Society Islands, Tahiti – Jun/Jul 2007
The trip from Rangiroa to Tahiti was a close reach in 15-25 kt winds, a change from the broad reaches and runs we are used to now. Instead of things lazily sliding off shelves and tables, they throw themselves off with intent! We had an exhilarating 36 hour sail averaging 6 kts, with boisterous 1.5-3m seas once we were clear of Rangiroa and its neighbour Tikehau. We left Rangiroa after midday for good visibility of the reefs and a favourable tide leaving the pass, which meant we arrived in Tahiti at night.
As we expected the entrance into Papeete harbour was clearly marked and no problem, but what we didn’t expect was the town yacht quay to be nearly empty! We thought we would have trouble finding a space. We anchored off the quay as two other yachts had done, and it felt like a city centre with traffic running nearby and pedestrians walking by the quay even at 1am, although as we later realised, it was a Saturday night. The traffic fumes were noticeable after our previous three months of ocean and small islands.
In the morning we tied alongside the quay as we had to sign in, but realising it was Sunday we had a walk for nothing. We got a look round the town centre though, and filled our tank with water from the quay. On Monday we finally signed in and did some shopping at the market for fruit and veg, and saw the many craft stalls too, full of cheap pearl and mother of pearl jewellery and woven goods.
We left at lunchtime for the yacht anchorage on the far side of the airport, the town quay fees of 60 USD equivalent per day were too steep for us, and just about everybody else! No wonder the town quay stays almost empty now. It is a shame they do not see the sense of encouraging yachties to spend more time (and money) in town by offering a cheap rate.
The motor to the Marina Taina anchorage was about 5km, outside the airport but inside the reef, which was a new experience for us. We had to radio Port Control for permission to cross at each end of the runway, and saw a few planes taking off and landing in close proximity to the boat, which was fun for Dan!
The anchorage is large but constrained everywhere by the fringing reef. The varying depths and therefore tidal flows caused yachts to move in unpredictable directions whenever the wind changed, which it did a lot, and yachts frequently re-anchored in order to avoid unexpected close encounters with neighbours!
You can see nearby Moorea very well from the anchorage, it is craggy and looks interesting for the next stop.
The marina provides fuel, water, laundry, and wireless internet, although the internet was less than satisfactory here. Buses and “trucks” run into town from near the marina for reasonable rates, and there is a huge Carrefour supermarket very near, which was a joy to us but not to our bank account!
We re-stocked our food and bought a lot of French items we had not seen for a long time, but prices are high.
Nigel went windsurfing through the anchorage one day and made friends with some people staying on a 50ft Polynesian-style houseboat, literally a floating house on catamaran hulls. One of the guys on board invited us all over for food in return for a go on our windsurfing kit!
Lisa is starting to take steps alone, just one or two, but the confidence is the main thing. She is growing well and getting to higher places with her enquiring eyes and hands! She is talking in clearly recognisable phrases although the language is still a mystery.
Nigel’s eye has been playing up and getting worse over a few months, and he decided it was time to see a doctor. We were recommended to go to Clinic Paofai, on the truck route into town, it is a private clinic with all types of doctors. Nigel was seen by the opthalmologist after just a short wait, who spoke excellent English. He confirmed what Nigel had suspected, that he had pterygium affecting his left eye, and a series of medications were prescribed to kill off bacteria and reduce the pain and inflammation. The medication helped initially.
Pterygium is a problem caused by wind, salt, sun etc. and is a problem of windsurfers and sailors.