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Mischief - More Mischief in the Making Log 28 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Day 57 Wednesday 25th April 2018 - Taina marina to Papeete

It rained hard during the night and it got really hot below decks with the hatches all closed up. I went on deck to get a breath of air and promptly sat in a puddle in my pants which did little to lighten the mood! During one squall the wind really picked up and was banging a halyard onto the mast so sleep was difficult to come by but the thought of securing it in the torrential rain was too much, so it remained noisy until the wind dropped again.

To make up for yesterday the weather has turned out hot again today. Dave went to pay the bill for the marina and found that the garbage disposal charges were almost as much as the mooring itself and similarly the electricity - a really odd charging structure. The mooring chaps came to take our lines and we motored along the coast inside the reef to Papeete marina where we tied up again at the same slot on the reception pontoon and I went off into town to buy some new running shorts as my old ones were starting to look a little threadbare and showing rather more than they were designed to.

By the time I got back to the boat we had to move into the marina itself and ended up parking stern to the dock backing onto the main Tahiti promenade. We now have the world and his aunt looking in on us especially as between us and the promenade is an open-air aquarium with all manner of tropical fish so everyone stops right behind our boat to look at the fish; I now can't run about the boat in my pants. They have an interesting collection of fish including a "Poisson Vache", or Cow fish as it has horns like a bull or a particularly large snail without a shell. But it's so noisy!

In the evening we went over to the Retro Bar across the road where you get half and hours' worth of Wi-Fi with your beer - you can replenish your beer, at great cost, but not the Wi-Fi! We met Anne and Bones from Emily Morgan and the crew from Mad Monkey, then our Norwegian friends on Tintamara turned up so we had another drink - it was an early Rendezvous party. Didn't get back to the boat until 2330!

Day 58 Thursday 26th April 2018 - Papeete marina, ARC Rendezvous

There are major road works going on at the present time along the harbor front and we were treated to JCB diggers and lorries beeping in reverse gear basically all night. What a racket! It is a complete building site along the promenade. Coupled with this a large cruise ship, the "Radiance of the Seas" arrived at 0530 this morning and they are quite noisy as well. So I got up and went for an early morning run down to the airport, too far really, and tweaked a calf muscle. Oh well, back to bed for me!

Dave and I went to an informal Skippers on one of the larger boats, Alora where the ARC reps Galen and Mindy gave the low-down on the Society islands to come on the route to Bora Bora. We decided then that there was so much more yet to see by the 10th May when we drop Jean off in Bora bora, that we ought to head off in that direction tomorrow and not hang around Tahiti, especially in Papeete as having been to Moorea that tops anything further Tahiti may have to offer further around the coast.


At lunchtime I found a café selling the most glorious pineapple and orange fruit juice with free internet connection which worked as well as at home - Heaven! I could even get on-line sufficiently to complete my vat return and download files people had sent me weeks ago. The people were really nice too.

Sitting on the boat watching the people go past is fascinating. Many would stop to look at the fish in the aquarium, and at us too, me in my pants mainly. I can imagine the conversation on board the ship, "Hey, what did you see in Tahiti?", "A man on a boat in his pants!" When a cruise ship arrives, we are entertained by loads of quite conspicuous 'cruisers' with their wide brimmed hats, baseball caps, sandals with socks and cameras slung around necks. There are also numerous shops that open purely for the cruise trade and street vendors who set up store to take advantage of the mass of visitors, who will go as soon as the ship leaves after a couple of days.

Our Rendezvous reception at the Centre Ville was delightful: a civic reception, presentation of leis by Polynesian Princesses, drum music and traditional Hula dancing plus a complimentary bar with wine and beer not to mention a 50% version of the 100% local rum we tried whilst on our trip around Moorea, as an added bonus. Afterwards we all tramped off to the local Rouletts for Thai street food. Unfortunately, it rained heavily before we had finished the torrent lasting for over 20 minutes - good job we closed up the boat; some boats hadn't! Trouble is, walking back to the boat the JCB diggers and lorries started up again - they close some of the road at night as it a busy thoroughfare during the day, and added to that there is the constant drum of the cruise ship engines and generators filling the air with constant background noise. On top of this the Karaoke bar started up at full volume. It is going to be a long night.

Good job we are out of here tomorrow after we have our repaired sails delivered and Wendy has had her hair done, and set off to Huahine, an overnighter.


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