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 |
Mark and I are still in Avea Bay, on the southwest side of
laid-back Huahine. It is an attractive bay with a long stretch of yellow sand,
a few houses tucked away amongst palm and other trees and relatively clear
water. The deeper part of the bay is framed by a shallow sand bank which was,
until recently, our preferred anchoring spot. When the current and wind turned
extremely funky one day, and Irie ended up pulling on her anchor the “wrong
way” (anchor behind us and we were pulling forward – the anchor was still being
dug in, but because of the shallow water, the chain could possibly rub against
the keels in this position), which has NEVER happened before, we decided to swap
our 6ft depth for 42ft. Here, the current is less strong and when there is a
rare breeze, we face into it, which provides some cooling off effect during
this hot and humid summer weather.
No other cyclones have come our way yet, fortunately, but
the last couple of weeks have been very grey and rainy. Our portable generator
is doing a fine job of keeping our batteries charged and our computers
“active”. Once in a while, a charter boat joins us in the anchorage, but
mostly, we are by ourselves. We do a lot of work on the computer and a WiFi
service onshore allows us access to the internet through our paid account and
our Wiriepro. To get a little bit of exercise, we swim laps around
the boat or stretch our legs along the quiet road. A small grocery store, about
a mile away, offers fresh baguettes and non-fresh staples, a friendly lady
sells fruit by her house and an interesting looking marae in the area has a
dumpster next to it, so we are basically set for a little while. :-)
One day, we tried to beat the odds of the rain Gods and set
out for a hike up and over a mountain to reach the village of Parea. The path
was not too muddy and we managed to climb all the way up. We followed the
ridge, but did not see a trail descending on the other side. So, we retraced
our steps down and walked to little Parea along the island road instead. Being
all hot and sweaty, we welcomed the first rain shower, resting on the trunk of
a tree. When the second downpour arrived, we made use of a covered bench. Rain
is a part of life here during this season, and as long as I can protect my
camera and other “valuables”, I don’t mind getting wet, just like the locals.
As long as the sun comes out at some point, so we can dry all our stuff. This,
she finally did a couple of days ago. We are happy with the temporary change of
weather and have swapped our computers for household and boat related chores to
take full advantage of the sun’s qualities and the lack of gloominess!
