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Lydia - Damp paradise



Fare is a nice little town. We picked up a visitors' mooring, secure and
convenient for the dinghy dock. There are a couple of restaurants, a good
supermarket, various shops, fruit stalls, rubbish facilities, good
pay-as-you go wifi.
But the weather is terrible! On our first night it blew hard. The wind was
from the NE, from which the bay is well sheltered, but with repeated gale
warnings from Papeete MRCC predicting a shift to the NW, which would be
straight up the pass through the reef and at best uncomfortable. And the
rain has been continuous, we haven't seen the sun since Moorea.
As I write, on our fourth day, the wind has dropped to nothing and Papeete
have ceased their gale warnings, which is a
relief, there is a scend from the NW which is an irritant but not a problem,
and the rain continues. At least it's cool, the thermometer has plummeted to
26 degrees. Last night the lightning was fierce, just as well
that we have a good lightnng conductor (I hope). We have shopped, have had
some good meals ashore and some on the boat, plus a few swims. Steve is keen
that I mention that he and Alvaro beat the crew of "Waterman" (see below) at
pool.We have been
meaning to hire a car in order to have a better look around the island, but
so far the weather has been unconducive.We'll give it another day, and then
probably carry on to Raiatea.
On the night before we arrived a British boat here had an outboard stolen
from a dinghy that was actually up on its davits. We've taken heed, and at
night have had our outboard locked onto the dinghy and the dinghy locked to
the boat. Two days ago the Belgian Jeanneau "Waterman", one of the World ARC
fleet, came into the bay after a tough sail in 30-40 knot winds from the
Tuamatus. Last night, after we had all dined together ashore, they a) lost
their VHF to lightning and b) had their dinghy stolen. Not a great night.
They subsequently had the dinghy returned by some locals who found it on the
beach, minus the outboard. Alvaro is currently ferrying their skipper ashore
in our dinghy to make his report to the gendarmerie.
So, from a corner of the South Pacific that might be Bognor on a bank
holiday, regards from Steve, Alvaro, and Donald.


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