Monday March 29, sundowners on our boat with Janaki and Graham from s/v Leela, she is originally from Australia, he’s from the UK. They had lived in the USA for about 20 years, in Texas and New Hampshire, as well as in Canada.
Tuesday March 30, our friends Didier and Magaly left for Raiatea this morning. We hope to meet up with them in the near future.
It was a walking day. Only 4.2 miles today but I don’t think I ever mentioned the temperature. It’s been in the low 90’s (for all of walks) with sunny skies little cloud cover.
More murals
Wednesday March 31, our DHL package arrived! We had to pay an additional $150 USD for DHL administration fees to get it.
This package is the new windlass gear box. The box was opened on the dock, as it is never good to bring corrugated cardboard on a boat. Roaches and other bugs have been known to lay eggs in the layers of the cardboard.
Old gears
New gears
Installed
And of course the new part, same model number as the old is two inches longer. Fortunately it fit in the space with some effort.
We met up the boat near us at the restaurant next to the marina for drinks in the evening, Paul and Suzanne on s/v Rubis. They live on their boat here in French Polynesia. He is from France, she is Canadian.
Thursday April 1, we purchased two new solar panels for the boat today from a local company. They are each 320 Watts Monocrystalline, which will give us 50% increase in power. They will be delivered next week.
Out of curiosity, we decided to take apart the broken anchor windlass gearbox. You can see the gears are flattened in sections, which is why it failed,. #howthingswork
Friday April 2, today starts a 4 Easter day holiday in French Polynesia. Stores all closed by 11am today. We finished the windlass installation, putting back together the winch on the bow attached to the gearbox.
Saturday April 3, trip to grocery store, lunch at the ferry terminal, hung on the WiFi for a while, downloaded a movie and a few TV episodes.
Sunday April 4, Happy Easter. Went to Tahini Tourism, then to the ferry terminal to video chat with the kids. it was a very untraditional day for us, we made spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner.
Thursday March 18, breakfast at the ferry terminal for free WiFi. Later purchased a new SIM card for my phone, $80 USD for 10G of data, that expires after 30 days. AT&T is supposed to work here through their International Day Pass, but it doesn’t, it’s only one bar of service, can’t even text.
For dinner I made smashed sweet potatoes, so good!
Friday March 19, chocolate day#16! The last one!
Rice Crispy chocolate
Tahiti is not a very big island. We’ve seen just about all of it. If our boat part was here we’d be off exploring other islands. So we wait…
It’s tough writing about everyday life on a boat, but it’s the memory we’re going for.
Saturday March 20, recently we connected through a closed Facebook group, sailboats that are going west the same as us. It’s looking like possibly 4 boats to buddy with crossing the Indian Ocean. We’ll coordinate later in year where to stop, which countries have opened up.
Sunday March 21, reading and sewing day. Dan also washed his clothes.
A little excitement last night. A boat was towed into the marina with engine troubles, they put it between us and another boat. We are are in a catamaran slip so it’s really wide. This boat had to be tied to us and the other boat on the adjacent dock. Not a good situation, hopefully they can fix it quickly.
Monday March 22, The boat next to us was fixed and they’re gone now.
Still waiting…Package update, the FedEx one went from LA back to hub in Memphis, now it’s in Paris! I’m thinking this is a good thing, as there are weekly flights from Paris to Papeete. Just wish we could collect frequent flyer miles from this package! The DHL box left LA went to New Zealand then back to the hub in Cincinnati. Wonder if it’s going to Paris also?
Tuesday March 23, I found DMC embroidery floss! Never thought I’d find that here. I only needed one color, so I picked up 2 skeins of it. Finished my cross stitch project with the exception of the metallic threads, those I left at home.
Photos from our walk on Tuesday.
The small chapel is Chapelle de l’Évêché, Capel of the Sacred Heart, built in 1877 by Brother Théophile, remains one of the oldest buildings in Papeete. The grounds surrounding it are Gardens of the Bishopric, gardens of the bishop. It is very lush with many plants, flowers and trees.
On a sad note, friends we met are leaving Thursday on a medical transport evacuation plane. He is currently in the hospital. They hired a captain to sail the boat back home. Hope all goes well for them.
Wednesday March 24, had sundowners with Didier and Magaly on s/v Falbala, they are from France, also on a 2.5 year circumnavigation like us. Served were traditional French hors d’oeuvres, Cod liver pâté on baguette slices, with and without a dill pickle gherkin, and a really intense Brie spread also on bread. They also shared two exceptional white French wines. If plans work, out we’ll cross the Indian Ocean with them to South Africa, then north up the Atlantic Ocean.
This wine is from their hometown in France.
Thursday March 25, Magaly and I went clothes shopping. We both purchased a few of dresses. Dan helped Didier tune the standing rigging on their boat, as we have a large loose gauge.
Loose gauge, used for measuring the tension of Stays and Shrouds
Friday March 26, went to JoJo’s for pizza, this time we did take out and went back to the boat.
This kiddie train runs through the park, at dusk it’s all lit up.
Sunset over Moorea
From our walk to JoJo’s
Saturday March 27, we had lunch at Miri Miri Tea House, it’s next to Tahiti Tourism we can pick up their WiFi there.
For dinner we cooked a Duck breast that friends gave us. I thought it tasted like the dark meat on pork chops.
Sunday March 28, pancakes for breakfast, then walked to the Champion grocery store for a few items.
Breakfast pancakes
Photos from our walk
In the afternoon we fixed the spinnaker pole. The release line broke months ago.
In the evening sundowners on our boat with Didier and Magaly. I made a Buffalo chicken dip served with chips (an American dish), accompanied by red wine from California.
Wednesday March 10, found another store like the Polynesian Trading Company. This one is called Maxi. It also carries Costco and Sams Clubs bulk products. Both stores are very small but well stocked.
Our kids shipped us a package via FedEx on February 17, that hasn’t arrived yet. It went from Philadelphia to Memphis to Los Angeles. Then to Honolulu, to East Tamaki, (Auckland) New Zealand, back to Los Angeles! The boat part we are waiting for are in Los Angeles too. It has not quite been the world traveler. Started in Southampton, UK, went to Los Angeles then Cincinnati, back in Los Angeles on hold since February 16. We called the local FedEx and DHL (boat part) offices here, they are frustrated too with many customer complaints. As it turns out shippers put their cargo on passenger planes, right now French Polynesia is COVID closed. Hopefully they will reopen by the April.
Thursday March 11, on our walk today we stopped for brunch at this wonderful little coffee house with a delicious selection of French pastries. https://www.facebook.com/revesdelucie/
Friday March 12, walked to grocery store for a few produce item, 2 mile trip.
Chocolate day #14, we keep forgetting, so the schedule is now Tuesday and Friday. We’ll see if that works.
Saturday March 13, this morning along with two other boats here, s/v Tiapan and s/v Bliss, received our first COVID vaccine. We walked to the Presidential Palace where they had set up a mass vaccination center, no appointment needed. It was held under an outdoor pavilion. The process was relatively quick, less than 1.5 hours, there were close to 700 people. Numbers were handed out to those in line for counting purposes as they had 1100 doses available this day. We were also given a date for the second shot. There will be several mass vaccination centers around as they are eager to reopen the country.
Afterwards we all treated ourselves to French pastries, followed by sundowners on s/v Bliss in the evening.
Sunday March 14, started a new tradition today, Sunday morning pancakes. You see I have a Costco size bag of Krusteaz pancake mix I’d like not to go to waste.
The rest of day was R & R, as are most day as we’re still waiting for packages. After they arrive and the new windlass is installed we’ll leave Tahiti and start sailing west but not til after our second COVID shot.
Monday & Tuesday March 15,16, no side effects from our first vaccine. It was two relaxing days. I worked on my hand sewing project, Dan was writing on his computer.
Tuesday was chocolate day #15.
Wednesday March 17, ☘️ today we went for a long walk 4.5 miles, in search of a boat part. Had lunch at third floor rooftop restaurant. I went back to the boat, Dan got a hair cut. Tomorrow I’ll have to purchase a new SIM card for my phone as my data is almost gone.
We’ve been using WhatsApp for texting. It uses less data, that number is my cell number. (in case anyone wonders why I don’t return your texts) Facebook Messenger works well too.
Sunday March 7, another trip to the ferry terminal for WiFi. Had to look up a few numbers for our accountant, aka daughter Danielle. While there, we video chatted with the kids, each individually, seems to work out better that way. We have found video chatting here works best through Facebook Messenger, must be their fast low bandwidth.
Ferry terminal
Sidewalk art at the terminal
In the park next to food trucks
In the park next to food trucks
Food truck we had dinner at
Monday March 8, trip to the ferry terminal, this time to purchase tickets. Tomorrow we really taking a private guided tour of Moorea. We had lunch there too, Cindy and Mark showed-up, and joined us.
Make and Cindy
Tuesday March 9, Moorea. On board the 8:10 ferry, we’re heading to the island of Moorea, taking a 4 hour tour with Ron from Safari Mario. We were his first tour in four months!
Zoom in on the mountain top to see the princess looking up into the sky
Cooks Bay
Pineapple
Bananas
Recently planted pineapples
Pineapple field
Some of the land in the center of the island is leased by the government to collective of 30 families. There they grow fruits, 80% go to the juice factory, they get the rest plus the juice profits. The factory also produces rum and champagne. None of the products are exported.
Stonefish mountain at Opunohu Bay
The view from The Magic Mountain. Moorea is surrounded by a coral reef.
Sailing Trance 