July 10 – 21, 2012
OK, we’d made long, slow, two-day passage from Rangiroa to Papeete, Tahiti and all that was left to do was to tie up. What could go wrong? It turns out we were to tie up to a wall that faced the harbor, dropping our anchor first to hold us off the wall, then backing in to tie the back of our boat just feet from the wall – all this in about a 15 knot wind from the port side of the boat.
We had a lot of help though and all we really had to do was to follow their directions. They had this little boat out to push us around and two guys on our boat and the dock behind us. By way of extra explanation to those who have never had the pleasure of trying to get a sail boat to back up, when we put our engine in reverse, we move back and to the port (left) side, and there’s almost no way to get the boat to move directly backward. When there’s wind from the side, it becomes almost impossible to get the boat to do anything except move in unwanted directions.
Once finally tied up, the only way on or off the boat was via this long, wobbly, 2 by 12 plank.
I tried it once on foot, and from then on, it was strictly hands and knees. If I had something to carry, well, see the picture.
For some reason, this seemed to provide endless amusement for Larry and Nelda!
It was pretty rough out on the end tie with constant boat and ship wakes rocking our world. The next day, a spot opened up inside the marina – a side tie. Much better.
Marina Taina is really a pretty place. It isn’t the same kind of marina as those we have on the west coast of the States. Here there are no slips and boats just pull up forwards or backwards to a dock and tie up to floats. Boats stay off the neighboring boat with fenders and are sandwiched in pretty close together.
Note from July 21: This turned out to be a really a great place to spend almost two weeks. When we left for Moorea and we knew we’d miss Marina Taina quite a bit. -Rich
