Tahiti

Arrived at Tahiti yesterday afternoon we motor sailed in company with Sophie who suggested anchoring off Venus Point at the Northern end of Tahiti. However when we approached the anchorage Harold from Sophie radioed up to say no boats were using the anchorage which he thought suspicious and wanted to move along to the next bay so we agreed to follow. We duly arrived in a sheltered lagoon outsie Tahiti Yacht Club and a very king man from the Yacht Club advised we could anchor and showed us where would be suitable. The anchorage was deep around 19 metres so we had to lay around 80 metres of chain (good job we have 100 metres of chain!)! Harold radioed again to say Cristel his wife was not happy to stay as they only have 60 metres of chain so they were not staying and going to move to the next bay. We wished them luck and agreed to meet up in Taina Marina which is where we have a berth reserved from today. Sophie is in the same Marina from Saturday.

So having a lazy start this morning and will head off to the Marina around 9am to be in by lunchtime.

We caught two large Wahoo fish during the sail from Rangiroa so had one half last night which was delicious. Earlier that day we had caught two Tuna one being quite small we radioed Harold on Sophie to see if they would like it for dinner. So a few minutes later had the two boats sailing precariously close together while Dave tossed the tuna inside a plastic bag onto Sophie for Cristel to retrieve. Later we had an email from them to say how much they enjoyed the tuna and it was a first for them!! We assume they have never caught and eaten fresh fish on board.

So we well Peter really has a long list of jobs to do on the boat from engine servicing to fixing broken pumps including our shower drain which is most important!, at the moment I have to sponge out the shower tray manually each night. There are good chandleries here so Peter will be able to stock up on spares again. We also have the parcel sent from England by Fischer Panda for our generator so that is also a major job. Whilst all this boat maintenance stuff is going on I will be able to get loads of laundry done including all sheets and towels which are awkward to do on board. In addition Trompeta needs a good clean as after 4 months at sea things are getting grubby!!

I am getting excited about going to the big Fench Careefour supermake to stock up on produce and dried goods. Tahiti is expensive and I know everything will be at least 2 to 4 times the price in England but it will be good to have a choice of supplies again. The intention is to stock up enough so we can last until Australia where we make landfall end July 2012.

Tahiti is very green so I guess it rains a lot as we had several showers overnight so had to keep getting up to close hatches and put the fan on. No AC on board - maybe I should add tha to Peter's already long 'to do' list!!