by Judy Handley | Jun 25, 2006 | French Polynesia - Society Islands, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 251, Year 1: Sunday in Papeete
Date: Sunday, June 25, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Day!
Location: Anchored Closer to the Reef, Still Near Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti
I was gently reminded by a friend back in New Hampshire that my description of last night’s Ballet of Tahiti performance might put our website in the PG-13 category. I’ll just blame that on the influence of my brother-in-law Lee. I was just quoting!
Our day today started very early. We were up by 6:00 and in downtown Papeete by 7:30 to see the Sunday morning buying frenzy at the central market. Everyone flocks downtown between 5 AM and 8 AM to buy fresh food for their Sunday afternoon dinners. The traffic going into town was unbelievable for 7 AM on a Sunday morning, but it is tradition here to shop, get the food cooking, go to church, and then feast with family. We had fun watching the crowd and taking pictures. Mary Ellen, Mark’s sister, was totally taken in by the flower vendors. They sell arrangements of the most exotic tropical flowers that you can imagine for $10 to $20. The same arrangements in the US would cost somewhere between $75 to $100 dollars. I was most fascinated by the fish market. They have blue parrot fish alongside some sort of red fish, and then yellow fish, black fish, and on and on and on. The display is beautiful
We had a little extra time before the 9:30 mass at the Notre Dame Catholic Church in the heart of Papeete, so we went down to the waterfront for coffee to go with the French pastries we had bought at the market. While there, we were watching the beginning of the Holland-Portugal soccer game on a large screen in the center of the waterfront restaurant. We then proceeded to the Notre Dame Church, but there was no mass. We were told to return at 10:00. We walked to the government center, the Territorial Assembly, and took some pictures and then returned. Still no mass. We finally gave up and decided to walk to the Papeete Evangelical Church. This church is known for the hats the women wear and for their beautiful Polynesian music. The visit did not disappoint us. We stayed for part of the service, enjoyed the singing, and then headed out the street to catch LeTruck back to the marina.
We had a great morning in Papeete and then went out to the reef area for a snorkel. I saw a Crown of Thorns eating away at the coral. We saw lots of other reef-fish but the coral here is damaged and not very colorful. Still the water was very clear and it was a wonderful afternoon in the water.
Lee cooked dinner on the newly installed grill that he and Mary Ellen brought to us. It is great to have a grill again. Tomorrow we do our final shopping here and then head to Moorea. The adventure is underway once again.
by Judy Handley | Jun 24, 2006 | French Polynesia - Society Islands, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 250, Year 1: Day in Papeete, Evening at the Grand Ballet de Tahiti
Date: Saturday, June 24, 2006
Weather: Showers and Sunshine
Location: Anchored Closer to the Reef, Still Near Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti
Every day just gets better and better. Today we got up early headed into Papeete on Le Truck. Mark and I wanted to go to one of the local chandleries, NautiSport, to try and find a few boat needs. Unfortunately they had nothing that we needed, but we took advantage of being in the locale to visit a few hardware stores. We enjoyed going to Ace Hardware and exploring. Mark’s brother-in-law, Lee, is a retired Ace Hardware manager, and he had a great time checking out the Ace Hardware here in paradise.
We then headed back into downtown Papeete to visit the Tourist Center and other downtown facilities. Mary Ellen and I enjoyed our visit to the local market and to the Pearl Market. I actually ended up buying a few pearls at the Pearl Market, but Mary Ellen bought her pearls outside the local market area.
We toured more of downtown Papeete and then returned to Windbird. We decided to dinghy over to the Intercontinental Hotel to see the evening show of the Grand Ballet de Tahiti. It was a wonderful show of local culture. You could say that it was “hip shakin’ babes and guys with sexy buns” or you could just say that it was a wonderful presentation of dance art. Whatever, we truly enjoyed the performance.
When we returned to Windbird it was only about 10:00 but we were all beat. It had been a full day. Everyone else has turned in and I intend to head to bed as soon as I post this log.
by Judy Handley | Jun 23, 2006 | French Polynesia - Society Islands, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 249, Year 1: Roadtrip Around Tahiti
Date: Friday, June 23, 2006
Weather: Cloudy Mixed With Periods of Sunshine
Location: Anchored Closer to the Reef, Still Near Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti
Today we drove our little rental car, a Fiat Panda, around the entire perimeter of the island of Tahiti and down the west coast of Tahiti Iti. This is the smaller island connected to mainland Tahiti by an isthmus. It was a great day, but since everyone but me is already asleep, you know it was an exhausting day. Tomorrow we head into Papeete to explore the city and we plan to take in a full-blown Tahitian dance show tomorrow night.
It is simply too late at night for me to recap all of today’s island circumnavigation in complete detail. We visited the tomb of the last King of Tahiti, Pomare V, viewed Papeete across to Moorea from One Tree Hill (there was only one tree here when Captain Cook arrived in the 1700’s), looked across the lagoon to Motu Martin from Point Venus, ran from the spray of the Arahoho Blowhole, saw numerous island churches, walked to beautiful Vaimahuta Waterfalls, drove down the west coast of Tahiti Ita and saw surfers riding the waves and an outrigger canoe haven, visited the Gauguin Museum in Papeari, walked through the public gardens at Vaipahi, visited the incredible Maraa Fern Grotto and the marae of Arahurau, made a quick stop at the Museum of Tahiti and Her Islands. We ended up at La Meridian-the hotel where Lee and Mary Ellen will stay after flying back to here from Bora Bora. We saw so much and really enjoyed the day.
Tomorrow we will head into Papeete and see more of the sights there. It is great to be out here with family. Truly a special experience.
by Judy Handley | Jun 22, 2006 | French Polynesia - Society Islands, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 248, Year 1: Welcome to Tahiti, Lee and Mary Ellen (Mark’s Sister)
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006
Weather: Cloudy with Threats of Rain
Air Temperature: 80 degrees
Water Temperature: 80 degrees
Latitude:
Longitude:
Location: Anchored Closer to the Reef, Still Near Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti
We officially welcomed Mark’s sister Mary Ellen, and her husband Lee to French Polynesia at about 7:00 PM Tahiti time. We had flower leas for both Mary Ellen and Lee to welcome them to Tahiti. The official welcome is, ” Ia ora na e maeva” which translates as “Welcome to Tahiti and her islands.” Lee and Mary Ellen looked great and were not as travel worn as we expected. They spent last night in Los Angeles and have slowly gotten used to the six hour time difference. We rented a car at the airport to take us all back to the marina and to travel about the island tomorrow. The weather is supposed to stay cloudy until Sunday, but we can deal with that for a few days. It is still beautiful here, cloudy or not.
We went to the fuel dock first thing in the morning to fill up with fuel and water. We then moved our location closer to the reef. Our hope is that we will be able to do some snorkeling in the shallow water near the boat. We also like the front door view of the rollers breaking over the reef with Moorea in the background. Once we reanchored, Mark took the sheets and mattress cover from our bed into the marina laundromat. Washing sheets is possible onboard, but the amount of water needed for a mattress cover is just too much. He took in his computer to take advantage of the wireless internet there. I sent some of the picture files from the Marquesas with him to see if he could send them. What a difference! He said it took him only seconds to send all 3 files, each about 4 MGs. We have not had that kind of connection since Boston. It has been taking a full 30 to 45 minutes to send just one picture file in the Marquesas and in the Galapagos. This is fantastic. We’ll send the rest of the photos this afternoon and I might even be able to send a few videos for our son Justin to post on the web. I sent some by snail mail from Panama, but have not been able to send any since then.
We spent the rest of the day going to the grocery store and tidying up the boat in preparation for having guests aboard. It was a good day and a great evening catching up on all the news from home with Mary Ellen and Lee. It is wonderful to be sharing some of this trip with family. Tomorrow we will tour the island in the rental car. Saturday we will tour Papeete and take in a Tahitian dance show. Sunday we will go to the early morning market and to church to hear some of the wonderful Polynesian singing. And on Monday or Tuesday we will leave Tahiti and sail back to Moorea. We will be staying there a couple of days and then sail to either Huihine or Raiatea-Tahaa on our way to Bora Bora. Lee and Mary Ellen have two weeks with us and we want to spend at least a week of that time in Bora Bora. We had hoped to be able to stay here in enjoy some of the Heiva celebration, but it doesn’t officially start until July 1 this year. Heiva is a famous cultural event featuring games, singing and dance competitions, and lots of traditional music. People from all of the French Polynesian islands gather here and join in the competition. If we stayed here for that, we wouldn’t have the time in Bora Bora, but maybe Lee and Mary Ellen can see at least one evening of competition when they return here to fly back home. Besides, we imagine the cost of seeing just one show will be pretty pricey-like everything else here!
by Judy Handley | Jun 21, 2006 | French Polynesia - Society Islands, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 247, Year 1: A Weather Flip-Flop
Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Weather: Cloudy, Rainy, and Cool (79 degrees)
Location: Anchored Near Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti
Our plans to move the boat closer to the reef and to get fuel and water today had to be put on hold. A cold front from the southern ocean has flipped the weather here from sunny and beautiful to cloudy and rainy. It feels cool, but the temperature is still 79 degrees at 9:45 in the evening. I guess it is really not cool, but it does feel that way.
We will have to try again to move the boat tomorrow. We turned our attention today to getting the boat ready for company and I took advantage of the cooler weather to bake bread and make granola. I also worked on organizing pictures for the website and hope to get to a fast connection tomorrow to send those.
This weather is supposed to stay with us for a few days, but I’m hoping there will be a bit of sunshine for Mary Ellen and Lee’s first weekend in French Polynesia.
by Judy Handley | Jun 20, 2006 | French Polynesia - Society Islands, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 246, Year 1: Papeete, Tahiti
Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Weather: Tahiti Supreme
Location: Anchored Near Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti
Talk about clueless. First we had no idea Father’s Day was on Sunday. Then late this afternoon I told Mark that I thought he should call his sister before she leaves in the AM headed for Tahiti. We thought she was arriving Friday evening, but we learned in the phone call that she is arriving Thursday evening. She has sent two e-mails just this week listing her complete flight schedule, but we have been so busy that we hadn’t carefully read these. We actually reserved a car today for Friday evening, but that will be easy to change. Mary Ellen had sent an e-mail early on listing Friday as the arrival date and that is what got recorded on our calendar. Sure glad we called!
We got up early today. I did the laundry (on Windbird, not in the expensive laundromat) while Mark went into the marina to meet Laurent, our PYS (Polynesian Yacht Services) agent, to get us officially checked into French Polynesia. All of the other check-ins in the Marquesas were just a formality. What really counts is the check-in here. We have felt that there are many more cruisers out here then we expected, and Laurent confirmed that this morning. He said the official count of boats checking into Tahiti is twice the number that came through last year. He says there are more cruisers this year than he can ever remember.
I think I mentioned before the reason we hired the agent, but just in case, I’ll go over that again. In order to be in French Polynesia, you either have to have a plane ticket out of the country or pay the $1100 per person bond. We, along with many others, found it impossible to get the money in the Marquesas, so we went with the agent. We will pay Laurent about $340 dollars, but he takes care of all checking in and out formalities, takes our propane tank to get it filled, gives us a 20 per cent discount at a local chandlery, plus we get duty free fuel anywhere in French Polynesia which saves us about half the cost of diesel here. We pay about $2.50 instead of $5.00 per gallon. If we had been able to pay the bond, we would have gotten it back, but we would have lost money on the exchange. It is a toss up as to which is really cheaper. Laurent seems very nice and is very helpful, so we are fine that we have gone this path.
We hopped on Le Truck this morning and headed into centre Papeete. We thought we had to transfer, but we didn’t. The traffic here is horrendous, so the three mile trek takes about 20 minutes. Papeete is a modern city with a mixture of architecture. There is nothing tremendously appealing about it, but it is okay for a city and people are very friendly. Most speak enough English to get us through. We walked the waterfront, found the Tourist Bureau and got brochures, walked to the far end of town where the chandleries are found, and then wandered back through town stopping at the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was built in 1875 and is very nice, but after seeing the beautiful churches in the outback in the Marquesas, it was diminished in grandeur. We knew better than try to eat lunch in any restaurant in Papeete. The cheapest thing on any menu is $18.00, but there are sub shops where you can buy a piece of pizza for $3.50 or a sub for $3.00. We bought one sub and one bottle of water and split them between us. There are McDonald’s everywhere here, but we opted to skip that one!
We walked back to the waterfront and headed in the direction of the marina. The main street runs along the waterfront, but there is room for a park between the road and the bay. We think this was Bougainville Park. We continued walking past an area where there is tremendous mount of construction. We finally realized that this construction is all in preparation of Heiva Nui, the celebration of independence here. The preparations are massive. When we passed this area we come to the Cultural Center. It was here that we found out about the schedule for Heiva Nui. It really doesn’t start until July1 and we will be gone from here by then. We are hoping that Mary Ellen and Lee will get to attend some of the competitions when they fly back here from Bora Bora. We might get to attend some preliminary shows, but that is still to be determined. No schedules are being issued until Monday, July 26, so we will find out then.
Tomorrow we will pull up anchor and head into the marina to fill up with fuel and water. Our watermaker has not been working since our passage from the Galapagos to the Marquesas, so we have been filling up one jerry jug at a time when we have been in ports with drinkable water. Our new watermaker will arrive with Mark’s sister Mary Ellen, but we are very proud that we were able to make it until today without running out of water. We had water last night, but this morning when I turned on the faucet to brush my teeth, I heard the sound of an empty tank. Lucky it didn’t happen until now, although we have enough drinking water aboard in gallon jugs to get us through. It is just not as convenient as turning on the tap. When we move to get water and fuel, we will also try to find a better location closer to the reef and in range of wireless internet. That would be fantastic. Being able to swim right off the boat and to browse the internet from the boat is all it takes to make us happy!
