Hi from our last day on Tahiti,

We sail tomorrow for Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea and Bora Bora before leaving French Polynesia and continuing the trek back to the East Coast of Australia , hopefully sometime in November.

Most of our time here has been in the yards of TechniMarine as we were out of the water for slightly over four weeks. I cannot recommend this place highly enough as it is a fabulous place to haul out. Very friendly and most welcoming. Believe it or not we all enjoyed our time on the hard and it was actually a bit sad to go back into the water. Alain and Tita who own and run the yard are now good friends and we hope to meet up again in the near future.

We accomplished a lot of work in the yard. Two new rudders fabricated and installed, new tangs fabricated for the seagull striker and a new wire rope stay in place there as the old one had departed its stainless steel life. We also took the time while we waited to remove and patch the old generator exhaust. It was leaking and now the hulls have cobwebs back. The old battery compartment was rebuilt as the fumes had rotted the floors and supports, the cockpit was sanded back and painted and the electrics overhauled with new leads run, battery cables replaced and new isolators in the engine rooms. Both after "heads" were sanded back, painted and resealed. A new sonar installed and triducer mounted in the port hull. We moved the TV into Gill's cabin with a games console built so he could have a bit of privacy and we could escape the gunfire.
Thed old outboard bracket was out of action so a new one was fabricated, glassed, painted and installed for the Yamaha 15hp and a lifting strop made as it is quitre heavy for an old bloke. All this and a zillion other small jobs completed like servcing everything that could be serviced. Oh, and the antifoul we put on a few months previously dried out and cracked resulting in a sand back and reapplication.

It was amazing, but we have been back in the water 4 days now and nothing has gone wrong. We still have not replaced the anchor winch solenoids as we cannot find them so will have to do with what we have.
To actually get out of the water was a drama as Tizer the HoP was not allowed ashore as we had been to Panama in the last 6 months where there lurks the dreaded rabbies and as quarantine here is done on the boat we had to find someone to look after him on a moored or anchored boat for the time out of the water. Bernard, Margrit and Loic from SV REINE-MARGUERITE took him and I think we were lucky to get him back as they all liked him so much.

The vet visited yesterday and gave him his shots and a further rabbies innoculation as we have to apply to "import" the fat furball into Australia and the regulations are very precise. Evidently we can send him to quarantine in Sydney from Fiji when we get there so he will be the first to arrive home unless we decide to go to Sydney and not Brisbane as our first port of call in Oz.

We have met some great people on our travels and this has also been the case here. We left behind a fleet of friends in the Caribbean and also in the ABC's, Colombia and Panama and a few have now arrived here so it is like old times but we are ready to move on.

Everyone is safe and happy and looking forward to returning to the cruising life once again and hope that this is our last overseas haul out.
Be good.