Impi

A yacht coming in under a splendid planetary array.

🌙 The crescent Moon — at the top right.

✨ Venus — the brilliant “star” immediately below the Moon. Venus is by far the brightest object in the evening sky and is currently very close to the Moon.

✨ Jupiter — the bright object lower down, roughly halfway between Venus and the horizon.

✨ Mercury — likely the much fainter point low in the twilight, slightly below and to the right of Jupiter, just above the cloud bank. Mercury is currently part of the same evening grouping with Venus and Jupiter.

⭐ The two fainter stars to the right side of the image are Castor and Pollux, the brightest stars of the constellation Gemini, which are sitting near the Venus–Jupiter grouping this week.

It seems these planets and moon have been affecting the tides in the past few days which have been pushing the reefs high out of the waters.

The Austral islands: islands on the edge of the world. Just 300 nm south of Tahiti, and not a single yacht there.

We are looking at departure after completing all Impi’s check ups, today the hulls were cleaned. We have also decided to do a bit more dentistry work here as it is priced better than in New Zealand.

Where we go is not decided yet. On the one hand the Society Islands beckon but we are worried that our memory of these beautiful islands will be spoiled by antagonism from local people. On the other hand we could do something entirely different and go South to the rarely visited archipelago of the Austral Islands.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Well it is decided: westwards we go as soon as Impi and sailingnyla are ready. The weather to return to the Tuamotu is just a bit too unsteady at regular intervals.

Combine this with the prediction and it makes it difficult to decide where the best place is!

Today Brent is working on tightening the steering cables, tomorrow hull cleaning will take place and if Nyla’s rudder is back the next day that will need to be fitted the next day.

Meanwhile I just love the anchorage at Point Venus showing us a different face of Tahiti: the friendly locals, the cute restaurants and the welcoming yacht club are adding to a wonderful cruising experience.

Non sailors need to get to know about the sun downer tradition on boats.

The etiquette is you bring a finger food and a drink and you go home after the sun goes down. This gets forgotten after the first stories get told so it is best to bring a lot of snacks! We had a blast on Obsession meeting Captain and crew with sailingnyla . Look at our stories for more!

Happy that this root canal is hopefully now a thing of the past!

It seems that the dentist in Panama did a real botch job not taking the root out all the way to the bottom and not removing the nerves!

Dr . Paul Villata here in Tahiti has sophisticated tools to make sure that treatments go as well as possible. I can highly recommend him!

Do you think I should ask for my money back from the clinic in Panama and ask them to pay for the emergency medical stop in Galapagos?

Today the wind picked up so we relocated to the other side of the bay as Impi was a rocking and rolling. First though we did a shop at Carrefour Arue a large supermarket where nearly everything is available. One has to watch the prices though as a packet of Romaine Lettuce was just under $20! Endives around $15.00. Way too much!

We stuck to the locally grown fruit and veg like bean sprouts $2.00, pineapple $3.00. Surprisingly cheap were the organic golden kiwi and I think they will be transformed into a lovely sorbet with banana tonight!

Look at our stories for a beautiful view of Morea.