Category: 2009 Nov Blog

Dear F&F,

We watched the 170 or so outrigger canoes begin the race right past
where we were anchored at Huahine. There were about 100 other boats
following, escort power boats, families, & other tourist/observers
like us. The shore was lined with 100’s of people cheering them on. It
is a colorful & festive spectacle. It was 4 hours to Raiatea. The lead
outriggers kept up a pace of almost 8 knots. About as fast as “Beach
House” motors. The sea was kind of lumpy, which makes their work
harder. We had to pay close attention to not hit another spectator
boat and stay out of the path of the paddlers.

The shore at the finish of today’s leg had lots of banners & 100’s
more cheering fans too. The Shell Oil team (7 year winner) came in
first. We proudly wore our logo gear given to us by our dock neighbor
Stanley.

We called Jerry Woods cell phone. He is an American boater who we
first met in Ensenada on his Catana 53 catamaran, who bought a house
on Raiatea. He stood on his dock waving. It was not sheltered enough
to anchor right by his house, so we settled near a motu (islet) then
took the dinghy in to visit. The house is nice & airy, wonderful view
of the pass & lagoon. He drove us into town where there was much
post-race revelry. He bought some fruit & wine & we enjoyed visiting
with him back at the house. We ended up moving the boat to an even
more calm area overnight, near the airport. We were able to pick up a
mooring which makes it easy.

November 5th
We didn\’t know the start time of today\’s race so we slipped our lines
by 7:45 a.m. Turns out the start wasn\’t until 9. There were A LOT more
boats following the race today between Raiatea & Tahaa, at least 400!
It felt like we were in the Indy 500 or something. It was remarkable.
I was glad to feel more exhilarated than afraid. I don\’t love driving
in close quarters, but everyone was pretty well behaved & we didn\’t
see any collisions which is a miracle. Except for the front 2-3
canoes, the others had really lumpy water to paddle through due to the
wakes of all the spectator and coaching boats. We were impressed that
the paddlers kept up a pace of nearly 8 knots for 2 hours. Only
slowing a bit when they hit 15 knot head winds. We kept our distance
from the finish in order not to get trapped in the pack. A different
team, The Tahiti Post Office (OPT) won today, so it keeps it
interesting.

We called our friend Wilfred, assistant manager of the Pearl Beach
Hotel in Tikihau. There is a Pearl Beach property on Tahaa, we
inquired about anchoring there. He called the manager for us & told us
it would be fine. We ended up staying only briefly because the swell
was very lumpy. We moved a ways down to a deep bay where we have a
nice breeze but flat water. Scott changed the transmission oil while I
hung the laundry. We are settled here with only 2 other boats. We saw
many of the smaller power boats zooming back to Raiatea after the
race. The logistics of housing & feeding the 170 x 6 men teams of
racers on each island is really a feat. There were women’s crews as
well, but not nearly as many.

The last race day is tomorrow, Tahaa to Bora Bora. It is such a
striking island, made famous as “Bali Hai” in the movie South Pacific.
That will be about a 4 hour run. We intend to go ashore tomorrow to
partake of the end of race festivities. And we\’ll probably spend
several days at each island as we work our way back to Tahiti. It has
been a great excuse to get out & explore.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

We dinghied outside the reef to dive. Drifting along with a 150 foot tether;
it is always good to get underwater & see the usual suspects.

The second day, the swell was bigger which hurt the visibility. It was
nice to blow bubbles & cool off, but we both agreed it wasn\’t worth
going for a 2nd dive. Several surfers were our enjoying the waves.

In the afternoon we went ashore & discovered a major fish tournament
going on. The fish boats were bringing their catch in to be measured &
weighed. Over 100 fish boats participated. The large marlins, mahi
mahi, wahoo & oho are beautiful, even when dead. We never get to see
these deep ocean fish when diving. We knew our dock neighbor was here
aboard the Shell Va’a mother ship “Embrum”. The owner of the boat
owns the local Shell Oil franchises and sponsors 2 outrigger teams. We
went to say hi to Stanley & wife Ivana. He is the captain of “Embrum”.
They gave us hats & T-shirts so we can show our support for their
team.

We reserved a rental car to explore the island. It is about $130 for 8
hours, including insurance. The entire island is only 8 x 4 miles. We
stopped many times for photos, vanilla farm tour, had lunch & still
circumnavigated Huahine in 5 hours. It is everything you would want
from a tropical island: lush, green foliage, plenty of colorful
flowers along the road. A scattering of simple homes. The lady at the
vanilla farm made sure we bought some vanilla beans before taking us
on the \”free\” tour. I\’d bought vanilla beans in the past that to my
recollection were dried up twiggy things that you had to boil. These
were black, but still soft & moist. Easy to scrape out the gooey paste
of seeds. We have tried them in coffee so far. A bag of 6 seed pods
was $13 so we will continue to buy regular liquid vanilla for daily
use. The plants are grown on stakes, similar looking to green bean
vines. Small plots are covered with fine mesh on all sides to prevent
birds from eating the plants. A French couple also on the tour
thankfully translated for us. It is a tedious process to hand
pollinate each flower bloom. It was interesting to see how it was
done.

Our lunch stop was along a gorgeous stretch of lagoon. Turquoise blue
water with crashing white waves on the outer reef. We shared a salad
with chicken at “Chez Tara”.

Since we were back early from renting the car, we shopped at the well
stocked market & also bought 10 gallons of unleaded for the dinghy.
Tomorrow the race begins and we’re off to Raiatea, Tahaa and will end
in Bora Bora.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

I was a bit hesitant to depart at night in the rain, but Scott didn\’t think
it would be that bad so we ventured out. The sea was bumpy, a bonine on top
of my usual scopalamine patch helped. We each did two, 3 hour shifts. I made
dinner & did the dishes before starting my 6-9 pm watch. I alternated
sitting & standing outside enjoying the twilight for almost an hour after
sunset. The sky looked like a beautiful landscape painting, with very
dramatic clouds. There was wind & sea spray in my face at the helm so I kept
our \”windshield\” down to stay dry. It only rained a couple of times. The
moon was quite full & provided a lot of welcome light even when covered by a
cloud. I listened to my \”Mellow Mary\” playlist – Mary Chapin Carpinter.
Always good company for traveling.

I was so happy to go lie down, napping a bit until my next shift. During my
second watch, I did 15 minute cat nap watches. I\’d lie down in the salon
then pop up when my watch beeped to make sure we were on course with no
traffic. We saw just a couple of distant ships. Scott encountered one large
sailing cruise ship nearby on his watch, but it was well lit so no worries.
He got us into the passage during his final shift. I slept deeply from 3-6
a.m. & am very happy to be here. There are about 10 boats in 2 anchorage
areas. It is calm, clear skies & gorgeous turquoise water.

We will be napping & recovering today. Probably go to shore later to find
out more about the canoe race. We think it starts on November 2 so we\’ll
have a couple of days to explore here. Then we’ll be following the race to
the other three islands.

We pronounce it Huahine: “who-uh-hee-nay”. But I think the correct Tahitian
way is something like: wah-hee-nay. We soon found out ashore that in
Tahitian it means Island of the Women\’s Vagina. (As viewed from above).
However, since the island has been named this for so long, we weren\’t quite
sure how the ancient Tahitians discerned this from a topographical view?
Mostly it is referred to a \”The island of the Women\”. We hope you all have
a fun Halloween, we look forward to hearing from you.

Cindy & Scott