this doesn't suck

Ardea has finally left Mo'orea and we have moved onto Huahine! It was hard to say goodbye to Mo'orea and the awesome people I met there, but we ended up leaving at the same time as a bunch of other boats that we have recently made friends with. Young friends too which I'm finding to be a rarity in this cruising world. 

The last two days on Mo'orea were filled with some boat work, a nice walk through the middle of the island to the agricultural school, where I tasted the best ice cream I've ever had. Plus I finally got to do something I'd been wanting to do since I arrived; I rented a bicycle for the day and pedaled my way around the island. I did this by myself as the rest of the cruisers opted to go climb Mount Mouoputa; another gorgeous and impressive looking mountain with a hole in it. You can see in the picture (that I'll upload soon, internet is not so good on Huahine) that there's a lady facing upward, her hair coming down on the right, and her chin on the left. Legend has it that she was a king's wife, and she had an affair so he put her up there for eternity. Believable...I guess. 

sunrise watch

 I wanted to climb it as well, but it was my last day on Mo'orea and renting a bike by myself was refreshing. It's nice to get some time to yourself I'm finding; it doesn't happen very often on a 31 foot boat.  So I set off on the last day with my little fixie beach cruiser with a basket, thank goodness there aren't any big hills on Mo'orea. Except one, but it had the most gorgeous view so it was totally worth it.

 I ran into Taylor on his walk back from the hike and we went off looking for a waterfall nearby. We found it, but couldn't get to it as we lost our way on the jungly trail, but we found some bananas! Free food! Pretty awesome. 

Leaving Moorea

We left Mo'orea on July 26th around 3 PM. The passage was only 90 miles, so we arrived in Huahine (hoo-ah-hee-nee) in less than 24 hours. I got my first experience with watches, and sea sickness. The wind was blowing 15-20 knots the whole night, another reason we got to Huahine so quickly. Unfortunately though, the seas were at a constant 6-8 foot swell. Lots of rocking back and forth...turns out I get seasick. Luckily though, I got the 4:30-7:30 am watch which meant sunrise. Absolutely gorgeous. Ardea is in a beautiful anchorage right now surrounded by friends. Life is good, and in Taylor's words "this doesn't suck."

Huahine!

Much love.