Pacific Crossing
Papeete, Tahiti, March 2nd, 2012
Back on the boat today for final shake down prep for the voyage back home to Oz late April.
This is a chance to find a window for any problems found that may need replacement parts that maybe delivered in good time before jump off westwards.
Having been off the boat for nearly a year, it will take some time to get back in the groove and try and remember how everything works.
Have brought a new Pilothouse monitor to replace one that died crossing from Mexico. This wasn't easy to get as Samsung stopped making these LCD screens 5 years ago. When I get home I will replace the 3 of them with the latest models and have a blank dash ready to take the new size and configuration.
This will be my 5th trip into French Polynesia and the visa situation has been very generous in allowing me to do this.
I have decided that this will be a delivery trip with heads down and bum up, and have engaged two crew to be with me, one paid, and the other a qualified cook. Friends are off the agenda as their restricting timetables and anxieties that go with it interferes with my plans.
In Tahiti I have been blessed with some now good friends I have met that have taken the edge off the concerns of leaving the boat so far away from home and for so long.
Richard and his wife Cindy have looked after me so well I will always be profoundly grateful to them.
Cindy is a shipping agent who cleared SKIE in a year ago, and Richard is a ships pilot captain in Papeete. When bills have to be paid Cindy does it for me in local currency, and I reimburse her.
One issue I'm looking forward to checking out is that the motor on the Caribe is in fine working order, after replacing a head gasket. How this was blown is still a major mystery to me as I have been careful with it and regularly keep it well maintained.
As a little amusing side note, Johann Keil a fellow Nordie owner (57) currently living in Tahiti wrote to me saying that Tama who maintains the boat hasn't been keeping up with keeping the bottom clean. An altercation ensured, but was resolved before the dooks started to fly.
Tama is a giant Tahitian who I would like to have in my corner in a fight, and Johann is a retired gentleman in his 60's. Blood on the wharf was averted with a couple of apologies.
As prep details unfold I will update the blog, so fingers crossed that nothing major has gone wrong due to the boat being inactive for so long.