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American Spirit II - Day 95; Cleaned Boat Bottom, Giant Clams, Numerous Boat Anchors Stuck, and Beach Party; Tuesday, April 8, 2014



Stayed up late, until 1:30 AM.

Slept in until 8:00 AM. Hebe was trying to weigh anchor to go to the pass and 'drift dive.' Difficult time getting anchor on board. Took them 1/2 hour, with 2 snorkelers in the water and one tank diver dressed in SCUBA gear ready to go free the anchor. Finally they used their bow thrusters to position the boat so they could untangle anchor chain from the coral heads.

At Manihi Atoll 8 miles away to the west, the sailboat NDS Darwin and one other Rally boat tried to weigh anchor Monday evening, and could not do it. So they waited until the following morning, Tuesday, and it took them 3 - 4 hours to clear their two anchor chains; and they had to do so using a SCUBA diver. Because they were anchored in 20 meters, 66 feet, they were fortunate they had SCUBA tanks on board or else they would have had to hire a diver from somewhere to free their anchors. We'll have to be careful in the depth that we anchor in. The deeper you anchor, the potentially more difficult it will be to clear a stuck anchor chain.

Nexus and Vivo approached the pass at Ahe around 9:30 AM. I could see Nexus on my chart plotter screen via their AIS, Automatic Identification System. They talked with Hebe and me about entering the pass; what route to take; and decided to wait a little bit to evaluate entering the pass with an incoming current. I'm surprised that there is ever an incoming current. I thought the current always was an outflow current that changed in its speed depending on the tide. Wrong. At any rate, entering with a current is more difficult than entering against a current because when the current is with you you have to go faster to maintain steerage, and if you decide that things are too 'dicey' to proceed, you may not have the option of easily turning around and going back out the pass. When the current is against you, as long as its not to strong, say, over 6 knots, you can always turn around and go back out easily.

After breakfast Joel, Stephen and I cleaned American Spirit's boat bottom. We used scouring pads and stainless putty knives. The scouring pads were for below the water line, and the putty knives for above the water line, to get rid of the algae and other 'spots.' Took a solid 2 to 2 1/2 hours. We even cleaned the bow thrusters and the entire keel, which extends to 5 feet, 1 inch below the waterline. In wiping off the light coating of algae, I would turn upside down on one side of the boat, and swim all the way under the boat to the other side, holding a 6 inch scouring pad in my hand and cleaning a 6 inch swath over 12 feet long across the entire bottom of the boat.

Nexus and Vivo, a 58 and 60 feet, respectively; and both American registered catamaran's, anchored near us around noon. I hopped in our dingy and went over to welcome them to Ahe. Russ and Laurie Owen invited me aboard Nexus, where Laurie gave me a tour of their spacious boat. Having an ice maker and washer and dryer are 3 indications of a BIG boat. Nexus was constructed in South Africa, and when the Rally gets to South Africa the boat will have completed its circumnavigation. Cool. Party time?

Around 2:00 PM while hanging out in our cockpit Stephen saw a large shadow pass by the port side of the boat, heading aft. Appeared to be a shark. We've noticed that the Pacific Ocean has a lot of sharks. Later Stephen and I swam 100 yards from our boat to the reef to the east. With a little current running we couldn't quite see the bottom at 40 feet. On the way we came upon a giant coral head rising up 32 feet from the bottom to within 8 feet of the surface. About 10 to 15 feet in diameter. Huge. Amazing. Like a solitary office building. There weren't as many fish at the reef as I would have expected; however, the reef's shallow bottom was littered with dozens of old rope anchor rhodes. The reef looked like a spider web. We also saw many, many Giant Clams. Up to 8 inches wide. The clams were imbedded into the reef, and the large mouths of the clams were open a half inch with a thick muscle protruding. These 'muscles' were different colors: black, white, purple and turquoise. When you put your hand in front of the clams, the colored muscle would be retracted into the shell and the shell would close 90 percent. If you continued to put your hand closer yet, then the clam shell would close entirely. I had forgotten my Go Pro camera to take pictures and video. Will do so tomorrow. Stephen also saw a large scallop, and some fish indigenous to the Pacific that he hadn't seen before. Like a Moorish Idol, an eight inch fish, yellow with white, vertical stripes and a long, white dorsal fin. Stephen saw four of them, which usually swim in pairs. Stephen has spent a lot of time diving and knows his fish.

After I returned to the boat, the Nexus dingy, excuse me, motor boat (its really BIG), came by and I joined them for a trip into the town. Once there a local brought by some pearls to show us. There were two types shown, category 1 and category 2. The former were jewelry quality; the latter quite imperfect, with non round shapes and other imperfections. I bought a six pack of Hinano Tahitian been, 16 ounce big boys; at a cost of 2,700 francs or about $34.00. Wow! That's about $5.50 a beer. Joel wanted me to buy a case or two. I guess we'll see if the prices are cheaper at our next Atoll, Rangiroa. Prices are twice has high as in America!

At 5:00 PM we went to the wharf, tied up our dingy and proceeded to an adjacent beach for a 5:30 PM beach party/cocktail hour organized by Laurie on Nexus. We got there a half hour early because we were unaware that the Tuomotos are on Tahiti time and not Marquesas time. After radioing Nexus and asking where everyone was, we learned why we were early. Since we communicated with Nexus on our VHF radio, other boats heard the exchange and Vivo was kind enough to add their own commentary to our wayward time keeping skills. Ouch. Hopefully we won't be dealing with any 'half time zones' anywhere else in the future. And no, I'm not going to change all my previous few day's time logs to adjust for the proper times. Not going there. What's a half hour in the South Pacific, in French Polynesia, anyway?

The party was well attended, with all Rally boat crews (eight) there. Everyone talked about their stay in the Marquesas Islands, their trip from the Marquesas to Tuomotos, and crew jumping ship from one boat to another. I had read before the Rally that it was common for some crew to move from one boat to another boat during the Rally, all the way around the world. This isn't crew that is a relative or friend of an owner, but someone who signs on to a boat via a web page. Unknown until the Rally. Stephen on our boat is an example. He was on a different boat until joining us in Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas. He left his previous boat reluctantly, due to some personal safety concerns; and will be on board American Spirit until April 26 or so when we reach Tahiti. I'm purposefully not mentioning the name of that boat Stephen was on previously. We left the party around 7:00 PM, just before rain a while later probably ended the party for everyone else.

Once back on board we had dinner, consisting of Dorade fish that I'd purchased in Hiva Oa and was in deep freeze until a couple of days ago. The fish was blackened of course, and cooked on our grill by Chef Joel. Dinner also included microwaved baked potatoes and a fruit cocktail. Dinner was topped off with a glass of white or red wine. Joel and Stephen had red; I had white.

After dinner we watched Master and Commander. Lights out at 11:00 PM.

Tomorrow we have an appointment to visit a Pearl Farm, where cultured pearls are grown. We also may get a chance to swim down to the pearl beds? And see how the pearls are harvested. This followed by a coconut drink on a beach. How cool is that?


Brian Fox

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