Moorea

Simanderal
Michael Hughes and Ger White
Sun 16 May 2010 21:35
Just when I thought it couldn't get more beautiful--Moorea. Cooks Bay--named after the great captain--protected by a coral reef, surrounded by lush green cragged mountains--a deep, calm bay bathed in sunshine--awesome-- and a small basic hotel ashore with a bar and restaurant.
We sailed here from Pape-ete, Tahiti, yesterday. Pape-ete was a good stop for a week for provisioning and a bit of retail therapy--big shop in Carrefour. But it was good to get away from city life again and into a beautiful anchorage and a lovely island. We'll stay here until the weekend--plan to hire scooters to tour the island and explore a bit.
Sail to Moorea was interesting--only 18 miles--started in no wind under engine--wind got up and we started sailing after about 5 miles--wind continued to rise --25 to 30 knots and for a time 40 gusting 45!! Unfortunately the genoa UV strip started to unstitch--I noticed it pretty quick, so rolled it in to avoid more unravelling--but about 2 feet needing sewn which Ger is now doing on the foredeck--I think this is a temporary repair--we'll have to take it to a sailmaker to renew the whole UV strip as it's showing general signs of distress! There's a sailmaker in Raiatea where we will be next week--hopefully he can do it--there's a long way yet to go before Oz--where I may well get a new Genny made.
Must get back to the awesome view!