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Lydia - Society Islands



There's not a whole heap to write about Tahiti. We spent two days at the marina in Papeete. The latter is a bustling but not especially interesting town. Everything seems to close down from about 4pm. The area around the market, which is lively during the day with several bars and restaurants, appears to be all locked up by nightfall. We had dinner on our first evening at the "roulottes", mobile restaurants on wheels which establish themselves on a square by the waterfront and offer mainly seafood; and at an indifferent bar/cafe on the second evening. So, having completed the various chores which drew us to Papeete in the first place, we left the marina and motored 13 miles in calm weather across to Cook's Bay in Moorea.

It's a deep and spectacular bay, approached along a well-marked pass through the reef, surrounded by jagged and precipitous cliffs and mountains, dark greens and browns predominating. Anchoring in 20 metres of water had us at the limits of our anchor chain. Just opposite was the Bali Hai Hotel. It sounds good, but by the time that we got the dinghy there the shutters were down and not a cold beer to be had. A further mile down the bay, skirting coral heads and shallows in the dark, got us to the luxury palm-roofed Kaveka hotel, almost empty of guests (it's still low season) but blessed with a charming waterfront bar. Back to the boat for supper. Steve and Alvaro had bought fresh tuna steaks in Papeete market and Alvaro cooked them to perfection. It rained quite hard, and we had dinner in the saloon, rather than the cockpit, for the first time this voyage.

Next day, and it's time for a walk inland up through the pineapple plantations. Steve and Alvaro walked up to the Belvedere, three hours each way, most of it on a track with lovely scenery and terrific views when there. The skipper, wary of being away from the boat for too long, branched off on a track leading down to neighbouring Opunohu Bay, still a good two hour walk. Once at the bay, a thumb in the air stopped the first car for a ride on the coast road back to Cook's Bay and the boat, crew reunited a couple of hours later.

Blistered but content, we had dinner at what we hoped was a local cheap and cheerful restaurant. The reality: French, gastronomic, and expensive. But it provided entertainment: kitchen slops chucked into the sea over the balcony railing got a feeding frenzy going amongst the black-tipped sharks and rays.

It rained hard during the night with quite stiff katabatic winds coming off the mountains. In the morning we had planned to visit a pilot-recommended snorkelling spot off the North coast but in the lee of a reef. We tried, but the sea was just too rough for safe anchoring, so we spent the day at a less exciting anchorage off the inner reef and then shifted anchorage for the night to a beautiful if lonely position at the head of Opunohu Bay, no other boats and hardly a soul to be seen on shore.

Next day, another attempt at the snorkelling spot, same result, and another half day off the inner reef. Here our position was awkward, if interesting, with a current going one way and balancing the boat against a 20 knot breeze going the other way, so that we sat suspended above our anchor and a pile of chain, all clearly visible on the seabed below.

Then it was time to get on to our next port of call, Fare on the island of Huahine, only 25 miles from our planned lay-up in Raiatea.

The distance for this crossing is 90 miles, best done overnight, so we sailed at 4.30pm in order to get there the following morning. Last night sail of this voyage? There was a stiff breeze coming off Moorea, contrary to the 15 knots of Easterly tradewind in the forecast and surely, I thought, just an acceleration zone off the high hills of Moorea. So, as soon as it showed a sign of dropping, up went the mainsail. Within minutes, the wind was up to 30 knots with a steep sea and fading light. So down came the mainsail again and off we went with just a pocket-handkerchief of yankee, wind luckily on the quarter, and an unfriendly sea with just the threat of a broach. The trouble was that even with a reefed yankee we were making over 7 knots and we didn't want to shoot past Huahine before daylight! All went well, the wind reduced to 20 knots, and we went in through the Passe Avamoa at 7.30am in good light to pick up a visitors' mooring off Fare. That was an uncomfortable night, not much sleep had by anyone. Full marks to Alvaro, who cooked dinner in spite of the bumps.

Verdict on Moorea: dramatically beautiful, Wagnerian, but with people who are well-used to tourists and are not as welcoming as, say, the Marquesans and the Rangiroans.

Regards from Donald, Steve, and Alvaro.


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