A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 9/15/2024 – 9/22/2024

Good morning, hello, happy Sunday! Have you seen our latest YouTube video? 

We were misled last Sunday by a beautiful sunny morning- it rained the rest of the day. We passed the time editing videos, chatting, and watching movies. 

The boat felt a bit steamy since we had to keep the hatches closed, so we set the table outside for dinner. Two bites in, and we saw them… termites! Flying around, everywhere. We ushered everyone inside and turned off all the lights. This wasn’t our first rodeo; we were swarmed in Tahiti two weeks ago. Thinking it was a one-off event, we didn’t post about it online. We are perhaps overly cautious when posting anything negative since it is such a privilege to live on a boat in paradise, and we never want to come across as ungrateful or disrespectful toward the places we visit. However, we haven’t been loving our time here and want to share our experience with anyone planning to cruise this area. We spent the rest of the evening hiding indoors, watching in horror as the cockpit was blanketed in creepy crawlers. 

Monday morning was bright, sunny, and calm. I made my rounds with the vacuum cleaner, sucking up the wings that littered the boat. 

I inspected all the nooks and crannies of the interior with a headlamp, looking for any evidence of them making it inside. Thankfully, I saw none. I will continue inspecting weekly. We have reached out to an exterminator, and it seems like the chances of an infestation are low; the termites here are most likely subterranean termites looking for soil. Regardless, they are spooky and incite stress aboard Sabado. We plan to coordinate fumigation during our next haul out unless we see a reason to do it sooner.

I clung to any shred of positivity I could as the clouds rolled in just in time for our whale-watching trip. I’ve been dreaming about swimming with whales since before I moved aboard Sabado, so I was determined not to let the bugs or the weather bum me out. Worst case scenario, I get wet, right? I’m already in a swimsuit, so who cares?! We took the dinghy to shore and climbed into a taxi, which took us to the next bay, where we met up with our guide and captain, Pierre and Te Mana. We zipped off the dock and through the pass, hugging the outside of the reef. Pierre explained his background and highlighted that the humpback whales were here this time of year to reproduce, so it is important not to disturb them. Just because you see a whale doesn’t mean you should be swimming with it! 

We spotted a giant whale almost immediately. Te Mana expertly maneuvered us alongside her as she dove down and resurfaced several times, constantly moving forward. She did not stop to rest, play, or sing, so we did not get in the water. We repeated this process several times, each with incredible whale sightings, getting in the water a couple of times in anticipation but only seeing the whales while from the boat. Toward the end of our scheduled time, it began raining. A whale breached in the distance, and Pierre mentioned that other whales will typically head in that direction to see what the commotion was. So, we waited. Two whales surfaced alongside the boat, and one breached, showing us its pale pink belly.

They were playing! By this time, the water had grown dark, and Nick and Megan were shivering. It was just me and Pierre. We slipped into the water, trying to be discreet, and swam forward. The whales were somewhere deep below us, out of sight, but they were singing at the top of their lungs! I was shocked by how loud they were; I could feel the vibrations in my chest, and my joints were practically rattling! It sounded like it was coming from every direction, and I had a brief moment of panic as I spun around and around, worried they could be right behind me. Pierre noticed and pointed me in the right direction. I saw a glimmer of something white ascending from the depths. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as she rose to the surface before us, unveiling her sheer size. I’ve never swam with something that big! I was awestruck. I felt so tiny. 

I watched her swim away, then fell vertically in the water, popping my head up for the first time in what felt like forever. I twirled around and saw Pierre grinning from ear to ear. His smile grew as he watched me bust out laughing in disbelief- what do you even say to someone after watching that? “Again!” He whispered, urgently tugging my arm underwater. My eyes widened as I looked down and saw another whale; by the time it was close enough for me to make out its anatomy, I quickly realized it was coming straight toward us. I tensed but promptly relaxed as it lurched its giant body up and backward, twisting and swimming away. What an incredible encounter.

We returned to the boat, and I could tell everyone was trying their best to be happy for me. If you plan to swim with whales, I would insist on bringing your own gear: a full-length thick wetsuit, good fins, and a comfortable mask. I tried to suppress my excitement as we sped back toward the dock, learning that we had surpassed our scheduled end time while I was in the water, causing us to have to cancel our dinner reservations for the night and our taxi driver to have to wait on us. I felt a little selfish for ruining our plans and guilty for making everyone sit in the cold… but I was also proud of myself for going for it. Ray squeezed my hand and smiled. Nick and Megan asked if they could see the GoPro footage when we got home. I hope I’ll have another opportunity to swim with whales when it’s bright and sunny, but I will cherish this memory forever, regardless! 

We returned to Sabado, started the generator, and took showers. This was the third time we’ve had to run the generator in the past ten days. Between the shadows from the mountains and these long stretches of gloomy weather, we’ve struggled to get enough solar power. We reached out to a shop in Tahiti about getting a few additional foldable solar panels we could lay out on the bow to give us a boost, but they charge hundreds of dollars more per panel than online and said it would take 3+ months to get here. So, we’ll keep using the genny! 

Since we had initially planned on going out, I didn’t have anything ready to prepare for dinner, so Nick ran to the store and picked up two frozen pizzas that we popped into the air fryer and ate while we watched a movie. 

The rain continued the next day, and the runoff from the mountains poured through the anchorage. Thankfully, we didn’t need to run the watermaker! 

As a tall gal, a good chunk of my skin is still exposed when I’m in my wetsuit, so I had gotten stung by a few tiny jellyfish while swimming with the whales. 

I slathered on some Benadryl cream and spent the afternoon researching wetsuits with longer inseams or high-top neoprene booties to add to my underwater gear collection one day. 

We were excited to see the sun on Wednesday. Megan and I went to the grocery store to replenish our food supply while Ray and Nick looked at the weather forecast. We decided to leave Moorea for an overnight sail to Raiatea. We pulled anchor just before 9pm and motored into the moonlight. Less than an hour in, we hoisted the main and brought out the jib. We sailed slowly (TWS 8kn, SOG ~4kn) for a couple of hours, the following seas helping push us along, then motor-sailed for a few more. Ray and I did three hours on and three hours off at the helm, and Nick and Megan joined us as they pleased. After our 3am shift change, we decided to pull out the gennaker. We typically don’t fly big headsails at night, but we felt comfortable doing it in such calm conditions, plus we had extra light from the full moon. 

With the gennaker up, we sailed along peacefully for 6-ish hours! As we neared Raiatea, we swapped out the gennaker for the jib, eventually dropping the sails entirely and motoring to our anchorage as the mountains began to block the wind. 

It was a beautiful approach, with the dark green mountains peeking through the gray misty clouds. The air was crisp and smelled clean and slightly floral. We selected an anchorage with a review specifically stating how friendly it was and settled in for the night. It was Nick’s birthday, so we all took a short nap before beginning his birthday festivities… 

Just as we sat down for dinner, a local fisherman blasted close by Sabado, throwing his hands up at us in the cockpit, motioning for us to move. Confused, as we were in a designated anchorage with ten other boats, we pulled our anchor, coming to understand that we were in his unofficial/unmarked channel to the nearby marina and hoping we could tuck behind one of the other boats before dark. If a local asks us to move, we typically do, no questions asked, since we are guests. However, this interaction marks the 4th time we’ve been told to leave a spot here in French Polynesia, and none of the interactions have been pleasant. In 7 years of cruising, this has only happened to us once outside French Polynesia. There is palpable anti-cruiser sentiment in the Society Islands. 

It was a tight squeeze, but we found a spot to drop our anchor that pleased the fisherman. Unfortunately, it was 80 feet deep, so we backed down hard, set some tight anchor alarms, and agreed to leave the following morning. I never sleep well knowing we don’t have ample scope out. We are trying to arrange to get more anchor chain, but it isn’t proving easy here. If we could go back in time, we’d make sure to have 110m of chain before crossing the Pacific. 

I reheated our dinner, and we made a toast to the birthday boy. We ended the night with coconut cream cupcakes and lots of smiles! 

Nick and Megan took a taxi to town Friday morning to do some boat shopping while Ray and I relocated Sabado. We spent a couple of hours motoring around, trying to find a safe spot. At one point, we dropped our anchor in 70ft of water only to have 6in under our keel once we had the bridle out! The topography here is challenging. We ended up right back where we were, in the “friendly anchorage.” Annoyed, we decided to stay one more night before refueling and staging to leave Raiatea on Sunday. We attempted to turn the day around by inviting two more friends of ours over for dinner that night. I, once again, had set the table in the cockpit before we were, once again, swarmed by termites. We went through our well-rehearsed motions: dishes, belongings, and humans indoors, hatches closed, lights off. The six of us sat around the saloon table, making the best of it. There’s nothing better than good conversation and great company! I can’t believe we didn’t get a group picture! 

We left after breakfast on Saturday morning. It was raining, and we could see our tracks through the muddy water as we made our way around the island to the fuel dock. 

We refueled and picked up a couple dozen eggs from the gas station (random, but it seems to be the most reliable place to find them in stock!). The cashier spoke no English but was patient and kind as I told her I was practicing my French. I asked if we could dispose of a bag of trash (the answer was no) and if the price she had charged me for diesel included the “two twelves of eggs” (I could stand to take a few more French lessons). She smiled and nodded. 

We left the dock and anchored near the pass in anticipation of our departure. The government has recently enacted new regulations limiting where boats can anchor, how many can occupy designated anchorages, and how long they can stay. We’ve heard reports that these rules have been enforced in the Society Islands this week, with boats receiving email notifications of their “improper anchoring location.” The government uses the email addresses from immigration check-in paperwork, and it is unclear if they’re using AIS or if someone is patrolling and writing down boat names. Here is a link to the official rules. We’re pretty sure we’re within an approved spot. There are roughly 50 boats here, and Dream Yacht Charters owns a good chunk of them on private moorings. We haven’t been around this many charter boats since the Caribbean! 

It poured rain the rest of the afternoon, but the sun broke through just enough to turn the sky pink as we ate dinner. 

We’re heading to Bora Bora later today, a bucket list destination! We can see the outline of the famous mountains in the distance and are looking forward to something new. 

I hope you had a great week! ❤️