anchor whilst not bumping into any of the boats anchored all over the bay. A
fellow yachtie came to help and finally Rod pulled it off getting very muddy and
mucky in the process. Once free, we began to head off out of the bay. As we were
going, our engine died with us just about to travel through the pass in the
reef. I was all ready to call for help from the tug boat, in fact, I was begging
to be allowed to call for help from the tug boat. "No, no, we have no need
for help", says Skipper, "we can just sail out". An hour and a
half, and twenty two tacks later, we were out in the open sea. With Skipper on
the wheel, it was the galley slave who had to jump from one winch to the other
and winch that sail in! I was exhausted. My body ached. Add that to the sea
sickness and it made for another jolly crossing down to Tonga, to Neiafu in Vava-u.
On our way to Tonga, two things happened that were quite unique. We crossed
the International Date Line, so for all of you in Europe or South Africa, we are
as far ahead of you time wise as we can get and exactly the opposite end of the
earth from you. It has taken us a while to get this far! We also crossed over
the Tongan Trench - an area of water nearly 10000 metres deep. 10 km's down to
the sea bed! Spooky.
We arrived in Tonga, welcomed in by a pod of Humpback Whales, dropped our
anchor and headed straight for "the Mermaid", home of the Vava-u Yacht
Club. We met up with old friends and also reunited once more with our traveling
circus. Seeing them all again was like seeing family. Once we had caught up on
all the news, some happy, some sad, had a few beers at the Mermaid, we sailed
off to the islands. Our first night's entertainment, was a Tongan feast. Pippa
saw the little piglets on the spit, their brothers and sisters (spared the spit)
running around under our feet, and began to cry. I think she is moving towards
vegetarianism! What had been promised as a rip roaring feast, Tonga Style, with
dancing and music, actually turned out to be a very quick and quiet dinner as
someone in the village had died that morning. Still, the food was delicious and
exotic and the family were extremely friendly and kind, so loving and wonderful
to the children.
The next morning I went to church - on this small island of 200 people, there
are 4 churches! I was late, of course, and so I ran up the hill to the church.
There was not a living soul around, like a ghost town, everybody at church - all
the pigs and chickens had the place to themselves! But even from the bottom of
the hill I could hear the minister sermonising - it sounded like he was shouting
at a group of naughty children! I felt very nervous as I crept in hoping he
wouldn't turn on me! And, from the church that I went to I could hear the
minister from the church across the field bellowing at his flock! Woman walk up
and down the aisle rocking babies, two little boys were given a hiding in the
middle of the sermon and big mama then wedged herself between them, the man next
to me was fast asleep until suddenly, at the precise moment, he jumped up and
burst into song. The singing took me completely by surprise. It was like nothing
I have ever heard before. With no accompaniment, this handful of adults - maybe
20 in total - sang better than a whole church full of Catholics in Ladysmith!
They nearly lifted the roof off. It was a religious experience just to hear them
and my eyes filled with tears. I felt so happy to be there, to witness that and
feel a part of it for just a moment. The funny thing was, that as the vicar
uttered his last word, all in Tongan, the congregation were already on their
feet and out the door. A stampede! They were all in their traditional dress -
black shirt and skirt, a sulu, for both men and woman, with another skirt or big
sash made of pampas grass tied around their waists. I admit it, I can't take my
eyes of these men! I love a man in a skirt.... Little girls twirl around in
flouncy, frilly, chiffony dresses and the boys in their sulu's. Except one
little boy, about 8 years old, who had a pin stripe suit on. The jacket was
buttoned up, but there was no shirt underneath - or shoes. He walked passed me
like he was the smartest creature ever born. I even said to him, "You are
extremely smart" and he said, "I know, thank you"!
I had my belated "Circus" birthday party on Rapparee. It was so
beautiful, so much love and effort went into it. We have been blessed to be a
part of this group of people. All of it made me cry - not only at the cards and
presents and cakes and love, but also at the thought that in within a few months
they will no longer be a part of my everyday. I love them all. We laugh so much.
It was such a very good morning. I was so happy.
So, with time marching on and a Hurricane Season to avoid, we needed to push
on to Fiji. Tonga, with its beautiful beaches and bays, its limestone islands
with their furry green hair of palm trees and bush, its big smiles and
friendliness, the Humpback whales, the Mermaid, its happy, relaxed atmosphere
was behind us, and we bashed into the wind and pressed on.
It is such a great feeling when your arrival in a place prompts people to
open the champagne and have a party..... arriving in Suva, Fiji and seeing our
wonderful friends on Dragonfly and sharing that champagne with them was that
great feeling times ten! But so much to say about Suva, Fiji, Dragonfly,
birthday parties ..... I will write it all up in the next few days and send it
once you have all had time to digest this tome.
Night night. Love to you all
Sue
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=======================================================
John Frum......
9 November 2003
Tasman Sea
Dear Everyone
What has sailing around half way around the world done for my
children? Exposed them to the darker side of their mother's personality on bad
days in rough seas (and other times we don't like to mention). Exposed them to
their father's comprehensive library of swear words. Taught them to love tinned
spaghetti, taught them to understand the weather, respect the sea and sea life,
snorkel, surf, be wild and unrestrained, build amazing dens in very small spaces
....... also given them time to be bored, forced to sit and think, to
contemplate, to dream. That is the best thing.
Not Being Held by Floor~boards or Beams, by Pippa
Campbell-Ross
I sit on my ship,
In the ocean so blue,
Wondering and
pondering
what I could do!
I could dream dreams
not being held by
floor~boards or beams,
up in the sky,
In~dream~land~on~high!
A dream.
A dream of happiness
ever
of flowers around me,
roses and heather.
Its easy to get there,
dreaming dreams after
dreams
Not being held by
floor~boards or beams!!!
It's funny how things turn out so differently to what you
imagined they would. Although, when I left England at the start of this journey,
I don't think I had any real idea of what this would be like. I was so caught up
in the anxiety of leaving, saying good-bye (never my strong point) and
desperately trying to think what I would need to prepare for, that I had never
really thought about what the journey itself would be like. Now we are on our
last passage. This wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience is almost over. We
are 154 nautical miles from Australia. Imagine that!! It has been more than I
thought it could ever be. Make no mistake, there have been times that have
pushed me to the edges of my endurance, very lonely and tough times, but that
has been part of it. Learning - about myself, my family, my capabilities and
frailties and also learning how not to do that knot the next time! Relationships
have changed, the family bonds are so strong. But also, because of the very
"family" nature of this experience, the intimate, close living
quarters and the fact that we are all together all of the time, means that in
many ways it has swamped my relationship with Rod. At times we feel we have lost
ourselves, "us", and the chaos of life aboard Tintin means that it is
hard to find time or opportunity to look. Part of the mountain that we have to
climb in rebuilding our lives in Australia, is to rebuild our own relationship
and find time to just be "us". I am looking forward to that.
You can tell I have been having abit of an introspective time
of late. Feeling abit pensive to be honest!! But as in the words of the fish,
Dory, in "Finding Nemo" (thanks Georgia!)I must just "keep on
swimming, keep on swimming, keep on swiiiiimming". Look forward. But
anyway, I will look abit backwards now, just because after we left Fiji so many
wonderful things happened and I would love to tell you about them.
Firstly, John Frum. Have you heard of him? Well on the island
of Tanna, in Vanuatu, he is a religion! In the 1930's the Red Cross visited
Tanna bringing with them blankets, food, clothing and the man in charge, we
imagine, must have walked up the beach and said "Hi. I'm John from
America". John Frum. He brought gifts, he came seemingly from nowhere and
helped them, he must be God and so the John Frum worshipping began. The
Missionaries had already been very active in these parts converting the heathens
and cannibals. Most of the island was Presbyterian and the missionaries, as in
all the other Pacific islands, cajoled, encouraged, or forced the local people
to destroy their own gods and ways of life for the Christian way. It has been
sad to see how Christianity has, in so many ways, destroyed unique cultures and
ways of life. I am sure that the missionaries were full of good intentions and
for the rest of us, their work in stopping cannibalism has been a great relief
and benefit all round. So, in their conversation with him, John told the Tanna
Islanders that they should go back to their old ways and not do as the
missionaries told them - he also added apparently that they should worship him.
This suited them just fine because at that time they were all rather sick of the
pressure that the missionaries were exerting on them. John Frum said what they
wanted to hear. And "Hats off to them" I say. It is so good to go to a
place where you really do get the feeling that life is continuing very much the
same as it always has. (Minus the eating of visitors, of course!) The John Frum
villages display a red cross and most fly the American flag - but at the same
time disapprove strongly of American policies. John Frum is apparently going to
save America too. That is after he returns to Tanna with lots more gifts!
Everything positive or fortuitous that happens is because John Frum arranged it.
Everything can be explained away with an extraordinary, but very serious, John
Frum explanation. It was not always easy to keep a straight face and accept the
explanations with the same earnestness with which they were delivered!
Tanna is beautiful in a wild, untamed way. Walking along the
path to the village past the huge roots of trees, the palms, the bushes drooping
with bright flowers, I expected Tarzan to come flying by! We anchored in a bay
called Port Resolution, named by Capt. Cook after his ship. Tanna has a live
volcano, the Yasur Volcano. Because of this, all along the beach at Port
Resolution were blow holes and places where boiling water bubbles out through
the rocks and sand. One morning for breakfast we grabbed a pan, some eggs, some
bacon and tomatoes and headed for the beach. We put the pan on top of a
particularly steamy place in the rocks, slapped the bacon and tomatoes on it,
dropped the eggs (and a tin of baked beans... naturally!) into the water and
stood back sipping our coffee and hot chocolate from the flasks. Very civilised!
In no time we had a lovely hot breakfast! Something different to start the day
with!
A trip to the volcano had been organised, so we joined it. We
left just before sunset in a 4WD truck. There are no roads in Tanna, just dust
tracks, all rivetted by rain with huge, gnarled trees hanging over and meeting
in the middle. We bounced our way to the Yasur, then walked up the side of the
volcano. As we were walking up there was a huge "Kaboom", as if we
were standing near rocket being set off. Incredible power. Marcella and I were
behind with Milo and Emily, struggling up the vertical side of the volcano. I
was by this time working myself into a froth about whether Rod was keeping Harry
and Pippa away from the edge of the volcano!!! I looked up at the silhouette of
everyone along the crater rim and they all seemed to be managing to avoid a
firey end. We lay down with our heads over the edge watching the volcanic spray
blasting up. Spectacular! I had to try and forget for a moment that I was lying
on the gritty, crumbling rim of a blasting volcano. I think I stopped all blood
flow to my fingers just hanging onto Harry and Emily who were lying on either
side of me. At sunset, try and imagine what it looked like - steam rising up
from three different blow holes, red sparkles of lava being blown up from
crater, the sun setting through the clouds - pinks, blues, purples, and the sea
all around reflecting the colours. It was a special sight. But, as it got dark
the show really began. Lava rivers, fireworks, drama! Incredible!
We visited a "Kustom" village inland from Port
Resolution. Here life is totally traditional. Men wear no clothes except for
something called a "namba", a penis purse - a bunch of grass, like a
whisk broom, held on by a piece of vine. That was the entire wardrobe. Harry
took one look at the nambas and said, "Ooh mummy, I would never wear
that"! (He is a very conservative dresser anyway!) The men danced for us.
It was the strangest dance. They stamped their feet - really ground shaking
stamping - until they were almost obscured by all the dust that was thrown up.
Once they stopped, feet shaped holes in a circle were left behind. The men
showed Harry and Pippa how to use the bow and arrow correctly, and how to light
a fire by rubbing wood. It was fascinating, but I did get the feeling that they
were all on their best behaviour for the tourists!
Harry was particularly interested in the bow and arrow lesson
because that morning in the village at Port Resolution he had admired a bow and
arrow that one of the little boys were playing with. The boy, called Jackson,
let him have a go. His face lit up and he ran off with Jackson and shot the
arrow into the trees. When it was time to go, Jackson came over with the bow and
arrow and said, "for you". Harry was the worlds happiest boy. First he
rushed back to Tintin and found all sorts of his own things to give Jackson in
exchange. By the time we returned to the village, Jackson had made him another
one which he had decorated with coloured pen. "Presented by Jackson to my
friend Harry". How can you improve the life of an 8 year old boy who
already has a beautiful bow and arrow? Give him two! A spare! One little boy was
on the beach with his bow and arrow and other boys were up on the ridge above
him, looking down on the reef and from there directing him on where a fish was.
He stalked the fish, slowly, gently, carefully pulling the arrow up to shoot
......... splash, splash, splash, and Harry is running through the water
shouting, "I will help you"!! The boy didn't show any irritation, they
just started again - but clearly Harry has much to learn about stalking fish
which you just can't substitute with enthusiasm! Many happy hours were spent
stalking fishes in the reef. At one point he came back to me and said, very
earnestly, "Mum, this is playing for real".
Tanna was absolutely amazing. I could go on and on. Once
AGAIN, I feel privileged and special to have been there.
We sailed on to New Caledonia and moored up in the marina of
the main town, Noumea, very late at night. In the morning, we realised to our
delight that we knew many of the other boats on the pontoon and so a very
wonderfully social time ensued. For many of the crews, it would be the last time
we would see them, so there were alot of good-byes. After 5 days in Noumea, we
decided to head out to see abit of New Caledonia. So together with Timetama and
Mercator we set off for a weeks cruising through the islands of New Caledonia.
We relished every last minute of our cruising life and also every last minute of
our time with Timetama. From New Caledonia we sail to Australia, the end of our
journey, but Timetama sail to New Zealand. In some sublime and deserted places
we enjoyed beach barbecues and fabulous days on the beach. Lovely though they
are, these islands are all covered in snakes - red and black stripey ones - they
spend all day in the sea and for that they have paddle like tails for swimming
(very fast!) and then in the late afternoon they come onto the land and huddle
in clumps all woven together. Ugh! I am extremely pathetic about snakes and this
feast of snakes was just too much for my nerves! We stopped one night at an
island with a huge lighthouse built in the mid 1800's. Very beautiful. There
were some workmen just sitting at a picnic table having a glass of wine before
they set off for Nuomea town. We went to ask them if we could go to the top of
the lighthouse and they gave us the key. From the top we could clearly see the
reef fish in large schools with larger schools of fish chasing them and then the
sharks circling around all the fish............. spooky!! The view was amazing.
We went to give the key back and Rod and I began to chat to the workmen. In true
French style (although they were Melanesian - just French Melanesian!) they were
drinking a bottle of wine. They got more glasses for us and filled them up. This
was not their first bottle and we were loving their drunken conversation ...
lots of very raucous laughter. Every time they made a joke or Rod did, they
would jump and high five with Rod. It was very funny. Their supervisor was a
totally pissed, rather pathetic, Frenchman, but these wonderful Melanesian men
supported him and looked after him. The one man said "The boss is my baby.
I have to look after him". Rod dashed back to Tintin to get more wine,
baguettes, cheese and so the party continued. In the meantime, the rest of our
crowd - Marcella, Carmine, Thomas and Els from Mercator, had walked around the
island with the children - but by this stage Marcella was nearly hysterical with
all the snakes!! The children were loving it, looking in all the nooks and
crannies for snakes and then running off hysterically screaming! They loved it.
Carmine came over to our drunken table and the Frenchman took one look at him
and you could tell it was love at first sight!! He jumped up, eyes sparkling,
offered Carmine some wine, held his hand and looked deeply into his eyes telling
him that he loved his eyes...... Carmine is a naturally formal person and being
adored by another man is not something he enjoys. Particularly not by a slimey,
red nosed, aging, drunken Frenchman. Carmine was squirming in his seat and
desperately looking for an opening to disappear! I nearly died laughing. All the
time we sat there, the snakes slithered past - I kept my feet up on the bench so
that I didn't have one slither across my feet! Heaven forbid! As we all left, in
between hugging us all, the workmen carried the Frenchman back to their boat.
Once back in Noumea at the marina, we began to get ourselves
ready to leave for Australia. Again, it was full of boats we knew, lots of
children and we had an extremely good time saying our good-byes. As our
departure day neared, it seemed that everything that could go wrong, or just
simply be an obstacle to us leaving, did. Skipper was rushing from one side to
town to another, sweating and cursing, desperately trying to sort everything
out. I always seemed to be standing on the pontoon next to my boat wondering
what to do. Other yachties would pass Rod in town, get a low down on what the
situation was and then tell me. I never seemed to know what was happening or
when we were leaving - but everyone else did! As always, I had Marcella to make
me cups of Italian coffee and to listen to my ranting and raving, always finding
a positive slant and making me laugh. Finally, Rod came rushing back from
collecting our now de-virused, brand new computer (the other two
failed/collapsed/died - a long story in itself!)and said, "Right, let's
go". I said, "Give me some money for some bread and fresh stuff".
He reached for his wallet ...... it was gone! We walked back and forwards along
the path to the shop, looked in bins, asked street sweepers if they have seen a
wallet etc. - no wallet. I had to go to the bank in town, change some money to
buy a phone card to phone the bank in England to cancel Rod's cards. I am now
very stressed. I went through one phone card just listening to the recorded
message "press one if you want to ..., press two ...", nearly
hyperventilated when I get the man saying "Your call is important to us.
You are held in a queue and bla bla bla"!! Finally, I got through to that
wonderful, familiar, reassuring English accent - she calms me down, phones me
back, listens to my long drama, says all the right things, reassures me that no
one is going to be able to spend a cent of our cash, asks me if there is
anything else she can do for me ..... no need, she had done it all already.
Good, old England - you still get my vote! But now, I was a nervous wreck and in
dire need of a glass of wine, a good nights rest and one more chance to spend an
evening with Timetama, so we decided to leave the next morning at 6am, together
with Mercator. I woke, got dressed and came into the the cockpit and there
already on the pontoon was Timetama - Marcella, Carmine and Milo. We said good
bye. There is nothing else we can say to these people - thank you would be an
insult. Our journey here has been their journey too. Emily was beside herself,
her arms stretched out to Milo. Carmine undid our lines and we moved off the
berth. As we moved down the pontoon, Milo ran down to the end of it shouting,
"Emily, Emileeeeeee" and finally at the end of the pontoon sank into a
heap. Skipper was on the wheel and the rest of us were in a sobbing huddle at
the bow, waving through our tears at them waving at us from the end of the
pontoon. Heartbreaking. We shared an unforgettable experience.
So now we are on our last leg. Our last passage. We left New
Caledonia and sailed into huge, rough seas with the waves coming from the side.
I had been given some seasickness pills from Els on Mercator which worked very
well. The only thing is that for the first time since leaving The Canary Islands
everyone on Mercator was sick and I had the pills! I felt awful about that, but
not too sick! With very little sail up, we were doing over 8 knots - but we were
all over the place. During the night we had a "semi-knockdown",
meaning we fell of the wave onto our side. The "bang" was huge,
everything from one side of the boat flew across to the other and we all felt
quite shaken, but there was no damage to Tintin and no one was hurt. Tintin is
such a strong, old girl! After a few days the seas calmed down until eventually,
we got to a situation of no wind and the engine on! It always seems the way with
us! But secretly, I quite like it because the boat is then steady and we all
enjoy the journey rather than just to endure it.
It has been a special journey too, in that we are all making
the most of our last time "alone" together. Out here we are so totally
alone. And it is fun. A special family time. We are frantically eating up all
the last of our food. We can't take it into Australia. This means that we are
having some quite strange gastronomic combinations, but the lockers will be
virtually empty on arrival. No doubt about that!
So on that note, I will end off and inspect the lockers to see
what more I can squeeze out of them and onto the plates of my family! No fish at
all this crossing, not even the plastic, pink octopus managed to lure a tuna or
dorado our way! But you can't have it all your way, can you?
Much, much love to everyone
Sue
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