We were as good as our word and departed Hurepiti Bay by 0900 today. We’re experienced enough to know how to prepare the boat for leaving and working until done. We were up at 0800, had breakfast, prepared the boat, competed an engine check, and had slipped the moorings by 0900.

The weather had not improved, so we endured squalls most of the day, but it was nice to see some blue sky as soon as we left the semi-shelter of Hurepiti Bay. It was a busy place with boats of all sizes going hither and yon, back and forth between Taha’a and Raiatea. We battled against wind and current for an hour, making a sizzling 1.6 knots, but finally got to a location where we could extend a hanky of jib and make some tracks. Still, for the rest of the day, the wind was absolutely on our bow. I tried my hand at fishing, but came up empty handed. We motored and sailed as we could for five hours, inside the sheltering reef that encloses both islands.

We finally arrived at Fa’aroa Bay, the deepest bay and the deepest cut inland in the Society Islands. It’s beautiful! The bay is very narrow and surrounded by lush vegetation, and at the head the island almost splits in two so one has a broad vision across the valley. That valley is surrounded by what appear to be green mesas, as one would see in the American Southwest. Of course they’re all basalt, and all back rock covered by vegetation, but that is how they appear. There’s a major river that flows through the valley and we will take the dinghy and motor up it a bit tomorrow morning. Our mooring is in 17 feet of water and is directly in the river’s output, so we usually head directly into the outflow. The past days rain has washed mountains of red volcanic mud from the land into the river, of course, and the entire bay is a rich reddish brown. Of course, the mud is suspended in the river’s fresh water so the layer of mud is only an inch deep. As Wings motored through it, we left a dark trail of exposed salt water behind us. It was an interesting effect.

We arrived at 1400 and had read in the island guide that there were several of the yellow government moorings here. We continued to motor into the bay until we found them all the way at the head, and by 1430 the engine was off and we were admiring our surroundings. As I sat in the cockpit with my field glasses, I heard…no…yes…”Will the circle be unbroken”. Sunday services were being held at a church at the head of the bay. Of all the songs that I expected to hear, that was at the bottom of the list. In fact,as I write this at 1900, we can still here services grinding on.

We splashed the dinghy and motored toward a tall building that had a sign posted that they had a restuaruant. We always try to support any business that advertises support for boaters. We arrived but the place was dead. So, we took a bit more of a tour and then returned to the boat for our own cocktail party, infinitely better than theirs.

After our river trip tomorrow, we plan to hoist everything aboard and head for Huahine, about 25 miles away, and at a good direction for the prevailing wind.

I have no idea when this will be posted.