Since arriving back to Taha’a the crew have been busier than ever, yet more relaxed than ever.

It’s always nice to see the crew shift from busy worker bees into relaxed cruisers as the trip progresses. It certainly takes a few days for people to leave behind the stresses of work and city life and replace them with the hope of turtles, wondering what’s for lunch and whether to go snorkeling or kayaking in the afternoon. Pattie, Dennis, Chris, Robyn and Rod certainly have got into this rhythm, while Xander is in the middle of buying a house and Tracey and Bel are frequently caught with iPads in hand!

We had three nights around Taha’a: one at the coral gardens, one half spent at Baie Apu and half anchored outside of Uturoa town, and a third off Raiatea’s Pointe Farepoe. At Baie Apu, we went ashore for half of a grey rainy day to visit a vanilla farm - Fare Vanira - and the best pearl farm in the area - Ferme Perliere Champon. These were two fantasic locations that are highly recommended. Chris and Tracey bought vanilla coffee to bring back to the boat - what a treat! - and some of the others bought some stunning pearls to take home. Once back on board, we settled in for the night, until we had an unfortunate event: Rod’s hip replacement decided to pop out, so we moved Silver Fern into Uturoa town to meet a waiting ambulance to get Rod into the best medical care! He’s still in hospital but all is well, and we hope he’s managed to get some ice cream by now!

As we were right in town, the next morning we all treated ourselves to fresh pastries and coffee. Here on the wharf we met a Belgian man who’s fan of our Ocean Sailing Podcast. If you’re reading this Mr Belgium, Hello! We then went north for more snorkeling before returning south to have dinner at the restaurant ‘Fish and Blue’. It was a truly fantastic day, just overshadowed by our thoughts of Rod missing out. As we arrived back at Silver Fern after dinner, we paused for a photo and the outboard engine promptly cut out! Luckily, we were only about 5 metres away from her, and upstream, so we managed to quickly row and grab hold. Laughter all round as we imagined drifting away from the boat in a strong current!

The next day, we made more ground eastwards back to Huahine where we spent two nights. Our eating was dispersed with swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and exploring in two areas. Stunning coral gardens where Xander was most proud to have spotted a humu-humu-nuku-nuku-apua’a which is a reef trigger fish with a much more fun name in Hawaiian (where Chris and Xander used to live). Pattie went for a kayak after launching it and dropping the painter line, Dennis, Robyn and I went snorkeling too with Jason, and Tracey, Bel and Chris explored the golden beach beneath some thick Tahitian jungle. Dennis treated us to dessert of ice cream and fruit salad one night and once again we thought of Rod. The team were keen to have lunch ashore so we dropped them at the Mahana Resort on the south end of Huahine. They went for a walk and ended up finding a local guy selling authentic Tahitian food, so ate there instead of the resort! With full tummies they returned to Silver Fern where I’d just met and been talking to a lovely boaty couple from NZ. It’s always nice to see other kiwis around these parts, especially if you’re on a boat with mostly Australians! (no offense guys!)

We left Huahine this morning and are sailing towards Moorea. There’s a nice wind and we’re hoping to be there in time for a late dinner. The wind is between 15-20kts from the north-west and we are sailing on a beam reach, doing between 8 and 9 knots SOG.

*Bel, Tracey, Dennis and Robyn on watch*

-Hannah.

Explore, eat, explore some more

Splendid Societies