June 15 2011

Well, Happy Birthday to me. Sure wish I would get a little wind for my birthday. We are motoring along with less than 5 kts of wind, en route to Tahiti. Would be nicer if we could sail (not to mention less expensive), but oh well we take what we get.

We left the south anchorage of Fakarava (Tekamanu) on Saturday. It was a pretty easy motorsail/sail up the channel. Sort of like following cairns on a hike, only it is on water and you follow the channel markers, staying left or right depending on the color of the mark. The marks by the way usually sat on coral heads, so good things to avoid. pulled into the north anchorage around 1500. Calou called and said it was a Holiday weekend, so the store was closing at 6pm and would not reopen until Tuesday. So, we quickly put our dinghy in the water and went into town for a few provisions. Didn't need much except bread, which they were out of. Bought a couple of Hinanos (tahitian beer) and walked around with Doug and Carla. Another very nice little town. Is very weird to be able to stand on the street and see water on both sides. Different water to be sure, but still.... After our walk (we resupplied our Hinanos) we made arrangements to dive the next afternoon. We watched the sunset from the dive shop dock, then headed back to the boats.

Sunday
Kind of a busy pre dive morning. Made plans to have a pizza party on Phambili (they caught back up to us after going to Tahiti, Borabora etc with family) that night a get together and pre birthday celebration for me.
The dive was excellent. Josh did great. Was my first tank dive in 7 years and the first time I dove with Josh. Technically I was a little rusty, but enjoyed it all the same. We saw big grouper and a huge tuna and of course the requisite sharks (not too close). The coral was beautiful as well. Dennis came up with zero air as usual, and I could tell it had been awhile for me, cuz I had less than 50 bar.
The pizza party was great! We had a large variety (each group brought some). It was my first pizza with peanut butter (thai chicken). Carla made a totally yummy yellow cake with chocolate frosting. MMMMMM!!! Have I mentioned lately, that it is all about the food?

Monday

Dennis fixed the generator. Sounds familiar huh? This time the glow plug wire was routed too close to the engine block, got hot, melted and shorted out. Thankfully mechanic extraordinaire was able to figure it all out and have it fixed by noon. We rented bikes for the afternoon (one speed beach cruiser kind) and toured the Island a little bit. Did a total of about 12-13 miles, which was about all our backsides could handle!!! We stopped for a late lunch at a roullette (read french polynesian roach coach). I had a tuna steak and fries and Dennis had a burger. Again yum. Had a pretty quiet night in preparation for departure on Tuesday.

Tuesday

Didn't quite get into town early enough for bread. Hard to believe they were out of bread before 830. These people are so nice though. The proprietress of the grocery store shook her head in disgust when I told her the boulangerie had no bread, and let me buy one of hers. Wow! Where else would that happen? So, we stocked up on a few more snacks, eggs, premade sandwiches for lunch and called it good. Had the anchor up by 1015 and made it out the North pass by 1120. We were able to fly the spinnaker for a few hours, but the wind died so the motor came on and has been on ever since. After all the wind we have had in the last few weeks, you would think there would have been some to spare for this passage, but apparently not. Was a beautiful night watch - big full moon, no squalls.

Wednesday

So, here we are about 120 miles from Papeete. No wind and pretty hot. We hope to be there by tomorrow morning, and will be there for a week, then will head out with the Tahiti Moorea sailing rondezvous, then will come back to Tahiti for final provisioning before heading out for BoraBora etc.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com