Astra Blog: Tahiti 25.07.08 - 05 .08.08
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Astra Blog: In French Polynesian terms Pape’ete, the capital of
The
Arrival At 2130, having just motored into a buzzing metropolis
about 8000 miles from the UK we were surprised to hear familiar British voices
before we could so much as get our lines ashore. But unmistakably British, and
unmistakably familiar, were the shouts from our welcoming committee, two lovely
ladies the boys made the acquaintance of in the In addition to Excalibur, the yacht that Emma and
Claire had crossed the Pacific on, there was also Ino on our pontoon, a very welcome
sight! Once we were settled in George and Ash popped over to Ino and caught up with Bruce and his
soon to be new crew members, Emma and Claire. Marina
Taina The next day we moved to Marina Taina, 5 miles out of
Pape’ete. There were a number of advantages to be had from being in a marina
outside Pape’ete: Jeremy would know that Astra was safe while he had to make a
short trip back to the UK; there was a dive centre at the marina for Oli and
Charlie to take further dive qualifications; a good chandler was there to do
some work on the goose-neck; and, perhaps most importantly, not being in the
centre of town should make it slightly easier for the boys to stay out of
trouble! All of these reasons proved to be good excepting the last – distance
from Pape’ete not being an impediment to mischief! Happy
Hour A hidden advantage of the marina was its excellent happy
hour which halved the price of the beer between 5pm and 6pm. For that halcyon
hour on a near daily basis we watched the sun set over Moorea and enjoyed beer
which had been dramatically slashed to £2.50 a pint! It also gave us time to
catch up with some old friends and make some new ones: Adventure, and Free Spirit were around to share a drink
with and we also met the crews off some of the
superyachts… Playing
with the Big Girls I think it has been universally acknowledged that it was
Oli’s fault: if he had not decided to have a night out in Pape’ete while coming
to meet us in Rangiroa he would never have met the crew of Foftein; subsequently, the crews of Foftein and Astra may have never met; and we may
have not as a result spent several nights of hearty indulgence with the crews of
Foftein, Mystere, Arcadia, and Naos. In short, it was all Oli’s
fault! Apparently it is a rare occurrence for the crews of
superyachts to mingle with lowly cruisers however the charms of Astra’s crew must have seemed
irresistible as the metaphorical gap was bridged and good friendships
established. Diving The vast majority of the diving was done by Charlie and
Oli who clocked up over 30 dives between them whilst in With Jeremy out of the country and George rendered out of
action (see below) the rest of the diving was carried out by Ash and Sally who
joined forces with Arcadia and Foftein to do a number of wreck dives in
Pape’ete Harbour. They had a very
enjoyable time exploring the well preserved wreck of a Catalina seaplane and a
not so well preserved ship. Less happy
hours It wasn’t all fun and
games; there was a fairly extensive list of jobs that needed our attention
during our stay in the marina, ranging from the usual cleaning and polishing to
the more serious matters of repairing the wounded goose-neck and finding the
fault with the radar. The whole
crew went about these tasks with great zeal and with deadlines to meet each day
before happy hour it wasn’t long before Astra was gleaming from stem to stern,
with the sails and covers patched, the radar serviced and the gooseneck repair
completed. Ash’s surf
trip Exhausted from his ordeals in Pape’ete, Ash and a like
minded surfer hired a car and headed for the famous Teahupoo reef break. They found somebody who would take them
out to the break to photograph it but it was deemed too dangerous to actually
surf it. However, a very enjoyable
hour or so was spent watching the waves as they thundered onto the reef against
the stunning backdrop of Tahiti Iti.
Over a couple of days of camping and driving around in circles, they
managed to see most of the west and south coasts of Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti
and after much deliberation actually squeezed in a bit of surfing at
Papara. George’s
trek Meanwhile, George, always keen to do a spot of walking,
set off with a couple of other enthusiastic walkers (and happy hour goers) on a
trek to the Fautaua Waterfalls. A few miles into the walk they found that the
trail had been obliterated by a landslide but decided to continue upstream
regardless, having to frequently cross back and forth across the river. After
another hour or so, the going was getting tougher and tougher and George took a
tumble whilst trying to make his way back down to the river resulting in a
rather deep gash on his elbow. Fortunately, one of the walking party, Jeff,
being a sensible young man, had a decent first aid kit with him and was able to
patch George up well enough with field sutures and bandages in order for him to
get back to hospital and properly stitched up (physically and financially!)
Sally’s
Birthday Being the ever diligent husband, Jeremy returned to
Jeremy was delighted to discover that Sally’s birthday
meal would be a simple affair: Oli had made a restaurant booking for 25 at the
Pink Coconut, a swanky waterside restaurant! It was quite the social occasion
with the crews of Astra, Adventure,
Arcadia, Foftein, and Mystere all sitting down to enjoy a
fabulous feast followed by a moderate amount of dancing and an immoderate amount
of drinking. The famous
Monday night BBQ The last opportunity for a bit of high jinks and japery
before leaving Tahiti was a dock party hosted by Joost, the accomplished chef
from Mystere, for the six largest yachts in Tahiti: Arcadia, Foftein, Mystere, Naos, Bullish and Angel; and also for the delight and
delectation of Astra, Adventure and Jeff the Elbow
Stitcher. Mouthwatering barbecued tuna, steak and lobster was
washed down with copious quantities of cool beverages before our attention
turned to the evening’s seriously contested competition: space hopper racing up
and down the dock. Jeremy and Sally competed in an owners’ race and the other
crew members filled in as and when required: George competing assiduously in the
Stewardesses’ heat; Oli represented Astra in the battle of the Chefs’; and
Ash filled in whenever there was an unoccupied space hopper. All in all, it was
an excellent evening and a pleasant way to say farewell to the friends we had
made in Tahiti – that is until we meet again in The Send
Off The next day we made our way towards Moorea at the
civilized hour of 1500. As we turned out of the |