Arrival to Tahiti 24 July 2024
The night was better and whilst there was the odd roll it was less strong and we were sailing at a reasonable speed and in the right direction to get to our waypoint off Tahiti. I had the 9.00pm until 12.00 midnight watch which was fine but I was struggling to stay awake not having slept since we left Faaite and had to stand up and keep in the cooler air. However, I managed it.
Joyce had the 3.00am to 6.00am watch and I asked her to wake me as we arrived at the waypoint. In fact, I managed some sleep and got up about 5.30am when we were 3 nm from it. The first we saw of Tahiti was the lights on the shore and from the odd lighthouse or cardinal (warning lights) and then as the sun came up the peaks on its top. As more was revealed it looked a beautiful island with its peaks and then valleys coming down like stretching fingers from the top with its browns and greens. The slopes were quite steep and you noticed the buildings on the lower slopes where it was not too steep. Above these areas it rose steeply up the fingers and you could see the valleys as described in yesterdays blog. The picture of the day is my view of the peaks as we came up the island.
As the sun came up on the peaks and the island you could see how attractive it was and it looked stunning and the peaks came down to the sea quite steeply. The odd thing was that there was no sign of the reef which surrounds it where at points it is 2 nm from the land and in others 0.5nm. We got to the waypoint and sailed on up the coast heading for the passe to Papeete – the main port. We now could see vessels going in and out of the passe on the chart plotter and started to listen to channel 12 on the radio as you have to ask for permission to enter and leave the port from Port Control. We arrived at the passe about 7.40am (10 minutes after my plan – not bad after 250nm) and asked permission to enter and was granted it but we had to pass with another yacht coming out. As we were going to Marina Tiana we had to go through a passage through the inner reef and had to keep in contact with port control as we had to go past the airport runway twice and had to avoid planes landing and taking off.
The passe was straight forward and marked by buoys and it is only 200 feet wide and can generally be used most times. We could now see the reef which ran along the shore and was mostly under water but you could see the waves on the outer part of the reef. Papeete was ahead of us and looked a busy town and port. We had to bear right and to enter the channel inside the reef toward the marina which is about 5nm around the island. Our first thoughts were that this is a lovely island as the channel was pretty with the shore on one side and the reef on the other with the attractive different colours of the water – which vary with depth – yellow, brown and different shade of blue. We had to concentrate as we passed through different buoys en route and then we came across the airport runway and we had to contact port control who said we could proceed and we had 8 minutes to get past which we did. We then came round in a loop and past the other end of the runway. We did not want our mast being clipped by a plane!
As we went along this inside channel (it is a bit like the Beaulieu river with the sea alongside) we could see houses and attractive villas on the shore bank stretching up the slopes and the reef on the right. It was quite busy with other marine traffic and along the route were different anchorages where there were a lot of sail boats at anchor and I am talking about a large number. I knew a number of yachts come here to stock up before they move on and it is a main hub. Some even live here on their yachts and it looks an attractive location to do so. However I was surprised by the number of yachts here.
We carried on through the channel and then anchored briefly to take down the dinghy from the davits and to put the outboard engine on the back and to then place the dinghy on the front deck. The reason for this is that the marina said we would be stern (rear) to the wall. Once done we motored on and called up the marina on the radio. We saw that the fuel dock was clear so we reversed alongside and refuelled -some 554 lts. It is always good knowing that you have full tanks and it is one less thing to worry about before we leave.
The marina asked us to reverse up to a large outside wharf by dropping our anchor some 3 boats lengths from the quay and then reverse back paying out the anchor chain as we went. We then threw two stern lines to the shore where they were put over bollards and we then tightened up on the anchor and secured our position by tightening on the rear lines as well. We had to ensure we were far enough off the wall not to hit it by surge but close enough so our passarelle (extending walkway) could reach the shore so we could get off. This took a little time and they also gave us lines attached to the seabed which we put on our bow. Divers had to go down to get them.
Once secured – we were glad we had arrived safe and sound. We looked at our surroundings and had a view out the front over the reef with the white line of the breaking waves and to the shore with the attractive houses rising up the green slopes with lots of different trees between them. Further up were the steep valleys with green and lines of what looked like pine trees. In fact, it looked like an alpine scene and we had to blink to check we were not in Austria for example.
We started to sort our selves out and then had a light lunch before checking in with the marina office. The marina has 3 restaurants, dive shops, a laundry and two chandleries. It looked clean and well maintained and the water was clear with fish swimming around. We got out our electric cable and the bag with the ends was full of water so we had to take the ends off, soak them in fresh water and let them dry out. Once dry we put everything back and it worked so we now have shore power (which we have not had since Panama) so all our plugs work and we can even boil an electric kettle rather than use gas!
In the afternoon there were lots of jobs to do but some slept and rested and we then started an early supper with happy hour at one of the restaurants which was followed by a nice meal. Although we have enjoyed French Polynesia it was nice to be back in normal civilisation again with normal shops (there is a Carrefour 5 minutes away) where we can get what we want and restaurants with choice.
We went to bed quite tired but glad to be here and we look forward to discovering what appears to be a beautiful island. It feels like a chapter is finishing as Joyce and Andy will fly home and I will for two weeks to see my wife and family which I am looking forward to. Stormbird has looked after us and got us there safe and sound so thank you Stormbird.
Crewing Opportunity Year Two
In addition, 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 probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and 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 I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk