Pacific Puddle Jump Tahiti Moorea Rendezvous

Krister and I after the race

* The spell check is not helping me out here.. it thinks I should be writing in French... so I apologize for not knowing French or how to spell every English word that I want to write.

We would have loved to have spent more time in the Tuamotus. Our friends all say that Fakarava was awesome, not to be missed. But running out of time is a common theme in life and so we accept that we will not be able to see EVERYTHING and instead choose what's most important, what we think will be most rewarding and fullfilling. With this in mind, we sailed west again to the Society Island of Tahiti.

The passege went well. I'd say it was the best so far... Krister would disagree. Though the weather was fine, our auto piliot complained with a noisy reminder that it's not a problem that will fix itself, and we would be remiss to ignore it for too long- say, until we reached New Zealand. So when the celebration and hoopla of the sailing rendezvous settles, we'll take care of boat business. Replacement will likely require an extended stay in Tahiti, but who's counting the days in paradise? Oh yeah, the French govenment. Well, we have until July 29, and would like to see at least Huahine and Bora Bora before we depart to Raratonga in the Cook Islands. Hopefully waiting for the shipment of parts from the States doesn't take too long and that installation of a new auto helm goes smoothly. On the bright side, it is quite nice here and as I wait, I have the opportunity to catch-up on our blog posts and return some long overdue e-mails.

We arrived the night before the offical Puddle Jump welcome, which gave us just enough time to raft up with WGD and get ourselves adjusted to being in the big city. We went straight to the gas station to have our propane tank filled, and then to the biggest grocery store that we've seen since Mexico. It was sensory overload. The cars zooming by us startled me, and the variety of food choices and availability of everything dazzled me. Akin to culture shock, I registared the sights and sounds of the busstling city as farmiliar, yet new in some way. It's like that line from Benjamin Button after he returns home from WWII; "everything looks the same and smells the same... but you realize what has changed is you." That evening we took the bus to the Govenor's mansion for the first of many PPJ Rendezvous events.


Buddy boats; Britannia and WhatCha Gonna Do

The captain of each sailing vessel in the fleet recieved leis and a Tahitian blessing. We snacked on fruit and sipped on coconuts and juicy rum drinks. Later we all walked down to the Roulettes for dinner and to enjoy dance performances and live Tahitian music.


Flowers and Leis

The following morning we crew- swapped with WGD. I wanted to see what sailing on a catamaran was like and to get some good action shots of Britannia during the race. Harrison wanted to have a little alone time to hang out with Krister, which I totally understand. Unfortunately the wind never picked up enough for those of us on WGD and we disqualified ourselves by motoring to Moorea. Meanwhile on Britannia, the boys hoisted the spinakker and sailied their way to a 6th place finish (but first in class) earning themselves a place in 'lectric latltude photo of the day.


Britannia at the start of the race


Britannia jockeying for a place at the starting line


Danielle and I on WGD

We spent the weekend doing yoga, visiting with friends, palm frond weaving, watching dancers in awe, listening to precussion groups and competeing in a variety of cultural activities. Barb, Lauren, Diane and I were on the only all-girl team- we didn't do so well. But the boys took 1st place in a highly competitve out-rigger canoe race. In the final heat, just as they crossed the finish line, thier canoe capsized. I got it all on video, which secured their team, the Flying Spaghetti Monsters, the win. It was all very exciting!


Dancing girl


Weaving baskets, now if I could do it underwater mmm...


Falling into the water


The Flying Spaghetti Monsters- the winning out-rigger canoe team

When the events were all over, we took a couple days to explore the island for ourselves. We'd heard of underwater tikis just a short dinghy ride away and we took off with Piko and Dillagaf to find them. After several failed attempts at snorkeling for the underwater statues, we caught up with a tourist group feeding sting rays. It was one of the most thrilling experiences of the trip. We had seen the mantas in Tahanea, but to be able to touch rays, and feed them, to have your hand inside thier mouth.... was amazing. I was timid at first, but several rays coaxed me into relaxing by rubbing their velvety skin and nudging me, much like cats that want attenion. I wanted to stay with them forever. I was shivering, blue-lipped, with tingley fingers when I finally got back into the dinghy. The way back was longer than I remembered the out-going ride being and I'm sure I was hypothermic by the time we got back to the boat. We spent the remainder of the day wrapped up in blankets watching movies. Lauren-girl suffered more, and stayed aboard Piko sick for several days.




We see these guys a lot. No worries kids- we don't mess with them and they don't mess with us.



Knowing that this would be our only visit to Moorea, I wanted to do some exploring on land as well. We hiked while Ceilydh and WGD headed back to Tahiti. We walked along the road until a couple of French guys, fresh off the plane from LAX, picked us up. I was glad to have a ride up the steepest part to the lookout, the Belvedere. There we found a couple other cruising folks that recommended a trail leading to the point, Three Pines. Strange to be in a place of pine trees and palms. The trail grew thick with vegetation. It was just what I needed and the view of the two bays, Cook's and Opunohu, wasn't bad either. Along the decent there were pinapple fields, (I'd always wondered how they grew), growing hazy in bluish- purple hues. It felt so good to walk and spend time alone talking with Krister. It's easy to get caught up in all the social events and boat stuff. I left Moorea re-set and ready to get our business taken care of in Papeete.


The lookout over Moorea


Pineapple Fields in Moorea