Tahiti, 2-4 Nov 2008

2 Nov 2008

It was Sunday on a holiday weekend and Papeete was very quiet. The market opened for a few hours in the morning and Brenda was able to get bread and a few other items. In the afternoon Arnold and I made preparations for what we expect to be a busy Monday. We will try to get a replacement cable for the electric anchor winch. I dug out the only spare belt that we have for the double-belt arrangement on our big alternator. We plan to take that in to get a second spare. We also took out the engine water temperature sender and will try to get a replacement. I will also try to get some anchor light globes and spare hosing at a boat shop. We have been out of cooking gas since before Papeete and are now on our last drops of alcohol for the stove, so we will try to get both. I read somewhere that we will need an to convert the local thread to the thread on our cylinder. We will also try to get the first 20 liters of diesel and both we and Brenda will try to get more alcohol. Big day.

Later in the afternoon Brenda and I did a long slow stroll through the city. I took photos of a big 4-masted cruiser that recently arrived, as well as some street scenes.

3 Nov 2008

Arnold and I knew that it would be a tough day and so it turned out to be. It was a Monday and our goals were to:

- Fill up the gas cylinders
- Get alcohol for the stove
- Replacement heavy cable for the anchor winch
- Get a spare belt for the 160-amp alternator
- Get a replacement engine temperature sender
- Get globes for the steaming light

The big alternator is driven by two belts and we had only one spare. Quite often a bad belt will take its partner with it so we wanted a total of two spares for the unit. We elected to put off spare diesel oil and diesel fuel to the boat for another time because we were confident that they would be no problem. But we figured that some of the items above would give us trouble. My big worry was that the thread type on our Aussie gas cylinders would be a problem, or that maybe some regulation would prevent the filling of our cylinders.

Arnold and I left at 7AM to do as much in the cool of the morning as possible. Arnold pulled the trolley on which he had strapped the two gas cylinders. I had in my back pack the spare fan belt, the empty methylated spirits (i.e. Alcohol), severed cable, and water temperature sender that we had removed from the engine that morning.

We walked about 2 km to the Shell petrol station that the immigration official had recommended. They only did exchanges and did not refill. I asked him about the “Alcool de'nature'” and he did not know what I was talking about until he sniffed the empty container. He produced a 1 letter bottle of it. I asked him the price, he checked, and even he expressed shock at the price of 850 cfp. That is about $14.00 AUD or $8.00 USD for one liter of methylated spirits. As far as filling the tanks he suggested the next station up the road. Our mistake was in not asking how far to the next station, which turned out to be at least 3 km per day.

Here I must digress and talk about the “back blocks” of Papeete. We already knew of the local predilection to park on side walks. This made our walks throughout the morning extremely difficult because Arnold was towing the gas cylinders and could not squeeze in between parked cars. Over and over we found ourselves walking at the edge of busy roads while cars were safely parked on the side walk. Even what walking paths were available tended to be a mish mash of different levels, with different surfaces requiring constant lifting and lowering of the cylinders. While the central district of Papeete is very well maintained the fringe areas are not and we encountered heaped rubbish blocking paths on side walks, abandoned and stripped cars, and very, very few road names on corners. Arnold threatened to publish some of these photos on the blog and in the interest of accuracy I feel that I have to pass on this information. Having said that I have a soft spot for Papeete and figure that the society is doing the best it can.

We made it to the second petrol station and they could not help us. We made the trek back to the first station and Arnold mentioned Tahiti Gas and the guy said yes, that was 3 km the other way. Arnold got a bit irate and asked him why he didn't tell us that the first time. Gaz de Tahiti is on an island that contains all of the petrochemical storage. The light industrial area was on the way and we worked our way to a Bosch service centre. He fellow at the counter said that he could not help us with the spare belt or temperature sender and we would have to go to the company's parts centre which he marked on a map and must have been about three kilometers away. Because there were no street signs we got lost. I went into a shop and the helpful lady came out and pointed us in the wrong direction. After another 30 minutes walking we asked a Chinese man in a small shop who probably could not help us which was OK but didn't seem to even want to help us which was not OK. We asked a group of school girls who looked at the map and chatted among themselves and didn't have a clue where we were on the map. (Oh I forgot, women can't read maps.) We came to an intersection and made a turn and soon a man on a bicycle came to us, asked us if we needed help, then shepherded us to the parts place only another block or two away. There I got a belt that looked like the one I had but had a slightly different part number and ordered a matching one which will arrive in two weeks. He was able to supply us with the battery cable and two connectors, though we would have to go back to the service section to have the connectors fitted. (Very efficient,huh?) He could not help us with the sender but we had achieved our first minor victory of the day.

We worked our way back to the Bosch service centre and had the connectors fitted. Another victory. On the way to the bridge taking us to the island we stopped at the biggest boat shop in Tahiti, “NautiSport” and I was able to get what I though were the correct globes for the steaming light. They had temperature senders that looked very much like what we needed but had the wrong thread size. The man pointed us to “Sopom”, just before the bridge. That turned out to be a large building and from the look at the machinery inside it appears that this company can do any diesel work required. We were pointed to a sales section and the girl at the counter told us that the parts section would not reopen until 1 PM. It was 11.45 AM. We pushed on to “Gaz De Tahiti”. That turned out to be the most efficient, customer-focused, and cost effective operation that I have encountered in Tahit. Within 5 minutes the man was there, confirmed that we wanted propane and not butane, assured me that the Australia thread would be no problem, confirmed the capacity (about 3.7 kg), then took the cylinders away. Fifteen minutes later he brought them back and the charge for both cylinders was 2675 CPF, or about $45 AUD which I consider a bargain. Just before we depart I will get the cylinder that we have been using refilled and we think that it will give us enough gas to get us to Hawaii.

We then returned to Sopom and waited until they opened. The young man had a good stab at getting a replacement sender. He then came back and said that his boss had told him that what I though was corrosion was a scale that had built up and that if removed that scale the sender might work better. Before our eyes the guy removed most of the scale with his thumbnail. For a new part he referred us to another place. Then we got an offer of a ride. The trolley with cylinders was placed in the front seat and Arnold and I rode in the back. The place we went to was still closed. We had stumbled on it in the morning and hit had been closed then. It was next to it, in a sail loft, where an American working there had given us good instructions on how to get to NautiSport and the gas works. Then the man drove us to the boat.

He turned out to be Ramon, the manager of the diesel shop. He has traveled through Australia and to Hawaii (where he has a sister). He told us that many Tahitians are buying property overseas (e.g. the Gold Coast in Australia) as a hedge against the French leaving Polynesia one day. I asked him if the Polynesians wanted the French to leave and he said No, but they would like more economic development assistance from France. They are very aware of how their atolls were used for atomic tests and think that France owes them something. Instead, when the testing was finished French interest seemed to fade. He confirmed, by the way, that French Polynesia governs itself.

We got back to the boat hot and tired but grateful that Ramon had saved us another hour of walking and satisfied with our achievements. I spent20 minutes connecting the gas cylinders, tested the connections with soapy water where I found a leak that I quickly stopped, and soon we were Cookin With Gas as they say.

Arnold did some tests on the temperature sender – applying heat and measuring resistance – and the indication is that the sender is working and we may have a wiring problem. We planned to install the winch cable and do diagnostic work on the sender the next day.

That night Brenda and I had a meal at the open air food court (Steak for her, grilled Mai Mai for me) and as we were leaving Arnold approached ready for his meal after his evening jog and a shower. Afterwards we broke open the bottle of Drambuie and toasted Miles and Cindy on their news that Cindy is expecting.

4 November

It is the birthday of Arnold and myself. We are 65. I can hardly believe it. There must be some mistake! We are only 41 in the hexadecimal (base 16) number system, which sounds more palatable.

I got up early to telephone Waterlog about our water maker. I was not able to get through because it appears that the number I had on file is a mobile number. I'll keep working on this.

In the morning I connected the new cable between the battery and the anchor winch and it tested out OK. So other than a few bruises and sore muscles there was no damage from the deep anchoring experience at Tahiti Iti.

Arnold did diagnostic work on the temperature sender and confirmed that both temperature meters were working OK, and so was the wiring to them. We connected the sender to the wiring and he put a flame to it and we could see the temperature dials going up. Perhaps the scale was interfering with the sensing and perhaps the engine water just does not get hot enough. Anyway, I reinstalled the sender and we will see how it behaves on the way to Hawaii.

In the afternoon we had a short shower which made Brenda and myself feel sticky and muggy. We went out onto the jetty in bathers and spent 30 minutes hosing ourselves down. After that we were cool as cucumbers.

In the evening we visited the internet centre to catch up on email and see the latest on the U.S. Election.