We walked past the Presidential Palace last week and were welcomed inside the gates by the security guard. We inquired about a tour and they gave us a request form to fill out. A week later we were being led around by a very friendly guy who is absolutely in … Read More
Tahiti To-Do
Most people don’t come to Tahiti with the idea of doing a bunch of work, but that’s sort of what has happened to us. Admittedly, we could have done more to prepare our boat for sailing around the world. We’ve got a list of excuses for why we didn’t, but … Read More
Papeete Boat Prep
We came to Tahiti with a long list of things to do, starting with simply giving the boat a thorough cleaning, and washing everything onboard. The Papeete lunch of choice seems to be shoving a bunch of Chinese food into a baguette. Solid choice that I won’t argue with. It’s … Read More
On to Tahiti
Our weather window to leave Fakarava and head to Tahiti dragged out a few days later than we thought it would. We don’t have long stay visas, which means we’re on the clock here and will need to be leaving French Polynesia by the end of the month. We figured … Read More
All Around Fakarava
Headed to the bar. Well, it’s a dive resort that half-heartedly sells warmish beers to the cruisers that show up to hang out. This week there were a number of well-known Youtubers there, so it could have easily been mistaken for a movie set, complete with autograph seekers and small … Read More
Fakarava Grouper Spawn
We sailed a few miles from the Hirifa anchorage to the Fakarava South Pass anchorage. All anyone had been talking about was the Marbled Grouper spawning which happens once a year on the full moon in July. Tens of thousands of Grouper fill this pass, which is sort of cool … Read More
Fakarava Atoll
We woke up with a nice forecast for a quick overnight passage from Tahanea to our next stop, Fakarava. Fakarava Atoll is about thirty miles long, and we could have made the south pass in just a few hours, but by this point we were out of food, fuel, and … Read More
Drifting in Tahanea
Drift diving is the one and only activity on Tahanea. We watch the tide table, wait until a little bit after the incoming tide begins, dinghy just outside the pass into deep water, and jump in for the ride. No work required. Just float at a couple of knots while … Read More
Tahanea Atoll
Tahanea is a lovely place. So far through the Tuamotus I’ve thought Raroia’s water had amazing visibility. Then we got to Makemo and it was better still. And now that we’ve gotten to Tahanea we are at still another level. Mother nature creates some truly remarkable anchorages. With these atolls … Read More
On to Tahanea
With dwindling supplies, we took off from our east end Makemo anchorage and cruised back to the small village ten miles away. Unfortunately, they had not gotten a new supply ship, and the shelves were bare of anything fresh. Literally, anything. We grabbed what we could from the freezers and … Read More
Ohhhh Makemo
Lowe has about half a dozen coral cuts that aren’t healing up, so while he takes a couple of dry days he drops me and Ouest off for a long float snorkel from the beach to the boat. Start off in the shallows. And slowly work our way back to … Read More
Makemo Atoll
Bumfuzzle at anchor on Raroia Atoll. Lots of coral bommies to explore throughout the lagoon. Spider conch were all over the place. Swimsuits and towels drying, and books in hand, is probably the most common sight around the boat. Fish fingers for dinner. We spent a few days in Raroia … Read More