Early
in the morning on the 6th of July Dream got a new crew, five
tired landlubbers. Dennis and René picked them up at the airport at
Tahiti. Peter, Hanne, Annie, Lise and Susan had travelled for 32 hours in
order to reach this South Sea Island. Thomas who had been onboard for a
month welcomed the new landlubbers and two seamen at the boat.
Dream
rode at anchor 4 km away from the city, Papeete, at a bay called Maeva
Beach. Here we were away from the smog and were able to snorkel directly
from the boat. We used to go for a dip every morning before breakfast. We
spent the next couple of days swimming, diving and bathing. Besides this
we also had to take in supplies for the rest of the month. This was very
expensive, because foodstuffs are high-priced, much more expensive than we
are used to in Denmark. If we bought supplies from New Zealand or local
products the price was not too bad. Here are a couple of price examples: 1
litre of milk 25 kr (3.5 US dollar) 1 kg of nectarines 200 kr (25 US).
Baguette is cheap so we have learned to appreciate bread a lot, and meat
from New Zealand is good and cheap. We had hoped to catch a lot of fish in
order to keep the budget but we have only been able to harpoon one moray
within the last month. It was 1.5 m and weighed 20 kg, but the weight and
length rose in direct ratio to the beers in the 3 proud fishermen (Dennis,
Peter and Thomas). It had now gained a weight of 50 kg and a length of 5
m.
After
a few days at Tahiti we sailed to Moorea, a very beautiful island 3 hours
away. We dived and bathed and we decided to visit the summit, mountain
Rotui, which is 899 m. It was a long and tough trip; a very steep and
narrow path and we all scratched us on the boscage. But not everyone made
it to the summit but only 300 m up the view was great. You could clearly
see the reef and corals in the crystal-clear water. Only a week ago
another autodidact climber wanted to take the same trip, but he did not
make it alive.
Only
half of us made it to the top and unfortunately we did not have a good
view because we were all covered with thick clouds. A bunch of tired
seamen returned to the boat that evening. Fortunately Thomas from
“Evening Star” had prepared a nice potato soup for us. We enjoyed it
very much. The next day we tripped the anchor and sat out for Huahine, a
nice and not so well known island located between Moorea and Boa Boa. The
weather was nice but we only had a light wind so we did not arrive until
late in the evening the next day. During the night the motor became very
warm and we could not locate the problem in the dark, so we had to go
without motor. In daylight we found the cause to our problems. The
saltwater intake was blocked and Dennis had to go into the water in order
to clean it but he returned very quickly because 10 m under him he saw
some very big and indeterminable fish. But he had fixed the problem and
the motor worked nicely.
When
we arrived at Huahine the weather was nice and everybody went into the
water to snorkel. The next day we wanted to rent scooters but they were
all out, so we had to settle with bikes. Hanne and Annie made a trip round
the island; the rest spent the day on the beach.
At
Huahine Dennis and René gave lessons in diving. Lise, Annie and Susan
were the incompetent students but they did all right, although they are
not ready to dive with sharks yet.
Next
stop was Bora Bora. The island has nominated itself for the most beautiful
island in the world but unfortunately it is over floated with tourists of
the comfortable classes. So in order to experience the real thing, we
anchored at Toopua, 500 m from the main island. It was a perfect place,
the water was turquoise blue and crystal clear, and soon we had found our
snorkelling gear. We had read that the Mantary-Pass, which was close to us,
gave good opportunities to see the horned ray(manta). René, Dennis, Peter
and Hanne hurried to make the gear ready. Now we were to dive. The
Manta-Pass consists of a precipitous coral wall, which went from 8 to 30 m
and ended on a wide sand bank. This dive was almost perfect, because while
you dived along the wall, looking at all sorts of fish and huge morays,
you could look out to the wide sand bank hoping to see the big mantas out
there. We succeeded in seeing a manta or two a couple of times, but it was
even more fascinating to see the great many flocks of eagle rays (Myliobatis
aquila) These fish were very inquisitive and not afraid of people and they
came close, at times even closer than you wanted them to. We really had a
good sight at times we could see about 60m even at 30m.
Now
it was time to go back to Huahine and Tahiti. We were to meet with Evening
Star and Askeladen on the 26th of July at Huahine because we
wanted to make a big birthday party for Dennis and Sabine on Evening Star.
We arrived at Huahine on the 25th and found a suitable bay,
Bouranyne and rode at anchor at a buoy. Evening Star arrived the next day
and the preparations could start.
We
had to shop, bake a pie man, a pie woman and a layer cake. All this was
fixed when Askeladen finally arrived in the afternoon on the 27th.We
tied the boats together, and were now able to go to one another freely. We
were not convinced that the dinghy was a safe transport later in the night!!
Onboard
the good ship 3 hunters meant that it was time to fight the big morays.
Armed with harpoons they left to shoot the biggest moray within the memory
of man. You shoot them in the head with your first harpoon and have a
backup harpoon to use, when it comes out of the cave. Thomas missed the
first shot and then hell started. Dennis fired his harpoon right into its
mouth and then it went back to the cave, and now the great wrestling game
started. They had to let the harpoon go in order to get some air- but
after a quarter of an hour it was so tired that they could pull it out of
its cave. It was a great excitement and the adrenaline must have bustled
about in their bodies. Unfortunately it did not taste very well, probably
because it was too big.
The
cleaning of the moray left the ship in a mess; everything was soiled with
moray grease and the stench was terrible and had an attractive force on
blowflies, so Susan started a massacre in the kitchen and killed 32 in an
hour. Well, the fish was cleaned and so were the deck and the 3 hunters.
Now we were ready for a party. We dined at Evening Star, which was decked
in honour of the event. The menu: pasta and chicken salad, garlic bread
and vodka punch, a good mixture, which could keep you warm, even though
the wind increased. Last we had cake served by Susan, Hanne and Annie who
had put on cocokinis (homemade bikini topss made of coconuts) and sarongs.
This was a great hit. During the night the wind increased and the party
moved to Dream. The 16 persons were just able to sit in the cockpit but
they were seldom there at the same time, because the kitchen was turned
into a dance floor (2 square metre) A new record was made: 12 happy and
jumping people on the dance floor at the same time (Irish folk- music)
This
birthday party required a couple of days of convalescence before we could
hit for Tahiti. The weather was still bad when we chose to go, but we
could not wait any longer because René, Lise, Annie, Hanne, Peter and
Thomas had to catch a plane to Denmark.
The
trip to Tahiti was rough on many, and it demanded sacrifices to King
Neptune. Susan and Hanne won Polynesian championship in tandem vomiting!
Many of the landlubbers were looking forward to seeing a city again;
especially McDonald burgers were at a premium.
We
managed to get a hose onboard and now everybody could get a nice shower.
The girls stripped to the skin and washed themselves from top to toe. We
were alongside the esplanade and close to the main street in Papeete, but
that did not seem to disturb the girls. The next day the harbour master
replied to Dennis: “Captain would you please tell your crew not to
shower naked on the fordeck”. Indeed the harbour master keeps a watchful
eye on us.
It
was time for the 6 crew hands to leave the boat. René was to go for a
well-earned holidays at his family and friends in Denmark, but before we
could say good-bye to them our two new hands, Emil and Stine, came onboard.