From the lagoon and that wonderful pass at Fakarava Atoll, in the Tuomotu Archipelago, we sailed about 180 miles to Tahiti. It was a good passage and as we arrived at the pass through the reef to Papeete, the wind decided to escalate to 30 knots. It was a nerve-wracking sail through the pass and through the narrow passage with reefs on both sides. Some of the marks into the anchorage were missing so it got quite confusing in the heavy wind, a hefty current, around the
airport runway and into the lagoon where we finally were able to get a slip at the dock as we had a long list of things that needed to be done. After a week at the dock at $42 U.S. a night and a few of the projects completed, we headed for the anchorage before we had gone completely broke! Things were slow to happen and we ended up in Papeete for 3 weeks. Papeete is not one of our favorite cities in the world. There is lots of traffic and smog from vehicles and the prices are outrageous. We did, however, manage to spend one day with our friend, Joe Scirica. We had sailed with Joe on his boat, MUSIC, to the Galapagos and then on to Panama the year before. He had single handed his boat from Costa Rica to Tahiti and was shipping his boat back to Mexico and flying back to the U.S. We so enjoyed visiting with him and will miss him as we cruise.
From Papeete, we sailed to Moorea. It is only about a 20-mile trip but we ended up in a squall with high winds. At one point, our wind meter decided to quit when we were blasted with 30-knot winds. During the squall, the rain was so heavy we were not able to see mountainous Moorea even though we were less than 1 mile away. We sailed towards Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay using radar and GPS and finally, as we approached the bay, the squall cleared and we could see the pass through the coral reef and the protected bay beyond. It was great to get inside the reef with calm seas and get the anchor down in 10 feet of clear water and relax.
One morning we took a long dinghy ride down to the place where the stingrays hang out and got in the water with them. They come right up and eat out of your hand and rub up against you and there are a LOT of them. Small black tipped reef sharks swam around looking for scraps of food also. Later, we heard of an Aussie swimmer who died from a stingray on the Great Barrier Reef. A sobering thought.
Another day we hiked up to the Belvedere lookout with people from two other boats where we could see down into both Cooks and Opunohu Bays and the surrounding reef. A great hike through the forest to a marae and then up to the viewpoint. Our reward was a wonderful sorbet treat on the way back down.
One evening we went with cruisers from two other boats to the Bali Hai Hotel to watch the dancers perform and sing. It was then time to think about heading to the island of Raiatea where we had scheduled a date to haul the boat as our repaired max prop was being sent back from the states after being balanced and bearings replaced. This seemed to be the problem of the clanking since leaving Ecuador. Seems they had slipped up and not done all the repairs. They will never understand the grief it caused us! But, they did pay for all the shipping charges and repairs they should have done in the beginning…
Anyway, it was an overnight trip to Raiatea and we arrived through the pass into a beautiful anchorage where we stayed waiting out high winds. We took a trip up a river through jungle to beautiful botanical gardens and had a tour and explanation of plants of the area. It was an enjoyable float back down the river and a fun afternoon visiting with cruisers on two other boats. One day we hitchhiked (the accepted way to travel around these islands) to Marae Tapataputea, the most important religious and historical site in French Polynesia.The fun was over for a while as we headed to Raiatea Carenage Marina and the haulout. We were out of the water
four days. John took off the fixed blade propeller and installed the Max Prop. He did a bunch of other maintenance and repairs and Linda cleaned and waxed the hull. Once again, we had a guy come out to work on our refrigeration. It had worked 1-½ weeks since Papeete where we had a guy work on it for 3 weeks. Once back in the water, we headed for the town of Uturoa. The propeller now vibrates at 2600 rpm instead of 2400 rpm (no vibration at all with the fixed blade prop, but that one slows us down too much when we are sailing. I guess we will live with the vibration). We tied to the dock and spent 3 days there. The hike up the hill to the microwave tower was worth the climb as the view was spectacular. We could see the island of Tahaa across the channel and the reef that surrounds both islands and could see Bora Bora 20 miles away. During this time, we had high winds again that blew us on to the dock so we had every fender we have out trying to protect our newly cleaned and polished hull. We also ran numerous lines to different cleats on the dock. It was a rough stay and we were glad to get away early one morning when the winds were down a bit. People from 3 other boats helped us to get away. We had done the same for boats leaving before us.The sail over to Tahaa was very enjoyable and we relaxed on a mooring in a beautiful, quiet bay and a night of uninterrupted sleep. The next day we were ready to sail the 30 miles to Bora Bora. Again, we had an enjoyable sail and arrived to the pass into the lagoon of Bora Bora just as a freighter was coming out and another coming in. We all three passed at the pinch of the reef. John steered HAWKEYE as close to the side as was safe in order to get out of the way of the two big guys.
We managed to find a mooring right in front of the famous restaurant, Bloody Marys and had a wonderful dinner to celebrate Linda’s birthday, which was back in July. It was worth the wait! We shared our table with another cruising couple on the boat SONGSTER. They are from England and he also worked in the airplane business so there was a lot in common to talk about.
Jackie told us about her having terrible pain in her leg towards the end of their crossing from the Galapagos to Marquesas. Upon arrival in the Marquesas, she was airlifted to Papeete and had surgery to remove a non-malignant tumor. Brian had to sail the boat from the Marquesas to Papeete single-handed and of course was extremely worried about her the whole time. It was quite an experience but they have overcome it and are heading further west.
We had two great snorkels while in Bora Bora with lots of pretty fish and one enormous Moray Eel. The water was crystal clear and warm. The boat looked like it is sitting in air, the water is so clear!
As soon as we had a good weather window, we headed further west. We were going to stop at Palmerston Island in the Cooks but the weather was not good in that direction and so we headed directly to Suvarov (or Suwarrow), which is also one of the northern Cook Islands. This motu is spectacular!! It is a national park about 475 miles from any other land and there is only the caretaker and his family living on this island. John and Veronica and their 4 boys are a joy to meet and visit with. They love having the cruisers visit and want to keep Suvarov unspoiled. Last year they had 114 boats visit and this year 92 have been here. It is just about the end of the season and they will be returning to Rarotonga in October for the hurricane season and will
return next April if the government will allow them to. There is a wonderful book written in the 60’s named “An Island to Oneself” by Tom Neale, a New Zealander, who lived on the island alone and wrote of his experiences here. It was a very special read for us.In the week and ½ we have been here, we have had 3 potlucks and gone on several excursions. We walked the reef from Anchorage
Island, which is the main island where John & Veronica live, to Whale Island. It was a wonderful walk mostly in ankle deep water looking at all the beautiful coral and fish-keeping an eye out for sharks and eels that tend to come up and bite on the ankle if given a chance. Another day John took a group of us over to Gull Island to visit the Frigate, Terns, Boobie and Tropic Bird nesting places. We got to see eggs, young, and adult birds of all species. The Tropic Bird is noted for its’ long tail and there were also red footed boobies which we hadn’t seen before. We did a great snorkel on the reef by the birds.Yesterday, we went with two other boats in our dinghys to Lewin reef inside the lagoon and did a wall snorkel. The most exciting thing seen on this snorkel was the eagle rays. It was so neat to check them out as they fluttered through the water like large butterflies. At one point, a small one went straight up and out of the water and landed with a large splash just a few feet from us. The spotted eagle ray has five barbs at the base of their tail and one does not want to monkey with them!
Today we did another drift snorkel with some other boaters near the pass and went along with the current holding on to the dinghy. At one point, we got behind the reef and had just gotten back into the water to look at some Napoleon fish and a huge shark with big teeth came cruising by. He was 10 to 12 feet in length and quite large around and had spots on him. Not anything like any of the other sharks we were used to seeing on or snorkels here. He was about 20 feet away and we quickly jumped into the dinghy and headed back to the anchorage. Upon checking in our shark book, we concluded it was a Tiger Shark which are quite vicious and have been known to eat just about anything including humans. Well, that was today’s excitement!
We are now waiting for a weather window to head to Pago Pago, American Samoa where we hope to have parts shipped in. HAWKEYE has not seen U.S. waters since 1994 and her crew is looking forward to getting some American products. Our progress has been slow and we are definitely at the end of the pack but we hope to have less crowded anchorages and better weather than those that have gone through so quickly. We are fortunate in that we have no schedule and are sticking to it! John and Linda s/v HAWKEYE
P.S. Oct 6. We have arrived in Pago Pago, American Samoa. We had a good crossing of 475 miles from Suvarov, averaging six knots, and are enjoying being in a US protectorate. We are busy on the Internet ordering parts to be shipped here, as there is no duty. This is a beautiful island and the people are really nice and go out of their way to help us Palangis as we are called. We will probably be here for at least 2 weeks waiting for the different parts to be shipped and then off to Tonga and New Zealand.
