Rice Wine for "Out There" Cruisers

This is for our friends cruising in the Bahamas, central South Pacific, Indonesia, and any other cruising grounds in remote places without reasonably priced stocks of wine.

Another cruising boat we met last year, Gaia, from Holland, gave us this recipe, which they passed on from another cruising boat. I include below the original recipe, and then what we did that worked for us.

I had previously looked into "making wine" a bunch of times over the past 10 years of cruising. But the instructions always seemed so complicated. For example...there was a huge debate on the forums about which esoteric wine yeast to use. It always put me off. And who had wine yeast aboard when you got desperate for some wine? And, didn't it take 2-3 years before the wine was drinkable?

This recipe is diffent--so simple--and 2-3 weeks to yield drinkable wine. For a bottom-shelf wine drinker, with no other recourse to wine, it's a pretty good solution--extremely affordable, and the ingredients are probably already on your boat.

Why would we make our own wine? When we were in Tonga, a TERRIBLE bottle of white wine was $25 USD! (if you could find one). In Indonesia, at least in the outer islands, you can't find wine, at all. In the Bahamas, liquor is not bad, price wise, but beer and wine is outrageously priced. So here goes.. original "sailor's wine" recipe, and exactly how we brewed on Soggy Paws last year in Indonesia.

Sailors rice wine recipe (original recipe)

Rice wine recipe makes 10 litres
1 kg white rice, washed and skim off the bugs
2.6 kg sugar
12 litres water
2 teaspoons yeast

Add options:
2 handfuls of raisins
2 lemons thinly sliced

Other add options:
Cranberries instead of raisins
Cherries instead of raisins
Oranges instead of lemons
Pomelo (sweet grapefruit)

You have to find out the quantities and flavours you like best.

Stir daily.
Cover with cloth or wrapping plastic with an elastic. So air can go out if necessary, but not in. Fermentation takes +/- 2 weeks.
Siphon into sterilized bottles. Let sediment settle for several days till the liquid is clear. Siphon into serving bottles.

To sterilize the bottles:
Just 1 or 2 drops of Betadine(Iodine)in a cup of water. Just let it in the bottles and container till you start using them. Use more water and Betadine for your container.
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Here is what we did on Soggy Paws last year in Indonesia.

--------------------------------------------
For a gallon jug (US Measures)
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1 cup rice
4 1/3 cup sugar
water to fill gallon jug
2-3 tsp plain old bread yeast (I use a 10-11g package, which is a little more)
1-2 slices lemon or lime (or a tsp or 2 of some bottled lime or lemon juice)
A small handful of cranberries or raisins mixed

Don't cook the rice, just rinse it enough to get the bugs out (if necessary), and throw all the ingredients together in your brewing container.

I brew in a 1 gallon apple juice container, with the cap on very loose, and sitting in the sink in the head. WARNING: Big problems if you tighten the cap too much--it definitely needs to be able to off-gas! I did have a one gallon jug that we tightened up the cap, and it got a little too excited and sort of exploded and made a mess in the head. The jug and fermentation is much more volatile early on, and then tapers off. So if you are sitting for a week, good time to start a new jug.

I brewed in my jug for 2 weeks exactly (I tape a piece of blue tape with the due date). A little longer (3 weeks) tends reduce the sweetness. I tighten the cap, shake the jug well, and then loosend the cap again, at least once or twice a day.

My Rice Wine Brewing Kit

When it came to "siphoning off" to bottles, I did that one time with a proper siphon hose and decided that was too much trouble. I ended up just pouring my 2-week-old fermented rice wine from the gallon jug into the "clarifying" bottles, gently, using a funnel, and leaving the sludge in the bottom of the jug. I did filter what I poured off through a fine-mesh plastic filter (a plastic filter, a little cotton cloth, or a paper coffee filter might work also). What I used is the red "filter" in the foreground in the picture. I labeled my clarifying bottles 1, 2, 3 because the first one was easier to keep the sludge out than the last one. The #1 clarifying bottle generally had a little less "sediment" in it, and took less time to clear up. (In the end, for a thirsty person, it didn't matter).

Once the very fine sediment falls to the bottom of the clarifying bottle, the wine looks clear, and looks very much like white wine. Then siphon or pour gently off to your serving bottles. It takes at least 3-4 days for the stuff to settle to the bottom of the clarifying bottles, and the milky wine to turn clear. But if desperate, you don't have to wait that long! Chill well, and it's a decent substitute for that evening glass of white wine.

I have found that I have quite a bit of left over rice in the gallon jug. I tried re-using the rice (just adding a little more), but the brew ended up too sweet for some reason, so now I throw out the used rice and start new.

It was totally drinkable, and certainly better than paying $25/bottle for terrible wine. I sometimes use it to stretch my existing (cheap boxed) wine by mixing half and half.

Once I ran out of the wine I brought with me, I started making a 1 gallon jug every week or two. By the time I decanted it the gallon jug into "clarifying bottles", this turned into three 1 liter Paul Masson clarifying bottles. Once decanted to 750 ml "serving bottles" (leaving sludge in the bottom), it would make about 4 standard 750 ml wine bottles. With 2 1-gallon Jugs, and 3-4 Paul Masson bottles, I always had enough to share with my (also desperate) friends.

I never bothered testing the alcohol level--it was a good enough facsimile to wine that I wasn't worried about perfection.

I did use the Betadine method to sterilize the jugs and bottles.

Try it, and see how it works for you!

Updated Info on Fiji

Our old friend Curly Carswell in Savusavu, Fiji now has a blog of his own. So if you're looking for updated information on Savusavu, check it out.

http://curlycarswell.blogspot.com


Curly anchors the local VHF net. He also makes and sells trolling lures that really work in Fiji waters. And he is an SSCA and an ICA Cruising Station, so he has signed up to be "helpful" to visiting cruisers.

Even if you don't need help, he's worth meeting, and is a wealth of info on cruising Fiji. Be sure to look him up when you get to Savusavu, and pass on a warm hello from Soggy Paws.

Checked Out and On Our Way

We checked out of Savusavu late yesterday, and we're on our way east around the eastern tip of Fiji. Winds are light, so it is a good time to be motoring east. They are supposed to fill in tomorrow, so we are lolly-gagging a bit. Should be out in the open ocean by tomorrow, headed north to Funafuti.

Almost Ready to Leave Fiji

We had a nice weekend in Namena 10 days ago, and a beautiful sail back (another beam reach in 12 knots of wind).

Soggy Paws at Namena
Since then we've been working furiously to get ready to leave Fiji. Dave has been (as usual) completing "projects"... new Bebi Electronics anchor light mounted. New "from the cockpit" mainsail reefing system. Finishing filling holes and painting the deck where we removed the old arch.

The New Arch Finished
The New (Removable) Bow Sprit
Mounting a 2-foot "bow sprit" out the anchor roller tray, to try to get our roller furling Code Zero sail out further away from the Genoa so we can keep them both mounted and use whichever one is appropriate for the winds. (If they are too close together, then tend to bind on each other when furling, which can be a bad thing if you're trying to get the sail in in a hurry because of high winds).

I have (as usual) been working on the computer... getting ready for "almost no internet" for the next 3-4 weeks while we are in transit (and poor overall internet in the Marshall Islands), trying to get our rental condo booked up for the summer, etc.

I have also spent a lot of time researching about the trip through Tuvalu (Funafuti) and Kiribati (Tarawa), and in the Marshall Islands. I have completed a good first draft of "The Fiji to Marshalls Compendium", and am working on a first edition of "The Marshalls Compendium" (see all our Compendiums here) I have also completed a fairly complete set of Google Earth Charts for the Fiji-to-Marshalls trip and the beginnings of the Marshalls charts.

And of course, there's the provisioning... making sure Dave won't go hungry (and I won't go thirsty) for the next 3 weeks is quite a big job. We expect to catch some fish, but our freezer is stocked, we've got tons of tomatoes and other veggies. Plus a bunch of meals pre-cooked for meals underway.

Provisioning the Important Stuff!
We are going to rush a bit through the islands on the 1500 miles to the Marshalls. We have gotten word of a possible dive trip to Bikini Lagoon that some friends based at Kwajalein are arranging. It is possible to visit Bikini on your own boat, but without difficult and expensive arrangements, you can't dive the wrecks there. We are hoping that this expedition friends have arranged will allow us to dive the wrecks. But we have to make it all the way to Bikini by about May 25. So our plan is to make quick stops only in Funifuti and Tarawa and blast on up to Majuro by about May 10. Then we'll have a week in Majuro to get organized and get our "out island" permits before heading out to Bikini (with a planned stop in Kwajalein on the way).

Whoosh!!! here we go again...

Off to Namena for a Weekend of Diving

Wahoo, great weather for a shakedown sail to Namena!

We spent a very short week trying to finish up projects and get the boat put back together for sailing. The arch is pretty much complete. We've got new bright LED cabin lights (twice the light at 20% the power), and for the first time in a year, I have light on my side of the bunk!!

Dave spent the last 2 days doing small things... equalizing batteries, checking out the engine, putting things away. While I worked on catching up with internet and finances (we still haven't filed our taxes...), and provisioning.

Meanwhile, Jerry's new crew, Ulyana, joined Challenger just before Easter, and she spent the last week getting dive certified. Jerry wanted to take her on a little shakedown cruise, and we all wanted to get out and dive Namena one more time before we leave Fiji.

We got the genoa up this morning, pulled out of Savusavu at about 9:30, and are under full sail for the first time since we took the genoa down in September. We are doing almost 7 knots with a about 15 knots on the beam.

We'll be back in to Savusavu on Monday to finish provisioning and preparing for our trip north to the Marshall Islands. No internet for a few days.

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At 04/05/2013 10:42 PM (utc) our position was 16°51.65'S 179°14.60'E
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm

Off to Also Island for Easter Weekend

We are off (by bus) to visit Jim Bandy, the Net Control of the Rag of the Air net. He lives on a small island, called Also Island, off the North coast of Vanua Levu in Fiji. We had originally planned to visit Jim & Kyoko by boat, but our Arch project kept us in Savusavu for too long. It's a couple of days to windward to get around to the NE side of the the island. So we took off by bus (a small twist on the old "Nothing goes to weather like a 747") from Savusavu early this morning.

It's not easy to get to Also Island by land... you have to take a bus to Labasa, but then... its either a 6-7 hour ride in their boat, or a 4WD truck ride out to the end of a muddy track. They have no cell or internet coverage out there, but at least they have a land line (that works most of the time).

Here's their website:

http://alsoislandfiji.com

And their new business venture, Virgin Coconut Oil:

http://AlsoIslandVirginCoconutOil.com

So we'll be "off the grid" for a few days. Meanwhile, Jerry on Challenger is keeping an eye on Soggy Paws for us.

A Week on the Tui Tai in Fiji

We're back aboard in Savusavu after a very rainy week.

This Weather Lasted Nearly All Week!!
We had a pretty good time on the Tui Tai, even though it rained more this week than it has all year (and the weeks afterward).

The "Sun Deck" in the Rain
Isoa, the Activities Director, Briefs us on Emergency Procedures
But we still got in some good diving out on Rainbow Reef and Budd Reef.

Awesome Diving
Our Album of the Diving

In the middle of the week, we spent nearly one whole day hanging out in the cabin reading and sharing travel stories, because the weather was too severe to go out in small boats. We had a really nice group of people who managed to find humor in our terrible weather, and the resulting poor conditions on the Tui Tai.

Jerry from Challenger, Reading in the Main Salon
My favorite fellow passenger was Allyson, who's theme song was "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!" Always accompanied with a big smile. But everyone tried to stay upbeat--there were no whiners, thank God.

Allyson's "upper deck" ($$) cabin floor sloshed with all the rain seeping under the nice big sliding glass doors. But she and her husband, Steve, who had just spent 6 months camping in Australia, just told wry Brit jokes and kept smiling.

Allyson--Always Smiling
We spent one afternoon kayaking in the rain.

Setting Out on a Kayak Expedition
Dave and Jerry Head Off
Exploring Viani Bay in the Rain
Our Faithfull "Minders" Keeping us Safe from Sea Monsters
A Little Horse-Play After We Return

We managed to hike to two Taveuni waterfalls, and stand on both sides of the International Dateline.

The Taveuni Waterslide
We hiked up here and then slid down the "sluice" on our butts. Then we went and stood on the Dateline.

The Meridian Sign
The Meridian Church--Typical Fijian Contrast
Later In the Week, We Hiked to the Big Waterfall
A Big Waterfall & Long Hike
Dave LOVES Waterfalls
We did make it out to Budd Reef, where we had visited in Soggy Paws in July. We had snorkeled then, but had not gotten a chance to dive. We did 3 dives at Budd Reef--it was really nice having dive guides and a dive tender.

The non-divers did a snorkel and then a hike up to the crater.

Heading for the Crater Hike
On our last day, Dave arranged for a tour of the Engine Room.

The Guys Take an Engine Room Tour
The morning we left, the whole crew assembled in the lounge to sing us the "Farewell Song".

The Farewell Song

Arch Update

Dave and Jerry spent a whole nother day drilling holes in the legs and the connector piece to put the bolts in. Then we fitted it again, and drilled a couple of holes in the deck. But it became obvious that we wouldn't get finished before we had to go play.

So we left it bolted together and barely bolted on deck, and spent yesterday preparing to leave Soggy Paws for a week.

We have signed up on a last-minute deal for a week aboard the Tui Tai, a live-aboard "adventure cruise" and dive boat. The cruise leaves today from Savusavu, and we cruise east in Vanua Levu, stopping and visiting villages (hiking, snorkeling, kayaking) and diving.


http://tuitai.com

More later...

New Arch Going Up

I do still plan to fill in our adventures around Viti Levu, which include:

- Taking delivery of our shipment in Suva
- A brief cruise from Suva to Vuda Point Marina
- Haulout in Vuda Point Marina
- Whitewater Rafting in the Viti Levu highlands with Rivers Fiji
- Cruise up the Yasawas
- Cruising back to Savusavu via Nanu-i-Ra
- Back in Savusavu

However, we are now at the Copra Shed Marina dock in Savusavu putting up our new arch. And I know there are a number of people anxious to share this experience with us.

We bought this "Arch in a Box" back in October at the Annapolis Boat Show (see post). It was part of the shipment we received in Savusavu in January. We've been carrying it around on our deck for a month, and we're just now getting around to putting it up.

New Arch on Deck, late January

Once we were settled in at a dock from which we could work around the stern, the first step was to disassemble the old arch. This took a whole day.

Disassembling the Old Arch
All This Wiring Has to Come Out
Chaos!
Almost Down

Now the fun part starts!!

Unpacking all the Small Pieces
Dave and Jerry Watching the Assembly Video
Assembling The Two Halves and Rough Sizing
First Fitting (Held Up by Main Halyard)

Once we got the arch in place, we found that our stern pulpit interfered a little bit with the arch (something Dave had worried about all along). At Jerry's suggestion, we "adjusted" the stern pulpit a bit.

Adjusting the Stern Pulpit
After a bunch of whaling away at it, we had moved it some--enough on the starboard side. But the port side, which was mangled in Cyclone Cyril last year, was still an inch or so too far in. We ended up deciding to cut the port railing--it needs to be replaced eventually anyway.

Final Cutting to Adjust the Height
Once we had it more or less in place, we could then see how much the legs needed to be cut off to get the height right. We cut about 8" off the front legs and 5" off the back legs. It's still plenty high, so we can get our dinghy hoisted up over the Monitor Wind Vane when we need to. (And well up out of thieves reach and waves reach).

Final Fitting

At the end of the first assembly day, we had the arch pretty much fitted... now we have to drill and tap all the screws, drill the holes into the hull, mount all the stuff (solar panels, stern and anchor light, wind instrument, outboard motor brackets and dinghy lifting gear), re-run the wiring, and patch the holes for the old arch (another 2 days of work at least).

We've sold the old arch pieces to another cruiser, who plans to assemble something similar on their boat.

Gunkholing around Ovalau

We spent several days exploring the island of Ovalau on our way to Suva. We approached from Namena through the Makogai Channel (regretfully passing up Makogai because we didn't have time) on a beautiful clear day without much wind. Because the conditions were so perfect, we decided to sneak inside the reef at the very north end of the reef east of Ovalau. (17-43.52S / 178-50.89E)

Approaching Ovalau from the North
This enabled us to travel south inside the reef, in calm water. We left our fishing line out and actually caught a small (but edible size) Walu (Spanish or Pacific Mackerel).

The Marker at the North End of the Reef at Ovalau
As we made our way south to our intended anchorage at Levuka (the primary town on Ovalau), we wandered between the reef and the shoreline, checking out possible anchorages, and sightseeing.

An Old Church on the Shoreline
The Levuka anchorage is somewhat exposed to the prevailing southeasterlies, and we were looking for an anchorage 'nearby' that would be better. We found several possibles--but since we had nearly no wind, it was hard to evaluate exactly how good (or bad) the anchorage would be if the winds were blowing 20 knots out of the SE. One possible we found, about 4 miles north of Levuka, is at 17-37.47S / 178-48.82E.

We eventually ended up at Levuka. Curly had told us to anchor close in, in 7 meters, a shade south of the "leading line". We looked around a bit and decided that this WAS the best anchor spot. The big pier for fishing boats and ferries, if you anchor close in, gives you a wee bit of protection from the chop and swell from the SE. So we dropped anchor at 17-40.97S / 178-50.15E.

Anchored Behind the Pier
While VERY convenient to town, and a spot at which you can check in to Fiji, this anchorage has two MAJOR drawbacks (besides it is slightly exposed in strong southeasterlies). First, the town generator is right at the base of the pier--right next to you. It is a very VERY noisy beast and runs 24x7. It was Sunday afternoon, and we didn't notice the second one until Monday morning--when the Tuna processing plant cranked up. Whew!! We were right downwind of the tuna factory.

From FijiGuide.com "Ovalau's primary attraction is the old colonial capital of Levuka, a community of 1500 or so inhabitants. Nestled at the base of steep bluffs, Levuka has the ambience of a 19th century whaling town, which is exactly what it was. With weather worn clapboard buildings, narrow streets, and ever-friendly residents, Levuka’s harbor and bars at one time welcomed vessels from every seafaring nation."

As soon as we got the anchor set, we went ashore and paid our respects to the Port Captain (there is a small dock at the base of the pier for dinghies and small boats--the PC office is right there). In fact the Port Captain had called us on VHF 16 as we were wandering around checking anchorages (wanting to know our boat name and intentions). We showed him our papers, and paid a small port fee (something like $10).

We had been out at Namena for a few days, so Dave offered to take me out to dinner in town. He had read in our Moon Guide about a couple of restaurants, and we had our friends on Java's recommendations, too. We walked the town looking for places to eat, but it turned out that only one place was open on Sunday--and not til 6pm.

Downtown Levuka on Sunday Afternoon
It was 4:30pm, so we had an hour and a half to kill. Dave had read about a nice walk up into the hills, so we decided to investigate it a little bit. Then we found there was a river was there, and Dave got hot on the trail of a waterfall. So we ended up hiking WAY up into the hill to the beginning of the town water supply, there was a tiny waterfall. Fortunately it was mostly paved (ending up being just a narrow one-person track at the end). But we got back to town at 6pm in our Sunday Best all sweaty from a hike.

The Main Church in Levuka
The Path to the Waterfall
Overlooking the Main Entrance to Levuka
We Finally Reach the Waterfall
Some Great Kids we Met on our Walk
The only restaurant was a Chinese place, and we were keenly looking forward to some Chop Suey or Stir Fry, but were dismayed to find that they had NO VEGETABLES. Apparently there were no fresh vegetables on the island at all at this time. Ovalau is a small island not far off the coast of Viti Levu, the main island. But everything comes in by ferry. Being Sunday, all the grocery stores were closed.

Unfortunately, this lovely restaurant, with a nice balcony overlooking the harbor, also overlooked the town generator. Un-airconditioned, it was too hot INSIDE the restaurant, and they had 70's music blasting at too loud a volume to talk. Outside on the balcony, it was cooler, but you had to listen to the generator. We were fortunate to get our order in first, service was slow, and we ate our chicken and rice with canned vegetables and left.

The Original Morris Hedstrom Store
The next morning, Monday, we spent about 10 minutes in the tiny M&H grocery store--getting a couple of things, but no fruits and veggies. Dave was keen to see the Levuka Museum across the street, housed in the old Morris Hedstrom building. So we spent an hour looking at the combination Museum and town library. It was interesting reading about how the European traders had injected themselves in local politics between chiefs in Fiji, and ended up owning the country. Typical story we have experienced all across the Pacific islands. And of course the Europeans brought diseases that the islanders were not immune to, and wiped out 2/3 of the population. And the Missionaries, who followed the traders closely, attacked their culture, stealing their souls as well as their country. Oh, I mean SAVING their souls, right?

We Perused a Few Dusty But Interesting Exhibits
We inquired about taking a bus around the island, but found that there was no bus that GOES around the island. There is an old decrepit bus that goes one way, about a quarter of the way, and another bus that goes the other way, a quarter of the way. But the road is bad, and the trip is not cheap. The other half of the island has no road.

Levuka Buses, Built for the Rugged Roads
So we returned to Soggy Paws, hauled up the dinghy, and left Levuka to do our own exploring.

We spent the rest of the day gunk-holing counter-clockwise around Ovalau, checking out anchorages and sightseeing.

Lush Countryside
We were keen to check out a place that Curly had showed us, labeled "Hurricane Hole". We eventually found the place and agreed with another cruiser, Mr John IV, who said it was a snug anchorage, but isn't quite protected enough to be a Hurricane Hole. (but it was way better than remaining off Levuka in a blow). The best spot was saw was about 17-44.09S / 178-45.99E.

Even though it was getting late in the day, we decided not to anchor there, but press on south to an anchorage off one of the two islands on the south end of Ovalau that supposedly had a "Backpacker Resort" on the island. There are reefs all over in this area, and we'd certainly ignored AGAIN Curly's advice to only travel between 10am and 2pm so you can see the reefs. GoogleEarth Charts are our friend. It also helps a lot that the regular electronic charts (CM93 C-Map charts dated 2010, and our Garmin charts dated 2008) are reasonable detailed and reasonably accurate in most places.

A Caqalai Bure
We ended up at tiny Caqalai Island (anchorage: 17-47.15S / 178-43.80E). On our chart, there is no island there--just a reef. But this island is owned by the Methodist Church in Ovalau, and has rustic accommodations for about 20 people. Caqalai is pronounced Thang-a-lie in Fijian. We went ashore and talked with the people there. There was only one guest and she was leaving tomorrow. The 3 Fijian caretakers on the island apologised for the messiness of the island--they had not yet properly cleaned up after getting blasted by the edge of Cyclone Evan in mid-December. (But weren't working very hard on cleaning up, either). We asked if we could get dinner there, and ended up paying $15FJD per person for a small whole fish and some cabbage and rice. But it was interesting hanging out.

Caqalai Staff Cleaning the Grounds (NOT!)
The next day, we headed further south into the reefy areas south of Ovalau. Dave wanted to check out another possible "cyclone hole" Curly had pointed out, down along the coast of Viti Levu. However, we never got that far--it was dicey getting in, and didn't look like we could get far enough in shore to get any real protection in bad weather.

So we stopped instead at Toberua Island. (anchorage: 17-58.58S / 178-42.17E) Toberua Island Resort is another resort on a small island in the reefy area between Ovalau and Viti Levu. What a difference from last night's stop at Caqalai. This resort is owned by Kiwis and is an extremely well manicured family resort. The buildings were nicely constructed, and everything was in its place. The Fijian staff was impressively friendly.

Immaculate Grounds at Toberua Island
We introduced ourselves and asked if "yachties" were welcome ashore (sometimes they are, sometimes they are not). The owners happened to be in attendance, with brand new managers, one of whom was a former sailor/cruiser. So they said, "Yes, we welcome well-behaved yachties ashore."

The Workout Bure at Toberua
We got a grand tour of the island, besides some 20-odd "bures" (thatched guest quarters), there was a sort of barracks at the back for the Fijian staff, a huge generator, a workshop, and water storage. There is a dive shop and "water sports" building out by the beach. And the place was full...

Dave Gets a Briefing on the Route Out the Reef to the Southeast
We talked with the dive shop operator, to get a little coaching on getting out of the reef toward the southeast tomorrow. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. Wished we could have stayed a couple of days, done some diving, and hung out.

But tomorrow... onward to Suva.