We arrived at Denarau Marine in the early afternoon, very nice place with shops and restaurants right on our door step.
Here is the Denarau Yacht club with a great restaurant overlooking the marine.
While waiting for family and friends to join us from New Zealand we managed to get some maintenance and cleaning done on Kapowai ready for party time.
Once all the paperwork with customs onboard Kapowai was complete we then had to go ashore and visit three other buildings all in different parts of town, not ideal on a very hot and sticky day, this is why some people don’t bother stopping in some places, the paperwork is crazy.
On this day I was glad I didn’t carry my big camera, hours later after once the admin was done we found an indoor market, it was so nice to get out of the heat, I grabbed a couple of shots with my iPhone.
Really nice limes, great in a G & T.
Hot chillies to spice up dinner.
Some of the locals.
Tomatoes for the salad.
And last, something to leave behind.
After another couple of days of open water we arrived in Fiji, not all were as lucky a us, as you can see below.
The reefs around the island were covered in wrecks, some say due to bad weather, some say due to fraudulent behaviour, who knows.
We found our way in without any problems and soon dropped anchor, we had to sit around for a day waiting for customs/immigration folk to come out, so we got a bit of work done, as did some of the locals.
Others needed to do a bit of work.
Feeling a lot better after a relaxing 3 day voyage we arrive at Rarotonga, Wow what a difference compared to Tahiti, clean, friendly and not French (Just my opinion).
Lush and very inviting.
Kapowai berthed, time to explore.
First sign I come across and a reminder of the dangers of living so close to the waters edge. I wonder if there is a bar.
Here is one of the local buses, there is only two bus routes, can you guess what the other one is?
An absolutely stunning place, more photos next time.
We did an overnight trip to Tahiti and arrived around ten in the morning, unfortunately I picked up some sort of virus which really knocked me for six and I didn’t leave Kapowai for a few days, apparently I didn’t miss much, we were berthed close to a main road and the town was pretty dismal. Later we moved down the coast to a nicer mariner passing these guys on the way, actual they passed us.
Passing the end of the runway, we didn’t time it right and have a plane land right over our heads.
Some nice looking holiday huts, I bet they don’t say how close to the runway they are in the glossy brochure.
I think we did a bit of shopping and had a nice meal but I really can’t remember much of Tahiti, I know we fuelled up and headed out to open water again, passing this nice looking island, I think it was Moorea.
Next stop Rarotonga.
Six days and nights of pretty calm sailing and we arrived at Vaitape, the largest city Bora Bora, first impressions were good.
After visiting customs at the local police station we had a look around town, 15 minutes later we stopped for lunch, tour complete.
One street, a market and the normal visitors tat shops, don’t get me wrong! it’s a loverly place, but I can imagine the tourist keep to the 5 star resorts.
The brightest shop.
So what else to do in Bora Bora, back to Kapowai for a large G&T i think.
Vaitape is the largest city of island Bora Bora in French Polynesia. It has a population of 4,927, about half of the island’s population which is about 9,000. It is located about 130 mi (210 km) northwest of Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia. The main language of Vaitape is French, although 20 percent of the population speaks Tahitian.
The area was first settled by early Polynesians who arrived on canoes during the 4th century. The early Polynesians built grass huts and hunted fish with spears and sticks. The Tahitians lost the French Tahitian War making Tahiti and all the other islands belong to France. During the California Gold Rush, many people left Vaitape in search for gold. By the 1900s the population of the area had grown significantly, and during World War II it served as a military supply base, and it had an oil depot, an airstrip, and a seaplane base.
It wasn’t really boxing day, but we were leaving Christmas Island and it felt like it, it was a great place to visit, friendly people and the food was stunning, but it was time to leave, we were sad to leave, so it sort of had that feeling of boxing day.
We pulled anchor and turned south, we got our day back we had lost and for the next couple of miles had our own farewell feathered entourage.
Next stop Bora Bora.
We arrived at the hotel and saw the safe delivery of bedding, this is one of the new rooms at the hotel for which said bedding is for.
Rest of the hotel.
A small walk through the grounds and a sign of other guests.
And onto a great view of the lagoon in the centre of the island, apparently one of the best places in the world to snorkel.
We left the hotel for a quick tour of the island, not really a lot to see except coconut tree’s or palm’s, botanically it is a Drupe not a nut.
Some of the local transportation. I can see why as it was very very hot.
Local wildlife.
Six days after leaving Honolulu we arrived at Kiribati (Christmas Island), you don’t see it until you are very close, it’s highest point is only about 5 meters above sea level.
Kiritimati, or Christmas Island, is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati.
The name “Kiritimati” is a respelling of the English word “Christmas” in the Kiribati language, in which the combination ti is pronounced s, and the name is thus pronounced /kəˈrɪsməs/.
The island has the greatest land area of any coral atoll in the world, about 388 square kilometres (150 square miles); its lagoon is roughly the same size. The atoll is about 150 km (93 mi) in perimeter, while the lagoon shoreline extends for over 48 km (30 mi). Kiritimati comprises over 70% of the total land area of Kiribati, a country encompassing 33 Pacific atolls and islands.
It lies 232 km (144 mi) north of the Equator, 2,160 km (1,340 mi) south of Honolulu, and 5,360 km (3,330 mi) from San Francisco. Kiritimati Island is in the world’s farthest forward time zone, UTC+14, and is one of the first inhabited places on Earth to experience the New Year (see also Caroline Atoll, Kiribati). Despite being 2,460 km (1,530 mi) east of the 180 meridian, a 1995 realignment of the International Date Line by the Republic of Kiribati moved Kiritimati to west of the dateline.
Nuclear tests were conducted on and around Kiribati by the United Kingdom in the late 1950s, and by the United States in 1962. During these tests islanders were not evacuated. Subsequently, British, New Zealand, and Fijian servicemen as well as local islanders have claimed to have suffered from exposure to the radiation from these blasts.
Some locals checking us out.
After a night at anchor and some much needed rest we had a visit by the local customs and immigration folk, this is when we found out the international date line had been moved in 1995, we had lost a day, we got it back when we left a couple of days later.
After the officials left we chilled out and waited for our taxi/delivery transport to the island. Once mattress’s were loaded we headed for the beach.
Unloading the goods.
Passing some locals business’s.
Once bedding had been safely delivered it was cocktail time.
Tour of the island next time.
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