From the moment Mark and I arrived back to Irie in Tahiti
from the United States, where we spent over three months for
health reasons, we
have been extremely busy. First, we had to get
the boat ready to be lived and
sailed on again, then we had to do massive shopping and cleaning, and get back
to the daily errands. In the meantime, Mark was - and still is - working
extremely hard on a new line of
the Wirie products (more about that in a couple
of months) and I keep up with writing articles.
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| Taha'a, seen from Mt. Tapioi |
After a few weeks, we finally
visited
Moorea, which alluringly laid on the horizon for many months while we
were in Tahiti. We had a fabulous (but still busy) time there, something we had
been looking forward to for half a year. In the beginning of October, we
prepared our boat for visitors (cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, stocking
up on water and fuel …) and moved back to Tahiti, where we awaited the arrival
of my cousin Griet and her husband Wim. With them, we saw a lot of sights and
quite a few islands, while we sailed west all the way to
Taha’a in the Leeward
Society Islands.
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| Loading up the Maupiti Express |
Unfortunately, we did not make it to Bora Bora, due to
un-cooperating weather and the fact that we don’t like to motor if we don’t
really have to. Plus, after hosting and entertaining two guests for two weeks,
while moving the boat a lot, keeping up with the daily chores and boat errands,
and dealing with work stuff, Mark and I were pretty exhausted. Which doesn’t
mean we didn’t have a great and special time with my family, of course!! They
are the perfect boat guests and it is always a pleasure to have them on Irie!
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| Our visitors on their way to Bora Bora |
With the silhouette of Bora Bora visible just across 25
miles of ocean, Griet and Wim took a ferry there (Maupiti Express – 5500
xpf/person/one way) and left us on October 24th to spent the last
days of their holiday on the “Pearl of the Pacific”. Mark and I stayed on the city
dock of Uturoa, Raiatea, to change Irie back from “vacation mode” to “living
and maintaining mode”: the tools came back out, the guest bunk filled up with
stuff again, the computers appeared permanently, and Mark and I focused back on
errands and work full time; this time it is Bora Bora luring on the horizon!
The wind totally dropped for almost a week. The days on the
dock became intolerable with the heat and the mosquitoes. On Sunday, we woke
early and finally climbed Mount Tapioi ourselves to enjoy the expansive view
over the lagoon and the surrounding Leeward islands. Even on the way back down,
we dripped with sweat from the sun and the humidity.
The following day, we
moved to motu Aito across the channel to anchor in 6 feet of clear water and
sandy bottom. The (unmarked) entrance to this beautiful anchorage is a bit
tricky, but doable with a shallow draft boat and in good light. The lagoon is
super flat and the anticipated breeze is holding off for a few more days, but
Mark and I are very happy to be back at anchor and to be surrounded by peace,
blue skies and a tropical environment of breaking reefs, a little islands, and
azure waters with black tip reef sharks, puffer fish and stingrays!
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| Griet and Wim ready to leave with the shell necklaces we gave them for a "happy return to French Polynesia" in the future |
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| Uturoa, French Polynesia's second biggest "city", with the marina and motu Aito |
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| Motu Aito, our destination after Uturoa - a very nice anchorage! |
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| Taha'a (with Bora Bora to its left) and the lagoon, seen from Mount Tapioi |
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| The east side of the lagoon, Huahine under the clouds and some motus, seen from Mount Tapioi |
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| Weekly cruise ship in Uturoa, Raiatea |
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| VERY flat lagoon during the "no wind" days |
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| Stingray in the shallow anchorage seen from Irie |
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| Huahine to the east, during sunset |
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| Romance in the anchorage |
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| Huahine on a hot and clear day |
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| Laundry day on Irie - in a nice setting! |
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| Thai papaya salad; a time consuming endeavor |
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| Rainbow over the Aito anchorage |
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| Charterers walking on the (calm!) outer reef - a normal thing to do here, apparently... |
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| Orangeband surgeon fish |
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| Picasso trigger fish protecting its hole |
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| If only all of these pretty shells were empty... |
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| Stingray under water - no coral here, but lots of life |
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