17:40.438S 155:13.122W
Shaya Moya
Don & Susan Smyth
Tue 27 Sep 2011 04:29
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Here we are back onboard Shaya Moya after our month
long break. Reece went to Switzerland where he spent quality time with Lea and
attended to some personal administration before the two of them jetted off to
Las Vegas, Los Angeles and then Tahiti. More on that from him I am
sure.
I on the other hand spent a week back in Champery
meeting with Bob who is so kindly project managing the application for an access
driveway to the stands behind our chalet. This project looks about all set to go
and we hope to be building in the spring.
Ryan spent a great week with me in Champery. It was
good to have such quality time together and am looking forward to more
of these interludes.We had BBQ's on the patio, were hosted by Suzi &
Laurent, Bob & Suzanne and managed to take in a restaurant meal in the
village as well.
Then it was off to South Africa, Simons Town to be
back with Sue. It has been a long separation this time and it was wonderful to
be back together. We spent a week with Ronnie and Joyce before heading
off to Oliphant's for a few weeks R&R. It was good to see Ronnie looking
amazingly well considering the rough time he has just been through.
All too soon the time slipped past and before I
knew it I was back on the plane winging my way to Tahiti via New Zealand. I
spent the weekend with Gavin and Christine celebrating Gavin's birthday and
arranging a berth for Shaya Moya in Auckland for when we arrive in
October.
Back on Shaya Moya all was not as we left her. For
some inexplicable reason we have had an electrical fault which took out both our
inverters, ice machine and all the chargers for the portable radios. Coupled
with this our temperamental generator refused to start. Lucky Reece had been
there for a couple of weeks and he had ordered the necessary spares from
Oyster.
This is where Murphy comes in. The spares from the
UK went via Fiji and took nearly three weeks to arrive. I managed to source an
inverter from the agents in New Zealand which arrived over the first weekend.
Once installed we at least had our entertainment systems and computers back up
and running.
By the time the rest of the spares arrived we were
dead keen on getting them installed and on our way. The local people really
pulled out the stops for us and I must thank Laurent from Tahiti Yacht Services,
Gilles from Promarine and Michel from Tahiti Yacht Accessoire for getting us
going again as quickly as they did.
All was not lost while we waited. Papeete is the
main town of Tahiti. It is a bustling modern town with everything that one could
want. From really good restaurants, well stocked Chandleries to Carrefour the
French supermarket chain. Marina Taina where we moored is a modern well planned
marina with all the amenities one wanted. There was no need to leave the marina
except to go sight seeing. The French influence is plain to see in the food,
clothing shops boutiques etc. and tourism has given it the affluence that is
evident in the cars houses on the beaches and the weekender boats. There are
even thatched floating weekend cottages one can hire to spend on the
lagoon.
   Approaching Papaate Tahiti
Papaate Beach
house Floating
weekend cottages Moorea in background
We did our provisioning at Carrefour and it must
have been amusing to watch Reece and I pushing two laden trolleys about a
kilometre or so along the road to the marina. Reece not only got the heavy
trolley but also the one that had its own mind on where it wanted to
go.
The other good thing about the delay was of course
the ability to watch the World Cup Rugby. One of the restaurants in the marina,
the Pink Coconut had all the games shown on a big screen. We were lucky to win
the game against the Welsh, but from then on we seem to just excel, here's
hoping to be in Auckland in time to watch us in the quarters, semi and hopefully
finals. We watched the All black French game on the superyacht dock where one of
the yachts Tiara had erected a big screen on the aft deck and hosted a BBQ on
the dock from where we could all watch. Was a great evening with all the
yachties and lots of the local business's there enjoying the
atmosphere.
  BBQ on dock
Rugby
The weekend before the spares finally arrived we
decided to fill up the tanks with water fully charge the batteries and head over
to Moorea a sister island 15nm west of Tahiti. We anchored in 5m of crystal
clear water over fine white sand in a little tributary of a big bay called
Opunohu. This was quite near to the Hilton hotel where we planned to watch the
South Africa vs. Fiji game.
  Opunohu Bay
Moorea
Moorea
After we had anchored Reece quickly put the tender
in the water and shot off to reconnoitre the lagoon leading to the Hilton. After
two or three abortive attempts he returned disgruntled and despondent. We could
not get the tender through the reef that was in the way. Even if we could find a
route it would be pitch dark when we returned-not a good idea. There was also no
where on the adjacent shore for us to safely leave the tender and walk the 20
minutes or so to the hotel.
What an adventure we decided to put our clothes in
a waterproof bag and swim ashore just before nightfall. The water is 26C and the
weather hot, so no problem. Ashore we wandered into the bushes to change into
our dry clothes and then walked to the hotel where we had an amazing meal and
the banqueting manager put the rugby on the Bar TV for us. Paradise couldn't be
better than this.
 The Hilton where we watched
rugby
On Saturday we took the tender and went to a place
in the lagoon where you stand waist deep and the sting rays come swimming right
up to you. It was amazing, they are so smooth and gentle. The reason for them
doing this is of course controversial as it involves the local tour bouts
feeding them to show the tourist.Despite this it was a great
experience.
On Sunday we were picked up at the hotel by the
dive operators and went for two dives on the outside of the reef. Lots of sharks
and colourful fish. Monday it was back to Papeete where Reece berthed us
alongside the dock. On the way we saw two humpback whales right in front of us,
Reece's first whales at sea.
  Humpback Whales
Traditional canoes Marina Taina in background
Reece and Lea took diving courses while they were
here, Lea now has her level 1 Padi and Reece has done his advanced and rescue
dive courses. He convinced me to go on a night dive with the dive company. It
was the best one I have been on. What a great experience. The reef comes alive
with different types of fish, lots of moray eels, crabs and lobsters. If only we
had the video camera to capture it.
 Sashimi ala Reece
Finally we left on Saturday with all systems up and
running. We are now 300nm west of Tahiti heading for Tonga, from where we will
turn south to New Zealand. Unfortunately the forecasted easterly winds have not
materialised and we have been motoring quite a bit. As we do not have enough
fuel to motor all the way we hope that this changes soon. Reece has as usual
provided us with fresh fish, this time a tuna. Had the most delicious sashimi
for lunch today
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