24 August 2024 – Moorea- Society Islands

It was another nice start to the day being sunny and still. We planned to move on today to Opunuho Bay which is literally about 3nm away and the other side of the hillside from our western side. However, you have to go out of the reef and then back in through another passe.

We had another nice breakfast of fruits and French bread and after Mark and Corrinne went ashore to provision. I stayed behind to check the watermaker. When I had used it coming over it seemed to not be right and was pulsing as if there was air in the system. I had text Tim – our expert about this and he suggested checking the pipes for leaks and whether the water inlet was blocked and also to see if the pre filter needed changing. I did all this and could not find any issue but changed the 20-micron filter as a precaution. I also changed the filters on the freshwater system.

Mark and Corinne returned and we pulled up the dinghy and prepared to leave. The weather was still lovely and mild. We upped the anchor and no end of mud came up which made a great mess on the deck and anchor locker – to be cleaned soon.

We headed out of Cook’s Bay and thought we would view the eastern channel before the passe where a number of yachts were anchored. It was just inside the reef and quite small but also quite exposed if winds were coming from the East, North, West or a combination if these. We thought it was good where we had anchored deeper in the bay. We headed out of the passe under genoa and thought we would go out and see if we can see any whales. Apparently August and September are good months for seeing Humpback Whales which pass by Moorea during this period. We headed out for about 2 hours but unfortunately we were out of luck and saw no whales. During this time, I got the watermaker going and although it ran smoothly it was not as powerful as normal. Although it  was working I could tell something was not right and I am not sure how to fix it. I will text Tim again and send him some video and also see if I can get someone to look at it in Tahiti when we return.

After the 2 hours we headed back toward the passe of Opunuho Bay and the red and green buoys which mark the entrance to the reef. We went inside and as we did so I saw the dorsal fin of a shark of some sort swim by. Inside the passe on the left (west) side was a channel inside the reef where a lot of boats were anchored. There was a small channel on the east side and we headed down that where there were 2 boats anchored at the end. The pilot book said that locals discourage anchoring off the village and the pier. We carried on past this and came toward the end of the channel where two catamarans were moored. We approached slowly and the depth dropped quickly from 13 m to 5m then 4m and I stopped us at 3.6m and reversed. We went back to the 13m point and anchored in the channel and decided to have lunch.     

We anchored in quite a small space but we were fine and we had a nice lunch watching the world go by. We soon realised we were in a fairly major highway for boats and jet skis. There were dive boats, tourist boats, local boats and jet skis and it was quite busy. However, despite this we were in a lovely location and clearly it was a good snorkelling spot. After lunch we donned our mask and snorkels and headed toward the coral bommie shadows we could see between us and the reef. The coral was fairly healthy and there were lots of reef fish which was good and enjoyable.

After we had enough we headed back to Stormbird and then upped anchor again and thought we would try the eastern side which looked less busy with local traffic. We negotiated our way back down the channel and across the passe to the eastern side. We managed to find ourselves a nice spot off the local beach and enjoyed some tea.

A bit later we tried the Sparkling Pineapple wine that I had bought from the Juice factory which at first did not taste good but it grew on you. We celebrated Mark and Corinne’s 45-year wedding anniversary (albeit belated) but well done to them. A lovely couple and great friends.

Mark was at the galley again to prepare supper. We had delicious prawn and tuna linguine which had been cooked very well. We looked around us and were surrounded by yachts with anchor lights on so it looked like a Christmas tree. Another great day on the water and pottering about boats.

The picture is of looking down Opunuho Bay.

 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. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com