Getting Comfortable

​ 0800 Position 16-49S 150-59W.  Anchored in Avea Bay, Huahine

 

We are waiting in Huahine for a weather window to head southeast back to Tahiti.  It is a little over 100 miles away, directly into the prevailing southeasterly trade winds.  Fortunately, the trade winds in the South Pacific are not as steady and reliable as those in Hawaii.  Every week or so during the winter months here a weather system passing to the south causes the wind to swing into the western quadrant for a little while giving boats the opportunity to sprint east.  Sometimes it lasts for just a few hours, sometimes days.  In 2014 we jumped on a passing westerly in Tonga and stayed with it for eleven days and 1,500 miles to get east to French Polynesia, unusual but not unheard of.

 

We need to sail to Tahiti to pick up a couple of crew members who are flying in, do some shopping, and clear out of the country with customs and immigration.

 

Avea Bay is a great place to hang out waiting for a wind shift.  The Relais Mahana has a dinghy dock100 yards from where we are anchored that they invite visiting cruising boats like us to use.  It is convenient for us, and all the other boats' dinghies pass right by Van Diemen to use the dock.  We've made friends with a couple of cruisers passing by, and there is always entertainment with tourists from the hotel on SUPs and kayaks.  The hotel has ice for sale, we love the food truck across the street, and there is a store that sells fresh baguettes about a half mile away.  We have free WIFI from the hotel, the water is clear and warm for swimming or snorkeling…  What's not to like?

 

We have been watching the weather closely for the past few days, and it looks like our next window for sprinting east won't come until this Tuesday.  That's unfortunate.  We need to be in Tahiti by Sunday night to pick up our first arriving crew member so it looks like we may have to tough it out and sail to windward to get there.

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