Commodore
May 29, 2023

Monday 29 May – finally off to Tahiti

The wind has died down, so we headed to Tahiti around 8am, knowing there were dark skies ahead but the wind was going to be fine. The two islands are only 8 miles apart, but in the darkness of the squall we could not see Tahiti. It was a pretty bouncy passage and all a bit unknown what we were going to find. The Papeete city marina is first come first served, but this is the one with rats. The other marina called Taina is about 12 miles away in the middle of nowhere, and only bookable 48 hours in advance. Rowan had requested a berth there but has not heard back from them. Rowan contacted Glen and Oana on Cloudy Bay who are at Papeete marina, they said it was great and there was plenty of space. We made the decision to go and have a look at it. It is a big entrance through the reef into Papeete, which has a big port and huge ferries coming in and out. Everyone has to get permission to enter from the harbour master, as the airport approach is right over the harbour entrance and tall masts get in the way! We heard some boats being told to pick up speed, no dawdling here! We were delighted to see Glen directing us into an empty space alongside the dock rather than having to go stern in. Rowan nailed getting into our tight spot and we were soon secured and delighted with our spot, and the marina. The marina is brand new, the whole area has been very nicely landscaped with great facilities. The rat saga had made me think it was a run down rat infested dump. Nevertheless I’m taking no chances, I’ve put the mosquito blinds in so they can’t get easy access and I’ve got all rat friendly food in containers in cupboards, so fingers crossed! It was a drizzly arrival, which was welcome rather than the intense heat, it was a relief to be safely in with no drama – we haven’t been into a marina since Panama. In true English style we recovered for a couple of hours with a good cup of tea!

Tahiti is one of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, Papeete is the capital of Tahiti and the whole of French Polynesia. Something like 2/3 of all French Polynesians live here. The city is bustling but does not look that big as the mountains are so steep there doesn’t look like a lot of urban sprawl. We went for a good walk in the afternoon to stretch our legs, everywhere was pretty closed and quiet, it made sense when we discovered it was a public holiday here too.

In the evening we went and had drinks at the marina bar with Glen and his wife. We were also joined by another couple that Rowan had been in touch with. Rowan was talking to an old work connection who said he had a friend on the Pacific Arc rally. Amazingly we heard their boat name being called on the vhf yesterday and they are here in the marina. Rowan hunted them down and they also joined us for drinks. They are from Winchester and have left behind 5 grandchildren, they look a lot younger than us!. Turned out that they bought their boat in 2016, the same time as Glen and they were all looking at the same boats around Europe. We went out for supper afterwards with Glen and Oana at the marina restaurant, which was rather tasty, after our lack of variety for the past few months. It is fun to be back in the hustle and bustle of a city, we are basically in the middle of downtown Papeete. We have a great spot as we are not right on the road like a lot of the berths, we have a bit of garden and buildings between us, so quieter than anticipated. We flaked out after making sure that we were rat proof for the night!!