Half way there...

We are half way to Suwarrow. The passage from Raiatea to Suwarrow is 669 nm. We had good sailing the first day and night, but yesterday the wind was light and we turned on the motor. The wind is predicted to return this afternoon.

Suwarrow

We are leaving French Polynesia and heading to New Zealand via Suwarrow, Niue then Tonga. Stay tuned...

Saying Goodbyes

We are starting to have our “lasts” in French Polynesia. We had our last walk in the park in Tahiti, our last stay at Marina Papeete, our last visit to the Marche.

We did have a first, as we finally stayed in the anchorage at Marina Taina. That was a hoot! We got together with Birgit on Pitufa for dinner and happy hour with Shelly and Mike on Avatar, Jaye and Irwin on Windsome and Birgit on Pitufa.

We left Tahiti for Mo’orea today, as we need to start heading west. So, we left the island and our friends not knowing when we will meet them again. I felt so sad today as we left, like I did at the end of summer camp as a kid. The rainy and blustery weather masked my tears as we sailed on.

We were treated to a beautiful downwind sail almost all the way to the anchorage. The island of Mo’orea blocked the wind as we turned toward the anchorage.

We had a beautiful evening enjoying fresh ton rouge with asparagus and duck fat potatoes!

First Mate Kate

Sent from my iPhone

Visit with Cousin Eric

We had such a blast with my cousin Eric! He flew down to Huahine the day before I did and we had a couple of weeks to explore French Polynesia. 

Mike’s brother had just spent two weeks on Pangaea and was now staying at a pension on Huahine, so we got to hang out together. We decided to rent scooters and tour the island.

Eric hadn’t ridden a scooter before but he was an instant pro.

We toured the local Marae and saw some fish traps in the river.

Greg and Mike exploring the Marae

Fish traps

We stopped at a little beach and relaxed after briefly stopping at a little art gallery by Melanie. She was working on this painting that I absolutely love !

We had a little boat ride to a Pearl Farm and got some pearls and pottery!

We heard that there are blue-eyed eels here, so we went exploring.

We tooled over to Avea Bay for lunch and the next day we brought the boat over to the bay to do some snorkeling. It is so beautiful!

drove over to Huahine Iti and Avea Bay for lunch to complete the day.

The next day we sailed here and snorkeled before heading to Taha’a.

Taha’a

We sailed over to Taha’a just in time for sunset. It was so gorgeous!!

Looking at Bora Bora

The next day we went over to Pari Pari for some vanilla education and Rum tasting!

They dry their vanilla slowly to optimize flavor and reduce mold growth.

The T Rhum is the award winning rum agricoles from Pari Pari. It is VERY strong! I like the vanilla rum and passion fruit rum, also.

Raiatea

We sailed over to Raiatea to do a little more exploration. We anchored at Taputapuatea to show Eric the mare there.

This octopus is the symbol for the connected South Pacific islands

We were able to attend the first night of the Heiva celebration in Raiatea.

We had a lovely dinner on Eric’s final evening at the Raiate Lodge.

The next day we took Eric to the airport by dinghy and waited with him for his flight. We decided to have a final Hinano together. . The next thing we knew -an agent from Air Tahiti came into the bar asking for Mr. Severson. Eric answered yes. They were waiting for him.

Awesome!

Please hurry back, Eric! We miss you already!

First Mate Kate