We pulled out of Raro last night just before dark. I left feeling almost sorry for the place. Such a great island with such a horrible harbor. I guess it’s not always so bad but we inadvertently timed our stay with two passing troughs of low pressure that brought northerly winds, sunless skies, and a chill in the air. When we first arrived, the idea of not having to use the outboard motor to get into the dock seemed a relief. When the second northerly blew in this weekend it became a struggle to get the dinghy back and forth the few yards from quai to boat without getting your head ripped off by a neighbor’s lines. People were dropping anchors on top of other people’s anchors, words were getting exchanged, cleats and stanchions were popping off boats, Dosia was covered in dirt blowing off the quai; my little voice said “let’s get the hell out of here.” So we did. And now we’re over 100 miles out and sailing along blissfully under a full mizzen, double-reefed main, and full genoa. As soon as the wind backs around another 15 degrees, up goes the spinnaker and we will hopefully coast right into Beveridge Reef. We had homemade beef stew for dinner last night, homemade lasagne coming tonight, and the meals are planned for the rest of the trip assuming we don’t catch any fish…whenever I get around to throwing out some lines. This is sailing at its best and we’re having a ball. It’s blowing 10 knots on our beam, a few gusts up to 15 and we’re doing anywhere from 4.5-6 knots in easy-riding seas. Even Marge, the anti-passagemaker can’t complain in these conditions. If all goes to plan, we’ll arrive at Beveridge Saturday morning or midday for a mid ocean rest stop. One or two night’s stay depending on weather. No land, just reef and a lagoon. One of those weird mid-ocean anomalies. As always, I’m hoping to get Marge in the water with some sharks! Check it out on google. Peace.
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While we’re waiting out this weather (bringing with it temps in the lower 60′s) to pass through Raro we’ve just been enjoying the island via scooter which has included eating more and walking less. So to counteract all the yummy food intake I’ve been pounding the pavements of Raro and giving my running shoes a little action for the first time this trip. It has felt amazing to get some workouts in and come back to the boat with a layer of both sweat and sea salt on my skin. It has reminded me that I want to take just a second to plug a website to our followers, Running With A Purpose.

A gal pal of mine from high school, Stefanie Brooks English, is an avid runner and has been for years now. Other than just for her own well being, she’s added another cause to her reasoning and it’s incredible, inspirational, and humbling. Take a moment to check it out and I guarantee you it’s going to tug at a heart string.

Yesterday we purchased our tickets home for the holidays! For about a week now, in our efforts to find a deal and not having any luck, Drew had almost concluded that he was not going to return home in November. It upset me to no end because I didn’t find it fair for me to go home while he stayed behind and I couldn’t fathom him spending the holidays in another country alone. The cruising world can be a family within itself but I was being selfish and wanted him with me. Cost wise it was proving to be rather difficult and he kept saying “you go, I’ll just stay here.” Ummmm…noooooooooooo…

Man it was frustrating seeing those numbers pop up every time we searched a flight and I honestly began thinking we might be spending the holidays overseas and just waiting to go home in April for his sister, Kelli, and her hubby to be, Tanner’s, wedding (which we are super stoked about!!!). But a greater power wouldn’t let that be and we managed to snag tickets to get us both home for the same price we were initially finding for just one of us. I was so happy I cried right there in the internet cafe. So come November we’ll be crossing oceans and time changes to spend the holidays with our loved ones and I could not be happier!

Despite locating the tickets on our own, beforehand we found the folks at Island Hopper Vacations-Cook Islands to be incredibly helpful. They spent a lot of time with us trying to help us find flights, to work with our budget and time frame, and they were quite humorous and delightful. In response to Drew’s “thanks for your help we really appreciate it,” one fella’s reply back, “ahh it’s bloody fun, isn’t it?” The sarcasm in his voice was a touch of humor to our frustrating day. So we highly recommend them to anyone who passes through here as they are capable of accommodating most of your travel needs here on the island.

We’ve been in Raro 6 days now and during that time the sun has showed itself for a total of 2 hours. It’s not been raining, just completely overcast and breezy. At night it’s in the 60′s and we go out wearing jeans, long sleeves, and Margie even sports a fleece jacket. I don’t know whether this is normal or not. One local said it’s common to have weather like this till September. Another said this is extremely unusual. Thankfully the sun is finally gracing us with its presence today. This morning it’s beautiful and clear but still cool. I hope to see the temperature creep up into the mid 80′s today!

Despite the dreary weather we’ve been having a great time here in Raro. There’s about 10 boats on the quai (pronounced “key”) right now but it seems everyday one or two leave and more come in. I find it unbelievable we’re the only ones with a scooter parked behind our boat. For $14NZ (less than $10US) per day it seems almost ridiculous not to have one. Even if you don’t have anywhere to go, the pure entertainment value of scooting around the island is worth it! The other night we were cruising along at 50 kilometers and “crack!” Part of the scooter’s plastic frame fell right off in the middle of the road. No worries, just pick it up and cram it into the storage compartment under the seat. Oh well! The only thing that could add to the fun would be a stereo system installed on “Junior” so we could rock out to the cool radio station here. One minute you’ll be jammin to the newest rap song from Ludacris or Akon and then they fade into “Cruisin” by Smokey Robinson or “River of Love” from George Straight. 101.1 FM – Raro’s Hottest Hits “If they won’t let you listen to us at work, piss in the coffee pot and quit.”

Last night we had Linda and Andy from Coromandel Quest over to the boat for dinner. I actually owed them a hot meal from a year ago when I was without cooking gas and they fed me in Ecuador. It’s still crazy to me you can run into someone you met a year and 4000+ miles ago on a tropical island in the South Pacific with no contact or planning. I looked up one day and there they come into the harbor. It just goes to show how small the community of international cruisers really is. So since I owed them a dinner I put Margie to work whipping up some of her soon-to-be-famous salmon cakes and a green bean casserole while I hosted Linda, Andy, and Jake who, along with his wife Neely, are down from Canada on their honeymoon. We met them over at a resort on Friday and it looks like we’ll be dining with them tonight. He stopped by to say hello and got sucked into a couple of beers. I guess that means tomorrow night is now Taco night and I’ll be cooking!

It looks like a small low pressure system is forming fast and rolling through here on Wednesday. I’ve been watching it on the forecasts for the last 4 days. That won’t be fun in this harbor since it’s completely exposed to the north and they’re is calling for stiff north-north easterlies tomorrow which will turn the seas right at us. When a Low forms rapidly it can create violent little squalls. This is called a “meteorological bomb” and it’s exactly the type of thing we want to avoid at sea. The latest weekly weathergram from weather guru Bob McDavitt on Sunday confirmed my suspicions but thankfully he puts the potential “bomb” 500 miles to our south. “That Low should be taken by a jetstream quickly southeastwards and may well bomb on Wednesday near 30S 160E as its trough crosses Southern Cooks. Standby for some squalls from this passing trough.” I’ve begun studying the crossing from Fiji to New Zealand even though we’re months away. It has the potential to be downright scary if I don’t time it perfectly between the Lows shooting off Australia. Since this is now acknowledged as an El Nino year, I need to figure out it’s affect on those Lows. My worry is that it’ll put them closer together making it more difficult for us to sneak through between the gales. I guess all I can do is keep on studying and watch for those patterns!

Well thanks to our engine, and Drew’s willingness to motor instead of sitting still like a duck in water, we were able to arrive in Rarotonga in a little over a day. There were absolutely NO WINDS to aide in our journey here but of course southerly winds hit us head on early Tuesday morning. So instead of only having four more hours left to the trip we had barely 4 knots pushing us along and another two hours or so tacked onto the trip. Funny, as quickly as we can change our plans and add another island onto our list, the weather can change just as fast. You can follow all the weather charts you want but sometimes, oftentimes, out here you get some stuff you’re not expecting, and all you can do is adjust and push on. We did just that and pulled into Rarotonga, a.k.a. Raro, around 3:30 Tuesday afternoon.

What did prove dead on was the anchorage here in Raro. Exactly as we had expected, we came in, dropped anchor, and then butt wedged Dosia into a spot. We are tied up to a concrete wharf and could literally reach out and high five our neighbors. Needless to say, there are fenders and lines EVERYWHERE! Two other boats have come in after us so right now there are ten, one of which is a 60+ foot massive catamaran. There isn’t much room left for any more boats and we’ve all got our fingers crossed that no northerly winds or swells come ripping through here or this harbor is likely to turn into a big mess of bumper boats. On a positive note, no outboard dinghy engines are necessary as you can just pull yourself back and forth from your boat to the wharf by all the lines from the boats.

Instantly once you pull in, your nose is tantalized by the gourmet burger joint across the street and the fish-n-chips hole in the wall off to the right of the harbor. We got Dosia settled, made sure she wasn’t going to be doing the two step with any of our neighbors, and set off to follow our noses to get something to eat. Within half a mile from the boat there are more restaurants than we could possibly eat at in the week we plan to be here, along with several grocery stores, and plenty of shopping. For Tuesday night we chose Trader Jacks, which appears to be a very popular bar and grill here on the island, large enough to possibly entertain the entire population of Aitutaki! Grilled wahoo, seafood pasta, calamari….scrumptious!

First thing yesterday we rented Junior, our new scooter, and were off to tackle the 32 km that makes up the coastal road around Raro. The largest island, and capital, of the Cooks, Raro is home to more than half the population that makes up this group of islands. Driving here will prove to be a bit more of a test with a lot more traffic than in Aitutaki so we’ll let Drew do most of it. The wharf offers a hot water shower to cruisers (for $10NZ w/a $20NZ deposit) so yesterday I was able to take a LONG shower and didn’t have to worry about turning the water off! So nice. We’ll be able to provision our fridge while here and restock the freezer with fresh chicken and beef and the best part…there is a small movie theater here so tomorrow night we’ll be able to check out the new Transformers movie! Heck yeah!

Unfortunately even the greatest of islands cannot fend off sickness and we’ve both fallen victim to something here in Aitutaki. For three or four days Drew and I have been battling on and off symptoms of fever, headaches, sore throats, and this morning we added ear aches to the list. It wasn’t until last night that I started to run fever and it was very low grade but for two nights straight Drew’s was well above a hundred. Once the ears started hurting this morning Drew began to think we may have gotten ear infections because both the water and air temperature here are significantly cooler than in Bora Bora but we’re not sure. Lucky for us we have antibiotics on board that we’ve had stashed away which we brought from back home. We’d been putting off using them thinking “what if we need them down the road” but then realize that situations like the present are exactly what we have them for.

We’ve already missed one dinner and a show this week that we had planned to attend and have resos for another one tonight. We’re hoping we both feel up to going as it is supposedly the best show on the island and we had to make the reservations a week ago to get in! The one thing our illnesses haven’t affected is our appetites, go figure, so we’ll have to feel pretty crappy to miss out on the great food! Fingers crossed that we’ll have nipped this thing soon.

Legally we could have stayed in French Polynesia till September. Back in the states this winter we went through the P.I.T.A. of getting our long stay visas giving us 6 months to relax and meander through the country at an “island pace.” It involved a quick trip to Atlanta, a short interview, and about hundred pieces of paper from banks, police offices, and insurance companies. We had to prove we had enough money and coverage to afford our stay and cover our asses. Thanks to Photoshop, a scanner, and some artful and creative productions on my part, we passed muster with flying colors. Once we arrived, it seemed our visas also canceled out the process of posting a bond; something everyone does when entering the country by boat. Basically you put enough money in some sort of escrow account to cover a plane ticket out of the country so they could put you on a plane and throw you out if they so choose. Everyone complains because you lose money on both banking fees and the currency conversion. I’ve heard of boats losing up to $300 per person not to mention you have well over a thousand dollars each tied up in some foreign bank. The guys at immigration never mentioned a bond to me so I certainly never said a word to them! All in all, the visa was probably worth it even though we chose not to stay for the entire duration. Why didn’t we stay? I hate to keep talking about it but, as Margie mentioned in her last post, cost was a limiting factor for us in French Polynesia. We aren’t paupers living out here in a floating trailer park but my keel is still full of lead ballast…not gold. Cost and value are important to us. And it seems we aren’t the only ones. With the exception of the brand new Four Seasons (where a cheeseburger at the pool will run you $30), the resorts in Bora Bora were operating on less than 30% occupancy. Here in Aitutaki, the Pacific Resort is booked solid for the next two months. This is the first week since January that the resort we visited this morning, the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa, isn’t full. They’re back to full occupancy next week. And we didn’t even think it was a nice place! Obviously people are starting to figure it out. The same experience, same beauty, similar culture, and better food (in our opinion)…half the cost. On Bora Bora, if you’re staying at one of the island resorts (on the motus) and you want to eat at one of the three or four restaurants on the main island it can cost you $100+ to get there and back not including the meal. It’s just a boat ride away! Don’t believe me? Check out the reviews at Tripadvisor (www.tripadvisor.com) Here on Aitutaki, you jump on your $12 a day scooter and head off. And let me go ahead and put this out there. OVERWATER BUNGALOWS ARE OVERRATED AND OVERPRICED. I know people are finding our site by googling Bora Bora so if this helps just one honeymooning couple make up their mind, I’m satisfied. If money is no object, head to the Societies, get yourself a bungalow, and relax to your heart’s content…if not check out some other places. Start here. I’m in love with it and I’ve seen some fascinating places. www.pacificresort.com

We haven’t sat still much since our arrival here in the Cooks and don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. We have officially met and checked in with customs, agriculture, and health inspectors and are “free to roam about the island”…even though we already had been : )

I hit my two month mark on the trip back in June and shortly after became a little homesick which is fairly routine for me. I was an unexplainable, emotional wreck and Drew could barely talk to me without me crying. Such a girl. As crappy as I feel for saying this, French Poly had begun to feel a little routine and I was aching for something new, as was Drew. While I could have certainly done without the harshness of the passage, what was waiting for us, in the Cooks, has been an incredible mood lifter and Drew and I have done a complete 180 since our arrival. Neither of us can begin to explain how wonderful it is to be amongst English speaking people again as it knocks down the language barrier we’ve had up against us for both our trip this year and last year. It’s my fault, I should have studied and learned French but I didn’t, and so I am glad to have that part of the trip behind me.

Then there is the financial aspect of being in a new place and for us things are reasonable again which means that we are really able to appreciate and enjoy the culture without as many limitations and it is making a world of difference. The scooter rental has made getting around the island not only easy but FUN! Some afternoons we just go out and ride around with no intentions of doing anything but sight seeing and feeling the wind in our face. And the food, oh the wonderful food! There are so many restaurants here so it’s been fantastic to get off Dosia and be served instead of having to cook all the time. There is a wonderful restaurant on the oppo side of the island from us called the Boatshed Bar & Grill, right on the lagoon, where we had an amazing lunch of local fish & chips and a thai beef salad. Highly recommend this to future visitors of the island but TAKE BUG SPRAY! Mosquitos are present all over the island but everywhere on the eastern side.

Of course we’re tag teaming it with Zen and will probably end up sharing many meals and adventures with them throughout our time here. They are an absolutely wonderful family to be around and the mom, Monique, has become my “girlfriend” of the trip. It’s great to see a family experiencing this together and there is such a respect level between Tom & Monique and their children, Cammi & Cole. You feel it within minutes of being around them and I just love it as it can be rare to find that these days. Thursday we ate dinner with them at Cafe Tupuna’s which sits up in the hills of Arutanga. Drew & I split a bowl of seafood chowder that would have made my dad cry (he LOVES chowders) and then both licked our plates clean of the fantastic tuna and wahoo dishes we ordered as our meals. Lemon and passion fruit cheesecake for dessert, stick a fork in me I was done! Last night we attended our first buffet and dance show at the Pacific Resort. For about $45 a person there was an amazing buffet of sushi, sashimi, clams, mussels, lobster salads, pork, ribs, fresh salad, a pumpkin au gratin that was to die for, and tropical dessert plates. It was perfect and after Drew, Monique, Cammi, Tom, and I all participated in the dance show, we were all full, spent, and ready for bed.

Being in another country makes it difficult to celebrate our nation’s birthday so it’s going to be a low key 4th of July for us. Tomorrow is Miss Cammi’s birthday and I am being given the pleasure of making her a birthday cake so we’ll be joining them in the b-day festivities and on Monday we are going on an island lagoon tour which will take us to four of the remote atolls and we’ll be able to snorkel. So we are going to have PLENTY to keep us busy and lots of food to keep our bellies full! So if you’ll excuse me I need to go on a walk now to try and work off these desserts I’ve been eating lately. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYBODY!!!

Island life in Aitutaki thus far is fantastic! Our family of buds on s/v Zen got two scooters of their own so we’ve formed our own little “Hells Angels” and we’re cruising the roads in style! Long gone are the mountainous landscapes and cascading hills of Moorea, Tahiti, Bora Bora, and heaven forbid that one in Huahine (which I never hope to encounter again). Those islands were gorgeous, no doubt, but Aitutaki has provided us with it’s own beauty in a much different setting. The roads of this island are mostly flat with a few rolling hills nestled in. Mango, papaya, starfruit, breadfruit, pamplemousse, and mandarin trees are in abundance and instead of dogs (like in the Society Islands), the streets are lined with goats and roosters. In fact, there are no dogs anywhere on this island because they were blamed many years ago for a leprosy outbreak.

I’ve mentioned to Drew several times throughout this trip that in living on Dosia, in a confined space, I have learned just how little I can live without. I am all for microwaves, hot water showers, being able to blow dry and straighten my hair, air conditioning, and yes, the occasional gossip magazine. And honestly, call me shallow, prior to September of last year I would have laughed if someone told me that not only was I capable of functioning minus those luxuries, but that I could do it and I would enjoy it. It’s only when I think I am living “without” that we arrive on an island like Aitutaki and it kicks my butt right back into place and reminds me what really living “without” could mean.

Imagine, back in the States, wanting a hot dog. Easy enough, right? You get in your car, you go to the store (sometimes reluctantly because the couch was oh so comfy), not only do you buy your hot dog but you have your choice of beef, chicken, bratwurst, turkey, sausage, and cheese filled. You go home, you make your dog, and you enjoy. Well imagine wanting a hot dog but having to wait four or five weeks for it because the ship that delivers your groceries wasn’t able to get to your island that month!!! Thus was the case some time ago in Aitutaki. A ship delivers goods and groceries to this island once a month and upon our arrival it had come the week prior. So what we saw in the stores was what we were going to get and while the stores here are nice, they are no Carrefour. Thank heavens we have frozen chicken breasts and bacon in the freezer because we’ve yet to come across any here on the island. I can only imagine that when the shelves are freshly stocked that there is a mad rush, similar to the newest video game release back home, for the locals to grab what they can of the stuff that is really, really valuable to them before it is all gotten and gone, like fresh meats and cheeses.

So for those who are born and raised on this island, what they’ve never had, they can’t miss and the way they receive their goods is the only way they know so to them, it’s normal. For me, it’s a learning experience and one from which I can only hope teaches me and helps me grow as a person. One day, when Drew and I are back into our norm, and that trip to the grocery store seems more like a chore and hassle than a luxury, hopefully the memory of Aitutaki and these people will flash into my mind. Instead of being bothered, I’ll just be glad it’s there and in the present, and for that, incredibly appreciative…

Pulling out of Bora Bora on Saturday morning, we knew we were in for a rough ride. I had reached that point where I was ready to leave no matter what. We were 8 days past our “legal” date in French Polynesia, out of French Poly cash and tired of the prices, bored with the food (except that Reuben at Blood Mary’s), and oh so ready to see something new. We were attempting our first passage since last year and of course, Margie’s second ever, so we knew there would be some adjustment time to get used to the movement and life at sea. We had two meals prepared and ready to cook. I set up the blog so we could update by email and keep everyone posted on the 485 mile passage. Three hours after we pulled out of the pass we hit our first rain. Soon after, the random 12-13 foot southern waves started rolling in on our nice 8-10′ southeasterly sets. The wind gusts rose into the 30-35 knot range and by 3:30 we were sitting in the cockpit in our foul weather gear surfing down waves at 8.5 knots thinking hmm…I’m not that hungry any more and let’s just keep that computer where it is. Just after nightfall we finally gave up the cockpit and did watches from below. Those intermittent southerly swells would come out of nowhere, slap the side of the hull, and crash across the entire boat drenching anything in the path. We made 162 miles the first 24 hours which was actually slower than I thought we’d be but I think it was the wave height slowing us down. Sunday came with absolutely no improvement in the weather so we sat below all day, hatch boards in, reading and trying to keep the nausea under control. We did manage to get down a couple of tuna fish sandwiches. Day two put 151 more miles out of the way and by late Monday morning the winds and seas had abated some so I put out the full genoa. That along with the mizzen carried us at 7 knots till late night Monday. Then the wind died all together. We wanted to make it to the pass at Aitutaki with some good daylight on Tuesday so with the help of the engine we came around the northern coast at noon.
 
Then came the pass. I circled around the front of it saying “is that it?!?” for about 15 minutes before finally dropping anchor on the outside (in the swell) so we could explore it by dinghy first and see what we were up against. It looked like the dinghy was gonna run aground in the pass as I entered so I couldn’t imagine taking Dosia in. I discovered it was dead low as one tide program had suggested (the other, of course, said the exact opposite) and we would have to roll around and wait a couple of hours before we could safely enter on the “big” boat. It was nice being able to dinghy around the anchorage and chose out my spot beforehand without coming in blind. About 4pm we wrestled the anchor off a coral head on the outside and headed in. Dosia’s draft is 5.1″ and the shallowest I saw was 5.8″. I had spent an afternoon in Bora Bora calibrating the gauges just for this pass and I was happy I did. Once inside we headed up the small outer channel into 2 knots of current and dropped anchor. As I write this I have three anchors out. Two off the bow and one stern anchor. At full tidal outflow, the current runs probably three knots and where we’re sitting it tends to push on the starboard side of the boat so I feel more comfortable with some extra protection out. The bottom is rocky in places so you gotta check your anchors and make sure they’re set. I have one bow anchor in sand and the other wrapped around a rocky head. This boat ain’t going nowhere and that’s good cause with our smoking scooter rental (code named “Scoot Scoot”) we don’t plan on spending much time on the boat! Yep, that’s right…we got transport for at least the next week. $100NZ ($65US) for a week cannot be beat. Especially when that was the cost for one day’s rental in French Polynesia. This place is G-R-E-A-T! It is wonderful to be back in a country with some sort of earthly pricing. It’s just as beautiful (if not more in my opinion) and with the same friendly South Pacific people. And here they speak English!
 
Apparently there was a funeral on the island today and with a mere population of about 600 people, it drew the likes of many of the locals, including those in customs so that was closed. We’ll check in tomorrow and be clear to explore the rest of what we’ve already decided is going to be awesome destination!