French Polynesian – Sailing with Saphir

Papeete Stockholm Papeete

We saw Tahiti for a few hours and enjoyed the view. Around lunchtime we arrived to Papeete and moored at Tahina Marina. On the way in we saw many nice houses

Edgar and Chris went to clean out all the salt that had come in to the engine room and and some other fixing. I took out the sewing machine and fixed the sunscreen for the front off the deck.

It is a nice to be in harbour for once. Just walk of the boat and you have land under your feet without going in to a dinghy which can be very hard and scary sometimes when it is lots of waves. This harbour had a lots of swells due to the current so we have to make sure we are well moored. Don’t want to bump in to any other boats or the pier.

We have the mechanic man on board. Feel sorry for him in this heat to be in the engine room. He takes out the part that is broken and comes back later in the afternoon to put it back and make sure it is fixed.

In the harbour is a nice restaurant that we went for dinner almost every night and to meet other sailers from the World Arc. We had dinner with Chris and Claus the last evening before Chris goes home to England. It was very nice to meet Claus again. He is also going home to Germany and have no plans of coming back to sail with Thetis as Chris have. We will see him again soon together with his wife Anne. Totally forgot to take pictures

The boat is organised and cleaned on the inside. Ready for our guest and to start our next sailing. First we have to go home to Sweden for the funeral of my dear mother-in-law. While we are away we have help to polish all our stainless steel. It do get rusty of all this saltwater. Not a fun job so happy someone else is doing it for us.

Even though the reason to go home was very sad we did have some lovely days with our family in the middle of the sadness.

On the way back to the boat we had 23h in San Fransisco. We took a cab in to have dinner at The Waterfront restaurantm. It was very good food and we had a great time.

At the Marina our friend Eva was waiting for us. She arrived the day before us and spent the night on the boat by her self. It was a bit challenging to find the boat dark and not much light and on top off that the taxi driver left her at the opposite side off the Marina. Then trying to get onboard when the boat is rolling due to extra high swells that came in. Good that she is use to be on a boat. The next day we tried to do some shopping in the big supermarket but it was closed luckily the other small was open so we could get a few things and best off it was that they had eggs.. this egg hunt and I guess it will continue. There is a lot off hens around on the island but they are wild and almost all eggs comes from New Zealand.

After the shopping it was time to explore the island a bit and we saw that it should be a beach not that far away. Our bikes came out and me and Eva went for a bike ride to find the beach. We did find one and had a nice swim although the current was really strong so we didn’t go out far.

Our friends came and collected all the things we brought from Sweden to them. It ended up with five bags in total from Sweden. Eva took one for us. Two Starlinks and that is two bags, one is for us and some other nice things from home. Now we will have easier internet when we are on the boat. Still need to have a sim card to the phone when we go ashore. The last evening we had some drinks with the crew from Misty and Amanzi before we had our dinner.

After breakfast on the 2 of May we got the Marina guys coming over to g help us with all the mooring lines and we are off to the neighbour Island Moorea. It will be a very short trip over. Only 4 hours.

Moorea her we come. We can see the island from the harbour so it is not far but we will anchor on the other side off the island.

Hugs Eva

Fakarava

The rain stopped and we decide to drive in to land and see if there was any shop opened even if it was Easter Day. We found one shop that was opened until 12.00. Unfortunately they did not have eggs but we got some bread (pain rich) and cheese.

Even if our Easter lunch didn’t have eggs we still had three different hearings, gravad lax, Swedish knäckebread, potatoes and snaps. The hearing and knäckebröd have traveled with us all the way from Sweden.

Me ,Chris and Rebecca went diving at the north entrance. It was two fantastic dives. I saw an octopus for the first time and a leaf fish. Would have missed them if it wasn’t for our dive master. The octopus melted in on the coral and the leaf fish really looked like a leaf moving in the water. There was a lot of other different fishes as well, many reef sharks and two mantras. I have seen mantras from land but never when I have dived. It was a WOW moment. The Mantras was huge, majestic, quirios and scared me when one of them came very close up to me. I was told from Chris and Rebecca that I had a two meter reef shark swimming next to me when I was concentrating on the mantra. I am very happy I didn’t see that. Don’t know what I would have done

Me and Edgar have bikes onboard so we decided to make a biking tour together with Chris and Rebecca. They rented bikes from the lady just next to the harbour. First we had a stop at dfhgh to have lunch with Alex and Andy. This was a very nice place . Love the bottles in the tree. Must be really nice in the evening when the lights is on.I will try that when I get home.

Edgar’s knee was hurting from the bike ride so he went back to the boat and me,Chris and Rebecca continued. We wanted to go to the coconut oil fabric but first we had a stop at Hinano Pearls where we bought a few pearls and jewellery. If we knew what we would learn on the trip we would have bought more from them. Price went up and not always so very nice pearls either.

The snorkling is fantastic. Not far from the boat is a coral head that I went with my supboard to explore. Although we could also just sit on the boat and enjoy all the fishes swimming around our boat. There was this strange sucker fishes that normally sticks to the sharks body and feeds off it. We found them on our boat hopefully we get our boat cleaned.

We had some very nice days on Fakarava and would have loved to explore more atolls but it is time to hoist the anchor and sail to Tahiti. Strong current on the way out but nothing that the capten could handel. Saw some windsurfers on the outside of the atoll enjoying the good wind .

When we have the engine on we know that we have to pump out some water that comes in due to a broken seal in the water pump. But pumping enough to cool down the engine. Edgar have already booked maintenance for that in Papeete in Tahiti. Chris went in to the engine room to check our water leak. He saw water on the port side. Which we have not seen before. Why didn’t that water go in to the bilge? Some where is a stop in the draining holes. We ended up emptying the sofa again and found the stop. It is good to have long thin bendable things for these things. The water ran out of the engine room and in to the bilge. Problem solved and now everything needs to go back so we can move around in the boat.

The rest of the sailing to Papeete was okey. Can’t complain about the sunset or the sunrise. Just after lunch we are moored at Taina Marina on Tahiti.

Hard to catch all the stars in the sky. They are there I promise.

Soon in Tahiti

Hugs Eva

Tuamotos island Raroia

We arrived just after lunch and was the only boat anchored outside the village . After a while two more boats arrived but none from the ARC. The afternoon we spent cleaning the boat and just relaxing on the boat. This must be the most magical sunset I have seen so far. The water was so calm and shinning as a mirror and the colours changed during the sunset.

The next day we went in to explore the island and also to see if we could get some grocery and find a restaurant. After been guided in different directions a nice teenager took us to the shop. There was not much fresh fruit and vegetables but we got some potatoes for our herring on Easter and some new fishing gears. Let see if we get some fish.

Looking at you shadow you realise how high the sun is since the shadow is very short. Most off the houses take advantage off the sun and have solar panels we also saw it on top of the street lights. Can you see what’s hiding behind the palm. Lots of them running around free on the island

In the evening we had dinner with Alex and Rebecca from CasiqueV and all 4 from Hoka Hey. There was no restaurant on the Island but the grocery store owners wife invited us to her house where she made dinner for all of us. We had a lovely meal and a great evening. No photos taken accept on the two paintings that her daughter had made

The day after we went across the bay to see if we could do some snorkelling and maybe find the place where Thor Heyerdahl stranded with Kontiki. It was a bit tricky to cross over the atoll due to all the pearl farms bouys that we had to watch out for. We found a nice spot and I pumped up my sup board.

I paddled in to land and the guys took the dinghy. We took a walk along the shore and saw lots of eremites crabs and really huge ones and some very tiny . Look closely to the video and you will se the tiny seashells moving..

An other lovely sunset and a moon rise and once I can take a picture of the moon. It is very bright and give us good light in the night. Which is extra nice when we are night sailing and have this extra light.

Next morning an others snorkelling tour at the beach and this time I brought my go pro so I can take photos and film under the water

Next Island is longer than a day sail so we decided to leave in the afternoon to arrive early in the morning..So after our snorkling and a lunch we hoist the anchor. Just before that we get some small lemon sharks visiting us since Edgar gave them som leftovers. On the way out we meet Amanzi.

The opening is tricky but gladly we can follow our old track coming in and we are safe.

On the outside the dolphins are waiting for us and joins for bit. It is the same dolphins that greeted us when we arrived. Or at least one of them since it had a big spot behind the eye

Hope you enjoyed the reading and the pictures. Hugs Eva

Marquesses Island Nuku Hiva

In the morning we left Oa Pua to go to Nuku Hiva where we there will be the gathering with dinner and price giving award for leg 4 from Galapagos to Hiva Ou. It is a short sailing and we arrived around lunchtimme and decided to fill up the diesel. We had to wait for a while since there was two boat before us. It was a new way of docking to fill up. We had to drop the anchor revers back and through a line to land. It was a bit tricky but we managed it between the three of us.

We missed the welcoming gathering during the day since it took a while to fill up . In the evening we went up for the dinner, prize giving award and performances organised by the World Arc. First the locals danced for us and after that it was time for the men and then the ladies. We had a nice evening and was the one that had the closest answer on the total width of all boats.

A day to do some maintenance and shopping was on the schedule. I went for the shopping and took the opportunity to look around the village and to use our gift card we recived from the prize award. Lovely view around the village. In the evening we went over to Cepa to say bye to Ebo that is going home to Germany. We where many people from the boats around so when we wanted to go in the dinghy it was little hard to clime over to our dinghy.

In the morning we had a rain shower and after that a lovely rainbow appeared. We had planned to leave the day before in the afternoon to Tuamotos island but we had to stay one more night to make some paperwork in the morning with the gendarmeri since Chris need to be registrated on our boat . Best was that we then also had time to apply for our Esta since we fly via USA when we fly home. It took a while to fix that. When it was done we took up the anchor and started our three nights sailing.

Hugs Eva

Marquesas island Hiva-Oa

Wow what a view to wake up to. These volcano island has a fantastic scenery. More or less half of the fleet had already arrived and a few of them also left for the next island. The anchoring area is not that big and there are a few others boats as well here that is not part of the Arc. Our gathering after crossing the Pacific is first on the 29 in Nuku Hiva. Here on Hiva-Oa we have to register us in to the country before we can sail around on the others islands.

We plan to stay here for 4 nights to relax, clean the boat, a bit sightseeing fill up with some fresh groceries (which was not easy to get) . The next morning we start with the registration that takes the hole day divided up in a morning meeting and an afternoon meeting in town, where we managed to get SIM card so we can communicate with the rest of the world. I am so looking forward to Starlink. Then we will at least have internet all the time on the boat. Will still continue to buy a sim card I guess when we are arrive in different countries so we can have internet access on land when we are on excursions. In the harbour we saw Paladin the boat that rescued our friend on Cepa and took him to hospital in Nuku Hiva. The harbour have a shower but don’t think we will use it.

The hull was very dirty and full with soft creatures don’t know what they are called, also lots of barnacles and this green thin grass . The hull really needed to be cleaned. I started to do a bit but it took so long time since it really was stuck on the boat.

After that work we spent the next day up at the lodge having lunch with Clare and Mark from Amanzi and enjoying time by the pool. In the evening we had dinner with many of our boat friends.

The day after we went on a guided tour with our fantastic guide Jon together with part of our boat friends. We had a great day driving around on the island. We saw the smiling Tika that was well hidden in the forest. After that we went to Ilpuna on the north west of the island. There was a big place (previous village)with lots off Tikas and also the biggest Tika in the world. They have built roof over the Tikas to protect them from natural erupted and not letting people touch them. This is part of a process to get them be acknowledged by unesco. After that we had a fantastic lunch before we turn back towards the harbour

First we did a stop where they make the Tikas out of wood and was showed the tools and procedure. I do regret that I didn’t buy one but they was a bit big though.

In the evening we had dinner at the lodge again with a dance performance off the inhabitants. It was a great evening and fantastic dance and music. I am so impressed by all of them working so hard in the heat. Even if the sun is gone it is still very hot.

Next morning we got very sad news from Edgars brother. Their mother had passed away. She has been getting weaker and weaker rapidly in the end of her more than 90 years life time but it’s always sad when it finally happens. We will miss here dearly and she will always be in our hearts. The next couple of days we took it slowly and made the arrangements we need to be able to fly home for the funeral and a last goodbye and thank you. Feels very good to come home at this time and hug you family for a week.

The picture is when she visited us on our boat 5 years ago

Hugs Eva