Author: richwest3

August 10 – 14, 2012

After our tour of Raiatea, we had an anchorage picked out: Haamene Bay. It’s a very deep bay, cutting about 2 miles into the center of the island, which makes it very still and peaceful. The other attraction was the restaurant at the head of the bay which was rumored to be very good.

After a busy morning of shopping and provisioning, getting untied from our mooring, and visiting the fuel dock, we motored the six miles or so to Taha’a. We motored into the bay, set our anchor and then just . . . relaxed. Sometimes it’s nice to just stay on the boat for a day.

The next morning we woke up and were treated to an especially beautiful sunrise. (As usual, this was accompanied by a chorus of roosters.)

We blew up the dinghy and went to town. It was a small but very pretty little town.

Our second night in the bay, we headed to the Taha’a Mai Tai restaurant for dinner. We had heard good things about it and were excited to try it. We were joined by our friends Tom and Monica who had just motored in that day and whom we had not seen since the Marquesas. The restaurant exceeded our expectations as the dinner was fabulous. We liked it so much, Rich and I went back for lunch the next day. We have been spreading the word about it ever since.

We were going to leave the next day, but we liked it so much here we spent one more day. -Cyndi

(Ah, the magic of Photoshop.)

August 11, 2012

“What are you hoping to see out there?” we were asked about our upcoming cruise. Wow, we really didn’t have a good answer.  There are the easy answers… beautiful water, mountains, quaint Polynesian towns, sunsets, fish, forests, waterfalls, rainbows, coral, and a lot of Cyndi but that didn’t really seem to answer the question for me.

Now I think I know the answer.  I think I know what the biggest reward of cruising has been for me.  All that stuff, the sunsets, fish, coral, mountains are great, spectacular even, but for me, they don’t really compare to the joy that making new friends has brought me.  Case in point; we just spent a wonderful week in Raiatea and during our stay we met Marlies, Alain, Kathy and Richard at the marina, Ivan and Louise on the boat Brio and Roz and David on the boat Bare Foot, among others.

We’ve been out here for a little over three months (and almost a month of that has been with just Cyndi and me alone at sea) and yet I think we’ve made more friends in that short time than in years living in Southern California (I’m not saying this to imply that there’s anything wrong with Southern California, it’s just where we last lived a land-life).

It’s still amazing to me that within a few hours of meeting new people out here, I feel like they’re life-long friends.  Cruising friendships develop fast, maybe because they have to as your time together is often very short, or maybe because you have so much in common, including the many joys and hardships that cruising entails.

We had a tearful goodbye with our new friends today as we sailed off to Taha’a.  It was one of our hardest goodbyes yet but I know that we will see these people again.  I believe that they are part of our true family – that being “family” doesn’t just mean sharing a lineage – that we have many true family members scattered around the world just waiting to be discovered.  The rate at which our family increases while cruising is undoubtedly the biggest joy of cruising for me.  “What are you hoping to find out there?”  Wonderful people to share life’s journey with. -Rich

Alain, Kathy, and Marlies

August 10, 2012

Sorry for the lack of updates lately but our social calendar has been packed here in Raiatea.  We’ve met wonderful new friends here and have had a great time.  We’ve been tucked in a nice little marina for the past week, waiting out high winds.  The winds have abated and off we go today.

We’re headed for Taha’a about four miles away.  (Wow, we love the short passages!).  We don’t even have to go out in the ocean as a big barrier reef enclosed both Raiatea and Taha’a.  We’ll spend about three days in Taha’a and then head to Bora Bora.

I tried to find my hair before leaving Raiatea, but it’s no use, I’ve looked everywhere.  Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to grow new ones.  Actually, we found a great hair dresser and he did a very nice job, but it still shocks me to look in the mirror and I really look goofy in this picture!  This was taken yesterday in the back of a truck on a tour around Taha’a.  What fun!  We’ll post more soon.-Rich

August 1 – 10, 2012

Generally bad weather while cruising is not a desirable thing, but sometimes it can be a blessing. If you can make your way to a secure place, bad weather can let you enjoy it in a way that is special and rare when you’re cruising with a time limit. Raiatea was a perfect example of this.

When we arrived, we had at least week of strong winds ahead of us. There would be no pressure to get going as we were “stuck.” We could just relax, do boat work, and sightsee at our leisure. It allowed us to enjoy morning yoga classes, spend evenings with new friends, to get to know the town of Utaroa in depth, and to take a few days to really see the island.

If our weather conditions had been good, we would never have bothered to go to the marina and would never have met some great people or experienced some great things. We would have spent a couple of days tied to the public dock in town and then, lacking some conveniences there, would have moved on to “better” spots.

After 9 days the winds calmed and after a tearful good-bye, it was time to get going once again. The clock resumed its ticking, but for awhile it was nice to have a time out to enjoy the gifts that bad weather can bring.