We made it!

The reality has not penetrated my feeble mind, yet, but we've arrived at our many-years goal. It's hard to imagine, really, when one actually reaches a goal. It is satisfying.

We left Rangiroa after carefully awaiting a slack tide, not wishing to duplicate the rock and roll of our arrival. After two magic days, we pulled the hook at 1230, then drove in circles until the waves created by the outward wind against the inward tide dropped away, then carefully motored through the remaining chop to being outside of the coral reef that is Rangiroa.

We motored for 24 hours, then under Conni's second night's watch, the wind began to rise. By the middle of my watch (0400-0800), the wind was of sufficient strength so that by 0600, I shut down the engine and began to sail. The wind began to build and I tucked the second reef in the jib and we ran under double reefed main and jib the rest of the time.

The wind continued to build until we had gusts of 32 knots and continuous wind at 24-25 knots. We had our sails reefed well, so that was no problem, but the seas began to build as well, and they were the scourge. We were taking SE seas on our port bow, now, and pushing toward Tahiti at up to 8 knots. At one point, it appeared that our inflatable dinghy was escaping her bonds so I crawled, literally, to the bow to check. No carnival ride compares to being on the bow of a boat plunging in big seas! The ride is violent and dramatic, and every few seconds I'd be inundated in salt water. The raft got re-attached, and I crawled back to the cockpit. Even with my lifejacket and the fact that I was tethered to our jack lines, it was a stressful thing to do. We arrived in Tahiti with an average speed (AVERAGE!) of 6.5 knots.

The winds continued, unabated, for the next 18 hours. Sleep was difficult and Chip was the beneficiary of severe mal de mer, having to be harnessed to the boat as he hung his head over the side. Conni and I took turns on watch, huddled under the dodger since sitting at the wheel subjected one to constant rain drenching and waves sweeping over the side of the boat and into the cockpit. The cockpit drains were getting a workout as seawater swirled at our feet and ankles. We endured 18 hours of this mess.

20 miles from Tahiti, that second night, Conni saw the lights of Papeete and 10 miles from Papeete, we both smelled the island's perfume. We mentioned that in our Nuku Hiva arrival blog, but it's still an amazement to us. It's a floral perfume, part peat moss, part flower, and very pungent, and available 10 miles out to sea. We finally got south of Venus Point and the island began to block the winds and seas, until by 0530 daybreak, we were bobbing in the seas. We dozed until 0620 when the tides were right for entry into Papeete Pass. Since Morea is 12 miles away, there's a high-speed catamaran fleet that keeps commerce going between the two islands and I carefully watched one of the 30 knot vessels thread the pass and then followed behind, but not at 30 knots!

We were here! We were safe! We were exhausted. After entering the pass, we turned to starboard, missing the many coral reefs, and followed the chart plotter to Marina Taina where we found our slip as a side tie just behind an 80-ft Hinckley ketch (built for Campbell Soup heirs) and an 85-ft Nordhaven. Conni later toured the Hinckley and wasn't envious until she saw the washer and dryer. I would have been impressed much earlier when I entered the stand-up engine room.

By the way, Venus Point is where Captain Cook of Alaska fame arrived on his first voyage. In fact, his first voyage was specifically to observe a Transit of Venus (we all go to see one last summer, but they're rare). He arrived a year early and spent time creating an observatory and taking enough sights to establish his location with great accuracy. His success there led to his being selected for the other two voyages.

We worked the rest of the day, getting the boat in some kind of shape, furling sails, and such. The fridge, once again, decided to take a powder so that cost us a few hours of sweat before it re-started. We located showers. Power here is 220 VAC, of course, but the problem is that they use European connections rather than the US connections. We had purchased a "World Voltage" AC charger so we could use the 220 V but I had to find a connector for us. I found one, sacrificed a new 18-ft charging cable and installed the new end. Amazingly, it worked as promised and we are now full of AC. We can run lights, run the fans, charge electronics, but only things that can charge on 220 VAC such as the Apple products. Nice thing to know.

Chip bought us dinner at the local Pink Coconut last night, a real treat. We ordered REAL Maintais, the best that we've ever had. We all staggered home and were asleep by 2100, and all slept until 0800, at least. Chip arose first, walked to a local market, and brought back to the boat two coffees and two fresh baguettes, so upon awakening, we enjoyed coffee, fresh baguette, and internet. Sigh.

On Manahi, we banged into a concrete pier so hard that it made a bad ding in our fiberglass hull, so I've got to repair that. My other main task is to deal with saltwater in the engine. Chip leaves tomorrow and Conni and I will stay a bit longer, but will leave within three days and sail to Raiatea to begin the decommissioning of our beloved Wings. We've got to arrange for a lot of work to be done and won't see her again until next Spring.

I did post photos for Rangiroa and will try to get some others posted today.