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Thursday, June 5, 2008

Nuku Hiva, Ua Pou & Out to Sea....

May 31, 2008
We left Baie D'Anaho Saturday morning with no sign of Imagine. Having missed them again we vowed to meet down the way. The sail over to the next island was a jolter! The tossing began again and you would think we'd be used to this by now! I kept smelling diesel every time I went below. It was getting strong but we could not find the source of the leaking fumes.

We arrived in Ua Pao's, Hakahau in the early afternoon. We noticed there were 6 other boats in the small bay behind the breakwater and all had a stern anchor out. Joy! We dislike deploying a stern anchor. It requires taking the secondary anchor from the front of the boat, loading it into the dinghy, running it around to about 50 feet astern and dropping it, while the other of us feeds anchor line back down along the deck and securing it. This is done after setting the front hook. The winds
had built and by the time we got the bow anchor set Destiny had swung around full circle so that we were facing the opposite direction of the other boats. We just couldn't get straightened out so we stayed askew yet clear of the others and - unfortunately outside the breakwater. The night brought swells and high winds. We both awoke several times to check our position. By early morning we decided to move closer in, but it was tight. We got set and did a good job this time. Peter and Alice aboard
Yamana, (New Zealand) watched us taking jerry cans to shore to fill up at the beach faucet, took pity on us and told us that we could actually tie up to the Warf and take on water from there if we had a long hose. We jumped at the opportunity to fill our tanks and to be able to take real showers! This required us pulling up anchor again and moving to the Warf. Peter helped us secure Destiny to the dock while Frank hooked up the hose and I filled the tanks. The Gendarmerie came by to remind us
NOT to consume this water but that it is OK for everything else. So, we finally broke our vow not to put outside water into the tanks but faced with the current dilemma we had no choice. We got re-anchored and set about finding the fuel leak. We discovered that it was likely a breach in the fuel tank fill line. We had fuel in the bilge and in two of our food lockers. We spent the entire day cleaning out the lockers and flushing the bilge. We do not know for certain but are thinking that when
the tank was filled some spillage had occurred and then while sailing in these rough seas diesel must be washing back up into the fuel line and out the fissure again. We spent the next morning going back and forth to town purchasing bottled water. We have to have enough to drink and to cook with until we can get the watermaker repaired in Tahiti. We then left Monday evening to head to the Tuamotu.

June 2nd - We are now enroute. We had wanted to spend a couple of weeks in the Tuamotu but after discovering that we now have diesel all around the refrigerator and freezer pumps in another locker we have decided to fast track to Tahiti. We, our boat and our nerves have reached critical on the load bearing scale. We are having a great sail - making good speed but the seas are rough and pitching us a lot so we continue to monitor the bilge and the lockers and to mop up and clean out to stay ahead
of the leakage. We have also decided that we may try to reach Rangiroa, the largest atoll of the Tuamotu just to have a day or two to stop and get a break. The diesel fumes onboard are burning our eyes and giving us headaches so we spend as much time as possible in the cockpit.

Today is June 4th, my little brother's 50th birthday - Happy birthday, Tom! I love you!

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