Papeete; Tahiti

We have arrived in Papeete and have anchored up near the Taina marina just south of the main city. The last night was a good one as the wind stayed fairly constant and the rain squalls never showed up. We finally anchored around 12 o clock and had some lunch. The anchorage is very full with around two hundred boats around us. The water is deep so we have all our chain out to hold us in place. It is very calm though with almost no wind. Later we went ashore to go to the shop and say hello to some other yachts around us that we know. We changed outboard engines on the dinghy and we can get the dink to plane now with two of us in it so are able to get around quicker and go longer distances without it taking all day. So here we are planning along towards the dinghy dock and suddenly run aground on a coral reef. What a dreadful noise of fibreglass running up on the coral and then the engine kicking up and moaning at being out of the water. We cut the engine and Colin got out onto the coral to see what our lot was. Push it back was about all we could do. Sandy had to get out and stand on the coral and we pushed the boat back. As it got to the end of the coral and the boat dropped back the coral that Colin was on gave way and he took an unwanted swim. Once back in the boat we navigated away from the coral and returned to the yacht to get dry clothes and patch up Colin's shins where they had been cut on the coral that did not give way. A little later we tried again and made it to the dinghy dock successfully. The coral wraps almost all the way around the dock with one tiny float on the one corner of it that we did not even see from the direction that we first approached. There must be many a dinghy that has made friends with that reef. When we hauled the dinghy out last night all seemed okay on the bottom, just a few more scratches and the motor is fine. The shop was great... a big supermarket with everything!!!! Wow.... but expensive and our few things came to $100 but nothing as expensive as all the little islands that we have just been through. Colin got himself a large T-steak about an inch thick. Fresh beef... the first time since Panama. So we will stay here a few days and enjoy the French cheeses and other FRESH fruit and veg before we head off again and tackle some more of the tins on board.... beans , something and beans and something else with beans and more .... beans.

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On route to Papeete

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
23h00 UTC 08 July
Course: 240°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 135 nm
Distance to Tahiti: 108nm
Position 16°55' S 147°51' W
All's well on board.

Well the rain cleared mid morning after a large squall that got us thinking that we would wait another day. We are pleased that we opted to go as the rain and squalls have stayed away so far. The pass was a little tricky as the tide was going out into a fairly rough sea. As we got towards the outside of the pass the waves were very steep and close together with some breaking standing waves. Fortunately our friend had just gone through and radioed us to say it was very rough but not for too long and once they were out the sea settled down. So in we plunged.... The first wave over left us with waterfalls inside as two hatches were still on their breather openings. Fortunately one was the heads but the other was above the chart table. Luckily most of that water landed on the floor. We could not rush down to close them as the boat was being tossed around with waves coming straight in over the bow. Well we were soon through that and the rest of the trip so far has been good sailing. The 3m seas on the grib files seem to be a large swell now coming in from the SE that is about 50m crest to crest. They roll us a little but they are fine. We are a little ahead of our schedule but will keep pushing on as the wind is supposed to get lighter overnight. We should get in to Papeete early tomorrow morning.

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Fakaravai to Papeete; Taihiti

Today we are off to Papeete. The weather is not the best as it is rainy with strong winds. Over the weekend the wind dies off so we cannot leave later unless we wish to motor most of the way. We will leave today about midday and looks like a bumpy sail as the sea is running at 3m. Tomorrow the winds improve and the rain is supposed to go(but not the swell) and the next day it all becomes very light as we get down to Papeete. We should arrive sometime in the morning. This will be a repeat of the trip from Marquesas to here sea and weather wise. There are a few boats leaving today and others tomorrow so there will be plenty boats arriving in Papeete over the weekend. We will do a usual position report tomorrow otherwise when we get to Papeete. Trip: 240nm

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Fakaravai; Taumotus

We have been a few days in Fakarava and at the moment the weather is foul. It is raining with strong winds. We are well protected as far as the wind goes as we are behind the island. What is interesting is the swell that we are getting from the SW. This is due to a storm to the south west of here and most probably something that is lurking around New Zealand or just past there. As these seas are very large they come over the reef into the atoll and affect us on the inside. This atoll is massive. Maybe I could just add in here how they form and what causes them to be as they are. Once there was a volcano here with a reef growing around it. Over the ions the volcano slowly subsides due to the ocean floor subsiding. This happens so slowly that the coral can keep pace and keeps growing for the surface. Eventually the volcano disappears under the surface and only the coral is left, leaving a very flat atoll. As the seas really hammer the atoll from the south west most of the atolls have little to no land to form islands on that side. Most of the land is on the north and east sides and this is where you normally find the town/villages. So with nothing to stop the big seas crashing in over the southern sides, the swells although small, still make it all the way up here 21-25 miles to the NW corner. The passes are also of interest. When the volcano was still above the surface it would have had rivers that would have flowed off it into the ocean. At these points the coral would not have grown and so the passes were formed. Also with the seas coming in over the reef on the SW corner putting tons of extra water into the atoll a very strong current develops through the pass making it difficult to get into the atoll. So with high seas/swells from the SW and rain and strong winds 25-30kn from the SE we are staying put. The wind should die down by Thursday and we will head on down to Papeete on Tahiti. We have spent a lot of time just walking around the village and along the seaward side of the atoll. The land area from lagoon to the sea is between 300m and 500m wide and it only rises a few meters above sea level. The ground is loose coral with some hard rocky areas and not much sand. The island has a good covering of palm trees and the locals process the coconuts for the copra. The copra is apparently subsidised to give the people a form of income, but even this does not seem to cover the costs of all the toil to get to copra to the point where it is dry. The gardens are sparse and many people seem to grow their plants in pots. We did come across one person with a small market garden. There are two problems with growing anything here. The poor soil and the lack of water. We were lucky to find some low coconut palms again as we walked around and got these opened up to drink. The green ones are sweet but the yellow ones have a lovely fizz to them. They really are lovely cooled, but then the trees don't grow on ice. Something that has surprised us on most of our travels so far is the lack of beaches. One always sees tropical islands advertised as white sandy beaches and palms where you can sit and relax and drink your coconut and read a book and laze around.... sadly not, there are very few beaches and that goes for the Caribbean as well. The atolls are rough coral reefs on the outside with very little in a way of a beach on the inside. Even in the Marquesas the beaches are stony heads of a bay and anything outside the bay is cliff and rock territory with usually large swells and waves to go with it. The shops here are so expensive that we have avoided them since our first shopping expedition. US$8 for a 2ltr coke and the cheese... Oh well we can get some more in Tahiti. Part of the problem is that the islanders do not pay any personal tax. Very nice... However they have a consumer's tax like GST/VAT. Now that's a great idea, but it does make things expensive for us. But the good side is that everyone pays there share according to what they spend. The people again are very friendly and they all great you and smile as they go by. There is not much else here so I guess I will end off here for now. Till next time...

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Kaueh to Fakaravai; Taumotus

Yesterday we went snorkelling on one of the many reefs. There were plenty of fish with stunning colours and shapes that came in all sizes. The corals were beautiful with not as much colour, but with the fish sitting between the fingers of coral you had the contrasts that would have been great to photograph should we have had a camera for the task. The one coral had a school of very light blue fish between the fingers that were a cream colour and the whole coral was no bigger than a football, but wow did it look lovely. The other striking colours that we saw were the clams. They all sit on the reef with their zigzag shells open and their mantels form a colourful lip along the inside of the shell. Over one area of coral there were five of the clams next to each other and not one had the same colouring. Some had specks or stripes of metallic blue, silver, gold or green with bright orange and other colours. Again that would have made a spectacular photo.

Today we changed anchorages as well as atolls. We were planning to go to Papeete but the winds are very light and Papeete lies 280nm away. Rather than stay at Kauehi for a few more days we decided to head off to Fakarava. The lagoon was like a mirror today and we motored across to the pass and left with the tide. For most of the pass the water was still with a 3kn current. On the seaward side there were big swirls that pushed us around a little, but the sea was calm as there was no wind and therefore no waves. From pass to pass it was 32nm and we motored all the way. The pass into Fakarava is really wide and with some dolphins to escort us in it was very easy. The water was calm and we had a 2-3kn current with us. This atoll is so big that you cannot see the other side. It does pose a problem for coming in if there are strong winds from the SE to SW as you can be faced with considerably large waves on the inside. It is around 21miles wide on the inside and very deep with coral bombies that make it to the surface. This makes navigation around it interesting and best done with Polaroid glasses on and the sun behind you in the middle of the day. We are not that adventurous so we will stick to the main channels. The anchorage is good and we popped ashore to the shop, but everything is so expensive. We got some milk as our supply had finally run out and some brie to have with our sun downers/dinner. We only had a snack for dinner as it was so calm out at sea that Sandy was able to cook up a feast for lunch.... Curry stew. Colin the lazy ol' bugger sat with his foot on the helm steering, but gave up on that and put on the auto helm and he did not even catch a fish... needs to be fired!! Well before we do too much firing we will say bye for now and will chat again later.

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