17 35.02 S  149 37.10 W

Arrived Tahiti mid-afternoon on Tuesday, June 15^th after a mostly motor-sailing passage for the 200 nm from Rangiroa. Very little wind but enough to manage our low fuel situation and get here in about 31 hours.

We are anchored in the midst of about 150 sailboats adjacent to the Marina Taiena complex….some are locals on mooring balls …..just west of the west end of the International Airport at Papeete.  Good location with a nice Carrefour Supermarket within walking distance and local city buses that take you into the heart of Papeete …about a 15 minute ride for approximately $2…..a cab would cost $35…not a good option.

We did our first major provisioning yesterday….what a treat it is to be able to find anything you want in a great store….after our weeks since Panama city during which availability of anything has been sparse or non-existent. We and most of our fellow cruisers went a bit wild once we found ourselves in a city with stores, restaurants, etc etc. All things that our land dwelling friends take for granted in their daily lives…..not so in this sailing life!!

There is some very heavy weather forecast for this weekend in this local area…expecting winds 30 to 40 kts with gusts much stronger and rain on Sunday predicted to be 10 to 12 mm per hour. Not quite what the organizers of the Puddle Jump Rendezvous party had in mind when they scheduled this weekend event many months ago.

The event begins tomorrow afternoon and carries through Sunday with a sailing event on Saturday 20 miles over to the next Society Island of Moorea……with some 80 boats supposed to be participating. We will have to see how all this transpires given the weather forecast.

We have found a decent (i.e reasonable connection speed) internet spot about a mile from the marina where we are anchored….in the Carrefour shopping complex.  This means we should be able to get the uploads done of some recent photos from our experiences in the Tuamotus……more on that later….please check back.