What a difference, we have blue sky and sunshine. We make plans to go to the fuel dock to fuel up and to the French market, Carrefour, to buy last minute items we may not be able to find on Moorea. There is quite a selection at Carrefour and such a limited selection in the little village markets on Moorea. One item is Chardonnay wine and a little more red would also be nice. We will try to shop and hope the Bella Donna will be allowed to stay on the fuel dock until we return. Donna, Deborah and I walk the quarter mile to the market.
In the wine area Donna went for the Chardonnay and I went for the red. I say red because I do not understand how to buy French wine and the confusion of grape and region confuses me. The wine section is 97% French; selecting a red for me is like selecting a slot machine to play in Vegas. I decide to buy one bottle of a number of reds and keep track of what I like so I can buy more next week when we return. I think the Chardonnay selection is very similar. The wine prices do get your attention. After buying some really good wine in Panama and Galapagos for $5 a bottle, we are looking at $15 to $50 per bottle. The one US wine they have is Woodbridge at $27 per bottle and Australian Rosemont at $30 a bottle.
Another thing we buy a lot of is bread. Deborah already bought many extraordinary cheeses here yesterday. The produce looks good; we accumulate 8 to 10 sacks of fruits and vegetables. Deborah is making Poisson Cruz for dinner so we buy some sushi grade tuna. These and a few other things fill the grocery cart and we check out. We have to use our own bags to bag the groceries. Deborah has her reusable Carrefour bags she acquired in France during the building of Bella Donna. This is a way of life in France; they do not do paper or plastic; you bring your own grocery bags.
Carrefour is nice enough to allow cruisers to take shopping carts back to the marina; however, our cart is heavily loaded, has wheels that want to turn into the street and the slop of the walkway is in the same direction. For a quarter of a mile, I struggle behind and Deborah struggles in front to prevent our groceries from causing a traffic accident. We have been shopping for almost 2 hours and Bella Donna is still at the fuel dock. We load groceries and depart about 11:10 AM for Moorea.
Harbor control has us wait for a plane to land so we can pass in front of the east end of the runway. Bella Donna's mast is too high to allow safe landing over us. The same thing happens at the west end of the runway except this time planes are taking off. Next we have to dodge the ferries as the come and go between Papeete and Moorea. Some of the ferries are slow and some have very powerful jet thrusters and are very fast. The slowest ferry is faster than we are.
Once into open ocean water, outside the reef, the wind and the waves increase. The wind is on our starboard stern quarter. We raise our Genoa on starboard tack, surf the following sea and make good time to Moorea. It is 12 noon and we will anchor in our now familiar bay in about 2 hours. Before reaching Moorea the true wind reaches 20 knots and the seas start to build beyond white caps. Donna remarks that the conditions remind her of our passage in the Mediterranean from Majorca to Palma. She is right; it does feel similar, but the Mediterranean passage was into the wind. Today we are running with the wind. I would hate to be going into the wind and sea today.
We drop anchor and say hello to all our friends, other cruisers we have been seeing since Galapagos. Among the many are Silky and Nacatcha. John and Ant dive the anchor to inspect the hold and then play water polo. Donna does some swim exercise; I workout in Bella Donna's gym. Deborah does some email and starts dinner. Bella Donna is a happy boat.
God Bless Bella Donna.
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