What's New?

On the Hard!

2012-01-30T19:50:00.000-06:00

CNI came through!

They fixed the trailer and hauled us out as promised. New Morning is now safely stored on land in a one piece cradle. And a few extra months in the water doesn't seem to have done her bottom any harm as she clean up very nicely.

Thank you to Karin and everyone at CNI!

Merry Christmas - from Raiatea

2011-12-21T19:28:00.002-06:00

This is a good news, bad news posting. We received this Christmas greeting from CNI, the yard in Raitea where we left New Morning. As you may recall, we had to leave her in the water until they fixed their trailer and can pull her out, hopefully early next month. It's a lovely greeting, and if you look closely at the picture, you'll see that beyond promoting beer for Christmas, there is New Morning in the background, still floating!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Toute l’équipe du Chantier Naval vous souhaite de passer de très bonnes fêtes de fin d’année!!

Je vous rappelle que nous sommes fermés du 22 Décembre au 4 Janvier inclus.

All the CNI teem wish you “ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!”

I remember you that we are closed from the 22 December until the 4 January.

CNI Teem
Vive la HINANO !!!

Software fixed - Tahiti photos

2011-12-03T13:01:00.000-06:00

After a month of trying to reach the developer of the plug-in I use for the photo pages through the support pages on his site I was growing quite frustrated. I scanned some forums and was able to find a direct email address for him. Then as soon as I contacted him he responded and fixed the problems! So last night I was able to upload the photos from Tahiti and this weekend I'm hoping to add more photos from Moorea and the Iles sous le vent.

But the weather is so nice this weekend, crystal clear after some big winds earlier this week, a bit crisp, but still beautiful, I may get distracted...

Broken web site software

2011-12-01T20:14:00.001-06:00

I've been hoping that I could post our pictures from French Polynesia, but the software that I use to create the web site has stumbled badly and is currently not operational. If I attempt to add new photographs I'll lose what is already posted. The software developer seems to have disappeared so no I'm seeking another solution. Until then, I hope you're enjoying the holidays!

Foreshadowing

2011-10-26T00:32:00.000-06:00

According to the dictionary, a "warning or indication of a future event".

Our original plan, confirmed many times with the boat yard here in Raiatea, was to haul out yesterday. That would give us today to tidy up New Morning in her cradle on dry land and work with the woman who will be her caretaker.

Last Friday we saw the wheels had been removed from the carriage used to haul the boats out of the water (old school - the boat floats onto the carriage, then they pull it all out of the water with a winch and tractor). Over the weekend Fay expressed some concern that being hauled on Monday meant we would be the first boat hauled after the "repairs" which made her a little nervous.

Then while talking with Jerry over the weekend, a retired navy doctor now cruising in a small sailboat, he cautioned us that the haul out schedule could be a little soft and could easily slip by a day or two.

None the less Monday dawned clear and sunny. Karin (the admin who runs everything) advised us we'd be coming out about 1pm when the tide was highest. In the morning they would haul another boat which had a shallower keel. No problem as 1pm gave us plenty of time to get a few last minute things done and then we'd have all day Tuesday to finish up. At 1pm the other boat had been pulled from the water, but the carriage was barely out of the water and the workers were still at lunch.

By 2pm I double checked with Karin, but she was still confident, telling us that they would shortly be moving the other boat to its storage location. At 3pm Karin came by to say that things were going slower than expected and they would have to haul us on Tuesday. Jerry's guidance had become reality. But no problem we were ready to go and could still complete everything on Tuesday afternoon before flying out on Wednesday morning.

At 4pm Karin came by with additional news. The carriage had broken under the weight of the previous boat and they would not be able to haul us at all! Wham, Fay's comments foreshadowed the problems with the morning boat. And as we walked by the morning boat it was clear that all was not well, though the yard was carefully using what they had to get it safely positioned in its cradle with a combination of a forklift and a small TravelLift from the adjoining yard. We were glad we were not the first boat after the repairs.

So now they are only going to haul boats up to 15tons (we are 20 metric tons). However, the week before the Christmas break they will be completely rebuilding the carriage to handle heavier boats so they can haul us in January. And they will be happy to have us stay in the water until then.

So New Morning stays in the water until January, at which time they will haul her out and store her on dry land. "The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry…".

Work, work, work

2011-10-21T20:42:00.001-06:00

We've now been here for a week and it's been a full week of work. No snorkeling, no fish pictures, no sailing, just work. New Morning is now incredibly clean, probably cleaner than when she was launched. Every locker, all the stainless, the decks, the lines, the hatches, dingy, outboards, you name it it's been cleaned!

And after almost three weeks of rain every day we've had two days of clear sunny weather so we got everything dried out and put away. We have a few things to do on Saturday, then we'll take Sunday off and haul out on Monday. Then end of almost a full year of cruising. Just in time for winter in California.

But don't stop reading just yet. I've got a lot more pictures to post so you can see the full season. And then I'm going to be adding some pages on equipment ratings. Equipment to buy and equipment to avoid. So if you're a cruiser or sailor you may find our equipment experiences useful. And I'll probably update a few other sections as well. But first, time to finish getting packed up here and catch a flight home.

In the Marina

2011-10-14T19:52:00.001-06:00

Well we're in the "marina" at CNI. It's pouring rain, it seems the rainy season may have started early as we've had rain every day for the last ten days, but today is particularly heavy. Check out the "Where's New Morning" and the satellite picture shows our location on the dock.

Poisson du jour

2011-10-10T20:36:00.001-06:00

Amazing snorkeling today. The coral river adjacent motu TauTau is just phenomenal. These are a few of my favorite fish.

First is the Picasso Triggerfish. It's obvious what inspired the Picasso part of the name.

Next I was able to capture two nice fish in one picture.

The lower fish is a Rabbitfish and above is Checkerboard wrasse. The Rabbitfish looks sort of like brain coral or a maze. They're monochromatic, but still striking. Entirely the opposite is the wrasse. The coloring on the wrasse is hard to capture, it's absolutely iridescent. I think the amount of checkerboard versus green and hot pink waves changes as they develop as we saw them a more or less checkerboard.

And then finally the Orange Lipped Triggerfish. One of the drawbacks of this location is the abundance of urchins. There were hundreds of these long spined black urchins, lurking under every clump of coral.

Some of the fish names are so obvious. Like Big Eyes that have - you guessed - big eyes! But I don't know who came up with Rabbitfish or Triggerfish.

Read my lips

2011-10-07T23:10:00.000-06:00

For the last week our weather has been dominated by a very slow moving low. First there were 3-4 days of southerly winds. Those made the mooring in Bora Bora uncomfortable, but we took advantage of them to sail to Tahaa. Today the low is quite close so last night and today we had almost no wind at all. That made our last anchorage a little problematic since drifting to the east had the potential for wrapping our anchor chain around a mooring. So we moved south a couple of miles to Baie Tapuamu opposite Motu Tautau (or Islet Tautau). We had tried to visit Tautau yesterday but a few miles straight into the south wind at 10-15 kts and 1' - 2' chop in the dinghy was just not going to be in any fun so we turned around and went north to the village of Patio which was a more protected trip as we headed around the north shore. Then the wind died last evening and today was almost flat calm. From our new base in Tapuamu it was quick trip in flat water.

We snorkeled between TauTau and Maharare in the "coral river". The water was very shallow which was challenging, but the fish were amazing! Several kinds of trigger wish we hadn't seen before, some new wrasses that looked absolutely psychedelic and lots of clams. Fay got some great clam shots, but this is the one she likes the best.

Then back at the dingy I shot this "screen saver" view of the southeast tip of Maharare looking north. Not much I can add, I think the picture says it all!

Tahaa

2011-10-05T20:16:00.000-06:00

Today we took advantage of a south wind, which had made the mooring field in Bora Bora uncomfortable, to make the short passage to Tahaa. About an hour of motoring out the pass and then into the wind and seas at 6kts before we rounded the SW corner of the reef, eased the sheets and took off for Tahaa with the true wind at about 80 degrees for a close reach.

Even with the slow start we were able to average 7.8kts for the trip. And sailing New Morning was so enjoyable with Chuck Paine's hull powered by the rig from Offshore Spars and the wonderful running design developed by Scott Easom. Probably the last sail of the year and it as a delight.

We'll spend the next week or so exploring Tahaa, then head to Raiatea. Check "Where's New Morning" for our current location.

Bora Bora catch up

2011-10-02T19:42:00.001-06:00

Wow, way behind. Lots of stuff to catch up on.

At the last update we were escaping the fire in Baie Avea. So we'll pick it up there with a picture of the fire. This hill is quite steep and the fire is burning down the hill which seemed unlikely to me, but that's what it did. It blew over the ridge from the windward side of the island and then burned down the hill. It doesn't look too impressive here, and it probably only burned 10 acres in total, but it was enough to put a lot of ash and burning embers into the air and drive all the boats out of the anchorage.

So we moved to Fare, the big town on Huahine. It's still very small, but Huahine is a small island. We rented a car and toured the island, driving every road on the island in about three hours. The highlight of the tour was the sacred blue eyed eels. These are fairly large, probably 4' - 6' in length and 6" - 8" in diameter. They were living in a partially concrete lined creek of fresh water. And they do have blue eyes! Fay fed them some canned mackerel and at the same time some local girls showed up and were feeding them pieces of fish. The eels are supposed to be "sacred", but the girls seemed to have fun scooping them up (hard to really grab an eel) and tossing them in the air. I don't know if the eels like it or not, but it doesn't seem like the thing do with a "sacred" animal.

After a few days in Huahine we moved on to Bora Bora. Bora Bora is an even smaller island with a dramatic mountain and large lagoon. We toured all of the leeward side of the lagoon in our dinghy and saw a number of hotels that had been shuttered and closed. All of French Polynesia (and much of the world) has suffered economically the last few years, but Bora Bora has gotten a 1-2-3 punch that has hit it very hard. First the general economic situation has led to reduced spending on vacations. Then the reefs were impacted by an invasion of the crown of thorns, a type of starfish with a voracious appetite for coral. Then cyclone Oli hit the island in February 2010, destroying most of the remaining coral on the outside reef and a number of buildings.

Our primary reason for coming to Bora Bora was to meet friends that were flying down from California which gave us an excuse to get off the boat and stay in a very nice hotel on shore. So last Monday - Saturday we did our part to help the local economy and enjoyed a wonderful hotel, great food and time with our friends. Not content to just stare

at the white sand and crystal clear turquoise water, we also enjoyed some water sports. First was paddle boarding. This is a growing activity that someone will probably turn into a competitive sport. Basically the idea is to stand on a big wide surfboard and paddle around. It takes some work to balance on the board while stroking the water with a very long paddle. Fay and I both did this on two different days and became reasonably proficient. Still undecided is whether we'll take this up as a new form of exercise in the 54 degree waters of Richardson's Bay!

Next we did some snorkeling. The hotel had created a sort of man made lagoon. It was quite large with several different areas and arms that snaked through the grounds. It was fed by a 4' drainage pipe that connected to the ocean and brought a strong flow of sea water into the lagoon. Then at the other end it flowed out into the main lagoon. My expectations were pretty low, but it turned out to have a number of excellent fish, like the orangespine unicornfish pictured above.

The hotel has also created a number of structures to encourage the growth of coral and there was definitely new coral growth and a new eco-system being created in the man made lagoon.

We also did some diving. The first dive was inside the lagoon to see the manta rays. The coral here was in good shape. I'm guessing that the location so far inside the lagoon had protected it from the pounding of cyclone Oli. The visibility was fair, not outstanding, but the manta rays were fantastic. The first photo with our friend and his camera gives you some feel for their size.

From wing tip to wing tip I think they were 8' - 10' and our fish book says they can be as large as 22'! They are impressively large in the water when they swim by. The area where we were diving is known as a "cleaning station" where the rays swim in and a small wrasse cleans any growth off their skin. It's a classic symbiotic relationship where the ray gets cleaned so they swim with less drag and the wrasse gets fed. The rays use their large mouth to capture the water and strain out the plankton, they are no threat to humans. None the less as they swam towards me, mouth wide open, I couldn't help but wonder. But then they would gracefully turn away, sort of like watching a 747 practice landings. Just watching the manta's swim around made the first dive one to remember.

Next we went to the outer reef, just outside the pass and dove a little deeper.

But even at 70' the coral was devastated, a gray wasteland of broken coral. But there were a surprising number of fish and the water clarity was excellent. Just after we finished our initial decent a lemon shark came by to check us out, complete with a remora attached to his left side. The Lemon sharks actually have a slight yellow tint to their skin and are also identifiable by their very small eyes. This one did a few slow laps then swam away, apparently we weren't very interesting which was fine with us!

The rest of the dive was mostly small reef fish, and an eel. Then as we were nearing the end of the dive we found a collection of Moorish Idols which got right in our faces. Normally these fish stay our of reach and ignore us, but these were right in our masks which led us to conclude that somebody had been feeding them. Bathy's Dive center, a big chain of dive shops in French Polynesia, is known to feed the fish to give their customers a better experience, a practice we don't agree with. We're pretty sure that these fish have been trained to think that divers mean it's feeding time.

It's been raining on and off for most of the last two days. New Morning is getting a nice fresh water rinse and we're taking stock of what we need to do over the next couple of weeks before putting New Morning on the hard for cyclone season. We expect to be here a couple more days then leave for Tahaa before heading to Raitea where we'll haul out on the 24th.

Updated pictures

2011-09-18T19:08:00.000-06:00

A good connection here in Fare so I was able to catch up a little on pictures. I've uploaded pictures for the Marquesas and Tuamotus. See them on Where We've Been.

Smoked out

2011-09-18T11:36:00.000-06:00

Three nights ago we made our passage from Moorea to Huahine. We had no wind for much of the trip so it was mostly a motor boat trip, though we were able to sail the last hour and a half in the morning just before arrival. The trip was uneventful.

We arrived at Fare around 8am to find that the recommended anchorage was fairly full. Moorings has a charter base in Raiatea and at least half the boats were charter boats. Since it was early we decided to tour the west coast down to Baie Avea where friends had reported a good anchorage. We wound in and out of the coast, saw the impressive waves breaking on the reef (the SW swell that seems to defy the trade winds) and enjoyed the view at slow speed. The last mile or so into Baie Avea is oddly charted. The charts show solid reef or "uncharted", but then there are some navigation marks and soundings; there was actually plenty of water, it seems the cartographers just got tired. Baie Avea was beautiful, but with a strong gusting wind coming around the SE point.

Yesterday morning the gusts were even stronger and we eventually gave up trying to get the dinghy off the foredeck for fear that someone would be hurt as the wind kept picking it up before we could get it over the side. A little bit later we noticed smoke on the hillside. This was not unusual since we frequently see areas being burned off for agriculture, or burning trash. But this time it blossomed into a full blown brush fire. To our amazement the fire worked down the fairly steep hill, and to the SE, into the gusting wind.

Twice we re-anchored New Morning further to windward trying to escape the rain of ash that was falling onto the boat, blowing into the saloon. Then just when we thought the fire was moving west with the wind, new areas to windward and down the hill burst into flames. After some debate and indecision we decided we had to move to avoid the risk of having hot embers landing on New Morning and her sails. We motored off into the late late afternoon sun with essentially no ability to see the water depth. Fortunately we were able to follow our plotter's "track" and retrace the route we had followed on our way in.

A few miles later we turned east into Baie Haapu. It's a good sized bay and we were able to anchor in 55' feet of water. But after a peaceful late afternoon we started getting blasted by large gusts every few minutes. First from the east, then the north east and sometimes from the SE. Each time the gust comes from a different direction New Morning heels and then spins around to face her bow into the 25-30kt gusts. It was not a restful night.

Today we'll probably head back to Fare.

Moorea Maxfield Parrish

2011-09-14T12:43:00.002-06:00

At least that's what came to mind when I saw this scene and took the picture.

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted last. We got kinda lazy in Opunohu. Then the weather changed a bit and we found ourselves rolling in a small swell for two days so we moved back to Cook's bay on Sunday morning. That led to a spectacular night in Cook's Bay. The bay was absolutely flat, dead still, perfect temperature, and the full moon came up over the mountain in a completely clear sky. We were dazzled by the moon for awhile, then decided to setup the "drive-in". We moved the small cockpit table aft, put the MacBook Pro on it and watched a movie while bathed in moonlight.

And before I forget, here is the picture from Le Belvedere than I promised earlier, looking down on the two bays. Cook's Bay is on the right and Opunohu is on the left.

Now we've been here three days already? Well we did go snorkeling again. Yesterday we did a lot of boat chores (Fay has the cockpit sparkling) and placed our order at Sylvesie's for pastries. Today we unloaded our garbage and recycling (they recycle cans and bottles here!), picked up our almond croissants and raisin rolls from Sylvesie, bought a bucket to replace the one we donated to the ocean, and went to an ATM in Maharepa to stock up on cash. And just a few minutes ago Tahiti Ocean brought us (well to a nearby dock) a new blower for the engine box, fantastic service!

Tomorrow late afternoon we'll depart for Huahine. It's about 90 miles which is an awkward distance. It's too far for a day trip (any problems would have us arriving after dark) and almost too short for an overnight (we'll probably arrive before dawn). So the overnight is the safer choice. We'll depart just after sunset.

Cool

2011-09-08T23:01:00.000-06:00

Not really cold, but definitely cool. Ever since we arrived in French Polynesia we've noticed that it's pleasantly cooler than Panama. And once we got to Tahiti it seemed even cooler. Hold on folks, at times, during a particularly cool night, we actually have a blanket over us when sleeping. Really, the temperature is perfect. In the cabin the daytime temperature ranges from 73-84. The temperature in the cockpit, under the dodger/bimini gets as low as 71 at night! The result is an incredibly thick coating of condensation on the decks and hatches which develops almost the instant the sun goes down and then gets thicker through the night.

Tuesday we took a long hike (ok, only about six miles) to "Le Belvedere". It seems every island with a mountain, has a "Belvedere". Basically a nice lookout point from half way up the mountain. It was a good walk (though not in good walking shoes as my blisters attest), through beautiful vegetation which included pine trees. Then from above we could look down onto both Cook's Bay and Opunohu bay. I promise a picture soon.

Today was snorkeling and boat chores. We took the dingy for a long trip, about 4 miles each way, outside the bay, but inside the reef, and to the north west corner of Moorea where there are several resorts. There is also a spot nicknamed Stingray World. We pulled up in the dingy, clipped on to a mooring buoy in about four feet of water and were instantly surrounded by 10-15 sting rays. These were pretty large with wing spans of 3' - 4' and tails/stingers to match. We put our legs over the side and they immediately swam up to us and even ran their wings across our feet. The tour boats bring tourists from the resorts and they toss squid into the water for the rays. They've learned to expect food when they see a boat, hence our warm welcome! A few 4' - 5' black tip reef sharks also came around to check us out, but soon departed. And some lovely trigger fish rounded out the welcoming party.

I think Opunohu may be our best anchorage yet!

Another day, another bay

2011-09-05T18:37:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we moved from Cook's Bay to Opunohu Bay. Check "Where's New Morning", zoom in and you'll see it wasn't a big move! The view is once again stunning with thick vegetation providing an infinite variety of texturing as the light plays across the jagged peaks that surround us.

Shortly after we arrived it started blowing cranking up until we had a steady 20-25 knots with gusts over 30. The wind generator was making lots of electricity! There were periods of calm, but basically it blew through the night and it's still blowing this afternoon. The trades shifted to the NE right now which is why the wind is sneaking into this otherwise protected bay. Tomorrow the trades should shift back to E or even SE and calm should return.

When we first arrived we took the dinghy off the foredeck and had it tethered behind New Morning, but decided that since we weren't going to be going anywhere in the big wind we'd be lazy and not mount the outboard. When it was blowing very hard Fay asked me if the dinghy was safe and of course I assured her it was. Ten minutes later she looked out to see the dinghy was upside down and one oar was floating away! The second oar was caught up in the lifting harness underneath the dinghy and I was able to quickly retrieve it. Not wanting to loose our second oar, and despite the strong winds and pelting rain, we quickly mounted the 2HP outboard, raced towards the head of the bay and retrieved our runaway oar. Then our trusty 2hp pushed us right back through the big chop and wind and to New Morning where in consideration of the flipped dinghy we immediately unmounted the outboard and stored it safely on the pushpit. A little drama, a minor rescue and an excuse for a hot shower and a glass of wine!

Since it's still blowing today and we didn't want to fight the wind to go ashore we decided it would be a baking day. Fay made a batch of cherry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and I'm baking two loaves of cinnamon raisin bread. Tomorrow we'll go ashore and do a big hike, nourished by a nice piece of cinnamon raisin bread toast for breakfast, and maybe a couple of cookies in the back pack.

Lemon Zest

2011-09-02T17:19:00.002-06:00

Cook's Bay has been really delightful. Most of the last couple days the wind has been very light and the bay very calm. This morning was glassy, though the breeze has come up this afternoon. A large motor yacht has been here the entire time, and a few days ago we were joined by a large sailing yacht. Smaller boats have come and gone. The views are stunning and the local patisserie makes an outstanding almond croissant!

Two days ago Fay went diving on the west end of the island. While the visibility was apparently less than she had hoped for, she did manage to see every fish that was on the two pages covering Moorea in one of our fish books. That included this Lemon Shark.

Today we went snorkeling and saw a very large sting ray with at least a 4-5' wing span and a 2' stinger. He was laying on the bottom mostly covered in sand with just his stinger protruding. We were observing him from about 20' away when he decided we were close enough and swam away. I never tire of watching rays swim, gracefully flapping their wings as they sweep through the water.

Chez Fay adds rotating view

2011-08-27T18:46:00.000-06:00

Out of the marina and into Cook's Bay on Moorea. Door to door it was about a three hour trip, but what a change! Chez Fay has always had great food, but now she's added a rotating view!

The bay is ringed with mountains that rise dramatically from sea level to 3,000' - 4,000'. The mild katabatic winds swirl within the bay and cause the view to constantly change as we rotate around the essentially placid water. Upon arrival we shared the bay with just two other boats, and the one in this photo departed this morning, later replaced by a large catamaran.

Last night Chez Fay started with an appetizer of feta, kalmata olives and Rustic Bakery flat breads while I enjoyed a gin and tonic and Fay had a glass of Chilean chardonnay. Then moving on to dinner she served a lovely risotto with a side of zucchini and tomatoes, complemented by a white Burgundy. This restaurant never disappoints!

Quick trip

2011-08-25T15:45:00.001-06:00

Tuesday evening I took a quick trip to Raiatea to help another cruiser. The trip was mostly uneventful. We encountered a large rain squall between Tahiti and Moorea, and another as we approached Raitea, but during the night we had almost completely clear skies. There was no wind, the calm before the storm, so we motored the entire 120 miles.

While I was away, Fay was able to do a "wreck" dive in the lagoon at the end of the runway in Papeete and got this great shot of an Anemone fish, aka Clown fish.

I was glad we departed Tuesday as the forecast for deteriorating weather on Wednesday was quite accurate. It was cloudy and actually felt cold in Raiatea. There was cloud cover for the entire flight back and it was blowing 25-35kts in the marina when I returned to New Morning. The wind was right on the beam and while New Morning had no problems, the mega-yachts behind us (120' - 150') were not only heeling (as were we), they were pulled far to leeward and looked a bit precarious. Sunny skies and light winds when I awoke this morning.

We plan to depart for Moorea tomorrow morning.

Back in the marina

2011-08-23T13:45:00.001-06:00

We had a great visit back to the states. We visited the kids, caught up with friends, enjoyed the summer fruit and reveled in the offerings at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market. Now we're back in the marina in Papeete and anxious to be back on the open water.

Being in a marina is always a mixed bag. On the one hand we enjoy the unlimited electricity, water and shopping. Here in Papeete there is a wide variety of groceries, great wine shop and pretty good boat supplies, although the prices are very high for everything.

On the other hand we've had barking dogs and the crews from the mega-yachts congregate about 10' from our transom to smoke since they are not allowed to do so on their own boats. And yesterday we learned that the boat next to us was very close to having a major fire when a battery leaked, shorted some wiring and was smoking when the owner discovered it. Boat fires are rarely contained and usually a total disaster. We would have been scrambling to get New Moring out of harms way.

Sunday we drove about half way up the mountain behind Papeete to an altitude of about 2,000'. A great view of the harbor and Moorea. We also walked through a training facility for the local special forces with lots of obstacles courses and all manner of climbing facilities. A bit odd to stroll through that on our hike up the mountain.

I spent quite a few hours up the mast the last few days doing some maintenance on our foredeck and steaming lights. Then I installed a guard over the steaming light to keep loose reef lines from fouling it as we have experienced a few times before. We're also catching up on a variety of other maintenance projects with all the parts we hauled back from the states. We have enough parts and projects now to keep us busy for a few weeks while we're at anchor on Moorea and Huahine.

One of the other cruisers here in the marina has found himself without crew. I'm going to help him take his boat to Raiatea, about 120 miles away. We'll take his boat to the CNI storage yard, the same facility where we'll also store New Morning in October. It should be a fairly short trip, depart this afternoon and arrive tomorrow morning. With luck I'll catch the late afternoon flight from Raitea back to Tahiti and be home for dinner!

Then Fay and I hope to depart on Thursday or Friday for Moorea.

Deja Vu

2011-08-05T11:54:00.000-06:00

We got home and were barraged with email from friends who had seen New Morning in Sunset Magazine. This was a mystery to us since we had no idea how Sunset could have photos of New Morning. The mystery was solved when we bought a copy of Sunset and saw that it was our prior New Morning, a Swan 44. This was a photo session we did with Abner Kingman back in 2005. She's still berthed just three blocks away and it's great to see she's still newsworthy.

Alternate Reality!

2011-07-26T08:52:00.000-06:00

Home in California, an alternate reality! There are so many people and so much advertising and marketing input. Walking into LAX and then out onto the curb to change terminals was a huge shock. Even Panama City didn't seem as busy. And coming into SFO there were so many lights.

In the front door and down to the basement to retrieve a bottle of wine. A glass of Taft Street Winery Russian River Chardonnay never tasted so good! Followed closely by fantastic fruit, vegetables and bread. Heirloom tomatoes, peaches, berries, and Acme bread. Wow, what my palette has been missing. Dinner last night at Bar Bocce, a new restaurant in Sausalito; outstanding!

OK, getting past that I pulled some photographs together on the plane and just uploaded them. For your viewing pleasure please see Passage to the Galapagos, Galapogos, and our Passage to French Polynesia.

More photos coming.

Vacation from the adventure

2011-07-23T18:54:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow we're returning to California for a few weeks to catch up with friends and family. We'll be back in Tahiti in about three weeks to continue on to the leeward islands of the Societies.

I posted a few pictures of our passage from Panama to the Galapagos.

Site updates

2011-07-19T16:08:00.000-06:00

I've published a few updates to the information on the site. Specifically:

Data Networks v2.2 diagram at the bottom of the Electronics page.
Revised the Sail & Rig Plan page.
Added a page on the Cockpit and Deck Plan.

And I'm sorting through photographs of the last five months of sailing. Hope to post those soon!