Pacific Odyssey - Leg 3

We are anchored near the island of Tahaa again, in the Baie Hurepiti, on the west coast.  It is incredibly windy tonight, it is howling in the bay and we´re expecting a rain squall.  It will definitely not be a very restful night for Skipper and those standing watch.  We spent most of the day on Raiatea, leaving for here at 1600hrs.  Skipper and Jose navigated through a series of bouys which took the ship past shallow water and large patches of coral, to a stretch of deeper water where we set the two courses and sailed beautifully for an hour, at times at 8kts.  We were still inside the lagoon so the water was calm, just the wind was strong.  We sailed from the eastern side of Raiatea (the southern island) to the western side of Tahaa (the northern island), and are now in a good position to go through the pass early in the morning, out into open ocean and on to Bora Bora, 20nm away.  We´ve had another great day.  Jose has been waking up lately with a sore back.  This morning however, after a particularly bad night, even waking up and walking around a bit to relieve the pain, he commented that it felt as if he "was sleeping on a cup or something as if a mountain or something was poking him."  We offered advice, sympathy, back massages, back strengthening exercises, Sam even tried to re-align his back for him.  Then, Skipper asked whether he had remembered to move the Relief Map of Tahiti Nui, Tahiti Iti and Moorea from under his mattress which the two of them had decided to stow there (this is a 2 x 3 foot hard plastic map of Tahiti, with the heights and contours of the island mountains sticking out proportionally in hard plastic; it was given to us by the friends of Jordan, Carolyn, and Antony in Tahiti).  Jose gave a humorous look of disbelief, ran down to check, and sure enough, he had been lying on top of the Tahitian Mountain Ranges all night!  We sure laughed.  His back has been bothering him for several days though, and thus he maintains the need for the continuation of the back massages and sympathy. After breakfast dishes, dories were lowered and people set out in 3 basic directions.  One group hiked inland, through lush, green vegetation and beautiful dark brown cows to a stream and waterfall. It felt wonderful to rinse in the fall and in the good-sized pools of the stream.  The sun was very hot. Elske and Tav found mini chili peppers on a small bush on the way back from the waterfall and encouraged everyone to put one to their tongue. They were incredibly ´hot´ and trainees walked around for 20 minutes with burning tongues.  I think Gillian and Katie have some extras with which they can cook.  Katie had baked fresh bread again for sandwiches so we were able to take a lunch with us.  Walking inland on these islands is, I think, one of the nicest things to do here; hanging out on a motu and snorkeling are pretty wonderful too.  Karen, Claire, Susan and Leslie visited an archeological site about a 40 minute hitch-hike away.  Their route took them through gorgeous valleys and around the edge of many bays.  They said the site was very interesting and were excited about their day.  The same fellow who picked them up, arranged to drive them back to the town of Uturoa, where they could get a cold drink.  The third group, which included the cooks, walked and got rides into town.  The first stop for most of them was the grocery store, buying cheese, baguettes and juice for a picnic, then internet, and then checking out dive shops etc. We´ve had a relaxing evening.  A long game of Settlers of Catan was being played in the hold, tea and conversation was happening in the galley, and chatting, letter and journal writing and reading was going on in the foc´sle and up on deck.  There are some diehards who are sleeping on deck, without tarps and a very high probability of rain, as well as the strong winds that are already blowing.  The nights on deck with the rain and all that ensues, creates good discussion during the day:  different theories on what would work better, what did work, how useless the tarps really are as the water runs everywhere anyways, the noise for those sleeping below already, the line-up at the head of the companionway as people hurry to get below with their bedding etc.  For me it´s funny, as I stay dry, sleep well, all night, every night . . . in my bunk.  Stephen and Skipper programmed the computer to solve the spherical triangle problem for celestial navigation.  This replaces the need to use the Sight Reduction Tables, and hopefully, is the beginning of a process that will help trainees and crew understand more thoroughly, the entire process of computing the sextant sights to a position on the chart.  Jordan and Carolyn´s dad is celebrating his birthday tomorrow and they would like to wish him an awesome day.  "We miss you, have a Happy Birthday, dad," from Jordan and Carolyn.  Happy Birthday Allan, from the crew as well.  This is it, I´m not the last one up tonight; I hear Skipper and Stephen conversing and laughing on the cabin house.  Good night,
Bonice.