Well, the promised wind did not arrive until the morning so progrees overnight was slow. We have been making better time today and sailing at 2 - 3 knots. A big improvement over 0! Just being in motion makes us both more cheerful and the boat is quieter, the rigging works less and it's a lot more comfortable. If the current breeze holds we should arrive tomorrow!!
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Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Bora-Bora to Suwarrow Island - Day 6
There is even less wind than yesterday and the sea is mirror calm. The stars were reflecting in the surface of the sea overnight and today the boat and the clouds have a perfect reflection. The forecast promises wind tonight so we are waiting expectantly for it to arrive.
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Sunday, July 29, 2012
Bora-Bora to Suwarrow Island - Day 5
Apart from some rain showers and some brief winds that accompanied them, the wind continued to drop. By morning there was none and we have spent the whole day drifting slowly under a cloudless blue sky. Apart from the continuing long swells, the sea has been flat but we have seen no birds, fish or anything else! Karen has spent a while baking cake and scones but we have spent most of our time reading in the shade of the cockpit. We are both anxious to complete the last two hundred miles and a bit annoyed that the forecast winds when we left BB did not materialise. Even when looking just a few days ahead, the forecasters are doing little better than guess it seems!!
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Saturday, July 28, 2012
Bora-Bora to Suwarrow Island - Day 4
A quiet night but the wind dropped steadily and by 7am we were having to motor. Light winds came back about 2 hours later but we are having to sail away from our direct line to make use of them. If we sail the direct route, the swells roll the boat and the little wind just spills from the sails! Frustrating!! It's been hot and sunny all day but the lack of breeze makes it essential to stay in the shadiest spot we can find. What we thought was going to be a 4 to 5 day trip looks like taking 6 or 7 unless we get some more wind!
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Thursday, July 26, 2012
Bora-Bora to Suwarrow Island - Day 1
We went ashore to clear out and buy some last minute fruit and a few things. We decided to have lunch out at the Mai Kai restaurant at the marina and had a really enjoyable meal and certainly the best steak in a long while!
We slipped our mooring around 1pm and headed out through the pass. Once clear of the island we set course to pass close by the neighbouring island of Maupiti under poled out jib and preventer stayed main. The wind was 20+ knots and we crossed the 25 miles in around 4 hours despite a confused sea (not unusual between the islands. Once safely past we set course for Motu One the next island to avoid and about 140 miles away. The swell was running high and we had a rolly first night and little sleep. Fairly usual for first nights!
Despite the wonderful starlit sky, we had too little comfort to sit and enjoy it. As the night progressed the wind continued to swing east and we opted to follow it round rather than rearrange the sails, poles, etc in the dark and with such a swell. Something for tomorrow!!
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We slipped our mooring around 1pm and headed out through the pass. Once clear of the island we set course to pass close by the neighbouring island of Maupiti under poled out jib and preventer stayed main. The wind was 20+ knots and we crossed the 25 miles in around 4 hours despite a confused sea (not unusual between the islands. Once safely past we set course for Motu One the next island to avoid and about 140 miles away. The swell was running high and we had a rolly first night and little sleep. Fairly usual for first nights!
Despite the wonderful starlit sky, we had too little comfort to sit and enjoy it. As the night progressed the wind continued to swing east and we opted to follow it round rather than rearrange the sails, poles, etc in the dark and with such a swell. Something for tomorrow!!
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A Sour End To French Polynesia!
As planned, we moved to another anchorage on Huahine called Haapu. It is a deep bay surrounded by a coral shelf and nestled amongst a few mountains with a small village. As predicted the winds increased and tended to funnel through the gaps in the hills which was fine until the wind decided to change direction. We had just gone to bed and could hear a rumble under the boat. As we were investigating our depth went from the 50ft that we had been in for a few days to 5ft! The rumble was our hull hitting the coral shelf. As the wind turned it had pushed us over the shelf as we had 200ft of chain out. Fortunately there was no damage done other than a bit of anti-foul removed and we had a late night having to re-anchor!
Chris and Rani from 'Ladybug' had joined us at the anchorage so we had a final meal with them before we headed off. The weather was horrible for a few days with lots of torrential rain and gusty winds so we were pretty boat bound and getting bored. Even though the weather wasn't wonderful we decided to sail to Taha'a, the next island along. We had a fast sail as there was 25-30 knots of wind but we had to go around the top of the island and enter the reef on the west side as the swells (4-5m) were to big to go through the east coast passes.
We stayed overnight in a very deep anchorage and decided to leave the following morning for Bora Bora. It was Bastille day and we had hoped to see some of the celebrations. The sail to Bora Bora was quieter than the previous day and we arrived at lunch time. The water around the main island is very deep so we needed to find a mooring to be able to get to town. But with the bad weather, all the boats had backed up in Bora Bora so we could not find a mooring and missed all the celebrations. Instead, we anchored around the back of a sizeable motu west of the main island. It was pretty but the weather was horrible. The wind was funnelled down the mountain which dominates the centre of Bora Bora and we had gusts of upto 50 knots. We could not leave anything in the cockpit as it would blow away. Empty cans were picked up and levitated from one end of the cockpit to the other!
The anchorage was not very comfortable and we did not have a lot of sleep for a few nights. We were stuck on the boat again as going anywhere in the dinghy would have been very wet! At this point we did not think much of Bora Bora, we could have been in Wales on a warm day!
The weather improved and boats started to leave for their next destination freeing up moorings near the town. This allowed us to move to town where we stayed a few nights. We had a meal out with Nicky and Dennis from 'Knotty Lady' and the next evening we went to see one of the local dance groups perform. We had missed all of the Heiva Festival, which is the island dance festival, so it was nice to see the dancing. The dancers are so fit and we sat in awe as to how they moved their hips so fast with such little effort!
After a few days we moved around to the south east side of the atoll and anchored in a big lagoon area. The water was shallow over sand and was a an amazing blue. There were a number of Austrian and German boats anchored as well as Yvonne and Bruno from 'Momo', a Swiss boat and they invited us, along with Knotty Lady, to a beach BBQ. The following day we went diving with Knotty lady inside the atoll close to where we were anchored. It was a nice dive with lots of coral and we saw Manta rays which was our reason for doing the dive. They swam around us a few times and then disappeared. The same day we also went snorkeling with Knotty Lady behind the motus on the south side of the atoll. There was a very pretty coral
garden and lots of fish. The fish were obviously fed by the tourist boats as they followed us around and were very tame.
Unfortunately, today we have realised paradise is not always as it seems when we discovered our fishing rod has been stolen out of its holder on the side rail of the boat. It was only tied on but they cut the line rather than untying it! So that is the end of our fishing unless we can buy another rod in town.
We are leaving our idyllic spot and moving back around to the town tomorrow to do a final shop and clear out of French Polynesia. We are heading to Suwarrow on Tuesday which is about 600 miles. After that we plan to go to Western Samoa.
Chris and Rani from 'Ladybug' had joined us at the anchorage so we had a final meal with them before we headed off. The weather was horrible for a few days with lots of torrential rain and gusty winds so we were pretty boat bound and getting bored. Even though the weather wasn't wonderful we decided to sail to Taha'a, the next island along. We had a fast sail as there was 25-30 knots of wind but we had to go around the top of the island and enter the reef on the west side as the swells (4-5m) were to big to go through the east coast passes.
We stayed overnight in a very deep anchorage and decided to leave the following morning for Bora Bora. It was Bastille day and we had hoped to see some of the celebrations. The sail to Bora Bora was quieter than the previous day and we arrived at lunch time. The water around the main island is very deep so we needed to find a mooring to be able to get to town. But with the bad weather, all the boats had backed up in Bora Bora so we could not find a mooring and missed all the celebrations. Instead, we anchored around the back of a sizeable motu west of the main island. It was pretty but the weather was horrible. The wind was funnelled down the mountain which dominates the centre of Bora Bora and we had gusts of upto 50 knots. We could not leave anything in the cockpit as it would blow away. Empty cans were picked up and levitated from one end of the cockpit to the other!
The anchorage was not very comfortable and we did not have a lot of sleep for a few nights. We were stuck on the boat again as going anywhere in the dinghy would have been very wet! At this point we did not think much of Bora Bora, we could have been in Wales on a warm day!
The weather improved and boats started to leave for their next destination freeing up moorings near the town. This allowed us to move to town where we stayed a few nights. We had a meal out with Nicky and Dennis from 'Knotty Lady' and the next evening we went to see one of the local dance groups perform. We had missed all of the Heiva Festival, which is the island dance festival, so it was nice to see the dancing. The dancers are so fit and we sat in awe as to how they moved their hips so fast with such little effort!
After a few days we moved around to the south east side of the atoll and anchored in a big lagoon area. The water was shallow over sand and was a an amazing blue. There were a number of Austrian and German boats anchored as well as Yvonne and Bruno from 'Momo', a Swiss boat and they invited us, along with Knotty Lady, to a beach BBQ. The following day we went diving with Knotty lady inside the atoll close to where we were anchored. It was a nice dive with lots of coral and we saw Manta rays which was our reason for doing the dive. They swam around us a few times and then disappeared. The same day we also went snorkeling with Knotty Lady behind the motus on the south side of the atoll. There was a very pretty coral
garden and lots of fish. The fish were obviously fed by the tourist boats as they followed us around and were very tame.
Unfortunately, today we have realised paradise is not always as it seems when we discovered our fishing rod has been stolen out of its holder on the side rail of the boat. It was only tied on but they cut the line rather than untying it! So that is the end of our fishing unless we can buy another rod in town.
We are leaving our idyllic spot and moving back around to the town tomorrow to do a final shop and clear out of French Polynesia. We are heading to Suwarrow on Tuesday which is about 600 miles. After that we plan to go to Western Samoa.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Tahiti to Huahine
Our fuel problem went from bad to worse. Island Packet could not supply a replacement and while trying to fix the one broken part, 2 others also broke. So we had to start from scratch and take the hose into a shop and ask for new parts. Fortunately we managed to get something that works, its not perfect but should get us to NZ. Once we had a working engine we left Tahiti and headed to its sister island Moorea. Moorea is only 20 miles away from Tahiti but very different, it was much quieter and very mountainous. We anchored first in Cooks Bay which was a deep bay surrounded by tall peaks and very pretty. The only down side was that the road ran around the bottom of the bay so there was some traffic noise.
While there we did a walk to a view point called Belverdere. It was a lovely walk, but all up hill, to a view of the 2 main bays on the north side of the Island, Cooks and Oponuhu bays. We had a picnic at the top before heading back down. It was probably somewhere between 8-10 miles and we were very tired when we got back to the boat. After a few days we moved around the corner to Oponohu bay which was quieter but not quite as pretty. Then we anchored on the outside of the bay just inside the reef. It was a lovely quiet spot and the first night we were the only boat there sitting surrounded by reef and mountains. The following morning we were joined by Chris and Rani on Ladybug and the 4 of us went along the inside of the reef to see what is called Stingray City.
Stingray City is actually a shallow sandy area inside the reef where the tourist boats feed the stingrays. We arrived early before the boats with our tin of sardines to feed them. As soon as we dropped the anchor there were rays all around the boat swimming right to the surface. There were so many that it was difficult to get out of the dinghy and stand up. Unfortunately, they didn't like our tinned sardines so went back to relaxing until they heard a tour boat arrive. Then they all went over to the boat and the guide was feeding them fresh fish. The rays were climbing all over him trying to get to the food, it was amazing. The guide did not mind us joining them so we swam over and the rays were rubbing against us, it was a very strange feeling. Eventually, the sharks also arrive and there were about 6 black tips just patrolling around us. We sat watching the rays from the boat for a while and they were practically coming out of the water. A great experience.
We spent the remainder of the day with Chris and Rani and then bid farewell to them as they were returning to Tahiti and we were continuing on to Huahine. We left for Huahine late afternoon the following day. It was an 80 mile trip and we had to arrive in the day to go through the reef with good light. It was an uncomfortable sail with fairly light winds but we arrived at the entrance at about 7am. We had decided to stop on the east side of the island and anchored in 10ft of water behind a long motu which ran to the southern tip of the island. It was an idyllic spot. We were the only boat and the water was crystal clear and very still. There was a continuous flow of current so the boat just sat in the same position for 3 days. We did not move and it was flatter than being tied up in a marina.
While anchored on the east side, we did a drift snorkel from the south end of the motu back to the boat. There were patches of nice coral but also a lot of dead. We saw one area which was covered in sea anemones with lots of Nemo's living in it! We also tried to paint our toe rail again as the sea was so flat but the rain stopped that. After 3 days of solitude we have moved around to the west of the island to the main town Fare. Our friends Barbara and Michael on Astarte arrived here at the same time and we are looking forward to dinner with them this evening. We have also been into town and stocked up on fruit and veg. We have had our first bananas since the Tuamotus and we have gone at least a week without Pampelmousse (a very large grapefruit but sweeter and juicier)!
Tomorrow we are moving to another anchorage further south of where we are which hopefully has some good snorkelling. It looks as if the winds will be building over the next few days so we want a quieter place than where we currently are!
While there we did a walk to a view point called Belverdere. It was a lovely walk, but all up hill, to a view of the 2 main bays on the north side of the Island, Cooks and Oponuhu bays. We had a picnic at the top before heading back down. It was probably somewhere between 8-10 miles and we were very tired when we got back to the boat. After a few days we moved around the corner to Oponohu bay which was quieter but not quite as pretty. Then we anchored on the outside of the bay just inside the reef. It was a lovely quiet spot and the first night we were the only boat there sitting surrounded by reef and mountains. The following morning we were joined by Chris and Rani on Ladybug and the 4 of us went along the inside of the reef to see what is called Stingray City.
Stingray City is actually a shallow sandy area inside the reef where the tourist boats feed the stingrays. We arrived early before the boats with our tin of sardines to feed them. As soon as we dropped the anchor there were rays all around the boat swimming right to the surface. There were so many that it was difficult to get out of the dinghy and stand up. Unfortunately, they didn't like our tinned sardines so went back to relaxing until they heard a tour boat arrive. Then they all went over to the boat and the guide was feeding them fresh fish. The rays were climbing all over him trying to get to the food, it was amazing. The guide did not mind us joining them so we swam over and the rays were rubbing against us, it was a very strange feeling. Eventually, the sharks also arrive and there were about 6 black tips just patrolling around us. We sat watching the rays from the boat for a while and they were practically coming out of the water. A great experience.
We spent the remainder of the day with Chris and Rani and then bid farewell to them as they were returning to Tahiti and we were continuing on to Huahine. We left for Huahine late afternoon the following day. It was an 80 mile trip and we had to arrive in the day to go through the reef with good light. It was an uncomfortable sail with fairly light winds but we arrived at the entrance at about 7am. We had decided to stop on the east side of the island and anchored in 10ft of water behind a long motu which ran to the southern tip of the island. It was an idyllic spot. We were the only boat and the water was crystal clear and very still. There was a continuous flow of current so the boat just sat in the same position for 3 days. We did not move and it was flatter than being tied up in a marina.
While anchored on the east side, we did a drift snorkel from the south end of the motu back to the boat. There were patches of nice coral but also a lot of dead. We saw one area which was covered in sea anemones with lots of Nemo's living in it! We also tried to paint our toe rail again as the sea was so flat but the rain stopped that. After 3 days of solitude we have moved around to the west of the island to the main town Fare. Our friends Barbara and Michael on Astarte arrived here at the same time and we are looking forward to dinner with them this evening. We have also been into town and stocked up on fruit and veg. We have had our first bananas since the Tuamotus and we have gone at least a week without Pampelmousse (a very large grapefruit but sweeter and juicier)!
Tomorrow we are moving to another anchorage further south of where we are which hopefully has some good snorkelling. It looks as if the winds will be building over the next few days so we want a quieter place than where we currently are!
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