Position 17.29.526S 149.36.986W

Both Roger & I had reached the point of desperation, needing to get out of Papeete. But once again we were waiting for parts, this time it was a leaking hose that needed replacing on, yes you guessed, the refrigeration unit. Alex from Bubbles, had offered the services of his mum, who was flying out to see him. So Roger ordered the part and it was shipped to her address, but it meant we had to stay in Papeete until at least the 5^th July.

So we decided to head over to Moorea for a few days. It is only 22 miles away, about a 4 hour sail.

We happily slipped the lines and headed out through the anchorage towards the channel. As it was the weekend the water was full of locals enjoying themselves, none more than the people congregated on a reef, just by the channel.

It looked like such fun, tables with umbrellas plonked in the water and people sitting waist deep drinking and eating. There is a unique concept here in Papeete, they raft together 2 outriggers, put a hut on it and voila, a mobile bar!! Then they just sail to where the action is, drop anchor and set up business for the day.

The wind was blowing 8 kts from the SW and as it was such a sunny day, we had taken the windows off the tent.

It’s funny, because I recall fleetingly thinking about what if a storm blew up?.

Within minutes of leaving the lee of the land, the wind swung 120 degrees and increased to 20 knots. Added to which the sea was beam on and the waves were short, in short it was shitty weather.

Roger went up to the mast to put a reef in the main (for the landlubbers amongst you, that means reducing the area of the mainsail, which one usually does when the wind gets up), but immediately put the second reef in as the wind had whipped up to 30+ kts.

Otto, the autohelm was struggling against the wind and seas, so I had to hand steer. Normally that is no problem, but with the windows down, the sea was washing into the cockpit, followed by stingingly cold winds, which when you are wearing a bikini, is not fun. At this point I had to remind myself why I was sailing in the Pacific. This was not what I needed on my first sail with my leg in a brace!!!

We have coped with much worse, but the difference this time was that I had committed the cardinal sin of complacency. We weren’t the only ones who had been lulled into a false sense of security, thinking ‘it’s only 22 miles’.

As we pulled into Baie Opunohu, we spotted several boats we knew. Immediately, Chris from Stray Kitty called to let us know that there were sundowners on the beach at 4.30pm.

Roger lowered the dinghy and I pulled together some cold drinks (the fridge was working like a dream and we even had made ice for the first time since owning the boat.

Ashore we hooked up with Delos and Ghost who invited us back for drinks and eats. So I went back to the boat, threw together some food and we headed over. It was a great impromptu evening, with good food and even better company. As usual, copious quantities of alcohol were consumed.  It was in a state of inebriation that the guys decided they were going ashore to catch coconut crabs, Roger included. I opted for my bunk and waved them goodbye at about midnight.

Apparently they caught quite a few and came back to Beaujolais and cooked them all. I never heard a thing.

The next day was Canada day and also Brad’s birthday, so there was going to be another party, but this time it was pot luck and there was a beach fire as well.

We spent the day at Stingray junction. We took the dinghy round the headland to where Club Med has its resort. Just off the beach there is a lovely sandy patch of shallow water, only waist deep. It’s here that the stingrays live. There are several mooring buoys, as boat trips are a regular occurrence. We picked up a buoy next to a tour boat. Just our luck we thought, we timed it wrong, as the shallows were full of tourists (I know, we are so spoilt). But as it turned out we had timed it right.

You have to be careful getting out of the dinghy so that you don’t inadvertently step on a stingray. No sooner are you in the water than they swim up to you, brushing against you. There were about a dozen of them swimming round us.  Then came the black tipped reef sharks!!.

Normally, if you are diving you have rocks and coral that you can use to camouflage yourself against. But here we were, waist deep in water and nothing but sand, I felt quite vulnerable. There was a drop off a little way from us and this is where dozens of sharks hang out and every now and then, they come up into the shallows to see what’s going on.

As I said we turned out to have arrived at the right time after all. The boats feed the stingrays (I personally do not approve and neither does Roger after his encounter in Honduras) so the stingrays just wait for the boats to come. They bury themselves around the base of the mooring buoys and wait. So as soon as the boats left, one by one, the stingrays settled themselves into the sand. They were almost lined up perfectly. The only thing visible was their tails sticking out of the sand. Which occasionally would stand upright, checking the water I guess, for engine vibrations.

I put together a green curry for the pot luck and we went to join the party.  It was a good turn out, including the mysterious Green man, who I can reveal is none other than Brady.

 Cat & Brad up with a great way of toasting multiple marshmallows to meet the demand  ( the kids kept eating them!!)

Roger and I left the crew of Delos and Ghost drinking by the fire and headed back for an early night.

Keith and Flora from Silandra, passed by the boat on their way to join a small party by the fire, having finished work for the day (crewing is not  glamorous all the time).

 The next day Roger & I decided to explore the island, so we hired a buggy. Most people hire scooters, but I won’t go pillion and neither will Roger, so rather than hire two, we opted for a buggy.

It wasn’t too bad a deal really, we paid 8000 xpf’s (USD80) for 6.5 hours hire. We would have liked to bigger one, but it had a price tag to match. Besides which it was hairy enough screaming around in the little one.

We screamed up the mountain to Bellevue lookout where you can see both Cook Bay and Opunohu Bay. It was lovely, just a shame the day was overcast and showery.

We continued around the island until we were hit by a squall that had been chasing us. We got drenched, so we pulled up at a little pizzeria and had a lovely lunch of Steak and chips as we dried out.

I had wanted to go to the Tiki village. This is a village that was set up some 20 years ago in the traditional style and it is home to many artisans who practice traditional arts there. They also have a traditional feast and show. But by the time we got there it was closing for the afternoon and the cost of the meal and show was out of our budget.

But we did have a look around and I met one of the dancers,  who was more than happy to show off his traditional tattoos, explaining that it tells the story of his life and is a work in progress.

 I also saw some beautiful flowers I had never seen before, a bit like a Poinsettia, but different.

The weather hadn’t been great during our stay, which was a shame as I never really got to see the crystal clear waters Roger had raved about. But we were treated to several spectacular rainbows.

We left a day early, to take advantage of the weather and Roger had, what he calls, a ‘cracking sail’ back to the marina in Papeete.