To Apooiti

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sat 14 Sep 2013 22:57
To Apooiti Marina, Raiatea
 
 
 
 
 
DSC_6968
 
At half nine this morning, Beez once again did her dancing on the spot to help take the weight off the anchor, for Bear to wind it in – this time at a steady four knots, just to stand on the spot. Half way along the bay I saw ‘a shack with a view’ that we had missed the first time. What a beauty.
 
 
DSC_6969
 
Right at the edge of the bay, we have now decided that this shack with a view is indeed top drawer and will be entered into the finals of this years ‘One Careful Owner’.
 
 
DSC_6972
 
What an idyllic setting.
 
 
DSC_6978
 
Possibly as a double entry with detached garage.
 
 
DSC_6989
 
Nutters. Fit nutters at that. No good to me wearing all those clothes. Well the gusts are to forty knots.
 
 
DSC_6986
 
No wonder they have a support craft with them then. The rest of our seven and a half mile journey was very uneventful. We saw the sign to ask for permission to cross the runway approach, and did so on channel sixteen, as directed. Silence was the stern reply, until the radio chirped. Ronald from Gipsy IV called. We last saw Ronald and Christine at a do on Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands. He told us in the five weeks he has been here, no-one, but no-one has ever asked for any permission and certainly no-one from airport control has ever been heard. Gipsy IV is on a buoy in Apu Bay and is going to typhoon season at Raiatea Marina. We wished them well and hope to see them “down the road”.
 
 
IMG_4436
 
We saw a mooring buoy in amongst several charted boats and made our way in.
 
 
IMG_4439
 
Looks like a nice little village ahead.
 
 
 
IMG_4438
 
To our left Apooiti Marina, just as I took this picture a whole sequence followed.
 
 
DSC_6992  DSC_6994
 
DSC_6995
 
DSC_6996
 
Now, we don’t see that too often.
 
 
IMG_4435
 
We went to explore the marina after lunch. A very helpful man in a boutique told us where to buy bread, where to go to fill our propane tank and buy diesel. An hour before the Chinese corner shop opens, we went for a spuddle to look at the next marina.
 
 
IMG_4437
 
En route we stopped to look at the reef to our right, would it be worth a snorkel. No. Just rock and a little hard coral.
 
 
IMG_4440
 
We found a man at Raiatea Marina who told us to come back at eight on Monday morning and ask for Dominic. He will sort out our gas cylinder.
 
 
IMG_4441
 
This is a haul out marina, near a town and apparently good chandlers, a must to explore while Dominic does his stuff. On the hard was a ferry, move in for a closer look.
 
 
IMG_4444
 
A very poorly looking girl, with very mashed rudder. A little more than cosmetics required.
 
 
IMG_4446
 
Back to Beez after far too much excitement.
 
 
 
 
 
 
ALL IN ALL WE MAY BE GETTING TIRED OF THE GUSTS NOW