20 September 2024 – Huahine to Moorea

Before I start today’s blog -I am looking for one crew from Tahiti to Tonga – who would need to be in Tahiti by the 30th of September 2024 latest. If anyone is interested please email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com or WhatsApp me on 0044 7931360372.

We woke to pouring rain and it was quite hard so we cheered ourselves up with banana pancakes sitting in the dry under the doghouse. We planned to have an early lunch and then leave for Moorea. The wind was going to be quite light but should pick up in the night with the aim of arriving at Moorea by about 9-10.00am in the morning and into Cook’s Bay.

We then chilled for a while and then it was job time. Keith cleaned the galley and checked our fruit and vegetables. I check the bilges and the engine and tidied things up. I had heard from Tahiti Crew that the generator man would return on the 26th so I emailed the marina to try to get a berth from that date and hope that will be ok.

The rain had just about stopped when I wanted to go ashore to get rid of the rubbish and to buy some fresh bread. There must have been a good inch of water in the dinghy which I had to bail out. The run ashore was fine but the water colour near the shore was brackish brown from the outflow of any rivers and soil from the land. This was very different from the usual crystal-clear water and the blue colour. I got some bread and the town was busy and it was clear from the people on the quay that a ferry was coming and it arrived as I went back to the dinghy.

Once I returned we got the dinghy up on the davits and did a number of final preparations. The rain came and went and it remained fairly grey. We had our lunch and upped anchor about 1.35pm and motored out of the southern of the two passes and then motored on past the North part of the island. As we came out the passe we could see a number of locals surfing on the waves which crashes on to the reef. There was no wind barely 3-4 kts but the sun came out and it was a lovely afternoon and we motored on aiming for a waypoint some 35 nm away due to the wind angle and from there we could tack and head straight for Moorea. The wind was going to come from the Southeast but it may move round to the East in the night which would help. The sea state was calm and it was lovely to be out on the water and away from the rain.

As the hours passed we hoped the wind would fill in but it didn’t. I therefore decided to try and fish as we were only going about 6 kts. The line went out and I returned to enjoying the view and the sun and clouds. After about two hours the rod ratchet went and I gradually increased the ratchet to stop the line running out and snap the line had been bitten off by whatever was on the end of it. Probably another very large fish and we had lost another lure.

The wind eventually began to come about 6.00pm as it was getting dark but only about 6kts. We had enough of motoring and so we upped the sails and were able to make about 3 kts which was slow but so peaceful. It did not matter as we had plenty of time. Keith heated up some of the spaghetti bolognaise that we had frozen with pasta and peas which was tasty and filling and will last us through the night.

After supper Keith went for a rest and I was left checking the sails. The wind is quite fickle and then it started to rain and then the wind died again to 1.7kts. However, within 10 minutes it came back to 6 and it is as I write about 7 kts and we are making about 4.8kts in the right direction to our waypoint. The wind is moving round every now and then from the East and it is tempting to tack to make best use of it but it is too early and will result in us having to tack back again. Patience- enjoy the peaceful and calm sail.

We are now settling down for the night and Keith will come back on at 9.00pm. We will review tacking then or at midnight when I come on again depending on what progress we have made and the wind direction.

The picture of the day is Huahine from a distance after we had left.  

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