Wade and Andre had shared the three to six watch in a dog watch fashion with each taking a portion. Andre came to call me two or three minutes after six saying that he could see the island of Tahiti in the distance as the sun was rising and the visibility improving. The volcanic peaks are quite high at about two thousand five hundred meters so the island can be seen from a very long way off. We were still about seventy five miles away but the island shape was quite distinct in the distance with a covering of cloud above.

Slowly as we crept forward the silhouette became more and more distinct with some detail appearing. As if in harmony with our own anxious feelings about arriving the wind freshened and the boat speed increased. This was hastening us along and not wanting to complain about the extra momentum I found it necessary to reduce even further the small amount of sail up. It was still important not to stress our fragile steering.

After lunch we started to see more and more detail with roads and motorcars moving along. As we made for our waypoint outside the harbour entrance the section along the coast brought up beaches with wind-surfers and kites flying clearly visible. A few other pleasure boats were around with the occupants enjoying their Saturday afternoon outing on the water. Receiving permission from Papeete Port Control we entered the port and made our way to the yacht quays close to the town.

Tied up to the pontoon our voyage ended with large smiles on our faces. The log shows 12413 nautical miles sailed. We caught and ate the most magnificent fish, saw brilliant stars not seen at home, unbelievably glorious, fiery sunsets and the most amazing peaceful days in our watery world.

Our faithful A4034 is now cleaned and ready to go to her new owners. Air flight bookings are confirmed and in a day or so we will be winging our way back home. The flying route is from Papeete to Auckland in New Zealand followed by Dubai and finally Cape Town. Tracing the anticipated flight path on an atlas shows us still going forward so by the time we reach home we will have circled the globe, half by sea and half by air.

Best wishes from us all on board.
Moby, Tom, Wade and Andre.