Sailing the Societies

We will be flying direct form JFK airport in NY to Papatee (Pa Pay a Tay) Tahiti arriving at 3am. The first water taxi to Moorea (Mo O Ray u) is at 6:30am. We will be checking into the Sheraton Moorea and staying in an overwater bungalow until Monday morning. We are trying not to tote too much stuff with us but it's next to impossible as we will have a diving bag, a carry on that has food stuffs such as coffee, Splenda, Crystal Lite, spices and other provisioning things we can carry as certian items are hard to get or way expensive in the islands. We also will be doing the max on duty free vodka and rum (hey what can I say...we are sailors what would a sialing trip be without rum?). Our friends from New Zealand should be arriving on Moorea the same day.

After some rest, a nice dinner and something tropical in a glass we should be ready to do some exploring. We will most likely take a 1/2 day guided tour of the island and then snorkel and dive a bit on our own near the resort. There is a rare flower on top of the highest peak I would love to see and a juice plant that supposedly ferments some into a nice concoction..will update with more info when I locate it in the books.

Today we lug all our stuff to the airport for a quick flight to Raiatea where we will be picked up by someone from The Moorings. They will introduce us to our boat and home for the next 11 days. We have booked a Custom 423 Monohull sloop that will be only slightly over 2 years old when we arrive. It is loaded with a plotter and gps etc. but for some reason no electric windless which means we will be taking turns bringing the anchor up by hand! This wouldn't concern me except I have looked at the charts for the area and some of the anchorages are 60-100 feet deep! Anyway, they will put us through chart class, go over the electronics on the boat and have us do a quick inventory and then off we are to dock at Uturoa and provision and then to Marina Iti, Tahaa for snorkeling, dinner and an overnight anchorage. Both Raiatea and Tahaa are encircled by the same reef so one can sail from one to the other without looking for a pass.

We will leave out of the pass on the west side of Tahaa and sail to the only Bora Bora pass on the west side. ONce inside the pass we will anchor off of Bora Bora Yacht Club and visit Bloody Mary's.