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American Spirit II - Day 104; Arrived Captain Cook's Bay, Moorea & Pearls; Thursday, April 17, 20114



Stephen had flashes of lightning on the 3:00-6:00 AM watch. I had him wake me at 5:45 AM so I could watch the sun rise, looking for my second green flash sun rise. No luck. Clouds on the horizon.

Wind 8 knots, speed 6.0 knots. ETA Moorea 4:45 PM. Skylark, another Rally boat, 1.3 miles away from us to leeward. Firefly is 3.7 miles behind us.

At 6:18 AM I increased the engine RPM from 1,600 to 1,800 to give us .2 or 3 more knots in speed, to make sure we arrive in Moorea in daylight. That increase gets us in one hour sooner.

7:10 AM Land Ho! Sighted Tahiti 48 miles away. Still no sign of Moorea. Clouds on that part of horizon. Have to take what you can get. Mount Orohena rises to 7,340 feet on Tahiti. I could see the lower left and right sides, and extreme top, of this mountain, as the middle of it was obscured by clouds. In daylight I probably could have seen Tahiti 60 miles away.

During the 11:00 AM net hosted by American Spirit II, Firefly gave me the GPS coordinates of the two marinas we're staying in in Tahiti next week. One of the advantages of the net - relaying information like that between boats.

Around 3:45 PM we entered thru the reef outside of Cook's Bay in Moorea. Very well buoyed channel. Unlike in the USA, though, it is not 'red right returning.' The red buoys are on the left in French Polynesia. And you've got to hand it to the French. Their buoy, range marker and channel light systems are great.

We anchored 50 yards off of the Bali Hai Hotel. II Audeacious was already there. We dropped the anchor in 40 feet of water and after letting out 160 feet of chain, decided to weigh anchor and try it again. Too close to the other sail boat.

Moorea is only 10 miles from Tahiti, and is one of the Society Islands. Tahiti and Bora Bora are also in the Society Islands. The island itself is about 65 kilometers in circumference.

Dinner at 5:30 PM. 3 large T-Bone steaks, baked potatoes, Couscous and chilled pear halves. The steaks were cooked on the gas grill at the back of the boat by Chef Joel.

During the 6:00 PM net only Follie a Deux and us were on the net. The other two boats were apparently in the process of anchoring in the bay 2.5 miles to the west of us. Because Cook's Bay is surrounded by mountains, the communications between us and Follie were garbled.

II Audeacious invite(chocolate) party at 8:00 PM. However, Stephen and I fell asleep and Joel decided to cancel the invitation rather than go by himself. I woke up at 9:20 AM to light rain. After putting the cockpit cushions away and closing hatches, went back to sleep. Even with the entrance to the pass about a mile away, you could hear the breakers crashing onto the reef.

French Polynesia is noted for their cultured pearls. A 'large' cultured pearl takes 4 to 5 years to harvest. The price of these pearls is determined by a number of factors, including size, shape, quality and color. A similar rating system like diamonds. The pearl size is usually between 8 and 12 mm, with only a few pearls reaching a size larger than 12 mm. The different Shapes are round, semi-round, semi-baroque, baroque and circled. The Quality rating has 4 possibilities: Category A, very high luster with less than 10% imperfection on its surface. Category B, nice or average luster with less than a third imperfection on its surface. Category C, average luster with less than two thirds imperfections on the surface. Category D, pearl without luster and with over two thirds imperfections on its surface. These Society Island pearls come in many shades of colors, including green, blue, gold, silver, and purple. The most sought after are eggplant, rainbow and 'fly win' green colored pearls. I have no idea what 'fly win green' is. That's what the travel brochure said.

Brian Fox

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