We were invited to a final lunch at Noel our friend's house and his mother cooked a lovely meal of chicken, rice pasta and chips followed by ice-cream!! A real luxury. We prepared to sail the next morning, at 7.00am we went to say goodbye to Noels family, his mother had made us flower leis or necklaces and we wore them as we sailed out of the pass, finally casting them into the water in true Polynesian tradition, If they float back into the pass it means that you will return some day.

We sailed the 8 miles to Ahe, the next island in a nice stiff breeze and arrived at the pass to find a strong tide running, however we made the entrance okay and had to eyeball our way across the lagoon to the anchorage off the village. Most of the village came out to visit us and welcomed us. Our name had preceded us as the people on this atoll were relatives of our friends on Manihi. Again we were serenaded each night on the dock and made many more friends. After 5 days we sailed for Rangiroa, the largest of the Tuamotus.

This island was much more developed, and the anchorage was nowhere near the village, so we didn't get to meet the people, but made some good friends who were staying in the hotel on the beach. Tom and Coral were two Americans on honeymoon and we took them out for a sail on the lagoon and ate bread and cheese and drank French wine. A lovely relaxing days sailing.

Christmas was getting close so we decided to up anchor and sail for Tahiti, and a bit of town life. Unfortunately the wind was light again and we made slow progress taking 3 days to sail the 200 miles. We arrived in Papeete on Sarah birthday 23rd December. The harbour was very noisy and dirty and after months of deserted islands it came as quite a shock to us. During the afternoon a fellow sailor came by and told us that all our yachtie friends were at Maeva beach 3 miles east, so we upped anchor and went to join them.

We managed to do some Christmas shopping and on Christmas Eve invited 4 other boats over for a drink. We were a real cosmopolitan crowd 1 Icelandic boat, 2 American, and 1 Australian boat and us. We had a lovely Christmas. For New Year we decided to have a really good party. Jim and Barbara on Serenity a 30ft Carter agreed to raft up to us for a super party. We invited all the English speaking Yachties, about 14 in all, and started celebrating the New Year at 2pm in the afternoon, as that was midnight in Britain, after that we celebrated New Year every hour right across the globe. What a night!

We explored Tahiti by local bus otherwise known as Le Truck.. The Polynesian museum was superb, answering many questions which had surfaced during our stay. For Christmas Dave got a 6ft spear gun and Oakum the cat watched him each time he went fishing, knowing that he was getting more proficient each time.

We did several routine maintenance jobs on Blue Spurr, whilst we were sitting out the hurricane season in Tahiti and eventually on 5th March we sailed to Moorea 20 miles away. This lovely island, the setting for Bali Hai, had beckoned us for a long time from Tahiti; we could just see it sitting on the horizon. We anchored first in Cooks Bay one of two big bays on the North coast of the Island. Here we met Amelia and Caroline who lived on the next boat. Amelia's husband was Swiss and she was a local girl, 20 years ago they met and married in true "Bounty" fashion. And Caroline their teenage daughter was a great companion for Sarah. From Cooks bay we walked inland to visit several temples and antiquities and got a lovely view of Cooks Bay ad Opunohu Bay from a mountain viewpoint.

We went to anchor out on the reef at the entrance to the bay and Dave caught his first parrot fish with his spear gun. It tasted delicious. Next we went to Opunohu Bay and sailed into Robinsons Cove, where we anchored with our stern tied to a palm tree. The bay is very deep as it is a volcanic crater so we dropped our anchor in 60ft and pulled our stern to with a line to the tree, the anchorage is incredible, with views of the fabled Bali Hai Mountain overlooking Robinsons Cove.

We spent 3 days there and then went out to the lagoon near the reef to anchor; here we tried spinnaker riding for the first time. It was fantastic just like really flying and you could see turquoise water all around us as you rose to mast height. You anchor from the stern and tie one of the sheets for the spinnaker to the other side to form something to sit on; the other sheet is left hanging. As the wind fills the spinnaker you rise and fly in the air, to get down you hold the loose line and jump, which collapses the sail, a real experience.

The hurricane season was coming to an end so we decided to head for Huahine 80 miles N.W. An overnight passage brought us within sight of the island and its enormous surrounding reef. By 2pm we were anchored at Fare, the capital and after a quick foray ashore we sailed inside the reef to the south of the island and dropped our anchor. The next day Dave went to repair our plywood dinghy on shore and met Haepo, a 15 yr. old resident. He gave Dave a stalk of bananas and three straw hats made of palm fronds. His mother invited us to eat with them the next day. The meal was all their own produce, fish from the lagoon, served raw marinated in coconut sauce, breadfruit and poi a local delicacy, cucumber and coconut milk to drink, it was delicious.

Each day we ate at their home and made firm friends. The boys took Dave out in their out-rigger canoe to fish and showed him which fish were safe to eat. Their mother Nina gave us all a pareau, the original sarong type garment of the islands. When we left we again got shell necklaces and flower leis. Although these friends did not speak English we learnt, with the help of a dictionary to speak Tahitian, and communications didn't prove too difficult. It is amazing how far a smile will go.

Bora Bora beckoned and we sailed via the islands of Raitea and Tahaa, where we spent only one night each, to this wonderful island. The friendly hotel Oa Oa provide free moorings for yachts and we spent many happy hours at the bar. One night we organized a barbecue using the hotel pit and Dave went out with his spear gun and caught enough fish for the whole barbecue. We had a big surprise one day when a dinghy from a charter boat rowed over and called "Blue Spurr, my name is James Robertson from the Humber Yawl Club". What a shock, but how wonderful to catch up on all the club news and read the club magazine. A true highlight of our voyage.

The family had chartered a boat for their holidays and was told by club members that we were in that area, what a coincidence. A week later a big storm hit the islands and during the storm 2 charter boats broke their mooring lines and Dave and Franz a friend from another boat just managed to rescue them before they hit the reef.

We intended to head for Raratonga in the Cook Islands next, but a hurricane decimated the harbour in January and yachts were not allowed in any more so we made a change in plan and decided to head for Suvarov Atoll

One of the northern Cook Islands. A New Zealander Tom Neale lived there alone for 20 years and wrote a book "An Island to Oneself" Tom died in 1978 and until recently the island was deserted. Our sail there was 700 miles beset by misfortune. The Sat Nav broke within hours of leaving, so did the Aries wind vane, but fortunately daybreak showed the problem to be a broken pin and Dave replaced it. The alternator stopped generating and 2 squalls hit us and blew out 2 headsails, to crown it all a frigate bird landed on the wind indicator and broke off the pointer.

Several other things happened to make it a memorable sail. Our navigation with the sextant was perfect however, and Anchorage Island the entrance to the lagoon showed up some 5 miles distant, exactly where it should be. We were welcomed to the island by Petuela and Inoka Kola a father and son, administrators for the Cook Island Government. They welcomed us and told us that we could officially have 72 hours but they like yachts and we could stay longer. The water was crystal clear; we were anchored in 90ft and could see the bottom clearly. Dave had fantastic success spear fishing. He caught a 2ft 6" parrot fish his biggest ever and lots of others although at times he was surrounded by 7 or 8 sharks. Petuela cooked the fish in his Maori oven and served it with coconut sauce and taro.

We caught a shark from the boat and the cat couldn't believe her eyes as we hauled it aboard using the sheet winches. It tasted delicious and we wished that we had time to dry it. We were taken to the other islands in the atoll in the administrator's dinghy He caught coconut crabs for us to eat (although they are supposed to be a protected species) when we left he made us a large basket and filled it with drinking coconuts for the voyage. We spent 10 blissful days in this island paradise, swimming, fishing and exploring, we were worried when we came to lift the anchor as we could see it wrapped around coral heads below us. However, we found that the best way to so it was to drop more chain, thus slackening it, then take up a little at a time, it was a slow process but 2 hrs later we were ready to sail having recovered 180ft of chain and 120 ft of rope.

It was 450 miles to Pago Pago American Samoa The first 2 days we had very light winds but finally got a good north easterly and sped along. The sail took 5 days and we had a wonderful welcome from other yachting friends when we arrived. Cold beer, ice and a meal in a restaurant, followed by a car drive around the island this is surely why we are traveling. We are staying here whilst the Sat Nav is repaired.( It was sent off to Australia.) Then we intend to sail to Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. Hopefully arriving in Sydney to see the Tall Ships in January. They are all gathering there for the 200 year anniversary of the first landing, and we have been told that it will be a spectacular celebration.

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