Cruising on a budget

A lot of people (especially our friends) ask us how we have managed to afford to go cruising at our age and for such a lengthy period of time. "Lengthy" is a relative term, but when one thinks about it, it is the equivalent of 24 years worth of annual leave for the average person…

The truth is that we budgeted very well (2 consultants…what do you expect!) and were quite lucky to have a very low maintenance boat.

With thanks to the many people that we have met along the way, we have learnt quite a few useful tips and tricks for keeping costs low. We are currently sailing with two couples on smaller boats with no refrigerators. This is a first for us being one of the larger boats in the group at a mighty 37 feet! These guys (and others) have taught us a few things on how to cruise in a more affordable way. 

Clothes washing

Dolphin of Leith showed us that you can drag your washing behind the boat for a mile or so (tied to a sturdy line) and the sea becomes natures washing machine. No detergent needed, just rinse off in fresh water. Dolphin is a 28ft boat with 4 people on board (2 kids) and small capacity for fresh water, so salt water washing is necessary. They do rinse the clothes in a bit of fresh water though.

Fresh water rinsing

Friends on Kadoona and Dolphin both use insecticide spray canisters to rinse themselves off with fresh water after they have swum / showered. They bought them before they had been used to DDT their garden tomatoes… This is a very low fresh water usage system and works well. 

Washing in a river

Washing in salt water

We wash bodies and dishes in salt water and then rinse off in fresh. This means that our finite fresh water supply lasts longer, meaning we don't need to buy water often or lug water jerry cans around in every port we enter. On some islands (like Bonaire) water is all made via desalination and is very expensive (relatively speaking). Some islands (like Dominica) have loads of taps on the street to fill up for free!

Drinks

Cruising is quite social when you are not at sea. Often we are invited to other boats or have people round to Orion. With cruising it is generally etiquette to BYOB and a snack.

When we first started cruising and were a bit ignorant, Sally and I would cart a drinks cabinet with beers/ rum and coke for me and maybe rum punch or gin and tonic for Sally. We soon realised the dent this was making in our finances as drinking anywhere in the world seems to be an expensive pastime. 

With regards to the drinks, we now make our own ginger beer for rum and ginge. We make limeade (lemonade but with limes as they are more prolific in the Caribbean and Pacific). Or resort to a packet of Tang / cordial (also prevalent in both Carib and Pacific) to use as a mix. Once chilled in the fridge, these go down well with rum or any spirit. Rum is cheap in the Caribbean and worth stocking up on in Panama or Mexico if you are heading west as alcohol in the Pacific is incredibly expensive.

Waka Irie taught us another quite nice mix for rum called a "Cold Tea":

Squeeze one lime in a glass (sans pips…preferably - although the more drunk the company the less they seem to notice)

Dump the squeezed out limes into the glass to avoid the hassle of throwing them away

One teaspoon of brown sugar 

Dash of rum (by dash we mean free pour until satisfied)

Add water to taste 

Mix with said teaspoon (to avoid further utensils to wash up)

Serve to guests and await heaps of praise and congratulations at wonderful / imaginative drink…(don't mention Waka Irie and take all the credit…I do)

Sunset snacks

We used to take a packet of crisps (chips) with us as it was quick and easy, however at a couple of dollars per bag / box, this novelty soon wore off. We now make our own dip. Either hummus (by squishing a can of chickpeas - a fork or masher works where you don't have a blender) or guacamole if we can find a nice ripe avocado somewhere or salsa (fresh tomatoes are great, else tin of diced toms, add HALF a chopped onion and a few herbs and spices). Instead of chips, we take soda biscuits (crackers). Soda biscuits are some of the cheapest biscuits around and fairly easy to come by. They make an excellent snack both plain or dipped in one of Sally's famous concoctions.

Another firm favourite which out strips everything on price is popcorn. We have bags of the humble kernels onboard and love making a pot of it for snacks or Orion movie night. We have not quite mastered the art of not burning the crap out of the bottom of the pot though. Small price to pay as each serving costs about $0.10. 

Shopping

Another Waka Irie tip is to head straight for the "damaged goods" display in a supermarket. Often you can get half price (some times more) off slightly damaged tins or crushed packets of biscuits that can be used in cooking etc! You just never know what you might find.

To be honest, we spend quite a bit on food. We like food and cooking but are most of the time "involuntary vegetarians". Sometimes you can find cheap chicken and mince for a treat. But it will be more expensive than a packet of lentils! Most meat in far off lands is frozen and looks like things that an eskimo might build an igloo with. We prefer to catch our own fish as it always seems to taste better. To keep costs down, don't buy junk (chips, chocolate, biscuits, fizzy drinks etc) - they are bad for you anyway. Stick to fresh vegetables and pulses. Shop where the locals shop and eat what they eat. Chances are they probably have a smaller budget than you.

Saving money

Don't take everything at face value. Just because the guide book says you need an agent to clear in  for you does not mean that you can't do it yourself. There are loads of examples of where we asked around with other people and managed to avoid a few non mandatory costs. An example - doing our own paperwork for the Panama Canal. 

On the subject of Panama, loads of boats went and stayed in Shelter Bay Marina while they waited for their transit date. Some were there more than a month (it is not a pretty place). That is a huge amount of cruising budget to spend just to be tied up to a floating dock. We chose to anchor off of Colon (Club Nautico) and although there had been incidents in the past with theft and the like, we were vigilant and looked out for each other (other boats were there too) and saved ourselves a fortune. We were also closer to town (walking distance) and so was a lot more convenient. 

Lesson learnt - don't follow the herd!

Another Panama story was stocking up. Waka Irie, Dolphin, Us and one or two other boats decided to buy bulk booze from the Free Zone (nothing free about it). It was however duty free and so we got bottles of rum at $4 per bottle by buying about 20 cases of various booze and sharing them amongst the boats. Shop around - we did a lot of walking in the free zone and it is one hell of a big zone!

Buy cheap buy twice. It is rather ironic to be advocating the buying of more expensive goods in a post about cruising on a budget. As we were going to be crossing the Pacific and would get limited wind power, I was tempted to buy a small generator to top up the batteries and also to use with power tools etc. Sally and I shopped around in the whole of Panama and bought an 850watt genny for $80! What a deal. 

I took it back to the boat and fired it up and it worked fine. Took it out mid voyage and tried to fire it up…the whole starter motor came off in my hand. When i tried to repair it, the soft metal screws rounded in the socket spanner. After 10 minutes of trying I decided to make a donation to Neptune then stormed off to read my book! There are loads of other examples (like the cheap shackle I bought that corroded through in 1 month). Lesson being sometimes stuff is more expensive for a reason - be prudent! 

I am sure there are loads more. I will update this as I come across more ideas (feel free to send me ideas too!).

Chasing fish in Toau

After a brief (read overnight) sail from Kauehi to Toau (Anse Amyot) we found a decent looking mooring ball in the bay and tied up to it. We were in about 50ft and the sea floor was littered with coral heads, so glad that there were mooring buoys. 

Post de-rigging the boat, we plopped in the water to cool off and to check the mooring. A refreshing swim around the bay (which is more like an old atoll pass that has silted up creating a bay that still has a bit of current) to introduce ourselves to the other 4 boats in the anchorage.

Looking into the atoll from the bay (from the top of Orions mast)

A couple of sharks swam rings around our boat. I don't know whether this was due to their fondness for our really cool boat… or its occupants.

A snorkel on the outer reef revealed beautifully clear water. We could see almost 150 feet away. We had not had such good clarity since Bonaire. On the outer reef, we anchored our dinghy in 40ft of water and the coral just shelves to well over 400ft. You peer down into the abyss wondering what is peering back at you…

On the motu (or island) that we had moored off of, live Gaston and Valentine. They are a lovely couple who own the island and speak good english. A bonus for us non French speakers!

Gaston and Valentine (and Orion)

Although the mooring balls are essentially a free service put in place by Gaston, it is courtesy to at least have dinner in their little restaurant (which doubles as their dining room too). We had a fine feed including fresh lobster and parrot fish (which until then I was always a bit indifferent about the humble pretty coral eater) - one of the few ciguatera free fish roaming the waters.

Lobster buffet!

During dinner, Valentine asked us and another 2 boats if we would mind helping Gaston the following morning catch fish. I did not need to be asked twice! I love this sort of thing. So the next morning, 8am we are picked up in a little work boat and we sped towards the shallow reef protecting us from the fetch in the atoll. We zoomed towards this reef at full speed and with a series of sharp lefts and rights navigated through some very shallow coral patches. Tom (Exit Strategy) and I were rather anxious as he proceeded through some tight and shallow patches, however there is no substitute for local knowledge! 

Once through the reef, it was another mile or two to the fish trap (a large V made of rebar and chicken wire used to herd fish into a primary and secondary chamber. The ones he had close to the island had been washed away the previous week by a rather windy few days that created quite a wave / swell in the atoll. 

We moored the boat in about a foot of water. Tom and I, wearing shoes stumbled across the shallows (1 ft) towards our positions. Gaston and another guy from the island as well as a French yachtie went and laid out a net to further enhance the size of the catchment area. The locals then started about 400 feet out throwing coral and splashing the water to scare any fish beyond the V, into the catchment area. Slowly they moved closer while we stood still. When any fish came near us, we splashed the water and chased them towards the chambers. Soon we could see the flashing greens of parrot fish. The group came closer together as we started moving towards the chambers splashing as we went. In the back of my mind I kept reminding myself that this was their livelihood and letting a fish get through means loss of income. Soon all the fish had been chased into the primary chamber and we could relax. Donning a mask, I took a look at what was in the chambers. I was amazed at the size of some of the fish. There was everything from large jacks, grouper and small (baby black tip) sharks to moray eels and of course the humble parrot fish. Gaston popped into the primary chamber and chased the fish in there to the secondary chamber (thus minimising the chance of them escaping through the opening in the primary chamber). Once done, hopped into the secondary chamber (seething with agitated - read pissed off fish including sharks) and started throwing out some of the fish he did not want. Most amusing was watching him catch a shark (bare hands) and launch him over the chicken wire and back into the water. You can almost see the shark shaking its fin at him in anger and cursing as it hightailed it out of there.

Time to pack up. The fish were to be left there another day or two as they would be gathered only when the supply boat came the following day. We went to collect the net only to find a few creatures stuck in it. A couple of parrot fish and 3 small sharks. After watching the local guy disentangle the shark from the net, I did the last one. It was great to pick up the little fellow (2 ft long) and feel the sand paper like skin. His little upside down smile said it all so I plopped him back in the water to terrify some yachtie another day once he got a bit bigger. 

All in all a great experience and the type of interaction with the local people that really make doing what we are doing so much more than just an extended sightseeing excursion.

One cannot go to the Tuamotus and not pick up a pearl or two. Gaston and Valentine used to own a pearl farm back when the world economy was in better shape. They had a few remaining pearls which they were willing to trade. Sally had a great time selecting a few lovely little pearls. Amazing just how something so pretty can be made by something quite ugly looking (the oyster, not Valentine!) The irregular shaped pearls had so much more character than the perfect ones (in our opinion). 

Black pearls we traded for

We desperately wanted to spend more time there. The people were great, the place spectacular, the water crystal clear. That night Gaston and the other guy were off lobstering. They pick them up off the reef just after dark (very different to how I used to do it in the Caribbean by diving down 30+ ft). I wanted to go along, but the wind was favourable and we needed to continue westward. 

What a magic spot, highly recommend it if you want to meet lovely Tuamotuan people in an idyllic setting. 

Family and friends

Kauehi, Tuamotus

You read all sorts of stories about the passes into and out of atolls. Many a story contains tales of yachts lost on reefs or run aground etc. The current in some of the passes can reach 4/5 knots with large standing waves from wind against sea.

Sometimes when there is a large sea running the waves break over the top of the reef, flood the atoll and there is an OUTBOUND current when the tide is coming IN! So you can imagine I was a little anxious as we approached our first atoll entrance. The tide was inbound (about an hour before slack water), the seas small and the wind on the beam as we lined up the approach. Sally perched on the bow to look for coral heads, we charged at the entrance. We zoomed straight through aided by tidal inflow and a good beam reach in 15knots. There was what looked like a little bit of chop where the pass ends and the lagoon water starts. The closer we got the more the chop took on the form of standing waves. Sally had a great time with an impromptu "wet T-shirt" competition, which she dully won, clinging to the forestay as her stomach experienced zero gravity. I was nice and dry in the cockpit. Perks of the skipper :)

And we were in! Piece of cake. Sure I would not like to do it against a tide and wind, but for all intent and purpose, entering is not hard. Time it right and make sure your conditions are favourable and one will be fine. 

Our original Tuamotus landfall was going to be Rariroa but getting there was requiring us to beat. After 3000 miles of pure downwind sailing (and beating through most of the Caribbean) we did not like the sound of that so we peeled off and headed for Kauehi. We had heard on the SSB net that a few boats were raving about it and it was on our "go to list". 

Kauehi

Just having passed the entrance, the rod started singing to us about dinner. But it was stripping quite a lot of line! We dumped the jib in favour of reeling in "the big one". It felt like a big fish. In the distance, I saw a flash of white and then an "upside down smile"…SHARK! Sally decided that this would be incredibly bad karma to land a shark just as we entered the atoll. I tended to agree, however was not too keen on replacing my lure. So on went the battle, for a good 25 minutes where I pulled and he pulled and we tug of warred. Finally a tired shark pulled up next to an even more tired Dylan. Donning the gardening gloves (why spend life being called "lefty" if you can help it), I wrestled with the hook trying to free it from its mouth. By the way this was a small shark, only 4ft long black tip. I was leaning over the side of the boat as I did not want a pissed off shark flopping about in the cockpit. Not winning with the hook removal, we moved to hook cutting. Grabbing bolt cutters I leaned over the side again. Line in one hand and bolt cutters in the other. I cut the hook free and sharky sped off very unamused! 

Now safely inside Kauehi, one can see why people like it. Beautiful and unspoilt. We sailed along towards the anchorage keeping an eye out for bombers (coral heads that appear as if from nowhere). We were sailing along in 80ft of water and then coming straight up from the depths is a coral head that is 1ft below the surface! Fortunately they are easy to see even in poor light as the water clarity is so good.

Deciding not to anchor on top of everyone else (the atoll is a few miles long / wide with the village only in one little spot 6 miles from the anchorage). As such we found a lovely patch of turquoise water with few coral heads and enough swing room to drop anchor. 

Just amazing! Bunches of little islands (motus) line the fringe reef. They are covered in palm trees, white sand beaches and clear water. Large fish swim around the boat as if curious to see what this new creature is in their midst. 

Absolute paradise!

We went snorkelling on the coral heads in the middle of the atoll and saw at least one resident shark circling the head and sometimes a good 20+ lbs bump head wrasse. Grouper and large snapper would all come and check you out. All safe in the knowledge that they are rife with ciguatera and no one wants to eat them. My speargun finger itched as I had to just watch them instead of hunt them. They are all beautiful fish though and in some ways I am happy that they are plagued with disease as there are loads of great sized fish in the atolls for people to see.

We decided to be more social and moved over to where the other boats were anchored. As is customary, a pot luck was organised ashore. We had a grand fire and a good graze. There were a couple of cruising kids present who helped find all the contenders for the great hermit crab race. Unfortunately the races were marred by heavy cheating in such that as soon as my hermit crab was about to claim victory, one of the kids would either claim ownership or replace it back to the start line. In fairness, all the damn hermies looked the same under limited torch light! Guitars were strum and a few songs sung and the night ended with a low tide and paddling the dinghy most of the way back home as coral heads seem to have moved since dusk!

After a few days of chilling out we headed out, stopping near the entrance of Kauehi to snorkel the pass. This did involve tying the anchor to a coral head in rather dubious conditions (a 15+ knot north wester squall sprang up on us…not a prevailing wind). We drift snorkelled the pass which was on an inbound tide and so each run was at about 4knots and if you blinked you missed it! Not much to see other than beautiful corals and some very fit fish clinging to the sea floor. Did not see many big fish. 

Back to the boat to untie the anchor and we headed for the pass while it was slack water. Once out it was a beautiful sail towards Toau.

Can it!

So we had our first attempt at canning. When I say we, it was more due to the efforts of Vicki (Dolphin) and Jen on Waka Irie making use of Katie's large galley (Toodles). They get all the credit really. Needless to say, as a collective, we did some canning. This was back in Panama by the way, where red meat is very affordable! 

We made bolognese sauce, beef curry and chilli con carne. All in small reusable glass jars (i.e. the lids were reusable). The mixture was made and placed in the jars and popped in the pressure cooker then the lids tightly sealed. We shared the goodies between the boats (unfortunately I did not 

take the camera so will need to hijack some pics from Katie's facebook one of these days).

To remind them of the old days, we gave Jean and Alan (Legend IV) a jar of our prized bolognese sauce. Still awaiting the verdict :)

We also tried pickling some beetroots and carrots. The carrots turned out fine and we still have some left, while the beetroot unfortunately did not have enough water to cover the beets and some of the ones exposed to air grew some funky stuff that we could have made penicillin with.

Being rather wary of botulism, we watched the little pots over a few weeks looking for the tell tale sighs of the lids popping up (or the look of something that the Ghostbusters might hoover up growing in the jar). They all looked fine.

So, one night we took the plunge…popped a little bolognese sauce on our pasta and gobbled it up. 

It was fantastic and we look forward to noshing the rest. Great work team!

Summary of expenses in the Caribbean

We are management consultants, don't judge us! We keep spreadsheets and are proud of it. 

We can tell you exactly how much we spent on what and when. It makes it very useful for a little retrospective analysis and might be an interesting blog post for others who want to know what it costs to cruise in the Caribbean. 

We need to heavily caveat some of this by saying that we had just bought the boat so some expenditure was for boat maintenance / upgrades / modifications and we could have spent a lot less by being even more frugal, i.e. not eating out, not drinking (as much), not buying souvenirs, clearing in to less islands etc. Where possible I shall explain each figure's breakdown.

To summarise, these are our expenses from January to December 2012, split into categories:

Boat	$8,500.00
Food	$7,000.00
Drinks	$1,500.00
Cruising Fees	$1,040.00
Transport	$600.00
Entertainment	$600.00
Souvenirs	$430.00

Breakdown:

Boat - Boat maintenance, parts and upgrades. Also includes gasoline, diesel and propane.

10% of the total was spent on fuel for the inboard, outboard and propane for cooking (approx. $800)

30% of the total spent was spent on repairs to the boat. Important to note that we were new to boat ownership and so when the majority of things were broken at the beginning, we paid to get them fixed rather than attempt ourselves. This soon changed when we sussed the extortionate labour fees and we grew more confident in our ability. 

With the amount of money we spent at Island Waterworld and Budget Marine, we should have shares in the company! 

For example we bought our rod, reel, lures etc and classified them all as boat. If you fully kit out your boat in a cheaper country (US etc) you should be able reduce this figure drastically as there is a significant premium on goods purchased in the Caribbean islands!

Food - Grocery bills and meals out

15% of the total amount was spent on eating out. This could include anything from a $1 roti on the roadside to a sit down meal. We ate out about 50 times that year, roughly once a week. We hardly had dinner out but often grabbed something from a roadside shack as it was sometimes cheaper than buying the groceries and going back to the boat to cook them. We are foodies and love trying new things, with the shacks being a delight of ours, we easily justify this expense to ourselves.

The majority of the expense was bulk buying to stock up the boat and we still have many tins and dried goods onboard from Grenada, St Martin and Curacao.

Drinks - Drinks ashore (often so we could get the internet password) or specific booze buying to stock up our drinks cabinet. Also includes water for our tanks.

30% of the total was spent on drinks so we could use the internet in a bar. We don't have any form of internet or email onboard so this was our only method of contacting friends and family when there was no wifi in an anchorage (which was on most occasions).

Only 5% of the total was spent on water to fill the tanks. In general, water is cheap in the Caribbean as long as you are smart with where you fill up…avoid dry islands, use the lush islands such as Dominica, Grenada and St Vincent.

Cruising Fees - mooring fees, clearing in / out, permits and national park fees

50% of the total was spent on clearing into 22 countries that year (some islands we visited twice). The rest was on mooring fees in the BVIs and US VIs, marina fees in Puerto Rico and Colombia and national park fees in Tobago Cays etc.

Transport - Buses, taxis, hire cars and the fuel for them

50% of the total was spent on hiring cars / mopeds in Montserrat, Anegada (BVIs), Puerto Rico and Bonaire including the fuel.

Entertainment - Sightseeing (e.g. entrance fees to site and tour guides), Amazon e-books and other goodies for us both

Souvenirs - self explanatory

I could go into loads more detail so if anyone reading this has any queries, just comment on this post and we'll get back to you.

We have also included a snapshot of a typical months expenses (in the Caribbean). Don't judge us :)

Boat maintenance - new windlass cover, propane and diesel	$150
Food costs - big stock up in Grenada for trip to Bonaire	$500
Drinks - internet use	$60
Transport costs - buses	$25
Entertainment - new underwater camera	$400
Clothes - laundry	$5
Cruising Fees - clearing out of Grenada and into St Vincent	$50
Souvenirs	$0

Tahuata, Marquesas

A short jump from Hiva Oa (Atuona) is Hanamoena anchorage on Tahuata island (10 miles). It is a beautiful anchorage with great holding, white sand beach lined with coconut palms. The trip there is almost guaranteed to land you at least one yellow fin tuna in the pass between Hiva Oa and Tahuata. We used this as a great excuse to meet all the boats in the anchorage and invite them to a beach BBQ that night. 

We had a great pot luck the first night and met some new and interesting people. Our friends from Just Drifting and Minnie B were there, along with the guys from Black Pearl. The fish was great too.

We heard about the fabled manta rays that frequent the bay and on one lovely still calm morning, we could see their fins waving at us to come join them. So we promptly did. I am loving our under water camera now and don't know how we lived without it before. Admittedly Sally is the master of the camera as she takes better photos than I do.

Wade (Just Drifting) and I went trolling for yellow fin (they often fed just off the point and could be seen leaping out the water as they nailed the bait fish). Wade, using cedar plug and me with a spoon, trolled up the coast towards the channel and then on the way back Wade got a good strike which we lost and then 5 minutes later a large 28 yellow fin decided to invite itself to dinner! Unfortunately Wade's cedar plug was lure of the day. I did not even get a strike :(

Dinner was on board Just Drifting that night! Although the filet that I got I gave away to a couple boats in the anchorage as it was so big (and we did not want tuna for the next 4 meals).

We were about to leave when our friends arrived and we had a "Very Marquesan Evening" (see other post). We spent some time with Dolphin before heading to the southern most bay on the island as we wanted to get a few fresh produce before we left for the Tuamotus. 

Hapitoni is a beautiful little bay and in stark contrast to Hanamoena with its white sand beach. Instead this had large black rock boulders on the shore and steep cliffs. The anchorage is about a mile from the town dock, so there is an unspoilt view of the shoreline that is decorated with coconut palms. All the palms (like in the San Blas have been planted for copra production).

As we arrived into the anchorage we were greeted by a large pod of dolphins playing in the bay. As soon as we had dropped the anchor we paddled the dinghy in their general direction taking photos along the way. We hopped in the water and tried swimming with them. They did not come very close, but we could see them in the water (water was very murky due to a lot of rain) but the most amazing thing was listening to them. You could even hear them when we were on the boat.

Post the swim with the dolphins, we headed for the waterfall no more than 6 metres from the shore.

Fantastic.

Just Drifting joined us in the bay and we went ashore with them. Interaction with the locals was aided by Maureen who used to teach French! What a bonus having her along.

We discovered that a large cruise ship was due in the following morning and that all the carvers (for which the place is famous for) will have their wares on display. 

We came ashore the following morning just as the tourists were being shuttled in. Unfortunately many of the carvers had packed up their good works ready for a Festival of Art in Tahiti where they display (and sell) their wares. In saying that, the stuff that was on display was fantastic. We even tried to barter for a paddle. I think the proprietor was shocked when Sally tried to trade him some booze for his paddle as he probably thought we were from the cruise ship. He did give us a good discount though and we are now the proud owners of a beautiful carved Toa (type of wood) paddle.

As part of the show put on for the cruise ship there was traditional singing and dancing. The men would do a very aggressive sort of war dance / hakka which was juxtaposed by the sweet singing / dancing of the woman doing the follow up dance and song. Even the little kids got involved and were singing.

We made friends with all the local kids. They would crowd around us when we arrived and follow us through the village babbling in French to us. My bulk standard response to most things was "Oui!". This got me into trouble when they asked for a ride in the dinghy. I responded "Oui" and they all lept into the dinghy. Sally, Wade and Maureen could only stand on the dock and wait in the rain while I zoomed these little grinning faces around the bay. Sally had a fan named Valencia who clung to her side every time we came ashore so one day, Sally presented her with a pencil urchin wind chime that she had made. Valencia's little face was a picture as the rest of the kids crowded around admiring. They disappeared into her house and came out again with a big flower brooch complete with real orange feathers. This was then pinned to Sally's cardigan and the cooing continued.

As the next bay was within walking distance and we had not done much stretching of legs, we decided to walk there with Just Drifting. The promise of internet in the next bay was an added bonus, although not really for me as I was the arse carrying the laptop (and the water, and the snacks and the…you get the point). The locals swore that it would only take about 2 hours to walk there. Comedy must be another one of their main exports as after 3 hours (there is only 1 road, we were not lost!) we still seemed to be miles away. We finally ended up hitching a ride in the back of a pick up the remaining mile and a half. Sally's feet (as usual) had blisters that were making my eyes water, but stoically she just deals with it (every time). 

Our knight in shining armour

After a good internet (read - Maureen and Sally perusing Facebook, while Wade and I went exploring) we were ready to leave. Only thing is that it is now 5pm and Sally and Maureen were swearing blind that there was no way they wanted to A) walk back and B) walk back at night (the road is a dirt road with loads of ankle twisters along the way due to the recent heavy rains and rock falls). A "taxi" we are told would set us back $120. A "hostel" room for the night would be about $120 per couple. So that left us wandering around the town trying to negotiate our way home (which as the crow flies is only 2 miles by the way). Eventually we managed to get a ride in a fishing dinghy (large one) for $60 and one of my prized bottles of Scotch. All in all a good day out but we were very tired upon return. Would we recommend the walk? Yes, but plan that it will take a full day to walk there and back and take proper walking boots.

Local kids following us on the trail

As we were off to Tuamotus direct, we wanted some fresh fruit for the trip. We asked the woman in the store (she only sells potatoes and onions as all fruit just drips off of the trees and locals seem to share everything). She said to bring the kids some stuff and they would collect fruit for us. 

So the next day we came in to town and the same group of kids came bounding up to us carrying large boxes filled with pawpaw, pamplemousse and mangoes. They had obviously been out picking fruit that morning for us. Very sweet.

We gave them a few school supplies and sweets etc which they all seemed very happy with. As we departed in the dinghy the kids jumped into the water and clinged to the side yelling 'don't go', 'we love you', 'Sally I love your boyfriend' and other amusing remarks in English and we don't really know if they knew what they were saying. Fearing we would run over a local with our prop, we floated about prising fingers off handles and waving profusely as we disappeared into the distance with Nintendo DS' snapping our mug shots.

We now had this huge supply of mangoes (ripe ones that had been picked off the floor). The only proper thing to do is call a happy hour! Sally and I sat there peeling and squeezing the mangoes (by hand) until we had about 3 litres of juice. We went round to Just Drifting for dinner as I had caught a large Mahi earlier that day when Wade and I trolled off the coast (in the dinghy) and drank fresh mango and ate fresh Mahi. 

The following morning we wished Wade and Maureen farewell and headed for the Tuamotus.

A very Marqueasan evening…and morning...and afternoon

A couple of the yachties moored in Hiva Oa were invited to go on a pig hunt with some of the locals.

We are yet to figure out if these are domestic piggies that fled the butchers block and roam free to snuffle their way around the island or proper aggressive wild boars that like to gore the hell out of you. Looking at a fairly formidable tooth that hangs around our larger-than-life hosts neck, it is probably the latter. 

Needless to say the yachties came back empty handed. They do admit that they started with best intentions and snuck through the jungle like Charlie on the Ho CHi Min trail, but after a while they got bored and started swapping "how was your Pacific crossing" stories. The piggies, having inevitably heard many such stories in the past, probably got bored listening and scampered off to rut away happily somewhere else (far away). 

So as not to seem like lousy hosts, the locals decided to make it up to the band of intrepid hunters by slaughtering a goat (from a pen) and feasting upon that. They decided that the best place to have said feast was the island of Tahuatu, which just so happened to be where we were parked.

Via second / third hand invitation we whipped up a potluck (we did not want to go empty handed - especially as we had not contributed to any of the "how was your Pacific crossing" stories swapped the day prior) and dinghied over to the next bay where there is a beautiful beach with a private house nestled into the coconut grove. Picture perfect is the only way to describe it. Our hosts, although they did not own the house, were borrowing it from a friend who lives in Tahiti and had prepared a lovely meal which a few yachties had contributed to with their pots of luck. Sally's mini pizza's went down a treat, especially with the kids. 

We were introduced to the hosts and I was soon offering the gentleman a share in my rum. He reciprocated by offering me all the coconut water I could wish for (which I discovered Marquesans use as mix - fresh from the coconut - think malibu but with mild laxative properties). We got off to a great start. There is nothing like sharing a little booze to get everyone social. 

We tucked into the grub, but it appeared that tonight was chicken. The goat was the following day's feast (which we were subsequently invited to too). Oh yeah, and Moet (our host) wanted to teach us how to make a Marquesan breakfast, so were told to return at 10am the following day for that too!

As the evening wore on, I continued to pour (with a heavy hand) my hosts drinks. He would come with a short glass of coconut water and I would top it off with my $4 per bottle of Panamanian rot gut. 

Sally kept elbowing me in the ribs telling me to stop trying to get him inebriated or being the catalyst for an alcoholic addiction. I thought it rude not to though, so continued to pour. While matching him one for one, I was drinking a mere fraction of the alcohol, but then again, he had a good few kilograms of mass on me. I did not even see the large Polynesian even slur a word or stumble. 

The following morning he was up at 4am to take a few guys fishing…I was fast asleep. 

The next day we dinghied over for round two. We arrived a little late as we could not resist joining Dolphin of Leith and Sietse and Jen who were swimming next to their boat. Petra was having a lovely time swimming but young Finn was having none of it. With a few excitable leaps in the water and bombs off the boat he managed to pluck up the courage and got in the water but only if he could hang on to your neck with a choke hold they probably teach at Navy Seal school. 

Ashore, Moet had laid on another spread. We came bearing a gift of wine for the host who promptly took it over to the communal table for everyone, true testimony to the Marquesan hospitality and generosity. 

Goat stew, fish in coconut milk, freshly caught yellow fin sashimi, manioc and coconut milk cake like pudding, breadfruit in a creamy coconut sauce…all absolutely amazing! The humble coconut is an amazing plant!

After bellies were full, we sat on the beach chatting, fed the goats who had recently lost a close relative, swung in hammocks and swam. 

What a great day out. 

O how I wept

This post is slightly off the yachting theme I suppose. I have a favourite childhood book; as I am sure many of you do too. Mine is Where the Red Fern Grows by "I forget the author". I remember reading it when I was five / six (I was an incredibly gifted child who soon started to read the dictionary age seven - where all that gift went in my later life I have no idea as my parents constantly kick my butt at Scrabble while I imaginatively create words like "moo" to get the double letter score on the "o"). 

So you can imagine my excitement when my mother found me a copy of the book and gave it to me as a christmas present. For the uninitiated, it is a wonderful tale of a boy and his hunting dogs who go out and murder coons. Full of daring, adventure, intrigue and heartbreak (spoiler alert!).

Cruisers memory sticks have been in and out of more computers then a Johannesburg rent boy has his clients on an average Saturday night. While I remain surprised at the lack of (obvious) viruses that we have probably accumulated over the last 18 months, I also did not expect to find my favourite book has been made into a major motion picture the last time we did a "virus swap" of movies.

Ever keen to impress upon Sally a little of my childhood we eagerly sat down to watch. With the faint waft of burnt popcorn in our nostrils we took our positions in the salon. Even the thought of having to spend a good hour or so in the future scrubbing the pot that Sally had insisted on using to chargrill the popcorn did not spoil my mood.

I have watched a number of movies after reading the books. I really appreciate how hard it must be for the directors etc to condense a couple hundred page novel into a 90 minute movie script. Of course they will have to cut a few scenes (chapters), spice up other scenes (maybe splice in a naked boob or two) and add the odd event that lends itself etc. Budgets in Hollywood are also tight and finding good actors (especially child actors) must be very difficult too. 

With these expectations in mind, you can imagine just how disappointed I was when the only part of the movie that stuck to the book was the title. I spent most of the film explaining to Sally that this is not a fair, accurate or even a mildly entertaining version of the tale. The holes in the story were larger than any howitzer could create. 

The end of the film is a little sad and I must admit I wept for I think the movie "Where the red fern grows" has ruined my childhood. I was so looking forward to reading the story to my children at bedtime. Now I don't know if i will be able too. Maybe with a little time, a lot of counselling and a few meds I may get over it. 

I have made myself a pledge. I will stop watching movies if I have read the book already, unless it gets rave reviews from other people who have read the book prior and can attest to its accuracy and greatness. 

PS: Everyone do yourselves a favour and read "Where the red fern grows" by "What's his face". It is a great story (just don't watch the bloody movie!)

Trading in the South Pacific

Before we left Panama, we quizzed a number of yachts about trading in the South Pacific. What do the people on the remote islands want / need that we could buy at an affordable price and trade for locally made goods in the Pacific? Most answers were not very clear. The only one that stuck out was that alcohol is very expensive and can be used in some cases to trade. 

So we stocked up with cheap rum. Worse case scenario, is that we would never be thirsty and may be able to appease pirates if ever we encounter some of Blackbeard's descendants. 

Our first stop in Fatu Hiva revealed a number of goods that locals would like to have traded for.

Red wine, needles and thread, perfume (small bottles), rum / whisky always useful, T shirts. Has to be new / in very good condition (and generally large as the people here are not pygmies). 

We traded a number of things. Red wine, panamanian rum, a running T shirt (specifically wanted a sports t shirt). Other items which will always go down well are goodies for children, especially school stuffs. We received a huge amount of fruit for a few colouring pens, a note pad, a few balloons, bobbles and most importantly sweets! 

You can never have enough sweets! For both yourselves and "break the ice" gifts. Few adults and even fewer children can resist a good sweetie. Cries of "Bon Bon!" bring out loads of otherwise shy kids who soon become your best friends. This will not stop them however from using your dinghy as a large rubber bath toy to be abused especially when you are not looking! Little rascals!

On the how to trade without handing over the kitchen sink, we identify something that we like and ask if they want to trade. This then denotes the ground rules and removes any expectation of cash transaction (something we have not much of). Most recently we traded for few class B / C black pearls by selecting some, then ask what they wanted for them in order to trade. Most of the time the locals have a good idea of what you have and what they want. 

What kind of wind vane?

There is always a running debate on what sort of wind vane is best. Well, I can't attest to the best, but i can tell you the most popular. By just eyeballing the anchorage I can tell you that there are two clear majorities post crossing. Monitor and Hydrovane. The monitor is servo-pendulum model. Some believe that servo-pendulum is more powerful. 

The only comment I have is that the monitor which uses control lines to the helm / tiller, do chafe after a few thousand miles where as a hydrovane does not have this issue. Always remember to keep spare (non stretch) replacement lines. Changing them at sea is not much fun, I can attest to that.

One vessel we heard about almost lost their hydrovane as the bolts securing it to the hull came loose. Not a fault of the hydrovane needless to say. There is considerable pressure on the gear as it is a large paddle (ensure good sized backing plates and tight bolts)

As mentioned in a previous post though, the ratio of wind vanes to those with auto pilots is about 50 / 50. But one of the major issues people encountered along the way was auto pilot failure. 

At a cost of $7000 for a new monitor for example, you can buy an autopilot + spare and solar panel and battery or two to keep it running and probably still have change…

Autopilots have come along way and are a lot more reliable. I believe the rule of thumb is buy the biggest one you can for your boat and make sure you have spares and know how to fix it if you are going to rely only on electrics. 

Of all the catamarans that we have seen I have yet to see a wind vane, so all must be using auto pilots. Its a long way to hand steer!

As auto pilots improve on electrical consumption and reliability, so I think we will see fewer vessels with wind vanes (they get in the way of dinghy davits - which are very useful and sugar scoops / stern boarding ladders etc which many modern designs seem to favour)

All said and done, I am very glad that we had our Monitor and it has done a fantastic job for over 5000 miles.

What can I cross an ocean in?

It was very interesting to note the types of yachts that people used to cross one of the largest oceans in the world. By far the design that stands out as most common is the Beneteau for the monohulls and Lagoon for the catamarans. Often these are between the 40 and 50ft range. 

Commonly used as cost effective charter boats I had always discounted them as only good for that purpose, however there are plenty of Jeanneau's and Beneteau's out here that disprove that. 

It seems people are getting larger, newer boats for lower costs by going this route.

For the most part, the yachts we encountered were between 35 and 45ft. One of the smallest was a 26 footer owned by a Swedish couple. They did the crossing in 23 days. Very impressive (especially considering there were 3 adults on board too) 

Our other buddy boats that crossed with us included Dolphin of Leith - a 28 ft 108 year old wooden gaff rigged, Scottish fishing boat and a Waka Irie - Mariner 32. Two single handers were included in the fleet that we were with they were in 32 footers too.

We met a number of other single handers along the way; one of whom did not even have an engine in his little gaff rigged boat (although he did have a sculling oar). 

Many of the smaller boats did not have fridges, freezers, SSB, sat phones, radar, generators etc yet they had made it this far with generally fewer problems in many cases than some of the larger boats. Many of the larger more sophisticated boats had what we like to term "gold plated problems" - generally those relating to fridges, freezers and water maker issues.

With regards to budget, so far this month (despite having made landfall and spoiling ourselves with a few imported French foods), we have spent about $200 (half of this on a beautiful carving!). You can see why there are so many more young couples in the pacific than what we encountered in the Caribbean. One can argue that we are living off the food that we bought in Panama, however there is just not much to spend it on out here!

We met a lot of young couples that had left from from Mexico. These were mostly Canadian and Americans. We have yet to meet a single boat that has not raved about Mexico!

Polling the cruisers we ran into, the highest winds most encountered crossing the pacific was 35 knots (and this was generally from aft of the beam so would have felt considerably less). There were few squalls or storms. The need for an over engineered battleship with drogues, sea anchors, storm sails etc to cross an ocean (by that I mean doing the milk run) is a bit of a fallacy in my opinion.  

For anyone out there wondering if they can do it, you most certainly can. The best boat to do it on is probably the one you have right now / or can afford. The hardest part of going cruising is letting go of the mooring lines as my father always says!