Author: juronnie

la Orana Boatblog® Fans,

That is Tahitian for hi there.

Greetings from Paradise Prison.

We weren’t sure whether or not we should put up a blog under the current circumstances, given that most of our followers haven’t seen daylight for many weeks now and are still in lockdown in places as far afield as London, Madrid  and Kettering. It might just be rubbing it in a bit too much.

But if it’s any consolation, we too were in lockdown for the first month that we were here. Which isn’t so bad when this is the view.

We were only allowed to go 1km away from the boat, and had to carry a document saying where we were going and why. Alcohol was banned, but shopping was allowed, and so was exercising. So that’s one for Lyn and one for Ju. We’ll let you work out who did what. You couldn’t even go swimming unless it was for essential boat maintenance. Ju found that a daily check of the anodes was essential and is pleased to be able to tell you that they are fine.

Normally a marina is a hive of activity, people coming and going and doing boat jobs. We’ve never known one to be so quiet and deserted.

It was all a bit spooky.

But it didn’t last long. There have been remarkably few cases of the big C here, and no deaths we’re pleased to say. So it wasn’t long before the authorities were able to go from “Restez a la maison” (Stay at Home) to “Reste attentif,” (Stay Alert) status. They didn’t actually put it like that, but that was the gist. No one knew what it meant here either. But it seemed that things were pretty much back to normal. We still couldn’t go sailing, but at least we could go and visit the island.

And very nice it is too. The capital is Papeete, which among other things is famous for it’s graffiti.

Though calling it graffiti seems to be underselling it a bit. Perhaps “Building Art,” or “Big Banksy?” Suggestions on a ten pound note to the usual address please.

We went on an island tour with Cheryll and Martin from Zan.

The scenery is spectacular. 

It’s all really lush, with strange looking tropical flowers everywhere.

These are a beautiful couple

…of waterfalls.

And there is an amazing feature called “The Blowhole.” You stand next to a bit of rock by the cliff, and all of a sudden…

…a blast of air shoots up through a hidden hole. We’re not quite sure why it happens, but it’s something to do with a big wave coming in from somewhere underneath the cliff.

Not only could we go exploring, but we could go SCUBA diving too.

There’s a plane wreck which was quite fun to climb in and swim round.

And we saw a stonefish.

Now the thing about a stonefish is that it looks exactly like a stone. Except it is one of the most poisonous fishes in the sea. You’re probably looking at this picture and thinking, “They’re having a laugh. There’s no fish there. That’s just a stone.” I would point out the stonefish to you with a little arrow, except I’ve forgotten which bit was the stone and which bit is the stonefish. But trust me, one of those bits of rock is actually a deadly fish. It’s got a row of hypodermic needles in its back which inject you with poison if you tread on it.

I remember an Australian divemaster telling me that if I ever trod on a stonefish, “…you have to get back to the boat as fast as you can. Go directly to the fridge and get yourself a can of Fosters. You might as well enjoy your last five minutes.”

Treading on a stonefish really spoils your day.

With so much time on our hands, Ju has taken the next level of SCUBA diving training, which is “Rescue Diver.” He’s half way through the course, so if you’re half drowning he can save you, but if you want to drown completely you’d better wait till next week.

One of the best days out we had was our trip to the lava tunnels with our friends from Next Step and Cloud Shadow. 

We thought it was just going to be a little stroll in the hills. It started off a bit bouncy, going up in a 4X4…

And all seemed pleasant enough.

Then they said put on your helmets and wetsuits, and follow our Tahitian guide Herve, into the cave.

Hmmmm.

Still not too bad…

Then it got steeper…

And wetter.

And darker.

But eventually we could see light at the end of the tunnel…

And fairly soon were back in the sun.

Only three more to go, says our guide. Which would have been ok, except to get the next one we had to inch along a cliff face, with a pretty vertical drop below.

Those of you who know how much Lyn hates heights will appreciate what an incredible act of bravery this is.

Woo woo! Go girl!

Ju’s not too keen on heights himself.

And if that wasn’t enough, next we had to go upwards….

Nearly there.

Well done Lyn. No excuses for not going up the mast now.

Ju’s turn next. Quietly confident.

Only two more left!

But soon we were at the top and all that was left to do was to trek right the way back down through the jungle.

It was the most fantastic day out.

This is a video that Jeremy on Next Step made.

So that is our lockdown story. Just time for a gratuitous sunset

And moonrise. 

Or is that the sun? Graham – please let us know.

I think it is fair to say that of all the places in the world to be locked down, this is probably the best.

Not counting Kettering.

Hope lockdown isn’t too bad wherever you are.

Nana (That’s Tahiti for “bye”) for now.

Ju & Lyn

 

Bonjour autre fois BatteauBlog® Fans,

We have just crossed The Pacific Ocean.

Well, that’s not quite true. We have crossed about half the Pacific Ocean, which is still a bloody long way. Further than The Atlantic in fact. We have just got in to Tahiti and all in all it was nearly 4,000 miles from The Galapagos. And quite an adventure it was. So without more ado, here are…

DOMINI’S TOP TIPS FOR CROSSING THE PACIFIC

If you’re crossing the Pacific, or anywhere else for that matter, Domini’s FIRST Top Tip is to book our friend Chris Tibbs to do your weather routing.

He is brilliant. For those landlubbers out there, a weather router not only does the weather forecast for where you are, but also tells you the best route to go to avoid all the storms and calms. Chris is famous in the yachting world, and has written all the top sailing weather books, worked for the Met Office, and as a sailor has gone round the world more times than the moon. So he’s coming along. As well as the routing for Domini, which he is particularly proud of, Chris does the routing for the Swiss Olympic Sailing Team. A role that we suspect he got because of a recommendation made here on the Boatblog®.

Don’t go to sea without him!

And Domini’s SECOND Top Tip for crossing the Pacific is Do It With the World ARC.

Oooh – controversial stuff!!! Lots of our sailor friends will disagree with this – you know who you are!

But let me tell you a story.

We almost didn’t get started on this, the longest leg of the World ARC. We were about to weigh the anchor and get ready to cross the start line, when we decided to do one last check of our emails. There was one from Catana, the people that made our boat. Apparently there was a recall on our escape hatches. Those are the little windows on the bottom of the boat that are there in case we should ever capsize and need to escape. Apparently the glass on some of these particular hatches has been falling out and we should definitely not put to sea until we had installed the modification kit – we could sink! Catana would send out the modification kit straight away, but it would take at least 10 days for it to arrive from France to The Galapagos. 

In the mean time they sent me a technical drawing of what I needed to do, in case I could make my own modification kit.

 

Ha ha ha ha ha!

What an earth is that?

Those of you that know Ju’s metalworking skills will realise that this is a completely meaningless piece of paper. All he could tell was that even if he could get the parts, he would still have to drill through the hatch glass, which filled everyone with horror. Bear in mind, Ju is the man who once plumbed the washing machine into the gas main.

So we were going to miss the start.

By at least ten days.

I called up WARC Rally Control on the VHF to tell them the bad news. And fortunately, some of the WARC fleet listened in to the conversation, in particular, Alan on Island Wanderer. Now Alan, in his previous life, had been an industrial engineer and owned a factory that made things out of metal, and he was able to look at the technical drawing as though it was a musical score and knew what it all meant. He explained it all Ju who nodded and tried not to look bewildered. If only we had the aluminium, Alan could knock it up in a couple of hours.

But where to get the aluminium!

Once again the fleet came up trumps. Karl on Remedy had been listening in to the VHF conversation too, and as it happened he had some spare aluminium on board. 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, about half an hour later, Alan and Colin from Island Wanderer had set up a metal workshop in the children’s playground in Santa Cruz.

Once they’d made the parts that were needed, all Ju had to do was drill through the hatches and attach them.

Alan saw the fear in Ju’s eyes. 

What to do…?

They came back to Domini and fitted them for us. Even though it meant delaying their own start.

Great work Alan & Colin. Thank you very much. And thanks to Karl for the aluminium.

And it was a good job we fitted the modification. As it turned out, a few days into the crossing the glass from the hatch started to come away, and without these bits of aluminium, it would have fallen out.

For you landlubbers let me explain the enormity of what happened. We are on a tiny island, known more for it’s blue footed boobies than its metal work shops, and within five hours of receiving the email from Catana we had our hatches modified so we could put to sea. We couldn’t have done that if we had been in Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, let alone in the middle of nowhere.

So off we went.

On first inspection, The Pacific is very similar to The Atlantic.

Though to start off with there seemed to be more wildlife. We saw manta rays jumping, a couple of whales and loads of dolphins. As well as the usual flocks of flying fish. I’m afraid we didn’t get any pictures of them, as they are a bit fast, but we have lots of photos like this.

And this.

In fact four week’s worth of photos like this. But don’t worry Boatblog® fans – we won’t post them all.

Well – maybe some of the sunsets.

We have to keep a twenty four hour watch, so we take it in turns through the night. Four hours on, four hours off.

It was all going very nicely, when after a couple of weeks at sea and as we were nearing The Marquesas, a little island group in French Polynesia, we started getting emails from Rally Control. 

Unbeknown to us, the world had apparently caught the Corona Virus and had changed in ways we couldn’t begin to imagine. We could no longer stop in Hiva Oa, our intended landfall, as it was in lockdown and not accepting foreign boats. Which is fair enough. French Polynesia has quite a history of Europeans turning up with infectious diseases that wipe out the local populations. 

So we couldn’t stop there, but apparently we could go to the island of Nuku Hiva instead. 

Off we went…

But then another message – the authorities had changed the rules again. French Polynesia were now shut to all inter-island traffic, planes, ferries and of course yachts. If we landed at Nuku Hiva, that is where we would have to stay. Rally Control advised going on to Papeete in Tahiti.

So we sent course for Tahiti, which was an extra 1,000 miles further on. The only problem now was that the wind was dropping, and even the mighty Chris Tibbs couldn’t do anything about that. Also, even with our reserve jerry cans, we were running low on fuel so we couldn’t just motor.

…and for a couple of days we had to bob about like the sailors of old caught in the Doldrums.

But the sunsets were still glorious.

And we met up again with Island Wanderer.

You can just see them on the horizon.

It wasn’t long before we were going through The Tuamotus.

These looked like the prettiest atolls ever, and it was terrible to have to just sail through them and not be allowed to land. 

We’ll be back.

Land Ahoy! Eventually, after 26 days at sea we saw Tahiti in the distance.

A welcome sight indeed.

Not Ju, Tahiti.

Even the birds came to say, “Bonjour.”

When we arrived, we knew we were in France. Ju called up the marina to get our berth. It was five to twelve.

“I am sorry, you will ‘ave to anchor for a few hours.”

“Why?”

“It eez lunchtime.”

“We’ve been at sea for four weeks.”

“But it eez lunchtime.”

So we anchored and waited for the end of lunch. Bon appetit.

 

Domini’s THIRD Top Tip for crossing the Pacific is Don’t Run Out of Tea. Just as we were preparing to leave The Galapagos, we realised that our supply of PG Tips was running low. It was looking like we would have to ration our cups of tea on the way across!  Andrew & SWade from Rally Control to the rescue. They were heading back to the UK, and said we could have the last of their teabags.

Now THAT is life saving stuff.

Cheers!

So here we are, on lockdown in Papeete. There’s definitely worse places to be locked down – Brentford for example. And relatively speaking we are pretty safe from Corona Virus. So far there have only been 40 confirmed cases on the island – let’s hope it stays that way. The problem is that if you do actually get it, there’s not much in the way of medical facilities. The ventilator is a bicycle pump and a large balloon, so the key thing is taking note of all the quarantine measures, which the people here are taking pretty seriously. Let me explain just how seriously.

They have banned the sale of alcohol.

Pas du vin. Pas du biere. Pas du anything.

For a French country, it doesn’t get much more serious than that.

Unfortunately we are not allowed off the boat apart from to go to the supermarche. It’s quite frustrating to able to see paradise but not to be able to visit it.

But still, it’s a nice view as the sun goes down.

Au revoir for now, nos amis.

Ju & Lyn

PS This Post is dedicated to Danny, our little cat.

We had the sad news from Dave and Ali during the crossing that Danny had died.

Night night Danny. 

Yes Boatbloggers®

We know The Galapagos is a once-in-a-lifetime place to go, but we here on the good ship Domini have done it twice. This time with a difference. This time the whole gang came out.

So we won’t bore you with all the usual photos of the Galapagan wildlife – you can see all that in our previous blog – but we’ll try to show you some of the things we got up to.

Of course it wouldn’t be a holiday in Los Galapagos if you didn’t do some diving. Here’s Joe, Ju & Rory about to jump…

Joe completed his PADI training course while he was here, so he’s now a qualified diver. Well done Joe!

There is an enormous amount of fish. We even swam inside a baitball which is literally millions of fish all swimming around in a huge ball to protect themselves from the sharks and other things that want to eat them.

We just hope that this isn’t the time the shark decides to raid the baitball.

Ok – so I said no pictures of wildlife, but this one of the rays is pretty good.

Here’s Rory…

But it wasn’t all under the water. We sailed (well…motored if we’re honest) from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz, and stopped for a bit of deep water swimming off the back of the boat on the way.

You can’t do a blog about the Galapagos without mentioning the Giant Tortoises.

And they are pretty massive.

Here’s one for the caption competition.

Answers on a ten pound note to the usual address, and the winner gets to take the crew of Domini out for a slap up meal.

And now the Boatblog® quiz.

Q: How do Giant Tortoises make love?

A: Slowly.

It’s only when you try on the shells that you realise what an achievement it is.

We also went down the nearby lava tunnels. It was a bit wet, so they made us all wear wellies.

Which you did need.

Because it was quite deep.

We went surfing…

Hiked up to the top of the volcanos.

Till the mist rolled in.

But sadly it wasn’t all just fun and games. Ben, who is a professional coder (for those of you over fifty, that’s something to do with computers) unfortunately had to do some work while he was over here.

And we found time to enjoy a drink or two. This one was particularly popular,

because it is made out of this flower, which has a rather surprising name.

I’m afraid you’ll have to figure it out for yourselves, but here’s a clue. It is called what it is called, because that is what it resembles. Though only if you are ill.

We took lots of photos. 

Especially of people taking photos.

Oh – I can’t resist any longer. Here’s some photos of the wildlife. First up, a marine iguana…

A sleeping sea lion. Or as they call them over here, a sea wolf.

Despite our best efforts with the fenders, this cheeky one got onto the boat.

Here’s one of Darwin’s finches.

At least we think it is. They all look a bit the same to us. Which I guess is why we didn’t come up with a theory about evolution.

Talking of which, you have to hand it to the Seventh Day Adventists. They’ve just built a church right in the middle of town.

Given that they’re all Creationists, they’re trying hard taking the message right to the heathen heartland.

Here’s a heron. 

Not the most unique of birds, but it’s still a nice picture. And here’s a dancing booby.

And now, can you guess what Lyn & Alice have just seen?

Answer below.

In the mean time, here is this edition’s gratuitous sunset, submitted by Rory.

And a turtle especially for James.

But our favourite photo is of Ju & Joe by Troels on SV Atreju. Thanks Troels

And now here’s the answer to the “What Did Lyn & Alice Just See?” quiz.

Hasta luego Boatblog® fans. And let’s face it, you must be fans if you’ve got this far.

Next stop, The Marquesas. We leave on Wednesday (4th March) and it’s quite a big crossing. Actually longer than the Atlantic so don’t forget to track us on…

https://www.worldcruising.com/world_arc/eventfleetviewer.aspx

Ju & Lyn

Hello Again Boatbloggers®

This is us going into The Pacific, as filmed by Jeremy on Next Step.

Thanks Jeremy.

The Pacific isn’t sooooo different from The Atlantic, though if anything the sea is more…well, pacific.  There also seems to a lot more wildlife. We saw two whales, loads of summersaulting Manta rays, and of course the usual dolphins and flying fish. I would love to show you photos of the summersaulting rays or the whales, but alas dear reader they were too quick for me and my iPhone. So I’m afraid you will just have to believe us.

We did however manage to shoot lots of Boobies, and you will be pleased to know that we are not going to resort to the obvious jokes. Sometimes there were seven or eight of them on board. It was like a scene from a Hitchcock movie. At first we thought they were really cute, but then we noticed how much poop they produced. Goodness knows what they eat.

The Pelicans were even worse.

But it was all very nice. This was taken by Andrew on Accomplice.

Domini by Sun & by Moon. That straightaway wins the arty farty prize. Thanks Andrew. The winner gets to take the crew of Domini out for a slap up meal.

We went past Malpelo – a little island that not many people have seen because it really is in the middle of nowhere.

Of course we had to celebrate when we crossed the Equator.

It’s traditional to dunk the crew in water.

So now we are Shellbacks – which is the traditional name for sailors who have crossed the Equator.

Lyn tried to win the arty farty prize with her composition called “Hats,”

…but I’m afraid Andrew still wins.

And now we have just arrived in The Galapagos.

Woo woo woo.

 

Ju & Lyn

 

Hello again Boatblog® Fans,

And here we are in Panama City – Crossroads to the world.

Not only did our American friends build a canal through the jungle, but they built another Miami here as well.

Complete with fabulous restaurants…

Here we are with the crews of Cuvee & Kari.

And cool graffiti.

We trekked deep into the jungle to meet the Embera Indians, using nothing other than dug out canoes.

The Embera live about an hour’s canoe ride up the Chagres River in virgin jungle.

It was completely unspoilt. There was nothing to hear except the chatter of the tropical birds, the howling of the howler monkeys, and the gentle swish of the traditional Suzuki 4 stroke.

When we arrived at the village we were greeted by the band.

Served lunch in banana leaves,

 

and had the opportunity to buy traditional artefacts.

Ju was very pleased with his tattoo.

The Embera build their house on stilts to cope with the flooding that happens on a pretty regular basis.

Perhaps they should try that in Tewkesbury.

Then it was back down the river…

…in time to get the boat prepared for our trip to the Las Perlas islands where we are writing this now.

Though of course you can’t visit Panama and not buy a Panama Hat!

Just time for some arty farty photos…

DRUM

& COCONUTS

and then it’s off to The Galapagos.

To The Pacific & Beyond!

Ju & Lyn

 

…or the “Canal de Panama” as they call it over here.

Hello again Boatblog® Fans,

We knew we met be getting close to the Panama Canal when we looked at our plotter.

Aaaaaah. All those big green things are ships. And that’s a lot of ships. But even seeing it on the plotter doesn’t quite prepare you for when you arrive.

There’s hundreds of them. It’s like Cowes Week but with giant container vessels instead of yachts. We managed to dodge them all, even though we had a stowaway on board.

Soon we were safely moored up in Shelter Bay Marina on the Caribbean side of the canal. Shelter Bay claims to be the safest marina in the Caribbean, but these things are all relative. They don’t allow you to swim in the marina because of the crocodiles. Crocodiles! I kid you not. We didn’t actually see any, but they look just like logs, which is worrying because you often see logs floating in marinas.

So now it was just a question of waiting for our turn to go through the canal itself. We kept on getting delayed because there has been a lack of rainfall in Panama and the locks are low on water. This means that they don’t want to waste a ‘lockage,’ with all the water that uses up, on a few tiny yachts. So instead of going through together as a fleet which is what normally happens, we would have to go through in a ‘nest’ of three boats tied together, and one very big ship.

The Canal Authorities also insist that you have at least five people on board to transition the canal, so we were very lucky that the crew of Cavatina agreed to join us.

Thank you Cavatina.

At last we got the go-ahead. We would enter the first lock at 2045 (quarter to nine in the evening for you landlubbers). Which was great, except that it meant that we would be going through in the dark.

And because we were a catamaran, we would be the middle boat of the nest of three. This was bad in that it meant we were responsible for all the manoeuvring, and good because it meant if we did crash at least it wasn’t our boat that would get all mangled.

It’s like having a giant fender on either side of us, though I’m not sure that’s how the other boats saw it. You don’t want to be tied up  next to a boat full of angry sailors because you’ve just smashed their boat into the wall, so you do have to concentrate.

Sorry – wrong photo. That was Ju eating cookies. This is Ju concentrating.

Then they close the doors,

…let the water in, and before you know it you are up at the top.

And ready to drive into the next lock.

Eventually we got through the first of the three locks which take you up to the Gatun Lake where we moored up for the night onto one of the giant mooring balls. They were really hard to tie up to as they are really made for much bigger boats so Lyn had to jump over the side to attach all the ropes.

Which is quite scary when it is rolling about and one false step and you are in the crocodile infested lake. (Ju forgot to mention the crocodiles until Lyn got back.)

We got up early next morning to cross the lake.

It’s a big lake so it took about five hours to get to the next set of locks which take you back down to sea level. For some reason, this time they decided that we should go into the lock before the ship. At first this didn’t seem so bad…

But then it got closer…

And closer…

And closer…

It was quite a relief when it actually stopped.

At last we arrived at Miraflores, which are the last two locks.

You go down…

And down…

Then they start to open the doors…

And you get your first view of The Pacific!

First you see the Bridge of the Americas in the distance…

which you go under…

And then you see the skyline of Panama City.

Woo woo woo!

Just time for a couple of Arty Farty photos, the first is called “Crane.”

And the second is called “Train.”

To The Pacific and Beyond!

Ju & Lyn

Hola otra vez Boatbloggers®.

Columbia was fantastic. There were rivers to swim in…

 

Coffee to drink,

Fresh pineapple,

and some pretty serious spiders.

But it’s not all fun and games. We had a few repairs to sort out from our crossing from Grenada which was pretty rough.

Unfortunately, on our last day we were a bit ill, and couldn’t leave the heads*, let alone the marina. So we were a day late starting the next leg.

*that’s toilets for you landlubbers.

And while we were sorry to be leaving Columbia…

we were excited about our next stop – The San Blas Islands.

These are a group of nearly 400 islands, just off the Panama coast. If you imagine a typical tropical island, with turquoise waters and silver sands and palm trees, that is the San Blas.

They are mostly uninhabited, but a few are home to the Kuna Indians,

who live pretty much as they have done for centuries, fishing and harvesting coconuts which they sell on the mainland.

It really is a little bit of paradise.

Porvenir is the capital, where you check in at immigration.

and if you fancy a night off the boat you can always check in to the hotel.

go to the museum,

buy some molas,

or just enjoy the view.

It’s really very nice.

And I think we can all agree that Ju is looking pretty ripped.

Though he can’t hold that pose for long.

Just time for this week’s arty farty competition.

Lyn’s entry is Santa Marta Flowers

and Columbian Coffee Corrugations

And the winer is “Corrugations.” Well done Lyn.

Just time for a gratuitous picture of a squall.

and a paradise island.

Next stop – The Panama Canal.

Hasta luego Boatbloggers®

 

Ju & Lyn