[password] pilot25041
[position] 17 50.2s 149 82.0w
[status] Thursday 14th June ....... now in Moorea, so we left Papeete Marina on Tuesday after we handed back the hire car ......... with all the major and most of the minor "boat jobs to do list" completed!
Our departure to Moorea was met with head winds initially but we started sailing and then a major wind shift gave us a reach across the 15nm gap to Moorea! We went past Cook Bay and then entered through the reef and anchored at the top (south) of Opohuna Bay ...... a very pleasant anchorage and beautiful sunset followed. Wednesday morning we did a quick run ashore as we were aware that the "local" prawn farm sold their wares between 10.00-14.30 on Wednesdays ......... we were not disappointed and after a spot of lunch moved out of the bay and re-anchored inside the lagoon entrance on the western side. This gave Allan the opportunity to scrub the hulls, whilst the rest of us went snorkelling over the reef .......... a feast of various fish rewarded our snorkelling efforts.
Our fresh prawns were then barbecued along with coleslaw and bread fruit chips ..... another excellent meal! We then had an aquarium display of local fish around the boat including various species of 'rays', throughout the evening!
First thing this morning we then boarded the dinghy and went further up the lagoon to where all the 'tourists' go to swim & feed the reef sharks and manta/ sting rays .......... what an incredible experience this was ........ especially for Ruth who was confronted by a large ray literally 3 inches from her mask as she entered the water from the dinghy ......... needless to say we have some wonderful pictures & videos to remember this experience by!!
Whilst we were snorkelling the wind got well up, so it was a rather wet dinghy ride back to Surreal ......... in fact we took on so much water it was nearly up to the dinghy transom! Anyhow, the 'gribs' looked good for a launch across to Rangaroa, so we went back into Opohuna Bay to have lunch and set our sails for the "off", we saw yacht Katariana in the bay so went for a chat, had a quick bite to eat and then sorted our sails ...... 3 reefs in main and half a genoa. Out through the reef, the wind gradually built to 35+kts with a sea to match, hard on the wind and after 5nm of bashing with no signs of the conditions abating we tacked back towards shore and headed for Cooks Bay ........ which is where this 'blog' is being written.
Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be more conducive to a better passage to Rangaroa, as we would really like to see the Toumotos before we further explore the Society Group.
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