Leg 9's Final Entry
31 August 2016 | Home in Anchorage
Bill, glad to be home
Life is just beginning to resume its normal pace. After returning to Anchorage on 29 July, I was at home for a mere two weeks and departed on 13 August for Port Townsend, WA, to help a friend sail his handmade steel sailboat from there to San Francisco. Weather was typical for this time of year and we didn't traverse the Golden Gate until 27 August, and I departed SF for Anchorage after a few days with Conni's dad in Oakland. Thanks for the lodging and company, LaVerne and Toni.
I've been none-to-gently chided for not completing a log of the events that were mentioned in the last blog, so I'll do that.
As you might remember from the blogs that I wrote at the time, it had been 10 very long days of effort to get to Raiatea singlehanded, get the boat into her cradle, and prepared for her long sleep. The entire effort is memorialized in previous blog entries.
On 28 July, I departed Raiatea for Papeete, Tahiti with no difficulties. On my arrival in Papeete from Raiatea, I easily found the baggage storage area and dumped my Bill Bag (my enormous red dry bag), my Blue Box, and uke, hopped a taxi, and made for the office of Marina de Papeete. We had ordered a spare diesel lift pump but it hadn't arrived in time to install it while we were still in Papeete and before Conni departed for home. The lift pump was waiting for me in the marina office, and I with much relief, my last task in French Polynesia was complete.
My flight from Papeete to LA didn't depart until the next morning, and I was in downtown Papeete. Let me think.... Sit at the airport or enjoy an evening in downtown Papeete? Easy decision!
Although I was in downtown Papeete, I didn't want to spend a fortune on a meal, so the roulottes (the food wagons) seemed the better choice, although I had a few hours to await their opening. I strolled over to Le Retro, our favorite bar near the marina, and enjoyed a last few Mai Tai while watching the crowds scurry past. I did enjoy a last fine grilled mahimahi dinner, then jumped another taxi back to Fa'a International Airport.
My return flight back to the US didn't depart until the next morning, and I couldn't check in or check my bags. I was concerned that the baggage storage wouldn't open early enough (and I was right on that), so I rented a cart and fetched the gear. Man, was I immobile! I spent the long, long night sitting on hard wooden benches or trying to stretch out on the concrete while guarding my gear.
There's not much to say about sleeping (or trying to sleep) on concrete until morning. It's to be endured. With some luck, I managed to make it through the night and was rewarded by early-opening Air Tahiti ticket counters. As usual, I had trouble with paying for my extra gear, but after 45 minutes of waiting and stumbling through the conversations with the agents, I finally entered through their passenger inspection area and awaited my flight.
With few problems, I got to LA, then onto the non-stop flight to Anchorage where my sweetie fetched me. Good to be home!
Later in that same early morning that she fetched me from the airport, Conni had a long drive to Seward for a Seward Yacht Club all-women's race, the Rumdoodle Race series. Conni was at the helm of the sailboat Williwaw, owned by Linda Kumin, an honor to be sure. Linda's the premier racer in the club, and one of the best in Alaska, and Williwaw, a Gulf 41, is a flat-out race boat. Now that Linda has a competent "boat driver" in Conni, Linda can move to the tactician position, for which she is eminently suited. Williwaw and crew tied for first place in the series, winning the Rumdoodle cup for the third consecutive year. Williwaw has more entries on the Rumdoodle Cup than any other boat.
We return to Wings and Raiatea in Spring, 2017 and plan to continue our exploration of the island nation that we've come to love.