We had only planned on spending a week in Tahiti, but that was written in sand during low tide.  It is easy to get absorbed into a routine here.  Especially when you have access to supplies, marine stores, markets, and fresh goods.  In addition, you have lots of cruising friends to keep you entertained.  We ran into our good friend Barry on Adventures of an Old Seadog, Mike from “Easy”, Josh and Rachel from Voyages of Agape, Niki and Peter on Sailmore, James and Kimmie from Zingaro, Adam and Daniel from Reverence, and James from Moonrise.

Barry is always good for a million laughs and superb stories.  We hung out with him and Mike from “Easy” several times before Barry headed toward New Zealand.  Barry was in a slip at the Papeete Marina, so we often went into town and stopped by.

Barry from Adventures of an Old Seadog

We “controlled” ourselves for the most part, but typically the four of us can be trouble..  From left to right: Barry, me, Matt and Mike (top).  Barry is pretending to be grumpy but he comes across simply adorable.

Matt and I participate in the French Polynesia Poly Magnet which is a twice daily SSB net where cruisers report their position underway and share news and information.  Birget from “Pitufa” held a happy hour so that everyone could meet the face behind the voices.  It was really interesting to meet these folks face to face as we have been hearing their voices for months.

French Polynesia Poly Magnet SSB Group

After our happy hour, we walked a few miles to a food truck park where we enjoyed tasty pizza, pasta and burgers.

Food Trucks in Tahiti

Provisioning in Papeete

In between all the fun, we have worked on boat projects (see list below) and provisioned the boat.  There is a huge fresh market downtown Papeete.  You can get fresh goods, trinkets, souvenirs, and oh so much more.

Fresh Market in Papeete

We had not seen our good friend James since Panama and it was a real treat to hang out with him again.

James from Moonrise with Sugar Shack

Our friends on Reverence, Adam and Daniel invited Agape and us over for happy hour.  It was really nice to see their beautiful boat, a 58′ Tiana.  They are flying back to the states and hired a crew to deliver their boat back to San Francisco for them where they plan to sell her.

Adam, Daniel, Rachel, Josh, Matt and I

You can easily get absorbed into a routine in Tahiti.  We did not mean to stay almost a month that’s for sure.  But at least we were productive, had fun, and engaged with lots of people.  Being “absorbed” isn’t all bad.

Boat Projects Completed:

• Starboard engine circulation water pump replaced
• Starboard toilet joker replaced
• Replaced two water hoses for the freshwater pumps in each engine room
• Installed fuel filter on Sweetie
• Installed windlass activation switch at Starboard helm
• Washed down boat
• Caught up on writing blog and scheduling posts
• Recaptured and saved photos that were being deleted from iCloud. I now officially hate iCloud!
• Cleaned half the boat waterline from the muck that grew while anchored in Tahiti

One of the SSB net boats, Winsome lost its engine and had to sail back from the Cook Islands.  We assisted them as they came through the pass and anchored.

Assisting Winsome enter port

This massive sailboat had the most spectacular dinghy.  Check out how the lines of the sailboat and colors match the dinghy.

Matching Dinghy

The days got away from us.  Our routine absorbed us. But, we managed to escape and move on as we have new islands and a new archipelago to explore!