Huahine – July 22 – 23<\/p>\n
We left Moorea on Sunday the 22nd to sail to Huahine. We left Moorea at
\n4:45 p.m., less than an hour before sunset. It is about an 85 nm sail
\nfrom Moorea to Huahine, just a bit too far to sail within the 11.5 hours
\nof daylight that we get here, so it is best to do this length of sail at
\nnight. That way, assuming that you sail somewhere around 7 nm per hour,
\n you can reach your destination in the morning – with the sun high
\noverhead – and with lots of extra daylight hours available to you in
\ncase of a slow passage.<\/p>\n
We left beautiful Moorea at the same time as “Priscilla”, another
\nAmerican boat in the anchorage. We had met Priscilla at the Shelter Bay
\nMarina in Panama last March just before our transit of the canal. The
\npeople onboard, Tom and Suzie, are a very nice couple – about our age –
\nfrom Marion, Mass. We were glad to have someone to buddy sail with, even
\nthough we were at least 10 nm apart the whole way.<\/p>\n
Our sail was uncomfortable for the first few hours with no wind, and
\nlots of swell. By about 8:00 p.m., however, the wind came up, and with
\nour jib sail poled out in preparation for a downwind sail, things
\nimproved. We checked in with Priscilla a few times on the VHF radio,
\nand found that having picked a slightly more southerly course than us,
\nthey were having a terrible time. They just couldn’t get a good angle
\nto sail, and had to motor, with lots of uncomfortable sideways swells.
\nMark took the first night shift and I went below for several hours of
\nsleep – until nearly 1:00 a.m. – when we had a check-in call with
\nPriscilla scheduled. They were still having a bad time, but we were
\njust cruising along comfortably. Mark went down to sleep after 1:00
\na.m. and by the time I woke him at 6:00 we were just around the corner
\nfrom the anchorage in Huahine. We pulled in to the anchorage near the
\ntown of Fare by 7:30 a.m. and were soon down below fast asleep. When we
\nfinally dragged ourselves out of bed it was already early afternoon. It
\ntook another hour or so to get the dinghy and engine set up, and we were
\nready to go check out the town.<\/p>\n
Fare is probably the cutest town we have seen in the South Pacific.
\nVery small, but with all the good stuff that we look for: a couple of
\nrestaurants, a great grocery store, a public bathroom, lots of trash
\ncans, and an easy dinghy dock. We ran into a couple of people we know at
\nthe grocery store, and oohed and aahed over the great selection of
\nvegetables they had there. We even found a new Melita coffee pot,
\nsomething we have been looking for in every store in the South Pacific.
\n We walked over to the gendarmerie to do our island check-in. You are
\nsupposed to check in at each island, but we normally don’t, as we have
\nheard that it really only matters that you do an official check-in in
\nTahiti, and an official check-out from your last port of call – which
\nwill be Bora-Bora. Some people are very diligent about checking in,
\nmost people don’t do it unless absolutely necessary. We are somewhere
\nin-between. In this case the gendarmerie was close by and it was very
\neasy to do, so we did it.<\/p>\n
We decided to have dinner at one of the little trucks that parks by the
\ndock. It turned out to be excellent and very good value. They gave us
\nso much food that we ended up taking a lot home for lunch the next day.
\n It is kind of a funny system. You can order chicken, beef, or fish –
\nwhich they grill for you on the spot – and one or all of the available
\naccompaniments. The price doesn’t vary whether you order one or all of
\nthe accompaniments, so we asked for all ( of course). They filled up a
\nplate with rice, french fries, bread and poisson cru, and then topped it
\noff with two huge pieces of meat. It was kind of ridiculous, but fun.
\nNothing beats truck food. Back to the boat just at sunset, and then an
\nearly bed-time.
\nP.S. Did I mention that it is pretty here?
\nL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Huahine – July 22 – 23 We left Moorea on Sunday the 22nd to sail to Huahine. We left Moorea at 4:45 p.m., less than an hour before sunset. It is about an 85 nm sail from Moorea to Huahine, just a bit too far to sail within the 11.5 hours of daylight that we … <\/p>\n