Arthur
08/10/2012, 16 49.100'S:151 25.007'W, Baie Faaroa, Raiatea

We sailed about 20 some miles to the west to Raiatea today. Winds were about 18 kts, seas 2 meters. Quick sail averaging a little over 8 kts.

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Arthur
08/07/2012, 16 43.197'S:151 02.363'W, Fare, Huahine

We had a lovely evening last night at a restaurant in Fare with the crews of Clementine and Baracca. Today we are just taking care of some chores on board. The picture is from Moorea where we fed the Stingrays. There were about 15 rays in the water--literally climbing all over us and the dinghy. I also counted 18 sharks.

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Arthur
08/04/2012, 16 48.741'S:150 59.601'W, Huahine

We made it to Huahine this morning. It is Samanatha on Clementine's 8th Birthday. So the kids are having a big celebration today--which was a big reason for the short stop in Moorea and the sail here last night. Happy birthday Sam!!

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Arthur
08/03/2012, 17 29.209'S:149 52.713'W, Moorea

Goodbye Moorea. We are leaving on an overnight -- about 90 miles, to Huahine.

Will update tomorrow.

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Arthur
08/01/2012, 17 29.209'S:149 52.713'W, Moorea

For those who may be concerned, Paul and Adie on Ruby Soho seem to be so sun baked that they've lost the ability to use a keyboard or any communication devices. They otherwise appear healthy. Don't believe any stories about lack of internet. I believe its an actual loss of function of some portion of the brain. The rest of the crew seems healthy--though their judgment may be questionable as they are still associating with the debilitated Paul and Adie as though nothing were wrong. Oh well, you meet all sorts out here.....

Moorea is beautiful and we are enjoying it, though we've not done a lot today. The wind has been gusting to about 30 and the anchorage we are in is a bit tight, so we've been hanging out on the boat while the kids play.

Amy went in and picked up a couple of kilo's of shrimp from a local shrimp farm, so we are going to have a feast tonight.

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Arthur
08/01/2012, 17 29.209'S:149 52.713'W, Moorea

We've moved. We traveled about 20 miles today to Moorea, which is about 8 miles as the crow flies from Tahiti. This is a very beautiful island, and it is nice to get away from the commercial center that is Papeete. Tomorrow we will play with stingrays and perhaps dive one of the passes into the lagoon.

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Arthur
07/30/2012, 17 35.085'S:149 37.275'W, Tahiti

Not much new.... We've been in Tahiti for a couple of weeks. We've been diving with Alex and Dan on Ruby Soho, and hanging out with Water Musick, Clementine, and Tranquility. Today we plan to go dive a world war II bomber and a 200 foot ship of some sort. We've also been snorkeling and played a bit with the trainer kitesurfing kite yesterday on a sand bar where a bunch of locals spend their weekends relaxing. We've also done a few boat projects. It'll be time to move on to Moorea soon to feed the stingrays.

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Arthur
07/17/2012, 17 35.085'S:149 37.275'W, Tahiti

hmmm what to do today. Took the windlass apart yesterday. Maybe I'll put it back together....but I'll have to track down some 0 guage wire before I do that... Maybe I should put in a new bulb in our steaming light. I could replace a water maker feed pump. I could investgate an oil leak on the port motor. I could investigate a leak in our fuel injection system on the starboard motor. I could also replace some float switches with new ones. I could jury rig a positive pressure oil reservoir for our sail drives. And I could even track down the local bipolar rigger and see if he's down with going up our mast, or would it be, up for going up our mast? Hard to say since he's bipolar.

I suppose I could also read my book, sip something cold to drink, and then take a swim in the crystal clear water.

Very hard to decide.

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Arthur
07/16/2012, 17 35.085'S:149 37.275'W, Tahiti

We've had a busy last few days. Papeete and Tahiti generally is a bustling place. You can get most anything here, so we are more or less back in the first world for the time being. It is a pretty expensive place. Most things compare well with New York, but some things are wierdly expensive. A short 5 minute cab ride is about 20 to 30 dollars. A bag of oranges is $20. Chocolate bars for 5 to 6 buck. A bag of chips is 5 or 6 bucks too.

Yesterday we watched some inter island competitions like throwing spears are a coconut, lifting heavy rocks (up to about 360lbs), and a team event where they raced to remove the all the meat from several bags of whole coconuts. The island of Maupiti won. In the evening we went into town to a traditional chant and dance festival (also part of an inter island annual competition). Pretty amazing. Especially the hips :).

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Arthur
07/11/2012, 17 35.085'S:149 37.275'W, Tahiti

We've arrived in Tahiti, and are catching up on some rest. Then we'll head out to dinner tonight. We are on a Mooring off of Marina Taina. Lovely approach to the island. Beautiful tall green mountain peaks, plus the wonderful colors of a surrounding lagoon and reef. The Marquesas were mountains with no reef. The Tuamotus were all reef and no mountains. The Society Islands (tahiti, moorea, bora bora, huahine etc...) are both-- tall mountains surrounded by a lagoon and an outer fringing coral reef.

We are going to settle in here for a couple of weeks. Tahiti, and main town Papeete, which is also the capital of french polynesia, are very touristy, with cruise ships and resorts etc. But it will be nice to be able to eat out, and do a bit of shopping. We haven't been in a place with much in the way of services since April in Panama!!

We'll do some repairs, and some shopping, and relax a bit.

There are some dance competitions going on, and the annual fete national de independence is this weekend. Plus there are lots of other boats here that we know so it should be a lot of fun.

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