The big Catamaran " silver Cloud " left the fuel dock during the night, having taken on board 20,000L of diesel. A real strange looking vessel. Basically it was built on two submarine type hulls below the water which housed the engines, the generators and all her equipment.
06.00hrs We reversed up to the Fuel dock and duly got our allowance of 400L, we only had 400L left on board, so now we have a total of 800L plus 700L of water in our water tank. We paid 80 Euros when we arrived on the Islands so this allows us take any amount of fuel on board at half price.
08.00hrs We anchored in the bay and decided not to leave until we had lunch, as we do not want to arrive in the atolls in the dark of night. It could prove fatal.
12.00hrs We all went ashore and had a Tempura lemon Chicken and rice in the local market and it was as good as you could expect anywhere.
We had a long chat with David and Susan, from Voyageur. Aileen loves meeting Susan as she is suffering for lack of female company. We also met Rui and Ulli , from "Thor VI". Rui is a retired General from the Portuguese Air Force and Ulli is German. Ulli is a half owner on "Thetis". But, because he and the other half owner did not get on... he jumped ship onto "Thetis" and will try to dispose of his share later. Anyway, Rui and Ulli (Ulrich) seem to be enjoying the trip together. Well done guys!
Dreamcatcher (the Hallberg Rassey 48) and less than one year old is still having more problems. This time his steering gear disintegrated and had to use his emergency tiller to finish the last leg. Poor Charles and Marie, they have had a tough time with all the things that have gone wrong on that boat and H.R. are (it seems) are washing their hands of the whole affair. Thats just not good enough. At least, even with our 2002 model Oyster, Oyster Yachts always respond positively to any of our problems, which are smaller in comparison to what others are suffering and in particular "Dreamcatcher".
14.30hrs We raised anchor and sailed out of Nuku Hiva, heading for the Tuamotu Archipelago. These little Atolls are 460 miles SW and the wind is fairly light. We are looking forward to this as we have seen as much of the Marquises Islands as needed and they were indeed just magnificant...
18.00 hrs We readjusted all our clocks and watches by half an hour, so now we are 11 hours behind Ireland & the UK. We are motor sailing now, as the wind is less than 9 knots abeam, we have the engine running at 1600revs.
Dusk saw lots of Dolphins, perhaps 30 or more, always a great joy to have them around for the party. Dinner was a mixture of left over Sheppards pie and Bock Choy, prepared by " Fats " himself. It was v. good. No drink.......
The night watches :----------- Stephen 21.00hrs to 01.00hrs
Aileen 01.00hrs to 05.00hrs
Donal 05.00hrs to 09.00hrs
We had a good day today, and also the pleasure of talking to Stefan and Sarah by the Skype phone. Great stuff.
Thats it for today,