After three and a half months of
living on land and
accumulating a lot of “goodies” to bring back with us to Tahiti, Mark and I
were a bit anxious about returning home to Irie. With four bulging checked bags
and three carry-ons, we kept wondering how we would manage to take everything
back, on the plane, into French Polynesia, towards the marina and over water to
our boat on a mooring ball. And, how would we adjust to the challenging boat life again after all that had happened? All in all, the trips went pretty smooth, except
for a small glitch in LA, which had nothing to do with our luggage, but
everything with poorly defined computer screens and infrastructure.
Our plane landed in Faa’a (Pape’ete) at 5am, customs was no
issue (we didn’t stand out with our cart piled high), we arrived by taxi van at
marina Taina at 6am, where a friendly cruiser – Bonnie from SV Romany Star –
picked us up a half hour later, and let us use her dinghy to bring all our bags
to Irie. At 7am on Friday, August 15
th, we were officially back
home. Irie was in decent shape for having been in the tropics this long without
us, thanks to some of our cruising friends. Her waterline was very filthy, a whole foot up from the water surface, because of the big swell and chop and the scum
passing through in this area. Her decks were gross with the city’s particles
falling out of the sky. The bimini was ripped in a few places. All to be
expected.
Our biggest surprise came when we looked forward of the bow
and found only one mooring line attached - running from one bow to the other,
highly non-recommended and something experienced cruisers would NEVER do,
because of chafe, let alone the fact that Irie was sitting on top of the ball
and the line was rubbing underneath the boat taking all our new bottom paint off!
– while we had left our floating home secured by two mooring lines in the
safest and best positioned way, and a “back-up” line in the middle! None of our
friends had anything to do with this set-up, so the mystery remains unsolved…
Why would a stranger get on our boat and replace a perfectly safe and well-prepared
situation with one that can cause damage and loss of our boat?
But, Irie was safe and sound (and still there!), so we got
to work immediately. By 10am all the bags were unpacked and all the contents
stored somehow. A short nap followed. In the afternoon, Mark fixed the outboard
engine which was seized from laying on its side for so long, still containing
salt water. And, we got the little motor – our lifeline to shore - running
again. Our old toilet seat was replaced and a broken burner as well. When it
was time to cook, another problem arose. The solenoid for our propane stove
didn’t work anymore. Luckily, a new one was found easily (we love our spare
parts!) and an hour later, we could make dinner. On Saturday, we both jumped
into the water early and cleaned the nasty waterline, while the bay was
relatively calm. Good idea, because by noon, the usual choppy waves had
arrived. The afternoon was spent searching for healthier food options in the Carrefour
supermarket and stocking the boat up with groceries. By the end of the weekend,
we had paid our hefty mooring fees, bought a few more odds and ends, had both
diesel engines running smoothly, and moved anchorages.
Following the advice of our cruising friends Birgit and
Christian on SV Pitufa, we motored two hours north, to arrive in the comfortable
anchorage of Arue, where we used our new chain for the first time.
Happy to be at anchor again and not bounce
around anymore, we enjoyed the new surroundings and figured out a way to obtain
decent internet (by paying lots of money and having a great WiFi product!),
which kept us entertained for the rest of the day. When the sun set at 5:45pm,
a local woman onshore kept yelling at us to move. We promised her to do so
first thing in the morning, since it was getting dark quickly and we couldn’t see
the reefs. But, she did not let up, screaming and urging us to move NOW. So, against
better judgment, we upped anchor and plopped ourselves in the middle of other
anchored boats, only to have to move again later on, when the wind shifted and
we were too close to our neighbors. No surprise there… This was the first time
we were approached in such an unfriendly and inhospitable way by a Polynesian
resident!
We met up with our friends on Pitufa after many months of
having different experiences and adventures, and the chores on Irie continued:
scrubbing the decks, cleaning the roof to be able to collect rainwater again,
installing a new accumulator tank, changing the oil in both engines, and
performing other engine maintenance. We have much more cleaning to do and a new jib (head sail) is waiting for us. It’s good to be back on Irie!
:-)
 |
| Leaving Boston by plane |
 |
| Approaching Los Angeles |
 |
| Moorea still beckons in the distance... Soon! |
 |
| Replacing the solenoid at nightfall to be able to cook dinner |
 |
| Scrubbing the waterline - the sea was very clear that morning; we saw the bottom in 70ft of water |
 |
| The new toilet seat (bought in the US) matches the new pump I brought from Belgium earlier this year |
 |
| Sunset over Moorea |
 |
| Locals playing around on a home built raft |
 |
| New Zealand mussels and Tahitian beer - life is good! |
Last Friday, Mark and I – together with our friends on SV
Pitufa – paused the usual chores and boat projects for a day (and yes, we even
left our computers alone :-)),
to explore a little bit more of the island of Tahiti. In pairs, we hitchhiked
to PK 22 (pointe kilométrique 22 – the numbers start counting from the capital Pape’ete
clockwise and counter clockwise around Tahiti Nui; the bigger round in the tilted
figure 8, which, together with Tahiti Iti makes up the island of Tahiti), where
the “Trois Cascades” are located. The four of us reunited near the “mile
marker” to follow the short road towards the waterfalls. Once at the site (no
fee), it was an easy stroll to each of the three tall cascades. We were the
only visitors to take in the serene setting. It was prohibited to swim in the
pools (“Beware of falling rocks!”) and the bugs were pretty persistent, so
after eating our dressed baguettes for lunch, we walked back to the main road.
On the seaside, a blowhole was trying to impress us, but since the ocean was
very mellow, we had to do with a soft gurgle and a puff of spray. A roaring
sound underneath the road announced every wave; a more interesting observation.
The sun was beating down on us relentlessly, while we waited
for another ride, partly back to where we started. A friendly Polynesian man
with a big enough car to fit four adults on the back seat stopped and brought
us to Point Venus (PK10). Along the way, he bought some fresh local fruit, new
to us. It was called pomme d’ étoile
and its soft flesh had a nice, sweet flavor to it. Pointe Vénus is a small
outcrop of land with a lot of history. It is here that Captain Cook built an
observatory to record the transit of the planet Venus across the face of the
sun, in an attempt to calculate the distance between the sun and the earth. The
peninsula defines Matavai Bay, where the early European explorers used to
anchor. Now, it is a peaceful anchorage bordering a popular and quite
attractive black sand beach. A local student on holiday break stopped
immediately after we stuck our thumbs out, and dropped us off at the Tahiti
Yacht Club in Arue, where Irie and Pitufa are anchored.
