Friday, April 18, 2014

Fakarava to Tahiti – A Two Day Trip in Pictures


It took Irie 50 hours to sail from South Fakarava to Taina Marina in Papeete, Tahiti. Our experiences of that trip can be read in the posts underneath. The first 24 hours went well, then the conditions mellowed and the second night was a relatively slow one, with Tahiti waking up when we rounded the north coast. Once close to the land, where the mountains dominate, the wind disappeared slowly with us stubbornly sailing on at 2 knots, until it totally disappeared and we had to motor the last hour towards the mooring field. The sky was blue and the sea was flat. Tahiti, here we are!


Passing the resort in Tetamanu Village on our way out of Fakarava Lagoon


Fakarava south pass with the wind (15 knots) and the tide (2 knots) coming in - not too challenging!


Yvan Bourgnon passing us on the way to Tahiti in Ma Louloute, doing 14 knots!


Towards sunset on day 2, while flying the spinnaker, we caught a decent size mahi mahi (dorado)


Sailing west - into the sunset


Approaching Venus Point in Tahiti around 6am - the island is waking up


Irie still had to go a long and slow way to the east side of the island


Sunrise in our not too rippled wake


Moorea - 15 miles from Tahiti - at dawn


A whole bunch of fish before we reach the reef and the mooring field: time to throw out the fishing line one more time (in vain)


House boats inside the reef and Moorea in the background

1 comment:

Lisa Dorenfest said...

Love the pictures, especially the one with Mark and the Mahi! Can't wait to get back to sea. Any day now