I finally feel like I am getting you all up to date! This email although I am sure it will be long is only about the last 4 days, finally I am not writing about a couple of weeks, or an entire month!
Morea cont.
On the 15th we moved from Cook Bay in Morea over to Opunohu Bay, only around the corner. Windswept & Pahto stayed in Cook Bay although we all had the same plan to leave Morea the following day. Cook Bay was great and I don’t actually think we did enough there but the weather was not very good so we figured we would go around the corner to Opunohu Bay where there was a Hilton resort and shallow clear water. This bay was fantastic, we anchored in only 5 meters of water and we could see to the sandy bottom everywhere we went. Lou was snorkelling immediately after we anchored, it was so clear I even snapped a photo of him on the bottom underneath the anchor chain! We had quite a time getting to the resort though, it was a bit of a dinghy ride from the boat and over very shallow coral heads. Our first attempt was ended only a couple 100 meters off the resorts beach when poor little outboard Ernie struck a coral and gave up... we sadly rowed all the way back to Tar Baby hoping the outboards fix would be simple. Just a side note about this outboard; I know I have mentioned it a few times because Louie has put a lot of work into fixing it. He knows it now in and out. It is a 1971 Evenrude, and although it sounds like it is just a load of problems there is good reason for that, Louie has put the poor thing through hell and back! First he didn’t clean it out and run fresh water through it when we left back to Aus for 3 months last Oct, when we returned the engine was seized. Lou remarkably got it up and running again by using a hammer and banging on the cylinders until they moved freely again! Next, when we were in Puerto Vallarta Lou accidently filled it with diesel rather than gas... oh my I have never seen an engine smoke so much!!! Later, when we arrived in Hiva Oa we think it still had some hiccups from the diesel issue so Lou took the whole thing apart, spending 2 days fixing him up only to flip our dinghy over the morning after the engine was up and running again... Ernie didn’t like swimming. And now finally we hit the prop on a coral head. Luckily Lou was able to make up a new shear pin and there was no other damage done... man the engine is a bloody trooper!!!
Attempt two, heading back to the resort again, we very carefully dodged the coral but we were rained on the whole way over... arriving at this 5 star resort like drowned rats. There are overwater bungalows at all the resorts around these islands and they start at $800 a night!!! We just had lunch there then headed back to the boat again for a snorkel and a night in. Sadly a fellow yachties dinghy was stolen the night before in Cook Bay, a $6000 dinghy and brand new 25 horsepower outboard they had put on it that day. The dinghy was later washed up on the beach, the outboard had been stolen and the dinghy slashed on each end with a knife to sink it... very sad. We were not about to leave ours on shore that night.
Ra’iatea
On the 16th after a beautiful early morning snorkel we pulled up anchor and headed out for our next island, Ra’iatea which was only an overnight sail for us. Overnighters are typically not too bad because it is not too long of a sail, but this one was particularly painful... both mentally and physically. We had the biggest sea we have seen yet, 15 feet, and NO wind for the whole day. Big sea and no wind are quite scary because the boat really needs speed to not be taken out by waves and had none, plus the engine really doesn’t like getting tossed around like that and neither do we! We did end up with wind by around 5pm but it was still a rough night... each of us sleeping no more than an hour and both ending up with cuts and bruises from the battlefield of waves. Louie said he had never been happier to be in calm water when we pulled into Ra’iatea’s massive lagoon, although it was not an enjoyable experience I still believe the trip to Tahiti was worse, sadly Louie did get seasick on this stretch. Windswept and Pahto left within an hour of us and both had extremely rough rides as well.
On Ra’iatea we all anchored in Faaroa Bay at first day break and straight away made breakfast then crashed for a much needed nap. At the end of Faaroa Bay there is a river mouth that you can actually take the dinghy up quite a ways, so later Lou and I went with Jack & Marlene in two separate dinghy’s and headed up to check it out. Just at the start we were lucky to be joined by a local by the name of James on his canoe who is a caretaker for the botanical gardens a ways down the river. James guided us through the shallow parts of the river and all the way up to the gardens where he led us on a hike for about a mile or so. He was an excellent guide, telling us the names of all of the flowers, fruit, trees, etc as we passed them by... also making sure we tried some along the way. There was a kitten that followed us like a dog the entire time as well!! In the end James had given us paumpamoos, starfruit, lime, green beans, fresh vanilla sticks, and coconuts to take back to the boat! He then led us back down to our boats where we asked him if there are any restaurants in the bay, he said yes and escorted us to a nearby dock and called out to a lady in her home who came down. While we waited for Jack to get Kevin & Kyle to join us this lady dressed the cuts on my feet that she noticed, it was nice of her but she used lime and man it hurt. Once the whole group was together she led us through her yard and pointed across the street and up the hill to where the restaurant was. We went along to find someone’s house, in their front yard was a pool overlooking the bay and their patio was converted with tables and chairs into a restaurant setting... the open kitchen to their house now to be used to cook for us, no one else was there. A lady came out of the kitchen and spoke very little English and had no menus, she said it was a set menu of fish. Lou got across to her that he would like fish, french fries, and salad... she said ok and everyone else agreed it sounded good. We also ordered a round of the Tahitian beer “Hinano,” except Lou who had Coke. The meal was really nice, the fish was especially yummy. We were there for quite a long time considering she was cooking for the 6 of us by herself, only a couple of little kids observing us from inside the kitchen. After we ate she brought out a plate of paumpamoos and pineapple, plus Lou and I had ice cream. Although the shock came along with the bill! The beers were only $5 each, but the meals were $30 each!! The meal was nice, but not worth that, I guess it is all in the experience and for Lou and I worth it. But poor Kevin and Kyle, they are already cutting their trip short since they are running out of money (Kyle is flying home to the US soon and Kevin is sailing straight from Bora Bora to New Zealand, a month long sail, to store his boat and fly back to the US as well for work until he can afford to continue)... they said they wouldn’t have ordered if they had known the price.. oh well.
Taha’a
The next morning, yesterday the 18th we left Ra’iatea for Taha’a an island within the same lagoon, these two islands are right next to each other and in the nearby distance we can see Bora Bora! We anchored in Tahaa’s Apu Bay, Windswept and Pahto actually moved up to the top of Ra’iatea to be near town and fill up on fuel. Although we are not on the same island we can see across to where they are anchored the islands are so close together. We will see them again in Bora Bora but this last couple of days have been nice being on our own for awhile.
We have absolutely loved our two days here in Taha’a. When we arrived yesterday we were happy to see there was a mooring buoy available for us, we had heard they are usually booked up. The buoy’s are ran by the Marina Iti yacht club ran and owned by an American guy. Richard has lived in these islands, mainly Bora Bora, for 35 years! Originally from California he moved here in his mid 20’s, also arriving by boat, smaller than ours! His son’s (who aren’t here) are both avid kite surfers and Lou was intrigued to hear about all his idols that Richard has hung out with. We signed up for the special dinner and performance that we attended yesterday evening. This was a traditional Polynesian seafood buffet and Polynesian dance performance which included fire dancing... it was amazing! The food was great and the dancing was very entertaining. It was all done by young kids; I would say between the ages of 10-18 and was on the sandy beach just in front of the restaurant... our table was a great front row seat. They even got the audience involved, both Lou and I separately were pulled to the sand to dance during the night... man they are talented because it is difficult!! A young boy of maybe 10 was the star of the show, he was a fantastic dancer, played in the band, and was phenomenal in the fire dancing!! We took video footage of all of it.
Today we slept in since last night was the latest we had been up in ages (midnight)! At 9am we met Richard to rent bikes from him that we had arranged the night before. Just before taking off we released Ray, our hermit crab. Yes, sad... but it is really nice here and we found a pretty isolated tree right on the beach to set him under and there are heaps of other crabs here too. Richard had a look at him and actually said he thinks he might be a coconut crab which will disguise themselves as a hermit crab in their early years... coconut crabs can get as big as 3 feet in diameter so all this time we thought we had a huge hermit crab and he might have been only a baby!!
Our bike ride was beautiful, the scenery is lush and green... we took photos with plants that had leaves the size of Louie!! The bike ride enlightened us on just how extremely out of shape the both of us are! Living on a boat you don’t really get to stretch your legs much, today we really pushed ourselves to the limit and were completely exhausted half way through the day! Along the way our first stop was at La Maison de la Vanille (translates “The House of Vanilla). Vanilla cultivation dominates as Taha’as leading industry. The economy here is based off of vanilla and pearl harvesting. The nice owner gave us a tour and explained the process, wow what work! It is no wonder fresh vanilla is so expensive... it takes 9 months to grow each bean and once they have grown they have to dry each vanilla bean in the sun for three whole months, covering them if it rains... It is a very long process.
Our next stop was in the village of Haamene where we had lunch at the highly recommended restaurant “Tahaa Maitai.” Words cannot describe how amazing this experience was. We were the only customers, the restaurant has spectacular views of Haamene Bay, but even more impressive was the food!! The owner/chef greeted us warmly upon arrival. His name is Bruno, he moved here from France 22 years ago. His father was a chef as well so as along with all his schooling he was raised in the kitchen, and boy has it payed off!! We ordered heaps of food, more than needed but we wanted to try everything we could. It came at a price of a $90 lunch but well worth every penny. We shared a warm goat cheese salad with the best raukfort dressing I have ever tasted. Then we each had tuna Carpaccio... wow!! Little red berry like things we had never seen before added a marvellous sweet flavour I never knew carpaccio to have. For a main Lou had fish (a bottom fish we can’t remember the name of) that was served in vanilla sauce, he loved it and had never heard of fish in vanilla before. I had seared tuna that was immaculately cooked in thyme and toasted almonds, oh so good. And for desert we shared some exquisite sorbet and a chocolate parfitarol with vanilla bean ice cream and whipped cream... OMG we were stuffed beyond belief... oh and of course I had started off with a Maitai, their specialty drink. It really was an amazing meal and Bruno took our orders personally and made sure to check on us even though he had a server helping us as well. He said he has always wanted to visit Perth and gave us his email address... I told him when he does Louie will cook for him, Louie said “oh the pressure!”
The rest of the bike ride was a bit tough; we were just too full and ready for a nap! Although there is no stopping us!! When we returned it was around 3:30pm and after returning the bikes we went to the boat only to grab our snorkel gear and jump in the water! I am definitely beyond exhausted now but it has been a wonderful couple of days. The last couple of hours while I have been writing this letter (it is now 7:30pm) Louie has been up on deck fishing for dinner... I can’t believe we are even considering eating again!! So far he has pulled in 3 small bait fish, 2 absolutely huge sting rays, and nearly pulled in what we think was a shark... I don’t think we’ll be getting any dinner at this rate.
Tomorrow we are off to Bora Bora, just a couple of hours away.
Until we meet again!!
xoxo
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