We awoke to gray skies, rain, 17 – 20 knot winds with gusts of up to 28 knots, and white caps in the lagoon. The wind kept changing direction, too, so we were swinging all over the place. Supposedly, it was going to clear up this afternoon, and we were planning to leave as soon as it cleared up. Continue reading
When Eric awoke he was still sick, but feeling much better than he had the previous two days. Christi awoke sick. We were planning to leave over the weekend, so we headed into town to check out with the officials. Check out was quick and easy since all the paperwork had been done in Papeete. We got lunch at the pizza place. We got a tuna pizza, which was good. It had more cheese than most of the other pizzas we have gotten. They tend to be sparse with the pizza toppings out here. Continue reading
Our plan was to go diving, then into town to check out of the country, do some internet stuff such as sending blog updates, then spend the rest of the day getting the boat ready. We were going to leave the next morning for Suwarrow, an atoll in the Cook’s.
Eric awoke with a really bad cold. Diving was out. The wind in our protected anchorage was howling at 20 knots. The weather forecast for Thursday was 12 foot seas at 8 seconds intervals (for non-boaters, this means bad seas). Leaving was out. Much to our dismay, we found out that the large boat anchored between us and the wireless antenna at Bloody Mary’s blocks our signal. So, with all our plans cancelled for us, we took it easy all day. Continue reading
This morning we went for a hike up to the top of the hill near the anchorage. There is a TV tower there, so we hiked up the service road to the tower. The hike was relatively short, but very steep. You would definitely need a four wheel drive to get up that road. The view was spectacular. Here we are looking to the southwest. The land is a little island motu in the center of the lagoon.
We started the day by taking the dinghy into the main town of Vaitape, which is about a mile north by boat from where we are anchored (by land it is farther since the road follows the curvy lagoon). There is a nice protected quay (seawall area) right in the center of town. Facing town from the dinghy, on the right is a parking lot, on the left is an outdoor theater, and straight ahead is a visitor information center and handicraft market. They were setting up for a big concert at the theater. At the information center we picked up a fish guide, so we will actually be able to name a few of the fish we see now.
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