We're in the bay tonight, on our anchor amidst 41 other sailboats: it's a crowd! We're NOT in Marina Taina for the first night in 6 weeks and it's glorious.

We hurried around this morning each of us with a long list of tasks that had to be completed before we could depart Marina Taina. Mine were boat-related: engine checks, installing the new instrument panel, and such. Conni had supplies to fetch, but also took it upon herself to buy wine for the generous and very-kind-to-us harbormaster, Philippe Oditte and the owner of the local marine store, Michel Baltzar. Michel allowed us to store our new Beta engine on his property and didn't charge us a penny. He's given good advice on purchases and has been as helpful as possible when that meant a lot to us. Philippe found a great side-tie location for us to complete this engine replacement, and he's been unfailingly kind and hospitable to us.

One of our tasks done together was to clean the bottom of the dinghy that had been in the water for 6 weeks. We motored to a nearby boat launch, unloaded the dinghy, and found that we had forgotten the key for the engine lock. Damn! Off goes Conni and returns with the key and we find that the lock is frozen. Damn! We motor back to the boat and I'm bound to cut off the damned lock, but with some patience and Corrosion Block, we could finally wrench it open. Back to the boat launch and we make quick work of our bottom cleaning. That was the way it went.

After our tasks were complete, we started the engine but thought that it made some funny sounds: Hey, we didn't know what it sounded like. More like new parents anxious about a baby, we called Adrian and luckily he was working nearby and was willing to assuage our concerns with a quick stop. Next, with the engine going, we found that a mega yacht had slipped her dock line over ours and we couldn't release our line. After a few hails, the crew comes topside and we get our dock line free. It was unseamanlike to have placed their dock line over ours, but they realized it and quickly freed our line.

FINALLY!

The motor ran perfectly but it soon became obvious to us both that we will need to increase the prop pitch with such a powerful engine making low speeds: no faster than our old engine.

We were able to sail most of the way to Moorea, all the way to Opunohu Bay. Opunohu Bay is enormous, deep and incredibly beautiful. Opunohu and Cook's Bay (named after the good captain himself) cut into the island on the same north side and make Moorea look something like a giant three-toed foot.

I've posted too many photos of the bay on our site: the scenery is stunning and everywhere I looked it seemed that the scene needed to be shared. Forgive my enthusiasm. The next day, we arose to the same beauty in the colored light of early morning: more photos. Then, off to Huahine