Toau was so beautiful that we did not want to leave.  However, I needed to get to Tahiti to prepare for my visit back to the States and we had a laundry list of chores to do before I left.  So, we head to Tahiti – the land of the plenty.  Tahiti is a necessary evil.  We go here to provision (with real grocery stores), obtain boat parts, bulk items (TP, paper towels, trash bags), hardware stores, and run errands (oh so many errands).  But first we have to get there.

Passage to Tahiti

The passage from Toau to Tahiti is about 250nm from pass to pass.  We estimated it to take 2 days to get there based on light winds from the NW.  Originally, we had hoped to fly the spinnaker for the first day and then switch to the working sails when the wind shifted to SE.  Unfortunately, the weather gods were playing tricks on us again.  We had winds directly on the nose at 2-4kts.  Not good for sailing so we ended up motoring for the first 20+ hours.  Finally, the wind filled in a smidge which allowed us to sail at 5-6kts.

We arrived into Point Venus, Tahiti in the middle of the night.  We know this anchorage and have been here several times before.  So, we felt comfortable coming into this very large, well-marked anchorage at night.  We dropped the hook, went to sleep and moved the boat to Papeete in the morning.

Things to do:

• Pick up Matt’s new passport from U.S. Consulate
• Pick up both of our new carte de sejure (long stay visas) from Tahiti Crew
• Pick up 50L of rum from Airiki Noa Noa (Tahitian Rum)
• Obtain a duty -free fuel certificate (saves us 40% on diesel)
• Provisioning (Carrefor, Super U, Champion)
• Big Box Stores (Maxi’s, Polynesian Trading, Tahiti Pas Cher, etc…)
• Boat Parts (Sing Tung Hing, Ocean 2000)
• (3) Hardware stores
• Bank ($, $, $, $)
• Shell Gas station to buy 20L of oil (for both diesel engines)
• Errands: Electrosav, Auto Parts, Wing Chang (25kilo flour)

• Fix outboard at Yamaha (not shifting properly)
• Inspect and fill Dive Tanks and repair regulator
• Get fuel (both diesel and gasoline)
• Provision for fresh goods (fruit and veggie), frozen and cold goods

Normally, Matt and I have to make a bazillion trips to each of the stores because we don’t have a car and can only carry so much.  Typically, it is a 2+ mile walk, a bus ride, and another 0.5 mile walk to the dinghy, load the dinghy and then transfer onto Sugar Shack. 

However, we had to go to the U.S. Consulate which is well over 10 miles away with no direct bus route, and a $30+ cab ride one way.  So, we decided to rent a car last minute to get there and  then get all our heavy lifting out of the way (rental $55).  We were able to complete the top 10 items above in one day! It was one hell of a long day, but it got done!  We had to make 2 trips back to the boat to unload the car, but we got it all done. 

Fuel the hubby and the boat.  40L of beer, 50L of rum (blue drums) and 20L of oil.

Tahitian Beer and Rum

Picked up boat and cleaning supplies.  The items in the photo came from about 8 different stores.  No such thing as a one stop shop.

Bulk stores provided great buys on American brand snacks and treats. This batch of stuff will last us 8-9 months.

My 25kilo bag of flour – yes, we do a lot of baking.  We make our own bread, pizza, dough, English muffins, focaccia, muffins, cakes, cookies, etc…

Big Bag o Flour from Tahiti

Beautiful rainbow over Marina Taina which is in Papeete, Tahiti.  We anchored outside of the marina.

Tahiti Marina Taina

Errands and Chores

We continue to work on boat chores when we are not running around.  Slowly knocking the projects off the list.  Stay tuned for the major redo of all of our exterior teak that took me well over 4 days to complete.

It is a necessary evil to be in Tahiti, the land of the plenty.  We love it because we can get a lot done and reprovision the boat.  But hate it because it is a huge city, filled with lots of people, we spend tons of money, and that boat get’s dirty from the busy anchorages.

But we got a lot done.  Matt will continue to check things off our list as I make my way back to the states.  In the meantime, life is good and we feel blessed.

Va’a Race Mo’orea to Tahiti

Shell sponsored a va’a race from Mo’orea to Tahiti with 6-man teams in each va’a.  A va’a is like a canoe with an arm out to one side, which is called an alma.  The teams of 6 members would race from Mo’orea to Marina Taina.  It as a flood of speeds boats in the channel causing all sorts of rocus.

Va’a Race Mo’orea to Tahiti

As the va’a teams approached our boat, they entered a marked off area called the “transition area”.  Right in front of Sugar Shack, they changed teams in the va’a.  It was so amazing to see the hordes of boats around the transition area.  A boat would drop off 6 men/women in the water. Then their team would bring the va’a up to them.  The team in the va’a would jump in the water as the team in the water jumped in the va’a.  It took only a few seconds for the transition and then they were off again.

Va’a Teams

The 6 teams spent well over 6 hours paddling and trying to win the prize money. The top transition time was 4 seconds and the worse was when one team capsized and had to regain their loss time.

Pretty amazing event.  It takes a lot of skill and expertise to paddle these va’a’s.  Especially today as the weather was not cooperating and it was rainy and windy. They had to cross 15nm from Mo’orea to Tahiti!

Just for Fun

A few Tahiti happy hours to end the busy days.  Some of our cruiser friends.

Events from this blog post occurred during mid-June, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.