The calm before the storm

 

La Orana!

After all the waiting and speculation, the inevitable has finally happened.  We heard yesterday that the winds expected to arrive in the Society Islands on Tuesday have been officially upgraded to “Tropical Storm” status.  

We are the white dot

Papillon in waiting

It was not a surprise.  “Met Bob” had warned of an increased chance of a tropical storm two weeks ago and the weather models although not exactly concurring did agree on at least the presence of strong winds in the vicinity.  Last week in Moorea it all seemed a distant threat.  We enjoyed several days of calm sunny weather and the island was looking its exceptional best.  We hiked, swam, people watched and even took the fast ferry to Tahiti for a big city day trip.  

Hiking from Cooks Bay	sunset at anchor on the reef
Skipper and his avocado stash	Mount Rotui

There were a lot of fellow cruisers about, nobody was running for cover; everybody seemed very relaxed.  We had invitations from other boats inviting us over for pizza nights and drinks.  It was all fun, fun, fun…until Wednesday when we received a facebook update warning of “the emergence of a tropical depression starting Thursday” in a “vast area” located to the west of French Polynesia.  Suddenly life was not so much fun.  We had earmarked a cyclone hole on Moorea to “run to” but now it didn’t seem as attractive and all we could think of was our huge concrete mooring ball with lots of chain attached to it back in the lagoon.  Our response reminded me slightly of when Duncan was born.  I had planned for a home delivery until the midwife actually arrived in my bedroom.  Then reality hit, bravado drained away and I found myself screaming for the hospital.  Like that day a last-minute dash was made but, on this occasion, it was back to Raiatea!  We immediately hauled up the anchor, secured the boat and set off for the long passage home.  

Facebook update

Tranquil days over

The wind direction was not particularly helpful but did improve and for most of the trip we sailed accompanied by a golden moon and fantastic stars. But it wasn’t quick.  A passage that had taken as little as 18hrs in the past was nearer to 24hrs this time.  We seemed to be in “the calm before the storm”.  Despite all the dire weather warnings I couldn’t help wishing for a little more wind but when it finally did arrive a few miles short of Raiatea it was from the west – yet another reminder of unusual weather patterns - and completely unhelpful!  It was a very relieved ships company that finally picked up the mooring on Thursday afternoon and we certainly slept well that night. 

Sunset on the way home

Skipper on watch

Since then, bad weather preparations have been made. Yesterday I “tripled” up our mooring lines to comply with our insurance obligations.  It was a long job complicated by the risk of ropes chaffing in the now almost inevitable strong winds coming our way.  Our solution has been to wrap any ropes at risk and to thread them through plastic tubing when they actually encounter a shackle.  It seemed logical to us but generated a lot of interest with other boat owners around.  Mohammed was the first to offer his opinion.  He seemed convinced by the arrangement and relieved too as what he actually wanted was someone to keep an eye on his boat…while he waited out the storm ashore!!  We exchanged numbers.  Then Gabriel arrived, an Italian businessman on an exceptionally beautiful 52ft monohull registered in Panama (absolutely NOTHING dodgy there then!!).  Gabriel agreed that for catamarans like ours (insert – “tiny catamarans”) the mooring ball was probably the safest place…but for him he was going to run to the hurricane hole on the east side of Taha’a and if space allowed drop both of his 40kg anchors and all of his chain.  Others followed suit and by the end of the day only “Izayan” and us were left as occupied boats on the moorings.  It all started to feel very real.  The guys on "Izayan" took to their canoes and paddled out to the reef on mill pond flat water.  We went ashore and climbed the little hill overlooking the moorings.  

Plastic rings at the buoy	Protected lines
Triple lines	Extra secure mainsail cover

It was a beautiful evening – quite the best visibility for a long time.  A well earned relax after the days labours but we couldn’t completely escape.  At the marina frenetic preparations were still being made to protect the multi million pound  “Dream Yacht Charter” hardware.  By the time we had returned from our walk the biggest catamarans had been arranged in a particular order along the seawall such that each was only separated from the next by a single fender width.  No dinghies remained on their sterns.  Each had been deflated and hauled off to the storage shed. Any remaining boats were being driven off to the lagoon to retrieve moorings there or drop the hook in the relative shelter of Taha’a.  It was 6pm on a Saturday night but the whole workforce still seemed to be fully engaged.  God help you if your “charter of a lifetime” was this week because it certainly doesn’t look like it's going to happen.  I suspect once all the overtime had been paid the Dream Yacht Charter workforce will be getting a well-earned break.  There can be little else for them to do now except wait.  

Hike up the hill

Hard to believe what's round the corner

We are not quite at that stage yet.  We have a number of outstanding “storm proofing” jobs still to complete on our list but they are the minor ones and for me it’s better to keep busy so I’m happy.  The weather remains strangely calm but today we awoke to the first heavy rain in days so maybe this is the start.  Skipper says not.  He remains optimistically cautious that it will not be as bad as people fear.  It seems Thierry, our resident engineer in Raiatea, may share his optimism because he hasn’t headed northwards for the Marquesas in his Beneteau 43.3 …at least not yet anyway.  For the record I have received assurances that we will seek accommodation  onshore should the situation worsen over the next couple of days but until then we wait in this eerie calm glued to our weather model predictor apps for the inevitable... or perhaps not so inevitable to take place. We will keep you posted.

Calm anchorage last week

More of beautiful Moorea