Currently, I cannot communicate via my normal email addresses because I have a hardware problem at my PC.

I only can be reached via skipper-cat-mare@myiridium.net

The Tahauku Bay, where we are at anchor has, at a part the western shore, very steep slopes, which end at rocks about 3 – 5 m high with a vertical drop into the water.

Yesterday we saw suddenly two men standing at the rocks just above the water. The slope there has about 60 deg. Reaching the place was not easy and we wondered what they are doing at this spot.

Next I recognized that one of the men was lying on the rocks and was obviously looking for something in a cavity in the rocks. It looked like he was reaching for something in cavity. We still could not understand what they were searching for.

In a short time more people appeared at the scene. We suddenly recognized red bags as they are used by medical staff for emergency treatment. We also recognized a fire truck and ambulance car at the street high up of the spot just above the water. Then we got the impression that there must be a human in the cavity.

As there is nothing to be done at the place of the cavity, we assumed that someone simply fell down at the top of the slope where they are doing street work. The unlucky person slipped down the whole slope of about 30 – 40 m without ending at one of trees and bushes along the way, but in the cavity just 3 m above the water.

At the end, the unlucky person was fixed on a rescue stretcher and winched up the steep slope.

We felt thankful for the rescue team.

Uru-Musaka – That’s a combination of a Polynesian and a Greek word. Musaka, the Greek dish doesn’t need explanation, but “uru”.

“Uru” is the Polynesian word for bread fruit. Even if the local people speak French lhey use the word “uru” instead of the French word “fruit à pain”. Bread fruit tastes very much like potatoes. Thus, Inge replaced potatoes by uru and the Musaka tasted very well.

I’m curious what Inge will make with the remaining uru. We discussed various possibilities

Catching up again.

In the meantime we also cleaned the cockpit completely. This means not only the floor and the seat cushions but also the hard top from beneath and all the stainless steel pipes of the hard top support. They look very good again.

Here I have to give a compliment to Inge who supports cleaning work with ideas and participation.

She knows a cleaning material from CH and found something kind of equivalent here. It’s trade name is “Bezt” manufactured in Malaysia by “Betz Clean Industries” The Chinese characters on the container explained it as a cleaning material with “super strong cleaning power”. Thus, I bought it. It’s really good for clearing stainless steel parts on board. I’m get another container for the long sail to NZ.

Catching up on the recent events.

After the oil pan leak on the PRT engine, was removed, I saw that the sea water pumps leaked a bit of water. The leakage was not serious but t don’t like leaks. Thus, I removed first the one from the PRT engine and brought it to the Marquesis Maintenance Service to order needed spare parts den Tahiti. It turned out that they have the needed shaft seals and exchanged it. On Monday, after shopping, I reinstalled it and kept the engine running at 1000 RPMs for an hour, and neither water nor oil was leaking. Perfect. Today I removed the STB sea water pump and tomorrow afternoon, I am supposed to get it back repaired. An hour more and it will be reinstalled.

As I have to wait for the spare parts I’m doing boat jobs.

One of them I completed today: Mounting new toilet brushes. It was a bit tricky. First I had to choose the optimal location.

For the aft heads the location was not that easy. I needed to make sure that it doesn’t get into the way of the shower curtain. Next, I needed thick enough fiberglass that the screws hold and finally that I don’t get into a hose or cable outside and under the head. At the end of yesterday, the ones in the aft heads were mounted. Today I tackled the ones in the forward heads.

As the swell is pretty high in the bay these days, MaRe rocks a bit. You can bet on it, that she rocks exactly the moment I want to position the tip of the drill at the marker. This is the moment I hate, not only dislike, the swell in the Tahauku Bay.

A lot of cleaning work is done as well.

Today, I also went on land to check the status of the spare order. However, Vincent who knows it, is in Tahiti until Monday. Now I hope – please keep fingers crossed – that he possibly hands carries the spare parts. I only can wait and see.

Yesterday, I order on the phone fruits and vegetables from a farmer who started selling from a boat in the bay. I was surprised that I could do it in French. My French learning related efforts are useful.

This farmer lives in very small village on the north side of the island. I like to buy from local farmers instead from the food store in Atuona, where most of fruits & vegetables come from the USA.

The farmer wants to come tomorrow and will give me a call so I can take the dinghy to go ashore to meet him. I’m curious how this will turn out.

On Sunday we got a rental car and made a tour over the island.

For me it was nice to see all again. Having a second look is having a different one.

The landscapes being formed by volcanic activities about 6 Mio years ago are really fascinating to me. Most of the slopes are very steep, many are close to vertical. Only the end of valleys going into a bay have kind of flat areas. Enough for people to settle. But the settlements are very small. Population of a village I estimate below 200 people some even less than 100. All Hiva-Oa l, Tahuata, and Fatu-Hiva have a population of about 3000 people.

The villages are kept very tidy.

On Sundays, one sees people gathering for all kinds of social events. Even cooking together we saw

La Boule (or la petanque) is being played here often. Male, female groups of adult people play their “partie de boules”.

Children and youth prefer volleyball and soccer.

At the end of the day we traveled all the roads of Hiva-Oa and had a delicious lunch at the restaurant in Paumau. I enjoyed this already with my OBM and Nora & Hacko of SY Anixi.

Inge told me that it was an interesting day for her. Made me feel good.

During the last days I didn’t write because I was very busy during the day working on some technical troubles.

First I had an oil leak on the PRT engine. With the help of Fabian from Maritime Marquesis Service this is solved.

When I did my last regular oil check at the PRT saildrive, the PRT gearbox of MaRe, I saw that the oil became greyish. Seeing this I was not happy at all because it means the boat must be taken out of the water to replace the shaft sealings.

Additionally I saw the sea water pump on both engine leaked sea water.

All parts are ordered and I have to wait until they arrive by plane. Tomorrow I’ll go to see Vincent, the shipyard manger to find out about the arrival day an d the hail out day.

The good thing is that all these things will be made before we take off for the next long sail to NZ. The sail to NZ will be about another 6000 – 7000 NM.

Sam left and Inge came. What a difference!

Inge takes care of cooking, kitchen and provisioning without much words. I only need to tell her art the beginning where things are stored.

Among other things we developed a storage system for canned food. Since a while I wanted to set up a system which allows me to better control what’s on board, what needs to be eaten first, and what needs to be replenished. Yesterday, together we set up such a system with a color code and in plastic laminated labels. It will be very helpful for the future sails where we to have always food for several months on board.

She also takes care of keeping things clean and tidy. This gives me time to do more boat jobs. Eg I could built a new shelf in the PRT engine room which I wanted to have since a while.

The water maker runs again!

Inge got in the last minute – see previous narration – a suitable capacitor. Today, after she was on board, I took the capacitor and connected it with the motor of the low pressure pump. Closed what needed to be closed at the motor, started the generator to get the needed 230 V, switched the water maker on, and after the normal about 5 s, the motor of the low pressure pump started running and delivered a low pressure in the range it should be. Perfect! Oh happy day!

Life on board becomes easier with the water maker. Without the water maker I would have needed to carry potable water from Atuona, which means from 2.5 – 3 km away, to n the dinghy dock, dinghy it to MaRe, getting it out of the dinghy and fill it into the water tank. One water container holds 25 l, and I’ve two of them. A physical challenge. Now I can enjoy making 180 l of water in hour and can combine it with charging the batteries.

Bernd & Vili, thanks again!