Papeete

Marina de Papeete

Carol at the market

Tahitian dancers at our welcoming reception

May 7, 2015

After sailing for two days we arrived at the Pointe Venus in Tahiti after dark, however had been assured that it was an easy anchorage to enter in the dark and that proved to be the case. There was only one other boat there, and we didn't realize that until the sun rose in the morning.

We motored about five miles to the Papeete harbour entrance early next morning and got ourselves settled into a new marina right downtown. The marina is owned by the city and isn't scheduled to open officially until June. The organizers of the BPO made arrangements for our boats to use the facilities, and there are several other boats here as well. Not everything is complete, such as washing machines that are in place but not hooked up, however we do have good washrooms, showers and wifi.

Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, is a modern city with a beautiful waterfront, and lots of services. We are looking forward to provisioning here for the months ahead.

Monday and Tuesday were taken up by meetings of the BPO group and Jimmy Cornell who flew in for a few days. We were able to reach a consensus on routes, stops and timing so the meetings were a success. We will be spending a couple of extra weeks in Australia, and three extra months in Southeast Asia. We should reach South Africa by mid-July, 2016, and leave for Brazil/ the Caribbean in November, arriving back in Martinique in the spring of 2017.

Most boaters, including us, are working away on boat projects between meetings, and planned events. For us it looks like battery replacement is in the cards as one of our three large house batteries is dead. Unfortunately, although the other two are ok, they are three plus years old and need to be replaced all at the same tine.  

After the weekend we hope to rent a car and drive around the island. We are back to the volcanic islands with their high peaks and great views. We can see the island of Moorea, which is only twelve miles away. The other islands in the Society Islands group are approximately one hundred miles further west. The final one for us is Bora Bora, where we are scheduled to depart on May 27, so we have time to enjoy all of the islands.

After spending five of the past six months on board with us, Bob is moving to another boat which wanted one more crew as one of the original crew had to return to the US for several months. We will miss Bob, certainly on the overnight passages, and he has always been a big asset on the boat. He flew home last evening, and will be returning on May 31 to join his new boat. Of all the boats who had extra crew there are only one or two boats where a member of the original crew is still on the same boat they started with!