Your happiness is our goal (Tahiti)

 

26 June 2023 (Tahiti)

Having left Rangiroa yesterday morning, this morning finds us over half way towards Tahiti. We’ve sailed throughout at 5knots + in a large beamy swell that has made life interesting, and walking around hard. It’s been a good sail, despite us both having moments of partially rounding up overnight. Usual tale of fishing: tangled line, stolen lures and swearing, further details of which I will not bore you with. The next day that turned around, after an uneventful rolly day on the water, at sunset I hooked a small yellowfin tuna. Just dished up dinner, so that can wait til tomorrow in Tahiti to feed us.

At time of writing (7pm) the island of Tahiti is visible as a glow in front, but still some 30 odd miles away. We’ll be arriving after dark, and probably after the moon has set into Venus Bay (of Captain Cook fame… and subsequently learned also of Robert Louis Stephenson and William Bligh fame! - all apparently fond of topless Tahitian woman… what’s not to like??!).

We did indeed turn up after dark, a nasty squall making the approach an interesting affair that had the designated storm-führer helming as salty water splashed over the rail and fresh water poured from above.. all good though… just wet. We made it in and dropped surrounded by possibly 5 other boats.. but the morning will tell.

Found ourselves in nice little town, with a backdrop of spectacular scenery: high peaks, dense foliage and palm trees. There’s lots of kids on bikes, dogs, supermarkets, and quite a friendly feel to the place.

While ashore we made our way round to the lighthouse built by Robert Louis Stephenson’s dad, Thomas. A long walk (by our current standards), but worth the effort to see some true history right in front of us: a monument to the Bounty Mutineers, who called Tahiti home before heading to Pitcairn after setting Captain Bligh adrift.

From there we headed off to a marina - not my preferred option, for a number of reasons (hard surfaces and other humans) There was however no room at the inn, so we headed further along the coast past the airport runaway having a little confusion on the radio trying to get crossing clearance. Arrived into a tightly packed anchorage, which had us dropping and resetting a few times during the days we spent there as the unpredictable wind spun us one way then the other.

Soon after arrival we were delighted by a surprise visit from Mike and Cait - Beez Neez. They have a potential buyer and both seem to be doing well.

With the Ginger’s also rocking up, we had some wonderful evenings together laughing drinking.. and smoking.

The propeller on the outboard had ‘spun’ (chewed out the sacrificial rubber), and wouldn’t allow us to travel anywhere other than at a very sedate tick over. YouTube supplied me with a wonderful bodgy workaround which worked until I was able to source a new one from the local chandlers at the marina. The shop assistant there telling me:

“Your happiness is our goal”.. and not like some McDonalds employee following corporate guidelines and telling me to have a nice day, this guy really did want us to be happy.

That sentiment holds true for the majority of the locals we’ve interacted with, be it:

The guy at the bus stop who couldn’t have been more helpful, the smiling lady at customs who gave us our duty free certificate for fuel, the guy at the fruit stall who gave us free bananas, or any of the random smiling strangers who, in singsong voice greet you with:

“Yo Rah Nah”

The island is more commercial than any we’ve seen so far in the Pacific, and not the prettiest, but still has a charm that’s hard not to warm to.

We had the Gingers and Beez Neez over for a very successful game of Sundowners. Chez’s clever addition of a ‘Sing a shanty or shots all round’ square made for a well lubricated and song filled evening. Micheal emerged the winner. The next day we toured the island in a hire car with Michael and Cait, taking in more of Tahiti’s charms:

Waterfalls, Sacred tiki sites, beaches, surf breaks (famous apparently). The island reminding us a little of the North shore of Hawaii.

One little disaster that I’m embarrassed to admit to is that I once again dropped the bloody Hydrovane rudder off the stern. Last time (in Grenada) we’d had to hire divers to retrieve it for us. This time I can see it though, and although it’s quite deep, I decide to swim down and retrieve it myself. Wrong move.

I did manage to get down there (9.75m), but really hurt my ears and nearly drowned doing it. The ear pain got worse over the next few days and spread to my jaw and lymph nodes.

By the time we headed over the day sail to Moorea, it’s sufficiently painful to stop me sleeping and admit that I really do need to go to a doctor.

The doctors visit, was significantly easier and more pleasant than expected: after a short wait, I’m seen by an English speaking lady doctor, who checks me over, confirms there’s some bleeding in my ears, and an infection that’s spread - she prescribed antibiotics which at time of writing seem to be doing the trick. Another mildly concerning outcome of going to the doctors is to discover that I now weigh just 72kgs… my norm for as long as I can remember has been 85kgs. So I’m now consciously going on a ‘bulking up’ diet.

Moorea - is gorgeous, imposing scenery, and the few shops we saw around the doctors have a decidedly upmarket feel to them - tailored more to the fly in rich tourists as opposed to the sail in sea-gypsys we’ve become!

Re-anchored up next to the Gingers, and had a few lazy days getting over the ear/jaw thing.

I would never tire of the scenery that surrounds us here: Imposing peaks, wide varieties of trees - especially the shady ones like cedars contrasting with the prolific palms. There’s a few dwellings that line the shore, but they don’t detract from the absolute beauty of the place.. no wonder the mutineers from the Bounty weren’t too keen to leave… swapping topless beauties here for an unsafe passage home and a cold foggy London when they get there! (Chez reminds me that only the film was shot here… not the actual mutiny!)

*Note: Many thanks to Julie for the group selfie pic.