We sailed to Moorea, an island just 12 miles away from Tahiti last week. We really enjoyed our stay there. We went to see Polynesian dancing at the Bali Hi Hotel there, they get everyone to participate. It is amazing the way those women’s hips gyrate, I did it for a few minutes and it was a real workout. Barry did get on his feet but could not manage the knees in and out motion, but he did get up and participate so good for him. His hip has been getting progressively worse and some days I wince as I watch him walk.

While in Moorea we rented a car and drove around the island. It has some spectacular views and we would not have been able to see them on foot. While driving around we found the road to the waterfall. It kept getting smaller and rougher the further up the hill we went. Barry finally refused to go any further when it got quite muddy. I headed up to the falls on my own as it was not a good hip day for Barry. It was a nice 20 minute stroll although I think I liked the small 2 foot waterfall in the jungle better than the huge falls. Well, there wasn’t hardly any water coming over the falls, it is dry season here, so that may have influenced my decision, hmmmm! We stopped and had lunch and did some shopping and then went down to a beach on the island so it was a good day; very busy.

I have a cookbook from the Bluewater Cruising Assoc. and at the start of every section is a picture. While I was paging through it awhile ago I noticed that there was a picture of Cat’s-Paw IV at the start of the dessert section. The picture was taken in Cook’s Bay, Moorea about 10 years ago when Cat’s-Paw was here with her former owners. I decided to have a dessert party once we were in Cook’s Bay so Saturday was the day. We had people from every boat in the bay onboard and I cooked 4 desserts and Cathy from Tarun brought another, so we had sugary sweet stuff and rum punch all afternoon. There was an English couple, an American trio, a Danish couple, a Spanish girl as well as 4 Canucks on board, a great mix. It went quite well, but I have too many desserts left. I froze some of the carrot cake so hopefully it will still be good in a couple of weeks when we can look a dessert in the face again!!

We left Moorea yesterday thinking we were just going to go to the next bay, but when we were in the pass on the way out of Cook’s Bay, the motor decided to quit. Luckily we had the sails ready and the wind was on the beam, so out we sailed into 20 knots of wind and 10 foot seas. Poor Barry had to check the fuel line, change the fuel filter and bleed the lines in an attempt to get the motor going. He was looking pretty green for awhile there. I just sailed away from land waiting until he could trouble shoot the problem. Well, shit, (sorry Mom) he couldn’t get the damn thing started so then we had to decide the best plan of action. There is a boat yard in Raitea so we headed that way; it was about an 85 mile sail. The seas did not let up and we both did not eat any supper and were pretty green about the gills, probably the most uncomfortable night I have spent aboard. Using the Sat phone we managed to get a hold of someone who was willing to come out and give us a tow. We sailed right up to the entrance to the reef and a boat came out and we tied up and he pulled us in. At the moment we are tied bow and stern to the boatyard jetty and someone is supposed to come this afternoon and help us get the motor going. We are glad we got here safe and sound and hopefully our problem will be solved later today.

Getting towed into Raitea!!