Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Category: Cruiser Connections

  • Fare, Huahine

    We made some progress on the project list but not necessarily the ones we planned. The wind was a little too strong to drop the head sail so I did a few other minor items. Later in the afternoon John from Nakia popped by. They’d been in Huahine for a week and was able to provide a few tips including letting us know about the Happy Hour ashore starting at 5:30pm. We were planning to go ashore so we agreed to meet with him again at the bar.

    The bar turned out to be really nice and we ended up staying for a couple of beers before we headed out to look for something to eat. We found a group of roadside food vans and while choosing which one to eat at we met up with Dan and Suzie, an Australian couple, who were holidaying on the island. We ended up chatting with them while eating our very decently priced steak and fries and eventually ended up inviting them back to the boat to share some wine and conversation.

    Today the plan is to walk to Maeva (about 4 miles) and visit the archaeological site there. Perhaps we’ll get the sail done this afternoon.

  • Feeding Time

    Turned out there was plenty of interest to go and see the sting rays and sharks. Shortly after 10am we rendezvoused at the sunken tiki heads (about half way to the rays) with Steve & Dorusha from Scream, David & Suzie from Sidewinder and Jim & Brendan from Escapade. We were carrying Mike and Naomi from Renova. Snorkeling on the tiki heads was fun for most but soon we were back on our way to see the sting rays. It was not hard to find the spot as there were two tourist boats already there and lots of people already standing around in the water with rays swimming amongst them and sharks patrolling the perimeter.

    Earlier in the day I had chopped up the month old skip jack tuna occupying a corner of our freezer and put the pieces in a container. In the water the sting rays were intensely interested in the fishy morsels. (Note – I would not normally feed wild animals but these have been fed for the tourists for so long I feel the damage is already done so we may as well enjoy). The rays would come up to us and try and take the fish from our hands. Holding them in our fingers was not so smart as the rays had tough gums and gave quite a nip if they caught our fingers. I was bitten twice and Ben once which caused a bit of bleeding.

    Apart from that it was a huge amount of fun. At times we were blanketed in four or five rays each trying to find something to eat. They were so tame we could hold onto their edges and stroke their backs and bellies. I shared the fish around with our party although it took some some time to brave holding onto raw fish while surrounded by rays and sharks.

    After a while everyone got a little chilly – it is winter here after all. Heading back three miles into wind was never going to be fun. We’d agreed to drop Mike and Naomi off so they could hitch a ride back to the beach near where we were anchored. Ben and I pounded the waves all the way back arriving soaked and colder still. The cold water showers on the boat felt warm and refreshing.

    We stayed on the boat for the afternoon prepping for the trip to Huahine. The wind forecast suggested the wind was going to drop in 24 hours and we wanted to catch what we could. One of my tasks was to change the zinc on the generator. For a while I couldn’t get the new one back in leak free but in the end I succeeded. Shortly before 5pm we were off. As Ben has yet to have some recent practice sailing during the day we decided to sail with the head sail only. This would mean there was less to watch and less to go wrong. At some points overnight the winds reached 30 knots so this ended up being a fortuitous decision. During my early morning shift I raised the main once there was light to see. We arrived at Fare, Huahine around 10:30 in the morning.

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    We’ve already been ashore to pick up baguettes for lunch. Our guidebook suggests there will be lots of outdoor food choices available this evening so we plan to go ashore again then.

    This afternoon we have a few things to do. First we all need a nap as none of us slept well last night. Next, we want to bring down the headsail, restitch a part of the sun cover and put some tape over some parts that look tatty. We also want to swim the reef which we hope will be more alive than the one surrounding Moorea.

  • Baie d’Opunohu

    On Saturday our plan was to move over to Baie d’Opunahu. We had a few choices. One was to go inside the bay where it was cool but with great views. The second was outside west of the bay which would be isolated and nearer to where we could go and see the sting rays. The final choice was to go back and anchor off the public beach where we first came to Moorea with the Rendezvous nearly a month ago.

    We’d heard Verner from Legend II on the radio nearby and as we wanted to meet him again we called him on the radio. We learned he was anchored off the public beach and was getting together a beach barbecue with a few others. That made our minds up. We also heard Renova and contacted them learning they’d be there too. They needed a beer pickup and as we needed to go ashore we agreed to collect some beer for them and keep it cold.

    Ben and I did the shore thing picking up a couple of baguettes, some burger buns/sliced cheese and the beers for Renova. This being done we hoisted the dinghy and sailed around to Baie d’Opunohu using the headsail only. We anchored in 10ft very close to where we first anchored knowing we had good holding at that spot.

    We relaxed around the boat for an hour or two after lunch before deciding to walk back to Baie de Cook to visit the Fruit Juice Factory for a second sampling of their wares. Unfortunately we found the place was open only in the morning on Saturdays so we only benefited from the exercise and pleasant surrounds. On the way back we bumped into the Renovas just outside the Hilton Resort. We all agreed to explore the resort which turned out to be very nice inside.

    Heading back to the beach we took a diversion to collect some firewood for the evening’s fun. Back on the boat Helen cooked up some chicken to take to the beach. Verner from Legend II was taking his grill and gas ashore so we left our burgers until later. At 5pm we headed ashore to meet up with the rest. As well as Legend II and Renova we met Dave and Suzy from Sidewinder. They left the Galapagos around the same time as us but had to turn back with refrigeration problems and have since been a week or two behind us. We’ve heard them on the radio from time to time but never met them. We also met Jim and his son Brendan from Escapade which we’ve seen around.

    Later in the evening Ben started the beach fire and soon had a blaze going. Helen had brought some marshmallows which pleased a couple of young children who were there too as well as many of the adults.

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    Today we’re off to see the rays and sharks. We may be making a group of it but hopefully not too large. It’s possible that this evening we’ll set sail for Huahine 80nm to our north west – an over night sail.

  • Bastille Day

    We woke up to an exceedingly clear day. For Ben this meant he saw his first glimpse of Moorea in the distance with great clarity – a taste of things to come.

    Ben and I did the baguette run for breakfast after which the two of us headed over to the Intercontinental Hotel to have a look around and possibly go in the pool. We decided in the end not to swim there but to go swimming on the nearby reef which we did after lunch. The swim on the reef was fair but was all worth it in the end as we spotted an eagle ray casually gliding along nearby.

    In the afternoon Ben and I spent some time preparing lures. He asked if that meant we’d be “catching fish” when we next sailed. He has much to learn.

    In the evening we met up with David and Danielle from Leu Cat for Happy Hour before we headed back to Dignity for something quick to eat. We then headed back to the hotel, collecting Mike and Jody from Savannah then David, Danielle and Shirleen from Leu Cat to all convoy over to the hotel to watch the dancing.

    We arrived seconds before the dancing started and had a treat watching the professional dancers do their thing. They had a good show but it was fairly short. The setting was pretty cool and they did include a short version of the Marquesan Pig Dance which was a lot of fun.

    This morning we’re off to Pape’ete and then we’ll sail over to Moorea to get away from the crowds and busyness off Tahiti.

  • Three on a boat

    The morning of the 13th started with my going ashore to collect a couple of fresh baguettes for breakfast and lunch. On the way back I learned that the fuel dock was already open. We decided to go and refuel straight after breakfast as we figured there would be less chance of finding someone ahead of us and also having a good chance of finding our convenient anchorage still free. This all turned out to be the case so we were back in our spot within an hour of leaving.

    Shortly after we both dinghied over to the Interncontinental Hotel to investigate the possibility of using it as a base for the dinghy to collect Ben from the airport. We quickly realized it wouldn’t be too good but we really enjoyed walking around the grounds. We also learned that around 8:30pm tonight they’ll have professional dancers so we plan on sneaking in for that.

    In the afternoon we dinghied over to say hello to Werner and Cathy on Legend II. Perhaps on the most astute blog readers will remember them from our hike up to the top of Mount Diablotin in Dominica – the one where we got thoroughly muddy. Cathy was away in the UK visiting a new grandchild but Werner was there. He remembered Helen in her hiking boots and dress – a rare combination. They’re on their way to NZ via the same route as us so we’re very likely to meet again and will look out for each other. We want to get them aboard one day to learn about the good hiking in NZ.

    Shortly before 5pm we went ashore and walked to the airport. We went a little early so we could look at hiring a car for today. In the end we decided against it thinking Ben may be a little tired after traveling from New Jersey.

    We ended up having about 45 minutes to wait for Ben to show up. We bought a garland of flowers to welcome him and fortunately he came through quite early. We had our hugs and hellos and quickly caught a cab back to the marina which cost less than I feared.

    Helen had cooked up a chili earlier so we ate that along with beers and wine. We stayed up a little late chatting before we all retired.

    Today is Bastille Day. There is not a lot on it seems. We had hoped there would be fireworks and dance competitions. There is a military parade in Papeete which doesn’t appeal to us and there is a sports competition on at the museum down the coast. We would have needed the hire car for that but instead we’ll watch the canoe racing planned for the bay here.