SY Bravado's Adventures

Sydney: New Years Eve

2010-01-07T19:27:00.006+13:00

We did it! Our first glimpse of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

December 30th we arrived in Sydney Harbour. We anchored in Athol Bay just across from the Opera House with an excellent view of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Sydney Harbour was officially named Port Jackson by... ... you guessed it, the same guy whose name we have been running into all the way across the Pacific: Captain Cook. It must be one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the world. San Francisco being our home we have to admit Sydney Harbour is even nicer than our own Bay. There are many more inlets, nooks, and crannies. Moreover, this harbour isn't as silted up. However if you want to pick a fight, let's talk Bridge designs...

The Golden Gate Bridge has to be the hands down winner! Well luckily for Sydney they held a competition and ended up with a much better architect when they decided to build an Opera House.

Despite our harsh words above, the locals didn't seem to hold them against us. As soon as we arrived, they threw an amzing party. Some 1.5 million people came out to welcome us. We had our friends from Senang join us for the occasion.

The locals came out in force to welcome Bravado to port...

...They even threw in some fireworks.

As far as firework displays are concerned, our children will probably be spoiled for life.

We plan to be in Sydney through February when Ewout's parents will probably swing by. We have yet to find a good base in Sydney, so for the moment we are hopping around the various Bays and inlets. Currently we are staying at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in Kirribilli, just across the water from the Opera House.

We are anchored at the yacht club in the lower right hand corner of the picture.

The RSYS is 250m from Kirribilli House, residence of the Prime Minister and Admiralty House, where Prince William will stay when he visits later this month. We feel we aren't doing too badly for now.

Happy 2010 to all of you!

Riding the East Australian Current From Mooloolaba to Sydney (Pittwater)

2009-12-27T19:26:00.000+13:00

The sail from Mooloolaba to Sydney (520nm, 830 miles, 960 km) was rather uneventful. Conditions were light, but the East Austarlian Current which some of you may remember from the Pixar movie "Finding Nemo" gave us a fast ride down.

A fellow traveler on the East Australian Current

And his cousins as depicted by Disney (Finding Nemo)

At night the waters are clearly full of plankton as there is an unusual amount of bio-luminescence. It makes the bow-wave and the surrounding waves light up so brightly we could just about read a book. Sea creatures (dolphins, fish etc.) also were beautifully visible as they swam around us.

The bow wave... (here with flash)

... lights up electric blue as the boat moves through it.

As conditions are pretty calm, the crew is put to work to finish off some of the maintenance that we had started in Mooloolaba.

In calm conditions, the crew is put to work (polishing)

We take a break when we get some visitors

Not everyone is taking cleaning duties totally serious!

Jet enjoys a "clean with a view" as she tackles some of the stainless steel.

We only made one stop along the way in Coffs Harbour. We would have liked to make more stops, but we were in a bit of a rush to get to Sydney before New Year's eve.

Coffs Harbour
Coffs Harbour is a small sea-side town about 280nm (450 miles, 520km) North of Sydney. In Coffs Harbour we held an in-promptu Whitbread Race renunion. Mark Willett flew into town from Melbourne with his son Fergus. By sheer coincidence Bert Visser sailed into port on board Pinta-M on their way down to participate in the Sydney-Hobart Race. All three sailed on Dutch entries in the 1985-86 Whitbread Race.

Mark had brought some surfboards and lots of enthusiasm. Despite the water temperature getting fresher now that we have left the tropics, Mark and Fergus gave several surfing lessons to Jet and Hein. They have a little way to go before they can ride Maverick back home in California, but it was fun to move from boogie to surf boards.

As Mark joined us South, Judith had a welcome break from night watches, which are not here favourite thing in life! Coming down the coast we were overtaken once every two hours by huge bulk carriers on their way to Newcastle. Off Newcastle we were astonished by the 60+ enormous bulk cargo carriers waiting their turn to be loaded up with raw materials (filthy coal :( ) before heading back North to support China's economy.

To the childrens' delight Mark wears Judith's pink glasses to do some bosun's work.

Left to Right: Fergus, Ewout, Hein, Eltjo, and Mark

It is that male bonding thing

Who is to blame?

Pittwater
Mark directed us into Pittwater, a beautiful Bay off the Northern suburbs of Sydney. We stayed at both the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and then moved over to the Royal Motor Yacht Club. Each had great facilities, but the RMYC had the bonus of a pool and a laundry which makes any stay more fun. As soon as we tied up Tony and Judy in the neighbouring slip started feeding us copious quantities of Xmas cake (almost as good as my mum's). What a delight!

Judith is very disciplined about keeping the children progressing through the Calvert School program. However, Ewout thinks she may have overdone it when she and Jet completed a double helping of school on Xmas day! Will she ever live this down?

Father Xmas had some difficulty finding Bravado, but Jet came to the rescue with home made gifts:

Ewout: A 12 volt socket that Ewout gave to Jet last Xmas, but which he never got round to installing in her cabin. In the accompanying poem Father Xmas didn't mince his words (ouch!).
Hein: Hein makes himself a calendar every year. He usually starts next year's calendar by July of the current year. Jet made him a couple of pages for a 2010 calendar, just in case he wouldn't finish on time.
Eltjo: Eltjo isn't the tidiest Bravado crew member. Jet gave him a coupon for a bunk tidy-up session.
Judith: A coupon for a pedicure session with Jet (Do we detect some self-interest here?)

The weather was a little cold and rainy as the remnants of a tropical cyclone crossed over us. This meant we spent a lot of time indoors. We were entertained however by watching Charlie Chaplin's classic "Modern Times" and several episodes of Animal Planet's "Whale Wars" a documentary/drama about the volunteers of the Sea Shepherd Coservation Society. With their ship, the "Steve Irwin" (named after the "Australia Zoo" founder), they harass the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters.

For New Year's Eve we will move 20nm (32 miles, 37km) down the coast to Sydney Harbour proper.

Landlubbers, Turtles, and Crocodiles

2009-12-11T19:00:00.001+13:00

We started Bravado's Haul Out on Hein's birthday. On the eve of his birthday we did have a small celebration with other boat children, but we owed Hein a proper birthday. Hence once the haul-out was underway, we rented a car, became landlubbers and made two trips inland. First we went to see the Turtle Rookery in Mon Repos near Bundaberg and two days later we took a bus to the Australia Zoo near Brisbane:

Hein, formerly Nine.

Hein's birthday party, an impromptu gathering of boat children.

Hein's gifts from the other children were two second hand books and a copied DVD. Everyone thought that was totally normal and Hein was really happy with his presents. They had a great time together. Quite a triumph over consumerism! We don't think it will last, but we hope that in years ahead the children will recall how happy they were with very little.

Bundaberg

Bundaberg is a 300km drive North from Mooloolaba. It was a beautiful drive North through eucalyptus forests and later an agricultural region with endless sugar cane fields. Bundaberg is a provincial town half steeped in the 1950s. Internationally it is known for its Ginger Beer and Rum. One of the highlights of our visit was attending Wolfgang Engel's glass blowing studio. Jet used some of the money she earned making jewelry to have a pair of glass kangaroos made.

In his glass blowing studio...

... Wlofgang Engel makes kangaroo earrings for...

... a very happy Jet.

Mon Repos
We first heard about Mon Repos in the Science Museum in Brisbane. Mon Repos is one of several sites in Australia where marine turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. Having released turtles in Mexico, we were eager to see the laying of the eggs. From November through March mature females come ashore and lay their eggs. On average they lay about 120 eggs in a batch. They may lay 4 to 6 batches in a season. Crawling ashore takes some 10 minutes. Next they dig an egg chamber with their rear flippers. This may takes about 25 minutes. Laying the eggs takes 30-60 minutes after which they cover the entire nesting zone and crawl back to the water. In pitch darkness a ranger guided us to the tracks of a turtle that had just come ashore. We sat around her and saw the entire operation.

After laying 112 eggs, mum gets retagged...

... and vital signs are recorded.

Because the turtle hadn't laid her eggs far enough above the high water line, the ranger indicated the nest would need to be relocated. Hence, after the mother had left, the eggs were dug out and we helped move them to a new nest a little further inland.

Hein becomes part of turtle conservation by relocating the eggs that have been dug out by the ranger.

It was great fun and we were glad the mum cooperated. She crawled ashore at about 8pm and by 10.30pm we were back in the motel. Sometimes the mums can let the visitors wait until 5am!

Its official. Been there, done that.

Australia Zoo

Steve Irwin, the man behind Australia Zoo

Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray in 2006. His enthusiasm for wild (and dangerous) animals is legendary. He took forward the work of his parents and with his American wife built what is now known as the Australia Zoo, a wild life park full of crocodiles, snakes, but also tigers, kangaroos, wallabies and creatures that are native to Australia, but are very exotic to us. We really enjoyed the kangaroo pens. It was a very warm day and they weren't particularly interested in the food one could feed them, but they were very responsive when we poured them water from our drinking bottles.

Who is looking more scruffy, Eltjo or the Koala?

Another inhabitant of the Zoo

Making friends with the locals...

... who can be pretty thirsty

The locals can be hungry too (spot all the empty seats).

Teasing a crocodile may not be such a good idea!

Do these children read signs?...

... This one sure didn't!

Happy Holidays and a Successful 2010 from all of us on Bravado!

Mooloolaba: Time for a Haul Out

2009-12-10T18:51:00.000+13:00

Time for a haul-out.

After crossing the Pacific, Bravado needed some maintenance. With the benefit of moving down the coast, we requested quotes from yards from Mooloolaba (50 nautical miles North of Brisbane) down to Sydney. Noakes in Sydney charged almost 300% of the prices in Mooloolaba. Prices more or less went up linearly according to a yard's proximity to Sydney. After a bit of a dialogue with the Mooloolaba yard (Lawries Boat Services) and Norm Wright who runs a boat building operation within that yard, we decided on Mooloolaba.

Mooloolaba has a lot of thunderstorms. Spot where the lighting is going to strike

The downside of a haul-out is that we live in a "tree house". Bravado has a 2.5m keel and when she is out of the water it is quite high up. Moreover, many of the on board systems (toilet, fridge, sinks etc.) don't work when we are out of the water. Hence life becomes very primitive and we are all happy once it is over.

Eltjo in front of his "Tree House".

Nothing like a bit of child labour: Jet and Monica ("All the Colours") cover the steering wheels with new leather.

At night, we eat in the food court of the local Mall and sometimes play drinking games. Eltjo loves "who can drink his smoothie fastest without getting a brain freeze" and usually wins.

We did make Bravado look pretty again. In the process we got several unsolicited offers for the boat.

Having dealt with many yards in the past, we were very pleased with the work done in Mooloolaba. Ewout is quite particular and it is a delight for him to deal with contractors who meet his standards and don't cost an arm and a leg. Norm, Mark, and Keiran, Thank you for a job very well done!

Twilight Saga New Moon Party by Jet Mante

2009-11-25T16:58:00.004+13:00

Part of my winnings from the party :)

For those of you who don't know it New Moon is the second book in the Twilight Saga, which includes Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. The series is written by Stephenie Meyer, and the first movie came out last year. The premiere of New Moon in Australia is at midnight on November 19. To celebrate Borders is holding a Twilight (Saga) Party, and as I absolutely love the books, and am sort of obsessed with them I decided to go to the party. Mom and Dad had visitors, but they allowed me to go by myself!

After Dad had dropped me off at the dingy dock I walked to Borders, only stopping to ask directions once. When I did ask directions I didn’t really need them, because when I looked again I could see Borders just one block down.

When I reached Borders I saw no sign of a party. I was looking around thinking what to do when a staff member approached the door. At first I thought that he was going to ask me if I was okay, and offer help, but when he opened his mouth he asked “Are you here for the Twilight Party?”

I was very relieved, and I asked if he could wait while I called my parents. After 3 tries, and hearing nothing I decided that they were busy and didn’t hear the VHF. I finally gave up and went inside.

On the third floor I found about eight women in their late forties, and three twenty year old Borders staff members. I settled in, feeling a little out of place, and introduced myself.

I was handed 5 quiz sheets and told to make myself at home. On the quizzes, I did rather well, having an average 10 out of 15. I even won the last round, receiving 2 free New Moon passes, and a Twilight 2010 Calendar.

After finishing their quiz I wrote my own. I also learned that Emmett, the wolf pack, and Edward were the main attractions for people to go and see New Moon. We shared how we had been introduced to the Twilight Series, which turned out to be either by seeing the first movie or a friend suggesting the book (for me it was the latter).

The last thing we did was ‘pin a kiss on your favorite character’. The character, who earned the most kisses was Emmett, with Jacob coming in second and Alice third with three kisses including mine.

At nine o’clock I headed downstairs, just as I had promised Dad. As I hurried downstairs I saw Dad talking to a Borders staff member, and trying to enter Borders. When I saw him I rushed over, and after he told the Borders person how concerned some people had been we left. He told me how Mom had been very worried, because when she came an hour earlier to surprise me she could find no sign of a party and this mega-bookstore was all locked up. Adding to this the absence of a VHF call from me, Mom had come to frightening conclusions. After Dad had called Mom on VHF and reassured her that I was OK, we walked home living the saying “All is well that ends well!”

Land Ho! by Jet Mante

2009-11-25T13:00:00.003+13:00

Australia is HOT! (spot my earrings!)

We made it to Australia! The first first-world country since the USA. After stunning nature, wonderful untouched cultures, and places right out of vacation brochures, I was personally very glad to be back in a city! I absolutely loved the (hopefully not) once-in-a-life-time experiences, but after a year in the Pacific I must confess to enjoying such little things as the hustle and bustle of people, and traffic lights. Even traffic jams can seem wonderful.

As soon as we were through customs, we met lovely people. Especially Susanne and Jerry (long term Australian cruisers) made us feel very welcome. For those of you who know Lisa Peery, Semiti Saini, Martin Livingstone, Kelly & Al Chan, Don Raymond from SDYC, Paul and Tamar, Pamela from Precious Metal, Lupe from Moon and Stars, and many, many others, you will know one of the greatest joys of cruising is meeting such extraordinary people!

Australian welcome committee, the wonderful Susanne and Jerry

On Saturday we, Jerry, Susanne, and the Mante family, went shopping at the Outlets. The funniest thing that happened was that Dad bought two new pairs of shorts and a new polo-shirt, but when he put them on Hein and Eltjo refused to believe that they were new. They said that they were exactly like the old ones!


OLD	NEW

Spot the ten differences, it's not easy!

On Sunday we visited Mom’s old school friend’s younger brother: Joris Eerkens. I had great fun playing Scrabble with Yinte (8), and Torwen (7), Joris’ two eldest daughters. After Scrabble we jumped into the pool and splashed about with them and their younger siblings Mognild (5) and Jeurt (3).

What do all children like?

Today I sorted out my cupboard and made a pile of clothing that was 1/2 a meter high, for Yinte, Torwen and Mognild. Not only did I realize that I am either really spoilt, or a packrat, but I also managed to procrastinate writing this blog post for over half an hour! I definitely decided that I should clean out my closet (if you can call it a that) more often.

The pile I cleared out is too high. I need a LONGER ruler!

On Wednesday Joris and Co. will visit and have dinner on the boat, which I am really looking forward to. Afterwards I will go to a 'Twilight Saga New Moon' party, which I will be going to alone because it starts at seven and we don’t know how long Joris will stay. Even though I will have to go alone I still insist on going, because I am obsessed about this book the way I sometimes can be about books.

Before the internet connection breaks off I must tell everyone who knows Dad, and his policy about pets, the amazing breakthrough: I am now not only allowed to have virtual and imaginary pets, but also ladybugs! Yes! I hope to even get Dad so far as allowing geckos, or hermit crabs.

Brisbane

2009-11-24T19:02:00.001+13:00

Australian customs and Quarantine have a reputation for being draconian. With that in mind we had prepared to make things easy to get off on the right footing. For example we had dug out all the shells we collected in the Pacific and had them ready on the cockpit table for inspection. The event was painless.

With entry formalities put aside, we got our first taste of Australian hospitality when we were embraced with open arms by Susanne and Jerry, a local cruising couple taking a break from actively cruising, yet still living on their boat. They knew what it is to arrive after a long passage and pampered us. The first night they fed us a gourmet meal and poured several bottles of champagne. In the following days they drove us around town on all kinds of errands and generally helped us find our feet in Brisbane. What a wonderful experience. Thank you!

Susanne and Jerry host us for a yet another gourmet meal.

Brisbane itself is a major city with a population of 2 million. Moored on the river just off the Botanical Gardens in the heart of the City we were meters away from high rise office and residential towers. After 10 months of sparsely populated tropical islands, ocean and coconut trees this was quite a change! Another reason to enjoy the tall buildings around us was that Brisbane is known for its heavy thunderstorms. We certainly experienced some spectacular ones.

What a change from a deserted South Pacific Island!

We loved seeing the sights of Brisbane. The city is a mix of ultra modern buildings and beautifully restored wharves and Victorian/Edwardian Government buildings. There are many museums and most of them are free. Amongst others we visited a Fashion Exhibit, the Modern Art, Queensland (Science), Police, and Maritime Museums.

At the Fashion exhibit Jet is happy to spot this Cate Blanchett dress. Ewout was disappointed not to find the lady herself.

One of the many delights of Brisbane's South Bank: The Senang and Bravado boys play "chicken" in a waterpark.

First "kangaroo" sighting by Senang and Bravado boat children.

Brisbane also played an important role during WWII. Many of the GIs shipped in from San Francisco landed in Brisbane prior to being sent into battle. Brisbane essentially became a large garizon town. General MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area, had his Head Quarters in Brisbane from July 1942 to November 1944. From here planned and managed the campaign to defeat Japan. His old HQ has been converted into a Museum:

General MacArthur's Head Quarters is one of the many museums we visited in Brisbane.

Hein learns about secret codes in the MacArthur Museum.

We learn about the role Australian children played during WWII (collect alumninium and rubber, help adults etc.)

Ewout tries General MacArthur's desk. Hmm. Ewout you sure are good at barking orders, but these boots might be a little too large to fill!

The MacArthur museum also gave us an interesting insight into how and when Australia shifted its allegiance from England to the United States. During the height of the panic in the Far East Churchill and the Australian Prime Minister John Curtin had a sharp difference of opinion: Churchill ordered Australian ships North to support the British in South East Asia. Curtin ordered Australian forces to return South to defend Australia. Curtin stated: "Without any inhibitions of any kind I make it quite clear that Austrlaia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom".

The rest is history. Australia today remains an interesting mix between British traditions and an American get-up-and-go attitude.

On our way out of Brisbane Eltjo had a close encounter!

We think there is something BIG in Eltjo's future!

Crossing the Coral Sea to Australia

2009-11-04T17:58:00.000+13:00

Eltjo and Ewout adjust the sails as we leave Vanuatu.

Having left behind Vanuatu we set course for Australia. This meant we had to pass across the top of New Caledonia, a French colony known for its nickel deposits and natural beauty. We would have loved to visit it, but decided not to. Earlier on in our trip we learned we that we have more fun if we spend more time in fewer locations. Moreover, the seasons were about to change and who wants to run into Hurricane season?

All that remained between us and Australia was a 1000 nautical miles (1600 miles, 1850 km) stretch across the Coral Sea. At the far Western end is the well known Great Barrier Reef. We were aiming for the Southern end of it. Little did we know that the Coral sea is aptly named for scattered across it are endless coral reefs which rarely are visited by humans. One can either sail a big detour to avoid most of the atolls, or snake one's way through this mess. On a yacht with GPS navigation systems this is quite feasible as long as one doesn't fall asleep and literally miss a turn!

The Coral Sea actually has an important place in history: On May 7 and 8th 1942 Japanese and US forces fought the Battle of the Coral Sea. It was the first naval battle in history in which aircraft carriers engaged each other and neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon the other. Although a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk, the battle would prove to be a strategic victory for the Allies: Japanese expansion towards Australia and into the South Pacific, seemingly unstoppable till then, had been turned back.

Japanese Expansion into the Pacific was halted with the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Luckily Bravado had a more peaceful ride! Winds were boisterous (30-35 knots) and from just ahead of the beam (i.e. slightly against us) which made it rough but fast trip. As usual Bravado held up well and 6 and a half days after leaving Port Villa we tied up at the customs dock on the Brisbane river. This marked the end of our crossing of the Pacific.

Vanuatu: Port Villa; Old Friends, WWII, & National Museum

2009-10-28T21:52:00.001+13:00

After Port Resolution we sailed North to Port Villa on Efate Island. Here we met up with Liz Kelsall. The Kelsall's used to live across from the Mante's in Hale, England in the 1970s. Liz, being a teenager at the time, would sometimes babysit the Mante children. Liz stood on the dock as we arrived and we saw her almost daily. Ewout's hopes that she'd kept the same rates for babysitting were disappointed. She did make some wonderful new logo's for Bravado (A hibiscus flower and a gecko).

Liz, who used to babysit Ewout in England in the 1970s, and Ewout.

On Efate we hitch-hiked around the island once again. One of our drivers took great pride in feeding us lots of seeds, roots, and shrubs from the jungle.

Hitchhiking around the island.

Jean-Claude, our driver, prepares us some lunch.

The goal for the round the island trip was to visit some of the World War II relics. Vanuatu was an important base used during the battle of the Coral Sea and Guadacanal. These battles stemmed the march of the Japanese towards Australia. Efate (and the more Northern Islands) are riddled with airstrips, former bases and abandoned/wrecked WWII equipment. On the boat, we watched several movies (Australia, and Bridge over the River Kwai) to talk about the war in Asia with the children.

WWII Map of Efate showing various bomber, fighter, and sea plane air-strips and bases.

A low-key WWII Museum containing lots of parts of several crashed Corsair fighter/bombers used by the U.S. Marine's.

Duck! Stray bullets coming your way!

One day in a local market, Hein was approached by a young girl who thought she heard Dutch. The two of them decided they wanted a "play-date", which resulted in us getting to know the Hoyaux, a Belgium-Uruguayan family.

Almost across the Pacific, we have our first trip in an outrigger canoe. The owner is from... ...Belgium!

Mante and Hoyaux children performing a short skit

The remainder of this blog consists of some schoolwork the children did whilst we were in Vanuatu.

The National Museum of Vanuatu
Yesterday we went to the Vanuatu National Museum. It was my second visit. Vanuatu is made up of eighty-three volcanic islands. I will now tell you how the people of Vanuatu, the Ni-Vanuatu, treat pigs.
In Vanuatu pigs are sacred animals and considered pets. If a Ni-Vanuatu went to England then he/she would be surprised to see that people there have dogs or cats as pets. Here in Vanuatu dogs and cats are scavengers. Pigs are part of daily life. For example, houses are divided into a section for humans and one for pigs. Pigs even are playmates for the children and practically members of the family. Parents love their pigs as much as their children and their garden. It is usual for a family to hand feed pigs for many years. Sometimes they even chew the food before they feed it to the pigs.
Pigs are also money. Male pigs are worth more than female pigs because male pigs have tusks. The pigs are kept until there is a certain ceremony and the the pig must be sacrificed or given away. When a new chief comes to power he must hand kill five hundred pigs. If there are not enough pigs to make the number five hundred, then as many pigs as possible must be gathered and killed. To make a place sacred you must pour pig's blood on the ground. A very valuable pig is the hairless pig, found on the island Tanna. The hairless pig is worth seven tusked pigs. Another valuable pig is the bisexual pig. In front it has the tusks of a male pig, but in the back it is all female. Fewer and fewer Ni-Vanuatu own pigs because pigs spread disease.
The Ni-Vanuatu are trying to protect their culture and try to live the way their ancestors did before colonization. They are doing this by hunting in the old way (with bow and arrow) and wearing traditional clothes.
I loved the museum.

Sand drawings: Hein learns how to draw...

..a stylized ant.

Hein Mante Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Museum of Vanuatu
By Eltjo Mante

Yesterday we learned about the culture of Vanuatu in the National Museum in Port Vila, the capital. In the Museum there was an interesting instrument made of hollow bamboo pipes hanging down from hooks. It was a crossing between a piano and a xylophone. The museum guide played the national anthem on it, and twinkle twinkle little star. I tried it too and I had fun, but I could not do it as well as the guide.

Eltjo with Bamboo xylophone

The guide also made beautiful sand drawings with his fingers. He taught me how to do it, but it isn’t as easy as it looks. I made the number one. The drawings have a lot of special meaning. You can not leave them on display for too long, because every minute the magic and meaning wear off a little.

Sand drawing of sea-turtle

The traditional clothing of the men is very different from our clothing. They wear almost nothing, but it is very hot here so that is OK.
When they perform traditional dances they wear nice masks with pig tusks. The pig tusks are important to the Vanuatu people, because pigs are their pets. The pig is the national animal. The male pigs grow tusks. The bigger the tusks, the more valuable they are. The pig tusks are on the Vatu (money) and on the national flag.

I loved the picture of a boy doing cats cradle with grass strings and the wooden boats, which looked like outrigger canoes or sailing boats.

Cats cradle using natural fibres

We learned that homes in roots of banyan/vine trees make the best hurricane shelters...

...a large tree can provide shelter for an entire village.

Eltjo Mante, Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

A few more pictures

Jet feels very welcome

Liz took us to a charity fundraising event at a local resort. Afterwards we enjoyed the pool.

View from our "Balcony" (aka cockpit)

Vanuatu: Mother Nature's Fireworks

2009-10-24T00:58:00.001+13:00

We left Fiji, sailing through Bligh Water named for Captain Bligh of Bounty fame. The mutiny on the Bounty took place off Tonga. Bligh and 18 crew who remained loyal to him were put in an open overloaded 23ft tender and traveled 3600nm (6700km) to the Dutch East Indies. On this remarkable journey they were chased by cannibals the length of Bligh Water. We were a little more fortunate. We had a pleasant ride through Fiji, but a rough yet fast ride from Fiji to Vanuatu.

Futuna Island, a volcano we pass as we approach Vanuatu

Our first stop is Port Resolution on the Island of Tanna. In 1774 Captain Cook visited this bay and named it after his ship HMS Resolution. The reason Cook and we are drawn to this harbor is because of Mount Yasur clearly visible from the Ocean. Jet takes it forward from here:

Windy Hill... Hill?
===================
Yesterday we hiked up Mount Yasur in Tanna, Vanuatu. Mount Yasur is not not really Palo Alto's windy hill, or a mountain, for it's:

A god's forge,
A devil's gorge,
A mountain of ash, and gray
But in the center,
A fireworks display!

A volcano!

Hein's artist impression (dedicated to Uncle Gerbrand)

In preparation for our trip to Yasur we wore clothing that covered us up well since some of the Mosquitoes is Vanuatu carry Malaria. In the end we didn't see a single mosquito, but the clothing helped us against the high winds found on Yasur's crater rim.

The Conti's from Ocealys and Mante's from Bravado heading for Yasur.

As the pickup truck in the back of which we rode brought us closer to the volcano the vegetation changed. Massive ferns were everywhere and steam billowed out of the ground, particularly in the places where we had just driven. Very eery!

Hein and Eltjo standing on the rim

We hiked the final bit up the mountain. Though the wind was rather hard and cold we were thankful that it was strong because it allowed us to view "force 2" eruptions in relative safety from the very edge of the crater. We arrived just before sunset and as night fell the glowing lava was all the more visible against the night sky. The explosions were absolutely magnificent.

The explosions throw shoebox to bathtub sized blob's of lava 300m+ into the air.

First you would have a few smaller ones that were barely visible, then you would have a big one with lava shooting 300m (1000ft) into the air. Just before the lava reached its peak (apogee) the sound wave would catch up and you would hear a tremendous boom and the sulfurous smell would hit you. The lava would fall back to earth in a tempo that seemed like slow motion. After the explosion the lava would tumble from where it landed back into the crater creating glowing streams of fire. A few blobs landed outside the crater and we had to keep a good lookout as some landed around us!

Lava streaming back into the crater

Lava and stars (click image to enlarge)

After some 15 explosions and an hour of photographing, filming, and studying with the bare eye we headed back down the mountainside. While walking back, Hein, Dad, and I who had stayed a little longer than the rest found ourselves walking back in the dark without light. Overall the volcano was not super scary, but walking back in the dark, and seeing the lava shooting up beside you, while feeling the still warm sand between our toes was not a comfortable feeling. After blazing our own path for a while we made it back to our outbound track with a *very* healthy respect for mother nature!

Do you spot the incentive for not loosing your balance here as you find your way home? ;)

Back at the boat we had a dinner of baguette with cream cheese, or cucumber and mayonnaise.

P.S. Later we learned that the lava had a temperature of 1200 degrees Celsius. We also lifted some of the blobs of lava that were cooled down and lying all around us. They were very light containing lots of holes with gasses inside them and very brittle. We think the gasses and the high temperatures explain why the blobs of lava would fall back to earth so slowly.

Jet Mante
October 11, 2009

Fiji, SavuSavu: Curries and Goodbye to Aedgard

2009-10-24T00:32:00.000+13:00

Lariekoek and Bravado jointly sailed from Mago Island to SavuSavu. Martin Livingston stood on the pier to make sure we left (safely).

Oh dear, another private island on our way to SavuSavu. Would Aedgard be able to resist the tempation?

Along the way nothing exciting happened other than that we got word of the Samoa Tsunami. Boats at sea tend not to get affected very much. However, we heard later from several of our boating friends in Samoa and Tonga who experienced some very scary moments. The local population was of course most affected. Even in Loma Loma the village we visited just a few days earlier, the Pier, church, and low lying houses were flooded.

A pretty sunset on our first evening in Savusavu

SavuSavu was a wonderful little town. Here we saw a lot of the Indian Fijians who run a thriving commercial sector. The ethnic Indians arrived many generations ago and now account for half the population of Fiji. There is a lot of tension between the Indians and the indigenous Polynesian/Melanesians, but frankly, they seem to need each other. A series of Coup d'Etats was intended to keep the Polynesian/Melanesians in control of the country. Let's hope sanity will prevail. In the mean time we greatly enjoyed some hot curries and Jet added another traditional dress to her collection.

Jet in traditional Indian clothing.

A hair clip Jet and Ewout are making from an oyster shell. To be continued...

Did we mention that there are mosquitoes near mangrove trees? The children chose a poor place to play.

We could not stay long in SavuSavu as hurricane season is approaching and we still have at least one more archipelago to visit. Lariekoek will be heading to New Zealand and Bravado to Australia. It was sad to say goodbye to Aedgard. Ewout has known him for almost 30 years the rest of the family a bit shorter, but we all love his sense of humor and independent mind. He was a great traveling partner. We had a wonderful last night on Lariekoek and played a game of cards (kwartet) that the children had made for him.

Eltjo and Aedgard reviewing the card game we made for him.

Fiji, Vanua Mbalavu

2009-10-23T17:20:00.000+13:00

Malaka Village
While Aedgard was busy with Lariekoek on Mago Island, we anchored in Malaka Bay at Vanua Balavu in the Eastern Lau Group, 3 hours away. Normally it is difficult to get permission to visit this group as the villages want to maintain their traditional lifestyle. However, we needed a safe place for the coming high winds and couldn't proceed further until there was clarity as to what the state of Lariekoek was.

One of the staff from Mago Island helped guide us through the pass and then we moored at Malaka. Semiti Saini, the brother of the village chief, was very welcoming and hospitable. On our second night his wife cooked us a delicious curry. Ewout installed LED lights in his house, repaired his television and his washing machine. The latter was self interest of course, because then we could do laundry....

Hein helps to prepare "roti" a.k.a. Fijian Pizza.

Ewout trying to repair a portable DVD player.

The repaired laundry machine. No more hand washing needed!

Semiti's home: Satellite dish, generator power, and TV. (One of 2 homes in the village with these luxuries).

After two days Ewout went back to Mago Island to help Aedgard for five days and Judith was by herself with the children. The villagers remained lovely to us. Semiti visited us every day to see how we were doing. He brought fresh mangos and bananas We also took a truck, which serves as a bus, to the biggest village on the island: Loma Loma. There we saw the house of the prime minister who was in charge before the recent coup d'etat. The chief's wife baked the most enormous pecan pie for us, which was delicious and from which we ate for five days. Jet, Hein and Eltjo took a rope from the boat to the village and all the children would join them in jump roping together.

Jumping rope with the village children.

Bay of Islands
When Ewout came back we went to the Bay of Islands (also at Vanua Balavu), which is one of the most beautiful places we have seen. Really stunning. You anchor in very shallow, crystal clear water. You are totally protected from the Ocean swells first by the reef surrounding Vanua Mbalavu, then by rings of small limestone islands. The water has erroded the limestone at water line level, hence many of them look like mushrooms.

View on the Bay of Islands from a hike we did.

Bay of Islands anchorage.

Mushroom style islets. At water level the limestone has been removed by wave action.

Crystal clear waters give view on underwater life.

How often do you see your boat's shadow on a sandy bottom?

A Beach landing in the Bay of Islands.

Hiking up to a coconut plantation and view point.

Coconut plantation. (Jungle is cleared and coconuts are given light to grow and chance to bear fruit).

One of many Fruit Bats that come out at nightfall.

Mago Island Tour Reports by Hein and Eltjo Mante

2009-10-17T11:45:00.000+13:00

Mago Island Tour
September 29, 2009 by Hein Mante

Do you like the movies? You will now find out about an island in Fiji owned by a Hollywood movie star. The island, which he owns is called Mago Island.

Yesterday the caretaker, Martin, gave us an exclusive tour of the island. Martin showed and told us (Mom, Dad, Jet, Eltjo and me) many cool and interesting things. To make a long story short, I will just tell you three of my favorite things that I learned.

Martin showing us tiny little shells on the high tide line

My first favorite thing to learn about is the Strangler Vine. The Strangler Vine seeds are carried around by pigeons, because they eat the vine’s berries. When the pigeons do their droppings in the tree, the seeds start to grow and attach themselves to the tree. Meanwhile the roots grow inside the tree. The vine grows bigger and bigger until it starts to strangle the tree. Once the original tree is strangled the vine itself becomes the tree. The Strangler Vine’s real name is the Strangler Fig.

A strangler Fig attacking its host tree.

Another attacking Strangler Fig.

Second, Martin also showed us the place where the islanders take care of metal (I don’t know how the place is called so I’ll just call it the metal dump). The islanders find a lot of metal stuff. They find from pick axes, that the early British explorers used, to cars and generators. They take care of the metal by hammering on it. That is done to look whether it can be reused or to break it into small – harmless to the environment – pieces.

An old metal truck in the area being cleaned.

Watching some metal brazing in the workshop

Martin testing the new hot shower that we saw being finished in the workshop.

The last thing is the life on the island. There are a lot of people, who are making houses, roads, pig sheds and many more things. The people of the island are only allowed very limited fishing. The animals are protected, that is why fishing is limited. It is unusual, but the owner of this island also owns the fishing rights for the reef around it. Hence, the reef is also protected. The movie star also owns a plane on the island and if anyone is very sick this plane will fly them out to a hospital. The plane will also pick up sick people from the surrounding islands. The plane flies out from an airstrip that the islanders have built. For all this hard work they get paid 3 Fijian dollars an hour (which is equal to 1½ US dollars). However this is above the average labor rate in Fiji.

The pool we swam in.

Martin and Rima's house where we had our farewell dinner.

In the afternoon we returned to Bravado. In the evening Martin and Rima invited us for a farewell dinner. We first swam in the pool and then we had a lovely dinner at Martin's house. Martin and Rima, if you ever read this, thank you very much for having us. I loved and enjoyed my tour.

Hein

Seeing Mago Island
by Eltjo Mante

A floating bungalow Martin designed for use on the Lagoon.

We went from Bravado to the shore in The Peerys (our dinghy). Martin was waiting for us hat the shore in his truck. We all went in and drove up the hill. In the mean time Martin showed us the workshop and where a new house would be built. Martin told Dad to pick some leaves, we folded them and they smelled deliciously.

When we drove further, Martin pointed out where they were growing coffee. There were sticks coming out of the ground with a plant next to it. The coffee plant had green leaves and red berries. Inside the berries were the coffee beans.

An old octagonal watertank converted to a beach home for one of the caretakers.

Then Martin showed us the bay on the other side of the island. We stood looking at it from the top of a hill. We saw another very small island within Mago Island’s reef. This was called Edward Island.

Martin, us, and Edward Island just visible in between Jet and Hein's heads.

In the distance we saw another bigger island and Martin told us an interesting story about that island. It was owned by a man, who married a Fijian woman from a nearby island. The man was very cruel to his wife and beat her. One day she had enough and she swam all the way back to her own village on the other island, a distance of at least 15 miles. She arrived exhausted and barely alive. Her people nursed her back to health. When she was fully recovered and strong again, they brought her back to her husband and said: You belong to him now, you stay there.

In the middle of the island there was a village. In the village there was a huge tree, which was made into a Christmas tree. It had a lot of branches and the decorations on the branches were mooring balls painted in different colours. I really liked it.

Painted Mooring balls decorating the Christmas Tree

Thank you for inviting us to tour the island and dinner afterwards. I liked seeing how good ideas and lots of work can make an island beautiful!

Eltjo

Salvaging Lariekoek from La Rief Koek

2009-10-06T19:00:00.005+13:00

La Rief Koek

Whilst Jet was sleeping (see prior posting), Ewout and Aedgard sent messages to the international rescue authorities requesting assistance to salvage Lariekoek. Within minutes a voice came up on the radio identifying itself as “Martin from Mago Island”. All agreed that nothing could be done that night, but that at daybreak contact would resume. Before catching some sleep we contacted the insurers and drafted a list of the most important items to retrieve from the boat. However, we fully expected that half the hull would have been ripped open by morning and many items swept away.

That night, conditions were good, but it was pitch dark and drifting in unknown waters in the vicinity of a reef that had just claimed a victim kept us on high alert. After an early breakfast we gathered waterproof boxes, tarps etc. Soon Aedgard and Ewout were picked up by a fast tender with two Fijians and Martin Livingston a Scottish Fijian. Martin manages the island and runs quite a show. He can swear like a drunken sailor, but has a heart of gold and ran an amazing salvage operation:

- During the night Lariekoek had moved several hundred meters over the reef.

Aedgard left the sail up hoping that during high tide the wind would push Lariekoek beyond the surf.

As Aedgard and Ewout worked down a list of important things to retrieve from Lariekoek a crowd of some 25 strong Fijians assembled. This crowd helped fill up four Panga's (i.e tenders) with *everything* that was loose on Lariekoek including the stove and the batteries.

A Panga full of gear

Martin then rolled in a large CAT excavator which gently lifted the bow, stern, and keel, whilst the work crew placed tires under Lariekoek.

Next they placed 8 *massive* mahogany(!) beams under Lariekoek. These were lashed and nailed together.

What do beams like these cost at your local hardwood specialist (note: orange music cassette for scale)?

The raft taking shape

To add buoyancy they tied some 15 empty 200 liter oil drums to the "raft".

At that point they had to wait for the rising tide before an attempt would be made to re-float Lariekoek. Time for lunch at... ... a Hollywood mogul’s house.

This is perhaps the right time to explain that Aedgard keeps high standards. Hence, it took 17 years of cruising Lariekoek, before he finally found a reef that met all his criteria:

1) A beautiful tropical island.

Mago Island, the largest private island in the South Pacific.

2) A Friendly island manager with a great sense of humor and enormous drive and creativity.

Martin Livingston who built his own resort, winning a prize for being the best small luxury resort in the world. (Who was going to tell Aedgard that Mago Island wasn't a resort?).

3) A personal assistant assigned to do whatever it takes to get Aedgard off the island.

"Punk" Aedgard's more than capable assistant.

4) A cook who will make a great curry any time of day or night.

Melle operating the coconut grinder.

5) A good place to lay your head to rest.

Aedgard walking to his personal cottage.

6) A good place to store your gear

One of 3 places where Aedgard's gear was brought. Did he get any work done?

7) Transport when you need it.

A Private island without a private plane wouldn't be much use to the stranded sailor would it?

On Bravado we were just left wondering whether we should tell the Hollywood mogul that being such an excellent host is NOT the way to get a yottie off your island?

Two tenders slowly pulled the raft to deeper water.

As for Lariekoek: She was re-floated and after twelve 18-hour days she was ready to complete the trip to Savusavu. She sustained significant damage, but considering the beating she received, the hull is in remarkably good condition. Quite a testament to the care Aedgard put into building her!

Aedgard and Punk cleaning Lariekoek's interior.

*Part* of one category of gear (electronics) that needed drying, cleaning, and inspecting. Many items became junk due to the salt water that washed around inside the boat during the incident.

Whilst Aedgard was working on Lariekoek, Bravado moved to nearby Vanua Balavu for shelter. This is a difficult place to get permission to cruise, but considered one of the most beautiful locations in the Pacific. We had some great contacts with the local villagers, wired up a home with LED lighting and did some other technical work for them. (Blog post to follow). Ewout divided his time between Bravado and Lariekoek, writing a detailed damage report for the insurers.

As Lariekoek became ready to continue onwards, we brought Bravado back to Mago Island and Martin gave us a wonderful tour of the island (Blog post to follow). The meal on the final night was quite a feast: Oysters, lobster, various curries etc. Fijian hospitality certainly is way beyond anything we ever expected it to be.

P.S. As word spreads about Lariekoek’s reception on Mago Island Martin runs the risk of getting many more uninvited visitors. He asked us to spread the word that he is a character worth staying clear of.

P.P.S. Naming credits for the reef go to Daniel Wlochovski, a French friend of Aedgard's, who apparently is well aware that many things in the Pacific are named after the famous English explorer Captain Cook.

Rescuing Aedgard by Jet Mante

2009-10-05T18:36:00.000+13:00

After many happy weeks in Tonga, we set sail for Fiji in the middle of September. As we passed the Eastern most islands of Fiji, we were enjoying a beautiful sunset when...

Lariekoek earlier this year behind a reef in the Tuamotus, French Polynesia

...over the VHF radio we heard: “Shit, shit”, some crackling, and then “Mayday, Mayday!!” Those 4 simple words set the world upside down.

Dad rushed outside and uttered some expletives. I ran with him and saw Lariekoek (our buddy boat) with the distress light on. She was heeling over one way, almost toppling and then heeling over the other way till toppling point.

We went into action. Mum, Dad and I lowered the sails, started the engine and headed at top speed to Lariekoek. Mum steered, while Dad talked on the VHF to Aedgard (Lariekoek’s captain) and I put my hair in a ponytail. My two brothers (Hein and Eltjo), and I put all the long lines, Dad’s shoes and a fender into The Peerys (our dinghy). Next, in preparation for our rescue expedition, we gave two (solar charged, waterproof, LED) flashlights to Dad.

Dad asked me to go with him, so I pulled off my dress and put my windbreaker on over my underwear. I tucked a third flashlight like the ones Dad already had in my pocket and grabbed a lifejacket and a lifeline for Dad and myself. Finally, I clipped the mobile VHF to my lifeline.

Meanwhile Dad had put the last things into the dinghy, changed into swimming trunks and grabbed Hein’s headlight. Together Dad, Hein and I lowered The Peerys, and brought it to the back of Bravado, where Dad joined me in The Peerys. Dad started the engine to leave, and I let go but unfortunately we had forgotten the extra fuel tank. We came back and managed to get the extra fuel (Aaron, thank you for filling it up before we left Tonga!). Dad shouted some last instructions to Mum, before we really left.

While Dad explained that the lines in front were tied on and that the lines in the back weren’t I prepared a line with a fender and flashlight attached to the end. I prepared to throw the line overboard. Suddenly the depth went up from about 307 meters to 1 meter. We were over the reef!

Dad threw the fender overboard and let it drift to Lariekoek. Since it didn’t come quite near enough we hauled it back in, and dad decided to try again coming very carefully nearer to Lariekoek.

We came nearer and let the fender out again, it was almost at Lariekoek, when suddenly a huge wave washed over! It was cold, salty, sudden, but the worst bit was, that when I pointed the flashlight ahead, as we tried to get away, there were so many more!

I have no idea how many waves we went through, maybe three, maybe ten, but every time it was the same. First, I would see the wave and would crouch down in preparation, then under we went! When we came up again, I pointed the flashlight and saw what seemed like an even bigger wave ahead. I tried to bail, but couldn’t, for the bailer kept pulling up short on the rope, or only half of it was going overboard (it was abut a one quart bailer). After about two or three half full bails, another huge wave would crash. After the first wave my life jacket had exploded into being.

Finally, when I thought it could get no worse the engine failed, and we capsized!

I swam to Dad carefully to keep my feet off the sharp reef. I grabbed his hand, and made him promise to stay with me no matter what. Together we struggled to Lariekoek, wading and swimming over the sharp coral and through the surf.

Dad and Aedgard helped me get through the railing onto Lariekoek, which was hard with the life jacket on. I went back to the cockpit. Soon I was shivering as I listened to Dad and Aedgard discussing our options. There was talk of Dad and I swimming back to Bravado, but because of all the cuts we had, and since it was dark, “Jaws” was very much on my mind. (Later Dad told me he too had thought of sharks). Finally Aedgard and Dad decided Dad would try to find The Peerys and make her useable.

The whole time Dad and Aedgard were discussing the ship, leaning over 65 degrees, made grinding noises and violent thuds. Suddenly, the chart table, against which I was leaning to keep my balance, started moving separately from the rest of the boat... The hull was giving way.

I soon lay down in Aedgard’s bunk under a towel to keep warm. Crouching, while holding on so hard it hurt my knuckles, because the boat would change to leaning over 65 degrees to the other side, I drifted in and out of sleep, afraid for Dad.

Every now and then I would use the VHF radio to give Mom an update, and helped Aedgard and Dad. I was very grateful for my life jacket. Not only for helping me swim, but also for being a great pillow.

After what seemed like forever, Dad was done and I persuaded Dad into taking Aedgard with us. I did this while gathering Aedgard’s most important stuff with him.

Dad borrowed Aedgard’s bailer and replaced The Peerys broken outboard engine with Aedgard’s. Then he told me to sit up front on the fender and that my 3 tasks would be: 1. holding the oars, 2. Bailing, and 3. Guiding us through the waves.

I got in while Dad and Aedgard pushed us to the breakers. There Aedgard got in and started his engine while Dad steadied the boat. We were off to safety!

This time it was a little less scary. I bailed till Dad got in after going through the breakers. We made it with only 3 waves coming over us. By the time Dad got in there was water up to 3cm under the rim of The Peerys and it was still 1 kilometer to Bravado, but we were safe.

Dad bailed while I helped to guide Aedgard till finally we were at Bravado. It had been the scariest night of my life, but now we were safe!

We pulled The Peerys up on deck, showered, dried off, had hot chocolate and decided a route together with Mom.

I talked the adventure over with Mom before snuggling up and going out like a light.

Back to School.... ... in Tonga

2009-09-12T11:38:00.003+13:00

The three room school building.

Hein's report:

I went to school in Tonga!!! Here they wear school uniforms, which for the boys is a white button-down shirt and khaki shorts. They teach all subjects in Tongan except for the subject English, which of course is given in English. School starts at 8:30AM, everyone works for two hours and then has a fifteen minute recess. During recess we play tag and run around. After recess school is in session for another two hours till 12:30PM, at which time the lunch hour starts. All the children go home to eat lunch. I eat lunch on the beach. My Mom brings food from the boat. Then everyone comes back to the schoolyard and in the time that is left we play hide and seek. In the afternoon there are two more hours until school is over at 3:30PM. Sometimes during classes, the teacher's cute little two year old daughter wonders through the classroom.

There is a higher class and a lower class. The lower class is ages 5 - 8 and the higher class is ages 9 - 12. The higher class has morning school that starts at 7:00AM!! In the beginning of October there are exams. You have to pass those to go to government school. If you want to get a good job you should make sure you go to government school.

My friends and I hit the school "bell"

I like the school bell. It is an old refrigerant tank that you bang on with a piece of rebar (i.e. metal). I also like that we had an hour lunch break.

In my old school everyone has their own desk, books, ruler and eraser. In Tonga they do not. You sit with two to three people at one desk and you share rulers and erasers. The benches, that you sit on are hard and have no backrest. The school is a three room school house. The lower grades 1 - 3 (5 - 8 year old) are in one room. The upper grades 4 - 7 (9 - 12 year old) are in a different room.

Upper grades: I sit in the front row, my sister Jet sits in a rear row.

The last room is the library. Walter Hays, my old school, has four rooms per grade from Kindergarten to 5th grade and a large library. In Tonga the houses of the teachers, where they live and sleep, are on the school grounds.

The headmaster's wife and child in front of their house.

Jet's report:

The entire school

Do you recognize any faces in this? Well I am the girl in the left hand side of back row of the picture! The reason that I put on a school uniform (Ugh!) and braided my hair was that Hein, Eltjo, and I went to a school for three days in Matamaka.

Trying out the school uniform that Roxanne lent me.

This school was very different from Walter Hays, here is a chart to compare:

The "play structure", a Banyan tree

Ringing the school "bell"

Unfortunately how ever different the schools are the basics are still the same, for it is still *school*. Please help me continue my search for a school with only four subjects: recess, lunch, games, and parties.

Mr Lavakei'aho teaches the upper grades

My friends (Roxanne left), and I share a desk.

Jet & Hein:
We want to thank the staff and students of Matamaka GPS for hosting us at the school these last few days. It was a great experience. Thank you very much!

Tonga

2009-08-30T08:24:00.000+13:00

We arrived in the Vava'u group of Tonga on August 1st, which was really August 2nd, because we crossed the date line. It was a Sunday, so we had to stay aboard and could not check in. We hoisted our yellow quarantine flag and planned to check in the next day. Alas, that was the King's birthday (yes Tonga is a Kingdom), no chance of checking in either. Finally on Tuesday we went to the customs dock, filled out all the paperwork, hoisted the Tongan flag and were legal. To celebrate we went out for dinner on shore.

Two and a half weeks later we are still anchored in the same spot, in front of Neiafu village, the capital of this island group, and loving our life here.

We are just finished with this school year, so we have about three weeks before our next year starts....!! Jet did a research report on Black Pearls as a final project. We visited two pearl farms in the Tuamotos and the Pearl Museum in Papeete, where she gathered her materials. Jet's favored subject this year was Algebra, but her most improved one was Spelling. Hein loved Mythology and made great strides with his compositions. Eltjo's favorite subjects were cursive writing and spelling. He can read quite well by now, but maintains that he does not like reading.

We made 'official' report cards for the three of them, reflecting on their acquired skills and 'need to work on' subjects. Then we had a feast and they received 'graduation' presents.

Life after school

For Ewout's birthday Hein wrote him a card in the style that we usually do for the children. It was rather funny, it went as follows: Dear Dad, You're becoming big and strong, there are many new things you can do. You are especially good in team operations and letting Mom do new things. You can work on empathy and less computer time. Love Hein.

There is a fantastic Austrian bakery here in town. For Ewout's birthday we had breakfast there. We also had boat T-shirts made for his B-day. He was not as enthusiastic as the rest of the family, because we all chose different colors, but we liked them and we needed some new clothes.

Back and Front of our new Bravado shirts

The weather has been overcast and rainy. We miss the beautiful French Polynesian weather. The anchorage is really full, which is lovely because there are so many kids boats. We met a new boat called 'All the Colours'. They have been cruising for 5 years!! They started in the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic, did Brazil and the Amazon River, the Caribbean, crossed the Pacific and are now here. And we thought that we were adventurous!!

Everyone is busy with the ferry disaster. Has that been on the news in the rest of the world? An inter-island ferry called Princess Ashika sunk and all the women and children on it drowned because they were asleep down below. Very sad. There are a number of fund-raising events organized for the families and all the 'yachties' try to participate as much as they can.

We have become members of the local library. It is a nice change that we can speak and read English again. The Tongans are very friendly. The boys wear skirts for their school uniforms!! If a family has 5 sons (or any number of sons and no daughters) they raise the youngest son as a girl. So there are quite a few she-males here. We went to the hairdresser and our hair was cut by a man with his hand and toe-nails painted red and pink. The woman in the shop referred to him as she. Interesting? He cut our hair quite nicely, Jet and I had not been to a hairdresser since March 3 in Mexico....!

The Peerys (right hand side, blue patch in top of tiny sail) racing in between all the *much* bigger boats

Our dinghy, The Peerys, with Skipper Eltjo and his crew Ewout won second place in a local sailing race. Eltjo was so proud, he was still dancing while brushing his teeth that night. He won a coupon for five smoothies at a local cafe. Next week Skipper Hein wants to participate in the race, we will keep you informed how he fares.

Skipper Eltjo and crew Ewout.

Bravadites wishing you well from Tonga.

Mopelia and Palmerston

2009-08-29T08:23:00.001+13:00

About a hundred nautical miles west of Maupiti there is a little atoll named Mopelia (=aka Maupihaa). We did not plan to stop there, but the latest Grib files forcast a little more wind than we considered comfortable, thus we decided to wait inside the lagoon until the worst of the weather was over. The pass into Mopelia was the scariest we have done so far. The charts were off, the markers did not match the pilot book and the pass is so narrow, that the reef on both sides looked dangerously close to Bravado (as in a 3 meter gap either side of the boat!).

We made three attempts to enter and went back the same number of times. On our fourth attempt Aedgard (Lariekoek) went ahead of us (he has boat loads of experience, has insurance, draws 3 ft less and has only 1 person aboard). We gladly followed him and made it through. I was shaking and Ewout with his nerves of steel also indicated that he might not have gone in without Aedgard leading the way. Aedgard contemplated that he rather has 40 knots of wind than doing a pass like that. One guide says:
"Narrow Passe Taihaaru Vahine on Ile Mopelia challenges the best nerves". There are two little huts with people on the southern tip of the island, and lots of pigs. We only stayed for 36 hours until the worst of the weather had passed.

A different guide (South Pacific Anchorages) says: "A number who have visited this atoll consider that there was not suffcient compensation for the trauma of entry and exit"...

Lariekoek in high waves underway from Mopelia to Palmerston

On the way out we followed our track from going in. It was still scary, because we had 5 knots of current with us, so everything went really fast. However Ewout was great and steered Bravado safely through. We still had 38 knots of wind and huge seas on our way to Palmerston. We didn't quite hit the 15 knots we did heading down the coast of the US, but still kept up a nice pace and the boat stays very dry and handles extremely well in these conditions. Eltjo and Hein were seasick however, they could not stop throwing up (Jet remarked that she did not think she could ever eat salad again out of our multi-purpose salad bowl). Once we arrived at Palmerston Eltjo woke Judith early in the morning and wolfed down an enormous pancake breakfast to make up for the lost calories.

Alpha Sierra (aka Edward) takes crew of Runnaway Bunny, Lariekoek, and Bravado ashore at Palmerston

The church and William Masters original home in main street.

The anchorage at Palmerston was really roly and the moorings were only a 100ft away from the reef. We had to trust that they were good moorings... (later we heard that the mooring of our friends on Wayward Wind broke within 10 minutes.. However, their ship displaces 70 tons against Bravado's 10 tons.). The visit to Palmerston was very interesting. Do you know that the island was settled by William Marsters from Lancashire, England, who came there with his three Penrhyn Island wives in 1862 and fathered 26 children? All the current inhabitants are descendants of this William Marsters. At present there are 63 people living on this atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, of whom 25 are children. Our hosts were Edward and his brother Simon, who gave us a tour around the island and then drinks of fresh coconut milk.

Kiwi teachers shows Judith and Aedgard the one room school.

Children playing at Edward Marsters home.

Edward serves fresh coconut milk after the island tour.

Palmerston sometimes only gets 2 visits by a supply vessel a year and hence relies greatly on visit yachties for supplies. We took the opportunity to lighten Bravado leaving behind many items we had carried specially since Mexico (diving and fishing gear, fire extinguishers, clothing, cloth, rope, cd players, school supplies, plywood, etc. etc.). After two nights at Palmerston we continued on to Tonga. The weather seemed relatively good, so we decided not to stop at Nuie. We had 25 to 30 knot winds and waves from the side, which made for a rocky but fast passage. We all thought that the 3000 mile crossing from Mexico to the Marquesas was easier than this 1250 mile one.

Maupiti

2009-08-28T13:14:00.000+13:00

We wanted to stop in Maupiti, 27 miles west of Bora Bora, which has a narrow pass that is difficult to enter with a high south-east swell. One has to surf in on the breakers. Because of this, most yachts avoid this island. We sent our scouts on Loon III a day ahead of us and with their information it went as follows:

Bravado going through the Maupiti Pass in the surf. Crew on deck to help look for the reef.

Bravado inside the Maupiti lagoon

Maupiti Pass and Motu

Bravado and Lariekoek anchored in Maupiti's lagoon

Our stay in Maupiti was great, we really loved it. Maupiti is beautiful and a lot less commercialized than Bora Bora. We did some excellent hikes with our friends Aly and Iain from Loon III. One can walk around the island in about 2.5 to 3 hours. You can also walk up the big rock in the middle of the island. However, once at the top, you should not have a fear of heights.

Eltjo hiking around the island

Ewout getting a haircut from Aly

The Heiva Festival, that was going on at the other French Polynesian Islands was also
going on at Maupiti. The dancers and singers wear the most amazing hand-made costumes.

Dancing at the Heiva Festival in Maupiti

Choir at the Heiva Festival in Maupiti

On July 14 free beers and breakfast were handed out at 9am to everyone. This is how Parisian taxpayers keep the Polynesian population "in the fold".

Handing out free beers at 9:00AM on July 14

Later in the day petanque (= bocce ball or jeu de boules) competitions were being held, but our skills in that sport could by no means match up with the locals, so we stuck to being in the audience.

We stayed in Maupiti for 9 days, because we really enjoyed ourselves and the swell/breakers were too high to get out any sooner.

Resting after a hard days work....

Playing on the beach of a nearby Motu.

Bora Bora

2009-08-11T14:06:00.000+13:00

There she is: Bora Bora!!

One day towards the end of June, a 28 knot wind blew us from Tahaa to Bora Bora. We were very interested to learn whether reality would match the beautiful pictures we had seen of the island over the years.

Beautiful Bora Bora

Bora Bora is indeed breathtaking. The main island is surrounded by a ring of sand banks with palm trees ( ‘motus’), which have been turned into a string of 5* resorts for rich European, Japanese and American tourists. The kind of resorts with bungalows over turquoise water, where you can watch sea life by looking through the floor. Our budget would not quite stretch to such luxurious accommodation so we anchored our 'bungalow' off the Bora Bora Yacht Club and enjoyed the sea life by snorkeling.

Playing a game at the Bora Bora Yacht Club

Snorkling with Tim and Finn from Whisper and Hailey from Incantation

The road around Bora Bora is only 27 kilometers long, so we decided to hitch hike again. The first person to stop for us was a lady, who used to be married to a 'tres tres mauvais' Dutchman and lived with him in Veendam. The latter is a place in the north of the Netherlands, that not even many Dutch people have visited. Anyway she could still understand Dutch, although she did not remember how to speak it. She had an artisan shop halfway around the island with lovely engraved oyster shells. Jet, Hein and I had a long look around and after carefully choosing a souvenir, she gave us pamplemousses, homemade jam, coconuts, and more souvenirs. The next car that stopped for us.... had Ewout and Eltjo in the back! So we joined and the friendly driver took us all the way back to the BB Yacht Club.

Fourth of July Party on Wayward Wind
with Scott and Mary from Whisper and Lauren from Wayward Wind

On the Fourth of July the yachts Wayward Wind and Carinthia, the two official party boats of the fleet, organized a wonderful party. Everyone brought a dish to share, which made for a great dinner and later on we were all dancing on the aft deck, yes even Ewout!! Apparently, later on, the party really went wild, however all the kids boats had already left.....

Jet having fun at the party with Mike and Veronica from Apple

Later we anchored at Bora Bora's south end in front of what used to be the famous Bora Bora hotel. The hotel had been abandoned for almost a year, due to the economy being down and thus a lack of tourism. It was still a beautiful spot. From there we walked to 'Bloody Mary's', a bar/restaurant that has two big boards outside with all the names of their famous guests listed. The first name that Eltjo recognized was Bill Gates. Ewout and I celebrated our 18th(!) wedding anniversary by having drinks with Apple, Lariekoek, Whisper and Incantation there.

Right at the top of the row Eltjo recognizes Bill and Melinda Gates

Another night we anchored in front of the village of Vaitapu to watch an evening dancing and singing as part of the Heiva Festival.

Eltjo helping out with stocking up

Then it was back to the Bora Bora Yacht Club and time to stock up again as preparation for the crossing to Tonga. It is still 1250 nautical miles from Bora Bora to Tonga (almost half the distance of the Mexico to Marquesas crossing).

Tahaa

2009-08-11T13:24:00.000+13:00

Surf breaking on the reef at Tahaa

From Huahine we sailed to Tahaa. Raiatea and Tahaa are two of the Leeward islands within the same reef. Tahaa is the northern one. We entered via Passe Toahotu and sailed to Baie Apu, where we took a mooring buoy at the Taravana Yacht Club. Our stay was marked by lots of wind and we were happy that we were on a sturdy buoy. To pay for the mooring one had to drink a beer at the Taravana Yacht Club, but we decided to 'splurge' and have a meal with the beer. We had a lovely treat of steak and french fries.

Taravana Yacht Club

Huahine, Fare

2009-07-04T08:00:00.000+13:00

Polynesia is credited with inventing surfing and Huahine is the centre of all this. Huahine's waves attract international champions in the world of surfing. While that is not quite our line of activity, one of the best spots happens to be right where you enter the pass at Fare. It also happened some winter storms to the South of us swept up a big swell, resulting in good break...

Looking sideways one boat length away from Bravado as we enter the pass.

Whisper a "buddy boat" of ours enters the pass.

Truth be told, the waves (just) don't break in the pass, but it certainly makes for a memorable entry!

Fare itself lives at the lazy, slow pace of the South Seas of old. We spent time along the main tree-lined street facing the wharf and hiked North towards Lake Fauna Nui, where there are some of the best preserved Marae, social/religious gathering sites of French Polynesia. We also saw some V-shaped damns in the tidal gateway. They are centuries old, but still used today. They drive the fish together, making it easier to catch them as the tides carry them in an out of the lake.

V-shaped fish trap at Maeva.

Marae at Maeva.

TRUTH IN REPORTING STATEMENT
To keep our readers in rainy Europe happy: From time to time, we experience serious tropical rainstorms. Often they last only a few minutes but then again, sometimes they last a lot longer. We hate to disappoint, but generally we like them as they give us and the boat a nice fresh water rinse...

Lariekoek during a rainstorm

Huahine Auto-Stop

2009-07-04T06:23:00.000+13:00

Seen from the back of a car: Ocean, The reef protecting Huahine, and the lagoon.

After sailing all night we went through the pass of Maroe Bay in Huahine at 6:15AM with a beautiful sunrise. Aedgard on Lariekoek followed close behind. We anchored just off the village of Maroe in crystal clear water with a little reef behind us. Huahine consists of two islands: Huahine-Iti (small) and Huahine-Nui (big). Maroe is on Huahine-Iti.

Each time we visit an island, we have an urge to see "all" of it, rather than just a few bays. This time we set out to see all of Huahini-Iti by hitch-hiking. We split into two teams, each covering the same ground in opposite directions. The teams were:

Clockwise: Ewout and Jet.
Counter-Clockwise: Judith, Hein, and Eltjo.

The rules for the exercise were:
- Take a photograph of each person giving you a lift (Auto-Stop in French).
- Eat an ice cream.
- Collect the following items:
-- 1 Paperclip
-- 1 napkin from a restaurant with a printed name on it
-- Autograph or stamp from a government official (Police, Firefighter etc.)
-- Fresh edible fruit, not bought.
-- Random item that expresses the joy of being in Huahine/a cruiser.

Receiving a paperclip from the hotel manager

Both teams meet at a "magasin" in search of ice cream

It was a fun afternoon. Ewout and Jet completed their trip with just two rides. The other team needed 5 rides. Halfway around the island the two teams met and hunted for ice cream. But the one and only 'magasin' that we found sold no ice cream, so we all settled for a cold drink. After that the counter-clockwise team had some difficulty getting a ride as no cars passed. It was late in the afternoon, they walked for an hour and were starting to think up a plan B, when finally a car passed, stopped, picked them up and took them all the way back to the boat, arriving seconds before the clockwise team.

The local population is *extremely* friendly. Tourism is way down, but they told us that it doesn't hurt that badly: "There is a lot of fish in the sea, fruit in our backyards, people spend little money in the stores, and we do not need to heat our homes." - Anonymous local.

Because of the tourism being down, there is even more fruit than usual. We received an abundance of pamplemouse, bananas, pumpkin, and heads of lettuce. No matter what we said, we were not allowed to pay for these. What an island!

Who is the winner of the treasure hitch-hiking hunt?
The readers need to decide! When you decide keep in mind:
- Neither of the teams managed to find ice cream
- Ewout and Jet had a paperclip and a signature from a government official (one of their rides worked in social security), whereas Judith, Hein and Eltjo did not manage to obtain these (they had so much fun they forgot the trivial stuff).
- Both teams had the required napkins.
- Random joy of being in Huahine item: Ewout and Jet bought a beautiful sea turtle carved from an oyster shell. Judith, Hein and Eltjo picked a bunch of colorful Huahine flowers and took a picture of a splendid green outrigger canoe (they did NOT spend money).
- Fresh edible fruit: Ewout and Jet brought bananas and a pumpkin (fruit?). Judith, Hein and Eltjo brought a coconut and a noni.
- Both teams had pictures from all their rides, of course the counter-clockwise team (JHE) had three more rides so THREE pictures more.
- Even though they had many more rides, Judith, Hein and Eltjo managed to arrive at the starting point seconds before Ewout and Jet. However, Judith was not done saying goodbye to her last ride or taking a picture of the driver until well after Ewout and Jet sat down waiting for her team to be ready to return to Bravado.

PHOTOS OF THE RIDES

Eltjo, Hein, and Judith: Ride 1

Eltjo, Hein, and Judith: Ride 2 (yes we rode in the back)

Eltjo, Hein, and Judith: Ride 3 (yes once again we rode in the back)

Eltjo, Hein, and Judith: Ride 4 (lady went *way* out of her way to drop off at Bravado)

Jet and Ewout: Ride 1

Jet and Ewout: Last ride. (lady is the government official who provided a signature)

TEAM "JOY OF HUAHINE" PHOTOS

Eljto, Hein's Joy of Huahine: Riding in the back of a truck in a tropical island

Eljto, Hein's Joy of Huahine: A green outrigger canoe waiting to be used

Jet's Joy of Huahine: Wind blows through your hair as you tour an exotic island with your dad

Jet's Joy of Huahine: Discovering new places

Jet's Joy of Huahine: Trying on an *orange* Pareo

Jet's Joy of Huahine: Fizzy water to quench your thirst.

Jet's Joy of Huahine: Peaceful boating scene

Jet's Joy of Huahine: Quiet anchorage with Raiatea in the background

Jet's Joy of Huahine: Wandering down a country road at sunset.

Which team won? What do you think?

Cooks Bay Moorea

2009-07-03T14:43:00.000+13:00

Cooks Bay

After eleven days at the Tahiti Yacht Club, and lots of fun with Apple and Zen, we motored in 3 knots of wind to the nearby island Moorea. It took all of four hours to arrive in Cooks Bay, named after the famed British explorer. Quite a few of our friends, who we had not seen in a while were anchored in beautiful Cooks Bay. The night that we arrived there was a Tahitian dance performance by a local group. At the end of the performance they invited the audience to dance with them. Who should they pick but Ewout, who does not like to dance at all... but he could not refuse this lovely lady in her grass skirt.

Why did she ask me?

A couple of days later Jet and Judith went pareo making with a couple of other women. Pareos are printed pieces of cloth that you wrap around yourself. We made a big turquoise pareo with lots of dolphins on it. Jet thinks it is too nice to wear and she wants to hang it in her room as a memory of our trip when we live in a house again.

Pareo Making

Mike from Apple rented a car and drove us around Moorea. We went snorkeling near a beautiful beach. Afterwards we visited a French patisserie, where we had chocolate mousse cake and cappuchino. We felt so sophisticated/normal to be driving in a car and drinking coffees again.

Juice (?) Tasting

One day we visited the juice factory on the island with our friends from Love Song. They grow a lot of pineapples on Moorea and make lovely juices. You can taste all the juices you like even the alcoholic ones at 10 in the morning. After lunch Hein Jet and Ewout went to a Berkeley research lab, where they helped lure mosquitoes for a genetic test.

Hein helps Berkeley grad student lure mosquitoes

Another day we did a hike to a belvedere point overlooking Cooks Bay and Opunohu Bay (which is the next bay over). On the hike you pass a lot of Marae, which were sacred offering places, where the Polynesians used to offer humans (brrr) to their gods. After the hike we could feel our leg muscles for the next two days!!

The Soccer Field

As we always feel that we need more exercise, being on a boat, we started to play pick-up games of soccer in the afternoons. Mike and Veronica from Apple would play with us and also Aedgard from Lariekoek, who is a really good goalie. We played on the shore at the lawn of the Bali Hai hotel.

Eltjo trying to stare down Veronica from Apple

Every day a couple more boats would join us. One day a Dutch boat came in 'Senang' with two boys, Luc (10) and Bob (9) and they all played with us. They were all quite good, especially the Mom, Vara, who had never played soccer before! Then the Whisper crew joined (Mary, Scott, Timothy (10) and Finn (7) and some of the hotel guests. We had a really good time.

Les Grands Ballets de Tahiti

On the French mother's day (June 7th), which is different from the American one (yes I celebrated twice!), Les Grands Ballets de Tahiti performed at the Bali Hai hotel. They had the most amazing costumes and especially the men were such energetic dancers, great to watch ;).
The local museum was another little treasure. We learned how to drill with a shell-wood-coconut drill and how to play a nose flute.

The Nose Flute

It was difficult to tear ourselves away from Cooks Bay. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves here and started to understand why the mutineers on the Bounty had rebelled after leaving the Society Islands. But leave we must and after three wonderful weeks we left Cooks Bay early one morning to swim with the Sting Rays in the next bay.

Eltjo gathers courage to swim with the sting rays

That night we did an overnight sail to Huahine, the first of the leeward group of the Society Islands. We had two passengers for the crossing: a French/Spanish couple called Stefan and Marta respectively. They were really nice and we enjoyed their company even though it was only for a day.

Bye Bye Cooks Bay!!

Luxuries

2009-07-03T13:52:00.000+13:00

Hein and Eltjo in the spreader: Can you spot Tahiti?

When we arrived in the Society Islands, we moored at the Tahiti Yacht Club near Papeete. And all of a sudden our life was full of luxuries again. For a start, there were washing machines at the Yacht Club. After weeks of doing laundry by hand for the six of us (thank you chief washer Gerbrand), it was wonderful to put it in a machine. It even smelled better than our best efforts by hand. Second, hot showers!! We had our last hot(ish) showers weeks ago in Mexico before we left for the crossing. Of course we had our regular be-economic-with-water 1 minute showers on the aft deck, but a real 15 minute hot shower with a big stream of water was a wonderful treat. Third, we found a big super market with aisles full of all sorts of supplies: kilos of brie cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables, white chocolate bars with coconut, etc. Ooh, how good everything tasted after several weeks of canned food...!! Last but not least we had internet connection again, so we could catch up on all the news and download our favorite NPR programs. To top it all Jet and Judith went shopping in Papeete, found a little French boutique and have some NEW clothes to wear!! All the wonderful luxuries of life.

Jet in her new red dress with baguettes.

Tubing In Tahiti

2009-05-28T08:30:00.000+13:00

We are still in Tahiti, and Yesterday we went tubing with Cole and Cammie from Zen. They have a dingy that can go 35 miles per hour which is really fun if you are hanging on the tube. I had lots of fun but I couldn't master the turns. Cammie and I tried everything, from hanging backwards to going together one backwards one forwards, (if you didn't watch out your head would submerge when going backwards). It was fantastic, and while waiting for our turn we would dive, jump, or somersault of the back of Zen.

Finally we had to stop, because around 5pm the sharks tend to come out. We went to bed very satisfied.

(Shark pictures actually taken in the Tuamotus)

Then today we once again had a wonderful day with Zen. We played soccer on the full length feild, but later switched to half field. Tom (Cammie's dad) was goalie for both teams, and further it was Hein, Cole, and Eltjo on the Boys Team, and Cammie and I (later mom joined too) on the GIRLS Team! We really noticed how out of shape we all were!!

We think that tomorrow we will sadly have to move on.

By Jet

The Tuamotus

2009-05-21T20:10:00.001+13:00

We arrived in the Tuamotus 3.5 days after we left the Marquesas on April 29. The 500nm crossing took a bit longer than expected, due to slowly dying wind. The first days we had good wind with confused seas, not totally comfortable. After that we came into a rhythm again with standing watch and doing school.

Then early Wednesday morning we saw palm trees growing out of the Ocean! It was the atoll of Kauehi, one of the Tuamotus. We were nearly there. Now we had to go through the pass to enter the lagoon. We were all a bit nervous as the timing of going through a pass is very critical. However it was timed with Ewout-precision and exactly at slack tide and sunrise (!) we glided into the lagoon, no problem. After another hour of sailing through the lagoon we reached the anchorage near the village. We managed to miss all the coral heads and anchored safely. Now we were really in paradise: white beaches, palm trees and turquoise water.

We went to the village and organized a tour to a black pearl farm with the mayor. His pearl farm had two million oysters! He asked us to be there at 7am the next morning, but timing turned out to be variable and we had to wait for 4 hours. This was not a problem. We were sitting in front of the 'town hall' and observing village life in the Tuamotus. Kauehi has about 200 inhabitants and half of them passed by that morning. We saw a rather big man walking his rather large pig on a leash. We also saw a group of older women sitting in a circle and smoking together. Mothers with children who were too young to go to the local school, etc.

The tour of the pearl farm was done a bit hastily, and we wanted to learn more. So we visited an other pearl farmer, who was so nice that we invited him to our boat with his whole family, which included a wife, 4 children and 3 cousins. He brought us a bag of coconuts, that we have not managed to open yet. The next day all the girls came back to watch a movie with Jet.

After 5 days in Kauehi, dinner with our friends on Love Song, and two lovely evenings with Wayward Wind and Lady Annabelle, we left early in the morning, when it was still dark to go to the next atoll: Fakarava. We came through the south pass to a beautiful anchorage. This is a UNESCO Biosphere. We snorkeled in the pass with our friends from Zen. When snorkling, we tie the dinghy to our waist, so we can quickly climb in if we need to. The snorkeling was absolutely beautiful, so many different colors of coral, and so many wonderful tropical fish. There were also a lot of sharks, and although it is said that the black tip reef sharks won't harm you, by the time there are fourteen of them swimming around you it gets a little scary.

Then, after bumping into one coral head (what an awful scratchy sound) we went to the north end of Fakarava. We anchored near the village and the airport. Here we were reunited with Lariekoek (our Dutch friend Aedgard) and Apple (we 'raced' with Apple from La Cruz to the Marquesas). After two and a half months we had to say farewell to our wonderful crew member Gerbrand. In three dinghies we brought him to Fakarava 'International' Airport. The airport has a jetty to moor the dinghies! Three times a week a plane from Tahiti flies in. For this one plane that arrives at about 4pm, they have a manned traffic control tower!! There were no metal detectors and we could walk Gerbrand into the plane. We were so sad to see him go, all the female members of the family were in tears. However, we were very grateful to Hermine that we could have him for so long. Now any Dad in Palo Alto who goes on a 4 week trip will be OK as Gerbrand set the bar at 10 weeks!!

As Gerbrand left us, the good weather also left us. The wind started blowing and changed direction, so we were now on a lee shore, close to the rocks. We had some restless nights, being on anchor watch and feeling like you were in a washing machine. But then we sailed with our spinaker under great conditions to the next Tuamotu: Toau. We moored in a 'false pass', Anse Amyot, at the north end with two other boats. On the shore was a little village, with only 6 houses. One of the houses was a resaurant, and the English boat in the anchorage arranged for all of us to have a meal together at the restaurant. A young couple cooked a most gorgeous Polynesian meal for us with parrot fish, octopus, coconut bread and lots of other delicious treats. The cooks sat with us at the table, which made it even more special. Although my French conversation skills are somewhat limited, I still managed to learn a bit about their life in this remote place.

That same night we left at 11pm for Tahiti. Ewout steered us in the dark between two very shallow reefs on a line of sight. This made me a little nervous, but he said it was a piece of cake. It all went well and we are now underway to Tahiti with good winds and mixed seas (or as the French say: mer agitee).

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Leaving the Marquesas

2009-04-26T13:22:00.000+13:00

Waving Good Bye

Hein With The Manta Rays

We are currently anchored in Daniel's Bay on Nuku Hiva. It is a beautiful peaceful Bay, but it has some no-see-'ms, and we are all itching a bit. Yesterday we were here with only two other boats, kids boats!, and while the children watched a Harry Potter movie on one boat, the adults had cocktails on another boat, quite a good arrangement. We went on a very nice hike to the third highest waterfall in the world. It took us four and a half hours to go both ways. The last part of the hike which was stunning, had a warning that rocks could fall down, I think that was the part we walked fastest. In the evening our leg muscles were hurting from so much use!

Roll up your pants!

Double Treasure

We have visited five of the islands in the Marquesas: Hiva Oa, where we made landfall, saw all our friends arriving, and had lots of we-made-it parties. Tahuata, where we swam with the giant Manta Rays, an experience all of us loved; even Eltjo jumped into the water without hesitation. Fatu Hiva, where we anchored in the Bay of Virgins. There the wind was so gusty at night that several boats dragged anchor, one even drifted out to sea, barely missing a couple of other boats on the way. Ewout tried to wake them up via the radio and by shining a huge beam on them, but alas to no avail. Apparently they woke up when they were 5 miles out and then made it back in. Mysterious how some people manage to sleep through this kind of weather on a boat. After Fatu Hiva we went to Oa Pou. The people were really friendly and gave us lots of fresh fruit. We were there with only one other boat, our Dutch friend Aedgard on Lariekoek, who taught us to make rum-banana smoothies from over-ripe bananas. Wow do they knock you out! From there we went to the main anchorage in Nuku Hiva, where the 'whole' fleet anchored, I think we were there with at least 40 other boats. It was great though, because it was calm at night, not too many of the large tropical downpours and no 40+ wind gusts, we slept soundly each night! We were once again connected to the outside the world via internet, after quite a while without, it is funny how important that has become.

The Olympic Sport Crab Racing

Two Shadows

Later today we will head for the Tuamotus, this will be a three day sail. The Tuamotus are meant to be a little cooler than the Marquesas, which will be great. They are quite different from the Marquesas as they are atolls instead of high mountainous old volcanos. Depending on the wind we will choose which of the Tuamotus we will go to. We will let you know in a couple of days.

The Muscle Cramping Hike

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The Sea by Jet Mante

2009-04-20T16:50:00.000+13:00

Round the Island Marquesian Style

2009-04-20T12:44:00.000+13:00

This was one of the welcome dancers. I thought he was the best.

One day on Hiva Oa we went to watch the islanders finish the outrigger canoe race. It was a race round the island, and it took them about 2 days to complete it. It was really cool. The festivities began when the first canoe with six big muscular guys came ashore. Some women and several younger men started the chant (in Marquesian) about rowing round the island. Together with the dance it was very imposing. I can't remember exactly how it went, but I know that the women would sing a while and that then the men would slap their chests and sing in bass voices "hey mata fukoo, chest slap, hey mata fukoo, chest slap" then the women would continue the chant. This was repeated every time a new canoe came ashore. Once all the canoes were on land garlands of flowers were put around the participants' necks. Then all competitors ate while watching a victory dance. We went home feeling that the Marquesians definitely had alot in common with the Maoris, as depicted in the movie Whale Rider.
By Jet

Nous sommes arrives a Hiva Oa

2009-04-03T15:25:00.000+13:00

We did it!! We crossed an Ocean. We arrived safely in Hiva Oa on Friday, March 27,
after 17 days at sea. The crossing was uncomfortable at times, while cooking in the galley Judith acquired some bruises, and not everyone liked the squalls. However, we also had some very pleasant days and even managed to do 8 days of school. We only had to motor twice for 8 hours
when there were a mere 0.8 knots of wind. The rest of the time we had good winds. It was absolutely great to have Gerbrand, as our extra crew member. Nightwatch schedule was Ewout 8 - 12, Gerbrand 12-4, Judith 4 - 8am. Judith would always see the sunrise! The children
did well. They were lethargic for 6 days, which was longer than we expected but then they perked up. Apart from doing school we read lots of books and played lots of games.

After arrival, it has been so lovely to sleep whole nights! It was also great to go ashore and explore the island. The first time we were on land, it felt as if the land was moving!!We are practicing our rusty French with the locals, quite fun. It is really hot and humid here,
anything you do and you are drenched in sweat. So we love it when a tropical downpour cools us of. We are eating delicious baguettes and all sorts of exotic fruits like pamplemousse, breadfruit, mangoes and papayas. They pick it straight off the trees for us.

Today we took a tour of the island. The island is very lush and green, we saw at least 17 different shades of green with plenty of yellow, pink, red, orange and white mixed in. The flowers are magnifique!! Tomorrow one more trip to town to load up on baguettes, tomatoes and some veggies and then we're off to Tahuata; an island ~10 miles from here.

A Riddle.....

2009-03-22T18:57:00.001+13:00

There's lots to do; we have a very busy schedule.....

At 8 'o clock we get up, and then we spend
From 8 to 9 daydreaming
From 9 to 9.30 we take our early midmorning nap
From 9.30 to 10.30 we dawdle and delay
From 10.30 to 11.30 we take our late early morning nap
From 11.30 to 12.00 we bide our time and then eat lunch
From 12.00 to 2.00 we linger and loiter
From 2.00 to 2.30 we take our early afternoon nap
From 2.30 to 3.30 we put off for tomorrow what we could have done today
From 3.30 to 4.00 we take our early late afternoon nap
From 4.00 to 5.00 we loaf and lounge until dinner
From 5.oo to 6.oo we have a leisurely dinner
From 6.00 to 7.00 we dilly dally
From 7.00 to 8.00 we take our early evening nap, and then for an hour before we got to bed at 9.00 we waste time.

As you can see, that leaves almost no time for brooding, lagging, plodding, or procrastinating, and if we stopped to think or laugh, we'd never get nothing done......

Where are we ??!!

And what book did we plagiarize??!!

The winner will get a postcard from the Marquesas.

Royal Court of the Realm of Neptune - The People of the Deep vs. Defendants

2009-03-22T18:57:00.000+13:00

King Neptune,
Plaintiff,
vs.

Judith, Jet, Hein and Eltjo Mante
Defendants

Ewout Mante, Captain s/y Bravado (Judge Pro Tem)

Case No.: No. 12-3-456789-1

Longitude: 127-30.000W
Latitude: 00-00.000
Date: March 21, 2009
Time: 1400Z

Trial of Pollywog Crossing the Equator for the first time

SUBPOENA

Dated: Saturday, March 21, 2009

Appropriate Uniform of the Day shall be worn: Sexy Lingerie to please King Neptune may lessen the punishment that is likely due the defendant.

I order and command you to appear before my Royal Court and be initiated in the mysteries of my Special Royal Domain. If you fail to appear you will be given as food to the sharks, whales, sea turtles, pollywogs, salt water frogs and all living creatures of the sea who will devour you head, body, and soul as a warning to all landlubbers who dare to enter my Royal Domain without warrant. It has been reported that the defendant has had the gall to scoff at these proceedings and the authority of King Neptune!! You had better change your ways or suffer the consequences!!!!

You slimy pollywog have been charged with the following offenses, to whit:
1. All: Flagrant disregard for the experience and esteemed position of the good captain of the vessel s/y Bravado.
2. Judith: Failure to appropriately appreciate the beauty of my almighty squalls and associated lightning show.
3. Judith: Showing good spirits at all times, even when finding plenty of the Captain's finger and toenails, when a bad attitude would be so much more appropriate.
4. Judith: Undue hesitation to make a three week journey through my beautifully seascaped realm.
5. All 3 First Class Passengers - Jet, Hein, Eltjo: Showing disrespect for my royal windy seas by lounging in your cabins whilst entertaining yourselves with electronic gadgets.
6. Jet: Failure to appropriately appear with hair properly groomed when my royal messengers, the dolphins, came to check out s/y Bravado.
7. Hein: Providing too much nourishment to my already somewhat opulent, hardworking fish.
8. Eltjo: Resistance to regularly cleanse himself with my royal blue golden water.
9. All 3 First Class Passengers Jet, Hein, Eltjo: Failure to deliver liquorice in copious amounts to the honorable captain of the s/y Bravado.
10. Perhaps the most serious charge of all. Somebody on board may be a Jonah!!!! If so, keelhauling is to light a punishment to be handed out. The captain will be the sole judge of this charge.

These charges are serious and the punishment may be severe. Frankly, there is nothing you can do or say to defend yourselves against any of these charges. As a lowly pollywog you have NO rights!! The captain has full authority of my Domain for the administration of such punishment. You are to appear before captain Ewout Mante and his First Mate Gerbrand Brouwer at his command at 1400Z. Failure to do so will have the most severe consequences!!!

Remember the Two Rules of the Sea:
Rule #1: The Captain is ALWAYS right!!!
Rule #2: If the Captain is wrong >>>>>> See Rule #1 !!!

Signed, Neptune Rex, Supreme Ruler of the People of the Deep

What the children wrote to their cousin Eva (7 year old first grader)

2009-03-20T05:52:00.000+13:00

Postcard from the Pacific

Dear Eva:

We sail mail you this postcard for your class project from the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We are on a 3 week (3000 mi) crossing on sailing vessel "Bravado". We left La Cruz, Mexico exactly 9 days ago on our way to French Polynesia and since then we have sailed 1425 miles. We hope to cross the equator on Saturday, March 21, and Hein, Jet and Eltjo are really looking forward to some presents from Neptune. Did you know that he visits and brings presents for everyone who crosses the equator?! (King Neptune: I give presents, but I also make these children go through a ceremony where they need to wash their hair with filthy stuff and eat even filthier stuff.)

We have seen a lot of wildlife. For instance, Flying fish !
Flying fish jump out of the water, look like little birds (3-6 inches in size with 4-6 inch wingspan), and can fly about 20-30 yards. Quite often we find them on the boat and last weekend, one of them flew into uncle Gary's (your dad) stomach while he was standing in the cockpit.

Twice, we have seen dolphins. They are very playful and will ride with the boat for about 30 minutes. They like the pressure under the bow. We also heard them make clicking sounds and one dolphin had 2 sucker fish attached to it.

We are also surprised to still see quite a few birds so far from land. We've seen them dive for fish and chase each other. Quite fun.

Live on board:
The boat is small; 45 feet and we have 6 people on board: captain Ewout, first mate Gary, skipper and teacher Judith and first class passengers Jet, Hein and Eltjo (Hein also doubles as the assistant cook).

Since we are really close to the equator, we are sitting in a hot tub of sweat; it's pretty hot out here. Luckily, we can wash away our sweat by standing in some very frequent and intensive, natural showers. When these heavy downpours occur, we strip down, grab our soap bars and lather up! Better be quick, otherwise you will be left standing full of soap with no rain to wash it off !

The first 3 days at sea, we were either sea sick or had little energy; but now everybody is in tip top shape and full of energy. We read a lot, listen to music and books on tape and every now and then we watch a movie. Since the seas have been pretty choppy, we were not able to do our usual boat/home schooling program.

Imagine life on a roller coaster, side to side; up and down. And then try to imagine cooking dinner or brushing teeth on a roller coaster!! It's something like that what we experience out here. Quite a challenging environment to live in.

Every morning, we have a "puddle jump net". Through a special boat walkie/talkie, we communicate with other sailing vessels that are also on their way to the Marquesas and French Polynesia. It is fun to hear other people talk to you out in the middle of the Ocean. We also exchange jokes and riddles with a 10 year old boy, Robin, from sailing vessel Hipnautical. There are about 20 boats underway, and we are among the first four.

Weather:
While on a sailing vessel you want the right amount of wind; not too much, not too little. You also want it from the right direction. The last couple of days we spent in the trade-winds. This is an area with fairly constant winds of about 15 mph. Ideal cruising weather! Last night, we had a significant number of heavy showers and thunderstorms. These are called squalls. The captain had to use all his skills (incl computer and radar skills) to navigate through these stormy waters.

We are sorry that it is sent by email, but it is rather hard to find a post office out at sea.

Lots of love,
your cousins Jet, Hein and Eltjo

(and Ewout, Judith and your dad).

The Third Day at Sea

2009-03-13T06:35:00.000+13:00

On Tuesday March 10, we said farewell to all our friends in La Cruz and took Bravado out of her slip all the way over to the fuel dock. There we got rid of our last Mexican pesos by filling her up with diesel and left for the Marquesas. That day three boats sailed out: Hipnautical, Apple and Bravado. The winds looked favorable and we covered a good distance. We had one problem though, the engine was not taking in or spitting out any cooling water. So Ewout spent the first two days down below in the engine room. The second day we decided that if the problem was not resolved by 6pm, we would return to La Cruz. There is enough wind that we can sail, but we need the engine for our watermaker and fridge. Luckily, Ewout and Gerbrand discovered that there was an air bubble trapped in the system and they resolved the problem.
In the morning we check in with all the other boats that are underway to the Marquesas. It is really good to hear the voices of the other crews and to know that you are not alone out there. As the Puddle Jump (that is what the run from Mexico to the Marquesas is called) coordinator said: the Pacific Ocean is really really really really BIG.
In the first 40 hours we covered 326 nautical miles (out of 3000), if this holds up we should be there in three weeks. The crew is doing fine. The children are all a little seasick ranging from very mild, Eltjo, to medium, Jet, to somewhat more, Hein. Give it a day or two and they will be over it. All adults are well, Gerbrand has been standing watch from Day 1, which is quite remarkable. It is fabulous to have an extra crew member and doing only one watch at night.
We'll keep you posted.

While we are waiting for wind...

2009-03-09T11:42:00.000+13:00

...we are working like mad:
on reading all books in existence before the crossing (on the Kindle)

or hanging on to the last thread of life (the iPhone)

Or................................

Saving the world from destruction (the Nintendo DS)

and
those dreadful things called taxes (the computer).

As for mom, she's working around the clock

on this:

-Jet Mante

Our First Blog

2009-03-08T13:53:00.001+13:00

After having referred all our friends to the blogs of our cruising companions for quite a while, we decided that it is time to set up our own blog.
We are about ready to set off on our three week journey across the Pacific. We did all the important preparations: the whole family had their 6 month check-up and cleaning at the local dentist in Bucerias. No cavities!! We did a big Costco Run to provision for five boats. This was very interesting as everyone provisions so differently, for some toiletpaper is more essential others prefer beer & rum. I noticed that Bravado either has the most people on board or are the biggest eaters of the bunch. Someone had arranged a small U-haul from a friendly carpet cleaner, and he brought all our supplies back to the Marina. When we unloaded the van at the head of the dock, immediately a group of Mexican teenagers gathered around us who wanted to buy our stuff. We had to explain in our best Spanish that we were not setting up a shop there. After we stored all our kilos of flour, rice, pasta, peanut butter, toothpaste, etc. it was time to go to Carnes del Mundo and get some meat that will stay well for a long time even without a freezer. We have a freezer on board, that will chill but doesn't freeze. Just in case, I also stocked up on spam....! A couple of days ago I bought fruits and vegetables from the local market. Did you know that cabbage and onion are the longest lasting vegetables? Then it was time for the Mante family to go to the hairdresser. Ewout, Hein and Eltjo now are just a couple of millimeters short of a crew cut. Between thumb and index finger, Judith pointed out 1.5 inch, saying that was how much she wanted cut off. However something got lost in translation, as the hairdresser thought that that was how much she wanted to be left. This very short hair is nice and cool in the heat here, and no other haircut will be needed for a long time! Jet didn't take part in this family activity as she is still growing her hair for Locks for Love. Our crew member Gerbrand (married to Ewout's sister) arrived a week ago and he worked very hard with Ewout to get Bravado ready. We are so loaded with fuel, water, supplies and people that there is hardly any waterline left!! Now that everything is that we could think of is done, there is only one more thing that we need: WIND. That essential ingredient is totally lacking. It looks like we are either going to drift and make it a four (or more) week crossing or use our precious cheap Mexican fuel. Of course there is a third option which is waiting for wind.....and reprovisioning!

Meanwhile the rest of the crew is busy with the following activities:
Jet likes to make necklaces with matching earrings and has been quite succesful in setting up a little business here in the Marina. By now, the women on all different docks are wearing her creations. With her income she bought an Amazon Kindle 2 and loaded 70 books on it for the crossing. If she should get seasick the Kindle can switch over to voice and will read to her.
Hein's favorite subject in school is Greek Mythology, which of course has the least practical use for cruising, that's probably what makes it fun. Hein's hobby is fishing. He has a fishing rod and caught three fish in the past year. Judith and Ewout were too squeamish to skin them, so we threw them back in the water, which was a little challenge as well, because fish have sharp teeth and bite! Now Gerbrand has brought some more serious fishing gear aboard and will help Hein catch our meals at sea.
Eltjo is somewhat accident prone at the moment. There are lots of boys in the Marina who all play together. Some on skooters, some on skateboards and some on rollerblades (Eltjo). They have chosen the steepest 'hill' around and like to go down it with the most speed possible. Eltjo, being one of the youngest, needs to prove that he can compete with the others. This cost him a huge scab on his nose and just as that was healed up, he came home with an enormous swollen black eye and two open knees. Luckily he heals fast.

Ewout is doing taxes, Gerbrand is exploring Puerto Vallarta and Judith is trying to find room to store the last batch of vegetables. We will keep you posted.