17:34S 149:37W

 

It’s a bit of a culture shock to be anchored off a bustling city.  Well, we’re anchored off the marina which is a bus ride to the main town of Papeete – but we motored past it all this morning – the commercial area, the airport, the industrial area....would far rather be back in the Tuamotos!  Having said that Tahiti is pretty spectacular with jagged peaks rising out of the early morning mist and crystal clear water.  We were accompanied by dolphins on our way around this morning and we were both eyeing up the coral reefs for snorkelling later on.   Moorea is just across the channel  looking absolutely stunning.

 

We dropped anchor at 9.30 last night in Venus Pt after a 36 hour sail from Toau.  The wind stayed light until about 4pm when it went forward and freshened so the spinnaker was doused (without issue which is a first) and out went the genoa.  The wind increased to around 15 knots – what the GRIB files had forecast for the entire day – and we had a magic sail all the way into Venus Pt, having seen Tahiti from some way out.

 

Night entries are not a favourite on Bandit but there’s often no option.  Despite doing quite a few we still approach with extreme caution.  This was was very straightforward and we’d already spoken to Ian Outsider who had told us that.....confirmation from someone who has been there is always great.  With night entries you have to trust your charts and instruments implicitly and we’ve had a few scary moments – the worst was going into an anchorage in the Delaware River on the east coast of the States.   We were tired after an overnight down from New York and having to be sharp and aware didn’t come easy.  The river has big ice breakers along with extended sea walls and it was incredibly difficult to navigate our way through especially with the lights on the land making it hard to make out anchor lights.  We made it and when we woke in the morning it all looked absolutely straighforward of course!

 

We’re about to head ashore to Carrefour....and restock, then check out the rest of Papeete.