July 25 - Well whatever repairs are going to be completed in Tahiti are done and it’s time for Kryss and me to be off sailing. We top off water and fuel and motorsail the 18 n.m. or so from Tahiti to Cooks Baie Moorea. Winds are generally very light and somewhat on our nose, but half way there they pick up a little and move to the beam. Seas are calm in the lee of the Island and entrance into the Bay is not difficult. Tried a number of times to anchor in narrow channel to the East of entrance channel just inside of the reef but finding suitable depth far enough away from other anchored vessels eluded us. At one point anchor caught on something that held us fast and I couldn’t dislodge it. There are no underwater cables shown on the chart in that area. Just as I was preparing to dive on the anchor to see what was going on we realized that we were no longer held fast. We pulled up the anchor and proceeded into the Baie itself, and after a number of unsuccessful attempts to anchor due to depth of water (nowhere suitable less than 55 ft.) and proximity of other boats we finally find a spot 2/3 of the way into the Baie on the West side. I’m still not totally comfortable that the anchor is well set, but I think so and we settle down to wait and watch. Anchor seems to be holding and there is only one boat close enough to be of concern. Baie is mud so water in Baie is not attractive, but anchorage is otherwise gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. Steep green cliffs on both sides of the Baie, which is only about 1,500 ft. across where we are, with open view of the ocean when not blocked by the large cruise ships sometimes moored in the mouth of the Baie, and green mountain a little in the distance at the land end of the Baie.
July 26 - Day is generally sunny and winds are generally calm, although they do pick up in the afternoon. We catch our breath and launch the dinghy. Marcus from the Herreshoff moored close so us dinghies over to way hello. He and his wife Michelle sailed from San Diego and have a long stay Visa. They come over for “sundowners” at the end of the day and we find them very good company.
July 27 - Day is windy and rainy. Not weather to do much in except stay dry, read, etc. So bouncy that I move dinghy from alongside to behind the boat. Not such a big deal as we are not under any time pressure at present.
July 28 - At 4:30 in the morning wind starts to howl and rain torrents. I get up and stay up through two squalls to make sure anchor is holding, which it seems to be. Winds gusted to over 30 knts. at one point. There’s always something. Sargassum is stuck in the generator raw water intake at the through hull at a “choke point” created by a plastic fitting that Mike Hobbs apparently used as a “reducer” to fit the hose from the intake to the stainer. If I’d known it was there I never would have allowed it to remain. But I didn’t. I tried to remove it to clean it but it didn’t want to move and I was afraid of breaking it with no other way to connect hose to the thru hull. I’ve cleared most of the blockage and the generator will run, but at a slightly higher than normal or desirable temperature. Think I have to give it another go later in the day to further clear the remaining blockage. On line forums suggest using dinghy inflation pump to blow blockage back out through the thru hull (might try that) or using a manual bilge pump to try to such remaining blockage out (might try that two). Neither will be easy to do. Yuck!!! Plan to go to a highly recommended small restaurant just across from where we are anchored tomorrow night so take the dinghy to reconnoiter. Proprietor said they have a dinghy dock but we don’t see one, however there is a tiny kind of derelict marina just a little further along the shore and we tie up there to walk to the restaurant to take a look at it and to see if there are any other stores nearby. There’s very little and it’s Sunday, so everything is closed, but now we know where we can tie up for dinner. Kind of frustrating that we don’t have the kind of weather that would encourage us to dinghy to the reef and try to do some snorkeling. Oh well, we’ll stay “holed up” here until Friday when the weather is predicted to be favorable for our overnight passage to Raiatea. We’re also scheduled to go diving on Thursday with the local dive shop if nothing changes. Sure enough, generator overheated immediately when started for evening cooking and charging. Removed hose from thru hull to strainer. Plenty of water flowing through thru-hull so the blockage is in the hose. Turns out that stainer inlet part of hose totally blocked with Sargassum. After it is cleared generator works fine. Getting to the point where it takes me less and less time to complete this clearing operation. Yuck.
July 29 - Another overcast morning with steady Northerly winds of 13-15 knts. blowing right into the mouth of the Baie and making it too choppy for fun use of the dinghy. Rained on and off heavily all day. Pretty ugly.
July 30 - Tried to go to lunch at Le Cooks, a restaurant at the mouth of the Baie, but the Baie is too choppy for safe dinghy mooring at restaurant dock. Unfortunate.
July 31 - Did a little shopping and otherwise “hung out” due to continuing very heavy winds and swell. Thursday dive was supposed to start at 7:30 a.m. Guess I really am getting old - it’s too cold for me, that’s too early for me, and sea conditions are hardly ideal. I cancel my reservation.
August 1 - Topped of dinghy fuel tank; did a little more shopping; put dinghy on foredeck and otherwise got ready to sail to Raiatea. Had dinner with Marcus and Michelle at little hamburger joint at the foot of the bay. Good, inexpensive (hard to find inexpensive so far) and plentiful, so a fun night.
August 2 - Finished getting boat ready to sail to Raiatea. Decided to stop at Huahine instead, before sailing to Raiatea. Wind is supposed to be from the ESE, which is perfect for transiting to Raiatea or Huahine, but it turns North which is untenable, so we figure we’ll wait until tomorrow. At 3:30 it turns South and we scramble to get ready and leave. Rushing is a mistake and I have trouble getting the main up. Kryss doesn’t like me climbing on the cabin top in a rolling seaway to deal with the problem, so we return to the anchorage. In the middle of dropping the anchor the windlass fails. You can’t make this stuff up. I finally get the anchor down manually (you really probably couldn’t stomach the details of what I had to do), and Marcus comes over to lend a hand. He’s a retired commercial diver, young, fit and handy and his offer of help is invaluable. When I look at the windlass motor the shaft has dropped out of the control head, which is why the windlass stopped working. We are hopeful that if nothing broken, just loosened set screws, we can fix it tomorrow.
August 3 - It turns out that nothing is broken on the windlass. The set screws holding the shaft and motor to the control head simply loosened and the shaft and motor separated from the control head. With the extraordinary help of Marcus the shaft is reinserted in the control head, tightened and the windlass is working again. We start to talk again about leaving for Huahine and it appears that Marcus and Michelle on s/v Faith are ready to leave with us tomorrow, as is another boat that Marcus and Michelle “befriended”.