We've had quite an exciting several days! We've been busy, of course, but we've had no success in finding Wifi locations, either.

On schedule, we were put into the water on the afternoon of Tuesday 18 June. Dodging the frequent rain and wind storms, we managed to get the main sail installed, by the hardest. Since the device that lifts the boat (a TraveLift) requires that we remove the forestay from the boat's bow, we had to re-connect that. We inflated the dinghy in case of need, and got that re-stowed. We filled the starboard water tank with fresh water. We spent Tuesday evening at the slip there at the Carenage and took the bracing cold water showers: why don't they bother to heat shower water? We had checked out of the Pension Tiare Nui and so had no vehicle, air conditioned room, nor easily accessible Wifi. Drat!

Wednesday morning, we moved to Apooiti, the nearest nice bay with moorings. Between squalls, we managed to get the jib re-installed, and the reefing lines on the main. That job requires that we have the main hoisted, so you simply must have enough time without wind. We spent the evening there, preparing for the trip to Tahiti. Conni consulted the weather via her iPhone app, and after much discussion we decided to proceed with the crossing. There were many small but needed stowage chores, such as stowing and securing our many extra fuel tanks on side decks. We did enjoy a torrential downpour that night. I was so anxious about possible equipment failures that I didn't sleep well.

On Thursday morning, we awoke early in preparation for our departure. Weather conditions were guiding us to leaving Thursday and sailing overnight to Tahiti since truly nasty weather awaited us on Saturday and Sunday. In addition, and more importantly, the usual SE winds had been modified by a storm system passing south of us and we had northeast and then northwest winds to accompany us. Northern winds means that the winds would be behind us (since our course was southeast toward Tahiti) and we wouldn't be beating to Tahiti as we've done many times. It wasn't an opportunity that we could reasonably decline.

Just as we approached the pass to depart Raiatea, I made a bilge check and found it full. I asked Conni if she had checked it earlier and she had, so she quickly said, "fuel leak?"

Yes, it was a fuel leak. The bilge was full of diesel! Dangerous and stinky, to say nothing of the mess that it makes, we had a problem. I quickly tracked the leak to a copper return line in a typically inconvenient location. Of course. The return line to the tank was leaking badly. Diesel engines pump more fuel from the tanks to the fuel injectors than is needed, and the unused fuel is returned to the tank. That returned fuel removes heat from the injectors, cooling them. It's not at high pressure (injectors squirt fuel into cylinders at over 1000psi), but enough to quickly leak substantial fuel which found its way to the bilge. By the time that I found it, there were several gallons collected there.

Conni got us turned around toward Uturoa, the "big city" of Raiatea. We got tied to a stone quay and I set to work. I had generated a few optional fixes, but then realized that I didn't have the length of neoprene hose needed for most of the fixes. Obviously, I had to use hose to bypass the leaking copper. I could have used copper, and I had the tubing and tools for a double flare fitting, but neoprene was a better choice. The leaking section of copper, 35-year-old copper mind you, led from the return line from the engine, under floor boards, and then to a difficult-to-access area inboard of the aft bunk, and then used neoprene in the final few feet to the return fuel manifold which has a hose barb. That hose barb was one point that I'd use for the repair. The other end of the copper tubing, unfortunately, was in a very difficult location and required a clean cut in the copper tubing. Once I had cut the copper and removed the old neoprene hose from the manifold, I'd simply use my new neoprene hose to go from the manifold to the cut copper, bypassing the leaking section.

Fortunately, I always carry a low-clearance tubing cutter, and that helped enormously in getting the tubing cut in a difficult place. With that done, I connected the new neoprene tubing to the manifold on one end, threaded the new neoprene hose through to the cut copper, and slid the hose over the cut tubing, and tightened both ends with hose clamps. After watching for a few minutes, we saw no fuel leaks and decided to try our luck on passage. Off we went, two hours later than planned.

Seas were not nice, but not impossible and we departed with double-reefed main and jib. We endured winds that shifted 180° in minutes, torrential downpours, but no equipment failures. We arrived off Moorea at 0500 hours the next morning with fair winds and blue skies. To us, Moorea is as beautiful as Bora Bora, and if possible, it's even more beautiful in early morning light after a long overnight passage. Conni had taken a long trick at the wheel and allowed me to sleep, so she was exhausted and I kept the boat speed low and let her catch a few hours needed sleep. After she awakened, we were just entering into Moorea's wind shadow so we started the engine and motored to Papeete, capital city of French Polynesia, on the island of Tahiti.

After we moved past the wind shadow, we sailed across the small strait between Moorea and Tahiti, and arrived at 1130. We had accomplished a 23 hour crossing from Raiatea to Tahiti, a remarkably fast crossing for us, and all with double-reefed sails. The boat was never overpowered because of that and although there were some issues, none were crazy or dangerous. Hurray for conservative sailing.

Although we had emailed our paperwork and requests for a slip, the Marina de Papeete harbormaster could only provide a place on a new section of dock that had no power or water and no connection to shore: we had to launch the dinghy to get ashore. Again, cold showers but then we had a delightful evening at "Le Retro", our favorite bar in downtown Papeete. We each had a Maitai and enjoyed the goings-on of this major South Pacific capital. The "third gender" was out in force that Friday night. It's a shame that our culture puts these people in a box, but here, there're accepted and valued.

There was a big sailboat rally scheduled today, from Papeete to Moorea, although we just couldn't participate. Of course, those vessels were the reason that there was no room at the inn when we arrived on Friday. Saturday morning, we had been told that we could use any of the slips vacated by rally participants, so we now have a nice slip, one row in from the town side to reduce the traffic noise, and with both power and water. Unfortunately, our power cords had been badly damaged by the crew at the Carenage, so I spent an hour or so repairing that damage, but we eventually got the power going. Ahh...charging our batteries and our electronics is magical! It's been so rainy and overcast that our solar panels have had little to contribute.

So, we've got power and a slip. Saturday night, we planned to have a roulotte meal (roulottes being the family-run food wagons) and we're both excited to be close to town and not have to row in with the dinghy. Simple pleasures for simple people, I guess.

Unfortunately, we found no Wifi spot, but we'll try to get this posted today (Sunday) sometime. We still can't cook since our propane regulator has failed: we've related that saga. We don't know what Alaska Rubber has decided to offer us and that's another reason for us to locate Wifi today. Adrian, our Hungarian/French Polynesian mechanic has not heard that we're in town yet, so we need to inform him. Much to do.