Night passages

We left the marina in Raiatea Saturday morning and fueled up in town then off we went in our first passage just the two of us. We motored the whole way to Tahiti since we were beating into 17 knot winds on our nose. We just felt somewhat sick from not being on the water in a while and we just switched watches when the other couldn't keep their eyes open any longer. Wasn't the most pleasant passage but we made it to Tahiti around 10 am and picked up a mooring ball. Our dinghy is stowed on the trampoline for passages because the lift in the back is not high enough and the waves kinda break high back there. So we attach a halyard to it and lift it using a winch to raise and lower it in the water. We went up to the marina office to meet Greg and spoke with the harbor master to find a spot to dock so we could get some stuff done. Ty docked the boat beautifully in between two very veeeery big yachts lol. We spent Monday and half of Tuesday getting tanks filled and getting supplies and groceries. We have 6 scuba tanks ready to go and 2 propane tanks filled straight from the factory itself. ...pain in the bum....the fitting here for propane tanks is different than the ones we have. We have the ones that are used in South Africa and the US and some other places so here we had to take a taxi all the way to the actual factory to have them filled and it was a HUGE relief when they said they would actually fill em up!!! They argued with the taxi driver back and forth for like 10 min before someone finally said ok drive thru. we took off around 3 after fueling up again. Around 7 we fired up the grill and had an amazing steak dinner with salad and bread of course. No queasy stomachs this time! We motor sail downwind so it's smooth again;). It was so ....I dunno it was just that moment where we finally relaxed and realized we were sailing in French Polynesia and sitting out on our deck with a beautiful meal and good wine under the stars of a cloudless sky....

One set back tho haha boat maintenance is never ending so upon leaving Tahiti we discovered water in the oil in the gearbox so we re routed to Raiatea to have this looked at. Theeeen to Bora Bora. 

Ty woke me up at about 0330 to take over watch and not much going on out here so I just listen to my iPod, do some maintenance on ma nails....counted 4 shooting stars and watching the sunrise now....tonight was cool because it was a really bright moon and no clouds so you can see tons of stars. Then to the east you can just see the halo of the sky changing to an orange hue. So to the east you have this slight glow and on the edge of that glow BAM! Dark sky with Stars and a white half moon....so awesome!!! 

Yep that's a bud light...we had to at least get a 6 pack..:)

That was actually my beer...Ty was just tastin it...doesn't taste the same tho...man what I wouldn't give for XX or modelo!!!

Biggest sailboat I've ever seen!! HUGE!!!

Almost ready...

We r juuuust about ready to slip all lines and head out! We were put in the water yesterday so that was a big day for us. They brought over a tractor and lifted us up, took us thru the boat yard and slowly eased us back into the water. Then they took the lines and guided us to the dock where we tied off next to our new neighbors from Cali. We didn't start the engines because the diesel is old and needed to drain the old fuel and put in new fuel. Ty just went to town with a couple of borrowed jerrycans to get fuel while I wait here for the electrician. Our windlass stopped working and we kinda need that to release and pull up the anchor. Ty and I took the boom off this morning and took it to the shop to get a part welded and the welder is coming to the boat to weld a couple parts on the Bimini. And now it's raining. So much for that. We were going to leave tomorrow but its lookin like Saturday will be better for us. Ha it's reaaaaly pouring now...aaaand I have towels n clothes hanging to dry....at Least I know which hatch leaks now... The one right above my head...:-/

I cleeeean....

For the past week we have been cleaning the crap outta this boat! Haha a year of bein out of the water and there is so much dust n cobwebs to clean out. We have been organizing and cleaning nonstop pretty much. And we are finally done ... Well for the most part. It is definitely feeling more homey now. We went grocery shopping and walked about 2 miles to the store with our empty bags. We loaded up on bread and peanut butter and some snacks. Oh and a case of beer! Hinano Tahiti beer in recyclable bottles and a real case or crate. If we bring back the crate n bottles we get some money back and if we buy a case of beer they give us a ride back to the boat!!! Haha;) 

We put the trampoline on the other day so it's starting to look like a real boat!

And we put the new reefing lines in today. 

We got someone to come bypass the electrical emergency shut off for the gas stove so we can use it for now. Finally we have COFFEE again!!! 

The shower n bathroom for the boat yard is about 100 yards away so we always take trash out with us and take the water jugs to refill when we go for showers...cold showers...cold cold showers. Haha but you get used to it after about 30 seconds. It's not so bad. We refill the big water jugs so we have drinking water and a way to do dishes n stuff since we don't have running water yet. 

We went swimming yesterday right here off the dock. It was so hot out after workin in the sun so we went for a dip and saw a bunch of fish that hang out right here. Lots of yellows n blues n striped ones... Really cool to find that many just right here so I wonder what's out there along the reef. 

So far we have found 3 spear guns and a bunch or rods n reels. Plenty of lures to play with and a belt harness thing that you can wear for reeling in huge fish. We found the snorkeling and scuba stuff too so we used the snorkel equipment already and about to go out again! 

Here's Ty playing with all the fishing equipment. Haha the tail on the little one actually moves so it looks real! 

So this week we r having both motors worked on for minor stuff, a new paint job, replacing the rest of the lines w new ones, putting the genoa back up and maybe taking the mast down for a welding job on the spinnaker block. 

We got our first reference letter today from our delivery skipper Kenneth!! He gave us a great review and said we are hard working and even turned out to be great cooks!! :) 

Walkin in paradise

So we found the boat last night on the hard dock here in Raiatea. It's about ohhhhhh 10 maybe 12 feet up in the air and there was no ladder for us!...lol...we found a sort of ladder in the boat yard and pulled the boat ladder down and pulled ourselves up on the boat. It was dark out and we just wanted to get aboard and go to sleep already so we just found our way up n passed out. This morning we woke up to an amazing view of the turquoise water and Bora Bora off in the distance. Wow there is a lot of work to do here! Lots of cleaning and organizing and makin of list of things we do and don't need. And deciding what needs to be fixed so we can get in the water finally. So we woke up and cleaned for a bit and then went to grab lunch at this little place around the corner. The snack mimosa was pretty good but it was the biggest plate of food I ever did see! Prices are crazy here. That plate was about $11 so prolly shoulda split that one...anyway we walked to find a market and ended up walking for about 2 hours and found nothing! Lol just lush tropical jungle on one side of the road and then blue water on the other. It's so nice not too hot and the water couldn't be more perfect. Ok no more blog...I cleeeeean...;)

Dammit!!

Ok so my day is getting better but even paradise isn't always rainbows and butterfly's. today I realized that the airline went thru my bag and took my GoPro accessories bag, my sleeping bag and my toiletries bag for a total of a whopping $750 USD missing...we filed a claim but won't be able to replace those items here in the islands. That sux a big one but the day has improved. We ran all over the market area in Papeete and got a waterproof back and floater for the go pro. And we had our first Tahitian beer that is long overdo....we fly to Riatea to get the boat in a few hours or so. We can't wait to get to our boat!!!! We will update with more pics later. ;) 

Travel travel travel

Traveling is not the most fun right now. We rose pretty early last Thursday to catch the bullet train from Nice to Paris which was about 6 hours or so. Then we took a taxi to the airport to catch a plane to Auckland. We boarded and waited about three hours before they informed us that an engine was down and the parts would not arrive till the next morning so they put us up in a hotel for the evening. Soooo we got to bed around 4 am finally and then back to our flight at noon or so. Flying into to Dubai is always cool cuz the runway is lit up like a Christmas tree. But then we discovered we would be staying in another hotel...grrr I just wanna get to Tahiti already!! So we left this morning and now we r in Brisbane Australia for just a short layover then catch a flight to Auckland New Zealand. ;) this flight should only be a few hours then we have an hr layover til we catch our flight to Papeete!!! We check into a hotel in Papeete and then go find and prep our boat to be put in the water!! And a weird time zone thing...it will be Saturday night when we get there so it'll b yesterday...

The downfall about flying so much is that you really don't get to get out and see much of the cities...so the weirdest/coolest thing I saw was this...in the ladies room in Dubai...a hole in the ground literally...lol needless to say I haven't traveled enough to bring myself to use something like that yet :)