Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The End of An Adventure

It rained hard this morning in Hamenee Bay. The sky was vey gray and it didn't look like one of those brief showers. I got up early to catch up on yesterday's writing and the rest of the crew gradually trickled out of their rooms.

Because of the weather, we decided not to do the Taha'a coral gardens by Tautau. It would have been drenching getting there and snorkeling without the sun probably wouldn't have been ideal.

Ben and I took the dinghy out for a joy ride doing fast turns and maneuvers. We visited the Americans on their 40' catamaran on the buoy next to ours. Their boat was definitely newer and more luxurious with a real shower and high ceilings. All sail sheets and traveler could be accessed right at the wheel, but it also had the winches at the mast. They were staying at Hamenee another day, probably because of the weather, and then their charter was finished as well.

Our boat was due in at 1pm, so we didn't get rolling until 10am. I was at the helm in Shannon's purple rain jacket getting soaked. We thought about visiting Champon pearl farm but given the rain and that we'd have to take the dinghy out and Chantelle's ankle, it just wasn't worth it. We continued due south and arrived at TYC sooner than expected.

The crew cleaned up the boat while I was driving and we were instructed to moor outside the base until 1pm when the technician and diver could come out to check the boat. We made a quick lunch of course crackers, cheese, corned beef and Sidekicks.

On the whole, the yacht cruise was great. I had a fantastic time. Unfortunately, the last few days were probably only "good" rather than excellent like the first part of the trip. James and Richard aside, I think after Chantelle twisted her ankle, the next day everyone was hung over for the return to Raiatea, and there, the water wasn't as sapphire blue and the weather took a turn for more rain. Wet towels accumulated on deck and hanging clothes wouldn't dry. So by today, people were ready to be off the boat.

Check out was fairly unremarkable. Hine was there again to greet us. I gave them pretty much "very good" across all categories of the evaluation. Sure the speedometer didn't work at the cockpit, we couldn't figure out the oven, the main sheet was just long enough, and overall an older boat, but it was well maintained and we had no problems sailing, motoring or anchoring. The only criticism was that they didn't have the refrigerator working on our arrival which delayed our departure. But their welcome was excellent. Hine drove us to and from Champion for provisioning on the first day, and on the last day drove us to the airport along with a stop at the pharmacy for Chantelle because her crutch was missing a peg.


We said our goodbyes. We shared Jennie and Mike's flight to Bora Bora, flying over the island gave us a great view from the port side seats. The island was beautiful from the air even though it was overcast and threatening rain.

Mike and Jennie disembarked for their over the water bungalow at the Intercontinental while we continued on to the Intercontinental in Papeete.

Our transfer met us exactly as scheduled at the airport and wisked us to our hotel.

The hotel was beautiful. So far, we've been spoiled at high end hotels on this trip! We were welcomed with juice and the porter, clad in Polynesian shorts and tattoos only, happily drove us and our luggage to our upgraded panoramic view room.

We discovered that the Tiare Restaurant was featuring their Marqueses buffet - traditional French Polynesian cuisine - and a dance show later in the evening. You know me and buffets. I couldn't resist. We took a nice non-water-rationed shower, and headed to the restaurant.

It was 7:30 and actually I was getting quite tired. Being used to getting up at sunrise while sailing, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it for the show at 8:30.

The buffet menu included delicious pumpkin soup in a coconut bowl, goat in coconut milk, and several varieties of raw fish including the famous poisson cru. For sashimi lovers, this was it.

We had a table with an unobstructed view the entire traditional Polynesian dance show that we watched with dessert to end the evening.

The catamaran was a huge success. Just flipping through our pictures and videos, we had a lot of fun and a great experience. Shannon says it's very similar to having an RV, except that you're on the water. Being in French Polynesia, I think being on water is definitely where you want to be. Price wise, I don't think we could have done any better either. Excluding flights, the total cost for the catamaran portion of the trip which included lodging on the boat, all meals including three where we ate out at some nice places, alcohol, all traveling and excursions that we did on our own, cost an average of $175 per person per day. That's six people sharing the charter. While going to eight people would have cut costs down a little, we found that would have made the boat quite crowded, finding a place to sit for meals would have been tough. Six was very comfortable, and it'd be impossible to imagine ten, which is the full capacity of the yacht.

It was a fantastic sailing experience, my first serious charter. My confidence is up since we didn't run aground nor encounter weather beyond my skill. Everything we did from navigating to water planning, provisioning, docking, anchoring and sail trimming was just like at home. All that training in Vancouver paid off, and I can add this trip to my sailing resume!

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