After a week on Taha'a, we motor sailed inside the lagoon to Uturoa, Raiatea, which is just 2 miles east of Taha'a. Raiatea is 14 x 8 miles in size and has a population of 12,000, with most people living in and around Uturoa. We pulled alongside the port dock and stayed two nights. One day we "did the village" visiting a few cute stores, the market, magazines (groceries) where I was delighted to find some good fresh veggies and fruit.

Before leaving the next day, we hiked up to a beautiful viewpoint overlooking Raiatea and Taha'a. The lagoon colors were spectacular and it was so clear we could see Bora Bora in the background. On the way up Mt. Tapioi, there was a cow with its head plastered up against a barrel - looking like a really bad hangover! It really doesn't take much to entertain us anymore! (See Photos)

Leaving Uturoa, we motor sailed inside the lagoon down the east side of Raiatea, taking in the beautiful views of the mountains and valleys. At one time, a va'a (outrigger canoe) racer fell in 10 feet behind Cetacea and kept up with us at 8 knots for at least 15 minutes - pretty amazing!

At the south end of the island, at the tip of Motu Nao Nao, we dropped anchor in about 10 feet of water, but by the time we stared letting out scope, we were sitting in 60+ feet of water. So how much chain do you put out? We went drift snorkeling, long enough to get the dingy stuck on some coral. The water was about 15 feet deep and the coral heads reached all the way to the surface in one area. It was really beautiful, but there were currents between the coral heads, which is how we got the dingy stuck. We could not get it off, so finally I climbed into the dingy and lifted the engine. Then we could get free and luckily with no damage! From now on we'll put the engine up before drift snorkeling.

The wind picked up and we scurried back to the boat. Not comfortable with our anchor location, which provided no protection from the predicted bad weather that was approaching, we decided to move. There were reportedly three mooring balls in the small bay across the lagoon. When we got over there, we found only one, in 90 feet of water. With the wind gusting by now, it took four tries for me to maneuver the boat so that Tony could pick up the mooring. Argh! It is usually comforting to be on a mooring, but the fact that 2 out of 3 were missing made us really nervous. And, there was a reef just downwind, with winds over 20 knots. So, we talked through exactly what each of us would do if the mooring broke. We set the anchor watch on our AIS system and one of us stayed up all night on "anchor watch" (mainly Tony). Again, angels look after sailors and we made it through the night.

At first daylight, we untied and got underway to Haamene Bay, a very deep protected bay to ride out the weather. The rainy windy weather lasted for five days. There was only one morning that we got off the boat in semi-drizzling weather and went for a 4-hour tour with James. James showed us the way up the little river in his kayak, pointing out the way for us to get through with our dingy. We visited his family's farm, complete with vanilla farm and gardens, and saw and tasted many fruits, vegetables, including Pumsky and Pumatea (whatever they were - I could not Google an answer to that). And, yes, we even tasted flowers! They do eat flowers here; you just have to know which ones. (See Photos)

More Later - G&T