June 7

June 7, 2012  The Transit of Venus was an almost 5 hour long marvel!  Barry's bino filters worked so well that we could see perfectly.  He finally got the idea to put the filter on the camera and he got some great photos.  Then we got out the iPad and the Nightsky app had Venus right on top of the sun.  We also used the iPad as a chart plotter when we neglected to properly install the So Pac chip in the $4000 chart plotter and its appurtenances.  So the iPad is off my **** list.  

Flopper stoppers

The iPad's view of the sky is stable now because Barry deployed a device to keep the boat from rocking called a flopper stopper.  A few other people use flopper stoppers, and the one we bought worked moderately well.  It consisted of a pair of hinged stainless steel plates that you hang over the side of the boat.  When the boat rolls to one side, the plates fold and sink.  When the boat roll to the other side, the plates open and dampen the roll back.  The problem is that nothing kept the boat from rolling on the other side and when the plates opened, the boat "jerked" when trying to roll the other way.  Barry decided that we needed one on each side, but we didn't have the space for a second one.  So he cut the one we had in half and now there is one on both sides.  Ingenious, he is.

I got up at 2 am (I go to bed at 8:30 and take long deep naps) and started cleaning and organizing the boat while it's cool and lovely.  Cleaning and organizing are real spirit lifters for us. While I cleaned Barry worked on the malfunctioning windspeed and wind direction instruments and one of the GPSs. He thought he had them all working but then their functioning became intermittent. He said Murphy was punishing him for his hubris in thinking he had fixed them all. As of this writing Murphy still has the upper hand. 

Midday we took the dinghy out for a snorkel.  Here's the critter report: sea snakes!!! We hear there are mantas to swim with also. I made Barry promise to take one excursion per day.  Someone said our baie is the most beautiful spot in the Marquesas.

Our friends, Marilyn & Sam, arrived from the Galapagos and will do the same as we are - fix the boat in this lovely setting.  In fact, that is one definition of cruising: fixing your boat in exotic places.  The other definition is: the art of going nowhere, very slowly, at great expense while feeling ill.  On the other hand, we are constantly amazed at what a well built boat we have.  She took us safely almost 3000 miles without a major failure and we are grateful indeed.

By the way, our Voice of America news only covers Asia so would you please send to our email what you consider to be newsworthy. Your emails to us are our only contact with the outside world. We have no internet, no Dish TV, no DVR, no regular radio, no newspaper nor magazines and we see only people who are in the same boat we are. Boden & Colby, please send news also.

Position :  9 54.88' S, 139 06.56' W