Saturday, September 29, 2007

September 17, 2007 - Passe Toahotu, Tahaa

After exploring the river yesterday, we headed north to Tahaa. We decided to try something a bit different than anchoring in another bay, so we dropped the hook behind the motu just north of Passe Toahotu. The weather was settled enough to snorkel and have cocktails in the cockpit before dinner. Unfortunately, the wind built steadily during the night. The current was cross to the wind, so we bounced around quite a bit during the night. None of us slept much, and Dad wasn't feeling very good in the morning. As soon as breakfast was over, we set out to find a more protected spot. Due to the current running perpendicular to the wind, we ended up having another snafu raising our anchor. To add insult to injury, a squall passed through while we were messing around on the foredeck. By the time we finally got the anchor on deck, Dad had forgotten all about being seasick. I tried to convince him that we had intentionally created the stressful situation to distract him enough so he would feel better, but yet again, he wasn't buying it.

We spent the morning in foul weather gear motoring around the northern tip of Tahaa. By early afternoon we had almost circumnavigated the island. Since, after months of trouble free anchoring, we seemed to be having a streak of bad luck, it was clearly time to switch to picking up moorings. Luckily, due to the many charter fleets based in Raiatea, there are loads of free moorings around Raiatea and Tahha. We found one available in Hurepiti Bay. As the afternoon wore on, the weather settled down a bit, and we enjoyed sundowners and a few spirited rounds of Rummikub in the cockpit before dinner.

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