Faaroa Bay - Raitea

We finally left Huahine yesterday for the 20 mile sail across to Raitea. We pulled up anchor around 10:00 in the morning and had the sails up inside the reef and then sailed out of the reef and on towards Raitea. Cathy sailed the boat through shifty winds as they blew across Huahine and finally 5 mile or so out, the winds steadied up and were directly astern. Cathy called for wing on wing so up to the foredeck I go and with the genoa poled out to port and the main full out to starboard we trucked along between 6 and 7 knots. The seas were rolly but with good speed it wasn't so bad. It was a good sail and the winds stayed with us all the way through the reef entrance on Raitea. We pulled in the genoa before we sailed in and went under main alone and shot straight through. The winds by this time were blowing from the south so instead of beating our brains out tacking up a narrow channel, we motored the remaining 3 miles or so to Faaroa Bay. We had been told about this place by an Australian guy we met in Avae Bay on Huahine at the potluck we had on the beach. He said that it is well protected from most winds and that there is water available and a river that you can get up with your dinghy at the head of the bay. We anchored in about 15 meters with a mud bottom so great holding. Good thing too! The bay is protected from most winds, but NOT what we started to get last night and continue to get now. It's blowing about 25-30 knots right down the bay and we are dug in good. I don't think we will be going much of anywhere today, but who knows. There are a bunch of mooring balls about halfway up the bay, owned by Sunsail and Moorings. There are a few American boats on the them but I tend to trust the anchor more than an old, questionably maintained mooring. The plan is to spend a couple of nights here and then head to the north end of the island to the town of Uturoa. After that, we plan to spend a few days around the other island inside the reef, Tahaa, then next weekend, off to Bora-Bora. We'll see how it all works out.

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