French Polynesia Adventure Part 3

 

Early the next morning Holly and I decided to go ashore and go exploring.  The island was classic South Pacific with curving sand beaches, palm trees, and lots of crabs and other beach wildlife.  There was one old deserted hut on the beach, but other than that there was no sign of human existence.  We walked down the beach and after a while decided to cross over to the Ocean side.  As we were crossing through the jungle we were walking along this tidal pool and suddenly up ahead, about 100 yards, on the other side of the narrow pool were two WILD BOARS!  Now these things were HUGE!!!  I would guess they would tip the scales at 1000 pounds each.  And one had tusks!  We stopped, they stopped, and we stared at each other across this little stream.  My thought was “how fast can I climb a palm tree”.  Fortunately the boars decided flight over fight, and they walked away into the jungle.

 

29toau.jpg Tidal Pool Toau picture by SFCheoyLee41

Tidal Pool Toau (the wild boars are gone!)

 

We crossed over to the Ocean side and I was exploring some of the lava formations when I heard this scream from Holly.  Now Holly is fearless, the daughter of a Navy SEAL and she has dived all over the world, including the Great Barrier Reef.  She laughs at sharks.  Well, apparently she had startled a four foot eel which was lounging in a tidal pool when Holly walked up on it and unlike the wild boars the eel decided to fight and chased Holly over the rocks on the beach for about 20 feet!  She was running and screaming!  Afterwards we were both were almost rolling on the sand laughing.

 

Sunset over Toau

38toau.jpg Sunset enroute Toau to Rangorora picture by SFCheoyLee41

 

Well, too soon we were back on the boat and under way for Apahaki, a nearby island that has a small fishing village.  As we neared the pass there she was again:  Maltese Falcon anchored just inside the pass.  We altered course to pass close aboard and wave to the crew. 

 

We had an incredible time leaving Tao’u.  The seas in the pass were about 15 feet with five second intervals.  It was like riding one of those mechanical bulls one sees in the movies.  Incredible!  I was at the helm and we all just held on for dear life and prayed that the diesel gods would keep our diesel running until we got out into the ocean.  Even John, who has been professionally sailing for 40 years, said it was one of the roughest passes he had ever sailed through.  It was awesome!  I was totally stoked.  Interestingly I felt no fear, just sheer joy, total exhilaration.  I wish I could describe it fully, and needless to say it would have been impossible to take pictures.  We were holding on for dear life!  A man overboard in this situation would have been a total nightmare.   Lesson learned.  My Cheoy Lee 41 and I can do this. 

 

36Leaving1.jpg ROUGH going through the pass picture by SFCheoyLee41

Rough Seas Leaving To-Au

 

Soon we were making eight knots toward Apahaki when the Maltese Falcon started coming up astern of us.  We watched as she unfurled row after row of her sails without a soul on deck.  Soon she was in full sail and passing us at something like 20 knots.  It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen.  Needless to say, she was soon over the horizon. 

 

IMG_1041.jpg Maltese Falcon Under Sail picture by SFCheoyLee41

Maltese Falcon Under Sail Leaving Taou (They passed us!)

 

Apahaki was another amazing island.  It had a small village with a small store, but no water.  We were able to go alongside this small pier.  Most of these villages have a pier for the supply ships to come in.  Otherwise they could not exist.  However if the supply ship is there, or is coming, a sailboat has to anchor out.  We were in luck. 

 

We had lost our gas tank for the dinghy during our wild bronco ride out of Tao’u.  We therefore could not use the dinghy motor to go snorkeling, so Holly and I paddled the dinghy out into the reefs to do some snorkeling.  Come to find out the best snorkeling was right along the pier where the boat was moored.  It was Holly’s birthday, so John and I found this little pension and arranged for a big dinner for all of us and was even able to get them to do a chocolate birthday cake.  The owner, whose name was “Friday” (no kidding) really did it up for us.  We had raw fish, grilled fish, chicken, rice, we brought our own wine, and we had “chocolate gateau”.  Friday even had his wife carry the cake out and he accompanied it singing Happy Birthday with his guitar. 

 

2DinnerinRangarora.jpg Dinner in Rangarora for Holly's B-Day picture by SFCheoyLee41

 Dinner and Holly's B-Day Dinnere Apataki

 

On March 29 we departed Apataki and did a fantastic overnight sail to Rangarora.  We had  20+ knots of wind and sailed at 8 knots most of the night.  I had the 0400-080 watch and was able to watch the sun rise on my last day of sailing on this trip.  It was, to my good fortune, a fantastic sunrise.  Late morning March 30 it was all over and I and the rest of the crew dinghied ashore to our hotels to wait for our flights back to the real world. 

 

43Snorkeling12.jpg Reef Snorkeling Rangirora picture by SFCheoyLee41

 Rush Hour in Rangarora (Snorkeling trip)

 

Yesterday was the first day back in the office.  I actually forgot to take my cell phone to work.  I had 1600 e-mails to get through and a lot of catching up to do.  That’s fine.  Thanks to this two weeks of sailing in the South Pacific most of my questions about a future cruising adventure on my own boat are now answered.  Most importantly, yes, it will be worth it to make a lifestyle change, retire, and sail Astraea to the South Pacific and, perhaps, all the way around the world.  After this much too short taste of cruising in the South Pacific my plans are to retire in time to make the Baja HaHa in 2009 and the Puddle Jump in 2010 back to French Polynesia, and after that to go where the winds take me.  Thanks to John and my two weeks and 900 miles of sailing with him on this Adventure Sailing South Pacific I am confident that my boat and I are up to the challenge, and we can do it safely and have fun.  Also, Mr. Svendsen, the answer is yes, you can go ahead and install that water maker and that price looks a whole lot more reasonable than before this trip.