Arrival in Tahiti

As the sun rose yesterday morning, Dominic could see the majestic peaks of Tahiti breaking forth from the sea. It's a monumental landfall for us, despite having covered well over half the distance from San Francisco to New Zealand. We survived the Dangerous Archipelago (aka the Tuamotus) unscathed. It's the biggest city we will visit in the South Pacific, and certainly the most famous island on our itinerary. It's also a major congregating zone for sailors; it was really fun to cruise around the various anchorages and marinas and spot most of the boats we've made friends with along the way.

We're anchored about four miles northwest of downtown Papeete. A crude mast count indicates well over 100 other boats anchored or moored nearby. A large motor catamaran blocks our view of the marina, but there are easily another 100 boats docked. There are variety of other vistas new to us: a six lane freeway, apartment buildings, bungalows on stilts in the shallow water, airplanes, jet skis, helicopters, and continuous outrigger canoe traffic.

And Moorea. Oh, Moorea, you are too beautiful. Our view of Tahiti itself is a little lackluster (those majestic peaks are hidden from this particular angle), but, as seen in the photo, we have a stunning view of Moorea's dramatic basaltic spikes from the anchorage.

What did we do when first arriving at the anchorage? Dominic set to work on post arrival tasks, and I did what anyone does when first arriving in paradise—defrosted the refrigerator in preparation for chore-a-palooza that gets underway today. Then we did what we've both been longing to do, went to a restaurant and had our fill of red meat and red wine. Happy Friday, everybody.