Adventure to the Leeward Islands

 

Kevin and I at Teahupoo beach on Tahiti Iti, one of the most famous surf spots in the world.

 

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks for us. We sailed to the leeward islands. OK, maybe sailing isn’t the best description, it was more like motoring across a millpond on a quiet evening. That is until a huge Marlin decided to give us a run for our money! The boat and the ocean went from quiet to ecstatic in nanoseconds,  the sea monster was thrashing the water just 30feet behind us, waving his massive sword in preparation for attack, and then he was gone. For unknown reason the hook failed to set, the sea monster escaped to fight another day and our evening went back to calm and quiet.

We arrived at the entrance to the island of Huanine in the predawn hours the following morning, we trolled some gear around while waiting for daylight to enter the lagoon of Huanhine which was entirely unknown to us. We spent several hours winding our way between coral heads trying to find anchorage before turning into a rather large bay which we hoped would offer a resting place. Alas, there was no water shallow enough for the good ship Pahto to drop her anchor so we had to make a decision to either quickly run for Raiatea, or spend another night at sea.

That afternoon after escaping the clutches of the island without anchorage, we arrived in an old stomping ground. Faaroa Bay in the eastern coast of Raiatea Island. Here we recovered from our journey, views of the surrounding mountains and the jungle to keep us company, and offer welcome shade in the afternoon hours. The following morning we arose and hauled our anchor and set off north to explore Raiatea and Tahaa Island. Tahaa being The northen neighbour to Raiatea and sharing the same reef. We stopped in Uturoa the capitol of Raiatea and the center of commerce for the leeward islands. We restocked our supplies and carried on to Haamene Bay on Tahaa where we discovered a diamond in the rough, the “Hotel Hibiscus.” Here was a place that not only saves injured sea turtles, but serves the best seafood lunch on planet earth. Even Katie was impressed with how good the Mahi Mahi tasted and cleared her plate.

We did  a little more exploring around Tahaa only to find most businesses closed for Holidays that seem to go on for weeks, and with the weather turning, anchoring near enough the reef to snorkel was out of the question. Tahaa is known for both its pearl farms and vanilla plantations, which we were all looking forward to visiting, but we either couldn’t find them or they were also closed.  We turned our bow south, back to Uturoa to restock once more before heading for Faaroa Bay to prepare for winds that were forecasted to 50-60 knots. We set our storm tackle, consisting of two anchors separated by 30 feet of chain and an additional 300 feet of chain attaching the anchor to the boat totaling 500 pounds of gear (That Kevin had to hand pull onto deck at the end of the storm, well okay Dave helped too!), during the rather blustery afternoon. Satisfied we had done all we could we committed ourselves to cards and a few drinks. The wind did come the following morning bright and early, but lasted for only 4-5 hours. While the wind speeds were expected we were relieved that it did not continue to blow for days like we thought it might. However, the rain came down, and down, and down, and down some more. It rained so hard for so long that the entire lagoon became a sea of chocloate milk. This is where the story gets good, the wind came down enough that we comfortably put the boat on a mooring, in front of a hotel, where we stayed for a couple of days while the rain came down. Yes, we know that it’s cheating, but it’s a small boat, and the hotel had air conditioning, and a bar and amazing food we didn‘t have to make (or dishes we didn‘t have to clean) and a shower! Can you blame us? The rain did eventually stop falling and the sky did show itself once more and there was joy in the land.

We set off for the return trip to Tahiti, after spending three days happy as clams in a hotel, early in the morning after a good nights rest ashore, the wind was very light with some left over seas from the previous storm. We hoisted the main and turned on the motor and headed for the north point of Huahine. About Halfway across the 25 miles from Raiatea to Huahine Dave asked Kevin if They could tow some fishing gear. The seas had come down and the motion of the boat was such the fighting a fish would not be too dangerous. About 5 minutes after the gear was set there was a burst of excitement as a Marlin began his attack. Soon we had another Marlin against Man battle of the ages playing out on the back deck of Pahto. Unfortunately our Mahi Mahi gear did not stand up well to the punishment the Marlin was giving it and he broke free from our grasp and swam off taking the lure with him.

The rest of the passage was mostly uneventful with the exception of two very unwelcome wind squalls. It was actually some sort of strange weather phenomena that none of us on board had seen before. We dealt with them, and otherwise thoroughly enjoyed our sail. Dave was an awesome addition to the crew for the time he was here, making the on watches shorter and the off watches longer. Somehow the anchor got easier to pull, and a few things managed to get fixed in between hooking sea monsters and drinking Hinano (the local beer).

We have spent the last three days anchored back in Punauia, 10 kilometers south of Papeete, and are waiting for a weather window to move east to the Tuamotus. Unless of course we decide to change our plans and do something different.

Fair Winds to all from the good Ship Pahto