Weather Helmed

an adventure in renewing the spirit and living the dream…on a sailboat

Weather Helmed

Entries Tagged as 'French Polynesia'

Huahine, our last stop in French Polynesia (Aug. 6-11)

September 1st, 2010 · No Comments · French Polynesia, Our Route, Society Islands

For us in the US, it seems Bora Bora is the posterchild of the South Pacific.  Initially, we thought we wanted to go there just because, well, it’s Bora Bora.  But, several cruisers that went there had mixed reviews of the island as a cruising hang-out.  It was expensive, there were lots of resorts and […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

To Future Cruisers: Plan better than we have…

August 10th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Fellow Cruisers, French Polynesia, Oh Crap., Our Route, Passages, Stupid Ideas, Tonga

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but we are going to be doing ANOTHER LONG PASSAGE.  What is the deal?!?!  Most people who do this cruising thing try to keep the long passages to the minimum.  But, not us! Oh no, we like to just GO.  We have barely been sailing for 6 months and […]

[Read more →]

Tags: ···

Cruising Must-Have: Good snorkeling gear!!!

August 4th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Cruising Must-Haves, French Polynesia, Life Lessons, Life on the Boat, Random Thoughts, Society Islands

Right before Matt and I left SF, our cross-the-dock neighbor generously gave us fishing tackle and scuba gear and three sets of masks/snorkels/fins.  We felt like it was Christmas!!!  He just kept bringing more and more stuff over for us.  We were excited and thrilled to have such gifts literally falling into our lap. Because […]

[Read more →]

Tags: ·

The Moms in Moorea (July 24-30)

August 1st, 2010 · 2 Comments · French Polynesia, shoe-cruising, Shore Excursions, Society Islands, Somebody likes us, Thoughts on Family

Wow.  What a whirlwind week.  The moms arrived in Tahiti last Friday, after a long day of traveling – Sandy (Matt’s mom) from New Jersey, my mom (Vicki) from California.  Matt and I had planned to surprise them at their hotel, but their late arrival combined with the lack of buses combined with our hunger […]

[Read more →]

Tags: ·

A quick note re: Rude Awakenings

August 1st, 2010 · No Comments · First Mates, French Polynesia, Funny, Life on the Boat, Passages, Random Thoughts, This sucks

Obviously, the most noteworthy thing that’s occurred recently has been the moms’ trip to Moorea, which I will post about next.  But, I want to quickly jot down something else, just for posterity. Last night, Matt and I slept outside in the cockpit because Jon has been re-finishing the salon sole down below and the […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Love, Tahiti style

July 21st, 2010 · 2 Comments · First Mates, French Polynesia, Random Thoughts, Society Islands

TRUE LOVE IS….. ** spending an entire day walking around downtown Papeete with your wife, willingly going into every women’s clothing boutique in a FIVE BLOCK radius, waiting patiently while she tries on outfit after outfit after outfit, occasionally bringing her even more clothes to try on, not losing it when she starts to cry […]

[Read more →]

Tags: ·····

Dreaming of a Mini-Break

July 18th, 2010 · 5 Comments · First Mates, French Polynesia, Life on the Boat, Our Route, Random Thoughts, Shore Excursions, Society Islands, Thoughts on Family

I remember first hearing the term “mini-break” in the movie Bridget Jones’ Diary – which I totally LOVE btw – and thought it was a quaint, truly british phrase.  But, Lord A’Mercy, I am in need of a mini-break from the boat. We have not spent a night off the boat in almost EIGHT MONTHS. […]

[Read more →]

Tags: ····

This is the life – Part II: Slurpee Returns (Rangiroa, July 11)

July 11th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Adventures in the Dinghy, Famous Firsts, French Polynesia, Life on the Boat, Somebody likes us, Tuamotus

Yesterday Jon walked around for approximately ten hours, beating a path along the lagoon edge, knocking on doors and miming the story of our missing dinghy.  By the time he returned to the boat, bumming a ride from another cruiser, all of Rangiroa between the two northern passes knew that Syzygy had lost its tender.  […]

[Read more →]

Tags: ·

This is the Life (A real-time post! Rangiroa, early A.M. July 10)

July 10th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Adventures in the Dinghy, Famous Firsts, First Mates, French Polynesia, Funny, Oh Crap., Our Route, This sucks, Tuamotus

It’s not often that I get to post something as it’s happening.  But, this morning, I got up early and wrote something up because it’s actually kind of exciting for me to share something immediately instead of always having everything be post-dated.  So, this is what happened last night and what we are dealing with […]

[Read more →]

Tags: ·

Celebrating 4yrs (!) with drinks, hermit crabs & fish in Apataki (July 1-7)

July 10th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Cheers!!, First Mates, French Polynesia, Life Lessons, Life on the Boat, Our Route, shoe-cruising, Shore Excursions, Somebody likes us, The Crew, Tuamotus

After spending a week in Northern Toau (Anse Amyot), the longest we’ve stayed in one spot since Nuku Hiva, we were ready to go.  Actually, we were ready to go by about day 5, but the weather (as previously noted) was not cooperating.  Finally, it cleared up enough that we could cut loose from the […]

[Read more →]

Tags: ··