can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Mischief - Mischief in the Making Log 26 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Day 54 Sunday 22nd April 2018 - Cooks Bay, Moorea

I was awoken again early morning by torrential rain hammering on the coach roof. There were cars with different coloured flags flying on the road this early - it is Presidential election day! They are doing the count today, so we should know the result later on which should be interesting regardless who wins, whether it be the Blues, the Reds or the Oranges. Regardless, the rain seems set in for the day and the surrounding hills are all covered in cloud but still stunning in different shades of grey, what you can see of them anyway. We are going to move the boat to the other end of the bay this morning should it stop raining for a while.

By mid-morning it had cleared up sufficiently to make a move, indeed the sun came out and now it was too hot! So we followed Le Aum into the head of Cooks Bay and dropped anchor again just off a very pleasant looking café restaurant sporting Veuve Cliquot champagne flags that had Wendy's interest straight away. She went straight ashore with Dave to check it out, on the face of it to get some money and bread but I knew her real purpose - check out the champers!

Whilst they were away Trevor, Jean and I got our snorkeling gear out and went for a swim, but it was a little murky when the sun went in so not too much to see although nearer in to shore and the reef there were a few fish but not a single shark to be seen.

After lunch I went for a run along the shore whilst Trevor and Jean had a drink in the café. It was some 29 degrees and I ran for 35 minutes and my thoughts went out to those running the London Marathon earlier today in similar conditions. Phew, it was warm to run! We got back to the boat and I dropped straight into the water to cool off, then went for another snorkel - we could see a lot more as the sun was out but still few fish and again no sharks. Somebody started singing Sound of Music songs, "How do you solve a problem like Moorea". Guess who.

Suzanne and Jose from Le Aum came over for pre-dinner drinks then we went ashore again to our champagne restaurant but decided that the bubbly was just too pricey at £100 a bottle for the cheaper stuff so beer it was, and a steak. Still expensive though, everywhere is! The food was however, excellent probably the best restaurant we have been to so far.

Day 55 Monday 23rd April 2018 - Cooks Bay, Moorea

We upped anchor at 0900 to move back to the head of Cooks Bay. We learned later on that Captain Cook never actually came into this particular bay but next door at Opunohu Bay, so how it got its name who knows, maybe it's where all the local cooks met but I doubt it.

We were due to go on our guided tour with our taxi man we met on Saturday and we duly met him at the dinghy dock at 1000 and off we went. First stop was a juice factory where we tried the local juices: they produce lots of pineapple on the island and mango plus a local rum at 100% proof. The rum punch was very pleasant, but the rum neat was mind blowing especially at that time of the morning! They were selling Tahitian gin as well at $16 a bottle as opposed to imported gin at nearer $75 a bottle; I suspect you could send a rocket to the moon with it but Wendy seemed happy enough to buy two bottles!

We stopped next at the highest viewing point on the island below the Bali Hai peak, famous for its inclusion in the film "South Pacific" which gave stunning views of Cooks and Opunohu Bays, even though it was a bit cloudy at times. We stopped off thereafter at the Intercontinental Hotel just for a look around where they had a pearl shop selling pearl necklaces for $13,500 and another with only one pearl for $15,000. Dave managed to keep Wendy well clear from those!

He took us for lunch at a local beach hotel where I had a Pacific salad, with prawns, pineapple and ginger, Really good and very different. So, the tour continued with him driving all the way around the west cost of the island and back to our start which ended a very pleasant day out indeed. He even stopped off to allow us to buy a massive bunch of bananas and a load of fresh vegetables from road side markets which were very reasonable, much better than in the supermarkets.

Tomorrow we head back to Tahiti and Taina marina as our yacht agent Laurant has managed to book us a one night stay there so we will now be able to do our previously planned big shop at Carrefour and fill up with fuel. It's a bit of a shame because this is such a lovely island one could spend a lot of time here I feel.

Previous | Next