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by KC2RIY, on September 25th, 2010 ( A Cappella, Anthem, Bamboozle, Callisto, Desue, Freezing Rain, Imagine, Inspiration Lady, Jackster, Kamaya, Mojo, Paleides, Passages, Scream, Sea Mist, Tonga, Trim, Tyee, Visions of Johanna) The Jackster’s showed up and anchored next to us around midday. We soon had them over to share our experiences of the last few months as well as abandoning our plans to hoist the main sail in favour of a few beers.
Around 6pm we headed ashore to Ano Beach for the ferry service to the Full Moon Party. Sadly, the ferry service was the weak link of the whole evening requiring some folks to wait over two hours for their turn to board and make the passage round to the party. Fortunately we made it over on the second one out so we didn’t have to wait too long.
The party was a lot of fun. A lot of the people we have previously mentioned on our blog were there. Most people on their way to New Zealand this year are either now in Tonga or soon to be arriving. I’m probably missing a few but those that we can put our heads together and remember are : A Cappella, Anthem, Bamboozle, Callisto, Delos, Freezing Rain, Imagine, Inspiration Lady, Jackster, Kamaya, Mojo, Paleides, Passages, Scream, Sea Mist, Trim, Tyee & Visions of Johanna. There were many others and we made some new acquaintances along the way.
A lot of effort had been put into things including three 10 minute shows of which Ben played a part (dressed as a skeleton) in the first and third. Not everything went smoothly but it was all appreciated.
We didn’t get back until after midnight. We didn’t see Ben until the following morning around 11am which I saw him on the ferry. I dinghied over and he jumped in the water to avoid the trip to the beach. He hadn’t slept at all having had the beer and food go free around 3am and partying into the morning followed by helping to clear up.
We have some pictures, courtesy of Ann from Callisto, which will be posted when we can get a connection.
Tomorrow the fun continues so we’ll be off early round to Neiafu.
by steve, on September 21st, 2010 ( Callisto, Delos, Tonga) Monday was the wet day which somewhat curtailed our activities. In the morning we dropped off an empty propane tank for a fill and picked up our repaired main sail (which we’ve yet to reattach). We did a little shopping as that evening we had a curry dinner planned with Callisto and Delos.
Throughout the day I spent more time copying DVDs to my hard drive for future viewing. Around 6pm Brian, Erin and Brady from Delos along with the Callistos came over for curry and drinks. Everyone had made a couple of dishes and it went very well. Somehow we polished of a great quantity of beers and gin.
 Starting overcast, Tuesday ended up the dry and sunny day. We decided to rent scooters to explore the island. Ben and I had a lot of fun but Helen, having never ridden a scooter before, really didn’t enjoy it that much. At one point she fell over moving off from a standstill and scratched herself a little.  We dropped her off back in town and Ben and I spent another couple of hours exploring at top speed for the scooters. We saw some isolated beaches and wonderful views at the end of dirt tracks.
We finished the evening watching the movie ‘Fastest Indian’ which we really enjoyed. Ben went ashore with Brady and Jenny for just a couple of beers but we were asleep before he returned. They’d ended up on Mojomvo playing Clue/Cluedo until midnight.
Today sees the start of the regatta when we expect to find out more about what’s planned about the week ahead. We may well shift the boat out of this anchorage on Friday to get a break for the scene but only for a couple of days.
We’re still waiting for our charger to arrive. It’s been a bit frustrating as for a number of reasons it was delayed in sending. Apparently it’s now in transit but it’s been impossible to get hold of the tracking number which is even more frustrating as I’d like to hand that over to our agent before we head out of here.
by steve, on September 19th, 2010 ( A Cappella, Callisto, Mariposa, Tonga) We spent most of the day on the boat not doing a lot. I’ve been working my way through building up my movie library which takes time. More folks we knew showed up in the harbor ready for the regatta/rendezvous next week including Inspiration Lady who we first met in the Caribbean.
We went ashore for our evening meal at The Balcony for their Aussie BBQ. We shared our table with Ed and Cornelia from A Cappella and Kerry and Andrew from Mariposa. Later we were joined by Anne, Mike and Jenny from Callisto. Although we didn’t intend to we stayed quite late and polished off a few beers.
by steve, on September 17th, 2010 ( Callisto, Sea Mist, Tonga) Friday saw us all off on separate projects. I took Ben ashore to talk to the regatta organizers – he ended up staying with them for the day helping to set up the Full Moon Party on one of the other islands. It looks like a lot of effort is being put into this. I did some internetting ashore to sort some things out before returning to the boat and completing the reinstallation of the water maker. Helen cleaned up the entire inside of the port hull as the mildew had set in in a few places and it needed a good going over.
In the evening we met up with Callisto. We first had a couple of beers at the Aquarium Café before moving on to the pizza place slightly out of town where we had delicious pizzas. We left Jennie and Ben together in town as they were meeting up with Ian from Sea Mist. Leaving the dinghy for Ben and Jennie to get back Mike and Ann came to Dignity where we polished off another couple of bottles of wine before late retirement.
Ben woke us up at some unearthly hour. He’d spent some time at the karaoke bar and seemed to have quite forgotten he’d left as he was still singing along. Seems like they’d had a good time.
 We were awoken this morning around 5am by a huge fire ashore. One of the guest houses had gone up in flames and people were already trying to contain the fire and prevent it spreading. Concerned about the boats anchored downwind of the fire I got in the dinghy and woke them all up in case embers landed on their boats somewhere. Small chance of a problem but a fire aboard is the absolute worst disaster. Noone was perturbed by the warning.
 We learned later that no one was injured and only the guest house was damaged. The place where Ben had spent much time last night was right next door and had got badly scorched but it was in one piece and still open for business.
This morning I dropped Ben ashore as he is due to rehearse his part in the show and continue helping with construction. Helen and I (mostly Helen) have been cleaning the main cabin. I also visited the sail maker who I completely forgot to go to yesterday. He was close of course but the Moorings manager called him. Our sail is fixed but we have to wait until Monday to pick it up. We still have to make up our minds whether or not to stay here until the start of the regatta next Wednesday or take a break out to one or two of the nearby anchorages. Can’t do anything today as Ben is not aboard.
by steve, on June 29th, 2010 ( A Cappella, Bristol Rose, Callisto, Imagine, InnForAPennyII, Inspiration Lady, Leu Cat, Lilith, Sea Mist, Society Islands, Song Line, Whoosh) Before the morning SSB net was over John and I headed ashore. I had a date with our agent, Laurent, as he had received a letter containing my bank card. Our old one had expired and we really needed this one. Once we had this we headed off to the Carrefour to pick up some beer for the evening. The local beers had an offer going where the price for 20 was reduced. We picked up 40 bottles only to find the offer was over. I figured what the hell and bought them all anyway. John picked up some Magnum ice cream for a birthday present.
Back on the boat we go into the business of stuffing the beers away into all corners of the fridge and freezer. Later in the morning Helen cooked up an artery busting fry up for brunch which we followed up with the intensely chocolaty magnums.
We spent the afternoon cleaning the boat up and then reanchoring (four times) as we were a little too close to one of the other boats. The anchor seemed to have a lot of trouble setting. We were in 60 feet of water so we weren’t lifting it up off the bottom each time. At one point I asked Helen to raise the anchor out of the water just to make sure we still had one.
At 6pm the evening’s festivities began. We had invited the folks from A Cappella, Bristol Rose, Callisto, Imagine, Inn for Penny II, Inspiration Lady, Leu Cat, Lilith, Sea Mist, Song Line & Whoosh for a combined birthday (for me)/farewell (for John) party. Helen had been concerned about the boat being too crowded but in the end we comfortably held 27 people aboard without people having to spill forward. The weather remained perfect for the evening. With that many people it was impossible to chat to everyone but everyone seemed to have a good time.
About half way through Helen called for quiet so the ladies could enact a scheme they’d come up with (inspired I understand by Sheilah from Imagine). They had put on fresh lipstick and in turn they each sang to me then kissed me somewhere on the face. I ended up, of course, with lots of marks on my face.
The evening went very well. It was good for John to meet up again with a few of the folks he’s got to know. For us, it may be almost the last time we see a few of these folks. Out of Tahiti everyone is heading towards Bora Bora but from there they’ll head off in different directions and on different timetables. While we wait here in Tahiti for the next two weeks, many will move on and we may never catch up. Those going to New Zealand we’ll see but those on their way, like Whiskers, to Australia will be too far ahead of us. However, we’ll meet some new people who are on the trail behind us which will be good.
Helen and I are looking at the various anchorages around Tahiti so we have an idea of what to do over the next couple of weeks. Things are going a bit crappy with some of our internet orders. If we can sort these out we can get out of here the day after John leaves.
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