20 August 2024 – Tahiti-Moorea

It is my brother J’s birthday so happy to J. I did manage to speak to him which was good.

It was another lovely morning and the sun had its hat on early. Mark went to get some bread and croissants for breakfast which was good and we started with a nice breakfast.

Mark and Corinne went to return to their car hire to Pepeete whilst I remained and prepared things for departure and cleaned the deck which had become dusty. I went to the Marina office and settled the bill for the mooring and they tried to charge me for divers to pick up the mooring lines. As I had not been warned about this I felt this should not be chargeable as it was their mooring lines and should be part of the mooring fee. The dock master agreed with me and the office guy did not but it was taken off.

Once Mark and Corinne returned we prepared to leave for Moorea. We called the marina and the marina staff came to help us to release our mooring lines on the bow (front). Once done we released our stern lines and started to bring in our anchor and all went well until we got to about 30 meters and suddenly our anchor was under a long line from the quay. We therefore had to call the marina staff again and the divers came out.  We were in about 19 meters of water and the diver had a look and took a bag down and a tank of air. He then I think attached the bag to the anchor and filled it with tank air and lifted the anchor to the surface. Once at the surface he told us to take in the chain and at the last minute he released air out of the bag and passed the rope off so we could bring our anchor in completely. We were then free.

We went back towards the passe out of Papeete but had to call the Port Control who monitored our progress past the western part of the airport and we then continued along toward the Northern side. A Polynesian canoeist came into our stern and wake and was able to canoe at 6 kts behind us for some time which was quite impressive. The route took us along some nice villas and vistas inland with the blue of the reef on the other side with its white border of the waves crashing on the reef.

We approached the end of the airport and were given clearance to proceed and leave the passe of Tahiti. As we motored through the channel the wind increased at one point to about 28 kts. We exited the passe and headed for Moorea, an island I had seen for weeks in the distance and was only about 15nm away.  

The forecast was 14-24 kts of wind with gusts of up to 27 kts (force 7) which should be fine for that short period. . We put up the staysail due to the wind strength and as we had no mainsail as we need to mend the foil before we put the mainsail on again. The reality was that the wind strength was quite a lot higher. The highest gust was 40.6 kts (a good force 9) and a lot of the time it was about 28-36 kts so we were being pushed along about 6-9 kts and the sea was quite large. We think the sea state was about 2-4.5 meters easily. The water was like a cauldron. The sea had big waves with a lot of white in the sea from breaking waves and the white horses. It was quite disturbed and what you can see from documentaries of a storm type sea state. We were rolling quite a bit and it was pretty full on. Luckily the distance was not large and we sailed about 20nm to the entrance of the passe opposite the Baie du Cook. Stormbird looked after us and we did not feel unsafe. The passage only took us a few hours but it was rolly and quite testing conditions and eventually we to the passe and then motored in with quite difficult wave conditions.

Once we were in the bay it was lovely and calm as we were behind the reef and the 3-4m waves subsided. This was a long and medium size bay going in from the reef and there were dramatic mountains and hills surrounding the bay. The scenery was beautiful and green and the shore had lovely houses along it and palm trees decorating the shoreline. Above these houses were lovely trees and steep cliffs. The beauty of the bay was quite dramatic. and it was more Marquesan.

There were a lot of boats anchored but we continued down the bay and anchored in about 20m of water and soon found our spot. The bay was very beautiful and the scenery so different from Tahiti. Once anchored we had a cup of tea and relaxed and then had a swim which was good. We had a sundowner and it was a lovely evening and all was good. However every now then there was a  long gust which seemed to be blowing from different directions and came out of nowhere.

Mark cooked a delicious swordfish dish with rice and beans which was great We sat in the cockpit and chatted and listened to music. The wind was gusty but we were fine.

We look forward to exploring Moorea. It is said that is the island that has it all. A blue lagoon with chiselled mountains and white sandy beaches being a lot quieter than its Tahiti sister which is only about 15-20 nm away.

Moʻorea, also spelled Moorea, is a volcanic island in French Polynesia. It is one of the Windward Islands, a group that is part of the Society Islands, 17 kilometres (11 mi) northwest of Tahiti. The name comes from the Tahitian word Moʻoreʻa, meaning  "yellow lizard". The first Europeans to arrive on the island were the Englishmen Samuel Wallis and James Cook. Captain James Cook first landed on Tahiti, where he planned the 1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti and Moʻorea. At Moʻorea, where Taʻaroa was chief, Cook first landed in ʻŌpūnohu Bay, Cook's Bay was later named in his honor.

 Crewing Opportunity Year Two

In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond.