week-end

It feels strange. I have done all that I can do, but still the boat is not ready as I am waiting for the sails, the lazy bag and the lazy jacks. I have been promised that they would be returned on Wednesday, but I will believe it once I see it.

Yesterday, I learned that the brother of the Coast from France who was supposed to join me on November 10th in Noumea won't be able to mak

e it due to medical reasons. Obviously, I feel very sorry for him and I wish him a speedy and full recovery. Meanwhile, I have started again the search for someone to help me either from Noumea, or from Sydney. I should be OK until New Zealand as Claude who joins us here in Papeete might be able to stay on until New Zealand.

Tomorrow Sunday is a rest day, so I will take advantage that nothing happens here to do the oil change on the engine. I hate doing it, but it has to be done.

Then on Monday, I hope to be able

 to go to Moorea, if the Ferries are operating (they were on strike earlier this week). Tuesday, I have booked an excursion throughout the island. Wednesday I should recover the sails. Thursday, if all goes well, I might take advantage of an offer to take a hand-gliding flight (two seaters, and I am only watching !).

Then on Friday, we go to Papeete to clear out, do the provisionning so as to be ready to leave Saturday morning.

Last Thursday,  I was able to get a foretaste of one element of the Polynesian culture with an evening organized by the local restaurant here. Pleasant to watch, but I feel that the music lacks some joy and fun. It is a far cry from the Caraibbean music.

Bureaucracy

The day we left Manta, I received in my mail a threatening letter from
my pension fund demanding a "certificat de vie" (official proof that I
am alive) within 60 days of the letter otherwise they would suspend
payment. The letter was dated April 23 2009 and had been mailed July
8th, 2009. I got the letter the Saturday we were leaving from Manta, and
to get such a document in Ecuador, I would have had to travel to Quito
and get it from the french consulate.
So, we left and I contacted by emails friends and family in France,
asking them to call the pension fund and find out when exactly was the
deadline for them to receive the document. One of the pension fund
employee said September 1st, another said October 1st. Result, stress . . .
As soon as we got to Hiva Oa (we were not supposed to be in Fatu Hiva
before making an official entry), I went to the Gendarmerie (National
Police) and asked for it. They said the "probably" could not do it. I
would have to come back in the afternoon and check again, but they
believed that to produce such a document, they would have to make a
report that they did so. They also told me that it was very unlikely
that the Mayor's office would do it. So, I went to the Mayor's office,
and they did it without asking a question. I mailed it registered and
then almost everyday, I had someone in France ask to see if they got it.
By the time I arrived in Tahiti, they still did not have it. So I went
to the Mayor's office of Punaauia where the marina is located. They said
they could not make such a document, or rather the mayor could not sign
such a document since I was not a resident of Punaauia.
So what they did was to get a telephoned statement from the marina that
I was a resident at the marina, then they made me a resident of Punaauia
with address in the marina, after which they could sign the "certificat
de vie". I mailed it registered, but the next day I learned that the one
mailed from Hiva Oa had arrived. Happy ending . . .

Tomorrow morning, I am making my third trip to the port authority of
Papeete to complete my entry. I have cleared last week, but they forgot
to provide me with a certificate which will enable me to purchase fuel
duty free at the marina. I only need about 30 gallons, but it is worth a
visit to Papeete.

Soon to be tourist

When I arrived here at marin Taina, I told myself that I would not go visit the place until the boat was ready to go. I did not realise that time here does not go at the same pace as I am used to. Almost two weeks since we got here and I still have items on my to do list. This morning, I got up at 6 and spent the first 2 hours of the day taking apart the forward head, cleaning and removing the calcaire, and putting it back together. The head in my cabin is still waiting for a part that is essential.

This being said, progress has been made. I now have shore power reliably, the Monitor is ready to go, the whisker pole has been fixed and a lot of small jobs have been completed.

Then I still have to install my new computer, the sails are not back from the loft, etc. . . .

So, I have no idea what Tahiti looks like. I have made a few quick trips to Papeete, but too short to really get an idea of the place.

No matter what, next week I intend to visit and see what it looks like. I have booked an excursion on Tuesday and I am planning on making a few bus trips here and there and enjoy the place.

Jean-Francois is taking 2 weeks off with his wife Annie who flew in on the 10th and will spend 2 seeks here to visit Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea.

Yesterday, Claude came to visit and confirm that he will join us for the trip to Noumea. Good news as it means better sleep and a much easier passage. 

I am still struggling with Internet, despite three computers, 2 external long distance network adapters. different setups for the antenna. Sometimes, it works on one computer with one supplier, sometimes with another, sometimes nothing works. Game of patience which is not my specialty.

First Tahitian week

One week already and I feel guilty to have almost disappear from the blog. That is the time it took for me to find the opportunity and the time and the energy to come back and update our blog.

We arrived last Wednesday at the Pointe Venus in 30 knots wind and under the guidance of Marc Lucas a.k.a. MarcGyver who has his boat in a marina nearby. I had been complaining about our 40 knots of wind that we experienced coming out of the Tuamotou, but in fact, we were rather lucky. A cat that had left the day before us from Hiva Oa and had gone south had 60 knots of wind for 12 hours. And in Tahiti itself, the wind was a 50 knots sustained and caused damages to a few boats, including one cat going on the reef.

So, Wednesday afternoon, we took a very quiet anchorage on the SW of Pointe Venus, and after a welcome drink with MarcGyver and Jane, who came with french baguette and pineapple, we enjoyed a wonderfully quiet night at the anchorage with no noise and very still  and quiet water.

Thursday morning, we took our time and around 10 o'clock, sailed to the entrance of the Papeete harbour and then around the airport to the marina Taina.

We got there a fantastic, friendly, competent and effective welcome from the personnel of the marina. In no time, we were tied up alongside, and were it not for the electric connection and the internet connection, we were as happy as can be. It turns out that their electric system has differential meters and cannot accept the green and the white wire inside the boat to be connected together anywhere. This took a whole week  to sort out and we are not out of the woods yet.

As for internet, there are two suppliers on the marina who compete against each other in a very disorderly fashion, including installing powerful antennas next to each other. The result is a lot of interferences, and even when you have a strong signal, the connection is very unstable.

Apart from that, the windvane is repaired, the spinnaker pole is fixed and shortened as I wanted, the sails are at the sailmaker, the bilge pump has been replaced and the connection redone. Very little left to do to bring Papy Jovial back to tip top shape for the departure to Noumea.

As for Tahiti, I have mixed feelings and perceptions, not all of them enthusiastic and it will take a full entry in the blog to explain my impressions

I'll be back . . . .   (who said that ?)

Connection problems

I have a ton of problems connecting to the internet which is why there
has been no posting on the blog since we arrived in Papeete. Apart from
that, everything is OK. The windvane Monitor has been repaired, the
spinnaker pole has been fixed, and we are making progress. I have to
wait the end of the Week-End to try and find a solution for Internet.
Please be patient.

Who say's it's boring ?

I am very often asked that question : when you are at sea on a long
crossing, do you ever get bored ?
This morning at 4:00 a.m., the genoa fell on deck while we were sailing
along nicely on a broad reach at 6 knots. It's probably the hook on the
halyard which either broke or opened up as I did not see anything on the
head of the sail when it came down. We scrambled a little to get it back
on deck and I was worried that it might have slipped under the hull. But
we got it out easy with the spinnaker halyard and secured it on deck.
Being only 55 miles from the anchorage and having the actual wind on the
beam, this with seas still in the 18 feet range and the rolling to go
with it, I decided to go from 3 to 2 reefs on the main and use the motor
to maintain speed, and wait until we are at anchor to worry about the genoa.
I also found that the cap that keep the packing material on the stuffing
box had unscrewed itself and the whole thing was spraying a lot of water
quite happily underneath the floor. This explains why the bilge pump
would come on quite often. So, I re-tighten everything but I know that
the whole thing, cutlass bearing and stuffing box will need a serious
look as we only cut roughly the material and netting tightened around
the shaft shortly before we got to Manta, and we could only work while
the boat was afloat.
All those small problems come on top of the boat needing a serious
cleaning and sorting out.
Tonight at anchor, we will enjoy a good meal and a good quiet night. But
I doubt that during our stay in Papeete we will find the time to get
bored. The to-do list will take care of that.

No blog today

there will be no blog today. As we were exiting the Touamotou, we were
struck by a system of SSE wind at 35 to 40 knots steady, taking us to a
240 course. We do not know how long the system will stay with us and we
do not want to be taken west of Tahiti so we decided to heave to and
wait. In the meantime, we focus on handling the boat, resting and
eating. There will be more news when things quiet down.