Tahiti: Days 2, 3 & 4 - Papeete

Thursday, May 16, 2013

The past few days have mostly involved cleaning the boat, doing some repair/maintenance work and exploring the shoreline of Papeete. Jan rejoined the boat on Wednesday after 5 weeks away.

On tuesday, we moved from the temporary anchorage at Point Venus to the main docking area in downtown Papeete. It was just a 5 mile trip and had some nice scenery.

We got there really early, so there wasn't too much boat traffic.

There is this huge, classy, "1800's-style" mega sailboat right behind us. It must be over 200 feet long.

This boat we saw in Nuku Hiva and we also ran into it at sea on our way from Fatu Hiva. Gary thought it was a US government spy boat hunting him down. It is a 173 foot converted crabbing boat to a high-end luxury yacht available for charter. Comes with a helicopter, hovercraft, and everything.

They have little table-top shops all over the place here.

We did some re-provisioning at the big grand marché in town.

There is a really nice waterfront park here where you constantly see locals hanging out, running/biking, and playing sports.

Complete with two big tiki huts.

And a quaint little pond.

At the far end I found a soccer field played on sand. I have played soccer on the sand before and it doesn't work. The ball doesn't roll and you just trip over it. They must just move the ball around using high, arched passes. I'd love to see a match played here.

Tahiti: Day 1 - Arrival!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Sailing Across the Pacific Ocean 2013 (Part 15) - Exploring Tahiti

There is a fairly large storm coming out of the south that is supposed to hit tonight or early tomorrow morning. We had to step up our game at head for land as quick as possible to get a decent anchoring or mooring before sundown.

Land ho! Here is Tahiti from a few miles out. Tahiti Nui is the larger part of the island, right in front. Tahiti Iti is the smaller part that is barely visible on the left in this picture. They are two volcanic eruptions connected by a small isthmus in between.

Our final destination is Papeete, but we decided to drop anchor for the night in a small bay just a few miles east of Papeete as everything was booked solid due to the storm and we were just a few hours from sundown.

Jan is arriving tomorrow morning, so we will weigh anchor and head over to Papeete early in the morning.

Our arrival was blessed by a family of dolphins who were playing in the water right beside our boat as we were anchoring, celebrating our arrival I imagine. I was tying the snubber line to the anchor chain when it happened, so I couldn't get a picture.

Fatu Hiva to Tahiti: Day 5 - Repel pirates!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Up until now, we had only seen one or two birds at a time flying around our boat, and fish would very rarely bite onto our line. But today there were some 50 birds going nuts around our boat. It looked like they were having some kind of big feeding frenzy. Then, we noticed our gaff hook (what you impale the fish with when you get them near your boat to secure them) went overboard at some point last night without anyone noticing. We noticed it was missing just after putting the line out and joked about a fish biting on immediately, and shockingly enough, it happened. We lost the first fish to have a second one bite onto the line immediately after, and then a third after that, all while the birds were going crazy. We thought it was the twilight zone. A squall suddenly hit us while all this was happening and we got down poured with rain and wind of up to 30 knots.

Supposedly fish and birds start acting crazy when there is a change in atmospheric pressure and can be a signal that a squall is approaching.

Here is a big rain cloud chasing us. It caught up to us fairly easily.

Another weird thing happened today. Usually when we see another ship (motorized, not sail), they are much faster than us, so we watch them motor on by in the distance until out of sight. Well today, we had this bigger rickety-looking boat come out of nowhere and motor alongside us (between 1 and 2 miles away) and maintain the same speed and course as us for hours. It was as if he was watching us. The scariest thing is that he is still there now as I write this and the sun just went below the horizon!

We prepped the cutlass, the flare guns, the 2 million candle mega-flashlight, and some wasp killer that sprays 30 feet and can blind people. So we are all ready to repel pirates tonight!

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Our friend circled our boat until around midnight (8 hours total) and then disappeared into the darkness, not to be seen again. That was very creepy...

Fatu Hiva to Tahiti: Day 4 - Good news always comes with bad news

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Yay! We finally got some wind today and were able to put up the genoa. We've been running the engine since we left Fatu Hiva. We were getting over 20 knots of wind, so we made some good speed today.

Unfortunately, we lost our fridge/freezer today. We are not sure what is wrong with it, but it seems like we will need a whole new fridge replacement. Luckily, we have eaten all our food and have nothing that needs to be kept cold anymore (except our drinking water, that will be warm for the rest of the trip...)

We opened all the hatches in the evening and slept in the cockpit for the first part of the night as we determined the fridge leaked all its freon, which can suffocate you.

Food supplies are running dangerously low, but we are just 2 days from Tahiti, where they have a huge two-story mega market just full of food. We haven't seen something like that since Panama.

Fatu Hiva to Tahiti: Day 3

Friday, May 10, 2013

Not too eventful of a day. We had the fishing line out all day, but not a single bite. I saw a bird today. That was odd. No ships though.

Looks like meat's back on the menu boys! (Yesterday's catch - the fish, not the rice)

This was the book swap jackpot here. Gary found it on the book swap shelf at Kevin's Cruiser Services on Nuku Hiva. It's kind of a tough read as there are SO many people and places, each with 2 or 3 different names they go by (and are used interchangeably), but if you take your time and keep referring to the name glossary at the back, it becomes comprehensible.

It is interesting to hear the history of Middle Earth.

This was one of the VERY few (almost) cloudless sunsets we have had on our journey. Here we were trying to witness one of these fabled "Green Flashes" that occur in these conditions, but to no avail.

Fatu Hiva to Tahiti: Day 2 - Finding Nemo

Thursday, May 9, 2013

I caught a fish today! We must have hit another school of them, after hooking and losing two, a third one bit onto the lure and I was able to reel it into the boat (about 12 pounds). We now have Mahi Mahi to eat for the next few days! Our refrigerator has been restocked!

The second fish that bit, I fought for almost half an hour before losing him just a few feet from the boat. My arm was already numb when the third guy hooked.

We have about 400 miles until the edge of the Tuomotus, where we will turn South for another 150 miles to Tahiti.

Fatu Hiva to Tahiti: Day 1 - The ol' anchor and chain

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Weighing anchor and taking off was a disaster today. After hauling in 100 feet of chain and the 70 pound rochna anchor, just as I was about to put in the securing pin and Gary had the boat underway, the windlass suddenly gave and the anchor fired downward back into the water at full speed. I had to jump on it, grab it with my hands (luckily my sailing gloves were on) and haul in 150 pounds of chain and anchor by hand before it damaged the propellor. It took some work, but I got everything secured with no damage to the boat.

We have decided not to stop in the Tuamotos on the way, and just go around them as they are dangerous and we do not have time. We need to meet Jan in Tahiti for the 14th. It is a 750 mile journey and should take us 5 or 6 days.

Off to Tahiti!