Huahine, Taha'a, Raiatea: what day of the week is "vendredrink?'

Next stop Huahine, in the Isles du Vent (windward islands) of the Society Islands group which includes Tahiti. This was a 340 mile passage and our first two-handed. Not a problem, under the beautiful full moon. Caught a yellow fin tuna; yum.

The down side of short-handing: cockpit chaos after shaking out a reef

Huahine, Taha’a and Raiatea are surrounded by extensive lagoons, with numerous passes through. There are so many beautiful places; these are islands we’ll explore more on Rumpus’s next excursion.

A bit of exercise at Passe Avamoa, Huahine

In Taha’a, you can pick up a mooring at the Hotel Hibiscus (it’s expected that you’ll visit the bar and restaurant if you do). Joining 4 other cruisers for drinks, we were served by a French version of Basil Fawlty, 30 years older. Our dinner orders were lost in translation. We were told we could have ‘poisson’ (fish) or poisson, and nothing else. No salad or veggies or bread. So we said, no thanks (we’d caught a tuna and had eaten enough poisson for a while). Over an hour later, vegetables and rice arrived. A complete puzzle! 

Next day a visit to Patio village and an offshore island; admiring a four-master with a few hundred happy cruisers.

Our last day out. Slightly damp but wonderful. 

Carenage and ‘Vendredrinks’. 

Rumpus is now happily hauled up, out of the water, in the Raiatea Carenage, awaiting her next adventure. Rupe is back in NZ, and Kristin is doing all those things that you have to do to get a boat maintained, cleaned and ready to be left for a while. Borabora looms tantalisingly in the distance, and daily dealings and socialising are all in French. These have included a boat sale party, meeting Liz Clark on her boat Swell and Friday drinks in the boatyard: aka “Vendredrinks”. So, from the adventures of Rumpus, a bientot!