Tuamotas

Ariel
Fri 23 Jun 2006 07:56
HI Chris,Sarah,Ev,Dean,Jo,Van,Gran and Pa and Everybody Else,

Tuesday 6/6/2006

Today we left Daniel's Bay at about 10.00am (which is a yachties colloquialism
developed due to a westerner taking up residence in this secluded area.)It
is a four day journey to Tuamotas and the coral atoll destination of
Fakurava.

The trip was basically uneventful,though it was the most unpleasant to date
with squalls coming through consistently,it seemed at one stage on day two
every 40 mins.So after continually adjusting sails we finally gave up and
stayed with a heavily reefed main and reefed genoa.Which was just as well as
we got caught up in a heavy rain squall at about 2.30am the next morning (it
seemed to
be about 30 knots or more with the rain but probably was only about 25)so we
had to heavily reef the genoa as well.So that was how we stayed pretty much
all the
way to Tuamotas as the breeze remained consistently fresh at about 18 to 20
knots, but the sea was very sloppy and made for the most uncomfortable trip
we have had-so far.One thing about these conditions is consistent,you don't
sleep very well.
You wake up in the morning feeling like you have spent the night in a
washing machine and pretty drained.

Saturday 10/6

We arrived at the entrance to Fakurava at about 3.00am Saturday 10/6, but
because of the precariousness of the entry,due particularly, to the strong
current, we had to wait until daylight before proceeding in.At about 6.30am
we decided to attempt passing through the entry,which although being about
300
metres wide with the tide running out,it was kicking up quite a swell and
severe turbulence.We closed all the hatches with sails and motored at three
quarter throttle.We headed straight for the middle trying to
avoid the worst of the turbulence.With some apprehension and a fresh breeze
(a solid 15 knots plus)
we made good progress to the middle of the entrance,where the current was at
it's strongest.We found we were only doing about two knots.So we pulled the
genoa most of the way out
to give us more power and increased the revs of the motor.After about half
an hour we came through into the atoll proper,to much relief of all.

The progress up the bay to the main settlement (Torea)was uneventful and we
anchored close to the shore with about 11 other boats.It was a pleasant
relief to be in calm water after the boisterous conditions of the past 4
days.The shoreline looked inviting and appeared better kept than Taiohae.The
water colour was pretty much as you see in all the tourist brochures,crystal
clear and turquoise,with white sandy beaches and the obligatory coconut
trees hanging over the sand,with ramshackle "homes" dotted in between.It was
very good to stop amongst such pleasant surroundings-seems to be the best
part of this sailing business,pulling up at your destination,enjoying the
scenery and thanking whoever, it is all over until the next leg!

Sunday 11/6

We ventured ashore to be greeted by a very quite village.It seems most
everyone in town was at church singing their heads off,which would have been
good to join in(not the singing,just to observe and enjoy) but we were not
properly attired and would have stood out rather embarrassingly against all
the locals, who of course had their Sunday best on.The attraction for me was
the singing of the islanders as I had heard so much about it from the books
and magazines.The best I could do was a cursory ear at the door as we went
past-they seemed pretty good.So I shall make an appointment for Cook
Islands, as they have a
reputation as being the creme de la creme.(Probably Catholic.)

The island of Fakurava is not particularly interesting in itself,as it is
formed over coral so does not have good soil and persists of a fairly sparse
vegetation
suited to a very harsh climate and poor soil.The one road ran the length of
the
island,about 30 miles and not very much traffic.The island is flat as a
pancake and probably not more than 2 metres above high water.You would
wonder how it survives in a storm.

We spent a fairly restful few days wandering around the island aimlessly
browsing through a pearl farm and market/stalls that had been set up for the
inter-island cruise ship.But as a whole not very exciting,though the colour
of the water the beaches and coconut trees made it pleasing to the eye.

Tuesday 13/6
Whilst in Fakurava we had endured very strong breezes howling through the
rigging the whole time whilst at anchor and I was thankful we weren't at
sea.As fortune would have it the day I decided to leave (13th!!!) the breeze
faded significantly to about 10-15kts,so we set off for Papeete with the
wind dead behind which I don't like,but it is preferable than going to
windward.The breeze lightened over the night but was enough to keep us
moving reasonably well throughout the next day and on our scheduled arrival
mid-morning in Papeete on 15/6.
The mountainous island looming over the horizon at dawn was like most of
these Polynesian islands-quite spectacular.The volcanic formations of this
island form a very interesting skyline (I can't show you any pictures yet so
you will just have to visualize and take my word for it,) part of which is
called the queens crown.
Our passage into Papeete harbour was smooth,but we were greeted by a large
fishing boat that was blockading the harbour entrance due to a strike by the
locals.Something I gather to do with lack of pay,but because we were a
private vessel he allowed us to pass.We reversed into the wharf between a
very concerned 65 year old French cruiser and his 21 year old Ecuadorian
wife plus 2.5 year old son,though I don't think the son was concerned and a
catamaran who's owner fortunately was absent.It may have had something to do
with the fact that it took me 4 attempts or with the gusty breeze we nearly
drifted onto the cat,or Sebastian told him in French that this was my first
time,but the Frenchman seemed particularly agitated and animated gestulating
with a barrage of language and storming up and down the dock then up and
down his boat,turning from well tanned to well flushed pink.(Didn't he ever
do this for a first time and anyway his boat was 10 feet shorter so I had
nothing to worry about).Or it could have been because I was aiming for his
boat to allow for the wind to push me where I hoped to go.
This reversing to a dock between boats is a fairly trick procedure for the
novice and everything that could go wrong I achieved.What you aim to do is
drive the boat alongside where you want to park then swing out perpendicular
to the wharf whilst at the same time throwing a stern-line to someone on the
shore (in this case Patricia whom we had let off at a wharf 100 metres from
where we wanted to dock.)First attempt wasn't bad,we were roughly where we
wanted to be and I slowly motored out so we could drop the anchor then
reverse back again.However,our line was too short and Sebastian couldn't
hang onto it.So it was round for attempt 2.Similar procedure but this time
we ended up too close to the cat and had to floor the motor to get out again
before drifting onto him with the wind blowing us sideways at a significant
pace.Attempt three was a disaster as it was completely misjudged and ended
up nowhere near to where I needed to go.The only comic relief to this was
seeing the Frenchman's blood pressure go through the roof and his wife
smiling very pleasantly.I had given up at this stage and thought it best we
go in front first but Nick suggested we give it one more go from where we
were (straight out the front of the French boat) rather than do a circle as
he had suggested I do in the first place.So into reverse again hading close
enough to take the paint off the French boat,judging that the wind would
push us where we wanted to go.And hey presto! easy as pie,straight to the
spot on the dock where Patricia was waiting very concerned to take the line
from Sebastian.(Why didn't we do it this way the first time?)We then went
forward to drop the anchor to hold the front of the boat square to the wharf
and then reversed back to the dock again to tie up,much to the relief of the
ailing Frenchman and myself.
The view from the boat was not five star-a very busy 4 lane main road with
commercial development opposite us,but I found it was almost a pleasant change
after being starved of western development for so long.I guess you can only take
lack of five star hotels,suave restaurants,high rise and traffic jambs for so long.It
was good to see what we call civilization after seeing so much of of so little.

Friday 16/6
We checked in with the Gendamarie today as they don't work here on Tuesday
or Thursday,Saturday or Sunday.This was the usual entertaining experience and
considering these guys do this for a living you really have to be concerned as to
their competence.I don't know what was going on but there was great argument
amongst the three officials as to how to process us.These simple standard formalities
took us about 40 minutes and I was very thankful there was no one else dividind their
time as we would have been there for breakfast as well.We also had to visit the Port Captain as part of the requirements in the office virtually next door.However,as seem to be indicated by our immigration officials he could be difficult to track down,and this certainly was the case.The sign on the door indicated his hours,his car was there but he wasn't.Next day same procedure,no Port Captain anywhere.So I decided to give him a miss,he obviously had more pressing matters at hand.
Saturday 17/6
Today two of us did the right thing and supported the inflation driven and immorally expensive Tahiti economy by hiring a taxi to see some of the Islnd before we left.As fate would have it we sought out and found the biggest fruit cake of a taxi driver on the island.I don't know what this guy suffered from but it was obviously expansive,complex and incurable.I suspect it was a combination of ADHD, dyslexia (he told me that one),ADD,obssesive compulsive disorder,(as far as religion was concerned anyway,)just plain nuts and a healthy lashing of alcohol and christmas pudding.I am sure in Aussie he would not have been driving a Taxi but merely one step away from being committed.He was also American,which I guess explains a fair bit.To fill you in Papeete has probably been spoilt by the French.It is a pretty island but the developments and "improvements" have not added to it's charm.It seems to have been spoilt and from what we have seen the best you can do is abscond to one of the other far more inviting islands,if you can afford the rates.
Our errant taxi driver took us on a 2 hour ride of some of the highlights of the island.A waterfall in a tropical forest,a blowhole with view along the coast and point Venus where cat Cook took his sightighting of Venus.All this was expanded upon with the taxi driver's uniterruptable,irrational monologue which caused me to hit the valium and rum when I returned to the boat,which I am still trying to wean myself off 4 days later.(Holidays really are relaxing if you have the right resources!)Whatever his name was (permanently erased from my memory) disclosed to us that he had been punched 3 times (different occasions) {I really can't understand why},but praying to God made him understand his enemies and not retaliate, he also ran over a cyclist,not his fault apparently.He also told us he doesn't talk much when he is at home,his wife does all the talking.this was too much for me valium or not tomorrow we are out of here.

Sunday 18/6

Today loaded with all the right stuff we left Papeete with a great turn of speed heading for Moorea,which was only about 3.5 hours away.We really struck gold here as it has to be one of the prettiest isalnds you could imagine.Like most of these Polynesian Islands it is surrounded by challenging reefs which require careful navigation to enter the bay.This we managed to do thanks to the well marked chanel.
Photos are again the only way to show of fthe unique land formations surrounding the bay.I shall make an attempt to get some more photos on the diary so you can have a vague idea of what we are seeing.

Monday 19/6
We had a brief excursion of the island but like all these islands,it is the scenery which is the attraction and beyound that,apart from the solitude and peace and quite that sums up what they have to offer.If you want a quite relaxing holiday this is probably one of the best options you could take-as long as you didn't want to do much.
Since we felt there was not much else to do (which is probably not justified) we left in the afternoon for Raiatea for an overnight sail.This turned out to be probably the most pleasant night or day we have had on the water.The breeze was ideal,about 8 to 15 knots most of the night,sea flat as could be and the boat averaging better than 6 knots the whole night with the wind slightly ahead of us.The only event of significance during the night was an island we were heading straight for.We had no detailed chart of this area so we were relying on the GPS to guide us around this obstacle.So at about 3.00 am I altered course about 15 degrees to give the island a wide birth of about 5 nm.we had been steering under windvane to this point so switched to auto pilot to make sure we stayed on the designated course.The windvane had kept a perfect course the whole way of this leg but I was not going to risk a change in wind direction to head us back to the island.So I was off to bed and left it to the other guys to keep an eye on the island.

Tuesday 20/6
At 8.30am we arrived at the entrance to Raiatea,2 hours ahead of schedule, so we had a very quick trip.!9 hours.
Another interesting island with the usual reef surround and narrow entrance in this instance but mainly well defined.After motoring along the passage to the main marina,which was full,we turned around and went back to the visitors wharf in the main part of the town to be greeted by another yank (they seem to be everywhere)from the yacht which we tied up next to.He was keen to tell us that last night he had his outboard stolen off his boat and the previous night the boat next to him had his dinghy stolen.(Should have seen that coming.)
This decision was easy.We went and had the usual entertainment with the local Gendarmarie,a look around the quaint but small town,a sandwhich then off around the island to a location about 15 nm away which was safe from the local thieves.This was a Moorings charter yacht location where we got a birth for about $24.00 plus suspect water that the marina manager said required a puri tablet,which they supplied to their charter yachts and had not had any problems.I enquired if our water came with puri tablets,but all I got was a smile and a non and "don't worry about it."Fortunately, thanks to my brother Midge we have a good supply of a product that is actually 30 times stronger than puri tabs.To date we haven't tested the water as we are still running on the other tank.
A swim in the bay,which has crystal clear water, followed by a much sort after and rare shower then dinner filled in another day.

Wednesday 21/6
We woke to a change in the weather,westerly breeze which is unusual followed by heavy rain and low cloud.So I decided to have a change of plans and leave for Bora Bora today instead of tomorrow as in the rain there was not anything to be achieved here,so travelling was the best option.
As I write this we are sitting at anchor in Bora Bora Thursday 22/6 9.00pm.We have had another heavy rain squall go through after a warm sunny day and I have run out of steam as far as composition is concerned,so I think I shall go and have another valium and try and wean myself off the rum.
Till next time
Bern