There has been quite a few stories doing the rounds about what happens on the island of Moorea when the fairly rare SE swells hit. I was surfing the reef pass near the capital of Tahiti, Papeete, and got chatting to one of the locals. He said that a SE swell was arriving on Saturday and that the fabled right hander on Moorea should be all time. So we decided, have boat, must go. Another factor in the equation however was the shitty weather predicted for the weekend: Plenty squalls and strong winds. The Society islands lie far enough south (17 degrees), to be affected by the high latitude low pressures which move through sporadically during the southern hemi winter exactly like our western cape cold fronts. During May to August these fronts seem to cause crappy weather once every 10 days or so. So although we were keen to surf these rare waves, we were also hesitant to head out into the teeth of a low pressure system, giving up our fairly secure anchorage near Papeete. But you cant make an omelette without breaking some eggs, so here we are. Surfed some great waves, it was well overhead on the sets, a few bomb barrels came through, but the NW wind was not ideal. I saw quite a few pro surfer faces in the lineup from Teahupoo, but overall the crowd was fine. Apparently Kelly Slater was on the beach here, but he had to head back to Teahupoo as they were maybe going to run the first round of the CT contest. Yeah, I told Kelly to scram. By my second session the swell had slacked off a lot, so don't worry, you did not miss much, it was only happening for about half the day. We found a great anchorage just opposite the Sofitel Hotel in a big shallow lagoon, Nuarei Bay, this has to be one of the most beautiful over water hotel settings that we have seen. Our anchoring co-ordinates are 17deg30.127S, 149deg45.736W, its worth checking it out on google earth. White beaches, pristine coral and these crazy right handers reeling down the outer reef. These waves are beautiful to watch, peeling down about 3 km's of reef, but they are too fast and shallow to surf. The actual wave is around the corner, basically right next to the airport runway, at Faaupo Point 17deg29.468S, 149deg45.091W. There is another right hander about half a mile south of Moorea's main ferry pass, its another crazy barrel but you have to get out as the wave does not have a happy ending. Unless you surf with full body armour and have wheels on your board. Anyway, our great anchorage in Nuarei Bay is currently being pummeled by winds from all directions. The low pressure is truly on us. A gusty wind and a current flowing out of the lagoon has shimmi dancing in circles, tripping up the anchor and moving all over the place as she alternately reacts to the current or the wind depending on which is the strongest. So tonight we will pay for our sins, probably not much sleep and plenty of staring at the chart plotter. I tried setting a stern anchor (took most of the afternoon, driving the 2nd anchor out in the dingy, blahblah), but it just was not viable, we decided to let shimmi just "do her thing", swinging freely on the 50 pound CQR. But we have coral heads all around us, not much room to move, and the wind is howling in the rig. There are a bunch of lovely houses up on the hill, their cosy lights twinkling, how often don't we wish for just one night on dry land! I tell you what, we are going to appreciate our little house in Sandbaai SO MUCH! We are enjoying what we are doing, but sometimes you just feel stuck. When you cruise on a yacht you basically take your home wherever you go, but like a tortoise's shell you can also never get rid of it. But we would never be able to afford staying ashore here anyway, so its a privilege to stay for free (sort of) on shimmi in all these awesome spots.
Early the next morning:
We made it through the night! Not sure how strong the wind is as our brand new wind instrument (950$) is no longer working. But its something close to a black south easter. The current has slowed down. With the dropping swell there is not so much water coming over the reef anymore... which means we are lying facing into the wind and the anchor is holding. We are warming up baguette in the oven, scrambled eggs, ham, jam and swiss cheese. With a solid cup of brewed coffee. This has been our staple shimmi breakfast since arriving in French Polynesia. Anyway, hope you are all well, anybody got a weather/swell report?
