Our Journal

Tuamotos to Tahiti

We set sail shortly after sunrise for the couple hundred mile sail from Faaite in the Tuamotos

Tahiti… our first stop in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The winds were light and

the seas

calm. With the wind from behind, we were off to a slow start and hoping for the

stronger southeast

trades to hurry and fill in.

Although there was disappointment at the lack of surf in the Tuamotos, the prospect of surf in

Tahiti

was looking good. David had been checking surf reports with friends back in

California who were

now saying that a huge new swell was coming. Rick and David couldn’t

stop talking about the 20’

surf we were now sure to see in Tahiti. They were constantly

looking out across the horizon trying to

determine whether the swell was increasing. We

were sailing very slow which was causing them a lot

of stress as they were thinking of this

incredible swell that they were missing out on. The more they

talked about it the lighter the

wind became. Their response to this was “fire up the engines and lets

get going.” I

reminded them that Free Spirit had not seen a fuel dock for weeks… since leaving the

Marquesas. With only 100 gallons of fuel capacity, I had been really conserving but definitely

running low at this point. Finally, against my better judgment, I gave in and agreed that we

could

motor sail for a few hours hoping the stronger trade winds would fill in and take over.

This was

clearly a gamble, as we didn’t have enough fuel to get us there and we were sailing

at 4 to 5 knots

already without the engines. We increased our speed to around 8 knots

which gave Rick and David

the feeling that they would make it in time to catch the really big

surf. As the hours passed, the wind

slowly died. Now I was feeling the stress with the fuel

running dangerously low and the wind

practically gone. Finally I had to make the very

unpopular decision to kill the engines and sail the

rest of the way. We had to save some fuel

for our arrival…period! This short crossing had just

turned into a long one… we were

basically drifting with a favorable current and making about a 2

knot pace… at best! I looked

at Kya and Rick and said “hey, it sure is beautiful out here… how

about a cold beer!” Rick

smiled and said “why not!” and so we drank beer, read books, and enjoyed

the drifting. Rick

was holding the genoa out with one hand, trying to squeeze out some extra speed,

while

drinking beer from the other. Other than going too slow to even fish and possibly missing the

big swell in Tahiti, we had a good day. One of the things you learn cruising the s pacific is

that each

day you get something really special, whether it is good surf, great sailing,

swimming with the sharks

and seeing big spotted rays, experiencing the Polynesian culture,

beautiful sunsets, the stars or just

laying back in a beautiful stress free place reading a

book. There’s almost no such thing as a bad

day! The sunset was beautiful with the

mountains of Tahiti in the distance… calm seas… no wind…

drifting.

The next day we were finally within about 10 miles of Papeete harbor and the engines were

fired

back up. It was exciting to finally be arriving at the downtown dock area known as the

quay. We tied

up alongside the cement dock in the middle of all the downtown noise and

excitement. I was happy

to be back to civilization where there would be a fuel dock and

good grocery shopping for the first

time in weeks. David was anxious to get off the boat and

catch a cab over to the famous surf spot

“teuhupoo” which is on the other side of the island.

We said our goodbyes and he was off. We later

heard that the big swell never materialized

and teuhupoo was blown out from the strong onshore

winds that arrived shortly after us. We

didn’t see David after that as he was catching a flight back to

California a couple of days

later, but I’m sure he must have been disappointed not finding the surf he

was hoping for.

After securing Free Spirit, it was off to the streets of downtown Papeette where we quickly

found a

good waterfront café. From there we found the Saturday market and loaded up on

fresh fruits and

veggies. Then it was off to the fuel dock and anchorage a short distance

away. The waves at the

pass we were entering were really nice clean head high waves

which Rick couldn’t resist, so we

dropped him off with his board and laid up just inside the

reef watching him catch a couple of quick

waves. We then anchored just off the Pink

Coconut Bar along with several other boats we had met

since leaving Panama. It was a

couple of good days catching up on laundry, grocery shopping,

fixing the little things on the

boat, and ,of course, drinking at the Pink Coconut with all of our friends.

Arrival into Tahiti was also very special to Kya because she finally got her luggage. Flying

out from

the states to meet the boat, the airline had lost her luggage. She met the boat in the

Tuamotos with

only the clothes she was wearing on the plane. It was almost 10 days without

her luggage. On the

north end of Fakarava we found a really small little store with a few

basic items where she was able

to get a bikini that just by chance did fit. It was an easy

choice as there was only one that fit her. I

loaned her a t-shirt and a pair of boxers and Rick

had an extra pair of sandals that were too small for

him that she was able to use. With an

extra toothbrush on the boat, she was all set! Anyone else

would have been complaining

nonstop, but she just enjoyed herself like it was no big deal.

Anyways, after a couple of days in Tahiti, it was time for Rick to fly out and Sean to arrive

from Calif.

Sean showed up without his printed itinerary and was stuck in customs for at

least an hour. You

have to be able to show a return ticket leaving the country before they will

clear you in. It turns out

that one other guy on the plane had the same problem. It’s funny

because we went to the airport to

pick up Sean with Arin from the boat Alderbraun who was

picking up his friend flying in from Calif

ornia

Out of all the people flying in on this full 747 jet,

it was Sean and Arin’s friend Stucky that didn’t have

proof of outbound ticket, and so they

were stuck dealing with customs together for over an hour. We

would have introduced them,

but they came out of customs together, already friends.

It was great having Sean onboard and now all we had to do was wait a couple of more days

for Kelly

arrive and we would be off exploring the Society Islands.

Updated: Feb. 18, 2008