Near miss

Very strong williwaws have been blowing since our calm arrival in American Samoa but our anchor has been holding strong. Unfortunately, another boat dragged when it was unattended. It was almost upon Sea Turtle's bowsprit (we were ashore and unaware) when the owners returned and quickly boarded and re-anchored their boat. A happy ending for all concerned. Whew!

A traditional and very popular form of dress in American Samoa for both men and women is the lava-lava which is a wraparound skirt that is secured with an overhand knot in front. Bright patterns are for daily wear and solid colours are always worn in church. This skirt suits their body frames quite well as a very high percentage are on the rather rotund side. Perhaps this is due to the American influence of all the Pizza Huts, McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Carl's Jr., etc. The following is worn for school, without the knotted front.

2 dudes ready for school

It is election time here, just as back in the USA. Signs are everywhere showing the candidates running for Governor, etc. I bet the USA candidates' signs are much different than here:

Complete with leis!

There are many, many, many churches on Tutuila Island. Did I say many? A strange custom, in our view, is to bury their deceased in their front yards, sometimes with large elaborate cement plots. It is also popular to have a structure, called a fale, similar to our gazebos in their front yards for parties and such.

We sensed that the economy is down and evidenced by the lack of new construction, dilapidated buildings, and signs indicating food stamps are accepted. This Island of Tutuila is obviously less affluent.

We had been hoping to do a few boat errands while here and thought that as American Samoa is a territory of the USA and as it is a marine-based industrial harbour, there would be some marine stores with available supplies, but there was not a single one on the island!

Our plan was to leave American Samoa today but when checking the weather, the winds were too intense. But we will do an overnight passage tomorrow evening towards (Western) Samoa...

Great amenities

The American Samoans are THE friendliest people that we have ever visited! A few minutes after we anchored yesterday, a local boater came over and handed us a sheet listing the amenities in town, location of them and the cost, as well as any other important information that boater's always need.

The Samoans are always smiling and would go out of their way to talk to us or help us. Twice, someone rushed to help when we were carrying groceries to the dinghy along the rickety plastic dock and then held the dinghy in place in the heavy wind. When checking in, even the officials were sidetracked in friendly conversation with us and would ask if we knew where to go next. Just walking past a gas station, the attendant yelled out a friendly Hello to us!

Rickety docks in front of McDonald's

You have 2 choices for internet. The local McDonald's, 1 right by the docks, provides it for free even if you don't buy anything. (It was funny to see at 1 point about 22 computers going at once there.) Or you can buy a card from a company for $20 for 168 hours. Yes that's right - it works out to only about 0.12 cents per hour!! And we were paying $5.00 per hour in French Polynesia.

There are 2 great grocery stores (many more smaller ones) for provisioning and we stocked up - 1 has bulk items like Costco back in Canada (but a much smaller store) and the other is not bulk but has everything you could want. They are a bit out of town but the buses are only $1.00 each for almost anywhere you would want to go ($2.00 for a bus to the end of the route which is quite a long distance). The buses are pretty neat: very brightly painted and the driver appears to be sitting on the floor. They are old rigs with the cab cut off and a new passenger section built mostly of wood.

Very low and brightly painted rig-bus

There are several good restaurants here and very reasonable. We had excellent Chinese food for lunch one day and at a reasonable price too. And served by friendly happy waitresses. We have noticed a large Asian presence as we move farther west.

AMERICAN SAMOA

On the second day of our passage from Suwarrow (Cook Islands), Sea Turtle chalked up another milestone: 20,000 nautical miles under her keel! For you land lubbers, that is about 40,000 kilometres or about 25,000 miles. Wow! It has been such a surpassing journey to date.

Our passage was very uneventful and much, much calmer than from Bora Bora to Suwarrow. Too calm in fact. We even had to motor the last day and a half.

The islands here are not surrounded by a reef like an atoll - but the coral (fringing coral) is against the island shores instead and there is no interior lagoon. The scene on approach is of tropical green mountains.

Five miles out, we detected the fish odour from the tuna processing facilities in the main harbour, Pago Pago, that we had heard about.

American Samoa in the distance

We have noticed as we move northwards that the sun is rising later in the morning and setting later in the evening; we set anchor at American Samoa (Pago Pago Harbour, Tutuila Island) on September 14th at 07:30 (S14°16.403' W170°41.767'), just as the sun was rising in very calm conditions. This meant that the boats in the anchorage were drifting around willy-nilly and we were not certain where anyone's anchor was; where we dropped ours at what we thought was a safe distance between other boats proved later to be no good as the subsequent winds stretched out an adjacent boat which then sat over our anchor float.

Soon the contrast between tropical beauty and a messy human element became evident. The debris in the harbour was a reflection of the rubbish on land. We were presented with the din of commerce as well as the wafting odours.

History

We snorkelled with great visibility near the reef at Suwarrow (Cook Islands), seeing the usual fish but very few shells. But an interesting item on the ocean bottom just inside the reef was remains of the keel of a sailboat which could be clearly seen. Wonder what the sad story behind that is?

A chore before our next passage had Jordan diving to clean certain parts of Sea Turtle's bottom and her propeller. As soon as he splashed into the water, an overly inquisitive 4-foot black tip shark was a menacing presence that he had to chase off several times. Yikes! They are not known to be the dangerous type but it still makes you uneasy when they are not near the reef.

Harry and Ants (the 2 Park Rangers) agreed to give a talk on the history and culture of the Polynesian and Cook Islands. With an inquisitive Question & Answer session, a lot was learned from these 2 gentlemen, including that it is considered an insult to say No when requested to dance with a Polynesian! After the discussion, the cruisers then laid out their potluck treats for everyone to enjoy.

We weighed anchor with difficulty at 15:00 on September 10th. The sandy bottom was scattered with small coral heads that our anchor chain kept grabbing as it was being raised. Bill of SV Watermusic jumped in the water and continually pointed us in the right direction so our chain could be dragged clear with as little damage as possible to the coral. Thanks Bill!

Jordan preparing to weigh anchor

Leaving idyllic Suwarrow behind

High winds

As our anchorage near the mouth of the entrance to Suwarrow (Cook Islands) was getting quite windy, we moved closer to shore (S13°14.880' W163°06.493') once a few boats had left a couple of days later.

Park Ranger Harry told us that weather patterns have been changing. Winds have been increasing at Suwarrow in the last several years, and in the past, they were never over 16 knots. A beach hut that was built just last year, and should last for about 5 years, now needs to be re-roofed because of the strong winds. Cruisers offered to fix the roof but were told that Polynesian women would soon be coming to make a new one from the palm fronds.

Falling down sailors' hangout

So we hunkered down and I sewed the next 2 flags we would need for Samoa and Tonga. Jordan fixed the slackened prop break (it engages while the motor is off to stop the prop shaft from turning which is a safety for the transmission) and painted a picture of Sea Turtle on a scrap piece of wood to hang at the shack on shore, affectionately called Suwarrow Yacht Club, along with all the other hangings and flags left by previous cruisers.

Jordan and Judy with Jordan's painting

Our snorkelling, bird watching, and coconut crab excursion with Park Ranger Ants (Antony's nickname) and other cruisers was cancelled due to the high winds. We had been so looking forward to finally tasting this delectable crustacean.

Double jeopardy

Jordan went fishing near the entrance to the lagoon of Suwarrow (Cook Islands) with a couple of other young cruisers in their inflatable dinghy. They caught a few fish but also ran out of gas. Smartly, Jordan had taken the handheld VHF. It was late in the day when he radioed me and after telling me of their problem, the batteries of the VHF started to fade. Double jeopardy!! I put out a call for help which SV Lisa Kay thankfully answered with a tow as the sun set beneath the horizon.

We later cooked one of the fish of the foray and discovered its red meat was very delectable - a Rainbow Runner.

Fish are very abundant in the lagoon - sailors are even catching them right off their boats. After cleaning of the daily catch, people would throw the scraps to the waiting frenzied sharks on the outside of the lagoon (never on the inside of the lagoon where boats anchor and everyone swims and snorkels because it encourages sharks).

We watched as the mostly black tip sharks (plus 1 large gray and a few white tip sharks) voraciously snapped up the meat scraps. Falcon, who is about 20 and has lived all his life aboard SV Beaujolais with his parents, hand fed them and even grabbed one by the tail and lifted it up to the woo's of all the spectators.

Thrashing black tip sharks in a feeding frenzy

With so many boats in the lagoon, there were also several youngsters aboard. So someone arranged a pirate treasure hunt followed by a wiener and marshmallow roast. The host also brought bread dough for the kids to roast over the fire on sticks. Jordan and I also brought some of our own bread dough to try in this manner and discovered how tasty it is. Another first and something that we would do again!

A sailors' beach get-together

Unfortunately, a fast moving squall passed over us and it poured rain for at least half an hour after the treasure hunt but no one seemed to mind and once it stopped, the festivities continued.

As evening approached, Harry brought out his guitar and both he and Antony (the 2 park Rangers) sang a few Polynesian songs as well as several popular songs. The cruisers joined in but everyone seemed to struggle with the words and at times words were just made up when no one could remember - where are the song sheets!

COOK ISLANDS - Suwarrow

It was once again time to continue our westward track so we broke the bonds of Bora Bora at 14:00 on August 30th - the last island/atoll of the French Polynesia Archipelago for us. We had wanted to stop at 1 more - Maupiti - but the wind was blowing too strong for a safe entry.

The strong winds whipped up a confused sea and the motion was very rolly. As the sun sank and night overtook us, we had 1 young, tired, yellow-footed boobie bird spend the night on the dinghy davits at the rear of our solar panel with its beak perilously close to our spinning wind generator. The concern was not only for our visitor's well being but if he was to make contact with the spinning blades, it would be sure to damage them, making the generator non-functional.

Our wind generator has been a valuable supplemental charging unit, to the extent that we rarely have to use the motor's generator. It was amazing to see how our avian visitor was able to perch and even sleep with its head tucked back under its feathers while the boat pitched and yawed in the turbulent seas. Jordan went out and reached under the solar panel and poked the young bird who immediately withdrew his buried head and gawked around dumbfounded. It was evident that he was there to stay for the night.

Our destination is the remote atoll of Suwarrow which is 1 of the northern Cook Islands. Among many boaters, it was a great debate whether to take this more northerly route or the more southerly one, weather being the great decider.

A few boaters leaving Bora Bora around the same time as us headed towards the south islands of Rarotonga and Palmerston, etc. but soon changed course for Suwarrow as they were bashing into heavy headwinds. We had originally wanted to go south but after checking grib files, we chose the more northern Suwarrow route, and even then, we got a bit of a whomping. We checked into the HAM net daily, giving our position and progress, and listened to the other boats enroute who all complained about the sea state.

It's always a joy though to be out to sea again. To enjoy the solitude of just me and my favourite Captain under a full moon. To witness the shades of the differing blues of the open ocean - this time a deep purple blue. To revel in the total silence from city life. To feel free!

The six degrees of freedom are what naval architects call the six different motions that a floating vessel makes: Rolling, Pitching, Yawing, Heaving, Swaying, Surging.

The above quote is from a great book, Moby-Duck, by Donovan Hohn. (Yes, Moby-Duck, not Moby Dick.) I think we felt all 6 on this rough 6-day passage!

After dropping anchor (S13°14.962' W163°06.724') at 10:00 in the protected waters of Suwarrow's lagoon, we both let out a breath of relief and relaxed briefly to the gentle sway of the calm waters with 29 other boats nearby!

Suwarrow was indeed a great choice. The Cook Islands are now self-governing and has been declared a National Park. There are only 2 residents - 2 Park Rangers - for 6 months each year. (The Park closes down in November each year.)

Suwarrow is a very peaceful and beautiful with clear blue waters and the best visibility we have found yet. It is a typical atoll, comprised of mostly lagoon, ringed and protected by coral reefs with waves breaking over interspersed very low-lying motus covered with mostly coconut palms.

These atolls are a danger to the nocturnal mariner as they are barely visible in the blackness of night. As one approaches, there is a heightened awareness and uneasiness. But the attentive sailor is usually rewarded with the sight of shimmering foam and the roaring of the breakers that makes the reef outline discernible. This atoll was originally called Suvorov after a Russian general who claimed to the first to discover it years ago. Of course the native Polynesians beg to differ and they are sure to tell you that now it is called Suwarrow, the preferred name by these ancestral people.

(This place is known by several other names also: aka Suvarov, Suvarou, and with many other spellings of Suwarrow.)

Once ashore, we completed the check-in procedures with hospitable Harry, a Polynesian native of Cook Islands and 1 of the 2 Park Rangers, for a cost of $50 per boat. It's so nice to once again be back in areas where English is considered a main language!

Tied up at the dinghy dock

Park's amenity (swing hanging from tree)

Where to next?

The assistant Park Ranger, Antony (nicknamed Ants) was escorting about 10 cruisers in the Park's panga to another motu 4.5 to 5 km (7 to 8 miles) away for snorkelling, bird watching, and coconut crab collecting. This is something that Ants is amenable to doing if the cruisers congregate themselves and provide fuel for the panga as there is NO fuel available here.

Harry and Antony both love their paradise reclusive jobs at idyllic Suwarrow even though they have to leave their families behind for 6 months each year - Antony has 8 children and 8 grandchildren! Both intend to return next year...

Harry's and Antony's kitchen

Our favourites

Our favourites? Of the Marquesan group, we loved Tahuata with its sandy beach and fresh pamplemousse waiting to be picked from the trees, swimming up-close with numerous manta rays, and all of the several anchorages with new things to see and friendly locals to meet.

Graceful manta rays

Of the Tuamotu Archipelago, we loved Manihi. This is where we went pearl diving which was such a thrill and met Fernand who introduced us to other adventures, great snorkelling and visibility in many areas, and indulged in the privacy of the Blue Lagoon. (But we got our best pearl deals in Ahe.)

Varying blues of the Blue Lagoon

And of the Society Archipelago, we loved both Taha'a and Bora Bora. We did more at Taha'a - toured the island and vanilla plantation, and snorkelled the fabulous Coral Gardens. But at Bora Bora, we loved the beauty of the island and the colours of the lagoon waters, and we once again met up with a lot of sailors that we knew.

Sunset at Taha'a with Bora Bora in background

All in all, we had more fun at the Marquesas and the Tuamotus and would have loved to explore more of the Tuamotus, but there was not enough time with the limited 3 months that we are allowed to stay in French Polynesia.

We pulled anchor today for passage to our next destination of the Cook Islands (Suwarrow aka Suvarov).

Mixed bag

One night, a group of about 20 sailors went to the famous Bloody Mary's Restaurant for dinner. It's been in operation since 1979 and has had many Hollywood stars dine there. As it is located quite a distance from the Bora Bora Yacht Club, the restaurant/bar offers transportation.

Each evening, plates of local catch are delightfully displayed on ice. The host explains what is available and takes your order directly to the chef. As well as different varieties of fish, other items such as steak, ribs, and lobster were available (on the evening we were there). Our appetizers, meals, and desserts were delicious in the enchanting surroundings of Bloody Mary's.

One day, Jordan skidded out on a rented bicycle and severely scraped the skin from his toe, probably right down to the bone. The local doctor wrapped it with a skin bandage that he said would promote growth of new skin as it also expelled an antiseptic. The doc was pretty rough as he applied the bandage, even as Jordan repeatedly exclaimed Ow!

We have unfortunately noticed a fair amount of garbage along the roadsides, which is quite surprising for such a touristy place of French Polynesia. But there are a lot of homes with fancy gardens filled with stunning flowers. We've noticed too that Bora Bora has many, many dogs - obviously pet lovers here.

Unusual but pretty flowering bush

The next few days were filled with sailors watching weather and getting ready for passage to the Cook Islands. We are in an area of converging weather patterns, the graveyard of the easterly trades and the colliding lows that come up from between Tasmania and New Zealand. So we may have a mixed up sail on this next passage. This would be the end of our stay in the French Polynesia group of islands.

NO diving, he says

We made the 1.5 hour, somewhat tricky inside passage around to the north side of the Island of Bora Bora where large manta rays have made their home. Tricky because you have to make a sharp 'S' turn to navigate through the shallows and coral heads. There are channel markers and they corresponded very well with our very accurate and detailed electronic charts (CMap). So even though we were motoring over very visible shallows with only 1 metre under the keel, we were confident.

Safely anchored

We anchored (S16°29.305' W151°42.197') on August 22nd between 2 large hotels as their line of cabins stretched out into the lagoon. The lagoon here was a spectacular colour. Beneath Sea Turtle and far off into the distance, we could take in the views of the beautiful turquoise light blue waters. We have never seen the light coloured waters stretch so far at any other anchorage. What a magnificent view!

It was a bit rolly here as we anchored near a well-travelled track for boats coming and going to the hotel with their workers and guests.

We snorkelled with friends off SV Lisa Kay and a few other sailors also from this same anchorage. The large manta rays were stunning and visibility was quite good. They tended to stay deep so Jordan dove a few times to get a closer look swimming alongside them.

With 3 tour boats of snorkellers in the area, 1 of the guides told Jordan and all of the other sailors there NOT to free dive as it would harm the mantas. That was ridiculous as there were scuba divers below us going closer than any of us! And none of us ever touched the mantas or got close enough to scare them - they never even noticed us most of the time. So we continued to ignore the guide as he repeated his instructions to us.

While snorkelling, we found another of the same shell that Jordan discovered in Moorea, but bigger and better coloured!

We felt it to be too busy with all of the tourists. And the locals would not allow you on the beach as they claimed it was private. Perhaps they owned the small motus?

A lot of "private" motus...

So on the 24th, we returned back to the other side of the island and anchored by the Bora Bora Yacht Club (S16°29.479' W151°45.674').

Bora Bora

Approaching Bora Bora

We've posted photos of its impressive summits in the distance from Taha'a, another of the Society Islands. But on August 21st after motor-sailing for 5 hours, we finally set the hook (S16°30.057' W151°46.414') at this legendary island. This anchorage was just inside the pass into the lagoon and beside the small sand and palm covered islet, Motu Tapa. The lagoon around the island of Bora Bora is 3 times larger than its land mass.

Bora Bora (about 5,800 inhabitants) is 275 km (170 miles) from Tahiti. This picture perfect atoll is a quintessential paradise setting with its high verdant peaks rising out of the lagoon protected by the barrier reef. It is 9 km long and 4 km wide (5.5 x 2.5 miles).

We soon moved Sea Turtle a bit closer to the main island as we wanted to go out for a late dinner to celebrate our 8th anniversary and we had spotted a nice restaurant overlooking the lagoon. As usual, the meal was very good and very expensive (French Polynesia, after all!)

Jordan presented me with a surprise - a mother-of-pearl bracelet made from large shell pieces. Exquisite! Thanks sweetie!

Coral Gardens

After our tour of the French Polynesian island of Taha'a, we moved Sea Turtle once more away from the mosquitoes to beside a pearl farm (S16°35.258' W151°31.597') where the anchorage was a little deeper than we normally like at almost 17 metres, but it had a great view!

A magic motu (islet) with Bora Bora in background

The next morning, we dinghied over to the pearl farm that presented their product very well in their gift shop but found their prices to be exorbitant - very high retail!

We then moved to anchor by the Coral Gardens (S16°36.314' W151°33.457'). The Coral Gardens are exactly as their name suggests. It looked just like a garden that someone had planted, but with coral, and then filled with a grand selection of tropical aquatic inhabitants.

The Gardens are in a pass between 2 motus (islets) on the outer reef of the lagoon. Most people walk along the shore towards the outer reef and drift snorkel with the current back through, but we doubled our pleasure by snorkelling up and all around and then drifted back. Jordan had an 18-inch stick that he used occasionally to dig out a sea urchin and feed it to a frantic hoard of hungry tropical fish. Consequently it was funny to watch as we were then followed pied-piper-style by the aquatic mass, craving more. Each feeding brought more. Parrot fish, trigger fish, and many more. The Coral Gardens and fish were beautiful, colourful, and fascinating - another first!

Later in the evening, we moved across the bay (S16°36.958' W151°32.661') to an anchorage less windy as the wind had come up.

Vanilla

We were referred by another sailor to a tour guide, Tini. The morning was filled with his tour of the sites of his French Polynesian island Taha'a and the anticipated vanilla plantation. He stopped all along the way pointing out several types of vegetation and telling us that there is a multitude of types of bananas as he explained their growth. He chuckled when Jordan said that Canadians thought there was only one type.

We stopped at his house where he cut up a purple round fruit that he called starfruit. It was different than the starfruit that we had eaten in the Marquesas which was orange and shaped just like a star. This purple fruit had a star shape inside and the whole fruit was delicious (but do not eat the seeds). As his yard was full of fruit trees, he insisted that we go home with a big selection.

Next stop - the vanilla plantation - la Vallée de la Vanille (The Valley of the Vanilla). As soon as we arrived, we were enveloped by the heady aromatic scent of the vanilla. We were shown the vanilla plant, actually one of a thousand plus species of orchid, as it grows on a vine that looks just like green beans growing. The green vanilla pods are picked and left till they turn black.

Vanilla pods

The production process takes about 3 months, once a year. At the proper time, each pod must be massaged several times to release the vanilla scent into the pod (yes, massaged!) When it is ready, it is sold as whole pods or made into vanilla extract, powder, cooking oil, body oil, soap, etc. We bought the whole pods (soft vanilla sticks), vanilla body oil scented with the famous Tiare flower, and a bar of vanilla soap. We also got a jar of volcanic rocks that had been scented with vanilla. The smell in Sea Turtle is intoxicating!

Growing and processing the vanilla is labour intensive and very time consuming which explains the high price of it. The other cottage industry that we saw here and which we have seen throughout French Polynesia is copra production - breaking down and drying out coconuts which are then sent to Tahiti for the final processing into products such as coconut oil.

Judy and Jordan next to coconuts drying out

Taha'a

Jordan went for a hike to the top of Mount Tapiou of the Society Islands (294 metres, over 1,000 feet high), while I updated the blog. He returned with several outstanding photos.

Mountain top photo: Raiatea looking north to Taha'a

Later in the afternoon, we headed to the north of Raiatea towards another island called Taha'a - the 2 islands share the same lagoon formed by the same reefs that ring both. Taha'a is known as the Vanilla Island where we set the hook at 12:20 (S16°38.133' W151°29.206'). We dinghied ashore to collect information on going for a tour of a vanilla plantation.

After booking an appointment for tomorrow, we decided to move Sea Turtle to a different anchorage out by the reef and free of mosquitoes (S16°38.617' W151°26.763'). As we snorkelled around the reef, we once more accumulated several shells.

Sunday on a motu

Raiatea

We left Moorea, one of the Society Islands, to head for Raiatea on an overnighter at 10:00 on August 15th, arriving and setting anchor at 07:15 on August 16th (S16°49.158' W151°24.956') by the Faaroa River entrance.

We dinghied up the small snaking river past very lush vegetation, quite marrow in places. As we got further up, we had to dodge snags and shallows and eventually had to turn back when several large boulders prevented us from going further. On our way back, we stopped to talk with the local jungle farmers and obtain some of their fresh fruits.

An approaching panga along the Faaroa River

Judy in dinghy with fruits and flowers

In the afternoon, we moved Sea Turtle around to anchor by the town (S16°43.728' W151°26.611') where we wanted to have dinner at a restaurant. But lo and behold, none were to be had! From a street snack shop, we ordered atun frites (thinking we would get fried tuna) and also some chow mein. We received tuna salad along with French fries in a bun and chow mein in another bun! First time for French fries in a bun and chow mein in a bun!

We noticed a poster for Polynesian dancing at a hotel. The performance included live Polynesian music and the dancers were of all ages. We weren't expecting much as, after all, how good could young kids be? Upon arriving, we were asked if we had a reservation, which we did not. The place was packed. Overflowing. We were told we could not have supper but if we bought a drink we could see the performance. We sat on the concrete by the pool and watched a fabulous show.

The kids were absolutely adorable and were surprisingly quite good with their dancing skills! The numerous costumes, much of which were bedecked with real flowers and palm fronds, were beautiful and the skills of the older men and women as they danced to the live music were amazing.

We didn't know they made coconut shells so small!

Notice the hip movement of the little cutie above!

Touring Moorea

We rented a motor scooter on August 11th for 24 hours and drove around Moorea Island which only took a couple of hours to cover the 60 km (37 miles). We had considered staying till later in the evening for festivities at Tiki Village but were disappointed with the rundown appearance of the place so we continued going around the Island. We took a few photos of the views from high up:

Viewpoint of bay below

Sea Turtle at anchorage

Luxury Hilton Hotel - note the protective reef

In some respects, Moorea was a bit of a letdown. While the scenery of jagged lush green peaks is postcard worthy and the clear water snorkelling good, there wasn't much else to captivate one. We were both expecting many sandy beaches but very few nice ones were to be found, in fact that has pretty much been our experience with French Polynesia so far.

We moved to Opunohu Bay (S17°29.447' W149°51.089') on August 13th, where we are told Captain Cook actually landed in 1777 (not in Cook's Bay, his namesake). This was the best bay for postcard-type photos.

Sea Turtle at Opunohu Bay

The snorkelling had been much better at Cook's Bay but Jordan did find a very nice oyster shell - unfortunately no pearl inside! And we later noticed a stingray swimming past Sea Turtle. There is a small section of beach here where we had a picnic lunch and filled a water jug from a most unusual tap.

Jordan getting fresh water for boat wash

(Unfortunately, after leaving here, we discovered from friends that we had missed the great opportunity of swimming with sting rays. It was just up the shore northwest of our anchorage at Opunohu Bay. Standing in waist-deep, crystal clear water, people hand-feed them as they glide by and even rub up against them. They have become so tame that they are not threatened and do not pose a threat to humans. The following photo is courtesy of SV Lisa Kay.)

Young Benjamin of SV Lisa Kay surrounded by sting rays

At this juncture, we started to consider our remaining time allowed. Most of the time, especially away from the busy centers, we didn't pay much attention to time, schedules, or dates. That is the whimsical patternless life of cruising. Generally, the only clock for us is the circadian revolution of the earth. Lost in a time vacuum, we seldom know what day of the week or date of month it is, or seldom consider the time of day. We know not (or care much) what the rest of the world is busy doing as it has no effect on us (ie. politics, wars, etc.). But now we must reluctantly dig out the calendar for our departure from the French Polynesia in 2 or 3 weeks.

Moorea

Approaching Moorea

It was a leisurely 4-hour downwind sail to Cook's Bay on the NW side of the verdant multi-peaked island of Moorea (French Polynesia). As we started out on August 10th, Jordan said that it is the time of year that whales are present in the area. None had been seen so far. Well that was till later in the day, just before entering the bay, outside along the reef we saw 2 whales lazing away in about 50 feet of water.

The pass in through the ringed reef was well marked with channel markers and range markers (2 poles on shore in line with the safe track in). Just inside, we swung left and took a safe anchorage (S17°28.911' W149°48.996'), the hook in 45 feet, but as Sea Turtle swung to an offshore breeze, she lay over a sandy shelf with only 5 feet under her keel. The water was so clear we could see the anchor, shells, and fish below us.

Our first anchorage behind the reef

Cook's Bay

Snorkelling was great. As soon as we were in the water next to Sea Turtle, Jordan spotted large shells and selected a beauty from the white sandy bottom.

This and subsequent snorkels along the reef yielded some nice shells as well as octopus, rays, and the usual myriads of reef fish. One new species was a 2-foot vivid yellow needlefish that swam along beside us undeterred. Another never spotted before was what we think was a Sea Robin according to our fish identification book. This is a very unusual fish with its large wings and bottom trolling feet. Check it out on the internet as we broke our underwater camera.

Toiling and relaxing

The next few days were filled with various activities at the island of Tahiti and onboard Sea Turtle. Cruising life, you may think, is all fun. But there is also a lot of work in maintaining a boat, keeping up with all the necessary repairs, and just daily living jobs. No luxuries aboard Sea Turtle such as a washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, car in the garage, etc.

Boat jobs here included repairing the parted mainsail that blew out a while ago. It is getting old and frail but we want to make it last to New Zealand where sailmakers are readily available and very reasonable. Jordan used spare sail material for patching and spray glue instead of stitching. Doesn't look the best but will do the trick.

The other boat job involved re-plumbing a rather disjointed raw water intake line that had sprung an annoying slow leak. Jordan re-routed the original plumbing and simplified it eliminating 4 connections and hose clamps. The other overdue job was hand-washing all the salon and cockpit cushions to rid them of the accumulated salts for passages gone by.

We enjoyed Papeete's unique evening food fair experience where at 18:00, 15 to 20 mini kitchen vans pull up to the downtown waterfront, set up tables, chairs, and menu boards and offer their culinary selection that ranges from Chinese to pizza to crepes, etc. and with reasonable prices rarely found in French Polynesia. This happens every night of the week and is packed with patrons.

Vans everywhere behind bush

We went to the bountiful market where on its big day, Sunday starting at 04:00 (we slept in and arrived later at 05:00), and stocked up on all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables. Long time since we have been up that early for produce! The market is spread over 7,000 square metres and includes craft booths and fragrant flower arrangements, one of which we bought for Sea Turtle.

Everyday municipal market

Bruce and Jeannie (SV Jabula) joined us one day for a rental car tour of the Island that left us a little disappointed, but we appreciated the Three Faarumai Waterfalls where it was only a 5-minute walk to the first one. If you look close, you can see Bruce and Jeannie in front of 1 of the 3 waterfalls.

Jordan and Judy with Jeannie and Bruce

We could have circumnavigated the island which consists of Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti in about 2 hours without making any stops.

The inner harbour here is never without at least a few mega yachts from all over the world bedecked with ultra expensive tenders and their own helicopter, in many cases. They are worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars and owned by untraceable corporations in tax free ports like Georgetown. Makes you wonder...

Arctic - 1 of many private yachts

Our last activity was taking advantage of the modern supermarket for provisioning where we got pretty much anything we wanted and at a reasonable price. It will be awhile before we see that again. It would also be awhile before we see our good friends Bruce and Jeannie again. We left them behind as they flew home for a few weeks.

Capricious customs

Our first concern upon arriving in Papeete Tahiti was checking in with our Agent. Next was to retrieve a package waiting for us. After a short bus ride and walk, she gave us instructions and directions on where to retrieve the package at the Customs Postal Depot. She had tried several times to pick it up for us but Customs would not release it to her. They stated that personal medical supplies or equipment (which this was) were not allowed to be sent to Tahiti.

The next day in a windless calm we motored out and around to the inner harbour where it would be much closer for us to retrieve our package. At the approach, we had to radio in to get clearance to pass under the airport runway approach off to our right. We took a berth at the City wharf (S17°32.395' W149°34.209') by Med-mooring - stern tying with the bow held off with an anchor line. We took advantage of the water faucet and cleansed Sea Turtle of salt.

Across the bay in the busy commercial sector of container ships and boat yards was our waiting package. So we launched the dinghy, and in only a short jaunt, tied up to a spot across the street from the Customs holding depot.

We approached with trepidation borne from past experiences of dealing with nightmarish experiences with Customs, but also because our Agent had been refused retrieval.

We walked in and handed them the same papers that our Agent had presented to them. The lady walked back into the compound, quickly returned with a box, called over another man who said Sign here, gave us the box, and we blurted Merci (Thank you). We glanced at each other and read in our faces Let's quickly get out of here before they change their mind. So go figure!

SOCIETY ILES - Tahiti

As we left the Tuamotus, it was a 1-day, 2-night passage to Tahiti in the Society Archipelago. We started out with a nice breeze on a port tack broad reaching doing 6 knots over ground. We reduced sail to slow down the first night. Then about half way, things changed. The winds backed all the way around to SSW and piped up to a stiff breeze making the last 12 hours unpleasant. With the wind on our nose, we did what all sailors hate to do - motored into them - bashing away and barely making 4 knots.

Bruce and Jeannie (SV Jabula) who were within sight of us most of the way, in the end motor sailed by falling off the rhumb line to fill the head sail. This put them in the lee of the big island of Tahiti where the wind change around the island made for a quick sail at the very end, beating us by about 3 hours.

An earlier jesting discussion amongst us needled the gals for never being able to spot land before the guys. So on this passage, the challenge was on. Bruce did everything possible to draw Jeannie's attention to the hazy outline of the peaks of Tahiti by saying things like Is that a boat I see up ahead? but Jeannie never cheered Land Ho! On our boat, it was again the Captain who made the proclamation. I'm sure the challenge will continue.

On this passage, we were treated with the most unusual fish activity. Jordan noticed out of the corner of his eye what at first he thought were dolphins but he didn't see the obvious porpoising. Then we saw churning patches of water of frantic bait fish trying to escape their pelagic predators from below and now trapped between them and the avian predators above. We were going through a huge school of large tuna! They were all around Sea Turtle, and from the bowsprit we could actually see them plain as day speeding past. This rare spectacle kept us enthralled for about half an hour.

Just after noon, we arrived, pulling in behind the reef about 5 miles east of downtown Papeete Tahiti in front of the Yacht Club and dropped the hook in the protected calm (S17°31.340' W149°32.063').

The islands here are ringed with coral reefs offshore providing calm anchorages on the inside. On approach, you can see the obvious change in water colour to a light turquoise. There are various safe breaks or passes through to the inside channel. These channels vary in width from next to nothing to maybe 500 metres (~1,650 feet).