Setting Sail, Latitude 16

June 3rd, we flew from San Francisco to LAX and met up with one of my closest friend's, Susan. As we boarded the plane to Tahiti, I noticed a striking tan, blond man. It turned out to be Laird Hamilton, one of my long time heroes. As luck would have it, he sat next to me on the plane. I couldn't resist getting the big-wave surfer's autograph. This was a good omen.

We landed in Papeete and then quickly caught a plane to Bora Bora. I spent the week reading, diving, relaxing and planning the next three months of travel. Large lemon sharks, moray eels, mild temperatures and clear aqua-marine water like I had never seen it, made me never want to leave.

A very stormy night prior to our flight to Raitea made me question whether we would be able to fly, let alone sail in the high winds. Teddy brought along a book, Blue Latitudes, that I was reading. The first chapter starts with an Eighteenth century aphorism, "Those who would go to sea for pleasure would go to hell for pastime." This echoed in my mind, but we decided we could only go to the airport and see if we could get to Raitea. The weather cleared up and we made it easily. I'm so glad.

I chartered a 44 foot Beneteau from Moorings out of Raitea. We spent the morning learning the boat and stowing our gear. The next 5 days we sailed around Tahaa and Raitea. We had light wind which meant we motored a fair amount, but we got really good at getting mooring balls and anchoring.