Photo shows Saraoni anchored in Matavai Bay on Tahiti with Mo'orea in the background.

We have now taken a mooring in the Punau'uru lagoon, just south east of the city of Pape'ete in Tahiti. We arrived a few days ago at this beautiful island, with its soaring peaks and lush valleys, after an easy beam reach from Fakarava atoll in the Tuamotus. Just like so many seafarers in the past, from Cook to Bougainville and the LMS missionaries who were to play havoc with Tahiti's Polynesian culture and lifestyle, we first anchored just round the corner from Point Venus on the North West end of the island in Matavai Bay. This is where Captain Cook tried to map the transit of the planet Venus across the Sun in an attempt to further knowledge of basic astronomy and improve navigation. In fact, the project was a failure but Cook went on to 'discover' and map many other new Southern lands after his Tahiti visit, paving way for British occupation and colonisation.

The Bounty anchored here too, not long after Cook and Bougainville. It was here that Bligh's crew first contemplated mutiny although it was not till the ship reached Tonga that Christian Fletcher and his mates turfed Bligh out and headed back to Tahiti.

Tahiti is not a large island, but it does have 60% of French Polynesia's population - mostly in the smallish, but bustling city of Pape'ete. It's certainly a world away from the small communities in the Tuamotus and Marquesas as the people here live very urbanized lives. Most yachties end up spending time here as there are plenty of shops and the inevitable supplies to fix the equally inevitable worn out bits on the boat.

Saraoni may be falling apart slowly inside and sorely needs a refit but there has been little gone wrong otherwise. The genoa needs a bit of stitching and we will be picking up a new membrane for the desalinator, but that's about all. We aim to use our Tahiti time to do some hiking in the mountains behind us and work out our route across the problematic 1100 mile gap between the last island in French Polynesia (Bora Bora) and Tonga. The gap is splattered with the tiny islands which make up the Cook Islands archipelago, if it can be called that. There are no good anchorages at any of them, except for Rarotonga, which is quite a way off the rhumb line to Vava'u. The challenge on this route is to find a long enough weather window in a region that is often disturbed by an ever present but not always active convergence zone (the SPCZ) and trailing troughs that originate from cold fronts barrelling across from New Zealand.

Pape'ete is a meeting point for many of the yachts making their way across the Pacific. Despite the much hyped up potential for a cyclone season stopover in French Polynesia, it seems that most people have made the decision to sail on westwards rather than stay in the tropics, with NZ being far and away the most popular destination, except for Aussies who are going home or those in a hurry to complete a circumnavigation.

Our mooring here is just a stone's throw from the outer barrier reef in a part of the lagoon which is quite narrow. The visually stunning and inviting island of Mo'orea is just across the channel and there is crystal clear water all around us. It's not all about nature here, though. 10 minutes walk from the little marina where we take the dinghy is the largest shopping centre between Panama City and Auckland - a huge Carrefour! Yachties fill up their Carrefour shopping trolleys and wheel them back to their boats in the marina or to the dinghy. You can certainly buy just about anything you want here - but don't look at the prices!!