On this beautiful sunny day with deep blue skies and not a
white puff of a cloud, we had a magnificent sail. Not in the way of speed or it
being invigorating – there just is not enough wind for that in this area, gone
are the trade winds - but magnificent in
the way of our surroundings. There was barely 6 knots of wind from the north,
so behind us, and we had pulled the spinnaker up. The seas were flat; the ride
was smooth, comfortable and very pleasant. We didn’t mind only doing 2.5 knots,
one or more of which was current; the brand new autopilot didn’t mind doing all
the work.
It took us about 7 hours to reach our next destination Espiritu
Santo, but the last couple of hours were filled with entertainment on top of
relaxation. While Devil Rays were jumping and doing summer saults all around
us (they leap out of the water and do acrobatics in the air!), we spotted some whales in the distance. Through binoculars, we saw them
take turns breathing (“Look at the water spout!”), breaching (“Wow, he’s coming
out of the water”), sliding along the surface (“His body is huge!”) and
disappearing (“Watch the forked tail!”). It was an awesome spectacle and we are
starting to believe the stories about an abundance of sea life in the Pacific
Ocean.
We also noticed big, turbulent spots in the water, where
hundreds of fish had gathered. The areas looked like breaking waves. Unfortunately,
we were going too slow to catch anything. I should probably mention the birds
as well: pelicans, frigate birds, birds of prey, they are ever-present at all
times of the day and in large numbers. The other day, I spent an hour on the
beach and counted at least ten different species of birds, while lying on my
back in the powdery sand. To finally be surrounded by all these amazing
creatures is a joy and – for me – one of the main reasons why I (still) live on
a boat!
Mark and I – and probably most cruisers – prefer Moorea to
Tahiti, so we tried to leave the “big island” as soon as possible, once our
guests Griet and Wim arrived from Belgium. The wind predictions were favorable
(about 15 knots from the east), but, as usual, none of that materialized.
Instead of the funky west winds from last time, we didn’t have enough wind to
keep the sails full this time, so we had to motor sail most of the 25 miles to
the Opunohu Bay area in Moorea. All of our eyes were focused on the horizon is
search of whales, but none were to be spotted.
As we were driving in between the channel markers of Opunohu
Bay, we counted seven masts in our (small) anchorage of choice, so we steered
towards the alternative and bigger anchoring area near the beach. I saw
something in the water approaching us: “Whale!” Fifty feet forward of our bow,
a big humpback whale surfaced, followed by her calf. They were leaving the
channel, into the ocean. Dumbfounded and thrilled – a combination between awe
(wow, amazing!) and ouch (wow, don’t hit us!) – we grabbed our cameras, but the
pair dove down and didn’t pop up again until they reached safer waters, out of
camera reach.
The following days, Irie sat in the clear waters of the two
reef anchorages and the darker, brackish water of Opunohu Bay. We took our
visitors up to Magical Mountain for the amazing view over the surrounding
reefs, buzzed amongst a pod of dolphins with our dinghy, hiked through the
forests and into the hills to reach a couple of viewpoints, and swam with reef
sharks and stingrays. While we took care of some boat errands and daily life
chores, Griet and Wim donned their snorkel gear and explored the underwater
world. Our last day in Moorea was filled with boat preparations (cleaning of
the hull, hauling Mark up the mast, securing a whole bunch of things,
separating the outboard from the dinghy, etc…) for the overnight trip to
Huahine, our next destination.
