Rain !!

Hi everyone,

We're having a choppy, rainy crossing similar to the English Channel. We all dressed for dinner ( in waterproofs!)

Our position is 19 00S, 168 45W having done 507 miles and hope to arrive in Niue tomorrow morning.

Hope all is well,

 

Ocean Lady

Overcast but making progress in the right direction

Dear all,

 

We are making good progress towards Niue the weather has been mixed, overcast and rain, squalls, headwinds, no wind etc!! You name it we've had it!! We currently have 20 knots from the East and after sending this email we are going to set up the twin headsails.

The seas have been very confused making life a little more uncomfortable on board.

Yesterdays noon position was 19 20S, 161 45W

Our current position at 0930 18/5/2012 is 19 25S, 163 31W

 

Approximately 360 miles to go!

 

Hope everybody at home is well,

Lots of love,

Ocean Lady

Fair well Aitutaki its been fantastic

Dear all,
This is how the guide book describes Aitutaki,
"Aitutaki has a special sense of magic and tranquillity. The island's vast
lagoon is reknowned as one of the world's most beautiful, with crystal clear
turquoise waters and dazzling white sandy beaches. Aitutaki's scenic
splendour arises from its unique formation, which is part volcanic and part
coral atoll. " – every part true.

We all went to the Sunday church service, which happened to be Mothering
Sunday, the singing from the men and women truly came from their hearts,
emotional to see, and fantastic to be a part of it. – even if the service
was half in Cook Island Maori!!!
The cultural dancing and shows put on by the Cook Island voyaging society
were amazing. Seven 75 foot catamarans sailed into the tiny harbour, crewed
by 16 people from places such as Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia, each
with their own message about looking after the world and haka dance. An
event that happens every 20 years, so perfect timing and a privileged to
witness. The prime minster of the cook islands was here speaking to his
people the Aitutaki people put on a feast for everyone which we jumped right
in on!!!

We are setting sail tomorrow on the morning high water for the small country
of Nuie which should take around 7 days.

Our current position is

18 degrees 54 South
160 degrees 24 West

Lots of love,

Ocean Lady

Welcome to Aitutaki

Dear all,

 

Sorry for the lack of contact not only have we been having fun but also struggling with computers, internet access and phones!!!

Bora bora was amazing, relaxing, a sexy honeymooners paradise.

We experienced fantastic snorkling, a great BBQ on Seazen to see Tony’s last night, the welcoming Bora Bora yacht club which served the biggest steaks Stu had come across.

 

The trip from Bora Bora to Aitutaki was varied. The weather information we have been getting has been varied in quality. We had 2 days of good and strong winds then plenty of motoring.

 

The entrance to Aitutaki is tiny, a man made cut out created by the Americans during the second world war. After anchoring outside waiting for the tide we are now tied up stern to in a small harbour. Last night we met up with Seazen and Sea Falke in a local bar and had a crazy night out with the locals. Today we have explored the island which is beautiful.

 

Tomorrow the locals have a big celebration to welcome the Cook Island Voyaging Boats which have sailed across from Bora Bora, everybody has been talking about the celebrations so we are hoping for a good one!!

 

We will let you know how it goes before we push off to Nuie in a few days time.

 

Lots of Love,

Ocean Lady

Leaving Bora Bora

Dear all,

 

We’ve had an amazing time here in Bora Bora, photos to follow. We are leaving now for the Island of Atutaki in the Cook Islands sailing in company with Sea Falke and Seazen. Hope everybody at home is well.

 

Love Ocean Lady

We have arrived in Bora Bora!

Hello Everyone

 

Since our last post we have continued our tour of the Society Islands.  Our stay in Moorea was short as the weather was not great and we wanted to head towards where we thought the weather would improve.  Laura and Stu took a walk through from Cooks bay to Opunohu Bay (although we didn’t quite reach the next bay) and the Islands reminded us a lot of the Marquesas with tall dramatic volcanic mountains covered in flourishing green fauna.

 

We then took an overnight passage (roughly 100 miles) to Raiatea and Tahaa.  We were pretty unlucky with the weather over night, we were expecting to have to motor with no wind, but we were greeted with strong tail winds reaching gale force and torrential rain all night long! Thankfully the weather picked up and we picked up a mooring buoy outside the Hibiscus Hotel (which was free for the night!) after a quick swim and snorkel we had a nice evening at the bar with Jeff and Tony (Sea Falke) and Andrea and Glen (Seazen) alongside a turtle farm.   The following day we had great fun snorkelling, dodging the coral with the dingy and admiring the beautiful fish, we then hosted happy hour onboard Ocean Lady. 

Happy hour on Ocean Lady

Leaving Tahaa for Bora Bora, here you can see Bora Bora in the background

 

We have now arrived after a lovely 30 mile sail in the beautiful sun in Bora Bora, one of the most beautiful Islands in the world!  The views are breathtaking, the water clear blue and very inviting.  There are plenty of honeymoon huts perched along the side of the beaches, one night would surely burn a whole in your wallet!  We have just returned from a delicious meal at Bora Bora yacht club with the folks of Seazen and Sea Falke, and have planned to go exploring the beautiful island tomorrow.

 

 

Bora Bora from the sea, you can just about make out the reef surrounding the island

 

Meal out tonight at Bora Bora Yacht club, worth every penny

 

Hope everyone at home is well!

 

Ocean Lady

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