Paradise on the Hard

It has been a few days since our last update. We got busy in Papeete with all the things to see and do and the provisioning that we did not have time or interest. We have now moved on to fabled Moorea just 14 miles from Tahiti. Papeete was fun for the most part but horrendously expensive. Of course, we had to eat out some to get off the boat, and several times we were going to eat in, we were asked to join others for "goat ropes" on shore (see previous posts in Mexico for definition of a goat rope). We also provisioned up at the wonderful Carrefour supermarket - as nice as any in the US, and in some ways better, just more expensive in general. The deli section with cheese and meats was to die for and the beef was some of the best we have had anywhere, anytime. The meat is from New Zealand and there is an excellent selection of beef, veal, lamb and some pork, although ground beef is not common. The pastry section will also set your waistline out a few inches.

We went ahead and brought in our Monitor wind pilot to get the bad welds repaired through the cruiser agent (Laurent) and we also had him get some refrigerant gas for our leaky refrigerator/freezer. He has a discount program with a nice ship's chandlery in town so we got some things there too. In all we had to pay him just under $1000US, of which $400 was for check in/out services, bond exemption and duty-free fuel discounts. Ouch!!!! But, he did a good job for the most part. The repair of the wind pilot was another thing though, as the repair was sloppy with more grinding marks than needed and the welder refused to polish the welds or scratches saying it would be too expensive despite us specifically requesting it. Unpolished stainless steel is for all practical purposes no longer stainless so I will have to try and polish it myself without the proper equipment or material. I am a little hot about this item, but oh well - it's paradise - right!

Our trip to Moorea was somewhat boring to start and the wind was out of the opposite direction from expectations and then it died, right in the middle of huge, nasty cross swells from the south and east. Things were flying all over the boat, including us. We started the motor and a few minutes later just as we thought we were going to get in the lee of Moorea and lose the southerly swell, the wind picked up from the east and slammed us with building seas. It was blowing 30kts and nasty so we just motored the few miles into Cook's Bay on the north side of Moorea. We had been warned about Cook's Bay because of strong winds, deep bottom and poor anchor holding. It is gorgeous though but lived up to its reputation. This is where we found paradise on the hard - as in hard coral.

We put the anchor down in one spot with over 200' of chain out but this put us too close to the shallows near shore so we pulled it up while washing off the nasty mud with our seawater hose. We tried another spot and found ourselves drifting down on a buoy, so up anchor again. The problem is that it is deep in the entire middle which means you have to put out gobs of chain which means you need lots of room to swing around. So, like a dummy, I decided to get closer to shore and find out how deep it was even though we could both see the bottom coming up. Well, it came up from 60' to 4' in about a boat length and guess what - crunch! Not one of my better, more lucid moments. And, we could not back off as the wind just pushed us more on to the coral.

Panic time!! Luckily, we were going dead slow which is what you should do close to the shallows. I got out the tide charts and of course it was going from high to low - not much - but no help and it would get worse so we had to get off fast. I made a panic call on the VHF and forgot to mention that where exactly we were (a mistake I would not have made if I had more practice going aground) and now the whole world was sharing our embarrassment. We got several calls from Papeete (17 miles away) with offers to help so I clarified that situation as to Cook's Bay, but no answer from any vessels in the Bay. More panic is setting in, but we tried to stay calm. Then two dinghies are seen coming over - Ken from Panache and John and Donna from Kohilo, both friends from Mexico. A few minutes later a couple from Velalla came over with a bigger dinghy and motor. Before that a Moorean swam out from shore with a mask and looked everything over and gave us suggestions in sign language with us not understanding French nor Tahitian. Nice guy. He started pushing on our hull which was a nice gesture but not likely to move a 24 ton vessel.

We got a halyard line to Kohilo with extensions and Panache pulled on our bow line and the Moorean pushed while standing in the water, then Velalla pushed from the other side. Nothing happened despite all efforts then all of a sudden I could tell the bow moved slightly in the right direction. Then, we were off, with a huge sigh of relief. I still have not dove on the keel to inspect the damage, but I suspect it is more to my pride than to the very solid full keel and encapsulated lead. The rudder never jammed and seems OK so we are likely to be OK until New Zealand where we will haul the boat anyway to redo the bottom paint, but now with some minor scratch removal. So that is what Paradise on the Hard is like. We got off easy this time and will endeavor to make sure there is not another time.

We made a long walk in to the small little village near by, really just a shopping area as there aren't villages per se here. The black pearl stores are great as are the other crafts available. There have been two cruise ships here in 3 days so they are the primary customers. We also had some Mexican food which was very good actually. Last night though we went in to see a dance and music competition sponsored by the Catholic church here. There was dance after dance after dance by young and old women - all traditional dances - some with grass skirts. It was like small time amateur night but some of the gals were more than just good. When a good dancer gets her hips shaking you are sure something is going to break. Body shape doesn't matter as some of the skinny ones and some of the, well, giant ones were just as expressive. And it was a lot of fun. Many of the women in the audience had on full fragrant flower leis around their necks and/or on their heads. You have to see them to really understand how beautiful the flowers are and how proudly they were them. And they all have on wildly colored pareos and dresses. Of course, just like anywhere, many were just in shirts and tees too. We stayed until we were too tired and walked back to the dinghy to go home.

By the way, any of you potential world cruisers out there, make sure you bring shoes or sandals that you can put miles on as walking is a way of life here without cars. Taxis and buses are around some of the time but usually not and walks to get provisions or to see things can be long.

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