Generator repair

The leaking coolant pipe

Cross section of the collapsed pipe.

Recently we have been finding the bilges full of water almost up to the floor boards. Dipping a finger in confirmed it was salty sea water. Eventually we found the leak was in the generator. The yellow and black pipe carrying seawater to cool the engine had gone soft and had split the picture shows it squirting vigorously. Yesterday I taped it up as a temporary measure until we got to Papeete, but then the engine overheated and cut out. Today we set about fixing this and cut out the soggy bit of tube and re-routed it so that it would still fit. When I cut the tube you could see that it had collapsed and almost blocked the cooling water flow. Justin did a great job in a confined space refitting the pipe and now it's working well again.

But before all that took place we hired bikes and rode about 12km along coral trails along the thin atoll to the pass where we sailed through. On the way we passed the airport with its runway sandwiched between the sea and the lagoon. An old lighthouse built of coral blocks has been replaced by a red and white tower with solar powered lights.

 It was great to come across the sailing Pirogue which we had been told about by its creator when we were in Nuku Hiva.  It was a modern take on a traditional inter-island sailing canoe and had been built with sponsorship to try to re-interest the youth of the atolls in their traditonal sailing canoes, or Va'a Motu.  When the French started employing people for the nuclear testing station at Mururoa atoll money started to flood into the communities and soon everyone had outboard motors, and there wasn't a sailing vessel left.  Yet that obviously imposes considerable costs on local people for fuel and expensive equipment.  It seemed to me that they should have concentrated on smaller lighter craft that local children could sail and race in the lagoon, rather than this large craft that required some hefty men to launch and sail.  

Va'a Motu - The Sailing Pirogue project, Fakarava

 Later I was delighted to find a beautiful book called Va'a in Carrefour in Papeete, which shows the adventures of a couple who came to help on the Va'a Motu project.

 

This evening Justin treated us to a lovely fish supper at a little place with a terrace over the lagoon. We were the only guests served by a family team including a RéRé, a large man dressed as a woman.

Beneath us reef sharks, 4-5 feet long swirled like extras in a Bond movie, but were then chased away by a dog which leapt into the water.