#53 NOW May 25, 2005 0630 Zone Time = UTC -10 hours Temperature 75 degrees and Sunny Med moored to the New Quay in Papeete Harbor Hello from Papeete, Tahiti Guess I had better bring everyone up to date. After spending three rather rough nights in Rangiroa, we departed at the first crack of dawn for Tahiti. This is a run of about 200 miles and took us 35 hours. Rangiroa, which is the second largest atoll in the world, is huge, being about 20 miles wide and over 40 miles long. In fact, you could put the whole island of Tahiti inside the lagoon. It is an excellent place for diving and there are a couple of nice resort hotels. The problem with Rangiroa is its size and the fact that they had one rainstorm after another with wind to 25 knots. With the lagoon so large, there was plenty of room for the seas to fetch up and it was not uncommon to have 5 to 6 waves breaking through the anchorage. After three days of banging around, we decided to press on to Tahiti. We did enjoy a couple of expensive meals on shore at the resort, and filled the dive tanks at one of the dive shops. The run to Tahiti was rough with 8 foot head seas most of the way. Done Dreamin' just took it in stride and plugged along, although the forward cabin was unusable with all the bouncing around. At night, there was one heavy rainstorm after another. What a sight greeted our eyes as we pulled into Matavai Bay just about sundown. The lush greenery of the island and its familiar shape rising out of the sea is truly spectacular. Matavai bay was made famous by the early explorers such as Wallis (1767) Bougainville (1768), Cook (1769), and of course the Bounty Mutineers (1789). As the sun set over the bay with the island of Moorea off in the distance I couldn’t help but think of the many historical events that took place in this idyllic bay, and what it must have looked like many years ago. The next morning we proceed down the coast about 6 miles pulling into Papeete harbor. This bustling waterfront, with its ferryboat traffic and cruise ships is now the center for commerce in the mid Pacific. After checking in with the Immigration and Port Captain, we backed up to the Quay dropping the anchor out front and tying the stern to the quay. Thus, we are right in the heart of the city on the main waterfront Boulevard Pomare. After securing the boat with everything locked up tight, we set off to stretch our legs with a walking tour of the city. What a delightful place with great restaurants and a wonderful food market which I will use to stock up prior to departure. Jim will be leaving tomorrow morning. His help and skills have been greatly appreciated and I will miss his calm advice and sound decisions. His cooking—well, that will be missed too. Carol will be joining me for the balance of the cruise down to Australia. While she may not have the skills of Jim, she certainly is a lot better looking. I look forward to her arrival. Life is a Cruise, Larry and Jim Larry Rick Done Dreamin' Nordhavn 40 #33 Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/ Email: <mailto:donedream@pacbell.net>donedream@pacbell.net