Leaving Tahiti

March 26, 2025

Errands

The last 5 days we spent running and driving around to buy boating components, supplies and food. We also conducted an inventory of the food left on the boat, tools, spare parts, sailing gear and the general boat condition. While the boat is in generally good working condition, it is 20 year old and there are a lot of things that need attention or even fixing. Some is needed for this trip, others can wait until in the Philippines.

A short cruise to Cooks Bay, Moorea – Maiao

We did a short trip to the neighboring island Moorea-Malao to test the boat and try out the sails, stayed overnight in Cooks Bay and returned the next day after Lunch to Papeete. When testing the sails we found that only the small fore sail works without problems. The genua does not unfold, the bottom part of the roll reef is stuck, according to the owner of the boat supply shop in the marina a common problem with this product. Inquiries with a rigger close to the marina led to the conclusion that the problem is known and that we need to order some spare parts, which would take 10 days until delivery. We can’t wait that long, so another option is to have one of the crew members joining us later bring the part and in the meantime we are limited to the jib. The main sail is quite old and difficult to raise. For the main we need some more testing to figure out how much we can use it during the transfer.

Getting Clearances

Yesterday we spent a lot of time running from one office to the other, immigration, port authority, marine authority and others to initiate the clearances needed for leaving Tahiti. It was a bit chaotic, we were sent to offices that were not responsible, told to look for form DD22 that does not exist, and got contradicting information from the police and from the port offices about requirements. One reason might have been that the various offices are being restructured and responsibilities re-aligned. At the end of the day we had all information needed, but it was too late to go to the customs office again. This morning the whole crew went to town in two batches, by car and by boat and we managed to get the customs clearance within half an hour.

Setting sails, the journey begins

With food stores full, diesel and gasoline filled up, and a last day shoppings spree for a Garmin InReach Mini Personal Locator Beacon, a cordless grinder, ignition switch for the main engine, a haircut, and many other personal items, we were confident enough to raise anchor at 16:40 this afternoon and to leave Papeete.

Once out of the port we raised the jib and started our first night, finally moving West.