Raiatea
On June 3, we left Moorea at 2:30 PM for Raiatea, which is about 140 miles from Moorea. At 9 AM the next day, we entered the pass to Raiatea. Uturoa is the main town on the island and the second largest town after Papeete in French Polynesia. It consists of a hospital, pharmacy, courthouse, post office, 3 supermarkets, 5 restaurants, 2 gas stations, and 2 banks. There are two main streets that parallel each other for three blocks. There really are no side streets. It's very small.
Steve was our first crewmember to require a trip to the hospital.
His big toe became infected about a week ago and there has been no improvement.
In addition, one of his fingers became swollen and looked infected. He went to
the emergency room and the doctor scrubbed out the wound, put ointment on it
and gave Steve a prescription for antibiotics. He also told Steve not to get it
wet for 5 days. We aren't sure what caused the initial infection. By the way,
the hospital never charged him for the visit, one nice thing about socialist
medicine.
Tilikum Triton
On June 5, Pete and I walked over to Carenage Services, a marine yard, to see the next boat we would be crewing on, Tilikum Triton. The boat is a 1988 Jeanneau 47 foot. It has 4 cabins. Two at the back, one of which is the captain's and one that we will be using. Then there are two cabins on either side in front of the mast. One of these cabins is small and just has two bunk beds. There is a head in front of these two cabins. There is another head in the aft between the two rear cabins. The boat has been on the hard (out of the water and on land for you non-sailing types) for the past nine months. Dario sailed it from St. Milo, France to Raiatea last year.Windvane Steering Problems
That evening, Pete and I pack our bags so that in the morning we can move all our belongings to Tilikum. The plan is for us to motor around the bend tomorrow morning, drop our stuff on Tilikum, stay with Rhum Punch until Bora Bora, then take a ferry back to Raiatea. Since it is only June 5 and Dario won't be here until June 16, we have plenty of time. It was very nice of Alan to invite us to stay with them a few more days.The next morning Alan discovered that the windvane steering rudder has completely broken off the shaft. While they could continue on without it, the steering would be much more labor intensive. The person on watch would have to actually steer the boat the whole time rather than letting the windvane do it. Alan takes the broken stub of a rudder to a shop at the boat yard and finds out that they can make a new one but it won't be ready for six days and will cost about 1000 USD. He gives them the go ahead anyway. Now the plan is to go to Bora Bora for five days and return next Tuesday, June 12 to get the replacement rudder. Alan also emails the manufacturer to see if he can get a replacement sent to Rarotonga, which they agree to do.