Rainy January Ends in Avea Bay, Huahine

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 Wirie^pro. 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!

Such a big bay and this captained charter cat anchored right on top of us - he came really close at night and we kept watch until dawn

Marae Anini on the south point of Huahine

Avea Bay and its resort, which is closed for the summer

 

Irie, all by herself, in the deeper part of Avea Bay

Hiking along the ridge of the mountain

You find deteriorating cars everywhere along the road. Almost every house has one!

The lagoon in Parea, with a motu across the bay

Well-attended church in Parea

Along the island road

Finding shelter for the rain

 

 

And, more squalls and rain!

Two of the four ramoras calling Irie's shadow "home"

Sunny weather means time for laundry!!

And, sitting in the cockpit again.

 

Twenty Shades of Grey (and Brown)

The rainy season in the Pacific has arrived with a vengeance. Two weeks ago, Mark and I hoped to take advantage of the “perfect” weather window (N-NW winds) to sail back to Raiatea (SE) from Maupiti. Despite the favorable predictions and us waiting for them, reality turned out different again. We ended up motoring the whole way, with little wind from behind and one squall after another. A very wet ride, but at least the decks were rinsed and we reached our destination safely, after waiting out another shower before entering the NW pass of Raiatea. And, it beat beating into the wind!

Since then, the sky has turned every shade of grey and we have been able to collect a lot of rain water, while working on our computers indoors and on projects outdoors, during the random dry spell. The times to be frugal with fresh water are over, while the times to be careful with electricity have begun. Our plan was to spend a couple of weeks in Raiatea with reliable WiFi access to finish up the final work and arrangements for the launching of our new Wirie products and head to Huahine for Christmas.

Then, about a week ago, the weather models went berserk and turned very colorful, meaning something serious was up. Two gales (major storms, one with the possibility to turn into a cyclone) were predicted to come our way and we swapped our pretty and convenient reef anchorage near the town of Uturoa for a more protected, but remote bay in Taha’a. The incessant rain has since turned the water of this deep bay brown and browner and the first storm has passed without too much trouble. Irie handled the heavy, erratic wind gusts like a charm and, once again, we are so very happy with our trustworthy, over-sized Manson Supreme anchor.

Our friends on SV Heartbeat and SV Namaste are in the same anchorage, for the same reasons, so we are in good company. As always – but this time in our benefit – the weather forecasts keep changing and we are keeping a close eye on the developments. The second storm seems to have lost some of its viciousness, but is still going to hit us tonight. As of now, the nasty weather will last about 48 hours, so it will be a quiet and vigilant Christmas on Irie this year! 

      

                     

  Motoring back to Raiatea  

            

 

  Time to use the foul weather jacket

      

  Squalls approaching Irie     

            

  

  Replacing a seal on the outboard engine

  

Monique and Garth in their new, home build dinghy

  

 More rain

           

  

Deep and protected Haamene Bay in Taha’a       

  

 Merry Christmas (Uturoa)

           

  

 Muddy water in the bay     

  

 Waiting in Haamene