Get Lost On Purpose

Month: August 2009

  • The Wildest Place I’ve Been

    I keep on saying it…Niue and Beveridge Reef (a part of Niue) were the wildest places I’ve ever been. Here’s why:

    1) The anchorage at Beveridge alone was an experience with the high winds and waves coming over the reef coupled with first time anchor drags and the resulting late-night, pitch-black resets. We haven’t sat calmly still at anchor since Aitutaki. It’s not comfortable but I guess one could see it as part of the wildness. I’d like to say we’ve grown accustomed to rolling around and sudden shifts of the boat while we’re “safely” anchored but screw that. Nobody likes that stuff. It was all part of the adventure though.

    2) The whales. From the first sighting outside Beveridge to basically living among them in the mooring field at Niue, the whales defined this part of the trip. People pay loads of money to experience nature like that. We had it outside our backdoor for free.

    3) Spearfishing at Beveridge. Patrick and I were all by ourselves in the water for hours on end while the only other people within hundreds of miles, Marge and Rebecca, were still over a mile away on an upwind dinghy ride. It was surreal. Hunting fish through underwater ravines and avoiding the curious grey sharks and the white tips will be a memory long after my blisters heal. The fact I duct taped my feet and ignored the pain of each fin stroke shows just how much fun it was. I’ll never forget losing that last really nice grouper to the white tips. Little f_c_ers!

    4) The hikes to the chasms and caves on Niue aren’t too long but nobody can deny they are dangerous. The eroding limestone is sharp and at some points you are basically crawling over the stuff. At other places large holes are hidden by decaying vegetation and still other places are covered in slippery rock. It seems the whole island is made for breaking ankles. And then there’s those huge dropoffs, cliffs, deep chasms and caves, massive seas crashing around everywhere throwing spray 30 feet in the air….basically everything you’re there to see. Check out these videos of us pushing the limits or being just plain stupid. Whichever, it was an adrenaline rush. The rock Allan and I were standing on was actually moving with the power of the waves coming in!

    **video will be inserted here** whenever I come to the realization that, yes, sometimes you have to pay for internet and I realize that internet is slow as crap here and I just have to be patient!

    5) Vaikona Cave. This place is wild and dangerous and scary and it’s almost ridiculous they allow people to explore on their own. That being said, I loved every minute of it. I’d do it again in a hot minute.

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    6) Even though we don’t have a dinghy at the moment and didn’t have to deal with it, you gotta love a place where the only dock in the only “safe harbor” on the island has a crane to lift your dinghy out of the water so it doesn’t get destroyed on rocks in the swell.

    7) Sea Snakes. I saw them on a dive I did with Seth and Elizabeth from Honeymoon and I saw them on the surface but one morning when I answered a call from a neighbor boat looking for a diver to untangle their anchor from the rocks I saw way too many of them. They are funky and weird and venomous as hell (harmless to humans because their mouths are too small) and Niue was my first time being in the water with them. One more wild thing to experience.

    So there you are. The wildest place I’ve ever been. Looking back on the last month, we’ve had crap weather and lost the dinghy but I still can’t complain. Somebody sent us an email saying we should put a donation tab on the site to try and recoup some money for what the dinghy mishap might cost. I considered it for a moment and thought about how much it ticks me off when cruisers or travelers ask for donations on their blogs. Margie reminded me of how f-ed up I thought it was that a certain cruiser was (and still is) bumming money off Latitude 38 readers and they keep on giving it to her. If you don’t have enough to be out here and pay for your lifestyle and your repairs and your f-ups, you shouldn’t be here. Don’t give me money to perpetuate my dream while putting yours off. So Get Lost On Purpose shall remain free of that crap. After all, I’m out here on a sailboat in the South-freaking-Pacific. What could I possibly have to complain about?

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  • Niue, Niue, ohhhh baby, I said we gotta go….

    Bound and determined to see the Northeastern side of Niue before departing for Tonga, Drew and I braved foul, rainy weather and set out Monday on a couple of bikes looking for some adventure. A half hour bike ride later, we found just that in the Talava Arches, the Matapa Chasm, and the Limu Pools. Prior excursions in Niue had stenciled imagery of clear water pools, caves, and jagged coral in my mind and these three places did not disappoint in living up to those visions as well. The Talava Arches was a maze of caves that all led to what can only be described as a massive eye to the south pacific. What remained of the cliff side was the result of hundreds upon hundreds of years of incoming and outgoing tides and waves that crashed against the shores, creating giant holes in the limestone. The ocean-the artist, the land-its canvas, its work-magnificent. From my view, perched up high and safe in the cave, Drew appeared to be nothing more than a tiny speck as I tried to capture with a camera the grandness of the arch. I was instantly reminded of years ago when my Aunt Cookie, my Uncle Gary, and my cousin, Holly all took me along on their vacation out west and we visited arches quite similar to this one. Only difference in the two was here on the other side lie the south pacific, out west on the other side was about a 2000+ foot drop. I didn’t have to be QUITE as careful here…

    From there it was a short walk to the Matapa Chasm, which, according to guidebooks, was the favorite swimming spot of prior Niue kings. One quick glance and I instantly knew why as what lay before me was the clearest of blue, natural pools nestled amongst the limestone walls. In less than a minute I’d stripped off my hiking clothes and was diving into the water as I found it completely irresistible. I couldn’t risk looking back on this one day and wishing so much that I had jumped in. Refreshing would be an understatement and for about fifteen minutes I FELT like a queen as the water washed away the evidence of the bike ride before. I hated to get out of the water but we’d seen pictures of our final destination for the day and if it was at all possible, the Limu Pools were even more of a sight to see…

    So off we went and this time it was Drew’s turn to dive in the cool waters and refresh himself. The damaging effects of Cyclone Heta were evident amongst the coral here although slowly but surely the sea life is beginning to return. Try as I might to describe it’s beauty, try as I might to capture it with a camera, sometimes I just don’t know if there are words possible or a photograph worthy. We returned the bikes that afternoon and although my butt was sore, as rental bikes never are very comfy, I felt I could leave Niue with a better sense of what the island had to offer and all I can say is wow…what an experience. We sadly said farewell, donning our best Finding Nemo whale voices, to our newfound harbor friends and set sail for Tonga yesterday afternoon. I honestly can say that being amongst those gentle giants ranks up there as one of the top highlights thus far in my life. It was absolutely incredible.

    Granted the trip continues to go well, we’ll arrive in Tonga tomorrow morning, having lost a full day so it will be Friday for us and still Thursday back home. Lots of friends will be in Vava’u and we are anxiously awaiting a reunion with all of them and the joint birthday party on Honeymoon Saturday night!

  • Rollin on the Rock – Niue Style

    The mooring field here in Niue has turned rolly. The swell is coming around the northern point and we’ve been miserably rolling all around as monohulls do when they sit side to the seas. It’s uncomfortable but livable. We enjoy getting off the boat whenever possible but, of course, without a dinghy, we’re at the disposal of others. It’s not been a huge problem though. After a great dinner aboard Follow You, Follow Me with Allan and Rina the other night they offered up their dinghy as a loaner while they took a night in one of the local hotels. It was super nice of them and gave us a chance to get some shopping done without the worry of overloading some poor guy who offered us a ride but didn’t really have the space! We spent a good bit of time the last two days on the internet posting pics on the blog, figuring out what’s going on in the world, and studying New Zealand in hopes of finalizing a place to stay. I also filled the propane tank. I say I filled it cause this time I actually did. I’m mentioned the problems I’ve had finding places to fill my “California special danger tank” since we left the states. So far no problems in Jamaica, Panama, and Tahiti but in Ecuador there was no place in the county to have it filled so I had a small adapter made to gravity fill the tank. So I spent a couple of hours Wednesday standing in the backyard of a hardware store figuring out how to gravity fill an empty propane tank from a full one without blowing myself up. Now that I know the secret, it’s freaking easy!

    Niue is an interesting place. There are abandoned houses everywhere. Much of the population up and moved to New Zealand so there’s barely a 1000 people left on the island. In 2004 a cyclone devastated the northern, western, and southern sides. Ninety foot high waves washed over the island taking houses and all the vegetation with it. Somehow only two lives were lost. A lot of Niueans decided at that point to give up and leave. Rebuilding was just too hard. The people still seem happy and everyone is ridiculously friendly but in my mind there’s an underlying feeling that something is missing. It’s like that storm took away a large part of the island’s spirit. It’s such a unique place I hope to see it grow again. It’ll be interesting to watch its progress and stop back through here next time we sail this part of the world.

    We had a potluck gathering at the yacht club on Thursday. Margie made her super dip which is always a huge hit and disappears faster than anything else. Tim and Ruth on Victory Cat had tons of Spear Fish and Wahoo they grilled up. Someone made a birthday cake and even though I sang, I couldn’t tell you who’s birthday it was. I always love having Margie along on the gatherings. She doesn’t know a lot about boats or sailing but she’s such a conversational powerhouse, she steers discussions right away from broken watermakers and low pressure systems to family left behind, boat fashion, and Hollywood gossip. She’ll bring even the hardiest of sailor down into a discussion of why she’s a better match for Tom Brady than Giselle.

    With the loss of the dinghy and the unknown amount of money it’ll cost, we are looking into ways of saving money in the next few months. I think we’ll end up storing Dosia on some sort of a mooring in NZ while we travel home for the holidays. It’s up to $200 cheaper than a dock slip although it’s hours farther from the airport. It seems I made the mistake of buying a nonrefundable plane ticket or I, myself, would be staying in NZ for the holidays. Candidly, I’m still thinking of skipping the trip since it’s not necessarily the ticket cost but the cost of living during that month at home that kills me. Guess we’ll see how that one works out. We are, however, in negotiations on a dinghy and could have a possible replacement lined up. Fingers crossed.

    Well, today’s biking excursion appears to be canceled by the grey and raining skies. Maybe tomorrow. We plan to leave on Tuesday for Tonga since the sail westward is only 240 miles but takes 3 days since we cross the international date line and skip an entire day! From that point on, we will be one day ahead of everyone back in the states instead of hours behind! Seth and Elizabeth’s joint birthday bash on Honeymoon is this Saturday and we wouldn’t miss it for the world! Plus our friends on Zen, Karma, and Flashback should all be arriving there soon.

    Stay tuned for some interesting blog posts concerning the future of this trip and our plans. Wallets are emptying, clocks are ticking, and things are starting to take shape for a potential end and/or long hiatus in our journey. I wish it could last forever but alas, all good things…..you know the rest.

  • New Adventures in Niue

    Charts showing several more days of foul weather in Beveridge Reef were enough to convince us that our departure from there should come sooner than we had planned. We’d definitely recommend a stop there to any other cruisers headed in that direction but unfortunately our own experience of the reef was limited because of the weather, temperatures, and the loss of our beloved dinghy. Patrick and Rebecca, s/v Brickhouse, were fantastic in carting us to and from the boat to the reef so Drew could do some spear fishing but I don’t even have a wet suit so I spent most of my time on the boat. It was time to go. We took with us the memory of our first whale sighting of this year, a freezer full of fresh grouper, and a lifelong lesson in that when going to other people’s boats, always tie off your own dinghy. One can never assume that your dinghy rope is the same as the next boater. An honest mistake but, nonetheless, a lesson learned the hard way.

    Dosia did her best to cheer us up in absolutely kicking butt on the overnight sail from the reef to Niue. At anywhere from 6 1/2 to 8 knots, we completed the 130 miles in about 20 hours. Now I am not the kind of boater who has that intoxicating need for speed like most. If anything, when we start flying over waves at too great a speed I get a little anxious and uneasy. This trip, however, brought speeds we hadn’t seen in a while and of course they came at a time when we didn’t need them as we’d arrive in Niue before daylight. Drew and I quickly decided that we’d hook a mooring by early morning moonlight if we had to because there was no way we were giving up the chance to really, really feel the wind. So we rode it out, enjoyed every second of it, and were on a mooring ball in Niue by sunrise, enjoying our morning coffee.

    Niue has been an incredible breath of fresh air thus far. The water is still a bit chilly, there is a definite nip in the air, but who thinks about those things when you’ve got 15 to 20 humpbacks swimming, literally, FEET from your boat!? July to October they take over the waters off the coast of this island to breed and we are lucky enough to be here during those months. The waters most certainly belong to them, we are their guests, and respect must be paid. They could sink Dosia in a heartbeat if we pissed them off somehow. Some boats throughout the harbor have been able to hear them talking/communicating at night through the walls of their vessels. Unfortunately (at least in this particular instance) Drew insulated the walls a little too well so we can only hear them when they rise to the surface to breathe. To be in their presence, this close, is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Each sighting is another reminder to me how grand and massive this ocean is that Drew and I are living our lives on right now.
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    If you are looking for sandy beaches and palm trees then don’t head for Niue. Jagged shorelines, caves, and deeper anchorages make up this island-the smallest island nation in the world. We spent most of yesterday with s/v Honeymoon and s/v Follow You, Follow Me in a rented van exploring all the eastern coast had to offer. Five of us donned our best hiking shoes, Drew…his flip flops due to blisters from spear fishing excursions on the reef, to tackle three different chasms, or caves. The land here is brimming with dated, aged coral that is probably hundreds upon hundreds of years old. Although in appearance it is rather sharp and uninviting, we wasted no time in tackling shorelines, climbing in and out of caves, getting chased by bone crushing waves, rope climbing down into a sloping cave to the freshwater pools below, and capping the day off with well earned beers at the local, and only, resort on the island, the Matavai Resort. Drew and I could barely keep or eyes open past 8 p.m. last night. Tonight, dinner aboard Follow You, Follow Me. As I write, Drew is preparing some of our fresh grouper to take as bite size appetizers, as most cruisers haven’t had any luck in catching fresh fish in the the Pacific waters this year. Pictures of the cave excursions and the whales will be up A.S.A.P.!
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    Happy Birthday to both Drew’s Dad and his Nanny who celebrated her 91st birthday on Monday : ) We love y’all!