Huahine to Raiatea to Tahaa

E

Exited the pass at 0800. Genoa furled out and the motor off by 1020.

Steady 5 knots. Winds N at 15 knots

Seas 1 meter. Mostly blue sky.

Another perfect sailing day across to Raiatea.

Raiatea is the administration Capitol of the Leeward Islands. It is a beautiful motu that actually shares the lagoon with Tahaa. There are nine passes into this lagoon so entry is not as tricky as some passes that we have encountered.

I was just reading the travel brochure under the heading things "Not to be Missed". Bullet Number Three: An unforgettable cruise aboard a sailboat. Guess that's us!

We were planning on stopping here for a day or too but the anchorages close too shore are all really deep. With an unreliable outboard - actually a non-functioning outboard - we really did not want to be out by the reef. It was a joint decision to continue on to Tahaa. 

So we headed down to Paipai Pass and Baie Hurepiti. Beautiful spot. 

The bay is well in from the reef and you are surrounded by lush green hills and very calm water. It is almost like being on a lake. The bay is fairly deep with the odd shallow spot. In a moment of distraction we were able to find one of those shallow spots. 6.8 feet to be exact. And our boat draws 6.8 feet. So guess what? We were aground!

After a few expletives from the Helmsman, aka Captain, aka David - we went into action. We were at a low tide and there was no hope of driving ourselves off of the shelf so we immediately put the dinghy in the water. Then David rowed out the auxiliary anchor off the port side. 

The shelf was on our starboard side. Good thing it was a relatively flat shelf with just a few small rocks but mostly mud.

Noah, a botanist from the local tour business, came out to see if we needed any assistance. We told him we were fine but he still offered to keep channel 9. Open on the VHF radio in case we needed help as the tide rose. We had a nice chat. His family owns Vanilla Tours and conducts tours via land and water around the island. He was a very nice young man, educated in France and a very good grasp of the English language. He has also spent time in New Zealand and Australia. His mother is Italian and father is French and they came to Tahaa 30 years ago. Very interesting guy to talk to.

Tide was not going to do anything for a couple of hours so I proceeded to make penne pasta with Italian sausage but not before mixing a Cuba Libra for David to help with the mood adjustment!

Took a moment to enjoy a lovely dinner and appreciate the surroundings. It really is a beautiful spot.

Shortly after six the tide started to rise and by 2100 hours we were lifted off the bottom. Noah told us that we could use one of their mooring buoys as it would be dark when we were released. So I drove the boat, in the dark, and David hung out at the bow with the flashlight. I am getting pretty good with this maneuvering to pick up a buoy. In no time we were secured in a bay that looked like a mirror. Time to just enjoy the moment!