svbeachhouse

Category: By Date Photos

  • Leaving Tahiti – touring Moorea and sail to Huahine……

    August 27, 2016 (-10 on UTC)

    Dear Friends and Family,

    We finally got the engines installed, the boom attachment (gooseneck) fixed and the steering seals replaced and we’re off to the island of Moorea, an entire 12 miles away!

    Everything seemed fine (but standby – stuff yet occurs).

    We motored across the “Sea of the Moon” as the channel is known in Polynesian – the body of water between Tahiti and Moorea.

    We anchored in an old familiar spot and would do an island drive, self guided tour the next day before heading the 80 miles to the island of Huahine – The island of the women in Polynesian.

    Tony Roberts from s/v “Tactical Directions” had to return to Papeete and took this photo of us as we were leaving the dock. This was our ‘home” at Marina du Papeete for the previous 2 1/2 month while doing repairs..

    The island of Moorea in the background. A local “V6 Crew” in their canoe with Tahiti’s reef at the main harbor exit behind them.

    Canning is the national sport and a complete lifestyle for many Polynesians. This is the entrance to the harbor at Papeete with the notice to call Port Control as the airport runway is just off to our right. You need permission to pass in either direction. The “Aranui 5”, one of the local inter island cargo and tour ships is in the back ground.

    This is one of many high speed catamaran ferries that go between Tahiti and Moorea daily. The trip can be as little as 25 minutes each way. Many locals actually commute.

    This is an important memory of my time in Tahiti in 1977. This is the very spot, right behind the navigational mark, that my 32 foot ketch, “Triad II” went aground. That’s another story for another time. Fortunately, we were towed off the reef the next morning and the conditions were extremely benign that fateful June evening in 1977.

    Moorea and the “Sea of the Moon” as seen from Tahiti. The trip to the northern anchorages is 12 miles.

    Arriving at Moorea, you can see the inter island “puddle jumper” who left Papeete 10 minutes before hand, about to land on the outer motu runway.

    Oponohu Bay – Moorea. This is m/v “Wind Spirt” – a sort of sail-power cruise ship. You get the feel and the experience of the “days of sail”, but of course the sail is mostly for show. The landmark in the back ground is the famous “Sharks Tooth”, seen in many Hollywood films from “South Pacific” to “Mutiny on the Bounty”. Captain Bligh as well as Captain Cook actually did enter and anchor here.

    Tiare Nikki… Nikki loved the floral lei’s and head flowers known as “Tiare’s”,worn by many of the local women and enjoyed having the fresh flowers and floral scents around the boat any time.

    Rainbow at Oponohu Bay.  This is the parallel and sister bay to “Cooks Bay” to our left.  Huge cruise ships can enter and anchor in these tow sister bays

    You really get the feel with this classic Swiss yacht of the olden days of life at sea under sail.

    A Byrd on a Wire!…. This classic sailing vessel was gaff rigged and had “ratlines” to go aloft. These allow the crew to inspect and repair gear as well as have a longer distance view of low lying reefs and atolls.

    Captain Scott, on tour with First Mate Nikki in Oponohu Bay, Moorea.

    The floral “Tiare” with many of the local flowers including the gardenias and frangipani. The smell was fabulous and would waft everywhere through the boat.

    “Wind Spirit” under full sail. Actually, I think the sails can add only about 1 knot of boat speed and quite a bit of stability to these hybrid cruise ships. They would be in Huahine after an over night passage

    Sunset at Moorea. Nuff’ said.

    We rented a car for the day island tour and were lucky enough to come upon this small boutique “pension” who allowed us to use their dinghy dock for the day.

     

    This is the classic “Belvedere” photo that everyone was lining up to take. I took many with Cindy here in 2009 and 2010…..Life’s memories.

    Oponohu Bay on the left (west) and Cooks Bay on the right (east). Despite the fact that “Cook’s Bay” is on the right, it was actually Oponohu Bay that Captain Cook anchored in. Both are easy entry and offer incredible protection for an anchored boat. We’re anchored to the left of the peak and behind it, inside the reef.

    At the foot of the “Belvedere” we got a close up look at some of the incredible geology of Moorea.

    There are experimental farms on Moorea and in the last 10 years or so, they’ve started growing pineapples.

    The islands of Tahiti, Moorea and especially the “Sous les Vents” (leewards) are renowned for their vanilla plantations.

    The Vanilla plants are completely enclosed in netted pens to keep certain pests away which would otherwise decimate the vines. We caught this dragonfly resting on the inside of one of the vanilla pens.

     

    This is a a gardenia which is the primary flower used in the “Tiare Tahiti’ floral crowns.

    This is the northwest side of the top of the island as seen from the top of “Magic Mountain”. Magic Mountain is a local view hike that takes about 45 minutes and is quite steep. We were pretty tired and of course, it’s hot!

    The second largest town is below us and the Intercontinental Hotel is on the far left. The hotel is home to the stingray feeding (yes you can and it’s safe) and the boats anchored below are at the “underwater tiki garden”. This is an attraction only, not a true piece of archeology.  There are about 5-6 statures underwater that you can snorkel or dive around.

    Between the Bays.  Oponohu is below us and the entrance to Cooks Bay is in the distance. “Beach House” is third from the left.

    “Beach House” is the bottom right boat in this photo. We’re anchored in 8 feet of crystal clear water. One of the famous “overwater bungalow” style hotels is at the top. These are the most popular style hotels in the Tropical World. Many include a private entry into the ocean right in the middle of your room. Many have swim steps right off the patio. You choose

    Kiteboarding inside the reef. This expert went over 5 miles back and forth inside the reef with a spectacular view both above and below the water. The water is quite flat where he is and is protected by the outer reef above.

    He’s kiteboarding in less than 6 feet of water for the most part. Pretty cool, exciting and beautiful.


    This is one of the big inter island ferries heading back to Tahiti from the eastern bay. Pretty nice digs and a great anchoring spot

    All good things must end and we’re very behind our sort of schedule to reach Australia by mid December. Yeah, it sounds like it’s a long time and a long way off, but with 4500 miles to cover and lots of other places to visit, it was time for our boot heels to be wanderin’….Sunrise over Moorea en route to Huahine.

    Good Bye Moorea. We left at 05:45, first light to exit the reef. The trip was 80 miles and we wanted to be in Huahine before dark.

    En route to Huahine, this private jet (we assume?) took a liking to us and made several passes

    You get a feel for how low he was with our radio antenna in the foreground.

    Whale HO!  We saw a lone whale as we were half way down the island’s west side and right when we got to the widest part of the island, we saw this group of three humpback whales.  This was Nikki’s FIRST OFFICIAL Whale sighting.

    A Whale of a Tail……and you wouldn’t have believed it if you didn’t see it for yourself!  The main town of Fare is in the distance where we would anchor for two nights.  We UNFORTUNATELY discovered that one of our alternators “power take off” had broken off the starboard engine and we would end up short circuiting our time on Huahine which was a disappointment. We briefly made a few new friends including Steve and Leilee on s/v Leeward. He’s sort of a “Jimmy Buffet” gone wild kind a guy.

    We covered the 25 miles to Raiatea two days later where we were for eight days, touring and yet again….getting our engines “fixed”.  We also repaired a small annoyance on our boom (which made Capt. Scott happy) and met up with old friends Pete and Sue Wolcott (s/v Kiapa Nui) and Eric and Leslie from (s/v Kandu).

    We are currently in Bora Bora about to depart for the island of Suwarow in the Cook Islands tomorrow!  Suwarrow (pronounced ‘Suvorov” was made famous by self imposed castaway, Tom Neale who lived there alone from the mid 1950’s to 1976 when he passed away. He wrote a book about his adventures, “An Island to Oneself” which we will read on our projected 4 day sail to this very remote island.

    We most likely will have to finish up our next main blog with photos from our time in Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora Bora when we next get internet in American Samoa within the next month!  After Suwarrow, we may try to enter the very remote and infrequently visited “Rose Atoll” en route to American Samoa.

    We’ll keep you all up to date on the “Ship’s Mini Blogs and Position Reports” as we go on our way.

    Feel free to drop us a note, love to hear from you all!

    Scott and Nikki – Bora Bora, French Polynesia

       

         

  • Tahiti ! – 2016…..

    Dear Friends and Family, (Posted August 27th, 2016)

    These photos were from our experiences in Tahiti (besides the boat projects!). We’ll be off for Moorea and the Leeward Islands of the Societies tomorrow. After Moorea, we’ll do a long day sail to Huahine, then Raiatea, Tahaa and finally Bora Bora before heading off to the very remote Suwarrow Atoll in the Northern Cook Islands.

    Enjoy!

    Shark’s Tooth peak – Cooks Bay, Moorea. This is one of the most notable geographic features of the island where Captain Cook stopped in the calm anchorage which takes his name.

    Soon after our arrival in Tahiti, the annual Pacific Puddle Jump Party was going to start the last weekend of June. This event is held annually for all the participants who sailed from the West Coast of the America’s. As we did this year, many via the Panama Canal with lots of boats from the US East Coast and Europe as well. As “Beach House” was suffering from engine malaise, we went over to Moorea (only a 10 mile trip) on s/v “Enchanter” with Lisa and Rijnhard Keet out of Australia. We roughed it in the Club Bali Hai hotel!

    This is the view from The Club Bali Hai. There were expected to be up to 70 boats, but the final count was around 40. Still, an impressive turnout. This bay is parallel to Oponohu Bay and is large enough to hold any size Cruise Ship. They come here frequently. Oponohu Bay is reputed to be the bay that Jimmy Buffet wrote his song, “One Particular Harbor” about.

    Cooks Bay, Moorea. The fleet arrives!  “Shark’s Tooth” peak is in the far left background, shrouded in the clouds.

    These two bays are typically very calm and despite their depth, very good anchorages.

    The main activity for the cruisers would be the 6 person canoe races. There were at least 8 heats to get into two semi finals and then the finals.  Kyle Bengar of s/v “Blowin’ Bubbles” was our Master of Ceremonies. Here we see the local talent teaching the “gringos” how to paddle a canoe!

    All together now!

    Here’s the start of one of the heats featuring the winner – Team ENCHANTER –  SWIFTSURE with Rijnhard, Lisa, Lanny and Ginger.

    Here comes Team Enchantrer-Swiftsure with a handy lead in the first heat!

    Here’s the TEAM after their first heat victory preparing for the next heat. They made the finals, but there were “ringers” about who stole their victory!!!!

    Latitude 38 Magazine is the co-sponsor of the event and here is Major Domo Andy Turpin with the crew from s/v “Starry Horizons”, David and Amy out of Texas.  They transited the Panama Canal about 2 weeks ahead of us.

    This was the “kids race”. You wanna talk close! Look at this photo finish.  Actually, Team “Kandu” was winning easy but the pro paddlers slacked off to make it close. Almost cost em’ too!

    Back in Marina du Papeete, Nikki uses her “Whole Foods” (don’t we miss that out here!) cart to walk to “Champion” Supermarche. She is THE most fantastic chef. I won’t even say cook!  At first we were docked right off the highway behind her in this photo, but the dirt and noise from the traffic got to be too much so we moved to the outer dock which is MUCH nicer.

    The “Heiva” is the annual “Fete” or festival. It’s about a month long and coincides with Bastille Day.  There are canoe racing competitions, dancing, fire walking and literally several thousand participants.

    The opening parade of the “Fete” for the “Heiva”

    This is the locals Market. Nikki really enjoyed this place and sometimes would come over at 5 a.m. when they opened to get special goodies.

    This is the main Catholic Church in Papeete and we got to hear Leslie from s/v “Kandu” sing with the choir. She even had several solo’s.

     

    And just when I was starting to get into really good shape with my weight routine…………(see next photo)…..

    Some people say drinking is dangerous. You never knew how dangerous until you open a bottle of wine with a wine key and it breaks in your hand. This “V” shape fracture became a very efficient knife and cut the tendon completely through on my left index finger. I guess it was ironic as we would have to wait so long for repairs that I had more time to heal.

    In some ways, I was very fortunate. The local Clinic Cardella was still open at 4:45 p.m on this Friday night and when I arrived an orthopedic surgeon was on duty. The next day, I had a general anesthetic and the tendon was re-attached.  The big damage was at the middle knuckle and I had to wear this splint for the better part of a month.

    I’d like to tell you it looks worse than it is. Unfortunately, now, 6 weeks after the injury I still only have about 1/2 function in the main knuckle and virtually no use (I can’t bend) the distal (end) knuckle. It does however LOOK much better and the scar was minimized by my daughter Skye’s suggestion to use Vitamin E oil topically. I keloid badly and it really smoothed out the skin. I expect it to take the better part of a year to get most of the function back. It may never fully recover but the good news is – I’m right handed!  Needless to say, I’m very careful about opening wine bottles these days. The funny colors are from the betadine antiseptic that I washed it daily with.

    Rijnhard and Lisa of s/v “Enchanter” – dinghy-ed in from Marina Taina, almost 5 mile away. Lisa had a little dermatological spot removed so we could commiserate together.

    Nikki loves the local colorful clothes and outfits. The hats for her are just wonderful. So very 1950’s. She is a “1950’s” kinda gal.

    This is the office of the “Haut Commisere” (The High Commissioner). Nikki and I had to get a 6 week visa extension due to waiting for our new engines to arrive from Australia. They were very helpful.

    Nikki couldn’t resist these floral arrangements and several appeared weekly aboard “Beach House”.

    This IS the national sport of French Polynesia. There are racks and racks of these canoes in every size and variety. This group is right next to us at the Marina. Everyday we see crews out practicing in the harbor.

    I’d spent over a YEAR of my life on this island (Yes it’s true – 17 months actually) and I’d never been “up mountain”.  Nikki and I did a very long arduous off road vehicle tour to see the interior. Tahiti is shaped very much like Maui in Hawaii and similar to Catalina Island in California – however much higher – up to 8000 feet.

    Ther are hundreds of these waterfalls all over Tahiti. This one is associated with a hydro electric plant which supplies a significant portion of the islands power.  The rest is diesel generation.

    The tallest peaks of the caldera are just under 3000 meters (8000 feet or so). The valley is very rugged and has stunning views.

    This is view down the valley where the now extinct volcano crater is. There is an “Eco Tourist’ lodge here. Lots of hikes, etc. It’s “Eco” because it doesn’t have much in the way of facilities, but it’s very pricey.

    “Hole in the Wall”. There are no natural cuts through the center of the island and this tunnel is about 100 meters (yards) long.

    Here we are looking west after exiting the “Hole in the Wall”.  These very scary cliff side roads are passable, but haven’t been used past here in 10 years. Why? Because one of the villages wanted more money for the tourist vehicles to use it. Note the natural reservoir here at about 5000 feet.

    Tahiti is quite a mix. Sometimes we forget it’s a busy commercial harbor. When we take the boat for fuel to the other Marina, we have to ask the Port Control permission to pass the airport both ways due to the height of our mast!  It was a ship just like this that brought us our new engines from Sydney, Australia after they were trucked there from Melbourne, Australia.

    It would become a daily affair for us to wave goodbye to new friends. Everyone else was heading west as to not have to rush across the Pacific for cyclone season which starts in November. Here, Johnnie and Debs of s/v “Laros”  are headed west. We hope to catch up with them by Oz.

    You can see the huge cargo ship on the back left and the weekly Cruise Ship on the right.  Several of these vessels were on “round the world cruises” starting out of Sydney.

    Nikki loved watching the floral arrangements being made.

    We often had these lovely arrangements, worn like a crown adorn our interior. Just smell the Frangipani – imagine it!

    No trip to Tahiti would be complete without a visit to James Norman Hall’s home. James Norman Hall wrote in collaboration with Charles Nordhoff, “Mutiny on the Bounty”. The original film starred Marlon Brando and took quite a lot of historic license (as did Hall) with the facts of the story. Fletcher Christian wasn’t the so much the protector of the oppressed sailor as the film would suggest and Bly wasn’t the beast he was played out to be. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between. James Norman Hall’s son was a three time Oscar winning cinematographer and married briefly to Kathrine Ross who starred in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.

     

    Original Film poster of Marlon Brando in “Mutiny on the Bounty” at the James Norman Hall residence.

    This is Matai Bay where both the “Bounty” and James Cooks, “Endeavour” were anchored.  We are standing at “One Tree Point” which Cook described in his log book. Point Venus is just to your right. Papeete is in the background with it’s classic barrier reef. The island of Moorea is under the clouds in the distance.

    Nikki at the obelisk denoting Captain James Cook’s sighting the transit of Venus in 1769.

    As we had the car this day, we invited friends Pete and Sue Wolcott to join us for a very special dinner at “Le Belvedere”.  This restaurant is up a 4 mile long, one lane road very high up above Papeete. Built in the 1960’s, it has recently changed hands and has had a major renovation. It is a spectacular spot, an amazing drive and a wonderful meal.  Papeete Harbor in the back ground. Get there for drinks at sunset!

    260 foot Super Yacht “Dragonfly” – rumored to be owned by one of the founders of Google.  She charters for more per week than most people make in a year.

    Party Boat Local Style. These are floating bar and swim hangouts. Some of them stay out for weeks and the guests are brought out in small boats. Note the reef behind the boat and the ocean outside is a bit bumpy.

    Nikki and I took French Lessons since we were here long enough. This is Odile who was one of our teachers. She went for a boat ride with us to Marina Taina to fuel up.

    It’s a small world after all!  The last time I saw this boat was right here at this very fuel dock. It has been to NZ, Europe and back with new owners and I’ve been around the world.  If Claire and Jason are out there, here is their former ride which used to be s/v “Elvis the Gecko”!

    It’s a long story – just ask if you really want to know. The current owners of this Oyster 62 are from Ireland.

    Nikki has her Mum’s journal from when she and her Step Dad did a world cruise back in the 1980’s. This is “Sea Princess” which is the name sake of the vessel that Iris and Steve went round the world on.

    I include this shot of the Marina which shows the 260 foot ‘Dragonfly” with  s/v “Vertigo” at 240 feet right behind her. It’s rumored to be owned by Rupert Murdoch. These boats are enormous – until you look at them next to “Sea Princess”.

    Local Artists: Nikki found some of these exquisite paintings and tapestries. Price – Very! Stunning nonetheless.

    This painting looks like a tapestry, many of which are done on coconut fiber cloth and the traditional tree barks.

    Yet another Goodbye! This time it’s s/v “Tactical Direction” with Tony and Justin aboard. They too were headed for Oz.

    We won’t be the last lonely eagles. s/v “Bantu” in the middle and s/v “Ocean Star” in the foreground are still both waiting for final repairs on their transmissions.  We hope to see them all downwind from here.

    Our last goodbye! (We hope). Here has been our home for the last 10 weeks at Marina du Papeete. We thank Manager Ken and Matai for their hospitality and assistance.

    We’ll be off in the morning for Moorea and our next reports will be “Ship’s Mini Blogs and Position Reports” as we head to the “Isles sous les vents” (The Islands under the wind).

    KIT (keep in touch!),
    Scott and Nikki

  • Tahiti Boat Projects – Papeete, Tahiti – 2016…..

    Dear Friends and Family, (August 25th, 2016)

    Well we are indeed getting ready to go on Saturday, August 27th!

     

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    This Blog will be about all the \”stuff\” we cruisers get to take care of and why \”cruising is the most expensive way to travel 15th class on Earth\”. The old definition is, \”Cruising is all about doing boat projects in exotic locations\”. We have yet again, proven it to be true!

    So here\’s the list:

    In Guatemala:

    We painted the decks, the bimini, the solar arch and dinghy davits, the lockers, the bilges and completely serviced the engines and generator. (That\’s the short story that took 4 months).

    We did preventative maintenance and upgrades on all our major systems including the engines, the water makers, the boom vang (more later) and the hydraulic steering when we were in Florida at the end of 2014.

    Here\’s what failed:

    The engines, the generator (figured that out in Panama) –  the water makers, the hydraulic steering the boom vang.  Ummm!  So much for preventive maintenance……

    When we were in Panama, we had both our engines \”rebuilt\” with new rings and bearings. When we were in Guatemala, we had the injectors, all external pumps, the heads and valves checked and all maintenance.

    200 Miles out of Panama, the engine rebuild failed. (We\’ve told the story in previous blogs). When we were in the Galapagos we were ripped off royally but the mechanic there who essentially wasted our time while I paid for his family of four to visit Disney World (NO, I\’m not kidding)! He probably still had cash left over after that trip as well.

    1000 miles out of the Marquesas, our steering began to fail.

    As we arrived in Raroia in the Tuamotus, our new boom vang leaked.

    We\’ve had upgrades done to both our water makers and due to the change of ownership at Spectra in the S.F. Bay area to Katydyn, it\’s been problematic at best. Spectra I fear will have customer service difficulties galore going forward.

    So join us for the photo tour of how we spent our \”Holiday in Tahiti\”….:-)

    The major affair of course was the engines. When we arrived, we were given an estimate to re-build them yet again. The previous rebuild in Panama failed as apparently the mechanic did not prepare the cylinders properly. As such, it created crankcase over pressurization and crankshaft oil leakage. That\’s the brief version. It turns out it was only slightly more expensive to buy new ones here in Tahiti, shipped from Australia,  than rebuild the old ones. We bit the bullet and suffered the month long wait for the new engines to arrive.

    Here\’s the first of our major projects:

    Engines: We purchased two new Yanmar 4J5H Engines which were essentially plug and play from our original 4J3H engines which were 14 years old, well pampered and only had 4000 hours on them.

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    Well, we didn\’t even go into the water maker issues as photos there would be of little interest. Suffice it to say after lots of struggle over many months, they now work fine. We\’ve had some other small and normal maintenance issues as well. We replaced our mainsail cover (it was rotted out after 6 years). This has been the year of the boat bite. Miss Piggy however is now ready to rock and roll off to the Land of Oz with many stops along the way. We hope to get our last blog out here in Tahiti about the fun stuff we did and meeting lots of new friends along the way. More to come soon!

    Scott and Nikki – Papeete, Tahiti

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Tuamotu Islands – The Dangerous Archipelago – 2016…..

    Dear Friends and Family, (Written from Papeete, Tahiti – August 24th, 2016)

    This blog is about our time in the Tuamotu Islands and arrival in Papeete, Tahiti

    We looked at the weather which had been pretty rainy and rough in the Tuamotu Group and saw a 3 day weather window which would be just enough time for we cool fast cats to make the 500 mile sail from the Marquesas to the Tuamotus. Here’s Nikki doing one of her favorite “sun down rituals”, blowing the conch shell to say farewell to the day.
    The approaching front at the end of our second day. We knew we’d get hit with some big wind in the early morning hours. We’d tactically planned for this staying way east so we could fall away with the wind shift we expected at the usual “O’Dark Thirty”…..:-) This would allow us to stay on a nice angle of sail and not get too beat up on the home stretch as we then headed southwest.
    The weather was still going to be a bit strange. We were trying to essentially head due south which is a difficult thing to do with the normal South East to southerly winds. There were lots of unusual cloud formations as two fronts were getting closer to each other. Squalls and rainbows were the order of the day. Beautiful, but it also meant we needed to literally keep our “weather eyes” open.
    On the morning of our third day, we arrived at Raroia. You can see from the disturbed water, that the current is running hard. Normally, this is no big deal for us as we are easily able to power through even 5+ knots of current. However, as you all may recall, our engines were VERY suspect. As such, we were making only 1 knot against the height of the entry current. Once on the inside of the lagoon, we were home free.
    Currents can be as strong as 6 knots, but that’s not the norm. There are computer programs to help with entry times, but the best information usually comes from the boats inside the lagoons. Sometimes, you can even see “standing waves” which can be two meters (6 feet high). I had seen that at our trip to Rangiroa in 2009. It’s a bit daunting! This is one of the reasons that the Tuamotus are known as “The Dangerous Archipelago”.
    s/v “Enchanter”  (Lisa and Rijnhard from Sydney) inside the eastern shore of Raroai Atoll. The main reason these islands were known as the “Dangerous Archipelago” is that there are 77 atolls, none of which are taller than a coconut tree. As such, navigation prior to GPS was to say the least harrowing. They were not widely visited by anyone prior to GPS and once the advent of modern navigation technology was easily available, they’ve been a cruisers Mecca ever since.  There are also what are known as “Bommies” located inside the lagoons. These are coral heads that sometimes are only a few inches below the water and require strict attention and judicious use of “eyeball navigation”.  More than one boat has come to grief in these islands. While we were in French Polynesia this year, at least two were a total loss.
    “Kon Tiki Island” – This is the famous “motu” (or small island) where in 1947, the Kon Tiki raft with Thor Heyerdahl and crew washed ashore. Here is now a monument placed in 2007, commemorating his voyage. This proved it was possible to use indigenous materials from South America and literally drift/sail to islands of the Pacific. Heyerdahl was the world’s leading proponent of the theory that the Islands of the Pacific were inhabited from South America and not from East Asia which is still the predominant belief among most archeologists. As sailors, we think Heyerdahl had it right as it’s hard enough getting here downwind. Upwind is seemingly impossible – that is – coming from the west. For more on “Kon Tiki”, click the link here: “Kon Tiki” Expedition – Thor Heyerdahl – 1947
    Kon Tiki Commemorative placard.
    Here you can see how low lying the atolls are. At night, without GPS and accurate charts this would be a nightmare to try and sail around. In other words, don’t do it unless everything is working well and you’re confident of your abilities. One of the boats lost here was at night this year. There are at least 77 of these atolls and they are as close together as a few miles in some cases. There is also lots of current. Be careful out there folks! Heyerdahl’s raft washed up more or less where you see the reef’s edge in the background. It was pretty much pounded to pieces in the surf.
    Socializing is a big deal with we cruisers out here and “beach barbies” a common event. From Left to Right: Kyle and Shelley of “Blowin’ Bubbles”, Scott and Nikki, of “Beach House” and Lanny and Ginger of “Swiftsure”.
    Chuck, Nikk and Linda. (Chuck and Linda are from San Diego, California).
    Chuck and Linda were with me and Cindy in 2009 at Mexico’s Revillegegos Islands. It was truly one of the best experiences any of us had ever had, spending 6 weeks interacting daily with enormous Manta Rays. We hadn’t really seen each other in 6 years and it was great to have Nikki meet them and finally get some quality catch up time. We stay in frequent email contact.
    s/v “Jacaranda” Chuck Houlihan and Linda Eidiken. They’v been cruising for at least 15 years.
    Kyle looking at all that cash!….The big industry in the Tuamotus is Pearl Farming. Black Perls are the specialty of French Polynesia and here, we and the crew of “Bubbles” did a tour of the local pearl farm on Raroia. We have to watch out in the lagoon when moving around that we don’t run over their lines too!
    Christine from “Bubbles” is observing this gal along with about 7 others, who were “pearl seed experts”. They know how to open and place a small synthetic (literally irritant) inside the pearl to maximize it’s shape, size and color. The “seeders” are imported seasonally from Asian nations to contract this work.
    Pearl Seeding is an art form. Here are the tools of the trade. It’s quite the assembly line to watch. About 50,000 pearls of various quality are harvested in Raroia annually.
    Off to Tahanea…. Another of the Tuamotus and a “night/day” sail (carefully!) was the atoll of Tahanea. You can again see the ripping pass currents as there are few outlets for the enormous amount of water trying to escape the lagoons.
    Beach Party…..This anchorage was nicely protected from the 20 knots “breeze” just around the corner and we had about 6 boats here for our very brief stay.
    Christine (crew on “Bubbles”) and Nikki checking out an occasionally used beach house. Locals will often move around the islands fishing and set up these temporary living quarters.
    Nikki and I fell in love with this tree. It’s color, texture and anthropomorphisation was spectacular.
    Human Form – This was clearly part of the appeal and the colors and texture were magnificent. We wish we could have taken it with us. What a center piece in a natural environment.
    Rainbow at Tahanea Atoll.
    Our third island in the group would be my favorite of all – Fakarava
    The Greatest of Ironies.
    When Cindy and I were in Fakarava in 2010, we met the local dive guide Marc Reteneaur. Marc was just the best guy ever. He left Fakarava shortly after we did and hasn’t been back since. I had no idea, he had just returned! What a time we always have. Cindy and friends Jill and Dan and I dove with Marc in the South Pass at least 20 times. The memories were overwhelming and the diving was still just as great. Marc is the best!
    Kyle and Scott go diving….
    We did the south pass with the hundreds of Gray Reef Sharks and it was cool. Kyle and his wife Shelley are both dive instructors so the diving was extra easy.
    Water Music – For those of you have followed us recently, you might remember I did a post on “We’ve just been passed by a sports car”! Well, here is the owner himself, Pascal Imbert aboard his “rocket ship” s/v “Water Music”. We figured he hurt his arm because he was going so fast, the wind bent it back too quickly.
    Pascal is a semi-retired music mogul and it turns out we had two friends in common back in the US. He and his crew Tom were great guys and we did “sea stories” on steroids over fine French Wine. Pascal also turned us on to some great Miles Davis music which Nikki and I now adore. As you can tell from Kyle’s face, he enjoyed the wine!
    The gangs all here. Mostly, this is the crew of s/v “Kandu” from Marina del Rey (Ventura area too). The kids are big into diving – they just got certified and surfing is big too. Here, I’m dropping the group “up current” for the snorkel in the pass.
    Sharks! This is what diving in Fakarava is mostly about. There are HUNDREDS of gray reef sharks as well as the odd lemon, lots of black and white tips too.
    Lemons of Fakarava. These guys are about 2-3 meters. 6-8 feet long or so.
    We had to finally say good bye to most of our friends and keep moving which we did inside the lagoon. It’s a day motor/sail up to the north pass where after a HARROWING night we’d had a few days earlier, the weather just went flat and gorgeous. To see about our night on a “lee shore” in a mini storm. I’ll let Kyle tell the story of Beach House, Bubbles and Swiftsure. Link to Kyle’s blog here: Kyle and Shelley’s Blog in the Tuamotus Notice from the THIRD PHOTO DOWN on this link, Kyle’s story of our riding out the storm in Fakarava on a sudden “lee shore”: Lee Shore – Fakarava Storm
    Moods of Rotoava, Fakarava Lagoon – The Tuamotus. This is the second most populated island in the Tuamotus with about 750 people. Most are completely uninhabited. You can’t tell from looking at this photo, but there are dozens of “Bommies” in view. Very shallow rocks that are easy to hit. In the foreground, you can see some of their shadows.
    Lagoon at north Fakarava. We would leave the next day for the daysail to Toau.
    The day turned wet and wild and when we arrived in Toau, the current was so strong when we tried to pick up the mooring, our dock pole went for a swim. I had to dive to get it back. You can see our blue current line which I use for safety so I’m not blown out to sea. The current was about 2 1/2 knots which is too hard to swim against. The dock pole was rescued and I brought this live shell up to show Nikki. I returned it after viewing.
    The locals eat these. But be careful, some species have a spear like projection that can give you a nasty poke. The animal has retreated into it’s shell for protection and it’s constant movement along the bottom is why the shell is so polished on it’s underside.
    Entering Papeete Harbor – Weather Window Appears. As much as we’d have liked to spend a few more days at Valentin and Gaston’s “Anse Amyot” cove on Toau, the weather window opened and we were off for the overnight sail to Tahiti – the capital of French Polynesia.
    Point Venus – This is the exact spot (Lighthouse) where Captain James Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific, sighted the “transit of venus” in 1769 to help prove mathmatically the distance that the Sun was from the Earth. It’s also the view that the “Bounty” sailors of the famous “Mutiny on the Bounty” had as they arrived in Papeete.

    Entrance Buoy at Papeete Harbor. We would end up staying here almost 3 months getting our repairs done.  Remember you Yanks, it’s RED on the left when returning from the sea in most of the world outside the America’s!

    Our next blog will be about our time in Tahiti some of our sight seeing and mostly about our BOAT REPAIRS!

    Please recall that the definition of cruising a small boat is “doing boat projects in exotic locations”…..:-)  It is completely TRUE.
    I hope to get this out as soon as tomorrow, Friday at the latest as we’ll be off on Saturday to finally go WEST!
    KIT,
    Scott and Nikki
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  • Marquesas Islands – French Polynesia – 2016…..

    Dear Friends and Family, (written from Papeete, Tahiti – August 23rd, 2016).

    This blog was from this past May and June.

    We’re catching up on the last few blogs to get current and we’ll soon be off to the leeward islands of Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora Bora before heading off to Suwarrow in the Cook Islands.

    We did an amazing amount of “boat stuff” in Tahiti and we think we’re finally done. There is a big weather front coming through tonight and tomorrow and we believe we’ll finally head out west on Saturday!

    KIT,
    Scott and Nikki

    1
    After 3100 miles “at sea” on our 18 day passage from the Galapagos, Nikki hoists the colors! We would not be checking in at Fatu Hiva where we arrived the previous evening. We would do that bit of business in Hiva Oa, (35 miles to the north). However, it can be very difficult to get back here as it’s often upwind against the trade winds. The hiking, the bay and the views here are spectacular and it’s a “must not miss” destination in the Marquesas Islands.

  • Isla Isabela – Galapagos Islands (Photo Gallery)…..

  • Santa Cruz Island (Photo Gallery) – The Galapagos Islands…..

    We’re catching up on Ship’s Blog’s and Photo Galleries while we are awaiting the installation of our NEW ENGINES which arrived from Australia yesterday. Hopefully they will clear customs and be installed by the end of next week! We’ll be updating the main blog and photo galleries while we’re here! Enjoy!

    Arrival at Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
    We got right to work removing the port engine which had developed an oil leak at the crankshaft and was performing horribly since it’s rebuild in Panama. I had to fashion a block and tackle to haul the engine out of the engine room using the boom as our “crane”.
    Using two hard points we’d installed before leaving Los Angeles in 2007, we were able to use the ceiling in the engine room to move the engine into the opening of the hatch where we removed it and put into a water taxi to take ashore to have it inspected and crankcase seal replaced. We hoped for nothing more! – (eventually we would replace both engines due to the faulty rebuild when we arrived in Tahiti).
    While in Santa Cruz (The main island of the Galapagos), we did two day tours. This one was to a private tortoise reserve.
    The species of tortoise on the island of Santa Cruz are much bigger than the ones on San Cristobal that we had seen the week before.
    It’s pretty cool being able to come quite close to the animals and really get an up close view. I’m 6’4″ tall, so you can see this is a pretty good size tortoise. He was estimated to be about 30 years old and they live to be well over a 100 in many cases.
    Nik in the thick of it.
    Here’s the inside story of what a tortoise shell looks like without the tortoise. This and several other shells are in their museum.
    A rather unique perspective into a large tortoise shell.
    While we were at the tortoise reserve, we also stopped along the way to walk through a 1 km long lava tube formed by the islands volcano (which is now extinct). Nikki wasn’t to keen on going the entire way when we had to crawl on hands and knees for about 10 feet, so I continued on alone and met her the on the other side.
    Welcome to the wild side. Note the size of the spider in the middle of it’s web. The web was about 3 feet or (1 meter) across!
    The next day we walked from the boat to the Charles Darwin Center which is the main public viewing area for Santa Cruz Island’s tortoises.
    These guys are in a huge pen but have quite a great deal of freedom to move around. This was the home of “Lonesome George” who was believed to be the last of his specie when he died last year. However, rumor has it that a big announcement may be made within the next year and more “George’s” may have been found on the island of Isabella? Stand by, if so, it will make the “eco news”.
    Just in case you thought these guys couldn’t be a bit foreboding? We weren’t even close by the way.
    Long necks. This tortoise was curious about the people and came in for a look.
    Peek-a-boo!
    Yes indeed it was the Galapagos Tortoise that was the inspiration for the character “ET” in the film of the same name. I’m sure you can easily see the family resemblance.
    On yet another day, we went to the island of Baltra. This is an uninhabited bird, sea lion and iguana sanctuary. Interestingly, it takes a 30 minute boat ride to get to and is in sight of the main airport on Santa Cruz Island.
    It’s mating season and the male frigate birds pump up to attract a female. Talk about strutting your stuff….:-)
    The happy couples.
    Two mating pairs of frigate birds – Balta Island.
    Baltra is also home to the Blue Footed Boobie Bird.
    Another happy couple. Kiss Kiss.
    The males protect the nests and if you get too close, they are quite aggressive.
    We also saw lots of both land and marine iguanas. The land guys are like this one. the marine iguanas are black.
    Land Iguana, Baltra Island, The Galapagos Islands.
    As we were departing the island, several Galapagos Sharks came to see if we had anything interesting to give them. They’re used to cleaning up after the fisherman. This shark was about 6 feet long.
    After we left Baltra, our boat took us to a nice remote beach on the north side of Santa Cruz for lunch. Here Nikki fun watching the “Sally Lightfoot” crabs.
    Sally Lightfoot Crabs are this distinctive color and are all over the islands. The name “Sally Lightfoot” comes from their ability to escape expert trappers and author John Steinbeck commented on them while in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.
    Upon our return to Puerto Ayora, Nikki spotted this open air fish market where the Pelicans were waiting for scraps from the fishermen cleaning the fish.
    Needless to say, Nikki saw fresh Yellow Fin tuna and for 5.00 USD, we bought half the fish. As many of you know, I don’t like fish, but I will eat fresh tuna. Why? It doesn’t smell at all and that’s what I don’t like about fish!
    Nelson Mandela – Well, that’s what our main water taxi driver kiddingly called himself to all the boaters and tourists. He was a good guy and spoke English. Note Nikki’s fresh cleaned fish in hand.
    Last Night on Santa Cruz. I have tremendously mixed feelings about this island as the anchorage is usually very uncomfortable and the tour boat operators are down right dangerous. I’ll have lots more to say about all of this in the blog, but we hope you got a feel for Santa Cruz Island – the main island of the Galapagos in this gallery.

  • Panama Canal Transit – Ship\’s Blog and Photo Gallery…..

    This Ship’s Blog will be a little different. We’ll let the photos and captions tell the story…… After a new set of batteries and working out the final teething issues (we hope) – We’ll be off to the Las Perlas Islands of Panama on the 22nd of March. Shortly thereafter, off to the mysterious island of Malpelo and then the Galapagos!

    Thanks to all of you who “live blogged” along with us and sent us screen captures (several of which are in this gallery).

    Enjoy and KIT (keep in touch)!

    Scott and Nikki

    Pacific Puddle Jump – Class of 2016 from Shelter Bay, Colon – Panama. These are the owners and crews of vessels who would soon transit the canal for their journey’s across the Pacific. There was also a smaller group who were already through the canal who would have a party the next day. Other similar groups would be leaving from Mexico and California.
    Nikki ready to go from the Caribbean to the Pacific
    Mike and Beth Lonnes joined us and here Nikki an Beth are ready to go
    Our first “Advisor” Dalton and Mike as we ready to enter Gatun Locks for our trip from the Caribbean to Gatun Lake
    The last northbound vessel of the day is on the left and our “ship mate’ – Chembulk Minneapolis ready to enter the first lock at Gatun.
    s/v “Free Wheel” a 55 foot monohull would be our “raft tie” to starboard with Magnus at the helm.
    s/v “Kristiane” from Australia with Paddy at the helm would be our “raft tie” to port.
    Making the raft before we entered the first lock. Beach House would be in control as we were the “biggest” boat, though not the longest. I would be responsible for helm and propulsion throughout the transit of each lock.
    I can still here Dalton saying, “Follow that Ship”.
    Note the car bridge is still down as an ambulance suddenly had priority over us. It was lifted to allow us to enter within 5 minutes.
    Many of the locks were double doors. This one was a single, closing behind us at the first step up. Each step up was 27 feet and there would be three levels into Gatun Lake.
    Doors closing – our first lock and the excitement was palpable.
    The “unlock” is supposed to be potentially the most difficult as we are not only getting a mix of salt and fresh water, but Chembulk Minneapolis is using her engine to move through each confined lock. Think Warring Blender!
    It was getting dark as we started, but completely dark as we finished.
    We spent the night in Gatun Lake. Chembulk Minneapolis continued on her transit which would take her a total of about 8 hours. For us, a two day affair as we cannot keep up with the big ships on the 40 mile transit to the next set of locks at Pedro Miguel. The sunrise was spectacular. Here we have “Free Wheel” and “Kristiane’ tied together with a rubberized mooring buoy between them.
    The next day, we were joined by our new advisor, Roy. He and professional line handler Eric were great.
    The big ships move fast in Gatun Lake for the 40 miles transit from Pedro Miguel to the Gatun Locks.
    We stopped to wait for our friends and our new ship mate who was 12 miles behind us. This is Gamboa and you can see an ungainly car carrying ship on the left with “Titan” on the right. The crane, Titan, was built by the Germans in WW2 and was then the largest in the world. They used it for making U Boats! Panama bought it in the late 1960’s and use if for canal maintenance right up through the present time. They bought if from the German government for 1 dollar!
    Club Fed – Panamanian Style. This is where the deposed dictator, Manuel Noriega is spending his last days. Right on the Panama Canal. It’s a former U.S. Military prison.
    After navigating the very narrow “Galliard (aka: Culebra) Cut”, we finally came to the Centennial Bridge. This opened in 2000 and was a huge traffic buster for the Panamanians. The cut is so narrow that ships cannot pass each other for the better part of 8 miles. As such, the canal traffic more or less moves one direction or the other about half the time each day.
    The Brain Trust: Getting ready to enter the locks at Pedro Miguel. These locks have two steps down and are about 1 mile before the final step down into the Pacific at Miraflores.
    Here you can see how it’s done. The small boats only go through in the first trip of the day and usually 4 or less at a time. The guys on the sides, throw monkeys fists at the end of small lines (for weight) and our guys tie off to then with a big loop. They pull them back and just set them on the big bollards (cleats). The crews on the boats adjust the lines, not the guys on the sides.
    Cowgirl on a boat! Nikki relaxes (rare on this transit) while the guys handle the lines. Nikki was working non stop most of the time.
    Pedro Miguel Locks. We got here so far ahead of our “ship” that we had time to sit in the canal lock for over an hour by ourselves.
    A unique view of Pedro Miguel Locks.
    Mike and I were brainstorming that the view from “on high” would look quite cool.
    So, in the bosun’s chair I went and Mike hauled me to the top of the mast. Roy cringed a bit….:-)
    And the view from the top was well worth the ride!
    “Kristiane” on the left, “Beach House” in the middle and “Free Wheel” on the right
    Here from the top of the mast, you can see the double door system on each side of the control room.
    That’s me at the top
    I’m so trendy – my first “selfie”. I might add, a fairly unique one.
    Cap Ines – a Panamax Vessel. This ship is a container ship and is the absolute maximum size of the current canal. 105 feet wide and 880 feet (more or less long). She’s a moving city.
    Our ship, “Berkay N”, finally arrived! She sure looks small next to Cap Ines. Note the “Mules” (Electric trains) and cables tied off to the ship. The Mules are only used to center a vessel and keep them off the walls. They are locked to their tracks and manned. They can hear the Pilots, but cannot speak back to avoid confusion. They communicate with lights and bells only back to the Pilot abroad the vessel. In case you want a high paying job btw, the Pilots can make up to $400,000 USD/per year! They are in negotiations for up to $500,000! Nice job, if you can get it.
    Down we go at Pedro Miguel. This lock was only two steps down and is about one mile from here to the final locks on the Pacific side at Pedro Miguel. Note the cutouts in the wall on the center left. These are outdated cleats originally built when the canal was new. They are no longer used.
    Nikki waiting for the doors to open.
    Note the double doors. Originally, these were powered by small electric motors but now are powered by hydraulic rams which can be seen outboard up high on each door. The doors are actually held closed by the water pressure.
    The doors fold back flush to the walls so the Panamax vessels don’t rip them off the walls! The canals are essentially gravity fed and yes, some freshwater from the lake is lost on every opening. However, the lake is constantly overflowing into the ocean over a spillway and a dam, so this water would be lost anyway. Currently however, there is a drought and the spillways are turned off. The spillways were built at an engineered level to support the lakes constant depth to idealize the locks usage.
    “Cap (Cape) Ines” is a true moving city with up to 2500 containers. Each container is charged at about 80.00 each. As such, it cost Cap Ines about $200,000.00 USD for this transit. The canal nets about 5 million USD/day. A cruise ship at 140.00/passenger could cost up to $500,000.00 per transit!
    “Cap (Cape) Ines” is a true moving city with up to 2500 containers. Each container is charged at about 80.00 each. As such, it cost Cap Ines about $200,000.00 USD for this transit. The canal nets about 5 million USD/day. A cruise ship at 140.00/passenger could cost up to $500,000.00 per transit!
    A reverse view from the Miraflores Camera. Many of you wonderful friends and family sent us screen shots. Thank you all!. Here you see us in the same place as the previous photo with Cap Ines on our left – photo right. “Bekay N” trailing in the distance.
    Entering Miraflores from the Web Cam ahead of “Berkay N”.
    Nice and tight shot of the three of us rafted. For our line handler it had been an easy trip. The next lock would change that! (3 steps to the Pacific and the middle one is a doozy).
    Miraflores Visitors center. You can see all the folks watching the ships (and sailboats) come and go. The Web Cam is on the pole in the upper right off the building. Our advisor called ahead to make sure the camera was aimed at us – cool!
    MULES! in waiting. We were in just ahead of our Panamax friend – Cap Ines. He had 8 mules connected and you wouldn’t want to put anything like a part of your body between Cap Ines and the sides of the canal. It’s that tight!
    “Cap Ines” is YUUGE (as it is now popularly written). Look at the perspective of this vessel next to the guys on the dock.
    We had some time while waiting for “Berkay N” so we hammed a bit for the WebCam while waiting.
    Mike and Beth. Beth took more photos than I did and Mike ran the GoPro which made a cool time lapse video of the entire trip. I hope to post it soon!!!!
    Chill time before the last two locks.
    As we entered the second step of three, Advisor Roy said that due to the salt/fresh water mix in this part of the canal, we could expect a strong current from astern. This causes loss of steerageway and the micro excitement began! At first, I could handle it by literally backing the raft up. Paddy remained calm to port. (I wouldn’t have been!). Then a line handler not to be named, failed to tighten a stern line and we almost had a fiberglass sandwich with “Kristiane” threatening to be scraped off the wall. Believe me, you don’t want to touch that wall while moving in a piece of plastic. Our line handler Eric, quickly put a big fender between Kristiana and the wall averting disaster. And we were only 1000 feet from the end of the trip!
    Webcam from outside the locks caught us entering the Pacific. The first time Beach House has been here in four years.
    Our view: This is the last step down and much calmer than the one before it. Beach House returns to the Pacific Ocean. This lock is the highest at 50 feet. The reason is that there can be 28 foot tides on the Pacific side. These are the biggest tides we’ve seen anywhere in the world. In Australia, we had 18 foot tides in Mackay and Darwin.
    Passing the “Bridge of the America’s” into Balboa with Panama City off to our left. The traffic flows 24/7/365 at the Panama Canal.
    This dredge is non stop. It continuously makes sure that minimum depth is assured for the big ships. Free Wheel heads toward the anchorage.
    Beth documented the trip extremely well.
    Goodbye Roy!
    The pilot boats themselves are almost as big as we are. Here Roy gets to go home every night and await the next small boats. He told us a story that he actually went on a French 18 footer once. They ran out of gas in Lake Gatun as the “skipper” was told he only needed 5 gallons for the 55 mile trip!…
    Our agent, whose name was also Roy, came to collect our rented lines and fenders as well as Eric who he hires out as a line handler. Eric and Roy (our agent) were great and we’d use them again in a minute.
    Frank Gehry designed this “Bio Diversity” Museum that is on the Amador corridor adjacent to the canal in Balboa. The hill you see is called “Ancon” and is the highest point in Panama City. Great view and named for the first official vessel to transit the canal i 1914.
    A celebratory bottle of Verve Cliquot was shared for our successful transit and return to the Pacific Ocean.
    Sunrise at the anchorage at La Playita. This anchorage is not really as nice as the photo. The water is dirty,, the tides are extreme and the constant ship traffic causes more than a few crash and bangs. The boat in the photo is “Alcyane”, a fellow California Yacht Club member from Marina del Rey.

  • Panama Canal Transit – Ship\’s Blog and Photo Gallery…..

    This Ship’s Blog will be a little different. We’ll let the photos and captions tell the story…… After a new set of batteries and working out the final teething issues (we hope) – We’ll be off to the Las Perlas Islands of Panama on the 22nd of March. Shortly thereafter, off to the mysterious island of Malpelo and then the Galapagos!

    Thanks to all of you who “live blogged” along with us and sent us screen captures (several of which are in this gallery).

    Enjoy and KIT (keep in touch)!

    Scott and Nikki

    Pacific Puddle Jump – Class of 2016 from Shelter Bay, Colon – Panama. These are the owners and crews of vessels who would soon transit the canal for their journey’s across the Pacific. There was also a smaller group who were already through the canal who would have a party the next day. Other similar groups would be leaving from Mexico and California.
    Nikki ready to go from the Caribbean to the Pacific
    Mike and Beth Lonnes joined us and here Nikki an Beth are ready to go
    Our first “Advisor” Dalton and Mike as we ready to enter Gatun Locks for our trip from the Caribbean to Gatun Lake
    The last northbound vessel of the day is on the left and our “ship mate’ – Chembulk Minneapolis ready to enter the first lock at Gatun.
    s/v “Free Wheel” a 55 foot monohull would be our “raft tie” to starboard with Magnus at the helm.
    s/v “Kristiane” from Australia with Paddy at the helm would be our “raft tie” to port.
    Making the raft before we entered the first lock. Beach House would be in control as we were the “biggest” boat, though not the longest. I would be responsible for helm and propulsion throughout the transit of each lock.
    I can still here Dalton saying, “Follow that Ship”.
    Note the car bridge is still down as an ambulance suddenly had priority over us. It was lifted to allow us to enter within 5 minutes.
    Many of the locks were double doors. This one was a single, closing behind us at the first step up. Each step up was 27 feet and there would be three levels into Gatun Lake.
    Doors closing – our first lock and the excitement was palpable.
    The “unlock” is supposed to be potentially the most difficult as we are not only getting a mix of salt and fresh water, but Chembulk Minneapolis is using her engine to move through each confined lock. Think Warring Blender!
    It was getting dark as we started, but completely dark as we finished.
    We spent the night in Gatun Lake. Chembulk Minneapolis continued on her transit which would take her a total of about 8 hours. For us, a two day affair as we cannot keep up with the big ships on the 40 mile transit to the next set of locks at Pedro Miguel. The sunrise was spectacular. Here we have “Free Wheel” and “Kristiane’ tied together with a rubberized mooring buoy between them.
    The next day, we were joined by our new advisor, Roy. He and professional line handler Eric were great.
    The big ships move fast in Gatun Lake for the 40 miles transit from Pedro Miguel to the Gatun Locks.
    We stopped to wait for our friends and our new ship mate who was 12 miles behind us. This is Gamboa and you can see an ungainly car carrying ship on the left with “Titan” on the right. The crane, Titan, was built by the Germans in WW2 and was then the largest in the world. They used it for making U Boats! Panama bought it in the late 1960’s and use if for canal maintenance right up through the present time. They bought if from the German government for 1 dollar!
    Club Fed – Panamanian Style. This is where the deposed dictator, Manuel Noriega is spending his last days. Right on the Panama Canal. It’s a former U.S. Military prison.
    After navigating the very narrow “Galliard (aka: Culebra) Cut”, we finally came to the Centennial Bridge. This opened in 2000 and was a huge traffic buster for the Panamanians. The cut is so narrow that ships cannot pass each other for the better part of 8 miles. As such, the canal traffic more or less moves one direction or the other about half the time each day.
    The Brain Trust: Getting ready to enter the locks at Pedro Miguel. These locks have two steps down and are about 1 mile before the final step down into the Pacific at Miraflores.
    Here you can see how it’s done. The small boats only go through in the first trip of the day and usually 4 or less at a time. The guys on the sides, throw monkeys fists at the end of small lines (for weight) and our guys tie off to then with a big loop. They pull them back and just set them on the big bollards (cleats). The crews on the boats adjust the lines, not the guys on the sides.
    Cowgirl on a boat! Nikki relaxes (rare on this transit) while the guys handle the lines. Nikki was working non stop most of the time.
    Pedro Miguel Locks. We got here so far ahead of our “ship” that we had time to sit in the canal lock for over an hour by ourselves.
    A unique view of Pedro Miguel Locks.
    Mike and I were brainstorming that the view from “on high” would look quite cool.
    So, in the bosun’s chair I went and Mike hauled me to the top of the mast. Roy cringed a bit….:-)
    And the view from the top was well worth the ride!
    “Kristiane” on the left, “Beach House” in the middle and “Free Wheel” on the right
    Here from the top of the mast, you can see the double door system on each side of the control room.
    That’s me at the top
    I’m so trendy – my first “selfie”. I might add, a fairly unique one.
    Cap Ines – a Panamax Vessel. This ship is a container ship and is the absolute maximum size of the current canal. 105 feet wide and 880 feet (more or less long). She’s a moving city.
    Our ship, “Berkay N”, finally arrived! She sure looks small next to Cap Ines. Note the “Mules” (Electric trains) and cables tied off to the ship. The Mules are only used to center a vessel and keep them off the walls. They are locked to their tracks and manned. They can hear the Pilots, but cannot speak back to avoid confusion. They communicate with lights and bells only back to the Pilot abroad the vessel. In case you want a high paying job btw, the Pilots can make up to $400,000 USD/per year! They are in negotiations for up to $500,000! Nice job, if you can get it.
    Down we go at Pedro Miguel. This lock was only two steps down and is about one mile from here to the final locks on the Pacific side at Pedro Miguel. Note the cutouts in the wall on the center left. These are outdated cleats originally built when the canal was new. They are no longer used.
    Nikki waiting for the doors to open.
    Note the double doors. Originally, these were powered by small electric motors but now are powered by hydraulic rams which can be seen outboard up high on each door. The doors are actually held closed by the water pressure.
    The doors fold back flush to the walls so the Panamax vessels don’t rip them off the walls! The canals are essentially gravity fed and yes, some freshwater from the lake is lost on every opening. However, the lake is constantly overflowing into the ocean over a spillway and a dam, so this water would be lost anyway. Currently however, there is a drought and the spillways are turned off. The spillways were built at an engineered level to support the lakes constant depth to idealize the locks usage.
    “Cap (Cape) Ines” is a true moving city with up to 2500 containers. Each container is charged at about 80.00 each. As such, it cost Cap Ines about $200,000.00 USD for this transit. The canal nets about 5 million USD/day. A cruise ship at 140.00/passenger could cost up to $500,000.00 per transit!
    “Cap (Cape) Ines” is a true moving city with up to 2500 containers. Each container is charged at about 80.00 each. As such, it cost Cap Ines about $200,000.00 USD for this transit. The canal nets about 5 million USD/day. A cruise ship at 140.00/passenger could cost up to $500,000.00 per transit!
    A reverse view from the Miraflores Camera. Many of you wonderful friends and family sent us screen shots. Thank you all!. Here you see us in the same place as the previous photo with Cap Ines on our left – photo right. “Bekay N” trailing in the distance.
    Entering Miraflores from the Web Cam ahead of “Berkay N”.
    Nice and tight shot of the three of us rafted. For our line handler it had been an easy trip. The next lock would change that! (3 steps to the Pacific and the middle one is a doozy).
    Miraflores Visitors center. You can see all the folks watching the ships (and sailboats) come and go. The Web Cam is on the pole in the upper right off the building. Our advisor called ahead to make sure the camera was aimed at us – cool!
    MULES! in waiting. We were in just ahead of our Panamax friend – Cap Ines. He had 8 mules connected and you wouldn’t want to put anything like a part of your body between Cap Ines and the sides of the canal. It’s that tight!
    “Cap Ines” is YUUGE (as it is now popularly written). Look at the perspective of this vessel next to the guys on the dock.
    We had some time while waiting for “Berkay N” so we hammed a bit for the WebCam while waiting.
    Mike and Beth. Beth took more photos than I did and Mike ran the GoPro which made a cool time lapse video of the entire trip. I hope to post it soon!!!!
    Chill time before the last two locks.
    As we entered the second step of three, Advisor Roy said that due to the salt/fresh water mix in this part of the canal, we could expect a strong current from astern. This causes loss of steerageway and the micro excitement began! At first, I could handle it by literally backing the raft up. Paddy remained calm to port. (I wouldn’t have been!). Then a line handler not to be named, failed to tighten a stern line and we almost had a fiberglass sandwich with “Kristiane” threatening to be scraped off the wall. Believe me, you don’t want to touch that wall while moving in a piece of plastic. Our line handler Eric, quickly put a big fender between Kristiana and the wall averting disaster. And we were only 1000 feet from the end of the trip!
    Webcam from outside the locks caught us entering the Pacific. The first time Beach House has been here in four years.
    Our view: This is the last step down and much calmer than the one before it. Beach House returns to the Pacific Ocean. This lock is the highest at 50 feet. The reason is that there can be 28 foot tides on the Pacific side. These are the biggest tides we’ve seen anywhere in the world. In Australia, we had 18 foot tides in Mackay and Darwin.
    Passing the “Bridge of the America’s” into Balboa with Panama City off to our left. The traffic flows 24/7/365 at the Panama Canal.
    This dredge is non stop. It continuously makes sure that minimum depth is assured for the big ships. Free Wheel heads toward the anchorage.
    Beth documented the trip extremely well.
    Goodbye Roy!
    The pilot boats themselves are almost as big as we are. Here Roy gets to go home every night and await the next small boats. He told us a story that he actually went on a French 18 footer once. They ran out of gas in Lake Gatun as the “skipper” was told he only needed 5 gallons for the 55 mile trip!…
    Our agent, whose name was also Roy, came to collect our rented lines and fenders as well as Eric who he hires out as a line handler. Eric and Roy (our agent) were great and we’d use them again in a minute.
    Frank Gehry designed this “Bio Diversity” Museum that is on the Amador corridor adjacent to the canal in Balboa. The hill you see is called “Ancon” and is the highest point in Panama City. Great view and named for the first official vessel to transit the canal i 1914.
    A celebratory bottle of Verve Cliquot was shared for our successful transit and return to the Pacific Ocean.
    Sunrise at the anchorage at La Playita. This anchorage is not really as nice as the photo. The water is dirty,, the tides are extreme and the constant ship traffic causes more than a few crash and bangs. The boat in the photo is “Alcyane”, a fellow California Yacht Club member from Marina del Rey.

  • 2013-07 Brazil, French Guyana and Guyana – Photos