We made it!
Kahia
Paul and Catherine Davis
Sat 14 Jul 2012 04:52
|
14:32.24S 146:21.47W
Visualise this: Catherine hooked on and hanging on to
the bow pulpit searching for shallows and coral heads, as we went through the
narrow channel into the lagoon, she experienced a severe soaking, as Kahia's bow
submarined into the over-falls as we caught the last of the flood tide against
25 knots of wind.
Once inside the lagoon we motored through the buoyed
channel, being grateful it was buoyed and we did not have to rely on
Catherine's, (totally drenched and shaking with adrenaline) eyeballing for the
next 5 miles until we reached the village of Tenukupara in the Southwest of the
lagoon.
Here we managed to get into a mess trying to anchor
between other yachts and grounded on a submerged rock. Lucky we got away with a
few scratches on the keel. After an hour and two further attempts, we managed to
anchor and set about tiding up Kahia, which was totally up side down after 3
days of some of the heaviest sailing conditions we have experienced so
far.
How pleased we are to be still again and hope the anchor
is well dug in, as we are expecting a few days of very high winds.
Looking forward to some well deserved rest and to
celebrate the 14th July (Bastille Day) in French
Polynesia!
|