Hike to the 3 Palm Trees

July 8, 2011

After Dave saw Jim off on the bus to the ferry, we moved Soggy Paws around the corner to anchor up inside Robinson's Cove, deep inside Opunohu Bay. This is a totally different sort of anchorage than the Opunohu Beach anchorage, which was off a palm-studded beach in aquamarine water. Robinson's Cove is in a deep bay with high mountains on all sides and a lush vally 'ahead'. The water is not that clear, because of the stream emptying into the bay, but it is a beautiful anchorage.

When we anchored there, only our friends on Dreamaway were anchored in the cove, so we felt very remote after the crowded and busy beach anchorage. Though friends had told us there was no internet up inside the bay, we were delighted to find an open wifi spot (seemed only to be turned on in the afternoon and evenings).

We had a great dinner aboard Dreamaway, with fresh shrimp from the shrimp farm on the way to Belvedere. Over dinner we made plans with Graham and Avril for our hike to the '3 Palm Trees'.

It's easy to get to the 3 Palms lookout using the path from the Belvedere, but Avril wanted to try getting there using one of the other paths shown in the Lonely Planet, and come back down the easy way.

We set out from the boats at about 9:15, and walked up the road toward the Belvedere. We had a little trouble finding the starting point of Avril's alternate route. It seemed to be at the right turn-off just before the 2Km marker on the way up to the Belvedere. This is actually part of the agricultural school. When we asked some people working there how to get to the 3 Cocos, they pointed up the road to the Belvedere. But we didn't want to go that way, so we wandered off on our own.

After hiking across the ag school property, through pineapple fields and past the pig farm, generally heading toward the lone palm tree on the ridge, and trying to follow the directions in the Lonely Planet, we eventually stumbled on the start of a path going the right direction. We found a few pieces of red and white tape fluttering from tree branches as we walked along, so we were pretty sure we were on the right path.

Eventually, after a long way hiking through huge mape (map-ay) trees, and crossing the stream a bunch of times, our path merged with the one from the Belvedere, and we met a couple of other hikers who confirmed we were on the right route.

Finally, at 1pm, we emerged on the ridge. We had brought lunch with us, so we enjoyed the view and ate our lunch. There were a couple of scraggly young coconut trees where we were eating, but not 'the' coconut tree that is so visible from down below. Where was it? Dave said we had, in our last scramble to get to the top, must have passed right by it and didn't even notice it. We must slow down and take notice of it on our way down!!

The way down was easier, of course. But we still somehow blew right past the lone coconut tree without seeing it. We remembered one level down in the vegetation, but it wasn't visible. I know it's there, but we never saw it!

For the route down, we went across to the Belvedere first. This was a much easier route, because it was mostly going across the face of the hills and not up and down the hills. We stopped again at the Ice Cream shop on the road down from the Belvedere.

We were really dog tired by the time we arrived back at our dinghies--at 5pm. We'd been hiking for 8 hours!!

And 10 boats had moved into our 'private' anchorage, due to gusty winds out in the beach area.

A Long Way Home

July 6, 2011

Dave's friend Jim Neale left today for his 40-hour trip back to Florida. Here was his route:

- Dinghy trip to the beach (09:30am)
- Bus on Moorea to the Ferry Dock
- Ferry to Papeete
- Shopping and lunch downtown
- Bus to the airport (last bus leaves at 6pm)
- Overnight Flight to LAX (departure 11pm)
- 12 hour layover in LAX
- Flight to Orlando

He arrived on Friday morning, and was picked up at the Orlando airport by his friend Rene. Then he had to make 2 stops for us before he could go to sleep... one in Orlando to drop off an electronic device for repair, and one to the Post Office to mail a package for us.

He had a great time visiting us for 2 weeks in Tahiti and Moorea, but I think he was ready to head home by the time he left. (Life aboard with Dave can be kind of exhausting!)

Safely Back in Opunohu Bay

We did manage to get out of Haapiti 2 days ago. We checked the pass twice in the dinghy, and then waited for the most propituous time (high tide, good daylight, lessening seas), and battened down the hatches tighter than we've ever done for almost any passage. The wind was starting to pick up as forecast, and we were feeling pretty isolated. We did NOT want to get stuck there for the next 5 days of high swell.

We put a single reef in the main, and then hung on tight and motored at about 4kts out the pass (with an additional 2 kts of current behind us). We had huge breakers about 100' either side of us, but the pass WAS clear. It was scary in anticipation, but the end result wasn't as bad as we had feared. All went well, and we only buried the bow once or twice, and not that bad. (It was much much much worse, as far as water over the deck, 2 or 3 days out of Hawaii when we were beating to weather in 20-25kts).

Once we cleared the pass by 1/4 mile, all the excitement was over. We put some more sail up and had a nice sail for the 10 miles around to Opunohu. The huge swell wasn't bad--it was a very long period swell and no bid deal. We didn't see any whales, but once we were free of that pass, it was a beautiful day.

Opunohu is crowded again--back up to about 24 boats in the outer anchorage and 10 or so inside each of Cook's Bay and Oponohu Bay. Many boats left the Marina Taina anchorage in Papeete because of the weather forecast.

Today we're heading out for a 'bus adventure'. We will go out and try to take the bus around the island. It's a little more difficult than it sounds, because the bus only goes halfway--to the ferry terminal, and then doesn't go all the way around on the other side. And the schedule is erratic--it is timed to the ferry schedule, according to Lonely Planet. But it should be a great adventure. Our friends tell us that hitchhiking, if you get stuck, is a pretty good solution in Moorea.

Trapped Inside the Reef!!

In the middle of the night we could hear the noise of the surf pick up. And it belatedly occurred to me that I'd never gotten around to checking the swell height forecast along with the wind. Sure enough, when I pulled down the day's forecast, though the wind forecast was still for under 10 knots, the swell height had jumped from 1.6 meters to 3.9 meters overnight. This is from a deep low down in the 'Roaring Forties'--600+ miles away from us.

And, guess what? Our 'deep pass that rarely breaks' was breaking all the way across. And, there's no other way out of this area. And there's no really good spot to get out of the winds that are forecast to blow up to 20-25knots in the next couple of days. And, there's no real town here, or internet. Sheesh!

We checked the pass by dinghy as soon as we got through breakfast, and it was definitely too bad to get out safely. By mid-day when we checked again, it was even worse, and we had a roaring 2 knot current now in our nice quiet anchorage. This is caused by the waves breaking over the reef pouring tons of water into the lagoon, and the only way out for the water is via the one deep pass. Quite a different scene from when we came in the day before.

We saw only one local fishing boat go out early in the morning. And there were no surfers out in the pass at all. The surf out in front of us was booming on the reef all day.

There was nothing to do but hang out and enjoy the scenery and hope the waves subside as forecast. We did re-anchor, inching a little further onto the sand bank, to let out more scope and still be out of the deep area, which was very agitated because of the current.

This is a nice enough anchorage now, but the seas are forecast to go even higher in the next couple of days, and the wind is supposed to pick up and blow for a few days in the 20 knot range. There isn't any protection from the wind where we are, so we'd really like to get out of here to a more protected location.

The forecast for today is that the wind will pick up some--to the 15-20 range, and the seas will subside a little, before starting to pick back up again tomorrow morning. So we are hoping to get out at midday. We took a peek by dinghy this morning and the pass does look marginally passable--scary as hell, though, motoring out in a slow sailboat into seas like that. We are waiting for a few more hours before attempting to go out at high tide. If we don't make it out this afternoon or tomorrow morning, we'll be stuck here for 3-4 more days.
-----
Sherry & Dave
In French Polynesia til August, then west toward Tonga
http://svsoggypaws.blogspot.com

At 7/1/2011 10:54 PM (utc) our position was 17°34.42'S 149°52.13'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm

Exploring Moorea's West Coast

After a few days of hanging out in Opunohu Bay, Dave got itchy paws and wanted to go exploring. So we looked in our guidebook (Cruising Guide to Tahiti and the French Society Islands by Marcia Davock), for a less well-known anchorage. Though this guide was last updated in 1985, it is still the best, most complete cruising guide for this area.

The weather was perfect for exploring--sunny skies, light and variable winds and slight seas. The forecast was for 2 more days of these nice conditions. We headed out of the Oponohu anchorage on Friday morning, headed 11 miles around the corner to the west coast of Moorea. We were headed for Passe Matauvau and the town of Haapiti.

Several of the west coast passes were marked with 'shallow and often covered with breakers', but Matauvau is supposed to be wider and deeper and more of an all-weather pass. The Davock guide shows several possible anchorages inside the reef near the pass, and starts the writeup with "Port Haapiti is our favorite anchorage on Moorea's west coast."

It was another gorgeous day, and we motored slowly down to the pass, making water as we went. Jim was on the bow looking out for whales, as July marks the start of whale season in French Polynesia. We did see a 'whale watching boat' out with tourists, but only spotted a few porpoises nearby.

The Matauvau Pass is well known among the surfers as a great surf spot (which is not always a good recommendation for an anchorage), and we saw a number of surfers and surf-watchers in boats hanging out on the south side of the pass as we approached. The surf on the edges of the pass looked pretty awesome, but the pass was OK, and we motored right in.

With no wind for 2 days, the lagoon inside the reef was flat calm and crystal clear, and it was easy to find our chosen anchor spot in 8-9' of sand at 17-34.43 S / 149-52.14 W. Our choice of anchoring depths were 8' or 60', so we chose the shallow sand bank. We contemplated taking Soggy Paws further south into another anchorage shown in the guide, but we decided to anchor in the easy spot and take the dinghy down to check out the anchorage first--the way south was in a narrow channel through coral, and the sun would be a factor if we didn't like the anchorage and wanted to backtrack. There were 3 other sailboats anchored right off the town. We figured they were surfer boats. One of the three loaded up a surfboard and left right after we arrived.

We had a nice time exploring by dinghy--but were glad we'd anchored where we did. And we took a nice snorkel in the shallow sand and scattered coral heads.

As we were enjoying our 'sundowners' and admiring the sunset, we were surprised to see the other two boats pick up anchor and leave. But the next island in the chain, Huahine (pronounced Wah-heenee), is only 80 miles away, and so most boats leave late in the afternoon for the short overnight passage. And they did, in face, head off in that direction.
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Anchored off Haapiti in Moorea
At 7/1/2011 10:54 PM (utc) our position was 17°34.42'S 149°52.13'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm

Hanging Out in Oponuhu Bay

June 25-July 1

After the Rendezvous was over, the 50 boats that had been anchored off the beach thinned out rapidly. Many boats went back to Tahiti to finish provisioning and checking out. A good number also headed west toward Huahine, the next island downwind. We stayed right where we were and enjoyed ourselves.

One day, we got together with Mike and Sue from Infini and Neil and Ruthie from Rutea and made the hike up to 'The Belvedere' (belvedere is French for scenic overlook). We dinghied deep into Opunohu Bay itself, locked our dinghies to a couple of trees, and hiked up to the Belvedere. This route is on a pretty nice paved road, and only takes about 3 hours round trip. The road goes right past the Agricultural School, which has a little stand out front, and makes a nice potty and ice cream stop. We stopped both ways. They also sell a variety of tropical jams, and also fresh pineapple grown on the island. We bought some of each.

Also, on the way up, the road passes two 'Marae'--old Tahitian stone structures that have been excavated by archaeologists and partially rebuilt.

Once up at the Belvedere, Dave talked with a helpful tour guide, who told us about two short side-hikes... one to the '3 Pine Trees' and one to the '3 Coconut Palms'. Both are on side paths through the forest in either direction. He said the 3 Pine Trees was only 30 minutes, and provided a nice look down into adjacent Cook's Bay. So we went off in that direction. The tour guide was off by a factor of 2--the round trip out to the 3 Pine Trees took us another 2 hours, but it was a very nice walk through the cool forest. We were pretty hot and tired and thirsty by the time we got back to the dinghies.

Another day, we borrowed a 3rd bike from another cruiser and toted all 3 bikes ashore for a nice afternoon of bicycling around. We cycled over to Cooks Bay, stopping along the way at several places, including a 'Gump Scientific Research Station' (google Gump Moorea for more info). We met up with Mike and Sue from Infini, who had moved Infini over into Cooks Bay for a couple of days. We took the coastal road on the way out and the 'Pineapple Road' on the way back. The coastal road was flat but had periodic traffic. The Pineapple Road was much quieter and scenic--off the beaten path--but required a little hill work, which none of us was in shape for. But the coast down the hill at the end was great!

On another day, we dinghied downwind about 2 miles inside the reef for snorkel stops at 'The Stone Tikis' and the 'Ray Feeding Station'. Both were kinda cool. The stone tikis are a bunch of 3-4' high stone statues (traditional carvings) sunk in 8' of sand. Not sure how they got there or why, but probably some tourist-minded person put them there to give us something to go look at!! And the Ray feeding is a shallow sandy area off a resort where people hand-feed the big stingrays. These rays are about 3 feet, wingtip to wingtip, and do have a stinger at the base of their tail. They are so used to being fed that when we arrived in our dinghies, they immediately congregated under our boats. There are boatloads of tourists coming and going all the time. Swarms of people shuffling in the sand among the rays. We took a can of sardines to feed them and they would come and almost crawl up your body trying to get to the food. A little creepy.

I kept looking at the stingers on the rays and thinking about the Crocodile Hunter getting stung in the heart. Methinks he must have been doing more than just observing the rays to get stung like that (or those rays have their stingers in a different location). The only way you could get stung by these would be to actually step on them, at the base of their tail.

Our final adventure, when the wind got really calm, was to go snorkel on the wreck of a German warship in the pass. The wreck is pretty old and broken up. Some structure is visible on the reef itself, in very shallow water that usually has surf breaking on it. But the interesting parts of the wreck--the huge old engine, and the anchor, were out by the green marker in the pass.

We also ran out to the mooring buoys outside the reef, where we'd seen dive boats coming and going. We hooked up on one and snorkeled around to see if it was worth a dive. But it was pretty barren. I would hate to pay $100/dive to see that. Apparently they had a really really bad Crown of Thorns outbreak here in 2008, and then a cyclone (hurricane). The reef is still struggling to recover. There is supposed to be some interesting rose-like coral at 150 feet, but we didn't want to dive that deep.

I could easily have just hung out for a few more days there, but Dave got 'wanderlust' and wanted to go exploring more of Moorea while the wind was down.

Tahiti Moorea Rendezvous - Day 3

Sunday, June 26

Day 3 of the Rendezvous was set aside for 'Fun and Games on the Beach'. We were on the beach promptly at 9am, when the canoe races were supposed to start. Since we'd been the first team to sign up, we knew we were in the first heat. Of course, after hustling my team off Soggy Paws and onto the beach at 9am, we didn't really get started with the canoe races until about 10am.

We had high hopes of winning our heat, but even though we paddled our guts out, we only came in 'not last' (3rd) in our heat of 4 boats. Dave blamed it on our boat, after someone pointed out to us that our boat looked a little wider and heavier than the others (a slightly tourist-ized version of the traditional outrigger canoes). But in a later heat, our boat won with a different team, so maybe it was just our tired old bodies.

25 4-person teams ended up signing up. The local team canoes hold a total of 6 people, so they put 4 cruisers to a team, with a big strong Tahitian in the bow to set the pace and another in the stern to steer. The Tahitians stayed with the boat in race after race. Except--after awhile two of the canoes' bowmen just disappeared during a crew changeover, so it ended up 5 cruisers and the guy steering. With 7 heats planned, I would imagine the Tahitians just got a little tired. There were enough 'Kid Boats' in the anchorage that they did one heat of just kids, which everyone thought was pretty cool.

The original race plan was to race from the beach out around a bouy and back. But then as we started asking questions about making the turn, etc, they decided that it would be better to make it a shorter, straight line race from the buoy, along the beach, and finishing right off the beach where everyone was gathered. It was fun--both participating and watching.

Since the last heat only had one boat, they asked if anyone who performed poorly in an earlier heat wanted to go again. Our team volunteered, but when we went to get in the boats, a kid team materialized out of nowhere and commandeered our boat--they were faster than us to climb in, and we were only half-interested in going again. But Dave ended up going as their bowman. Unfortunately, these were the smallest and skinniest of the kids, also on their second try, and they ended up in last place in that heat.

In addition to the canoe races, (which went on almost all day, with 7 heats and semifinals and finals), they had lots of other things organized. There were ladies doing more craft demonstrations--making lei's, making elaborate flowered hats, making tie-dye and batik pareus, and even a black pearl jewelry stand. For the men, there was a Tahitian rock carrying demonstration, and the 'fruit carry race'. One team member from each team got to compete in the fruit carry--2 heavy bunches of bananas on opposite ends of a pole--pick it up and race around the grounds. The 20-something guys inevitably won each heat of the fruit carry. Jim represented our team and did an outstanding job (but didn't win). A tug of war was listed on the events, but I guess they ended up scrapping that, and nobody missed it.

They also organized an impromptu swim race. They were talking about having us swim from the beach and out around a buoy, and back. Dave suggested instead, a straight line race in to the beach starting in the water from the nearest boat. This avoided the 'around the buoy' which could involve contact, and made the race shorter. But the organizer misunderstood and made it from the beach, out to the boat, and back. That was about 200 yards. Dave can easily smoke me in a short race, but I can beat him in a longer race. So I did beat him. But another guy--who looked like just another overweight cruiser when we were getting ready for the swim on the beach--smoked both of us. A ringer! 3 or 4 other people participated, and all barely made it back to the beach (no one but the winner was ready for 200 yards of hard swimming!)

We had paid an extra $25 for a 'Traditional pig roast meal' for lunch, but that was kind of a bust. They may have roasted a pig, but not where we could see/watch/participate. The meal came in a truck in large vats and was served cafeteria style into styrofoam plates. Hardly what we'd envisioned when we forked over $25 each. It was convenient having a meal ashore without having to make it on board, but at $25 wasn't a good value, to me. Much of the meal was 'traditional' starchy Polynesia stuff like taro, which tastes yucky to me.

They had drinks available after lunch, and I was being lazy and let Jim and Dave bring me refills. It was several hours later that I went for a refill myself and realized that the drink stand had both 'Juice' and 'Punch'--where the Punch had rum in it. My guys, non-party animals that they are, had been supplying me with straight juice, not punch.

The days festivities ended with an informal awards ceremony officiated by Stephanie, the Tahitian Tourist Board representative, and Andy Turpin from Latitude 38. They had a bunch of giveaway prizes, and a nice carved pearl shell memento for each boat. And everyone who didn't already have a lei on got lei'd.

A great time was had by all! Hopefully, pics coming soon!
-----
Sherry & Dave
In French Polynesia til August, then west toward Tonga
http://svsoggypaws.blogspot.com

At 7/1/2011 10:54 PM (utc) our position was 17°34.42'S 149°52.13'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm

Tahiti Moorea Rendezvous - Day 2

Saturday, June 25, 2011

We left Tahiti Yacht Club at 8am Saturday for a 9:30am start off the main channel going into Tahiti Harbor. We opted to exit out of the TYC mooring area using the entrance to the west, which turned out to be very tricky. It wasn't bad for us--we had a good chart and good light behind us, but I would choose the other channel (on the east end) in other conditions. Two other boats followed us out (baaa... like little lambs). Fortunately, even though they didn't stay close enough to really follow us, they managed to negotiate the hairpin turn with a little cross current with no problems, and made it out safely too.

Because of organizational issues and (I think) wind conditions, they announced after we had dropped the mooring that the start was delayed until 10am. So we hung out off Tahiti and finished our breakfast. Unfortunately, what we thought was going to be a nice downwind sail in reasonable winds, turned into a beat in 5 knots of wind. (Local land effect combined with generally light air). There was a huge starting line, but one end was about a half mile closer to Moorea than the other, so the start was a zoo with about 25 cruising boats trying to cross the starting line in the same 2-boat length area (and not sailing well because of the very light air). We decided to be safe and just cross the line on the other side of the committee boat--not technically starting, but who cares. But the committee boat--which was not anchored--because it was over 400 feet deep--obligingly stretched the line to include us too.

After an hour of drifting around and obviously not in any contention for the lead, we turned on our engine and motored the rest of the 18 miles to Opunohu Bay, Moorea. Only 9 boats out of the 42 registered actually sailed the whole way. The wind finally filled in some in the middle of the channel, but died again as the boats approached the finish. The boats that sailed finished around 4pm.

As we approached Opunohu Bay, we said "Holy Moley, look at all the boats!" But there was still plenty of room and we eventually had about 50-60 boats anchored there. We made our way to the very head of the anchoring area, where the water was very shallow (9' deep). We knew that most of the California boats (which are the real cruising newbies out here, and also 7' draft) would not venture into such shallow water. We got a lovely anchorage, away from the crowd, inside the reef, in 9' sand and good holding. If the wind picked up--no one would drag down on us. Eventually (2 days later) the wind did pick up and 2 boats dragged through the fleet--they had anchored in 25' on short scope and not set their anchor.

Since we motored in early, we missed the welcoming canoe race that was supposed to start at 3pm--when all the boats were SUPPOSED to be finishing. But we got there in plenty of time for the music and drinks on the beach. It was fun meeting lots of people we had been talking to on the radio, but hadn't met in person yet.

They put out the signup board for the activities the next day, and we signed up "Team Paws". We recruited Kathy from Endorfin to be our fourth person.

Andy Turpin in his welcome speech the night before had mistakenly said that there would be dinner on the beach on Saturday--but the handout didn't mention dinner. So we were hoping for dinner, but I also took something out of the freezer just in case. It turned out that no dinner was forthcoming as part of the Rendezvous, but we were tired and ready for showers and the quiet of Soggy Paws by then anyway.
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In French Polynesia til August, then west toward Tonga
At 7/1/2011 10:54 PM (utc) our position was 17°34.42'S 149°52.13'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm

Tahiti Moorea Rendezvous - Day 1

Friday, June 24, 2011

The Rendezvous, organized by the Tahiti Tourism Council and Andy Turpin of Latitude 38, kicked off with a briefing and cocktail party on Friday night. The briefing included a bunch of useful information (in English) about facilities and anchorages in the Society Islands. In addition to French Polynesia information, the Tahiti Tourism bunch have partnered with the New Zealand Opua bunch, and there were representatives from several businesses in Opua, NZ handing out packets of information about NZ and answering questions.

They also had a few spots where Tahitians were doing native craft demonstrations (making lei's and etc). After a blessing of the fleet by a Tahitian in an impressive traditional costume, they served up a nice rum punch. The final step was to lead the PPJ crowd down to the Quay-side, to the Roulotte area, and where there was to be native dancing after dinner. Someone in our group wanted 'steak frites' (steak and fries), so we chose a roulotte with some good-smelling steak and fries. We all had a great time.

We had been stressing about transportation back after 6pm when the buses quit running, and had even toyed with coming around from TYC in the dinghies. Because of weather fears (rain/wind) and navigating the channels at night in the dinghies, we decided to take the bus in and taxi back. We easily found a mini-bus taxi on the water side of the roulottes that agreed to take all 5 of us (us, guest Jim, and Mike & Sue on Infini) back to TYC for the standard fare of 2,500 CFP (about $30). A little steep, but safer than the dinghy option.
-----
Sherry & Dave
In French Polynesia til August, then west toward Tonga
http://svsoggypaws.blogspot.com

At 6/26/2011 12:56 AM (utc) our position was 17°29.30'S 149°51.05'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm

Two Weeks in Tahiti

I can't believe that we spent two weeks in Tahiti and I never got a chance to post an update. We've been busy busy busy with all the things you do in a new port... customs/immigration, provisioning, repairs, sightseeing, meeting new people--both cruisers and locals, and getting ready for the next port.

We went in with our friends on Infini and rented a car for 3 days. They needed to get their son Matt (and all his stuff) to the airport, and taxis are ridiculously expensive, and so they decided to just rent a car to get him there. At the time of committing to rent with them for 3 days, we thought the rental price was a great deal at $35/day. Well, when we got to the airport to pick up the car, we found that too-incredible-to-be-true price WAS too incredible. The real price ended up about $120/day!! That booking price was only for the car--and included no mileage and no extra insurance for an international rental.

The mileage cost was going to be 54 CFP per kilometer. When you do the calculations for the exchange rate and mileage, the cost ended up near 70 cents a mile!!! (without considering refilling the gas tank at $7/gallon). So we ended up switching to an unlimited mileage rate, which was quite a bit more expensive, but worked out better for us in the end.

We did, however, get to see every major road on the island...we drove all the way around Tahiti Nui (the big half of Tahiti), and all the way down both sides of Tahiti Iti. We also attempted to, but did not succeed, in driving over the top of Tahiti Nui. This is a route that a friend of ours told us about, as a 'not to miss' experience. The Lonely Planet said that the road was closed, but a couple of locals we consulted said it was open. So we attempted it. A very bad road--gravel--full of potholes and lake-like mudpuddles--and 2 river crossings... in our tiny Peugot rental car. It took us 2 1/2 hours to go the 20K (12 miles) to the top of the mountain. Then it started raining. And the small hotel at the top of the mountain told us the road down on the other side was blocked. So we turned around and went back the way we came. But it was a spectacular drive up through a gorge in the mountains of Tahiti. We did get a chance to hike for an hour up into the rain forest during part of our drive, and also see the Paul Gaugain Museum and the famous surfing spot on the SW corner of Tahiti.

Next was provisioning--checking out the grocery stores and markets, and trying to figure out what we need to restock with and can afford. Fortunately there is a huge Carrefour--the French version of a Super Walmart--2 blocks from the Yacht Club. So this made everything easy. And the end of the bus ride into town is at the big downtown fresh-air market.

The only thing that took a little extra effort was taking advantage of the opportunity to buy duty free liquor... we had to get paperwork from our agent and make several trips to the duty free liquor place. But we'll have some $5/bottle wine, rum, and liqueur delivered to Tahiti Yacht Club this morning. Unfortunately, beer, even duty free, is not a bargain here. The cheapest deal was Hinano, the local beer, by the case, on sale at Carrafour, at 3500 CFP/case in cans. Ouch! At the current exchange rate, that is about $43, or about $1.75/can. A few boats still have beer from Mexico or Panama, but everyone else has cut way down on their beer consumption!

We also did a little gift shopping in downtown Papeete. Nearly every store is selling black pearls of every shape and color. Since we had already bought plenty of pearls last year, we were not really buying much. But did get a few gifts. The least expensive deal--a non-perfect pearl of moderate size on a string--runs about 1500 CFP (about $19), and the prices go up rapidly from there, according to the quanitity and quality of the pearl(s) and the necklace and finishing. There was one shop where you could buy very blemished pearls by the gram. And another where you could pick your pearl (for varying prices) and pick your setting, and they would set it for you 'while you wait' (in a few hours). There are also loads of beautiful wood carvings, etc. All expensive, though. But it was fun looking and touching.

Finally, we just enjoyed hanging out at Tahiti Yacht Club. It reminded us somewhat of our own Melbourne Yacht Club--lots of sailing going on, and children in prams taking classes, etc. After a few days, we found that the bar which advertised a daily special lunch at $16-17, also had a hidden 'snack' menu, where you could get a cheeseburger and fries for about $10 (a pretty good deal in French Poly). Also, this was the first place (except Hawaii) in about 4 years where we could actually do our own laundry in a machine--wash and dry a moderate load for $8 total. Another bargain.

We were also able to top off our fuel at duty free prices, with the 'Yacht in Transit' paperwork from our agent. Instead of paying about $6/gallon for diesel, like the locals do, we only paid about $4/gallon. Nice.

We have been trying ever since we left Florida to get Dave's Naval Academy roommate to come visit us. He was signed on to do the Panama Canal trip with us, but a medical issue forced him to cancel. So finally he has realized that we are getting farther away and more expensive to visit by the week, and he decided to come meet us while we were still in the Tahiti area. He told us 2 days in advance that he was coming (with our approval, of course). So in what was supposed to be the lull between arrival and departure from Tahiti--we were getting ready for a visitor.

Jim arrived without problem--in spite of the fact that, because he was arriving at 5:30am, and taxis are so expensive, Dave declined to go meet him at the airport. He made Jim take the bus. But Jim managed just fine. Tahiti is a pretty friendly place and everyone was helpful to him. And we had given him good instruction--"Write the name of your destination on a piece of paper, and show it to everyone you see." That worked well.

So, on Friday, we officieally joined the Tahiti Moorea Rendezvous, sponsored by Lattitude 38 Magazine and the Tahiti Tourism Board. That kicked off with a nice informational briefing and a welcoming reception by the mayor of Tahiti. 42 boats officially joined the Rendezvous. In previous years, this was free, but this year there is a $25pp entry fee--times are tough here in Tahiti as well, and they couldn't muster enough sponsorship to make it free this year. The event includes a 'rally' to Moorea, 15 miles away, and a day of fun and games on the beach in Opunohu Bay.
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In French Polynesia til August, then west toward Tonga
At 6/26/2011 12:56 AM (utc) our position was 17°29.30'S 149°51.05'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm

Nous sommes arrivee a Tahiti

We (along with about 15 other boats on passage at the same time) arrive in Tahiti early this morning. We managed to be the first ones at the Tahiti Yacht Club and have gotten on a mooring. Though we emailed them a couple of times, they will not reserve moorings. What we heard was 'come in and if you find one, take it, then register in the office'. We are liable to be kicked off at any time if a member returns, but the manager, Michel, did not seem fazed when we told him we were hoping to stay for 10 days.

Our friends on Infini, who arrived from Rangiroa yesterday and anchored overnight at Point Venus (made famous by Captain Cook), arrived right behind us and also got a mooring. Two other boats we met in Toau are also here (Songline and the Dutch boat Libis).

Our first order of business was breakfast (omlettes ashore at the 'snack' next to the yacht club), and then the grocery story. We have notified our agent that we are here. We have 48 hours to complete our formalities, and may go ashore in the meantime.

The moorings at YC de Tahiti are 900 CFP per day (about $10) per day, and come with hot shower privileges. There is a laundry here too, which costs $8 for wash and dry.

Most of our friends proceeded on downtown to the 'Quai de Yachts' or to the moorings/anchorage off Marina Taina.
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At 6/13/2011 9:18 PM (utc) our position was 17°31.42'S 149°32.17'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm