Shiny New Boat
A week late, but it was worth it because we now have a shiny new-looking boat. After an extended stay in the boat spa, Technimarine relaunched Jamala early morning on the 27th of July with her bottom smoothed, hull polished, propeller painted, and gear serviced. We even had crew onboard to help us.
Will and Julie, who we met at the hotel, wanted the experience, and we wanted help in case things got tricky getting out of the travel lift and into the marina. Fortunately, we had no problem with either, but it was a win-win anyway, with good company on the hour-long trip to the marina.

Shiny and ready for launch

Farewell from Raina, our project manager
Being belt and braces sort of people, most of the time, we called into the marina office the day before launch to see what berths might be available the next morning. We selected one on the city side and asked our friends Mark and Cindy to help catch our lines when we arrived – which they kindly did.
This berth has proven to be a good one. There might be some clattering racket from the karaoke sessions in a nearby bar once a week, but it’s nice being in the city for a while. We can watch people go by at the back, and boats come and go out the front. And the boat next to us is a small whale-watching boat that takes people out once or twice a day, so there’s little risk of someone unfamiliar with the marina undoing all that hull polishing work by unceremoniously scraping their boat down our side.

Jamala in her berth at Papeete Marina

Flipper the turtle with the missing flipper

Our across-the-road neighbours
Later, we invited Will and Julie for dinner onboard Jamala.

Will and Julie at dinner
James the sailor, a fellow Ocean Cruising Club member. also visited us. James has his own YouTube channel – Sailing Triteia. His video on losing his rudder 1000 miles from Hawaii has been viewed over 3 million times. So, it’s fair to say he is doing well with sponsorship.

James the sailor
Small World
We stayed at the Sarah Nui hotel for so long, waiting for the boat work to be finished, that the lady in charge of the breakfast service presented us each with a leaving gift on our last day, which was very sweet. She also introduced us to her son, Tahi, who is continuing his pilot training with Air New Zealand.
Tahi came to see us on Jamala a couple of days after arriving in Marina Papeete. During our conversation, I told him of the issue we had with a package that had gone missing after being sent to Tahiti Crew. Unprompted, he immediately phoned his cousin who works there to give her what sounded like a stiff reprimand for losing the package. Unfortunately, we never did get the parcel back, but Tahiti Crew did reimburse the total amount for the contents of the box and delivery – and it wasn’t cheap – so good on them.

Tahi looking cool and me not so much
Road Trip
Tahiti isn’t usually short of rain, and it isn’t possible to predict when a deluge will start. But, as the heat usually compensates for a soaking, it’s generally safe to venture out sans protection. So, when Bertrand and Pascale picked us up for a road trip, we expected the best but prepared for a bit of rain by carrying an umbrella. We didn’t expect a monsoon-like downfall as we were halfway up a hill on a hike.
It started well enough. We had no problems at the nice black sand beach we stopped at to take photographs. But things went quickly downhill shortly after we arrived at the Water Gardens Vaipahi.

Baywatch

Surfer dudes surfing

Gents toilets – Tahiti style

And one for the ladies

And the turtles
Both Maria and I were wearing flip-flops, which made for comedic progress both up and down the hills. Maria would have lost a race against a sloth. Fortunately for me, I wasn’t as slow, and I had the umbrella. They say that life is a learning experience. Well, that is another lesson learned: wear proper shoes and take wet weather clothes. It might be hot and sweaty, but it would be hot, sweaty, drier and faster,
If we thought the weather unfortunate, the wedding party who started to gather for photographs at the waterfall, just as we decided to wash our muddied footwear in the pool, didn’t seem to mind at all.

Sloth

Bertrand with sensible shoes

Look at those feet

Wedding party – and gatecrasher

Smiling despite the rain
After the soaking, we carried on to Teahupoo on Tahiti Iti, where global surfing tournaments take place. We planned to get on one of the small boats ferrying passengers back and forth to the reef to get a better look at the big wave. But that was scuppered by the rain. It was still hurling down, so we gave it a miss. But you can just about see the wave in the photo below taken from under the shelter of the restaurant where we stopped for lunch.

Big wave somewhere near the viewing platform in the distance
When we arrived at the botanic gardens, the rain had abated just enough for us to walk around in the dry. That led to another, albeit brief, comedic moment when Bertrand received an unceremonial bollocking from a park worker for picking up a chicken – risk of rejection apparently, both for him and the chicken. The collection of trees and water plants here is amazing, if not quite eerie, in some places.

Botanic garden

Water lillies everywhere

Young bamboo

Old bamboo

Spooky roots

Spooky trees

Environmentally friendly decorative beads
Even a very slow and ageing Tarzan made an appearance.
Papeete
The Sunday market is one of the ‘must sees’ on the Tahiti tourist trail. Judging by its popularity, it’s also a must-do for most of the population around Papeete. The crowd dodgers arrive bleary-eyed at 0530 to bag the best of the fruit, veg and bakery goods – so we are told. But we know for sure that at 0700 the place is packed.

Street market

Outside the market

In the market

Busy market

The queue for pain au chocolat
Another attraction for tourists and locals alike is the 3-Brasseurs pub on Mondays when beer is two for one. The pub was also the location for Avelina’s leaving drinks. She is off to France for a while before, hopefully, returning to French Polynesia in a couple of months.

Two beers Maria at the 3 Brasseurs

Avelina

And friends
Stomping around the streets of Papeete uncovered some more street art. I think this is wonderful – there are some very talented artists around.

More Tahiti street art

Murals are found in the strangest of places.
With the outside of the boat done, it was time to start work on finishing the upholstery. This was the part I had been putting off for an age. The complexity is high, and the chances of getting it right the first time are very low. But it’s now underway. Maria has chained me to the boat until I finish it, and there ain’t no going back.

It’s too late now

And away we go
It is great to know you two are back on Jamala.and having fun! I am hauled out in Puerto Penasco, it is no Papeete. Tell James Tim on Coconut from San Diego still keeps track of him as well.
Thanks Tim. Hope you are making the most of it. James has already left to continue his journey south, but we will be sure to mention him to you. Good to hear from you.
Your posts always make me smile, sounds like I need a full service like jamala lol.
Glad to see you back on your adventures
I’m off to India Thursday then over to Cancun for a well earned rest. Take care and keep the posts coming xxx
Don’t we all! Enjoy India (stay clear of the salads) and have a lovely time in Mexico xxx.
Fantastic! Do love reading about your adventures. And the photos continue to be amazing. You could make some money from these with stock houses of maybe travel magazines, if you were interested. I was particularly struck by that first photo. Stunning!
Well, thank you so much. There’s a thought – although I’m sure it has a lot to do with the photographic capabilities of the iPhone 13 pro!
Love the journey. Water always is beautiful! Hopefully ypir upholstery skills are better than mine, that is a big job. Hoping to get back to Panama by Dec, and then to blue waters of the Carribean. Blessings Jim
Thanks Jim. I can’t comment on my upholstery skills; yours might be better than mine! Enjoy the Caribbean – we certainly did. Cheers – Allen
Hey Allen, still loving your updates. What a life eh!!
Thanks Jane. Better than meetings at RWE eh? Hope you are keeping well and happy.
Great post as usual! Glad the boat work was a success. Love to see you both smiling.
Ta very much! Hope you two are staying well and out of trouble.
you’re writing gives a real insight into boat life : so many friends, and helpful folk!! i’d show my husband but he might get ideas and start planning a big sail trip!! well done maria
Thanks Jackie, unfortunately I can’t take credit for the writing it’s all Allen. I just try and look pretty!! Hope to see you with your new boat soon. 😂
Once again, thanks for sharing your life. See a big difference in the quality of your many photos, surprised when it was revealed that you used an IPhone .
You’re both looking healthy and happy. Cheers 🍷
Thanks as always, Bill. The new iPhone certainly helps!