Monday 22 April to 28 April - Tahiti

The boat was safely moored in Marina Taina, a marina to the south of Papeete city.  We hired a car for the week which made trips into Papeete easy and trips to chandlers and supermarkets (Carrefour) practical.  Our first night was a blissful visit to the hotel Te Moana in Puna’auia (5 mins drive) which is right on the beach overlooking the island of Mo’orea, looking at the pirogues out for an evening’s row.  The next day we went on a tour to see Pointe Venus, which is the black beach to the northwest where Captain Cook anchored to observe the transit of Venus in 1769 - also the headland where the London Missionary Society first arrived on the island.  Jean and Didi departed on the morning of 24th April from Faa’a International airport (we dropped them off as it was just down the road).  And then it was cleaning… inside and out, everything was polished and left sparkling.  Admittedly we had help from Gilles, who coordinated a great team to help.

We did some more sightseeing - notably a trip to see The Wave at Teahupoo which is the site of the Olympic surfing competition due in July (with friends John and Sharon from World Arc and Sharon’s brother Kelvin). There was absolutely no indication that an Olympic event was about to take place though apart from a rather rickety looking viewing platform for the judges.