Ocean Lady in Tahiti

Hello Everyone

 

Sorry for the delay in blogging, we have been busy exploring Tahiti.  Ocean Lady arrived in Tahiti last Saturday and we have all been enjoying the luxuries Marina Taina has to offer, unlimited electricity (well most of the time) unlimited water and a launderette.   The story of fixing and cleaning boats in paradise continues, and Ocean Lady is now sparkling clean with a mended generator!  Unlike the remote paradise atolls that we have become accustomed too in the Tuamotus, Tahiti is bustling and it’s nice to step back into civilisation (for a short while anyway!)

 

Stu and Laura took a bus ride to the main city Papeete, which is a fascinating city, bustling, vibrant, noisy and the administrative capital of the French Polynesia.  You can pretty much get whatever you need in Papeete, the city has a nice cathedral at the centre, and you can walk along the waterfront, see the cruiseliner port and all the shops it has to offer.  We went to the Pearl market which looked incredibly expensive so we stayed for about five minutes before one of the salesmen had a chance to corner us. 

Laura in front of the cathedral

 

We hired a car to do a tour of the Island, which saw Stu rise to the challenge of driving on the right hand side of the road!  We were slightly unfortunate to have almost torrential rain all day (a pattern that seems to be forming every time we do an island tour).  Basically Tahiti has one single road of 114km that surrounds the island, so finding the sights was fairly straight forward.  With the skies so grey and rain hammering down pretty hard, the views from all the famous viewpoints were naturally disappointing, however, these were made up for when we walked up to some incredible waterfalls.  Due to the amount of water that had fallen, the power of the waterfalls were immense.  It was really breathtaking, especially when viewing from a distance you could see the three big waterfalls in a row! Great for picture taking.

 

 

In 1768 James Cook set sail to explore the Pacific Islands to observe the transit of Venus across the solar disk and measure the distance between the sun and the earth, he named a point at the very north of the island Venus Point.  It was here he met the Tahitians for the first time.  It is marked with an old Lighthouse built in 1868 and is now a well-known paradise for surfers!  Even today with all the rain there were plenty of surfers riding the waves, and it was a fascinating little spot. 

 

We have enjoyed plenty of sociable evenings at the marina, and were treated to a fantastic meal aboard Sea Falke, and a great BBQ aboard Seazen (despite the rain).  For our last evening we treated ourself to a meal at the restaurant and were treated to some live Tahitian drumming and traditional Tahitian dancing.  Stu was a good sport and after a bit of Laura encouragement agreed to dance with 2 of the dancers, so he was wiggling his hips on stage under the command of two very attractive ladies.  We know he enjoyed it really!

 

It’s been great catching up with all the Arc boats, Sea Falke and Seazen!  We have taken advantage of the big shopping centre and despite the enormous costs of meat we have now provisioned the boat up with food!

 

Now we have arrived on the small island of Moorea just 12 miles from Tahiti anchored in Cooks bay and Stuart is cooking dinner!

 

Love to all at home,

 

Ocean Lady

xx

Tahiti

Dear all,

After a windy night sail Ocean Lady is about to arrive in Tahiti, We are all
looking forward to a few days here and this is reinforced by the spectacular
scenery we have seen from offshore.

Love Ocean Lady.

Leaving the Tuamotu Islands

Dear all,

 

We are planning to leave the Tuamotu Islands tomorrow. They have been absolutely fantastic and pretty close to paradise. Snorkelling the reef passes has been a massive highlight along with the pearl farm and such friendly people. Next stop Tahiti…..

Hope everyone at home is well,

Lots of love,

Ocean Lady

The Tuamotus

Dear all,

Just a quick email to say that all is safe and well in Ahe one of the
smaller islands of the Tuamotus.

So we arrived in the Tuamotus starting in an island called Manihi. This is
such a beautiful place, such a contrast from the dramatic skyline of the
Marquesas. These are very low flat islands, you sail through the entrance
to the atoll, and your literally in the middle of the volcano. Years and
years ago there must have been a massive explosion in the sea and it formed
these lovely atolls.

The people of Manihi were very friendly, and one local offered to take us to
a pearl farm (these islands are the home to the black pearls). So there
we were diving in the lovely paradise to a pearl farm under the water. We
had to break off the oysters and take them back to the boat. Then the man
took us to his little work hut and taught us how to break open the oyster
and find the pearl! Stu actually managed to pick the Oyster with the perfect
pearl. He then took the meat out of the oysters to give us for dinner!

Stu, Alan and Glen went snorkeling through the reef pass (the entrance to
the atoll) and
he said it was breathtaking, more sharks, eels, fantastic array of fish.

We are now in a nearby island called Ahe, and it is equally as beautiful!!!
we are still sailing with the Aussie boat called Seazen, so we are about to
go snorkeling through another reef pass! these islands are really
something special.

Love to all,
Ocean Lady

Nearly there!!!

Dear all,

Ocean Lady has made good progress towards the Tuamotu islands and should be
at the island of Manihi reef pass tomorrow morning. The winds have been up
and down but generally better than forecasted.

Today's noon position was: 13 26S, 145 05W
Tuesdays noon position was: 12 02S, 143 37W
Mondays noon position was: 10 30S, 142 05W

hope everybody at home is well,

Love Ocean Lady

On our way again!!

Dear all,

Ocean Lady and her crew are on their way again, this time a short hop to the
Tuamotu islands. All being well we should arrive on Thursday.

We hope everyone at home is having a great Easter break.

Love to all,
Ocean Lady

The Marquesas

Dear all,

 

Once again apologies for the lack of contact. We have been busy exploring the Marquesas and enjoying dry land. After our trek across the South Pacific from Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands to Hiva-Oa in the Marquesas.

 

Hiva-Oa

We arrived early in the morning shortly after day break. We were greeted by a fantastic rainbow as we encountered our first rain shower in the Marquesas, it rains a fair amount here – but to counter that we are looking at some stunning mountain scenery.

In the bay Taahuku were many of the World Arc vessels plus many other independent crusiers, so anchoring was quite tight and a kedge essential. The walk to the town of Atuona was further than you’d like after three weeks at sea, but after a chat with a local we ended up getting a lift into town. Unfortunately it was a Saturday and the French Polynesians seem to cherish their weekends. The town was quaint but not poor. We settled with getting some local currency a few food bits and a walk to the beach before wondering home via a pub stop!! That night we were invited over by Trevor and Jo on Malarkey for some evening drinks. We had been keeping in touch with Malarkey on the SSB during the crossing. We spent  pleasant few days in Hiva-Oa repairing the generator, clearing customs etc.

 

Tahuata – Hanamoenoe

After leaving bay Taahuku we embarked on another long crossing of 10 miles to a small little bay with clear water and a steep shelfing beach at the head of the bay. There was a small tin hut in the hedge that sometimes someone lives in but not a permanent residence. After a lovely swim Laura and Stu ventured ashore anchoiring the dinghy off and swimming in through the waves.

 

Fatu-Hiva - Hanavave

After a night in Hanamoenoe We left early and headed to Fatu-Hiva where we would meet Seazen and Sea Falke. Two other boats who had done the South Pacific at the same time. Fatu-Hiva is actually the closest Island to the Galapagos Islands but you cannot clear customs here. Some boats get away with it, others get told to leave. The journey to Fatu-Hiva wasn’t nice, strong head winds and plenty of rain, but it was thoroughly worth the effort, the view is truly amazing. The best word to describe it is Dramatic. Tall volcanic mountains, lush green fauna and friendly people.

We took a walk inland to a waterfall with Trevor and Jo from Malarkey and John and Monique from Victory. The description of the walk says beware of the dogs that may/will attack. Thankfully the dogs weren’t hungry when we passed by. The waterfall must have been 100m tall and the plunge pool was a refreshing swim after the long walk.

 

On the way back from the waterfall we were all caught out in a torrential downpoor. A local girl showed us to her house where we could shelter. The family manufactured bowls, boxes, baskets from locally sourced wood, either rosewood or ebony. The machine shop was small but great to see the tools that he used to manufacture these amazing products.

That evening we ate at “Simone’s” house. Literally in the lean to extension of his house which hadn’t been finished, whilst his family watched TV in the next room!! The food was fantastic, Marinated bananas, breadfruit, boar ribs, chicken in coconut, papaya, raw tuna, susihini, bread and rice followed by banana and cream dessert. This was followed by a night-cap on Seazen!!

 

From Fatu-Hiva Stu and Laura jumped on Seazen for the day, Seazen is a 43ft cruising catamaran crewed by Glen and Andrea and their two children Jasmin and Josh. we had a great sail down to Hanamoenoe and it took a while to catch Ocean Lady, but as we passed we got some excellent photos and video footage.

 

The following morning Stu and Laura were swimming in the morning when a six foot black tipped reef shark swam by, shortly afterwards a large manta ray passed by, awesome to see in their own environment.

 

Ua-Pou (pronounced Wahpoo)

The Island of Ua-Pou was an overnight sail to ensure a daylight arrival to the small harbour. Ua-Pou also has a dramatic skyline, with large mountains reaching up to the sky. The village is small and friendly and has a great pizza restaurant that does superb steaks – so good that we visited the following night as well!!

 

Nuku Hiva

A short (30nm) sail across from Ua-Pou and We are now in Taiohae bay, a lovely little anchorage. The town seems quite quiet and docile, but this could be because of the Easter Holidays where shops are not allowed to trade on a religious holiday. We have been able to fuel up with duty free diesel. An interesting fuel pontoon that you moor stern two after dropping you anchor out ahead, there was a moderate swell running and need a dinghy to get from the boat around to a ten foot tall vertical ladder to go and pay!! We’ve also managed to source cooking gas and vegetables!

 

We will hopefully spend a few more days here before moving onto the Tuamotus. Where we should arrive in four/five days.

 

Hope everybody is well,

Happy birthday to Kate Saunders for the 6^th, Mama Steph and Andy Wright for the 8^th!!

 

Lots of Love,

Ocean Lady