Huahine, Sep 10 - Sep 12, 2008

We arrived in Huahine at 9:30 AM. We decided to anchor just inside the pass offshore of Fare, the main village on the island. There were four other boats already in this area, one of which was Plan B, a large catamaran with a nice family aboard that had been part of our Moorea gang and had also just arrived in Huahine. Graham, the father of the family, soon came over to our boat and told us the not very nice story of their arrival. Seems one of the other boats there had a grumpy fellow aboard who thought that Plan B had anchored to close to his boat. He chose to make his opinion on the subject known by screaming over unhelpful comments and using language Graham thought his 7 year old daughter did not need to hear. Let me add here that anchoring a boat isn't quite like parking a car, you don't always end up exactly where you think you will because the boat is still drifting around while you are lowering the anchor down to the bottom, and how much it drifts depends on how deep the water is and how hard the wind is blowing and if there is any current. You could stop the drift by putting the boat in gear, but you want the boat to drift some so your anchor chain doesn't just pile up onto itself, so you drift a little bit anyway. And, at least for us, the wind usually decides to clock around some right when we are anchoring, so you don't necessarily drift in exactly the direction you thought you were going to. So, it's a fairly common occurance to wind up a bit closer to someone than you intended. Graham admitted that he was closer to the other boat than he meant to be, and said that if the fellow had just been a bit more civil he would have moved. But once the screaming started Graham decided that he liked his spot just fine (he only planned to stay there a few hours anyway). However, he really didn't want to argue with the guy, so he just pretended he didn't speak English. He said he was Russian. He thought there'd be a slim chance the guy knew how to speak Russian and he was right. The grumpy guy probably didn't believe the no English thing, he was yelling about the boat being a US boat (which it says on the back of the boat for all to see), but Graham just kept saying "I don't understand - no English" over and over again with his best fake Russian accent until the guy went away. We're all laughing at the story and thinking this is a clever way to avoid a confrontation with someone who clearly wants one, until the next day when Graham is on the radio broadcasting in English on the public channel. We got on then and said, "hey Plan B, sounds like you speak pretty good English after all", intending to make Graham sweat a little. He handled it pretty well, so we came back on pretty soon and tried to explain that it was us, but somehow Graham thought the grumpy guy had caught him until days later when we saw him in another bay and could explain the whole thing in person.

After the anchoring drama and an egg bacon and cheese sandwich breakfast, we wound up sleeping most of our first day in Huahine because we hadn't slept much the night before. We went into town early the next day and got some more baguettes and some fresh produce and then pulled up the anchor and headed south inside the lagoon along the west side of the island. We wound up stopping near this lovely little beach where another boat, Kaama, that was also in our Moorea gang, was already anchored. They'd been there for a couple days and had met the caretaker of the beach. It seems that there was once a small resort behind the beach, but it was wiped out by a big storm in 2000. After that the president of Tahiti bought the property and hired Siki to be the caretaker. Nice job if you can get it! Siki was very nice fellow, and I wished our French was better so we could talk to him more, but he did manage to give us a bit of the history of the place. The only remains of the resort were the skeleton of the kitchen, some really nice plantings, and the pool and spa areas which were half filled with swampy water, but still managed to look good. We also hiked up to an overlook point where we could look down at the boats, the water, the reef and over to the next island (it's always nice when you can see the next one - that means it's a short sail to get there!)

Siki also offered to show us how to cook breadfruit, which was something we'd seen for sale at some of the produce stands but hadn't tried yet. Well, Siki didn't get his breadfruit at no stand - no sir. Siki took us over to the next bay and then proceeded to cut a 12 foot pole about 4 inches in diameter which he leaned up against the breadfruit tree and then shimmied up using his feet and hands to reach the lower branches of the tree. Then he did what looked like a fun tree climb to about 30 feet, then he kept right on going to what looked like a scary tree climb to about 60 feet. Then he began pulling branches down toward him with the hooked stick that he had carried up with him. He used that to get the breadfruit close to him, then plucked them and tied them onto the other end of his stick with the piece of bark he'd peeled off it earlier. Needless to say, we were pretty impressed. After gathering the breadfruit, we trooped back to the main beach and Siki built a fire with some sticks and coconut husks and then got some small coconuts and split them open in about two seconds using a sharp stick he had hidden in a bush. Next he showed us an ingenious coconut shredding device that you put on a bench and sit on and the grater wheel sticks out in front of you between your legs. You put the bowl on the ground in front of you and start grating. We all took turns and the only tricky part was not kicking sand into the tupperware bowl during the personnel switch. Next Siki cut a few slits in the outside of the breadfruit with his machete and put them onto the fire propped up by more coconut husks. While they were cooking, Siki extracted the coconut milk from the shredded coconut by putting it all in a ball in a clean cloth and then twisting it over the tupperware bowl. After the breadfruit had cooked long enough it came off the fire and it's pulp went into the same cloth and then Siki beat it with a stick for a while. The final presentation was pieces of the mashed breadfruit in the coconut milk inside the coconut shells we had scraped clean. The texture was different enough that I can't think what to compare it to. The flaver was not strong but odd. But a little of it was quite filling, so I can see how it would be popular, particularly if you were living off the land, and while I'm not sure I'd climb a tree that high for that same dish again, I'd definitely like to try it prepared some more ways before we leave the islands.

We left the next morning for Raiatea.

Moorea Aug 26 - Sep 9, 2008

When we first arrived in Moorea, we anchored in what they now call Cook's Bay. This was a very deep bay with striking rock formations around the inside edge. In fact, we thought just about everything we saw in Moorea was quite pretty and it wound up being one of our favorite stops so far. While we were there, we went on a very enjoyable island driving tour. We were picked up by a nice guy in a truck with benches built into the back and a canopy that he removed so we could stand up for better viewing in the interior parts of the island. Standing up was not allowed on the blacktop roads around the edge of the island. We really couldn't see what the difference was, but he was a nice guy, so we were happy to comply. He made lots of stops and pointed out many different kinds of fruit trees growing along the road and in people's gardens. We also stopped at a pineapple plantation and at the agricultural school where they grow LOTS of different flowers, fruits and some vanilla. There were also stops at some breathtaking viewpoints. We'll put up as many pictures as we can, but it's tough to do the place justice, so if anyone wants to see more our tour guide recommended two movies that were filmed in Moorea - the remake of Mutiny on the Bounty with Mel Gibson, and Love Affair with Warren Beaty. The guide also made us a little snack of pineapple and grapefruit using leaves for a platter and flowers for decorations which looked so good we took pictures of it - it could have graced a fancy buffet anywhere, except for the fact that the platter was in the back of the truck.

After spending a couple nights in Cook's Bay we got tired of the gusty winds and the murky water inside this bay, so we moved the boat around to a stunning anchorage just outside the mouth of Opunohu Bay. Opunohu Bay actually used to be called Cook's Bay, and is in fact where Captain Cook anchored when he was there, but apparently they decided to change the name because that bay is now in the midst of a reserve area and they wanted to funnel most of the visitors over to the other bay. We're glad the trick didn't work with us because our new spot was quite beautiful. The boat was in about 20 feet of water and we had wonderful views over the reef out to the ocean as well as a good angle on the sunset and a nice view of the public beach we were anchored off of. The water was so clear that on calm mornings you could see the ridges in the sand below us. the boat. It sometimes seemed as though there was no water and we were just levitating above the sand. Tres magnifique! We could also snorkel right off the boat in this anchorage, which is one of our favorite things. We saw an octopus, eels, eagle rays and tons of beautiful fish, but, just in case you think it sounds too good to be true, I will confess that the coral itself was not in great shape here. We were told by the dive guys that three years ago the coral was amazing and then an infestation of these huge starfish called Crowns of Thorn appeared and these creatures killed all the coral despite attempts by the dive guys to get rid of them. There are still quite a few of these starfish there, and let me tell you, none of us had ever seen a starfish that looked like that before! They are huge! And ugly. What a shame.

Once we got to this new anchorage, some other cruisers told us about a nearby stingray swimming site. Apparently excursion boats have been feeding the rays in this spot for so long that they are now quite tame. We were told to take stuff to feed them, but we didn't have anything we thought they'd like, so we headed over in the dinghy empty handed. We motored for about a half hour and were trying to figure out just exactly where the rays were supposed to be when we saw a few excursion boats heading our way and thought we'd just follow them. They came right over to where we'd been motoring around and seeing nothing, but since they had food for the rays there were soon rays everywhere. We got in the water, which was about chest high, and they swam right up to us. Some of the people from the excursion boats who were holding pieces of fish were basically being hugged by them. This amount of contact was a bit much for Angie, who only wanted to see and not touch 'em, but Jeff, Fred and Aimee all felt them and said they were soft but a bit slimy. Yuck. Most of the rays were about 2-3 feet wide from tip to tip, but a few of the bigger ones were 4-5 feet across. After the feeding was over, we got back in the dinghy, and the rays were swimming all around and underneath it, and just that part alone was well worth the long dinghy ride to get there and back.

We wound up staying in Moorea about a week longer then we originally planned because, on the day we planned to leave, the weather became bad for sailing, and stayed that way for quite some time. Luckily for us, this did not mean the weather was bad for hanging out in Moorea, and it continued to be beautiful there, although it was a bit gusty at times in the anchorage. We were not the only boat waiting out the weather in this wonderful spot. Early on in our stay one of the other boats organized a barbecue on the beach we were near, so we got to meet all our boat neighbors (and they were a particularly nice bunch) and this kicked off a daily meeting on the beach for "sundowners and nibbles" which included play time for the kids and chat time for the grownups. Unfortunately, we missed some of the sunset gatherings when first Jeff, then Angie and later Fred came down with a nasty head that moved right down into our chests and stayed there for awhile. Luckily Aimee managed to avoid the cold because, unluckily, her visit ended around this time and her long, long, long flight home would only have been made worse by the sneezing and coughing it produced.

Despite how much we liked Moorea, we eventually became eager to move along since our visa for French Polynesia would be running out soon and we wanted to leave ourselves plenty of time for some other islands, particularly Bora Bora. Our weather router's estimate of the good time to leave kept getting pushed back by the changes in weather, but after a couple other boats in our group left Moorea and reported back that the seas were uncomfortable but not as bad as the weather predictions were indicating, we decided to go ahead and leave too since our next leg was a short one. We estimated it would take between 15 and 20 hours to get to Huahine, so we left Moorea at 4 PM, along with 3 other boats, for an overnight sail that would allow us to both leave the pass in Moorea and arrive at the pass into Huahine with good light to help guide us through the entrances in each reef. Well, now we have a good idea as to what our weather router is trying to protect us from, because although the seas were not as rough as any of the forcasts would lead you to believe, they were in fact rough enough to make the trip uncomfortable. What happens when it's rough like this is that every single thing inside the boat wants to fly around unless it is put away properly. It also means that anything you want to put down for just a minute will go flying or sliding away, and you need to hold onto something any time you are standing up, so it becomes a challenge just to get a water bottle out of the fridge when you're thirsty - forget about trying to cook. In this case we knew what we were in for, so Jeff cooked our supper ahead of time and it was just a matter of putting it bowls (and trying to get them to the crew behind the wheel without spilling) so we did manage to have a nice dinner despite the conditions. Nobody managed to sleep much however, it was just too rolly, so even after trying to wedge yourself into your bunk with pillows on each side, everyone was still rolling a bit too much to get any long sleep. But it was just one night, and we made it into Huahine just fine, so no harm done, and we have more appreciation now than ever for Susan, our lovely weather router, who works to keep us out of that rough stuff - Thanks Susan!

Tahiti Aug 21 - Aug 26

We departed Rangiroa on the 18th in the early light for a day sail over to Tikehau. The weather was perfect as was the wind. Unfortunately, the wind continued to pick up after our arrival and the anchorage in tikehau was less than ideal...in fact it was downright bumpy. We had planned on going for a scuba dive in their pass which was supposed to be quite nice, but when we went ashore on the 19th to sign up for a dive we found that the small resort where they were supposed to be seemed to be pretty much empty. We met the lady who ran the place on the beach, and she was quite nice and explained to us that their dive boat had broken down and now the only dive guys on Tikehau were at the big Pearl luxury resort hotel, which was quite a ways away. On our way back to town the small resort's dog followed us the entire way (about 10 mins), even after the resort owner came and tried to get him in her car. She explained that he thought we were her guests and so was escorting us. Everyone in town seemed to know the dog and all the kids seemed pretty excited to see him. I wanted to ask her why she seemed to have no other guests for him to escort, but couldn't figure out how to ask that politely. We also encountered two broken pay phones on Tikehau. One right near the dock and one right out in front of the post office. This seemed pretty strange given that EVERY Post Office in French Polynesia has at least one pay phone outside it, and every single other one had been in working order. We wandered into the store, killing time until 5PM when we could pick up the baguettes Fred and Aimee had reserved for us that morning, and the lady in the store said the closest working pay phone was at the airport - out past the seemingly deserted resort we had been to earlier. All this seemed a bit contrary to an entry in a guide book that said Tikehau was prospering in recent years because of it's desirable location on the route between Rangiroa and Tahiti. After we got back to the boat and found the anchorage still quite rough we decided to leave the next day for the big city in Tahiti.

Tahiti Aug 21 - Aug 26
On august 20th we departed Tikehau bound for marina taina just outside the capital of French Polynesia and the closest thing we will see to a city until our arrival in New Zealand. Our stay in Tahiti was fairly brief but productive. We sailed overnight and arrived in Tahiti midday on the 21st. For the first time since leaving San Francisco we were able to find an actual grocery store (all of the other islands have smaller Vermont country store type places called magasins). Here in Pape'ete there was a Walmart style store and it was initially a bit daunting, to be honest. We can see now why immigrants from other countries are sometimes overwhelmed in US supermarkets, but we quickly adjusted and proceeded to pack the boat full of all of life's necessities - food, beer & wine.

Another treat in Pape'ete was the market. This is where locals gather to buy and sell fresh produce, eggs, fish, meat and local handiwork. We took the opportunity to fill our vegetable hammocks which were quite empty after our stay in the Tuamotos where, since they don't have much land, they don't grow much stuff. We also got some delicious cooked pork from one of the Chinese vendors (Celestial's for any of you Deadwood fans out there) and took the opportunity to sample one of the dozens of varieties of strange, local fish that were on display. These were the kind we see in the lagoons, and will hopefully be catching or spearing later on, but we haven't ventured there yet for fear of fish poisoining which has been present in many of the lagoons we've been in so far. We did try to memorize all the fish at the market so that we'll know what to try to get in the future.

As there were a few things on our repairs list that we wanted to take care of in Pape'ete we chose to take a slip at the marina...something we also had not done since San Francisco. We had read that the country of French Polynesia has been marketing to the megayacht crowd these days and were not dissapointed as far as classy boat company goes. There were two giant, beautiful sailboats (both well over 100ft) as well as a huge motor yacht. This was also our first look at the european style marina which employs a totally different docking style to what we are accustomed to, but our anxieties about dealing with this new style were short lived as the marina told us we would be tying up the way we are used to - apparently all guests do, only the permanent boats do the "med" style anchoring, which was good news since we weren't sure how we were going to get on or off the boat if we docked the other way. The marina bathrooms also left a bit to be desired. I had been looking forward to a long, long, long hot shower (something we just don't ge many of on the boat), but the marina showers, which were tyled and styled nicely, had only one button to push and it produced cold water only AND if you went in the evening you got to share the bathroom with giant roaches - YUCK. Needless to say we all showered only in the daylight hours after that grim discovery.

By the second day in Pape'ete we had completely fixed a problem with our refrigerator; had our propane tanks refilled; and were well on our way to solving our rigging problems and our self steering problem thanks to a few of the locals Michelle, Mike and Patrick who were extremely knowledgeable and actually showed up when they said they would prepared to work on the projects they were helping with. How refreshing! And what a load off our minds that they not only tuned up our rigging but were able to explain why it broke in the first place and help us fix the cause of the problem. Hooray!

We also managed to squeeze in a bit of fun amongst all the work in Pape'ete. We had our best restaurant meal of the trip so far in a wonderful French place called L'o a la Bouche. Delish. We had Chinese food another night, which was also a big treat. There was also a bar at the end of the dock with a happy hour each evening where all the cruisers tended to gather. It was fun to go there and we made some new friends. We went out on the town Friday night with a gang of folks and had some pizza. After the pizza we listened to a local band and did a bit of dancing on a teensy tiny dance floor. Then we moved on to a "club" which was surprisingly like a "club" in the US - the lights were low, the music was loud and there was a big big dance floor. We didn't stay there long, but we came to regret that the next day when we heard what went on in our absence. The next day, one of our new friends, Paul, asked us if we had seen another new friend, Sam. These guys are young gents who are crewing on sailboats with people they didn't know before crossing the ocean with them (a fairly common practice). Paul said he and Sam had brought two sisters home with them from the club, but in the morning Paul found Sam's girl sleeping on the dock, and invited her in for breakfast, but he was curious as to what happened since last he'd seen them, Sam and his gal had been getting along quite well. After escorting the girls to a taxi, Paul found his answer when he saw Sam walking up the dock with his head hanging low. Apparently the word "sister" was used loosely, because the beautiful young gal Sam took home, was equipped with a man's plumbing! Oh, how we wish we hadn't gone home before the guys met the "girls"! ("Sam's" name has been changed to protect the no longer innocent).

PS - We've finally been able to add some pictures, and we've put some on the older blog posts also, so if you're interested you can check those out for more pics.

Tikehau, Aug 18 - Aug 20

We departed Rangiroa on the 18th in the early light for a day sail over to Tikehau. The weather was perfect as was the wind. Unfortunately, the wind continued to pick up after our arrival and the anchorage in tikehau was less than ideal...in fact it was downright bumpy. We had planned on going for a scuba dive in their pass which was supposed to be quite nice, but when we went ashore on the 19th to sign up for a dive we found that the small resort where they were supposed to be seemed to be pretty much empty. We met the lady who ran the place on the beach, and she was quite nice and explained to us that their dive boat had broken down and now the only dive guys on Tikehau were at the big Pearl luxury resort hotel, which was quite a ways away. On our way back to town the small resort's dog followed us the entire way (about 10 mins), even after the resort owner came and tried to get him in her car. She explained that he thought we were her guests and so was escorting us. Everyone in town seemed to know the dog and all the kids seemed pretty excited to see him. I wanted to ask her why she seemed to have no other guests for him to escort, but couldn't figure out how to ask that politely. We also encountered two broken pay phones on Tikehau. One right near the dock and one right out in front of the post office. This seemed pretty strange given that EVERY Post Office in French Polynesia has at least one pay phone outside it, and every single other one had been in working order. We wandered into the store, killing time until 5PM when we could pick up the baguettes Fred and Aimee had reserved for us that morning, and the lady in the store said the closest working pay phone was at the airport - out past the seemingly deserted resort we had been to earlier. All this seemed a bit contrary to an entry in a guide book that said Tikehau was prospering in recent years because of it's desirable location on the route between Rangiroa and Tahiti. After we got back to the boat and found the anchorage still quite rough we decided to leave the next day for the big city in Tahiti.