Mischief - Up to Mischief Log 41 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes

Tuesday, 22nd May 2018 - Suwarrow anchorage, Cook Islands

I went for an early snorkel over to a shallow patch about 250 meters off where the rangers had suggested the mantas may be, but Tuesday would appear to be their day off; I did see a grey shark but little else although the coral is fascinating. On the way back, Solitude was trying to lift her anchor from 15 meters of water, and it became stuck in bommies. I tried to pull the chain sideways to no avail and ultimately Rick brought his scuba gear over and dived on the anchor and chain with Dave in the dinghy with a trip line that Rick tied on to the anchor shaft. The chain soon was freed but the hook of the anchor wedged itself under a big coral head and was well and truly stuck - it came away eventually with a great lump attached that took a while to shift but soon they were on their way. Let's hope ours doesn't get stuck the same way as Rick has gone too now!

Gary of Solitude called all concerned on VHF from the back of the island offering to buy a drink in Nuie. Dave responded that he couldn't drink the amount of beer he owed for the service rendered, to which he came back with "Dave, I couldn't pour enough if it were you drinking it!" Reputation spreads far. In fact, Trevor and I stayed aboard whilst the others went ashore to collect shells etc for an hour or two and John from Madrigal came over the radio to ask when we were leaving today, around 5pm. Okay, he said to Arc fleet, party on Madrigal at 6pm! Charming, but to be fair the last time the Mischief crew were on his boat they drank all his beer so it has been a standing joke ever since, although the truth of the matter is that it was actually Kurt on Ice Bear who drank most of his the beer but that would be telling tales and besides we don't wish to allow the truth to spoil a good story, do we!

We raised the anchor at 1645 with a short burst of bow thruster to clear the chain around a large bommies and it was up with no issues at all and after negotiating the swells and tide in the exit from the lagoon, we are now on a course for Nuie, 530 miles south west. We expect to be there sometime on Saturday with luck and a following wind, the latter of which we do have!

I made a potato hash before we left for which the girls did all the chopping, so a real team effort, and we ate it early evening watching a glorious sunset which silhouetted Adrienne who left at the same time as ourselves. Great photo.
The night looks to be fairly clear skies with a half moon lighting the way so let's hope the squalls hold off that the fleet boats ahead have been experiencing.

Wednesday, 23rd May 2018 - en route to Nuie

There were indeed a few squalls about last night which we managed to steer around mostly - we can no longer see them electronically as the radar remains down so we have to use the old fashioned method of looking!

The 8am SSB radio net has given warning from one weather routing source, actually Chris Tibbs of Arc fame, that there is a weather system coming through our area in 4/5 days' time, bringing winds from the west which may have a bearing on whether we stop off at Nuie or not, and if so for how long - the anchorage is very sheltered from the normal south east trades but completely open to anything from the west. We shall keep going but monitor the situation as it develops.

Nuie was first discovered by Captain Cook in 1774, known as 'the Rock' as it rises sharply out of the sea like two saucers one on top of the other in the shape of a molar tooth. It is made up almost entirely of coral and because the interior is a flat, dried out lagoon it has produced a number of caves and caverns by the rain water flowing down to the sea completely devoid of sediment. For this reason, the ocean around the island are crystal clear and visibility is around 230 feet reportedly.

1200 position: 14 degs 29.6' S 164 degs 46.5' W C: 230 W: E 19 SOG: 6.8 knots

Whilst I was busying myself making bread and a black bean salad the lanyard holding the shaft of the sea generator down snapped and needed to drop the tail gate to get to it. So, this had Dave hanging over the back of the boat retying the string then heaving it in whilst I then hung over the back to push it into position, all very precarious and lifejackets with tethers essential!

Trevor had his normal three fishing lines out again but nothing much doing. He saves his disappointment by having no expectations of catching anything, then it doesn't seem so bad when he doesn't. However, today he used a 'sinking' lure which goes deeper and hops about a bit and in doing do hopped over the other two lines and proceeded to twist itself about a million times around at speed causing the biggest cats cradle you have ever seen - only a knife could sort it out leaving us very short on fishing line. Trevor used the last of the mahi mahi in the freezer for tea so we now really do need to catch something to replenish the stock.

2400 position: 15 degs 17.7' S 165 degs 48.3' W C: 225 SOG: 7 knots Log: 208 nm DTR: 326 nm

I was awoken at 2200 after an hour in bed by people clumping about in the saloon (my bedroom) which is a bit irritating but then realized I had another two hours sleep before my next watch - happy days! Then, at 2300 I was awoken again by Dave clumping around the deck dropping the pole and calling instructions back to the cockpit and realized again I had another hour in bed before I had to get up. It is not great to get woken up, but it feels great to know you can go back to sleep again - contrary emotions on a boat!