Blog

Starr anchored off Marina Taina in TahitiWe flew back to Papeete on 22 August, our 37th wedding anniversary. We didn't arrive in Papeete on the 22nd as planned, however. We were sitting on a Hawaiian Airlines airplane, ready to fly from Honolulu to Papeete but the airplane was making a most horrible grinding noise in the belly of the plane and nobody seemed to be taking any notice. Don isn't a particularly passive person, so...

24 August, 2001 /

Starr anchored off Marina Taina in TahitiDon and I flew back to Papeete via Honolulu. When our plane arrived in Honolulu at 1130, our new friend Paul Gay picked us up at the airport and took us to the Lanikai Canoe Club on the other side of the island. Don had received an email from Paul the week before; someone named Mary Moore had sent Paul a copy of Don's email "Rataro's Dream" (see profiles...

22 August, 2001 /

Start of the canoe race around MooreaWe make the 24 hour passage to Papeete, leaving Tikehau at 0900 on Thursday and entering the lagoon at Papeete at 0830 on Friday. We moor at Marina Taina in the Maeva Beach area south of the airport. Later in the morning we go into Papeete and Don checks Starr into Tahiti with the Harbor Master and then Don, Pete, Cathy and I mess around town for the afternoon....

19 July, 2001 /

On one of the motus in the Rangiroa loagoonWe made the three day passage from Fakarova to Rangiroa in the Tuamotus, stopping at Toau and Apataki along the way (see voyage section for the Tuamotus). In Rangiroa our friends Pete and Cathy Trogdon, formerly from Seattle and now living in Annapolis, Maryland joined us on Starr. In Rangiroa, I completed the four open water dives in order to become certified with PADI with Sebastian Bertaut...

04 July, 2001 /

Starr at RangiroaThey eat dogs in the Tuamotus, at least in Rotoava, Fakarava. We were told that they eat dogs, but we thought that meant in years long past. No, they eat dogs at the Miss Fakrava Festival. So much for cultural differences. We didn't experience the dog eating, but our Swedish friends on The Wonder Years did, first hand. The story goes like this: Ole and Karin with their sons, Ole Jr. and Nils...

24 June, 2001 /

Tuamotu landfall at KauehiWe spend over a week at this village in the Tuamotus. Sunday morning we go to church and record the singing. The music is wonderful; the people of Tearavero sing like angels. We record the music again on the following Sunday and make a cd for our friends here that incorporates the music of both days.While we are in Tearavero we become good friends with Edward and Rosina Temere. More with Edward...

17 June, 2001 /

Landfall in the Tuamotu Archipelago, KauehiPassage to Kauehi, Iles de Tuamotu, 522 nautical miles 15.56 South, 145.10Wednesday morning Don and I were drinking our morning latte in the flying bridge, our morning ritual, and discussing life in general. We planned to pull anchor and head off for the 45 nm trip to Fatuiva, but decided instead to begin the three day passage to the Tuamotus. We were ready for a change. Since it would have...

09 June, 2001 /

Starr in the crowded harbor oft AtuonaWe leave Tuhuata at 1030 and arrive in the tiny, crowded harbor of Atuona on Hiva Oa at 1400. Most boats traveling from Mexico, Panama or the Galapagos Islands make their initial landing in Atuona. There are thirty other boats in the tiny harbor behind the breakwater and we are really happy that we made our intial landfall in Taiohae on Nuka Hiva. We can barely squeeze a space...

05 June, 2001 /

Vollyball in Vaitahu, TahuataIt pours overnight but is beautiful again in the morning. This is how the weather arranges itself in Paradise. We finish our business in Hakahau in the morning: I print photos and Chuck and Carol pick up some carvings from Alfred Hatuuki. Tui delivers our warclub at 1000. We learn that he got up at 0200 in order to finish it for us. We deliver chocolate chip cookies to the boys at...

31 May, 2001 /

Starr at Hakahau(Back to our favorite place in the Marquesas and the story continues and gets better: two more Kaikais and another man with a dream. Also Don becomes "an angel" according to Pere Joseph.)When we arrived at Hakahau, we are given a hard time by another boat in the small anchorage behind the breakwater. A guy on an sailboat from England must have been having a "bad hair day" because he tells us that...

28 May, 2001 /