Memoirs of a Careening Poling

So, as you may have read on the main page, we used a careening pole the other day to clean the bottom of the boat. It was great, as we normally have to snorkel to scrub, and the preponderance of man-eating salt-water crocodiles in Australia and Indonesia means that our bottom was to become quite the biological preserve.
Here's a lesson learned from my first careening experience:

Drive up only as far as you need to.

We tied to the careening pole on a high spring tide. Each successive high tide was lower. That evening, high tide was 8 inches lower than the morning's, and the next morning's was a further 4 inches lower.

Although being high and dry was great for scrubbing the bottom, that evening, despite our finest efforts, we did not get off the pole as planned. Further, we knew that if we didn't get off in the morning, we'd be stuck in front of the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association for two more weeks.

That night we did everything to make the boat lighter; we dumped our water tanks, moved our fuel and water cans onto dry land, and lowered our anchor and 200 feet of chain into our dinghy. We hoped this loss of weight would help us float a little easier and slide off the careening post.
With high tide approaching, we ran our longest Panama Canal line from the stern to the wall, cranked it tight, and watched the water rise. At high tide, we began pushing, shoving, and rocking the boat to try and get her off and floating.

We were not successful.

Another idea had been discussed the night before, but not seriously considered ... until now. We could push the boat onto its starboard side and at the same time run a halyard from the top of the mast to the other bank, hopefully reducing pressure on the keel and allowing us to slide off. With the clock ticking, we decided to go for it.

We squared our backs against the careening pole and with all our might, leg-pressed the boat past vertical and rode it down until it was floating on its starboard side. Alan hopped in the dinghy, rushed to the far bank, and put all his weight on the main halyard.

This didn't quite work, but it did create quite a scene, thus leading to a fellow yachtie named Peter to join the fun. He drove his truck over to Alan and tied the halyard to the bumper.
With Alan and Peter at the truck and Amanda and I putting extra tension on the stern line, we slowly bobbed and slipped back into deeper water!

We ended up putting on quite a show for the members of the Yacht Club, I just wish we had set up the time lapse camera that morning.

So, if you're ever going to go onto a careening post, only go up as far as you need to.

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The Official End of All Physical Activity

The other day, Alan asked me "Whatever happened to 'The Cruiser's Running Guide?"

Before moving onto the boat, I fancied myself a bit of a runner. Not a very fast one, but I did enjoy running on a regular basis. I tried to keep that up on the boat. Be it Fort Lauderdale, Miami, the Bahamas, the DR, or Panama, I would scope out a decent route, put a couple miles in, and write a personal journal post about my run.

Then came the Pacific Ocean.

An interesting thing happens when you stop using muscles - your body decides you don't need them. Doctors and astronauts refer to this as 'atrophy.' During our crossing to the Marquesas, I probably walked no further than 80 feet in a day (at least one promenade to the bow and back). Upon arrival on Fatu Hiva, my running muscles were gone. We pulled an eight hour hike the next day, but certainly not without significant aches and pains. Walking a mile had become my new marathon.

In terms of physical activity, I did have one saving grace: rowing. We didn't have an outboard for our dinghy, so for almost every trip to shore, I got an upper body workout. It wasn't much, but it was something.

However, Nhulunbuy marks a new milestone in our journey. The yacht club here contains one of the finest boat graveyards we've seen. Not much in terms of large boats, but if you need a dinghy, this is the place to wash ashore. In the corner of the workshop, we found several 3.3 hp outboard engines. Jacques, an old man who seems to pass the time sleeping on an old minivan bench-seat, told us that if we could get any of them running, they were ours.

I don't know much about outboards, but I have a friend named Will Phillippe from my old college sailing team that does. Back in college, I observed Will bring many outboards back to life, and if I learned anything, it's that engines don't work unless the cover's off. Sure enough, with the cover removed, some broken looking parts replaced, and a few liters of fresh petrol, the engine mostly ran!

If this means anything, it's that my last bastion of physical activity has come to an end.

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Farewell to the Pacific Ocean

As we left the locks of Miraflores in Panama last March, we were set afloat in the Pacific Ocean. Five months and over 8,600 nautical miles later, we have rounded Cape York on Australia and have officially left its waters.

Sailing across the largest ocean in the world certainly sounds like a daunting endeavor - and at the right latitudes and wrong time of year, I'm sure it certainly is - however a tradewind ride across the tropics is actually rather pleasant. The winds stay at your back, and all the conditions predicted by our cruising guide came true: a fast shot to the Marquesas; squalls in the Tongan Trench; and blustery winter trades in the Coral Sea. Our route is commonly known as the 'Coconut Milk Run,' and is one of the easiest paths across any ocean.

A progressive visit through the islands of the South Pacific gave an insightful glimpse into the history of human migration. Polynesians settled the islands west to east, and each island culture developed in relative isolation with rather recent, common roots. Tracing this path backwards allowed us to notice trends and commonalities across language, food, and music.

Contrasts between European exploration and colonization attempts are also evident. French Polynesia, American Samoa, Samoa (formerly German), and Fiji (British Commonwealth) all have different political atmospheres nowadays - each owing itself to the residual impact of colonialism.

World War II left its mark on the South Pacific as well. Although much of the fighting occurred north of our route, Japanese and Allied forces jostled for many of the South Pacific Islands, each seen as a toehold for advancing towards the other's territory. We visited batteries built to guard the port entrances on Bora Bora and American Samoa, and we saw an impressive array of historical military equipment on Vanuatu.

At the far end of the ocean, we landed on our first continental landmass since Central America: Australia. Our hop north through the beautiful Great Barrier Reef and Australia's deserted north Queensland coast has been like a farewell party at an office job: enjoyable, fun, pleasant, yet bittersweet. We're saying goodbye to most of the other cruising sailboats (many of our friends will remain in the Pacific for several more seasons), the familiar routine of crossings broken up by island anchorages will cease (in favor of more land-based exploration), and the view from the window will change (for better or for worse). However, in the end, we're leaving the Pacific Ocean for the same reasons one leaves an established job - to chase new opportunities, to seek new adventures, and to explore new environments.

Southeast Asia, here we come.

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The Great Reef Comparison

We've traveled a long way, and seen many different reefs during our voyage. All pose a hazard to sailors, but many serve as quite the snorkeling attraction. Here's what I think of some of the reefs I've had a chance to snorkel on so far:

Bahamas - The reefs here seem to form themselves into tight coral heads. Each bunch grows up from the sandy bottom like a flower. The best snorkeling (in terms of quantity of fish and other sea life) was found inside the Warderick Wells National Park, where a fishing and harvesting ban is strictly enforced.

San Blas - The best snorkeling was found around an old shipwreck in shallow water. A wide variety of fish and coral had made their home on the old steel boat. The size of coral growth was smaller than in the Bahamas, however it was much more colorful.

Tuamotus - The perfectly calm water inside the atoll provided some exceptional sight-seeing. One coral ledge we snorkeled had some very colorful giant clams (about 4" wide), however the colors of the rest of the coral seemed muted. Some coral heads here grew from the bottom like giant chimneys, making navigation particularly exciting.

Moorea - The fringing reef we anchored inside had some interesting formations (as well as a few black-tip sharks!), but the diversity of coral was rather limited. It was, however, my first sighting of a wild clown fish (ala Nemo).

Great Barrier Reef - As Captain Ron proclaimed: "Huge! Ran the whole coast." The reef is indeed huge (although not necessarily continuous), and everything on it is similarly large. We saw giant clams (large enough to fit a small child inside), massive sea fans, parrot fish the size of watermelons, and an impressive variety of colors and coral species. At our last mooring, we tossed some moldy bread overboard and within seconds, a flurry of colorful fish were fighting over the scraps (including two fish the size and shape of a trashcan lid and one ugly, brown fish the size of a German Shepard - sorry, I still need to do some research to figure out the species).

Coral reefs throughout the world have certainly been beautiful, exciting, and marvelous. In my opinion, they're a resource certainly worth protecting - even just for their sightseeing value.

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A Visit From The 'Rents!

Here in Australia, I've enjoyed a pleasant visit from my parents! They are both well-versed travelers in their own right, and although I'm sure they'll tell you their primary purpose of their trip was to visit me, they're squeezing a bit more into their time here.

After four days in Cairns (including a trip to the Cairns Zoo, Great Barrier Reef, and Daintree Rainforest) they're flying to Sydney, spending a day there, then flying to New Zealand's South Island (where my dad hopes to squeeze a ski run or two in), then back to Sydney for four more days to visit a friend, then back to the US.

I almost think they're trying to out-do me :)

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