Tahiti, and Pape’ete the capital city of French Polynesia, are place name still sounding a bit magically, far away, exotic, and are creating the feeling of wanderlust.<\/p>\n
We arrived in the early morning hours of the 01-May-24 on the west side of Tahiti. The west side is completely protected against the strong south-easterly winds, which pushed us forward in the last days.<\/p>\n
With the genoa still up, we very slowly had MaRe moving towards the Passe Pape’ete and watched the new day starting at it’s own pace.<\/p>\n
Still in the twilight we had breakfast. When it was daylight we furled the genoa and started the engines for the final approach by going through the Passe Pape’ete. On VHF CH 12 I called Port Control Pape’ete to request permission to enter and proceed to the anchorage area at the airport. It was granted immediately. I only had to allow three priority vessels to go through the pass before us.<\/p>\n
The passage through the pass was pretty easy. The pass is wide, and well marked. The sea was flat. Only ripples no waves. Especially no waves like we had them outside of the pass a Fakarava.<\/p>\n
Once inside, the navigation channel between the island and the outer reef is very well marked.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly many outrigger canoes where out in these early hours of the day. Most of them were singled seated. But also 6-seater were to be seen. This sports, called “va’ai, is very popular in all French Polynesia.<\/p>\n
The anchorage area is pretty crowded. It is said that this is the only area left for anchoring in Pape’ete. The government of Pape’ete is further said to make strong attempts to restrict the number of boats anchoring in Tahiti. To me this looks a bit strange because here is quite some business to be done with yachts. However every country\/island has the right to limit the number of boats going in and boats will prepare to pass such places.<\/p>\n
The anchor spot we found is a bit deep. 18 m. However our chain is long.<\/p>\n
So far the winds here are weak.<\/p>\n
The sunsets are very nice. Especially the one we had yesterday over Morea, the island close by Tahiti’s west coast.<\/p>\n
The outboard motor repair guy came yesterday. And quickly found the motor’s problem. The diaphragm of the fuel pump got a whole. Via this hole fuel got into the oil, the level of oil-fuel mixture increased far above the oil level and is being pressed via the breather hose into the air intake part of the carburator and causes the engine to stall. Conclusion: the fuel pump needs to be replaced.<\/p>\n
The next dealer for Polynesie Marine is located Australia. Now I’m curious how long it will take to get a new fuel pump.<\/p>\n
As being without an outboard while at anchor, is like being without legs, I asked the technician of he has an outboard, which I could possibly borrow until mine runs again. Now I have a small 3 HP 2-stroke motor. That’s like getting pretty well crutches while having a leg problem. The alternative is rowing long distances. The next dinghy dock is 2 – 3 miles away.<\/p>\n
Seasick Ruslana left yesterday with the friendly help of our neighbor boat SV WHY KNOT.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow OBM and I plan to go ashore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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