Back to Moorea

Dolphin sculpture at the park

Big swells were forecast for Tahiti and since the Marina Taina moorings are exposed to the west, we decided to come back over to the North side of Moorea.  When we were here before, we were in Cooks Bay.  Since our cruising rule is to always go somewhere new, we went came to Opunohu Bay and are anchored out on the reef just west of the Hilton.
I has been nice and calm except for the occasional idiot in a tour boat flying through the anchorage. 

I went up the mast to find out why the masthead navigation light was flickering and discovered that it was gone.  Don't know how but we can use the deck level nav lights until I get a new one.  Defender is having a sale so I'll order one up and bring it back later.

We had a breezy day yesterday and swam to the beach for a little exercise.  The winds and seas are forecast to build until Sunday so we are going to sail the 80 miles to the island of Huahine tonight.

Mast view of Opunohu Anchorage

Opti races right out  of our front door

We took the dinghy on a little ride (2 hours) to Sting Ray City.  It should have been called Shark City.

We were greeted by them even before I could snorkel up and check the dinghy anchor. These didn't bother us.

Shark swimming over the dinghy anchor line

Stingrays sleeping

Back in Tahiti - Everything went like clockwork

We spent a month back in New Jersey getting things ready for the summer rentals. It was a big push and very busy. We got everything done and hopefully won't have any issues this summer.

The flights went fine. We took the midnight red-eye out of LA and got here at 7AM, rented a car, went to Customs to get our duty free fuel permit. Thanks to the excellent map on the incredible blog from our friends, Kathy and Dave, on Lightspeed, ecosaiingcharters.com. We never even make a wrong turn. We went to a few chandleries (acastillages in French) for some French specific boat parts and had decent success.

We were at the marina by 9:30 and got a ride out to the boat. It's a little dirty but not as bad as we have had in other places after a month of neglect.

We dinghy'ed back in for our luggage. Booker took food inventory and we went to the Super Marche for provisions. You have to make good use of a vehicle while you have it. It's a long haul walking or by cab.

Took a nap, got the rent-a-car back to the airport at 6PM and were asleep by 8. Slept 10 hours. Our circadian rhythm is back on local time within 1 day. Perfect. What a trip!

Street Food in Papeete

We are moored on the right. Check out the helicopter on the deck of the gray boat

A forest of masts at Marina Taina

Surf's Up

Kids learning to boogie board in the river

Tahitian Rent a Party Boat

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Mooring B10, Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti

Moorea from Tahiti at sunset

Tortuguita's home for a month

Leaving Moorea, the winds were right in our face at 15 knots.  Motoring was slow going so we put up the sails and punched through some big uncomfortable seas for an hour until we could tack and head for the west side of Tahiti.  As expected, the wind died once we got close to the island.  The plan was to go in the west side pass by Tahina but when we got close, we could see big waves breaking across the entire coast.  With discretion being the better part of valor, and not wanting to risk the remnants of the swells that had been setting up for days prior, we headed to the main entrance of Papeete Harbor and took the tour inside the reef, past the airport, to the west side.

We are moored in front of the marina, doing some deferred maintenance, and preparing Tortuguita to stay while we go home for a few weeks.

We really like Tahiti.  The prices are expensive but better than we have seen so far in French Polynesia.  There are restaurants, bars, stores, and civilization.  We are looking forward to doing a lot more exploring when we get back. 

Moorea

We could have stayed in Toau for months but we needed to keep moving since we need to fly back to New Jersey for a few weeks to get the houses ready for the summer rentals.

7 1/2 kts in 12 1/2 kts of wind

The Tuamotos have been in a type of Convergence Zone ever since we arrived there with light wind and alot of rain.
Our friend, Peter, who has been helping with weather forecasting sent us an email warning about 5 meter swells that were going to hit the west side of Tahiti in a few days.  So, we decided to head out early and go to Moorea before Tahiti.  There was not supposed to be any wind but we had a good sail the 1st day and it looked like we would arrive before sunset the next day if everything kept up.  Well, it never does.  The wind died and we motored for 18 hours and arrived the morning after.  Just 2 nights at sea.

Moorea is a beautiful little island.  We anchored in Cook's Bay the first day, moved out to the reef for some wind to charge batteries, and then were chased back in to the Bay by high winds.  While anchored out on the reef, we did some good snorkeling and dinghy exploring but the waters didn't compare to the Tuamotos.

The 'Band'

We took the bus to Le Petite Village to see how the bus system worked.

"BANANA TOTAL" Pizza, Sinful

We weren't quite hula dancers

We went to a Polynesian dance at the Bali Hai Hotel and then went out for Pizza. 

For dessert we got the BANANA TOTAL.  A pizza with bananas, brown sugar, chocolate, and ice cream.

Anse Amyot on Toau Atoll, Tuamotos

Remoras cleaning the bottom

We had a nice 30 mile sail to Toau.  The winds were 15-20 with rain showers every half hour.
Anse Amyot is a blind pass with a deep anchorage with 14 mooring balls protected behind the coral inside the atoll.  A few families live there making a living harvesting coconuts and providing hospitality to the cruisers.  There was 1 other boat moored while we were there.  They were a french couple, Claude and Michelle.

Gaston taking us to the Mantas

Gaston and Valentine live right on the beach were the main organizers of our fun.  Gaston took us to a secret spot in the atoll lagoon where Manta Rays feed on plankton. We swam with them for about a half hour.

Manta Ray mouth.  I was close!!!!

Bottom side of the Manta

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Sharks that came to investigate us

The 3 of us took the dinghy exploring.  There was a neat little coral rubble island that we poked around and we took the dinghy out to the pass and drifted out while holding on to it.  There were an incredible amount of fish and sharks.  We got back in the dinghy when the sharks decided they wanted to touch us like we were touching the Mantas that morning. We weren't really cared, it was just creepy having them come up from the depths to investigate us.

A little coconut water while exploring the island

Fakarava, Tuamotos

Monument on the way in to Fakarava

After a week in Kauehi, we headed over to Fakarava to pick up Booker's nephew, Lewis.
We did well on the pass out of Kauehi with 1 kt of current pushing us out.  We figured that 6 hours later the curent would be ingoing at the Fakarava pass.  The wind had picked up and that may have changed the dynamics of the atoll because we has 4 kts against us with 5ft standing waves.  It was kind of fun surfing a standing wave doing 1 kt.  It was a nice long ride but we didn't get anywhere.

The anchorage was windy, not good holding, had a small mooring ball that kept hitting us when the wind shifted, and had a lee shore on a coral island. Not my favorite place

Fakarava has 2 expensive grocery stores, and not much as far as restaurants are concerned.  We did some walking and headed out to Toau.

 The Fakarava Church was similar to Hauehi but bigger.  Notice the shell strung ceiling fixtures

 The only hotel that had a possibility of Happy Hour didn't start until 6PM.  Dinner had to be ordered in the morning.  Not very conducive to cruisers, but beautiful surroundings.

Anchored at Kauehi, Tuamotos

We just arrived at the atoll of Kauehi.
We made 570 miles from the Marquesas in 3 days 22 hours. It was a real nice "wind"ow to take.
The town is small and looks cute. Maybe 30 houses total.
The water is turquoise, the sand is white white, and the sky bright blue. Lots of coral. A nice snorkel reef is 50 yards from our stern.
We arrived at the pass when the NOAA chart showed low slack tide. Instead, we had 4 kts of current against us. We were doing 1kt at one point. Need to figure out the tides. We could have anchored up close to the beach with 1 ft below the keel but then the tide may still be going out and we would be aground, so we are in 20ft and I still have to dive and check the anchor while Booker looks for sharks.

The little church really has personality.  Everything up in the ceiling made of shells.

We'll stay here for a few days and then it's 30 miles over to Fatuhiva which should be a perfect distance to allow for slack tide at both inlet. If we can ever figure out the tide.







Note: Found it:  The only correct source for tides is www.shom.fr

This is Jimmy.
 We were walking down the street and this guy driving down the street in a beatup pickup truck loaded with bags of something stops and says, "Welcome to my island".  He must be the only guy that speaks English which was nice.  As he was driving away he says "That is my house up there, do you want to come see it?"  So, we walk 50 yards and he has already sent his cousin out to pull down 2 coconuts for us to drink while we sat at the table and talked.

 This is Jimmy's Boathouse.

This is Jimmy's Mom, Josephine.  She is stringing little shells together to make a necklace.












IDENT: WDD5204
TIME: 2013/04/28 20:45
LATITUDE: 15-49.00S
LONGITUDE: 145-07.00W
COMMENT: www.sailtortuguita.com - Arrived Kauehi - 570nm in 3 days 22 hrs