May 6
We're back in the water! We checked out of the hotel on Thursday. I advised the girls "don't be concerned if you hear mommy crying herself to sleep tonight" and we stayed on the boat overnight even though it was on the hard. I didn't cry but that's only because we went to dinner at a great little hole in the wall restaurant "Chez Nous" and had a delicious poisson cru for dinner with the crew of Southern Cross and a member of the Eva crew. That being said I do miss the bed, the a/c and the ice!
So Friday they launched us in the afternoon. The crew of Southern Cross was very helpful - they kept the girls occupied for hours so Lee and I could finish the last items before launch. The girls loved helping them (helping them wash/hang clothes is exciting - helping mom with that not so much!). I had to scrub the boat above the waterline and Lee finished the lifelines and bottom paint when the rudder fix was complete. The bill was about $5k - so less than we were expecting (that's always a good thing!) and we were in around 4:30pm. For some reason my normally conservative husband was intent on making it to Marina Taina - a 1 1/2 hour or so sail away. It gets dark by 6pm. We had almost no fuel. But for some reason he was determined. So we passed one boat on the reef then entered a new passage while it was completely dark, with breaking waves (meaning very shallow coral reef) within 15 feet or so. I was not a happy camper. Oh, and the buoy system is different than in US - Red on right returning is normal in the US - here it's red on left, green on right, until it's not, as in red on land side and green on reef side. By the way I've seen people walking on the shallow areas within the reef (at the very area we were in) so it's very shallow. And one of the buoys/markers wasn't lit as it was supposed to be. It's purely luck when you enter such a passage at night when you can't see the water color (which gives you an idea of depth) and you don't run aground. I'd prefer not to rely on luck.
But we made it, then the next day got some fuel. We have a special "sticker" that allows us to buy duty free fuel, but they don't do that on weekends so we bought about 20 gallons and headed off to Moorea - roughly 15 miles from Tahiti. It was sooooo nice to actually sail again! We sailed and anchored in a lagoon on the Northwest part of the island yesterday afternoon. Today we snorkelled at the reef (just 200 meters or so from the boat) and saw a lot of fish, 2 spotted eels, and some really fabulous sea anemones. Then after lunch we went to the beach and the girls had a great time playing with some local children on boogie boards. They didn't speak English but the girls managed to communicate well enough to have an enjoyable time.
Now it's movie time then we'll see what happens tomorrow. Moorea is a beautiful island.
Goodnight,
Pauline