Mischief - More Mischief in the Making Log 29 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes

Day 59 Friday 27th April 2018 - En route Huahine

When I eventually went to sleep last night, it was almost time to get up again, so it seemed anyway. At least the diggers had stopped scraping the road and the cruise ship had gone, so apart from the usual traffic noise it was relatively quiet.

The sails were due to be delivered at 0800 this morning so Dave and I stayed on the boat as we'll need to hoist the Code 0 to roll it before we put it away. So 8 am came and went as did 9am, 10am, 11am and noon - no sign. I had to go ashore to do a couple of emails and returned by 2pm and still no sails. They eventually turned up after several chasers at 3pm and we were due off at 4 so very tight. Regardless, we couldn't leave straight away as Wendy was having her hair done; she had left the boat this morning around 9am for an 11am appointment and didn't return 'til gone 3 - at least four hours having a hair cut!! It was quite windy so the blow dry didn't last long and apparently it was the most expensive hair-do she had ever had!

So, we eventually slipped lines at 1630 for Huahine the 'Wild One', being the nearest of the Isles Sous Le Vent or the Leeward Islands, to Tahiti. This Leeward group consist of Huahine the easternmost and to its west we have Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora and Maipiti. Huahine is 90 nm north west of Tahiti and is made up of two mountainous islands called Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti connected by a narrow isthmus and a bridge, both surrounded by a common barrier reef.

We started with one reef in the mainsail, then went straight for the second as we hit the waves coming over our starboard beam, and shortly afterwards in went the third reef with three rolls in the genoa. We were nearing the dark hours, so it made sense to bed the boat down as it was quite windy with a moderate side on sea making life on board very uncomfortable - poor Jean was feeling particularly yuk.

Dave asked tongue in cheek who was going below to make dinner with the boat rolling all over the place. I volunteered as I don't really mind it in those conditions below; I had in mind a pasta Bolognese in any case given that Jean had been wishing for spaghetti Bolognese in Tahiti - a treat for her. Mind you I was like a cork in a storm down below and as the boat was shut up because of the seas it was like a sweat box too; I was sweatier than an oiled-up Sumo wrestler in a sauna. Anyway, it turned out alright excepting that Jean couldn't face too much without it revisiting nor could we have parmesan cheese for fear of it blowing away rather than landing on the pasta.

But with luck we will arrive early morning in daylight as we are doing 7 knots still even reefed down as we are. We shall see ……which we can as the full moon rose before dark even and there is no cloud to speak of at all, a beautiful clear night in store.

Day 60 Saturday 28th April 2018 - Baie Maroe, Huahine

The wind was dropping through the night although the sea state took a while to follow suit, so it was uncomfortable for a few hours. The full moon and clear sky gave a perfect bright night with great visibility all night until 0500 when it went down; mind you the sun was up at 0540 and as soon as it appeared I claimed the Blue Peter Badge for spotting "Land ahoy"…… Huahine 20 miles off.

With the lightening wind, during the 0300-0600 watch Wendy and I had a sweepstake as to how long it would take Dave once on deck to put the engine on, given that our boat speed had dropped to 3 knots; I reckoned on 8 minutes; Wendy 5-7 minutes. Three minutes it was!! He claimed it was to charge the batteries, but we knew different.

We hoisted the Code 0 for the first time in months seemingly, three days out from Galapagos to be more accurate when it split so it is a treat to see it back up again after repair - it added 1.5 knots to boat speed straight away. We are now doing 6 knots in 8.5 knots of true wind so not bad.

We are aiming for the Passe Fararea leading to the Baie Maroe between the two islands which apparently is difficult to negotiate in anything like bad weather - luckily it is perfect this morning. So, we dropped anchor by the bridge in some 26 meters of water which is by far and away the deepest we have anchored because the reef shelves dramatically and we can't be in that close. This means that we have all 50 meters of chain and a further 25 meters of warp out. It is far too deep to set the tripping line in case there is a problem in retrieval; let's hope not!

Whilst being a lovely looking bay, it is not quite to the stunning standards set by Moorea, but at least the water is crystal clear here and very warm. We went ashore to investigate at lunchtime and walked literally straight into a restaurant/snack bar/bar/artisan shop/tattoo parlour being the only shop in town. It is not much of a town, only a few houses and a school. We reckoned that the lady who ran said restaurant ran everything else in town, the local mafia Boss - she was certainly big enough to take seriously, with massive shoulders. Anyway, she persuaded us to have her lunchtime menu which was grilled fish with rice and salad with a beer each, well nearly one each as she only had four which we shared. She promptly sent a youngster out to get more and by the time we needed another, there it was, whilst she sat there doing her books! The lunch was excellent, and Wendy bought a sarong too which I think the lady had made herself.
When I mentioned this was a quiet anchorage, so it was until the local kids started a game of football, which was fine. However, we believe there must be a big drum competition in the near future as a group started practicing and continued all afternoon and into the evening - it was very good actually, but then some local gospel singers started up and they were not quite so good but added to the atmosphere.

As the sun dropped behind the mountain ridge I got some awesome photos of the changing colours in the clouds with an ever-deepening orange against a blue-sky background and then in the direct opposite direction pictures of the moon rising from behind the mountain ridge, all as we had our cheese and biscuits for tea. Quite spectacular.

It then became very quiet and peaceful without a sound of any description until Dave went to sleep and started snoring! Bring back the Gospel singers!!