Well, it was bound to happen. I forgot my wedding anniversary yesterday. My wife had to remind me, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t remember it first thing that morning. We’ve only been married 22 years I did remember the one 6 months ago. We celebrate 2 wedding anniversaries each year, as we first got married in London then again in Arizona. Just trying to be inclusive, thank you very much.
Anyway, as predicted, having returned to the land of internet access and gotten a local cell data plan, we both now look at the US and world news each morning while enjoying our coffee. And as expected, news of coronavirus, Brexit and the political antics in the US have raised our stress level and perhaps my blood pressure as well. The design of smart phone news apps sucks the viewer in with the objective of keeping your eyeballs on task for as long as possible. It’s like “them sireens” in that movie, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”. Brother hasn’t got a chance!
So we’ve been enjoying time in the leeward Society islands for the past couple months – I swear I’ll write a bit about each one, but in summary we sailed from Moorea direct to Huahine, kicked back a spell, then sailed right past Taha’a / Raiatea and Bora Bora on down to Maupiti where we had a grand old time. I also got a perforated eardrum there, still not sure how but it does seem to have healed. More about that later. After a few weeks there was a big blue weather hole so we buggered off and motored on back to Taha’a, once again thumbing our noses at Bora Bora. We met up with our friends on SV Sugar Shack and made new friends on SV Sea Jay. We enjoyed a variety of beautiful anchorages and checked out the haul out facility that’ll likely do our next bottom job. We bought (and drank) some great locally produced boutique rum.
Then we heard our pals Brian and Sue on SV Sea Rose were kicking back in Avea Bay over in Huahine, AND Steve on SV Liward had put together a band to celebrate his birthday up at Fare, so the day of the party we actually believed the “fake news” light winds and seas forecast and pushed the 23 miles from Taha’a back to Huahine. It was a righteous shindig, and apparently we had a great time.
After recovering our sensibilities the following day we tooled on down to Avea Bay where Chris and David on SV Taipan had only moved far enough to steal OUR mooring, and lo and behold there was Sea Rose sporting her new paint job. Last we saw her she was in a paint shed at Rocky Point, Mexico and Brian and Sue were wondering if they’d ever get to go sailing again. Sea Rose is a big cat – when we’re aboard her it honesty feels like we’re in someone’s large condo rather than a boat. That’s what 47’ x 27’ will do for you, and she is a fine vessel indeed.
We had a fine time in Huahine, but got the itch to make our way East when the strong trades finally subsided, and so here we are, motoring into 10 knots and settling seas back towards Tahiti. There was supposed to be a big blue hole, but I think the weather guessers were just funnin’ us. With no wind and flat seas we’d make 5.8 knots but it looks like we’re averaging a bit more like 4.5 so it’s going to be a longer trip than we hoped, still we should drop the at Point Venus before dark tomorrow. We will be a bit lighter on fuel, but with reserves to tool over to Moorea after we’re done in Papeete, and Cook’s Bay at Moorea is the best place to top up on diesel, gasoline and even butane for cooking, so that works.
Our Pals Mike and Tami shipped us a box of critical repair and upgrade parts back on June 20th – and darned if it didn’t finally arrive in Papeete a week ago. How ‘bout that “on time delivery”, UPS? Anyway, I need my second measles jab and for the doctor to peer into my ears to see if my borescope photo had anything to do with reality. Isabel’s Carte de Sejour is ready for pickup – required due to Brexit. Might as well hit the big city and do our thing.
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