Waiting for wives; Tahiti Iti and Moorea
31 December 2011 Papette to Port Phaeton
The morning was spent doing last minute administration, banks, internet, notes to the Port Police who were not on duty, shopping etc, etc; but we were away at 1100hrs. There was no wind so we motored the whole way to Port Phaeton. It was a very easy run and the entrance wasn't as difficult as the charts and pilot book lead us to believe. We were in with the last of the light and anchored which is a first for this trip. The windlass which was corroded solid was put in a state to move whilst we were in Papette was used for the 1st time in many a year. The run down gave glipses of the hiniterland of Tahiti, lots of sharp steep peaks over even more steep sided valleys. Habitation is largely confined to the coastal strip. Today the clouds lifted at odd times to give these insights into the interior but they were short and tantalising. Let us hope the weather continues to improve. Port Phaeton is a hurricane hole between the main bulk of the island and a smaller area joined to it by an isthamus. The holding is fantastic and no safer place for the boat would be possible. It would be nice to explore Tahiti Iti which is small enough to cross in a day, but has some very rugged country in its interior.
We have no idea what lies ashore beyond a boatyard and a bar, but that's a good start!
All the crew were a bit homesick s New Years Eve is a big celebration in Ukraine. There was no point in my going to bed so we dug out my ties and did our best to have a party but it was a rather subdued affair.
( I don't seem to be able to stick in photos at the moment. I have no idea why but will bash on and keep trying!)
1 January 2012 Port Phaeton
We put the dinghy together and Kosta and Sergiy shot off to explore the bay. They came back with horror stories of stolen dinghies and stripped boats, so the decision is that there must always be someone on board. I am very sceptical of the veracity of these tales because there are several liveaboard couples here and they could not live like that and wouldn't stay if that was the situation. However it is not worth arguing about. Genady voluenteered to for the 1st stay on the boat so after breakfast the rest of us went ashore to look at Taravao, and there was really very little to see or get excited about. Today was the first clear day we have had since we arrived in Tahiti and was very hot. I moved away from Kosta and Sergiy to explore on my own as going in a gang you see very little and meet nobody. Across the isthamus was a small commercial harbour which had not been used for some time as the bollards were flaking rust. However the reef markers were in place, the water was clean and there was a beach to one side and a little motu offshore to set off the scenery. I thought it would be a perfect safe and convienient place to explore the area from. Kosta however was not keen so we won't do it.
I wandered back to the boat and was picked up by Genady. The others came back after lunch and Gena and Sergiy went off in search of beer. Kosta picked up messages on his satellite phone and found that after 5 Jan we have strong northerlies forecast. He decided that tomorrow we will go to Moorea for a few days and then back to Papette to pick up the gas when the bad weather arrives. it is not a bad plan but one of our good days for exploring and swimming will now be spent going to Moorea. We seem unable to move the boat short distances, or out to clean water for a swim and then back again. Everthing is so intense and serious, there is no carefree attitude to life.
2 January 2012 Port Phaeton to Opunoho Bay, Moorea
I was up early and got breakfast ready but was the only taker, no idea why. Kosta insisted on giving me a detailed and lenghty description of how to pull up a chain! I stepped back and let him risk his back doing it his way. Sometimes I despair.
There was no wind so we motored carrying the dinghy on the foredeck. The rear tube extensions of the dinghy formed a comfortable backrest so I read for the morning. The comfort is a welcome as the cockpit sides are too far from the rails to use them as a backrest and the cockpit floor is often wet. The dinghy on the foredeck also gives us a bit more space which after the last few days I think we need. After lunch a slight breeze blew up so we sailed for a couple of hours before we had to go downwind which killed the breeze. We motored to Opunoho Bay and entered easily, anchoring to the East with a lot of other cruising boats in the channel behind the reef towards the hotel complex. The mystery of where the porthand channel marker for the entrance had gone was solved- it was aground behind the reef about a mile out of position! We just got in as the rain started but it was soon over and we all swam and had a mega-supper.
The setting and mountains are really dramatic.
3 January 2012 Opunoho Bay
Sergiy wanted to stay on board so Genady, Kosta and I went walkabout. The Opunoho Valley was well written up in the guides so we decided to go there. Kosta and Genady were slow to start and decided to fiddle and fill showers that could easily have been left to Sergiy so we were missing the cool of the morning. They were also slow once we had started and I suddenly found myself alone on the road and enjoying the silence. At the Agricultural College I took their do-it-yourself guided tour which lasted about an hour and identified all their plants and the uses to which they were put. I was given papaya by one of the workers, water by another group and a pineapple by the girl in the snackbar. I felt duty bound to try one of their pineapple and grapefruit juices and it was delicious.
I walked up the road to the archelogical area and viewed various piles of stones without much enthusiasm. On the way back to the road a side path into the jungle beckoned and I found myself on a back trail to the Belvedere viewpoint. The jungle was cool and shady and there were many trees with roots like fine butresses and nuts scattered across the forest floor, I later found they were Mape trees and a staple of the original Polynesian cuisine. I also passed a wildlife reserve specifically set aside for snails, of which there were lots, mainly large ones with two-tone swirly brown shells. At the viewpoint it really was a lovely view over both Opunoho and Cooks Bays and the old caldera with Mt Rotui thrusting up into the centre of it all.
After resting I returned to the trail I had ascended and headed for 3 Pines intending to descend from there to the Pineapple Road and Cooks Bay. Walking in the forest was hot but not unbearably so because of the shade and the constant interest involved in not losing the path. The silence was profound. At 3 Pines which was another fantastic viewpoint I met a German woman who was living on Moorea and was walking alone. She was headed for Viare, the ferry terminal on the other coast, where the buses ran from and to. So I agreed to accompany her there and get a bus back to Opunoho. She was good company and very knowledgeable about the forest plants although she was a bit of a food freak. However we spent a very pleasant afternoon in each others company. The view from the ridge above Viare was excellent. In one direction the harbour, channel and Tahiti; and in the other another view of Mt Rotui and Cooks Bay. The path down was fairly easy so we arrived in time for me to have hamburger and chips! She saw me on to the bus with a papaya and coconut drink both of which were delicious. I arrived back at the Sailing School in Opunoho at the same time as Kosta and Genady, and Sergiy picked us up in the dinghy. The others went off for a Polynesian evening at the hotel and I stayed boat sitting as I will, I am sure do something similar with Ann when she arrives.
It was a good day if a little strenuous 0800-1630 with not many stops.
4 January 2012 Opunoho Bay
Today I thought that I would try to find the high level trail around the Opunoho Valley. I failed to identify the start and after walking for about 1 1/2 hrs I ended up back where I had started from! It wasn't an unpleasant experience as there were lots of flowers and I managed to swim in a stream, but it wasn't what I had planned. As it was still early I set off along one of the parallel tracks to the Pineapple Road scrumping grapefruits and pineapples which had been discarded along the way. And at about 1 pm I arrived at Cooks Bay, dunked my feet in the sea and ate my spoils. I also made a trip to the supermarket for essential supplies like wine and luxury of luxuries I had an ice-cream.
On the road back to the boat I got shanghaied by 3 old Tahitian men (in truth probably younger than me) who insisted on taking me to their shack, of nailed up corrugated and dirt floor, to give me a coconut drink. They were not enamoured of the French but had no idea what they would do if they were independant.
Kosta had asked another Canadian called Adrian to eat with us. He is selling his boat, to set up 'Kite Sailing Ecological Tour' He was/is a fascinating dreamer who also does some amazing things like kite surfing for 36hrs from Tahiti to Huahine through an eclipse. He was great company and I hope his dreams work out but I would find it impossible to live such a financially precarious life.
The weather is turning nasty, Northerly winds when we want to go North, what a surprise! Add to this that Kosta has now found somewhere here to fill the gas so we will not be going back to Papette. This means that I must go on the ferry, as I need to book the flights for when Ann is here to give some structure to her visit.
5 January 2012 Opunoho Bay
Hitched to Viare and caught the late morning ferry to Papette. I paid the outstanding harbour dues, got clearance for Bora-Bora which none of us knew we needed. I then booked the flights for when Ann is here which sets the framework for her visit. I picked up brochures at the tourist office and checked the weather. The forecast is for solid northerlies for a week and nasties on Sunday. I then picked up wine and milk at the supermarket and headed back with the glad tidings about the weather. The trades have evaporated and there are Northerlies all the way to Hawaii, would you believe it!
6 January 2012 Opunoho Bay
The weather was as foul as was predicted. I used the last of my phone battery setting up the accommodation for Ann's visit. All of it is pension self catering and reasonably priced though not cheap, and of course booked unseen. I then went to the Hilton Hotel up the road for lunch and to recharge my phone battery. It was nice sitting by the lagoon with a book and a drink, but the grey skies and squally showers took the edge off things. Certainly the holiday makers paying $500+ a night were looking very glum. The break in the weather and the reurn of the gas have both now slipped back to Wednesday.
7 January 2012 Opunoho Bay
The weather is dreadful. I arranged to take a hold all full of clothes I will not need until after Bora Bora to the pension on Moorea where we will be staying. Today seemed as good a day as any to do it. The only problem was catching the bus whose arrivals seemed somewhat haphazard to us and there is no bus shelter, so by the time it arrived I was soaked in spite of my waterproofs. At Viare I got off expecting to have to change buses but found that my bus carried on and the driver just waved me aboard like a long lost friend. Mind you he also drove straight past the pension which I was lucky to spot.
The pension looks fine 'in the flesh' and I handed over my bag. The owner/manager a young guy called Hari took pity on an almost drowned, almost septugenarian and gave me a lift back to the boat in his van.. Towards the end we found that he spoke Spanish, as well as French, Tahitian and English, so we had a bit of Spanish conversation. When I got back I was given a lift out to the boat by the owner of the Sailing School on one of his little catamarans.
Sergiy and Genady went off to the hotel for a beer or two and Kosta and I went off to see Adrian who has now definitely sold his boat. The inside of the boat was a bit of a mess, a batchelors boat, but it was a good solid cruising boat which was nicely arranged though in need of a coat of paint and some TLC. I can't think why he is selling it to buy something else. There was much discussion of the strategies for sitting out the existing bad weather and should we do this, that, or the other. With a well dug in anchor, an oversized Bruce, which has already seen us through 30+kts plus the 2nd anchor deployed as an angel I think we are bomb proof.
8 January 2012 Opunoho Bay
It rained all day, sometimes hard, sometimes less so but it never stopped. Nobody went anywhere and there was much sleeping, eating, reading and backgammon. The cliffs of Mt Rotui beside us were dry when we arrived. They now are home to no less than 9 waterfalls and in any other weather at least two of them would merit a guide book write up as a tourist attraction.
9 January 2012 Opunoho Bay
I woke at 0530 to the anchor alarm which had been set too sensitive. The wind began to build and we had a few gust of 35kts and upwards but the anchor and angel held us steady. It looks like another dreadful day as far as the weather is concerned.
The day was as bad as expected but without too much wind, just rain, rain and more rain. however in the evening it eased to dampness and the wind stayed below 20kts. Kosta and Genady went to the hotel for a break and to get some weather from the internet. They returned with the promise of a break in the rain of at least 2 days. WOW! The evening was tinged with pink for the first time in a long while so maybe it is not just wishful thinking.
10 January 2012 Opunoho Bay
The day dawned dry so I was up early and on the road by 0830. I got a lift to the Agricultural College with one of the French research workers and then walked up to the Belvedere. There was nobody else there. I took the track to 3 Coconuts Pass. It was well defined and heavily used so how I missed the turning to the col I will never know, but miss it I did. And I walked on and on through the forest, and on and on along a logging track and then part way up a ridge before realising that I was miles away from where I should be and the only course open was to retrace my steps. Retracing ones steps is a boring business so at what I reckoned to be the 1st opportunity at a cairn by a stream crossing I took a path going sharply uphill. This climbed a ridge of Mt Mouaroa and took me to a thin high traverse across the face of the mountain to a col. It wasn't 3 Coconuts but I was grateful to be there and celebrated with lunch.After lunch I descended the other side of the ridge and found a path contouring left which quite quickly brought me to the viewpoint above 3 Coconuts. There I found a Tahitian family and a girl doing meditation! I chatted to the family and then descended to the pass and on down to Haapiti. The descent was straightforward, but the walk out through the valley long and boring. By the time I reached the road I was tired so I just waited for a bus to Viare. There I met Kosta and Genady on a shopping trip so we all arrived back at the beach in a tropical downpour. It would not have done to have stayed dry all day!
Adrian came to supper, he really is a very likeable, hardworking, immature surf bum and excellent company, we all wish him well in his new adventure with his new boat.
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