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Mischief - Up to Mischief Log 30 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Day 61 Sunday 29 April 2018 - Baie Moroe, Tuahine

A really peaceful night with the boat as steady as a rock, but awoke anyway at 0545 and watched the sunrise then went back to sleep for three hours!
We are joined in our isolation this morning by an Australian boat from Melbourne who are on their final leg of a circumnavigation; they certainly looked practiced in dropping an anchor in deeper water. However, we didn't share their company for too long as we upped our own anchor after a swim and set off out of this bay bound for the next. Weighing of anchor was a bit of an unknown as we hadn't used the anchor warp on the windlass before but it came up perfectly, thank goodness as it was set too deep to retrieve it if it got stuck! We are off around the north west of the island to the main town of Fare where there are numerous shops, restaurants, a bank and apparently, internet according to the travel guide. Wendy wondered, "Ooooh, I wonder how much money I can spend ……" We shall see, should Dave let her ashore.

As we sailed slowly round the corner of the island under genoa alone (we weren't in a hurry) we saw the two islands of Tahaa and Raiatea come into view about 20 miles or so away which is where we are off to next in the trail of islands. They are technically two separate islands surrounded by a single reef, so it was probably one island at one point but the middle bit sank.

The entrance to the Passe Avamoa soon came as it was only 12 miles. It looks wide, but it is flanked by shallows over which the Pacific rollers break. Accordingly, there were quite a few surfers on the reef taking advantage of some quite powerful waves even though there was not much by way of wind.

Le Aum was in the bay hanging on a buoy and pointed one out to us on the radio which we picked up, which made a change to dropping the anchor. The few buoys there are are of good quality and put here as part of a project to encourage more yachtsmen to visit these fantastic islands - it saves the coral too. However, there is a fair old current running passed the boat which makes swimming a little more challenging, a bit like swimming in an endless pool.

As it is Sunday, most of the shops were closed so Dave felt safe to take Wendy ashore whilst the rest of us swam off the boat. The water here is crystal clear and warm, even if it is trying to drag you out to sea! I took the opportunity to swim across to Le Aum after an hour in the hammock, who were about 100m up tide of us. A quick chat and a glass of home-made lemonade and I was swimming back to Mischief with the tide rather faster than on the way over - I wish I could normally swim 100m that quickly, indeed I nearly swam right passed the boat!

We sat in the cockpit with a cold beer and watched the sun go down and in doing so engaged in a bit of 'Cloud Spotting': we saw a rooster chicken; Gonzo from the Muppets; two rats on hindlegs; Marge Simpson sporting a gun; and the spitting image of the 'Incredible Hulk'. Its amazing how much fun you can have with your imagination and it's all for free!

I knocked up some spaghetti carbonara for tea; it was a lot easier to prepare without the rolling deck I find so where is the challenge in that? I decided that to keep in practice I should tie one hand behind my back and hop on one leg maybe.

This really is a lovely bay especially with the full moon over the mountains, and a light breeze keeps it cool. But I do need a new book having just finished "Black Widow" by Chris Brooksmyre - very good too. I have a copy of "the Ocean Yachtsmaster" to read again, but there are not so many murders in that.

Day 62 Monday 30 April 2018 - Fare, Huahine

Got up before six to go ashore to get some bread. "Ou est la Boulongerie, si vous plait?", I asked in my best Franglais of two delightful old ladies sat on the quayside, and they pointed me excitedly towards the SuperU supermarket some 50m down the road, almost as big as the Carrefour on Tahiti. It seems to stock everything, and this is only a small island. I came back with four baguettes which I waved at the two old ladies with an air of triumph and they seemed so pleased with themselves for directing me so successfully!!

Back onto the boat, swam 4 times around the estate and had breakfast - it is hot today so I scrubbed the decks to get even hotter. I haven't seen too many ducks flying about but when I first went on deck this morning there was one sat up on top of the mast and he, along with his mates no doubt, had seen fit to use the deck as a toilet facility and had deposited guano all over the place! Having now swabbed the decks it looks as though it may rain which would be convenient if only for rinsing purposes.

We went ashore as I needed to get some internet connection and Dave and Wendy wanted to walk up to a local vanilla farm, so it was advertised in the guide book. Two hours later they were back very hot and sweaty having walked there to find it a house selling vanilla essence, and it was shut anyway so got in a taxi eventually when they found one to come back again. My ill luck with internet continues, or my inability with IT continues at least and as I had to pay $5 for the connection it was very frustrating but luckily the lady in the Yacht Club didn't charge me for it. I did manage some emails though thankfully.

Later, I went for a long snorkel along the shore from the boat along to the reef. I saw a few new species of fish (not as in the Charles Darwin sense of course) but generally there was not a lot going on, certainly no sharks or anything of any size. Just had to be mindful of where the current was trying to take me, but it wasn't that strong to cause a problem.

We all went back to the Yacht Club for happy hour and dinner. Only $3 a large beer so we had a few followed by an excellent dinner - I had duck, just in case it was one of those crapping on the decks this morning! The waiter chap, who was huge, was wearing an Hawaiian shirt and a black sarong, a David Beckham look. He also was wearing a big black bead necklace and was a bit effeminate so may have been one of these third gender types, but he was talking about the fact that his wife had made his shirt; nice man, whatever. We watched the sun go down behind the boat which was very pleasant indeed as we chatted to a chap from Scotland who lived in Switzerland with his Swiss wife. You meet all sorts here!

Tomorrow we are going off to the south of the island where there is supposed to be some good snorkeling. Looking forwards to that.

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