The Society Islands

May 10, 2004

It was calm today, so we decided to risk taking the dinghy the 5 miles from our anchorage into town, rather than try to figure out the bus system. As we arrived at the dock, we spotted "Kahala" moored to the quay but failed to raise its crew by banging on the hull and shouting. Kahala crew typically party late and rise late. We headed for our first stop - Immigration. The Immigration officer sent us to the bank to purchase "bonds."  This is a sum of money equal to the current cost of airfare from Papeete to Hawaii. The French figure that if you become indigent within the 90 days allowed by your visa and decide to abandon your 2001 Amel and all of your belongings, the bond will pay to repatriate you to US territory. The first bank we went to, asked us why we were buying a bond from them. They said their commission on the bond was twice the price of the competing bank down the street. We thanked them and left. It took an hour and a half to complete the transaction for the two bonds. The bonds cost $1,200 each with a $40 commission each. Annette asked me why the commission was so high. I said they charge by the hour. At this point the teller who had spoken no English, began to stammer an apology for the length of time we had waited. I think I hurt his feelings.

Back to the Immigration, then Customs, then Port Captain. The last stop was interesting since the man appeared to be watching a cooking show on TV while he dealt us. He asked the name of the port of registration. I said "Santa Fe, New Mexico." He said, "We will use Los Angeles, California - it is in the United States." I don't think he knew that New Mexico is a member state of the United States. I think he must have been from Texas. Next we tried to track down the Amel agent here by calling his office and leaving a message. We wandered back to the Papeete Quay and found another Amel moored there. We introduced ourselves to the crew and were invited on board for drinks. The Amel owner called the dealer on his cell phone and we all met on board 15 minutes later. By the time we had visited the city market and window shopped all of the gift shops, the wind had increased and it looked like a very wet ride back to the anchorage in the dinghy. Although the waves were around two feet (big for a 10 foot inflatable), the wind was blowing in the direction of the anchorage and we made the return "surfing" the waves and staying remarkably dry.

May 11, 2004

Position: 17 35.1 S 149 37.3 W

We met the Amel agent on board DoodleBug this morning and we reviewed some repair issues. In the afternoon we dinghied to the marina and then walked several hundred yards to a huge shopping center. Several people had told us that it was perfectly acceptable to take a shopping cart from the mall and leave it at the marina.  We felt like a couple of homeless people maneuvering our loaded shopping cart up and down curbs etc. I kept expecting to hear police whistles. "Do you ave a permeet vor zis trook?". When we got to the marina there must have been 50 carts neatly parked and awaiting return to the mall. No Clouseau.

May 12, 2004

Position: 17 35.1 S 149 37.3 W

After breakfast we decided to explore the adjacent beachfront for marina's. We had already visited the marina we are anchored opposite and were told that there were no slips with electric service. We saw what appeared to be an extension of the marina and dinghied over to eyeball it. A man on the quay who was doing some painting, told us that they were part of the same marina and that the woman at the office was an idiot. We should deal with the manager. We followed his advice and about an hour later had backed into a slip, without hitting either of our neighbors and hooked up to the electric service. Annette is a compulsive boat washer and was as happy as a clam at high tide squirting fresh water everywhere. In the afternoon we were visited by the "government" vet, who came to observe Attila and make sure we understood that she is quarantined aboard. The lady vet noted that it had only taken us 6 days to sail from Panama to Galapagos. From this comment we deduced that she is also a sailor.

This morning we had a visitor. John from "Tiki" had tracked us down. He stopped by to warn us that the American Express office was holding a letter for us and today was the last day to collect it before it was returned to sender. This was slightly irritating as we had spent 30 minutes at the American Express office on Monday, searching for just this letter. Our marina neighbor gave us a ride downtown and we recovered our letter. It was from the "Haut Commissariat," saying that they would not extend our 90 day tourist visa because of the way Napoleon was treated after Waterloo - or something like that. We have to leave by the end of June. Next stop was the airport. We rode "Le Truck" to the airport. This was entertaining as "Le Truck" is about what the name implies. They are trucks with the beds modified to carry passengers. The price is fixed at about $1.40 per trip. Since it was now early afternoon, we got to ride with a large quantity of school children. I will not make comparisons but they were remarkably well behaved. When we got to the airport we bought a ticket for Attila to fly back to the USA. The remainder of the trip is less dog-friendly than the places we have already visited and so she is planning to stay with family in Houston. Next destination was the vet's office to pick up a pet carrier. The unit we had ordered had not been delivered as promised, so the vet sold us a used kennel as a special deal. The "special price" was $400 for a used pet carrier that you could probably pick up new at Wal-Mart for $80. There is an urgent need for a "Pet Smart" here.

May 14, 2004

Today the electrician came to the boat to test our batteries. I had already tested the voltages and he concurred that I can maybe get away with replacing one of the nine batteries we carry. The boat uses eight of these nine to make a 24 volt "bank", that supplies all of the power for lights, navigation instruments, radios etc. The batteries are two and a half times as expensive here as in the USA and I had been planning on replacing them all in New Zealand - since they are nearing the end of their life expectancy. We then made a quick run to the shopping center where I bought Annette a 220V 50Hz. blender. She has been whining that she is "slushy" deprived ever since we left. Back to the boat to wait for the Radar technician "Christofe," who is supposed to arrive at 1400 hours. By 1430 I call his office and talk to his partner. "Call me back in 5 minutes, I'll track him down." I call back in 5 minutes - no answer. This is repeated for the next 40 minutes, still no answer. I walked over to a call box (I had been using the sat phone) and tried again. The phone is answered on the second ring - they had been using caller ID to avoid me. "Christofe, doesn't know why you are calling; we don't work on this type of radar; try another company".

May 15, 2004

We went down town this morning to find a marine supply store. I bought some grease for the rigging fittings and a courtesy flag for Tonga. When you enter the territorial waters of a foreign state, you are required to fly a flag of that country from the right side of your mast spreaders. We had originally planned to by-pass Tonga on this trip but have now switched plans.

Annette bought some bigger fish hooks than what she already has, plus a small fishing spear. The girl is really determined to catch fish.

May 17, 2004

We again make the pilgrimage to the airport and the air-freight office. The pet-carrier we purchased to ship Attila back to the USA, we measured as 5 Kilos heavier than claimed - so we now have to modify the waybill. This took about an hour with lots of typewriter use and carbon paper flying around. We then found the Amel agent's downtown office and collected a UPS envelope we had been shipped. There was also a DHL package containing a raw water pump for the Onan generator but this is still held at customs and we need an agent to clear it.

I have telephoned the Radar company and they have provided me with a second technician. He is scheduled to come to the boat at 1700 hours. By this time we are little surprised when he doesn't show up.

May 18, 2004

I telephoned Raymarine in the USA on the radar problem. We ran various diagnostics on the system and the final diagnosis is that the "RF probe" in the antenna is probably broken. This lives about 25 feet up the mast. Since I have to climb the mast to even look at it, this will be a tomorrow project when it is cooler.

Tonight we ship Attila back to the USA. Annette is very brave and has tremendous and unexpected self control. She does not kill the French government vet who supervised the transit from the boat to the airport. It was close. Attila is headed for Los Angeles and we are headed for a drink.

May 19, 2004

With amazing patience, we wait a full 20 minutes past the flight arrival time before telephoning Marian. Marian has Attila! All is well.

I climb the mast and dismantle the radar antenna. I decide visually that the "RF probe" is indeed broken and confirmed this by testing it with a meter for electrical continuity. I then melt a big blob of solder across the broken portion. Not the prettiest soldering job ever, since the mast is swaying and I am dangling from the mizzen spinnaker halyard and holding on with one hand - but it works! If it will just hold together until New Zealand we can get a real technician to check it.

May 20, 2004

Three phone calls confirm that the DHL shipment containing a $250 pump, that took 3 days to ship here, will now only take another 8 days to clear customs with the aid of an agent.

We rented a car and plan on becoming tourists again instead of boat repair people. This evening we went to dinner at the Intercontinental Beachcomber hotel which had a Polynesian dance floor show. The dancers were great and they had a spectacular fire dancer who managed not to burn certain sensitive body parts. I was impressed and do not plan to try this myself.

May 20, 2004 Continued...

Since we are presently car renting tourists, we made the circumnavigation of the island of Tahiti. We found a restaurant that hung out over the water and had a pleasant lunch. The island has steep volcanic cliffs with a fringing coral reef that is continuous except for a couple of patches on the East coast. The paved road (mainly two-lane) is just over 70 miles long and most of Tahiti's 140,000 population live close to this road. The result is that the traffic is often heavy and the pollution from vehicles is noticeable. Adding to this, is the practice of trash burning in open fires, which can be just a hundred yards from each other. In spite of this, the island remains a gem of dense greenery, from the high mountain peaks to the light blue of the barrier reef, then dropping off into the impossible blue of deep water. The east side of the island faces the trade winds and ocean swells and in the couple of places where the barrier reef is absent, there were literally hundreds of people surfing and riding the big combers right up to the black, volcanic sand beaches. We passed through downtown on the way back to the marina and although we wanted to stop and visit the various boats we know, that are tied up "stern to" along the main drag, parking is absolutely impossible. In French this is "le parking" (I'm not making this up).

May 21, 2004

Today we drove inland and up the mountain towards one of the main peaks. The road was single vehicle only and the only wildlife we saw were feral chickens, which you see throughout Polynesia. The road ran in a series of steep switchbacks through dense jungle growth and terminated at a bar/restaurant called "le Belvedere." This is at around 2100 feet elevation and the view from the dining room was a spectacle you could enjoy for hours. We watched the ferry boats back out of Papeete harbor and could then watch them all the way to the pass at the next island of Moorea

May 22, 2004

We return the rental car today, so we took the opportunity to do some reprovisioning at the big shopping center. We loaded up on beer and wine of course but also experimented with all sorts of neat stuff, that might even be edible but you would never find in a USA supermarket. There were packages of chicken feet (we didn't buy any), hundreds of different pate's (pretend there is an accent over the e), ditto cheeses. Several of the cheeses were covered in mold, that would long ago have caused their disposal in our dumpster and yet they weren't dusty, so it looked like that is really what they were selling. All sorts of exotic fruit labeled "Produit USA" - from Hawaii perhaps? $12 each for a watermelon smaller than a football - Annette was outraged. She usually buys 18 wheeler sized water-melons. There really isn't much land suitable for large scale agriculture so pretty much all of the food is imported. As a general observation, our grocery bill was about two and a half times USA prices.

After we returned the rental car, we took "le truck" downtown and visited "Tiki," who are moored along the main dock. Tiki's crew were deep into boat repairs, so we headed off to an Internet cafe to check on the "land" e-mail accounts. Annette had not checked her account since we left. She had just at 1,000 messages and we cleared 200 of them in 30 minutes (not a fast connection). There were 4 real messages out of 200 or 98 percent spam. The next time we have a spare two hours, we can spend the $20 connection time to clear the other 800 messages.

May 23, 2004

Today was election day in French Polynesia and we rode downtown with our neighbors to view the voting process. There are two main parties, the "oranges" and the "blues." You could pretty much tell what party everyone belonged to, as they were dressed in either orange or blue. As we walked into the polling place, there were two fenced areas on either side of the entrance and in each of these sat supporters, dressed as per above, plus matching flags. The Governor of Tahiti (orange) has been in office for over 20 years. He has a fleet of 5 jet aircraft and has just purchased another new Airbus for his personal use. The total population of all islands combined is only 250,000 people and a voting segment, think this is a little excessive. It was fun people watching at the polling booths. The first step was to check your voter registration and the lines were labeled: "A to H", "I to S", "Ta", "Te", "Ti and To", "U to Z". I haven't checked the phone book but I bet the "T" section is pretty thick. The mayor of Papeete was present, so we took his picture hugging Annette. He was wearing about 4 flower leis and Annette said he smelled pretty good. I didn't dig too deeply into that remark. After "voting" we headed back to the marina, since everything was closed - it being both Sunday and election day. We invited one of our neighbors over for a post election beer. He went to tell his wife he would be next door, so we invited her too. Next we had the boat on the other side. Within 30 minutes or so, we were up to 8 in the party with people producing snacks and wine etc. One of our neighbors is "Michel."  In the two weeks that we have been here, he hasn't spoken a word of English. After 4 beers he was slurring into a cell phone to his wife, that he was on "Attila's boat" - all in English of course. It was a wonderful impromptu party and the survivors headed home to sleep it off. The election was a political upset, with the "blues" - Independent party, capturing almost 50 % of the seats.

May 24, 2004

Well, today we expect to receive the propeller shaft seals from Amel. The customs agent has also had a week to retrieve our Onan generator raw water pump, that arrived in Tahiti 8 days ago, so we are optimistic on completing our maintenance and repairs and moving on from Tahiti. The Amel agent predictably knows nothing, heard nothing etc. I spent the day cleaning the stainless steel on the deck and inspecting the rigging. Annette began her monumental post-card generating project. We broke for lunch and headed over to McDonalds. We had heard and read about how much the French hate McD's and had noticed the long lines there at lunch time etc. so we just had to check it out. Two Big Macs, one large fries and two medium cokes came to $16. And they tasted just like they do in Houston. The fries were nowhere near the best I have eaten but the burgers were definitely superior to the other two burgers I have eaten in French Polynesia. It is my conclusion that the best meals are obtained by ordering "French" food off the menu - poisson cru, Mahi-mahi in vanilla sauce etc. Stay away from pizza and burgers - they just don't know how.

We cleared out the "dog food" locker on DoodleBug and extracted the balance of food and dog treats. There is a dog " Tun-tun" who lives in the marina on this dock. It swims in the sea, fishes and eats the crabs. For treats they feed it coconut. We gave "Tun-tun" a dried pigs ear for a treat. This fascinated our French neighbors and upon interrogation, we determined that dried pigs ears for dog treats are apparently a purely American phenomenon. "Tun-tun" knew exactly what to do with "it" and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience. She is now applying for a US visa.

May 25, 2004

Still no word on the Amel parts. We were supposed to get our Onan pump yesterday - now scheduled for today. We rode "le truck" downtown to the Internet cafe and also visited "Tiki," who are tied up along the main dock. The Tiki crew were not in a good mood. The previous day they had been robbed. Someone came aboard and stole a bicycle, various other items and even entered the cabins below, where crew members were sleeping, in order to steal a digital camera. Two of the crew of "La Scala" had visited "Tiki" two nights before and in the evening they had walked to the terminal to catch "le truck" back to the marina end of town (where we are staying). They were mugged and robbed a block or so from the main quay. The Tiki crew Phil and Fred are both big men, yet Fred of Tiki believes his nose was broken in the attack. At the same time, "Kahala" which is moored about 50 yards away from "Tiki", had dirty oil poured over the stern of the boat and the mooring lines untied. Not real friendly. These victims aren't even Americans.

I am told "tomorrow" again for the Onan pump and this time I say, "No, where are you? I am coming to get it." The pump is finally delivered that evening. I send a blunt e-mail to Amel querying the status of my parts.

"Tiki" were invited to dinner on DoodleBug since they needed a morale boost. We hope their boat is still there by the time they get back to it.

May 26, 2004

I install the new Onan pump. The Amel agent tells me that Amel France has telephoned him in the middle of the night and that the missing parts are "in-transit" and should be here "this week or Monday." Annette finishes her mammoth post-card project.

May 27, 2004 thru May 29, 2004

We don't have our boat parts (propeller shaft seals) and we are back to square one, in that they were probably shipped the day I sent the e-mail reminder to Amel in France.  We now have to wait for the courier service to do it's thing, plus it is another week-end followed by a holiday on Monday. We did receive a waybill number from Amel but it is unrecognizable by the computer systems of the Western world. The marina manager tells us we must leave our slip on Saturday as the owner of same will be returning. We strip all of the sun awnings etc., disconnect the umbilicals of shore power and water, kiss our neighbors goodbye (they are French, so you have to do that), prepare the boat for sea and then head to the marina office to pay our bill. "You are leaving tomorrow aren't you?" "No, you told us to leave today". "Tomorrow is fine". We reconnect the shore power, fire up the air-conditioning, open another beer and find the page in the paperback with the book-mark.

May 30, 2004 thru May 31, 2004

We left the marina and anchored behind the reef about half a mile away. The view is breathtaking. The sea is crystal and we can see every detail of the sea-bed 20 feet below. What a relief to be away from the noise, fumes and dirt of the marina. We spent the day snorkeling along the reef and lazing around. Monday was a holiday so nothing was open or happening. We continued our successful program of slouching around at anchor.

June 1, 2004

The long awaited seals are in Tahiti! The local Amel rep sends us an e-mail to say that the boat can be hauled for the installation of same in only two weeks. We reply, "thanks but no thanks". We have 28 days left on our visa and we have had enough. We made several bus rides and found the FedEx office. Here we gave them copies of all sorts of forms for the customs clearance (the parts came from France to a French territory) and convinced them to forward the cleared package out to the marina where we were once residents. By now we are on a roll, so we worked on replacing some of the rigging that has become worn and making plans to leave. To do this, one must visit the Port Captain of Papeete and get an exit permit. We went downtown to his office to discover that it is only open in the mornings.

June 2, 2004

This morning dawned clear and beautiful so we motored our dinghy the seven miles or so to town. Back to the Port Captain's office. It is locked and closed but he shows up on a motor scooter after we have hung around for 10 minutes or so. He first sends us to Immigration. I explain that we are not leaving French Polynesia but this doesn't matter. We visit Immigration, Customs and then back to the Port Captain's office for the exit permit. He then sends us back to customs for a tax certificate to buy duty free fuel while we are still in Tahiti. We hear several boats talking about the French authorities having moved riot police into Papeete in anticipation of street demonstrations and violence following last weeks election. Apparently the "oranges" are not happy with the election results and are unfamiliar with the implications of a democracy. Good time to leave! We refuel Doodlebug with our duty free diesel - about $2 per gallon versus the regular price of $4.50 per gallon. While we were filling up, Rob of Kahala asked me how much it cost. I said I didn't know. He indicated exasperation that I had not bothered to find out and I pointed out that there is a choice of only one fueling station that accepts the duty free certificate and it can only be used once. What difference did the price make? As I stowed the extra diesel cans, Annette checked the marina office for our FedEx package. Miracle of miracles - it has arrived intact! Now we can leave.

June 3, 2004

Position: 17 30.3 S 149 49.2 W

We are anchored in Cook's Bay, Moorea about 60 feet from the "Honu Iti" restaurant. This bay is where the film "Bali Hai" was made. This morning we left Tahiti through the pass of Taapuna, which is marked "dangerous" on the pilot charts. The sea was calm with less than 2 knots of wind so it was just a pretty view, with large breakers on both sides of us but smooth water where we exited.

This is the first segment of the trip we had made without Attila. We were reminded of this when we left the marina. "Tun Tun," the dock dog, jumped into the sea and began swimming after us. She must have been 50 yards or more offshore before she turned back. Probably after more dried pig's ears (dog treats). We motored this morning for about an hour over glassy seas until the wind picked up and we sailed into Cook's Bay just after noon.

June 4, 2004

We have read that this anchorage is one of the most photographed in French Polynesia. It is easy to understand why. The bay is surrounded on three sides by volcanic cliffs / mountains with the stark cliffs connected by crenellated ridgelines. These are decorated with different shades of green, as each micro-ecosystem produced by the effect of the trade wind borne moisture, favors different vegetation. The lower altitudes are covered with coconut palms and then these are replaced by fruit and flowering trees that have been planted by the inhabitants. The mountain peaks behind are often shrouded in mist or rain clouds and it is easy to just forget the book you might be reading and find yourself gazing at the mists with impossibly hued rainbows reaching deeply among the palms. What a contrast with Tahiti!

It was alleged to be a 40 minute walk to the Internet cafe so we fired up the dinghy and motored down the bay until we could see the building. We then threaded our way through the reef and managed to get ashore without getting our feet wet. After the Internet experience we visited a nearby pearl shop. As I was not so interested in either shopping for bikinis or looking at more pearls, I chatted with the manager. When he found out that we are from Santa Fe, he asked if we knew of a restaurant in Santa Fe called "Cafe de Paris." We answered in the affirmative and confessed that we have eaten there often. We knew that the owners are from Tahiti. He said he knows the owners well and to tell them that their friend John Hogan (His Polynesian name is "Popahure" - means "baldy") from Moorea send his regards. Small world.

We stopped in at the Club Bali Hai hotel on the way back and made reservations for an "authentic" Polynesian dinner and floor show evening for the following day. We intended to rent a motor scooter to tour the island (a whole 40 miles of road) but since it has showered on and off all day and also the price of renting a car is almost the same as renting a motor scooter, we chose the former.

In the evening were joined for dinner on DoodleBug by Judy from "Urios." Judy is an MBA from Chicago who is on professional sabbatical and has been crewing for several boats in the South Pacific. Urios has broken it's engine big time and Judy is boat-sitting while the owner is back in Paris.

June 5, 2004

We had reserved a rental car from "Albert's" car rental for 0900 hours and the proprietor assured us that he was open from 0730 on. We arrived at 0850 to get our car and by 0915 he still hadn't shown up. There was a competing car rental about 50 yards away, so we walked over to it and rented one of their cars. By the time we had filled out all the paperwork and hit the road, there was still no sign of "Albert".

The first stop was at a Pineapple distillery. The pineapple distillery seems to distill only at certain seasons but we nevertheless enjoyed tasting exotic and very alcoholic drinks made from pineapple, vanilla, coconut etc. in their gift shop. This gives a wonderfully fuzzy feeling right after breakfast. Next stop was an agricultural school that had all sorts of vegetables and fruits under cultivation. They had a booth selling all-natural fruit juices etc. but we still had a pretty good buzz from the pineapple distillery, so we declined the healthy stuff. We tasted some of their jams and bought a jar of mandarin orange marmalade before moving on. We drove up a twisting switch-backed mountain road to an overlook. The rented Fiat made interesting brake noises all the way up without even touching the brakes, so coming down again promised to be an educational experience. From the overlook we could see down into Cook's Bay where we are anchored and also into the next bay called Baie d'Oponohu where Cook actually anchored. I expect he couldn't afford the restaurant prices in the bay named after him.

We survived the descent from the overlook and continued our circumnavigation of the island stopping in at the Beachcomber hotel for lunch. The food and service here was good, even after they found out we weren't guests. They don't throw you out after you have already sunk your beer and eaten the most of the bread. Annette had a hamburger and announced that McDonalds had now slipped to second place. I had the Mahi-mahi po' boy, although they didn't call it that.

From the nearby "Club Bali Hai" hotel, we had booked an evening at the "Tiki Village" for a Polynesian dinner and show. The courtesy bus was supposed to pick us up at 1730 hours but apparently no-one told the driver. After a half dozen phone calls, we finally got a ride an hour and a half later. If we hadn't pre-paid the dinner, we would have given up and would then have missed out on an excellent show. We had seen Polynesian dancers on Rangiroa and Tahiti but these dancers and fire dancers were a cut above the others. The Tiki Village had attempted to reproduce a Polynesian village and the Polynesian dinner was preceded by a lecture on the food types and how it was cooked in the pit. We had met "Hedi" at the Club Bali Hai while we debated the deserved fate of bus drivers, so we finished up the evening drinking mango juice and rum back at Club Bali Hai. Hedi has a time-share there with a wooden deck set out over the water. A candle burning next to a vase of orchids and the stars arching over the silhouette of the Moorea mountains.......

June 6, 2004

It rained a little today and we did not get a weather forecast. Cook's bay is apparently sheltered from radio waves as well as winds. The result was we never actually got around to leaving. We now plan to leave tomorrow (Monday) at dusk. The run to Huahine is about 85 miles. If we sail slowly at 5 knots, this would take 17 hours or so. By leaving at dusk and sailing overnight, we should arrive mid-morning on Tuesday. We enter the pass into the village of Fare from the west, so a mid morning arrival should give good visibility of the reefs.

June 7, 2004

Position: 16 43.2 S 151 02.3 W

Today we prepared for a dusk departure to Huahine. This didn't take too long so we dinghied over to the internet cafe to check for mail. On the way we recognized "Ironhorse" at anchor, a boat we had met in Papeete. The crew, Rosemary and Alfred are British and on their way to Hawaii. We stopped for a chat and tea before continuing our leisurely sojourn. The internet cafe was also a restaurant and we had an excellent barbeque lunch there. While we ate lunch, Annette negotiated via the waitress, for the purchase of one of the oil paintings (100 cms. by 100 cms.) displayed on the cafe wall. By the time we finished lunch, she had agreed on a price with the artist and he agreed to deliver the wrapped painting to the fishing cooperative's dock near the boat.

At the appointed time we dinghied to the dock and examined the little fish in the water, poked at dried, nasty looking dead things etc. for 20 minutes. The artist didn't show, so we returned to DoodleBug and began our final departure tasks by taking the outboard off the dinghy, stowing it etc. 30 minutes later, I saw a frantic figure on the dock waving and holding a large package. We rowed back to the dock and concluded the deal.

The passage to Huahine was pleasant with comfortably warm, light winds and almost smooth seas. We sailed at 4 to 5 knots and the moon rose early and shimmered across the water. There was a cruise ship, the "Tahitian Princess," that was behaving in a disconcerting manner by changing course every 20 minutes or so. I talked to the captain on the radio around 0230 hours and discovered that they were also heading for Huahine and were killing time, so they could arrive at dawn. We exchanged pleasantries and I told him not to spill the cocktails. He assured me his passengers were all in bed. They missed a beautiful night.

June 8, 2004

This morning we anchored off the village of Fare and dinghied into town to "check in" with the local Gendarme (police). Naturally the police office was closed until 1400 hours. I believe it is based upon Napoleonic law, that no crimes can be committed outside of normal office hours, Monday to Friday. We completed our civic duty and then motored down the west coast of Huahine in a deep channel inside the barrier reef. Tuesday night we spent anchored in Port Bourayne, which is an enclosed bay with a very narrow entrance, almost like being on a lake. The night was very quiet, with just a few scattered homes visible along the "lakeside" and the noise of children playing, dogs barking etc. drifting across the water. There was just one other yacht on the other side of the bay, a mile or so distant and they left in the early morning. There seemed to be no obvious road access from the bay, so on Wednesday 6/9/2004, we raised anchor and moved south into the next bay. Again with little wind, no swell and the mountains coming down to the water - seemingly on all sides - it gave the impression of being on a lake. We were later told that there had once been a huge hotel here but it was wiped from the face of the earth by a cyclone in 1996.

June 10, 2004

We had our most critical equipment failure on Tuesday. Annette's new blender that she had bought in Papeete wouldn't work and she was left without slushies. After 48 hours of concentrated whining on the part of the crew, the captain decided to dissect the blender. No obvious problem showed itself during the diagnostic process but the blender decided to work again. Not having actually performed any constructive modification, did not prevent the captain from taking full credit for the miraculous recovery. Buoyed by this success we dinghied down the coast a mile or so to Pension Mauarii, a hotel restaurant. The bar was quite pleasant and we occupied one of their better tables until they agreed to feed us lunch. One of the islands tour operators was also having lunch there, so we took the opportunity to book a tour for the morrow.

June 11, 2004

Position: 16 47.2 S 151 00.5 W

We had arranged to meet the tour driver on the nearby village dock and were stunned when he not only showed up on time but 10 minutes early! This has never happened before. We toured the island by car and saw the inevitable papaes (stone temples), although these seemed in very good condition and according to our guide, had received only minor reconstruction. Next we saw ancient Polynesian stone fish traps built in the neck of Lake Maeva. This "lake" has a very long narrow neck connecting it to the sea and unlike most of the Polynesian islands, it is tidal. The water is brackish with salt water "streams" from the sea, mixing with the fresh water in the lake. Some of the fish traps are still actively used to supply the local cooperative with catch.

We visited several locations growing and processing vanilla beans. This is a very labor intensive process and several of the growers we saw, were back yard "mom and pop" operations. The vanilla plant is an orchid that grows like a vine on a trellis. It takes three years before the plant produces a flower. The flower only opens in the morning and must be pollinated by hand, since the natural mechanism is a Mexican bee that does not exist in Polynesia. Once pollinated, the plant produces beans that can be harvested in a further nine months but the drying process then takes another careful six months. The plants themselves only live about five years. We next visited the "royal" fresh water eels. There was a section of stream that looked more like a drainage ditch containing the eels. They are "royal" since it was forbidden for the ancient Polynesians to eat them. They looked like huge brown moray eels but had blue eyes and allegedly no teeth. I did not wish to test this latter postulate so I sent Annette wading into the stream to take pictures.

Our tour guide "Daniel" spoke excellent English and was obviously knowledgeable on the flora and fauna of the island. He was also an excellent source of information on the local culture, particularly the results of the recent election. The outgoing president is still demanding recounts.

June 12, 2004

This morning we raised anchor and set sail for Raiatea. Annette has been collecting "upgraded" fishing equipment for months now. None of this 85 pound breaking strain rubbish. She now has serious stuff. The comment was made that there are no reef fish here, it's all deep water stuff and you have as much chance of catching fish inside the reef as out. Her new rig now consists of a "main" line of a couple of hundred pound breaking strain with some 100 pound steel leader and a "big" Japanese triple hook, a couple of inches across, that she bought on Hiva Oa in the Marquise islands. The lure is made from a plastic bread sack and the whole rig was deployed as soon as we left the anchorage. The 25 mile crossing to Raiatea was pleasant and uneventful. That is, no fish bites on the new rig. We entered the Passe Toahutu on the east side of Raiatea at around 1500 hours and headed north, inside the reef towards the two marinas. At just about the north end of Raiatea, we saw a sailboarder. The sailboarder was moving fast and as it came towards us, I noticed a black bikini top and a smile. We waved in a sort of friendly fashion and the sailboarder made a sharp cut across our stern. There was a load bang, a very surprised looking sailboarder, and Annette had lost yet another fishing rig. The sailboarder looked like a keeper but I'll bet Annette would have made me do the old "catch and release" thing if we had managed to land her.

The marina ignored our radio calls - not unanticipated since it was Saturday afternoon - so we attempted to land at the visitors dock. It was beginning to rain and no volunteers came out from their shelter to help us with lines. We couldn't reach the bollards from the boat, so we abandoned this attempt and swung off to pick up a mooring. The mooring was also uncooperative and the marker buoy dived below our bow, shearing off the propeller on the bow thruster. Not a really good day. It was tight maneuvering where we were without the bow thruster, so we headed off for another row of mooring buoys in more open water. This time we succeeded and although the mooring lines looked like old string, it was getting dark. It would have to do.

June 13, 2004

Position 16 43.7 S 151 28.7 W

The night passed without losing the mooring and first thing in the morning, I snorkeled to assess the previous day's damage. As surmised, the bow thruster prop was sheared off but no other damage. We carry two spare props on board and a couple of hours later, it was repaired and we could maneuver again. We revisited the marina by dinghy, grabbed the last available slip and moved DoodleBug in.

June 14, 2004

Just before we left Papeete, we had made arrangements for DoodleBug to be lifted from the water for some maintenance work by a company "Chantier Navale" (CNI). This morning we decided we would walk over to their boatyard, in order to confirm the details of the work (we are currently docked in a marina). The walking was a mistake, we should have used the dinghy. By water it is a fairly short distance but the road twists and turns, following the indentations of the bays and then turns further inland to find crossing points for the various drainages. Eventually we found the boatyard and were told, "If you can move the boat here today, we will lift it and do the work tomorrow". Sounded OK. We left and "thumbed" a ride for the 5 or 6 miles into town. Several cruisers had confirmed that it was necessary to "check in" with the local Gendarme (police) when we arrived in Raiatea. We located the office and the police officer said we didn't need to check in upon arrival but we must check in when we leave for Bora Bora - for "safety reasons". This is tedious since Bora Bora is only 20 miles away and he could probably watch us sinking in the middle of the channel from his office window. Back to the marina to move DoodleBug to a mooring at CNI's ship yard. I had already pre-paid a couple of days at the marina but hey....if they are that efficient and want to jump right into the repair work......

June 15, 2004

We sat around for about an hour or so, admiring the non-activity and headed for the office to enquire about the schedule. "The technician will be with you this morning"."The technician will be with you this afternoon". "He will see you in an hour". Needless to say the turkey never showed up. In late afternoon, I again made the pilgrimage back to the office and was promised "0730 hours tomorrow".

June 16, 2004

At 1030 hours the guy finally appeared and asked us to have the boat ready to move onto the lift by 1430 hours. We just had time to run into town with the dinghy and do a little shopping, plus grab some lunch before the appointed hour. 1430 hours came and went and although we were ready to move the boat, we were not entirely surprised when at 1500 hours we were told "tomorrow". I am beginning to feel this is like launching a space shuttle.

June 17, 2004

At 0830 men wearing wet-suits began to hover around DoodleBug. This is a very promising sign. The lifting method is to maneuver the vessel onto a cradle attached to a kind of railway car. The boat is locked into the cradle by the guys in wet-suits and then the whole thing is very slowly pulled up a ramp by a tractor using a hydraulic winch. I had witnessed the operation a couple of days ago and was told that the system was developed in New Zealand and is very reliable. Around 1000 hours, DoodleBug was just about clear of the water and I was on deck admiring the view. I was tempted to get a celebratory beer but had to be cognizant that I was stuck on board until they docked and got a ladder up to the boat. I couldn't flush the toilets on board while we were out of the water. As I pondered this dilemma, there was a bang and I looked up to see men hurling themselves away from the winch and scattering in all directions. DoodleBug abruptly plunged her 18 tons back down the ramp into the water with an impressive splash. We had broken the lift system! Back to the slip. Pour the beer.

CNI believes that it will be a week before their boat lift will be working again. We decided to book plane tickets for a six hour flight to Rapa Nui (Easter Island - you know .....the place with "the heads"). We will leave Sunday and return a week later. During our absence, the boatyard promises to repair their winch and complete the work we have requested.

June 18, 2004

Today we rented a car and are determined to switch back into our "tourist" mode and away from our, "waiting for French people to do something" mode. The marina has been interesting. Every night at sunset the drums begin. Sort of like waiting for Livingston to show up in darkest Africa. Actually, it is a dance group that uses a house across from the boatyard to practice for the upcoming annual "Heiva" celebration. This mysteriously coincides with Bastille Day in France but the Polynesians apparently feel they are under a form of "French occupation" and so they celebrate whatever "Heiva" is instead. The holiday lasts for almost two weeks with elaborate dance competitions, parades, canoe races, etc.

June 19, 2004

Today we toured the circumference of the island by auto. Raiatea is not as heavily populated as the other islands and the homes and villages were scattered further apart. Since the middle of the island is filled by volcanoes and the lagoon and reef define the outer fringe of habitation, most homes are on the fairly narrow ring of land along the shoreline. The homes in general are tidy with small front yards that are generally kept amazingly neat and extensively decorated with flowering bushes and luscious fruit trees. We have noticed that in the Societies, many of these homes have a decorated gravesite occupying a prime location in the yard. The markers often look like they have been transported directly from a Louisiana cemetery. The tour guide we used on Huahine explained that the home owners own the land and so that is where they bury their ancestors. The part of my brain I can't control kept repeating, "Mommy, mommy, can I play with Granny?". "No you can't! You've dug her up three times this week already!" Most of the businesses we saw were closed. "The Moorings" company has a yacht charter business near the yard where DoodleBug is and "Sunsail" has a similar operation on the other side of Raiatea. Neither operation looked busy, with dozens of empty boats moored at both locations. We were told on Huahine that US tourists accounted for 70% of the total and this has completely dried up since 9/11.

We stopped at the only restaurant we saw on the "other" side of the island. We were the only luncheon customers for an excellent meal. Tomorrow we fly to Easter Island.