Fiji refit

This was the condition of the starting battery after water got into the compartment and shorted out the terminals.  Note the brown sludge in the background...this is dirty water!  All terminals and connections had to be removed and cleaned as well as the battery box.

the traveller story

This entry is for my 88 year old dad!  He taught me everything I know about right and wrong and after exploring the world for 62 years; I realize there is not much more to know!

 

……this is the story of a traveller who wandered the world and one day he arrived at the gates to a great city.  Sitting at the entrance was an old man so the traveller walked up to the old man and said:

 

"What kind of people live in your city?"

 

And the old man answered,

 

"What kind of people lived in the city you came from?"

 

The traveller said,

 

"They were terrible people.  They lied and cheated and fought with each other."

 

"The same kind of people live in this city", the old man answered.

 

So the traveller moved on and soon another traveller arrived at the entrance to the same great city.  Seeing the old man, he came up to him and asked the same question!

 

"What kind of people live in your city old man?"

 

The old man looked at him and returned the question saying,

 

"What kind of people lived in the city you came from?"

 

The second traveller looked at the old man and said,

 

"They were wonderful people, full of love and happiness and always kind to each other."

 

"The same kind of people live in this city", the old man answered!

Fiji..again!

The temperature is 35 degrees Celsius in the cabin today. That would
probably be bearable if not for the 95% humidity accompanying it!
But I have fallen under the spell of the tropics once again, the slow
rhythm to life that greets you at every turn.
It took a couple of days to adjust following 30 hours of travel from
Victoria to Nadi. But Korean Air was wonderful and they made the
transition as painless as possible. There are the cruisers who stayed
for the cyclone season and those who have returned. There is the
yacht club bar, the First Landing Resort and all the familiar haunts.
Toketie has survived a direct hit by cyclone Mick and another that
passed nearby. But she is showing her age with the wear and tear of
the Pacific crossing and two passages between New Zealand and the
tropics. The topsides have numerous rust spots and the December
cyclone and its accompanying 100 mph winds drove rain below and
flooded the battery box. I believe I have salvaged the house
batteries, new in NZ, but the starter battery melted down when the
water shorted the terminals. So after two days of cleaning out the
compartment and all the electrical terminals, I am shopping for a
replacement. Sounds simple enough but in Fiji, nothing is simple. It
is difficult to source a new one and requires many conversations and
trips to town. But the house batteries are up and running and
charging so I have a fridge and a light to read myself to sleep.
Fortunately the temperature drops and is almost bearable at night.
Netting is required on all openings to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
The fish on the barbeque was fresh Walu tonight and the beer is cold
and cheap.
So far from family and friends and missing my first mate dearly, I
take a day at a time and dream of people and places yet to be found!

leavin...on a jet plane....

sitting in Vancouver airport waiting to board Korean Air flight 072 to Seoul and then on to Nadi, Fiji!  Five months flew by very quickly but was filled with good memories to carry along on our adventures. 

meanwhile project 'Daydream' continues...good progress in the yard with the mast stepped and the new shaft in place......

S/V Toketie at sea!

A short video clip of S/V Toketie hove-to in Fiji's Koro Sea.  An 'anticyclone' is a localized high pressure system with extreme winds.  We recorded gusts to 53 knots.  The seas were huge and often the crests were blown horizontally!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1W3Q9BaNTQ

"Daydream" gets a bowsprit!

Fitted the new bowsprit on the Tayana 37 'Daydream'!

Toketie enroute to New Zealand

Some more video shot of the passage down to New Zealand from Tonga!  A good 30 knots on the beam makes for good sailing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQFrYRT9bu4

S/V Toketie underway to New Zealand!

A short video of Toketie on the passage down to New Zealand from Tonga.  The 'squash zone' is an area of strong winds sandwiched between a high and a low pressure system.  Makes for 'spirited' sailing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PVpe7_PU2Y

S/V Toketie at sea!

A short video of Toketie after leaving French Polynesia enroute to Niue, the smallest country in the world!  A mild taste of bluewater cruising for all you armchair sailors!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mMoXLj0qQs

Fakarava Atoll

The Tuamotus Atolls in the French Polynesian islands has all the charm of a forgotten time.  In this little anchorage we met these children on the beach and although very shy at first, their eyes grew wide when we asked if they would like to ride out to Toketie in the dinghy with us!  Cruising yachts were a common sight in season so they must have been curious about these people who parked in their front yard!  With lots of laughter, they came on board, had the tour and very politely ate cake and drank juice in the salon.  They then spontaneously broke into song as a way of saying 'thank you'!!  With camera at hand, I was fortunate to capture this 'moment in a lifetime'! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuUtr_k3gXs

Taiohae Bay

The island of Nuku Hiva in the French Polynesian Marquesas is a popular destination and stopover for cruising boats traveling downwind on the famous 'coconut run' across the S Pacific Ocean.  This is a short clip of the entrance to the main anchorage.

Here is a short video of it on YouTube  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBdE0DRmzRU 

S/V Toketie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRj5uPz22WU

.....if you enjoyed Toketie's approach to the equator.....you may like the dolphins that accompanied us for part of the journey...

Toketie on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR3KprDrxog

A short video taken when we were enroute from Mexico to the Marquesas!

longing....

I can almost see Fiji!

Vernal Equinox

Twice each year, when day and night are of equal length and the sun being vertically above a point on the equator we officially move into 'summer' in the Northern hemisphere!  In Victoria the event passed with sunshine and warming temperatures!

The Tayana refit project!

....some shots taken in the shed where they are re-glassing the sidedecks....horribly messy dusty environment...the whole boat is covered in plastic...we took the new bowsprit out to do a prefit and mark the holes for attaching it.....

Tayana bowsprit

...with floors attached...

Tayana Bowsprit details

The project takes shape with the tip shaped to which the crans or crance collar is attached to hold the rigging.  The notches will take the floors for the teak grating and pulpit!

Blog news!

This is a note to ask all you loyal Toketie blog followers to link our blog site to any other sites you might use, such as Facebook or Twitter or your own blog.  Seems the search engines like a blog to be active and the more active and connected it is, the better results you get when searching for it!  The whole google search business is a mystery to me and I guess that's the way they want it but I would like to at least get ours to the point where people can find it when they lose the direct link!!! Thank you

The 'DayDream' bowsprit (cont)

roughed out....beginning to take shape...