I hadn't realise but apparently I have a large contingent of friends and family of Bob and Roz reading this blog so am feeling the pressure to make this witty and informative! (Well, even more so than usual!). Anyway, you can all relax. They have arrived safely and, as you can see by the photograph, have embraced the French Polynesian way of life already! In fact, Bob is refusing to get out of the water and is insisting on having all his meals served off the back of the sugar scoop!

We took the boat down to the Town Quay on Friday morning to meet them. We haven't actually ever backed the boat onto a marina berth yet, so it was with some anxiety and trepidation that we approached the quay. Our friends Paul and Lyn had come to help luckily because, as we backed round into the space between two other boats, the wind gusted up and blew us perilously close to the next boat and then our prop got caught round one of the mooring lines! We ended up going in bow first and several neighbouring cruisers helped us manhandle (boathandle?) her into the space and tie up. We were suitably mortified with embarrassment but were soon reassured by all that they had all done the same many times over and regaled us with even worse stories of their disastrous attempts at mooring around the world.

Once Bob and Roz had tracked us down, we ventured out for a bit of walk around Papeete and, after a few sundowners, ate at one of the roulotte vans in the evening.

The following morning we left bright and early for Moorea. We hadn't realised that there was a major outrigger canoe race happening and found ourselves in the middle of about 50 6-man canoes from all over French Polynesia and 200 support/chase boats streaming across the strait to Moorea. In fact, at one point, we were in the lead but were disqualified on some technicality like having an engine! Eventually, all the canoes overtook us and we trailed in last!

We are now anchored in Opunohu Bay for the third time. It really is a spectacular bay with a fringing reef, crystal clear water and dark green mountains rising up behind the palm-covered beach. We are doing a bit of snorkelling and chilling for a couple of days here. Last night 5 or 6 boats gathered on the beach for a barbecue (I mean, the people from 5 or 6 boats obviously!). Everyone took a dish of something to share and we had more food than we could eat. Tonight Bob has been given the job of finding a lobster for dinner so has vanished off with spear gun in hand.

We will leave for Huahine tomorrow afternoon. It's about 80 miles so we'll have to do an overnight. Probably let B & R off a night watch this time. We'll save that for the 10 day crossing to Tonga!