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American Spirit II - Day 109; On to Papeete in Tahiti, Anchor Roller Problem & Follie a Deux Dinner Party; Tuesday, April 22, 2014



Up at 6:30 AM. Stephen already up drinking coffee. An early breakfast today as we're moving from Moorea to Papeete, Tahiti, only 10 miles away. Before leaving we had to deflate the dingy, take off the oars and seat, dry it off and then roll it up in its stowage wrap, and put it below. Then we had to weigh anchor, which took about 10 minutes; mainly due to the mud that Joel had to 'bucket off' the chain and anchor.

Once underway we put up the mainsail and headed out of the bay, following the large catamaran Vivo which had departed ahead of us. We put 2 fishing lines in the water before we left the bay, and once thru the pass, with breakers on each side of us crashing into the reef, we emptied the holding tank and started making water with our water maker. Water production was very good, at 7.0 GPH (Gallons per Hour). We needed half a tank, and wouldn't be able to get it filled in the 2 to 3 hour motor sail to Tahiti. We'll have to rely on water in the marina when we get there, using a charcoal filter attached to our hose when filling the tank.

The top of Mount Orohena on Tahiti, its largest mountain at 7,340 feet, stuck out of the cloud bank over the island. Impressive. Tahiti is surrounded by reefs, as all of the Society Islands are, with these reefs being 1/2 to 2 miles from shore. Tahiti also has the largest population in French Polynesia, with 80,000 inhabitants.

Originally we were going to head to the Papeete Yacht Dock, entering thru the reef at the Passe de Papeete. Before entering the pass we would have to contact Port Control and get their permission to enter thru the pass and enter into the harbor area. High security like at the Panama Canal. Not sure why. However, we elected not to proceed to this dock because of a concern that we wouldn't be able to get electricity and water once there. So 10 minutes from the pass we 'turned right' and headed for Taapuna Pass 5 or 6 miles away to the south, as we were going to go to Marina Taina instead. This marina had electricity and water, restaurants, showers and bathrooms. Its only negative was that it was 5 miles from downtown Papeete where all of our World Cruising Club activities were based. And getting to downtown Papeete by cab is expensive.

As we approached the pass, a large catamaran was angling in from a different direction. We slowed down and let them go first. Never a bad idea to let another boat enter thru a pass with reefs and crashing waves on each side of you, that you've never entered before. Like the other passes in French Polynesia, this one was marked with buoys and was quite easy to enter. Unlike in the USA, however, it was not 'red right returning,' referring to the red buoys being on the right when entering a pass. In French Polynesia, the red buoys were on the left and green ones on the right. Surfers were riding their surf boards on the large waves to our starboard as we entered the pass, also. My pilot book said locals sometimes prefer than yachts not use the pass to mitigate the possibility of running over a surfer. After we entered the pass we 'turned left' and headed for the Marina Taina, only a couple of miles away. Once there, we radioed the marina on channel 9 and requested a berth. We were told to stand by until after lunch and would be given a spot by a departing sailboat. As it was around noon, we motored back and forth in front of the marina complex and between the many dozens of boats moored on mooring balls in the anchorage in front of the marina. The marina and moored boats numbered probably over 600. A large marina and anchorage area. We finally got tired of motoring around and grabbed onto a vacant mooring ball, turned off the engine and waited for a call to come into the marina. That call came around 2:00 PM. We filled the spot vacated by rally vessel Sweet Pearl.

On the way into the marina I requested to fuel the boat and was told to stop at the fuel dock. Once there, we attempted to fuel the boat with tax free diesel, because we had purchased a special permit to do so in Hiva Oa weeks previously, but the dock worker wouldn't OK that because we didn't have a fueling permit to show him. It was supposed to be in the computer, but the fuel dock didn't have a computer. So I walked off to the dock office, called our agent for French Polynesia, and got the matter straightened out. Took a half hour to do so. We filled up the main tank which was half empty and 5 or 6 empty jerry jugs, costing 26,000 francs or $289.00. We then moved to a temporary slip, which was actually a spot alongside a seawall.

Once there we attempted to run our power cords to the electric box nearest out boat. Big problem. Our USA electric cords did not fit the European type receptacles. Europe is on 220 watt's and the USA is 110. The marina did not have an adapter for us, which most marina in America would have for you. We then visited a chandlery at the marina, talked to a worker there, and he said that he might have a solution for us tomorrow. He was going in to town and would see if he could buy a transformer to convert the European energy to American energy. We'd still have to also have an adapter made to fit our electrical cords. And this transformer would only power our boat's electrical/battery systems, not our 2 air conditioners. Bummer, as it was HOT.

As I went to the dock office to get keys for the showers and bathrooms at the marina, Stephen headed off down the street to buy beer, and Joel took most or all of the 300 feet of anchor chain and laid it on deck so he could make a template for a machine shop for a aluminum backing plate for our anchor roller. Our anchor roller was insufficiently sturdy, so we needed to make it stronger. Otherwise, in a storm our anchor roller could fail as heavy waves pounded the boat while anchored. With the backing plate under the fiberglass it was currently attached to, we would strengthen it sufficiently so that that shouldn't be a problem. While making the templates, Joel noticed that part of the anchor roller had a crack in it along a seam, so he took the whole roller off the boat as we're also going to need to get it welded. I called our agent, and he indicated that he would stop by our boat at 8:00 AM the next morning to pick up our anchor roller and take it to a machine shop. The anchor roller probably weighs 20 pounds and is made of stainless steel.

I put a deposit down of 3,000 francs for 3 magnetic 'keys' for the showers and bathrooms in the marina complex; and converted some paper money to 100 franc coins to do the laundry. The washing machines and one dryer at the marina took 800 francs or $9.00 per load to wash and 800 francs to dry. Expensive. We can wash our clothes on board the boat if necessary, but we can't wash our sheets and mattress covers as they're too large to do so on the boat Because of only 5 washing machine and one dryer, the laundry room was busy. I'll probably have to wash and dry clothes either really early in the morning, say, 5:00 AM; or late at night, say after 10:00 PM. And the wash cycle is 40 or 45 minutes. We can't wash the sheets until April 24 because Stephen isn't leaving the boat until then. Because it is so hot on the boat, you sweat a lot and therefore the sheets really, really need to be washed after a month.

The next item on the 'fix it' list was to rewire the refrigerator and freezer compressors directly to a battery so that they didn't shut off when receiving a pre-mature low voltage alarm. They were shutting down before they should, necessitating us to run our generator more often than we needed to when anchored.

Prior to happy hour at an outdoor bar/restaurant 50 yards from out boat, we showered. Very relieving as it was very hot due in large part to a lack of wind to cool you. We're in the lee and northwest side of Tahiti, with the wind coming from the east or southeast. So the mountains block most of the wind. Unlike showers in the USA, these showers were unisex, meaning men and women used the same shower facility, albeit different showers with doors and locks on them in the facility. Its easy to tell the sex of anyone else in a shower stall in the facility by the size of the flip flops outside the private shower stall.

Happy hour started at 5:00 PM. While there we ran into Charlie and Cathy from the large yacht Celebrate. They had to skip the Tuamotu Islands and travel directly from Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas to Tahiti to have work done on their boat. Though needing to have their boat hauled out of the water, they couldn't get that done in a timely fashion, so they will haul the boat out of the water when they get to Australia.

At 6:30 PM we headed to Follie a Deux, where Tim and Tracy were having us and the crew from Alpheratz, over for a spaghetti and meatball and garlic bread dinner. It was excellent, except for the 'fumble.' When Joel received his plastic plate full of spaghetti and meatballs, and by 'full' I mean it was loaded, the plate flexed and dropped the entire contents onto his legs and feet, burning him because it was so hot. Not McDonald's coffee hot, but really hot. Hopefully there won't be any blisters in the morning as a result of this 'fumble.' I use the word 'fumble' because that is one of Joel's favorite words whenever anything is ever dropped on the boat.

This dinner was really our first opportunity of talking in detail with the crew of Alpheratz, a 34 year old Swan 51: Tommy, James, Bradley and John (?). They were instrumental in helping Tim from Follie a Deux when he (Tim) had part of one of his fingers cut off by the wind turbine on his boat in the San Blas Islands of Panama. Dinner ended around 9:30 PM. Once back at the boat, everyone collapsed into their berths. No movie tonight. It'd been a long day, and the heat really prematurely tires you out.

Brian Fox




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