Normality resumes

The pearl regatta is over, we've collected all of our heavy gear and now it is time to relax and take it all in. We have upped anchor after the final party, left the motu (island) where it all concluded and headed around Tahaa. On route to our next anchorage we pass our first sighted pearl farm and drop the hook outside what is said to be the highest acclaimed hotel in the French Polynesia. It certainly looks fantastic although I couldn't afford to stay there at over €1000 a night so instead we opt to go for a snorkel through a narrow pass between two motus. To get there you have to leave the tender in the shallow waters and go overland to the seaward side of the pass, enter the water and let the current do the rest. What happened next was an unbelievable sight and an absolute maze of coral garden that was simply infested with all varieties of reef fish that were very curious of human presence and would come right up to your mask for a better look. The whole tour took about 15 minutes of drifting in water warmer than a bath until we were propelled out of the end of the pass and back towards the tender. With not much left to do the evening took us all to the hotel. I tied up the tender on a crescent shaped pontoon that swept towards the hotel and up to the bar for cocktails and to admire the geckos on the ceiling. Before leaving the following morning I took the tender with Bryony, Chris and Denise to the pearl farm to spend some money on black pearls that are famous in this part of the world. it also turned out to be a very educational stop as we learnt about the production of the pearl and its origin from the missisipi river. Next stop, Bora Bora

TPRX2013

Proteus has been entered into the annual Tahiti Pearl Regatta! Preparations have been made, new spinnaker, dinghy gone from the foredeck, second anchor and 100m of chain gone, a bit more muscle in the borrowed form of Jack on holiday from Sulana and off from Tahiti to Raiatea over 100 miles away where the regatta is actually taking place! I've seen so much traditional Polynesian dancing that I don't want to see anymore for at least a year but the evenings entertainment at whichever nearby island we finished the day at was excellent even if it didn't necessarily improve my performance the next day. Proteus excelled herself in all ranges of weather much to everyone's surprise after many comments like 'we'll be waiting in the bar for you' and we brought in a couple of first placed results. I feel like we could have done better overall after some of the race fleet missed marks and used their engines without declaring but the race commity seemed more occupied in the parties than the racing. Nether the less we had a great time, learnt a lot about what we can do with the boat out of normal cruising circumstances and got some awesome photographs of us underway. The fun and success we had has opened up a whole new world for Proteus unbeknowingly and now a new genoa is being ordered and Denise and Chris are very keen to do the Hamilton Island race week in Australia which will certainly be stepping it up a notch.

Back to having fun

I haven't written in a while due to being completely preoccupied with ocean passages, amazing sights, great sailing and the odd party. The sail from the Galapagos seems a very long time ago and was generally very light airs mixed with large lightning storms towards the later part which probably had a large part to play with us losing our wind instrument information which we have now fixed with a $3000 new part. We flew into Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas for 12 hours just to take on fuel as we had used a fair amount in the light airs just to make up time. It was a great surprise to find the Oyster 54, Babe with Paul and Trish who were now behind the main fleet due to heading home for a couple of weeks. This encounter helped build beaten moral massively especially as they held off leaving that day and we all headed to the local hotel and had a fantastic steak for dinner, much needed after 16 days at sea and rubbish, chewy steak back in the Galapagos. Nuka Hiva looked amazing but no time to rest we set off for the Tuamotos in convoy with Babe which made very good speed in the lighter sailing airs. On the approach to the largest settlement, Rangiroa, there was a huge squall with no visibility and lots more lightning all around us which is very unnerving with 90ft of carbon fibre mast above you. This brought on the need for Tosh to put on his rubber soled shoes and when clear enough we aimed for the very narrow pass into the lagoon within the atolls. It is such an incredible contrast to go from being in thousands of meters of depth, rough seas and strong winds to the calm, tranquil environment in a lagoon surrounded by coral atolls. Our arrival here was very welcoming as we had caught up with the bulk of the Oyster fleet after such a long time. The hotel ashore of where we anchored was one of the best I have ever seen so we enjoyed a few beers whilst watching small sharks forming bait balls of fish and occasionally sighting a target and darting into the bait for a feed. Unfortunately the restaurant was full but Alan, Will and Jack kindly took us in and fed us on board Sulana. Next morning we sprung up early and had a quick snorkel at the coral 'aquarium' inside the pass to Rangiroa. THERE WERE FISH AND SHARKS ALL OVER THE PLACE! This was all great and very exciting but Tahiti was beckoning so we had to get going. All of the crew had a lot of work and catching up to do around the boat after so many miles at sea and in preparation of Chris and Denise arriving once more although we still had time for an amazing party put on by Oyster which involved a lot of Polynesian dancers and fire jugglers. We now have a new cruising chute delivered from NZ ready to be used in the Tahiti Pearl Regatta. Lovely