August 15 - Wake up early to transit to Taha’a (sister Island to Raiatea to go to Baie Haamene to sit out very strong winds predicted for the next four or five days. No wind at all and seas are calm. Have to spend half hour untangling my two lines attached to the mooring ball as they are twisted around due to lack of wind for last two days. Lucky no wind now. Had to bring mooring float onto deck to do it. Couldn’t have done it if any wind of consequence. Transit to Taha’s (including transit back to pass at Fare) takes 6 hrs. Autopilot quits after an hour. When I finally look at pump in lazarette after anchoring at the head of Baie Haamene there’s hydraulic fluid everywhere. Have video call with mechanic who says another ruptured hose and he’ll be back to fix it. Meanwhile (1) it’s a mess; (2) had to hand steer most of way to Taha’a; (3) no explanation for the failure of work done the day before. Baie Haamene is also mud bottom, so water is not attractive, but surrounding hill make it otherwise picturesque. Once in Baie Haamene we try to dinghy to the long dock at the end of the Baie and find that there’s an old rusted chain and lock on the gangway so we return to the boat without going to shore.
August 16 - It’s blowing hard all day as predicted-so much so that I have to put the dinghy with the engine on it (too rough to get it off) in the davits just to get it out of the water. That goes more smoothly than I expected to my great relief. It was really getting beaten up in the water tied alongside the boat and I didn’t think it would be that much better behind the boat. Rest of the day is very blustery, but not much rain so we just hang out. There’s an abandoned mooring line floating next to us in the anchorage which occasionally passes under the transom. I didn’t notice it yesterday until after we anchored and it would have meant anchoring in significantly deeper water to totally avoid it, so I shorten the scope of our snubber to move it to where it passes almost entirely aft of us. I watch it like a hawk, but it seems like it will not be a problem. Only later do we find that there’s a caution about it on the NoForeignLand app.
August 17 - It calms down at night and winds are light to moderate when we wake up. At Noon we dinghy to the town dock and climb over the locked rusted chain across it as we have now seen so many others do. We have planned to lunch at Taha’a Maitai restaurant on the wharf (it gets very good reviews) and the internet says it’s open - but it’s not. Closed up tight. Only other place to eat in town is a snack bar. We order barbequed chicken with frites. I think it’s quite good but something in the spicing or something else puts Kryss off. While we’re there Ohad and Sharon Kalujny from neighboring catamaran Tanit stop at our table and invite us for happy hour at 6:00 on their boat. They say they have also invited the couple on the large Hanse which is also adjacent to us in the harbor. Town is quite run down, only a half block long, and not interesting, but there is a supermarket where we shop for what we need and dinghy back to the boat. I would put the dinghy back in the davits but we’ll need it for our trip to Tanit. The weather cooperates and it’s not too rough. We dinghy to Tanit at 6:00 and meet Wayne and Barbie Williams from Hope, the large Hanse. Happy hour is a lot of fun, the food and drink is very nice and both other couples are lovely people. Ohad and Sharon are from Haifa Israel and they know of Roni Moscona my Israeli friend/client. Both couples have been world cruising for many years and their experiences cruising far eclipse mine. We dinghy back to the boat and put the dinghy in the davits. We’ve got it pretty much down to a science by now. I only worry about rain collecting in the dinghy because with the engine on I think I’m pushing the weight limits of the davits. I pull the drain plug but leave the dinghy level in the davits for maximum stability. What I expected is what happens. The wind howls and the rain pours during the night, which is why I wanted the dinghy in the davits.Sharonkalujny@gmail.com; 972528468098; Wayne and Barbie William: wandbwilliams@gmail.com
August 18 - There’s a brief calm early morning and then wind resumes blowing up to 27 knots right down on us from the mouth of the Baie. Although this Baie is known as a hurricane hole and it is very long and somewhat winding, it was not a good choice by me for the weather we’re getting.. I lower the aft end of the dinghy to drain the rain water and the dinghy seems pretty stable in the position so I leave it that way and monitor it. All day it’s “blowing like stink” and on and off with brief but heavy rain showers, just as predicted. I check the snubber and its twisted around the chain so I have to reset in tough conditions but manage to accomplish it and let out more chain.
August 19 - Generally same conditions as before and as predicted, except somewhat moderated. Little rain and winds are down a little. Tanit leaves and Hope moves because their anchor is dragging. I arrange with autopilot mechanic to meet us on Sunday to make further repairs. Weather is predicted to get a little better for a day or two towards the end of the day and then turn very blustery again. What the heck? Tristan would respond that it’s “just the trades” but I don’t think this is normal. This is not 15-20 knts. This is 22-32 knts.
August 20 - Conditions continue to moderate a bit and wind has swung more to the East giving us a little bit more of a lee. Kryss identifies a laundry service in Raiatea, which is the big event of the day. It’s on the West side of the island near Chantier Naval Marina, which is where we plan to go on Thursday/Friday to be in position to pick up autopilot mechanic on Sunday, so that’s good news.
August 21 - Quite blustery at night and not that much moderation in the morning, but skies are clear. Just “hangin’ out” when discover that our snubber has worn through and have to attach a new snubber. Never a dull moment.
August 22 - Weather’s supposed to moderate but it doesn’t. Nonetheless Kryss has made a reservation at Taha’a Maitai, which is supposed to have an interesting menu, but she has to cancel it when I get tied up with some legal work. We put the dinghy in the water later to go to the supermarket but the winds are howling and the dinghy dock is listing badly, as though the underwater attachments (it’s a floating dock) on one side have given way. The dock is unsafe and we return to the boat without going to town to get ready to leave for Raiatea tomorrow.
August 23 - It’s still very blustery and rainy and I need a halyard to help the windlass get the anchor over the bow roller but I manage and we’re on our way to Raiatea. Trip all the way up Haamene Baie is right into the teeth of the weather, but boat handles it fine. We get to our intended anchorage site near Chantier Naval marina, and as expected, it’s wall to wall boats which have totally taken up all of the reasonable depth anchoring locations. We spend almost two hours trying to find a suitable spot, run aground at one point, put the anchor down at one point and retrieve it when Kryss is sure that we’re too close to running aground again, and finally put it down in 50-60 ft. of water. When it’s set I feel that we’re too close to the boat behind us but when I try to retrieve the anchor the windlass won’t break it loose from the bottom. With the blustery winds, when you power onto it, rather than breaking it free, the force pulls more chain off of the windlass wheel. I try for a long time to break it free and finally give up and put down more chain and attach our snubber, even though I don’t think I have enough scope down and we’re too close to the boat behind us. Seems like the anchor is definitely holding, so we will revist the situation tomorrow morning when the winds are hopefully down, assuming no catastrophe before then.
August 24 - Anchor is holding and although we are too close to the boat behind us for my comfort level, there’s not much to be done about it at this point. We go to shore in dinghy, leave our laundry with the woman who will do it for us, and take a taxi to Tutoroa to shop. Tutoroa is a nice town with lots of shops and a large wharf. Happy to get laundry and shopping done. Laundress arrived here by boat a number of years ago and is a trained anesthesiology nurse. Go figure.
August 25 - Manutea, mechanic, flies in to fix hydraulic leak in autopilot and try to find why AIS doesn’t seem to be sending regularly. He ostensibly accomplishes the first goal but doesn’t make much headway with the second. It was supposed to start blowing big time last night, but the heavy winds don’t begin until midday and I just manage to get him back to land before the weather really closes in on us.
August 26 - Big conference call with HPD; winds still quite strong; some local guys come along in a small boat and tell us we’re in a channel and have to move. The cruising guide and NoForeignLand app warned of this and we just ignore them. Meet Gerald from Jetlag next to us who dinghy’s over and I enlist him to help us try to get off our anchor tomorrow if we have trouble getting it to release the bottom. Winds start to diminish in the afternoon.
August 27 - To my great and pleasant surprise we have no difficulty in raising the anchor in the morning and make an easy motor passage to the Pearl Farm moorings at Apu Baie on Taha’a’s West shore. Picking up the mooring is easy; we are in a wonderful lee (finally out of the winds) and the anchorage is very, very picturesque. Go to the Pearl Farm for a tour and buy Kryss some lovely pearl earrings, then hang out for the rest of the day. Plan to do the same tomorrow and then transit to Bora Bora on Thursday.
August 28 - Just hung out in beautiful calm anchorage. Have decided to stay an extra day.
August 29 - Take a little dinghy ride and get ready to transit to Bora Bora next morning.