Last night just before sunset I went down to the gym to work out. John, Deborah and Ant went in to swim with the manna rays. After the rays left they embarked on a mission to clean the white strip on the waterline of Bella Donna's flag blue hull. All of us exhausted from the day's activity made our way to the cool breezy fly with a sundowner to enjoy the cloudy, but still beautiful, sunset. This anchorage is rated by some people as one of the best in all French Polynesia.
For dinner we had leg of lamb, sharing the meaty bone with our sea friends. John tied it on a line and tossed it over the stern. This morning we hauled it up and it was picked clean.
We started our morning with first a big roaring sound accompanied by shaking throughout Bell Donna, and then the sound of alarms. Deborah and I rush to the salon chart table to realize the alarm is due to a wind gust of 25 to 30 knots or more. Our anchorage is shielded from the trade winds and sea swell, but winds make there way over the island funneled down a valley and then aim at Bella Donna with a down hill catabolic effect. It has been raining all night off and on, but the nasty weather is taking a quick turn to be worse. Deborah relates that she was sick all night, throwing up over the side. Ant comes up and had a bad night too. Suddenly I realize I do not feel so well either. John comes up sick too. Don comes up all bright and bushy tailed, feeling "supper" to find us all returning to bed. The thought of riding several hours in the back of a pickup in the rain, over steep bumpy muddy dirt mountain roads to see some primitive village, tikis and other archeological sites is not appealing.
This storm looks like it will last all day; it is the rainy season. We heard there was a radio station on Hiva Oa that broadcasts weather. I get my radio and try scanning all AM, FM and SSB frequencies for anything; all I get is static. The satellite is not taking internet email requests the SSB will not send or receive email until later in the day due to propagation issues and the great distances involved. I guess I can write today's blog post now; I think I know now how today will go. How about VHF? We do get someone to on VHF to talk to and try to get word to our tour guide we will not be at the dinghy dock at 10AM on Hiva Oa today; we will be at the dinghy dock tomorrow morning at 10AM needing a ride to the airport though. Suddenly I see a mental picture of luggage bouncing in the swell at the dinghy dock. Not a pleasant picture, but that is tomorrow's issue. We begin our 31 hour passage through the air home, then.
Later in the day the sun comes out with some blue sky but the wind is still gusting. John has reset the alarm for 45 knots, so if it goes off we will respond. Everyone spent the day in bed recovering and watching movies. Just as Deborah got up to make some tea a gust of wind blew pillows off the boat into the water. Even though John had a splitting headache, he and Deborah boarded the dinghy to retrieve floating blue pillows from the water before they left in the direction of Australia. Just another day for captain and his first mate.
We just heard from some of the sailboats that left Galapagos before us; they estimate they will arrive late tonight and will see us in the anchorage in Hiva Oa tomorrow morning. They managed the passage in 20 to 21 days which is pretty good given the light wind.
We will be traveling tomorrow so will post on the way if I can. The next pos is bound to have the shock of reentering the real world.
God Bless Bella Donna.
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