Fish on! and other good news

Sunday October 30, 2011
position: 15 degrees 17 minutes north, 154 degrees 40 minutes west

It seems that our luck has changed aboard ship. After a few unsuccessful fishing days, yesterday Tim got up and snuck out the fishing lure while i was down below for my morning nap (after my 3am to 6am watch). About 8am, just as I was hitting deep sleep, I heard the whining of the fishing line going out. I think, hmm, that must be tim putting out the fishing line. But wait, I think, I also hear Tim letting out the mainsail and reeling in the jib??? Oh my! That must be a real fish on the fishing line!!! I jump out of my bunk and hurtle out into the cockpit and grab the fishing rod and start trying to reel in the fish. I fight the fish for a while - it seems like an hour, my muscles are getting spazzy (it was probably 10 minutes or so?). Tim's not sure what kind of fish it could be - maybe tuna, but it's fighting harder than tuna usually do - this fish kept making a run for it every few minutes.

At one point the pole holder twists and i almost lose the pole -- I'm so tired Tim has to help me to get the rod out of the rod holder and into the fighting belt. Then i am too weak and shaky and Tim has to finish reeling him in... and we finally catch a glimpse of the HUGE mahi mahi that we've hooked. It is such a beautiful fish. Tim thinks it was a 30+ pounder. All I know is I could barely hold the thing up for the picture, that's how heavy it was. it was easily 4 feet long. So, we've been dining well for the past 24 hours! And should have some left to share with our friends when we arrive the big island!

And the other good news - I am back on my computer -- it did just need to dry out! Not sure yet if there is any damage, but was able to get on and everything seems in order, and i've backed up everything again. Phew.

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halfway there - resend

position on Saturday oct 29 at noon (hawaii time): 12 degrees 58 minutes north, 153 degrees 55 minutes west
sent the below message yesterday, but had wrong address, so here goes again!
*****
position: 10 degrees 16 minutes north, 153 degrees, 18 minutes west
5 days out of Fanning Island, about 500 miles to go to the Big Island of Hawaii

Things can get rough on the ocean, when you least expect it. We learned that the hard way yesterday, when we had the computer out on the nav table. I had written a blog message, Tim had read it over and written a few emails, and he got up to go the the head while i was getting ready to come in from deck and send out the messages. All of the sudden we hear a boom and a big splash noise. We had forgotten to close the hatch when we got out the computer...it was a beautiful calm afternoon, and no waves had come over the cabintop for hours, and it's really hot inside the cabin without the hatch open. And we paid the price. The ceiling hatch was only open a crack, but somehow gallons of water came in and soaked our bed/settee, and splashed the computer, frying it. As of now, it's still not working. Argh. Luckily we have this old backup computer that has been Tim's. I'm pretty good about backing things up, but i'm not sure if all the pictures i took on fanning made it onto my backup drive... I sure hope so! Maybe the computer just needs a day or so to *dry out* - we've seen that with cell phones that took a dunking!

Otherwise all is going well, we've made good progress and had good winds with the exception of one very light wind night where we motor-sailed for 8 hours. Wednesday was a busy day - i was on watch at dawn when a great big pod of dolphins (i would guess there could've been 50+ really little cute ones) joined us for about an hour jumping and leaping out of the water, and playing in our bow wake. They amaze me how they are able to simultaneously surface, 4-5 in a row next to each other. Quite the synchronized swimmers! Today we were joined again at dawn by a much smaller group (maybe 10-20 dolphins). They seem like they are less than 5 feet long, super cute. We had some calm enough weather where Tim was able to get the big jib winch taken apart and fixed, and he removed the bathroom hatch and re-caulked it to stop the leaking up there. Luckily he finished that job and got the dinghy repositioned over the hatch just before a big squall hit - it rained for over an hour that afternoon. I of course was battling seasickness still and not much use for any chores - finally feeling better as of yesterday though!

Yesterday evening, besides frying the computer, we lost our staysail shroud. The fitting where it attaches to the deck broke, so we won't be able to use our hank on staysail -- which is a real bummer since we're now trying to head as close as possible into the Northeast trade winds where it would be really useful.

So, it's been an eventful first half of the trip. The blog message that got lost on the other computer told the story of the *breakers* we identified on the chart and were concerned about avoiding... we made it through that area and didn't see anything, but it was a bit disconcerting for a while there.

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Off to Hawaii

Position: 5 degrees 03 minutes north, 157 degrees 16 minutes west
A bit under 800 miles to go to Hawaii (not counting our eastward jog)

Just a quick note that we said our final goodbye/see you later to the folks in Fanning and sailed out yesterday morning about 10 AM. Timed it on a slack tide to get out of the lagoon through the narrow channel (a bit nervewracking). All went well, and the winds have been southeast - perfect for our sail back to Hawaii. But i've been seasick so far, and it's rough being back on the ocean. There are some bigger swells and we're heeled over quite a bit making everything challenging. One day out and Tim's already been mr. fixit -- our starboard jib winch is not working right, but luckily, we should be on the other tack the whole way, so won't need it! And our bathroom hatch is leaking -- with all the waves over the bow it was pretty wet until Tim made some temporary repairs.

I'm checking in on the pacific seafarer's net, so our position should be posted daily on their website. We're heading for Honokahau Harbor on the Big Island and hoping to get a slip there. If all goes well we should be about 8 more days to get there.

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Final week(s) on Fanning

Position: anchored at Fanning Island

Almost a month since my last posting? That doesn't seem right, but we have been here at Fanning Island for almost two months now. Since the last posting we have mostly been the only boat here - the other yacht left. But we have had visits from the local supply ship, a 100-year old whaling ship from Norway, the Haganes, and the Holland America cruise ship the Westerdam. It's good to have some diversions, especially when the surf is flat! The local supply ship came, but didn't bring nearly enough supplies. No fuel, no flour, not nearly enough rice or sugar. Another private ship (the Kwai - which is also a sail training vessel apparently, with an international crew, based in Hawaii), is supposed to get here in a few days, but also was unable to fit all of the supplies that were ordered by the islanders here - less than half the rice ordered is going to be delivered. But this ship will bring us gas & eggs, which have been in short supply on Midnight Blue for awhile, and many other specially ordered items for the islanders. While there are tons of chickens running around the island, no one seems to keep them for eggs… So my baking has been suffering. I did give some *cookie baking* lessons (requested after people tasted my cookies!) but tried making them without eggs, substituting oil instead. They turned out way too crumbly! And we were baking in the local oven over a fire, so the first batch was a bit burnt and the later batches took forever and all tasted smoky. A week later I repeated the *lesson* for some other folks and we used a propane grill to bake on - this worked a bit better, plus I used the last of my eggs since these cookies were in part for Tim's birthday!

We had a great birthday celebration for Tim at our friend Bruno's house - even spent the night onshore so we could hang out and watch the fullish moon without fear of crossing the channel at night. Tim made everyone pizza and I made him a vegan chocolate cake. Our friend Tyrone surprised Tim with gifts of a local canoe replica and knife, beautifully detailed & made from local materials, including the twine which is made from coconut fiber.

This week the cruise ship visited, it was a sight to see. Apparently, they do not even anchor offshore - it is too deep for them to anchor, so they just heave to and hang out for the day. Tons of people came ashore - the ship carries 1,900 people and the small boats were going back and forth all day. After the first few hours there was a line stretching for several *blocks* to get back on the cruise ship! Weird to be surrounded by white people after being the only whites on the island for so long. White people are call 'te maton' in Kiribati - I'll be walking down the street and kids all call 'te maton, te maton'. Apparently it is just out of excitement, not derogatory - the word really means 'white person who came by boat from the sea'. For the cruise ship visit, there were several *choir* groups set up singing, and folks dressed in traditional outfits charging for pictures, tours of the island by truck, and lots of crafts stands, mostly selling the same items - the local knives, carvings, and shell jewelry. We hung out a bit by the dock and got to meet many folks - they are on a cruise that started in Seattle, went up to Vancouver, than down to San Diego, Hawaii, and here and will continue on through the South Pacific - 35 days in all. So, it was mainly retired folks on this cruise!

Well, it's time for us to start getting ready to head out. We've decided to head back to Hawaii for the winter - not sure which island(s) we'll end up at - it'll depend on dock slip availability. It's going to be hurricane season in the South Pacific, so we don't want to go further south, and we don't want to spend the next six months in the more remote areas nearer the equator where we might be safe from storms… We'll be in Hawaii until the spring, and then we'll have to decide - back to Mexico or head for the South Pacific, or elsewhere?

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