S/V L'ORIENT

Our anchorage in Teahupoo.....not bad ! When we arrived here in Tahiti, we braced ourselves for crowded conditions. As New Zealand and Australia are not open, we knew (or thought we knew) there would be a glut of cruising yachts in Tahiti. Papeete (the large town) did not disappoint in this regard, as it was very hard to find a place to anchor there amongst the multitude of French boats used as low income housing. Both marinas are operating at near capacity. Not liking marinas anyway, we have begun a slow circumnavigation of Tahiti's small bays, nooks, and crannies and surprisingly, we find ourselves........by ourselves. Tom with HMS Victory in our swimming hole Kirstin on her paddle board looking very "islandy" We've found a paradise here of botanical gardens, dive spots, places to swim, and fantastic waters to kayak and paddle board. And the best part is that we usually have the anchorage to ourselves. It's confounding that there seems to be virtually no-one cru

Ah... sunset over the boat lifts Every year or two, it's time. We don't look forward to this week but we know it's necessary if we want to live this life. For you non-yachtees, every once in a while there are boat maintenance jobs requiring.......gasp......a haul out.  The moment of truth...note we are in the tiny travelift This is when a giant boat lifting machine hoists your home out of the water with huge straps, suspends you precariously by thin metal wires, and deposits you "on the hard", a nautical term for being, er, no longer nautical. You're effectively in a parking lot next to the water. We are small beans compared to what they build here Sailing down the side street And then the fun begins. Bottom scraping, barnacle busting, and painting.........in 90 degree heat. Propeller maintenance, zincs, fiberglass work.........all need to be done at breakneck speed. And the indoor work ? That's worse because the A/C doesn't work without sea water. We