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| Tahiti Airport Anchorage towards Morea. |
After a very long period of confinement from10th March to 30th of April, we have emerged from hibernation.
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| North Coast of Tahiti |
Tahiti recorded 60 CV19 cases and one hospitalized with no deaths, so it was very well handled and Tahiti and Morea were the only two islands amongst the hundreds comprising French Polynesia to record cases. An early case in Fakarava was airlifted to Tahiti and didn’t spread and a late case was airlifted to a Tahiti from an Ecuadorian Fishing boat near NukuHiva and the boat was sent back to Ecuador there have been no new cases for about one month.
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| Only 1 barnacle!! |
The lockdown was pretty similar to most places I think. We had to have ID on us if we left the boat and no stores except essential grocery, fuel, pharmacy, etc only one person was permitted to shop from any lockdown group. There was a special form we had to fill out for every visit ashore which stated place of residence, time of departure, intended destination, etc and two hours was maximum time allowed. No alcohol sales at all. David only made two trips to the grocery. I swam against the wall beside the boat most days as waking was still a challenge. At the end of May they lifted that restriction to sales Monday to Thursday. No weekend sales There was also an 8am to 5 am curfew lifted at the end of April
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| That darn ladder! |
The first job, once we were let loose, was to get Taipans ass out of the water and replace her cutlass bearing. That’s a tube thingy that fits over the propeller shaft inside another thing and stops it clanking when we have to motor. So while she was out David also splashed some antifoul paint on in an attempt to dissuade critters that like to freeload on boats and in so doing can cause the boat go very slow, dragging all that crap through the water, and we don’t want that.
Technimarine hardstand was very good. Their travel lift team were professional and the yard very clean. Pity about the bathrooms. It’s a high dock, however, so we were forced to remove our forestay to enable the lift to get our keel high enough to clear the edge. Lucky we extended the backstay in the UK which now provides enough thread to loosen it without having to remove it entirely, making removing the forestay, furler and sail intact, a much simpler job now.
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| Tahiti Graffiti |
We stayed aboard for the duration; up Monday and relaunch Thursday and it was ok. This was the last 4 days of full lockdown and everything was very quiet but we were able to get the required supplies for painting etc. My back has improved and the ladder was good exercise.
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| Taipan in Cooks Bay |
After launching we took off around the island and tried unsuccessfully to catch a fish on our way to the lagoon and we anchored near the airport with a big group of other stranded yachts. No boats were allowed to move without express permission until Mid May. The Hotel California Cruising Net on VHF each morning was our source of local news and provided entertainment each evening either with Quiz shows, Dingy Raft-Up get together with social distancing or later dingy-in Movie nights with a movie showing on the aft of a big catamaran and everyone snuggled in their dingy. We missed those because we left for Moorea about 14 nm west beforehand to rendezvous with old sailing palls Sal and John Potter on Capal Mara. A good two weeks of catching up saw the total and simultaneous destruction of the cellar and our livers.
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| Cooks Bay |
The anchorage at Cooks Bay, famous for a visit by the good Captain Cook, is a superb anchorage deeply cut into the interior with high mountains each side, and with good fringing reef protection from the sea We have been here social distancing for three weeks, and with no sign of any of the island groups between
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| Excellent restaurant in Cooks Bay |
French Polynesia and Australia opening their borders any time soon it has become inevitable that the passage back will be a long one. Cairns is roughly 3700nm from here and that could take up to 30 days if winds are fickle and possibly less if we see good consistent breezes.
On Sunday we plan to return to Tahiti and start clearance procedures. Stay tuned for departure. You can follow our progress on the Iridium tracking site. It’s live and shows the weather in real-time. See you on the other side
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| View into Cooks bay from the back door |
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Now in Papeete Marina. Tahiti. Waiting for a weather window.
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