After Edward & Alicia departed we felt a little flat – I guess it just highlighted our isolation from all our family at the moment & we miss them all. Certainly a different experience with just Bill & I than the partially controlled mayhem that accompanied our circumnavigation with 3 kids 18 years or so …
It was fabulous to have our oldest son, Edward & his fiancée, Alicia visit and stay with us for just over 2 weeks. We hadn’t seen them since we left in April, so it was so good to catch up & share all our respective news. Not the least of which included details of ‘the …
It has been just over a month since I returned from Italy. I went there to celebrate the marriage of my niece, Rachel to Ben. It was a joyous occasion full of much love, support & affection for a wonderful couple, who are both thoroughly gorgeous human beings. They deserve each other. It was also …
Compared to Papeete, Uturoa the capital of Raiatea, seemed very small, but it appeared to have all that we required. We were greeted by a patisserie full of sumptuous pastries & a choice of 3 supermarkets & an undercover produce market from which to purchase supplies. There are also some quite decent artisan outlets offering …
After our wonderful experiences in Huahine, I wasn’t quite sure how Raiatea & Taha’a would stack up, but they haven’t disappointed! After a great 20nm downwind sail from Huahine, we entered through Pass Iriru or Maire & headed into Faaroa Bay – a deep bay into which 2 small rivers flow. One of them, Apoomau …
After a couple of week’s sojourn in England catching up with my close family, as well as a few brilliant days in beautiful Bruges with Wil, I returned to Tahiti to find that Bill had accomplished a myriad of boat chores in my absence. I must say historically this has always been the case – …
As always, we really enjoyed our time in some of our favourite anchorages in Moorea – it is such a special place. Bill & I have had some wonderful encounters: Whilst snorkeling, being surrounded by literally hundreds of yellow & black damsel fish swirling in a yellow cloud around us At nighttime, shining a spotlight …
After much toing & froing, our starboard engine problem was finally diagnosed, (we hope). Bill thought it was the heat exchanger. Mechanic took it apart & apparently ‘fixed’ it, but nothing changed & engine continued to lose coolant – so a new heat exchanger will soon be winging its way over! The good news is …
It has been a bit of a waiting game this last week. Waiting for parts, waiting for technicians, waiting for the boat to be fixed so we can get on with our adventures! Having said that, there are worse places in the world to sit & wait. We are presently in the ‘airport anchorage’ which …
We enjoyed another few peaceful days in the South Vai’are anchorage. So special to watch the occasional eagle ray or reef shark saunter past, their markings very easily discernable in the clear water. The nearby reef offered a kaleidoscope of colour with a huge variety of reef fish darting about amongst the soft & hard …