Location: Morea
Hello people!
What a night yesterday! Our sign-out night started as usual with a drink and a good meal at the barroof (it’s the same as Les 3 brasseurs) and ended on the dance floor with lots of laughs and good conversations. When we returned to Vela, Cosmo was running on the dock and screaming, “MANTA RAYS! There are Manta rays!”. Two of them were feeding in the harbor, flipping themselves upside down, diving, and coming back to the surface. It was incredible!
We got woken up this morning under Tahiti’s sunny sky just to be told after breakfast that we would leave in the early afternoon to go to Moorea. But first, we had some free time and lunch ashore. Some of us went to a park to enjoy the sun and the island in good company, some others wandered through the streets of Tahiti, and Saskia and Elise went on an adventure to grab Ula lunch. Wait for it; here is the adventure:
Ula needed some sleep, so Saskia and Elise propose to bring back a lunch for her. After three weeks of passage, you know what you want to eat, so Ula asks for rice with lots of vegetables even though Elise and Saskia joked about getting her pickled pig’s feet. Having Ula’s order in mind, Saskia and Elise roam the streets of Tahiti, avoiding a million tourists that just came out of a huge cruise ship (of, I didn’t miss the civilization!). They tried a few restaurants, but none seemed right for Ula, so they ended up going back to the bar roof. On their way there, they saw Winnie the Pooh (it’s actually a woman in a red shirt and yellow shorts) and the lobster lady (a red-haired lady with her skin matching her hair because of a sunburn… Ouch!). They finally got a wrap with a side of rice and an extra cake that was delish, according to Elise. Just before going back to the boat, they went into the mini market for a cold juice, and a woman in line, hearing the conversation of our two adventurers, asked if they had pickled pig’s feet here and added that she ate that when she was young. Apparently, it’s a thing! Saskia and Elise came back victoriously to Vela and feasted like queens with Ula.
When everybody was back on Vela, we did a mini passage prep and helped to store away more food (oh yes, more provisioning!). We left the dock under our chief mate (Skyler) and skipper’s (Ula) command. Ula was at the helm while Skyler was on deck, making sure everyone was in a position to pull in the dock lines back on Vela before coiling them and storing them away. They did amazing! We motored our way to Moorea, and just as we were approaching, we could smell flowers from the island. Moorea is quieter and much more beautiful than Tahiti, in my opinion. We anchored Vela, and as we were getting ready for a swim, a lightning storm came in. We saw one lightning strike before we all went down below. Too bad for the swim. The rain stopped just in time for a joyful dinner. Smash had plugged small ambiance lights that made us feel like we were in Gabby’s backyard. It was great!
Just after dinner, we were allowed to take an ocean shower in the dark! We laughed a lot when Carla made the announcement of the ocean shower and told us the only rule: “We can have a shower on deck, but only if someone is watching you shower.” Here we are now, Vela’s crew all jumping in the water and enjoying a night shower!