When the west winds turned the flat mooring field of Fare
into an uncomfortable chop
a week ago, Mark and I tried to use a wisp of air to
sail Irie down the west coast of Huahine to Avea Bay.
After an hour of doing less than 2 knots into
the always outgoing current, we gave up and motored the rest of the way.
Motoring seems to be the usual mode of operation for sailboats in the
Societies, during this period of light winds. It is summer – and cyclone season
– here and that brings hot and humid weather with stagnant, thick air. Since
the current is relatively strong along this coast, the boats generally lay
faced into that instead of into the limited breezes, so the only way of cooling
off is by jumping into the sea. Luckily, the shallow water and sandy bottom –
curiously covered by thousands of sea cucumbers – allow to do just that in our
solitary bay. Cyclone season also means low (pressure) season and only a few
boats, most of them charters, frequent the waters of this island.
Just when Mark and I were getting used to a pleasant routine
(one that I have been trying to achieve for years, but never managed to follow,
because of constant distractions, movement or chores needing attention) of work
until 1pm and relaxation or non-computer stuff in the afternoons, the weather
turned nasty. Predictions weren’t clear as to what we should expect, so
“better safe than sorry”, we moved to a more protected bay.
Again. Unfortunately, we
had waited just a little bit too long, resulting in Irie having to bash into
the churned up lagoon and strong head winds. Again. Haapu was only 3 miles
away, but it took us over an hour to arrive in the calm bay and pick up one of
the three free and sturdy mooring balls!
The wind was “miraculously” gone, and so was our WiFi
connection. All the protected bays in these islands are sparsely populated,
meaning no WiFi pay services or 3G data connections. Luckily, we could use the
2G connections with our new
Wirie pro!
:-)
It allowed us to check the weather and respond to emails, but surfing the web
and making phone calls was impossible. In this “flatter” and lusher
environment, we began Irie’s massive spring cleaning, explored the little
village and one morning, we hitchhiked to Fare to pick up our long awaited
package from the US and some groceries. The same day, realizing that calm
conditions had returned, we went back to Avea Bay, to our beloved reef scenery
and wireless internet.
A day later, we kept a close eye on the weather reports,
since another low pressure system was heading our way. Apparently, wind speeds
were up in Tahiti, but not here, and the direction was contradictory. It always
worries us when both forecasts are totally different! But, the worst scenario
still looked favorable for our anchorage (30 knots of wind from the NE, where
hilly land is located), so we stayed put. After an incredibly rainy night
(collecting heaps of fresh water) with some strong but short wind gusts from
weird directions, we woke up to a blue, windless sky, and the sun soon fried
everything, including all the laundry I did.
Another weather system had passed us and we relaxed our
forecast vigilance, only to find out later that day – thanks to friends
checking in with us about high winds (which winds??) – that the low turned gale
had become cyclone Niko! This had happened less than 100 miles away from us, on
this gorgeous day. And… we… had… no… idea! We initially blamed ourselves for
our “ignorance is bliss” mentality, but then realized that none of the
forecasts and weather models had mentioned anything about a cyclone. Yet another
lesson that the weather “predictions” here are very inadequate! An interesting
coincidence was that the same afternoon, the maritime police paid us a visit to
check on boat paperwork (the first time this happened to us in the year and a
half we have been in French Polynesia), and the friendly officials had
mentioned nothing about this cyclone business!
So, now we have returned to our usual busy days at anchor
(the business is going well, some interest is being generated about our boat -
which is
for sale – and things are being checked off the boat to-do list) and
we are trying to get back to that preferred routine, adding an hour of weather
determination to the mix, until… the next system comes around and we have to hide
again!
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| Look who's here... One of Irie's siblings, another Fountaine Pajot Tobago in Avea Bay! |
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| Sea cucumbers EVERYWHERE in the 6ft water! |
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| Two FP Tobagos side by side in the late afternoon light |
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| Hot beach walk along Avea Bay |
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| One of the resorts in Avea Bay |
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| Huahine is surrounded by reefs; we are currently anchored in Avea Bay (SW) |
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| An abundance of papayas in Haapu |
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| Protected and calm Haapu Bay |
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| This old bus in Haapu now functions as roof support! |
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| And then, the sun came back in Haapu - time to return to Avea |
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| Funky storm clouds at sunset (Avea Bay) |
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| Using the "big guns" for a stupid job: cutting away all the unusable plastic parts on the new kill cord for the outboard, after trying everything else for an hour! |
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| Visit from the maritime police on Irie |
It feels as if Mark and I are living in Fare, Huahine, these
days. We have become used to the island pace and the Polynesian way of life. We
go to the hardware store on a Saturday morning and are not surprised to find it
closed. We take our jerry cans to the fuel station, never expecting to be
helped the first time around. Once, they were out of gasoline on day one, and a
month later, the station was already closed at 11am. A second attempt, usually
has us carry full jugs home. As Mark states: “Whatever we want to do, count on
about 50% of it working out.” And, he is right when it comes to local matters,
like a store or food van being open, fresh fish being for sale, coco glacé
(coconuts on ice to drink the deliciously refreshing coco water inside - $1 a
piece!) vendors being present, a planned event, a given direction, a previously
reliable internet connection actually working, and so on. When it comes to boat
parts or other pieces we need, to fix or maintain the boat, the percentage of
finding something on tiny Huahine drops to zero. 
On Irie, we have the unwritten rule that whatever we haven’t
used for a year (or two) – except for parts and tools – needs to get off the
boat. Having quite a few things that belong in this category, we looked forward
to a planned flea market in Fare last week. When the event was canceled, we
decided to take a tub of stuff to shore anyway and set up shop next to the
vegetable sellers. As “new providers” we were the hit of town, and gear
unavailable on the island went quick. Mark and I made enough money for lunch at
a roulotte and happy hour that day,
and for a Valentine’s dinner at the Yacht Club on Saturday!
As we set about our daily routines, we enjoy being
comfortable on one of the free mooring balls in Fare’s multi-hued lagoon. The
view of the surrounding reefs, islands, beach and water is pretty and the wind
has recently been helping us out with electricity and keeping the temperature
bearable. Thanks to our friends Rachelle and Patrick on SV Namaste (now in the
Marquesas), who told us where to find abandoned fruit trees, we go “shopping”
in nature for avocados, grapefruit, limes and bananas. The gusty wind had
knocked over some plants and branches to make the pickings easy!
Since the sun gave us a break yesterday, we braved the 120%
humidity and swarms of mosquitoes to go on a walk in the jungle. Besides
getting some exercise and feeling as if we were the only people on the island,
we enjoyed exploring the remote interior to the sounds of birds and a rushing
river. The lush foliage of the tropics and the beautiful flowers of Polynesia
never cease to impress me. We even found some hot pepper bushes to spice up our
meals. Huahine, as most of the fertile islands of French Polynesia, truly is a
piece of paradise to visit or live in and its abundance of natural wealth and
beauty is a fact. The locals realize this and love their island. And we do,
too!
