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Lemberger's Visit Sugar Shack

Texas is in the House: Lembergers

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John, Missy, and Carl joined us on board Sugar Shack in Tahiti.  We’ve known this cast of characters from Texas for over 2 decades.  They visited us in Costa Rica when Sugar Shack was on the hard.  And now we get to show off our home on the water. It’s so much fun to show them the beauty of our life in French Polynesia.

They arrived Papeete, Tahiti at 0600 after 24 hours of travel from Texas.  We shuttled them to the boat where we unpacked and got settled. They brought all sorts of tasty treats from Texas.  Those included a variety of Texas beers, Diplomatico, and Rose.

Texas Liquor Distributors

Texas Liquor Distributors

We made a plan shortly after unpacking and snorkeling.  Our goal was to make it to Bora Bora during their stay. Which means lots of moving.  First, we made a quick stop to the Papeete fresh fruit and veggie market.  We stocked up on fresh goods and a few Tahitian trinkets.

Snorkeling in Tahiti

A popular snorkel and free dive site was just off our port side.  A Cessna and two barges were sunk next to each other to create a unique opportunity.  At 8-10 meters deep and are just starting to see some growth.

Cessna Snorkel Site in Tahiti

Cessna Snorkel Site in Tahiti

We all enjoyed swimming with the sea life and posing for silly underwater photos.

Snorkeling in Tahiti

Snorkeling in Tahiti

We did not linger in Tahiti.  We quickly finished up provisioning and left Papeete for Point Venus.

Point Venus, Tahiti

This is a truly beautiful anchorage.  Very few boats, small village, beautiful views, and a black sand beach.  Missy, Carl and I went exploring on shore.

We found this enormous whale made of cans.  The outside (lower right photo) shows the cans painted white. The middle photo shows the interior with the multiple colors of cans.

Point Venus Adventures

Point Venus Adventures

We got photo ops near the memorials of Captain Cook, The Bounty, and the Missionaries.

Memorials of Point Venus

Memorials of Point Venus

After a short rain shower, we were blessed with a double rainbow.

Double Rainbow over Point Venus

Double Rainbow over Point Venus

MO’OREA

The next day we hustled over to Opunohu Bay at Mo’orea. This has become another favorite spot for us.  We anchored in 2 meters of clear, turquoise water.  The best part of this anchorage is the easy access to Sting Ray City.  It was hard to contain our excitement.  These majestic creatures did not disappoint. They let you get up close and personal.

Sting Rays at Sting Ray City

Sting Rays at Sting Ray City

It did not take long for our Texas friends to get comfortable with these creatures.

Touching and Playing with Sting Rays

Touching and Playing with Sting Raysity

They love to burrow and “hide” themselves in the sand.

Sting Ray Burrowing

Sting Ray Burrowing

Carl got this great shot of Sugar Shack.

Sugar Shack at Opunohu Bay, Mo'orea

Sugar Shack at Opunohu Bay, Mo’orea

John, Missy and Carl went on the Safari Mario Tour the next morning.  It seemed like they enjoyed exploring Mo’orea and the pineapple plantations.

John, Missy and Carl on Mo'orea'orea

John, Missy and Carl on Mo’orea’orea

While waiting for our friends to finish up with their tour, we visited the Hilton for some cold beverages and a little R&R.

Hilton Hotel Mo'orea

The next day we moved to Cooks Bay to show them the town of PaoPao.  And, to of course visit Allo’s Pizza.  A local teenager graced us with a beautiful gift of a flora lei.

Allo Pizza with a free lei

Allo Pizza with a free lei

Coming Up Next:

We do an overnight passage to Huahine.

Piazza's and Mitchell's

A Reward After a Horrible Sail

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Is the reward worth a bad passage?  The sail from Huahine to Mo’orea wasn’t going to be great, but we didn’t think it would be as bad as it was.  The forecast had no rain and decent winds with the hope of a little sailing.  However, we had howling winds on the nose (20-25 kts with 30+ gusts), 2.7 kts of current pushing us backwards and 2.5-meter waves that were really confused.  We left at 1530 and arrived around 1330 the next day.

We were relieved to stop the rocking, pounding, and disastrous motion.  Nobody got sick, but nobody was feeling well and poor Rocco and Linda slept for most of the passage.  The reward was arriving to Mo’orea!  Smiles all around at anchor.

Smiling at the end of the passage

Smiling at the end of the passage

We dropped the hook at Opunohu Bay in a small, sandy area that is just big enough for 6-8 boats.   We saw this spot from the top of Magic Mountain and immediately wanted to stop here.  (See blog “Safari Mario Tour of Moorea – 9/10”).

INSERT PHOTO OF MO’OREA SS W/ 5 BOATS

A few miles away is a place called “Sting Ray City” where you can swim with black tip sharks and sting rays.  We hopped in Sweetie, hugged the black and white markers all the way to this special spot.  Wow, what an amazing experience.  These gentle giants glide through the water like a bird sailing across the sky.  The fish are fed by humans and have no fear.

Stingray City Snorkel

Stingray City Snorkel

MO’OREA INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL:

The Mo’orea Intercontinental Hotel was behind us so we took the liberty to go ashore, internet, and have a few beverages.

Playing at Intercontinental Hotel Mo'orea

Playing at Intercontinental Hotel Mo’orea

Dinghy ride back to boat from hotel – we are a little punch drunk happy having internetted a bit.

Dinghy ride on Sweetie

Dinghy ride on Sweetie

We had such a great experience that we went back the next morning when there were fewer tourists.  A chance to be one with these gorgeous fish.

Stingray City Snorkel

Stingray City Snorkel

PASSAGE TO TAHITI

We could not linger in Mo’orea because Rocco and Linda had a flight to catch.  We had a stellar sail from Mo’orea to Tahiti with almost full sails, no current and less than 1-meter waves.  It was the perfect way to spend the last day on the boat.

The Marina Taina anchorage was pretty crowded, but our same spot across from the Intercontinental Hotel was available.  We dropped the hook directly across from their pool in 2 meters of turquoise water.

TAHITI INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL

Rocco and Linda got a comfort package at the hotel.  We had a blast drinking at the negative edge pool which looked out to Sugar Shack.

Intercontinental Hotel Tahiti

Intercontinental Hotel Tahiti

Fun was had by all.

Pool Fun

Pool Fun

I love these people; they are so fun and easy to hang out with!

More Pool Fun

More Pool Fun

We went back to the room to shower before dinner.  These are our peeps: Rocco and Linda

Dinner at the hotel

Dinner at the hotel

It was a sad moment to say “goodbye.”  We had such a fabulous time showing Rocco and Linda around Bora Bora, Taha’a, Huahine, Mo’orea, and Tahiti.  You too will always have a special place in our hearts!  Thank you for magnificent time!

Huahine - Fare Bay

Huahine Hide Out

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We saw a weather window that would allow us to travel the short distance from Moorea to Huahine.  Unfortunately, it had to be a night sail so that we could ensure a daylight arrival to clear the pass.  There are a few well-protected bays on this island that will allow us to hide from the maramu (A “maramu” is strong southerly winds in the south Pacific that occur in the winter).

So, after our wonderful SafarI Mario tour, we prepared the boat for an overnight sail.  We had considered fueling up in Moorea, but the dock was small, the weather was not perfect, and frankly we didn’t “need” to fuel.  Skip that for now and wait until we get to Raitea.

It was not a particularly bad sail, but it was not a good one either.  We anticipated bad weather and high winds with the Maramu, but in actuality we saw on average low to moderate winds.  There was a period of 3-4 hours with high winds at 25 knots, but for the most part we saw 10-15 knots which kept our boat average down to 5.1 knots.

We had following seas which pushed us along but made for a weird rocking of the boat.  It was if Mother Nature was taunting “you can run, but you can’t hide.”  I was not feeling great and was happy to let Matt take the brunt of the shift.  We arrived with plenty of day light and with two boats on our tail.  Kata and Krabta followed us from Moorea but were about 4-5 miles behind us the entire time.

Passage Details

  • Departed Moorea to Huahine on Sunday 30 June at 1600
  • Arrived Huahine Monday, 1 July at 0930
  • Miles Traveled 85.3nm
  • Max speed 12.8kt
  • Average speed 5.1kt
  • Leaving in the lull of the maramu had us over prepared.  We only flew the jib and kept one engine on at idle.  At one point in the night we saw 25kts of wind and with the following seas it gave us a max speed at 12.8.

It was blowing stink as we pulled into one of the many passes.  Once inside, we had a choice of turning right and anchoring in a relatively empty bay with just a few other boats or anchoring in front of Fare, the main village.  We decided to anchor near the main village for a few days, then move to a quieter more remote location.

Once we were comfortable with our anchorage we went to shore to explore.   We were all surprised by how geared the island was toward tourists.  There were several areas outfitted with small vendor booths selling touristy items (shirts, shells, jams, pearls, etc…).  We decided to grab a bite to eat at the Huahine Yacht Club.  We didn’t linger as we wanted to return to the boat and hide from the storm.

Vendor area on Huahine

Vendor area on Huahine