DAY 100
Q here day not 100 for me maybe 50ish Sad starting to think about planning going home. Don’t get me wrong, I love my home, friends, farm and the daily life, but the simplicity of the complexity of a sailing life is somehow extremely freeing. Big day starting to work on the cutless bearing, last time Ellen and I worked on our cutless bearing on our boat was in the humid alligator filled lagoons of Panama with 5+knot currents, just after the marina owners dog was eaten, with less than 5foot visibility. I knew this could be nothing like that, vis here is great, no current, and best of all there is no life threatening reptiles in the water! Just this morning during morning bathroom shifts, we see a shark, first thing that stood out to me was the slightly different demeanour. It was very bold and forward, and curious with a slightly different shape than other sharks I have seen. Next thing that stood out was the stripes, my first thought then was “hmm, I thought tiger sharks were the only sharks with stripes, but I guess I was wrong” after fussing around a bit with boat stuff, I then poured through some books and through process of elimination…. I was right, there are no other sharks with stripes! I always dreamed of seeing a tiger shark, but when there is one circling the boat inquisitive of every action in the water, it is sorta a bit freaky (for those that don’t know, this is one of the few if not the only apex predator in these waters, sometimes up to 2000lbs and 7m long). This one was rather small, maybe just shy of 3m but rather slender. Anyway we came here for boat work, change the cutless, so onward we go. now, with the rather frequent glance over the shoulder……
Ellen: Dawn colors light the boatyard orange, a strip of coral growing masts and palm trees between ocean and lagoon. Day shows the turquoise water murky - the bommies vague brown clouds twenty feet below us. Shark shape circles the boat, more surveying than curious - keeping tabs. Big. The long upper tail fork trailing behind, all muscle and curves. Sun ripples reflected onto its side? Flash gone. Returns at the bow, circling up to surface, a sideways curl away - stripes. Definitely stripes, dappled, to look like ripples, but not ripples looking like stripes. Stripes. These are the moments when the universe thinks she’s funny - couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. First crocodiles, now a tiger shark. Underwater the stripes are mesmerising, light and shadow and movement - like jaguar spots in dappled shade, predator beauty. We re-anchor the boat a bit shallower and put out a stern anchor so it will be easier to retrieve tools if we drop them. As I swim to check the anchor I turn in circles to look around and behind me - no shark. Also no other fish - the water is quiet like the songbirds when a hawk circles. Naomi and Qwalen and Jamie and I take turns holding our breath and wiggling cotter pins with vice grips underwater - and watching for the shark. No appearance. We get the prop blades off, and the cotter pins out of the nut that holds the body of the prop, but our new 1/2” square drive from Papeete has a head that is too wide to fit inside the channel, so we cannot get the drive into the corresponding hole in the nut without a 3” extension. Perhaps someone at the boatyard will have that tool to loan us once it isn’t Sunday. So far so good.
Miriam: Perhaps it was me dumping my menstrual cup into the water first thing this morning that drew in the Tiger Shark? Only the Ramoras came to feed so we will never know, but I am grateful to have seen such an incredible creature and more grateful still they didn’t eat our intrepid captain or anyone else for that matter. Satisfying work day, clearing out the Mines of Moria (aka pantry), replacing some hinges, cheering on the excellent mechanical endeavours of the cutlass bearing and windlass motor missions. A lovely swim to shore (many hours after our last sighting of the Tiger Shark) with Jaime as a potential shark wrestling ally and a beach wander that would’ve been longer had I worn shoes. Feeling myself slow and settle into rhythms of boat life, taking time to watch sunset paint the sky in rose gold lavender lime fading to deepest indigo filled with stars whose familiar patterns are upside down in unexpected places here, all a matter of perspective as my eyes and mind open to new ways of storying the sky and the world beyond.
Naomi here Today I finally met my water puppy match. In tahanea spearfishing I felt no qualms chasing after sharks and growling at them and was excited to see all sorts of larger sharks taking interest in our activities. This morning we saw a decent size shark circling the boat, probably 3m, thought it was a nurse shark till we saw the stripes. Well there’s only one kind of shark with stripes and that’s a tiger shark, which is one of the sharks to definitely keep an eye out for. This was quite exciting and it spent some time circling the boat so qwalen lashed the go pro on to the end of the boat hook to film it underwater. The end of the boat hook with the go pro attached promptly fell off and sunk to the bottom. Well someone had to go get it and for some reason everyone was quite slow to get their dive gear on. But Jamie and Megan assured me they had heard the boatyard here had a pet shark. It did come and check us out when we slapped and splashed the water, a sweet little (?) pet tiger shark, of course. I jumped in the water and immediately the shark turned and started coming straight for me. We eyeballed each other for some time and the closer he got the more I realised I had important boat business to attend to, nothing to do at all with the very serious vibe the tiger shark was giving off- I swear he was licking his lips as he was swimming towards me- and promptly exited the water. I could see the dang go pro tho, directly under the rudder, so as soon as he swam off I checked the murky water and made a break for it, all I had to do was go straight down 28 feet and back up again— after I got it safely on the boat everyone told me the shark had come directly back towards me very quickly, then got spooked off when I kicked back up to the surface. Now we have chatted to some folks in the boatyard who were very surprised to hear about the presence of a tiger shark in the anchorage, I am left wondering , who would have a tiger shark as a pet!! What were we thinking !! A nurse shark okay but a tiger shark???
Jamie here, Day 100 is upon us and I am so stoked to have the privilege to be on this journey. I can’t believe we’ve been 100 days at sea in the lovely and gracious bluebird. She’s doing amazingly and keeping her crew safe and sound. I am so grateful to be under sail with Naomi as captain. She TRULY embodies courage and resilience. Incredibly reliable as well as a warm friend. Going from no sailing experience she took a leap of faith to ferry me across the pacific and I don’t know if I can ever repay you mate. Thank you so much also to Bob and Jenny “eye in the sky” Crum for EVERYTHING. Literally everything from frozen meals and home baking leaving Picton, organising the gally, packing the boat, organising the CAT1 certification for the boat and that’s before we even left. Still now, weather updates, updates from home and organising the bits and pieces which need to come with various people. And all the things I’ve forgotten or don’t know about. Thank you thank you. And HUGE thank you to Tom and Sheila and the rest of the family for the use of this vessel. She’s seeing some epic places and getting a tan at the same time, away from the rain in Picton. Tiger shark day! Very very cool to see one of those pups… stir fry by Megan tonight and day 100 cake from the captain! This boat job business isn’t so bad at all… WOD - Rancour. Rancour - to be bitter and resentful but in style. Used in a senny: “we have found a sandy spot, get ready to drop the rancour!”
Ia orana, Megan here. Remember when Jamie thought it was so funny to tell me he’d seen tiger sharks circling the boat when I was swimming to shore? Well who’s laughing now? Not me I’m terrified. I’m starting to suspect the shark broke the head, knew we had repairs, spread rumours about its docility…. But we’ve survived their dirty tactics to get us in the water so far. Can’t believe I was merrily throwing raw pork chunks in the water this morning convinced this was the pet shark we’d heard about.
Today I pulled down my plumbing pants and had a go fixing the head (toilet). I started strong by actually making things worse by detaching the wrong hose. Nonetheless. I reattached that hose and got the right one undone. The joker valve appeared to be inside out, easy. Flip, insert, screw, screw, bingo bango: head fixed, I’m covered in toilet water, and I’m feeling whatever salty is to plumbers. Got through almost 12 hours of feeling smug before I realised the bloody thing is still broken. At least I did spend the rest of the day kayaking and FIRPing (fossicking in rock pools). Found some nice shells, saw a tiny hermit crab royal rumble. I came home and cooked a pretty dang good stir fry, something I’m so proud of. And then we finished the day strong by singing the shanty Jamie and I composed and eating cake. Happy day 100! Maururu!
Bluebird out!