Flat Stanly has nothing on Air Head Sally. We try to get creative to keep our friends entertained during confinement. (Air head Sally helps us along. No blowup dolls were hurt during this episode).
Air Head Sally is a happy member of our crew and really enjoys when we have guests onboard. She practices safe measures during covid.
She loves to read and takes great pleasure when guests bring her magazines.
Although, she realizes now, that she needs reading glasses like the rest of us old farts. Some find reading glasses sexy??
Always up for a good snorkel, she floats at the surface like we do.
Sometimes she gets overzealous with the vitamins…
But after a little nap she is back her old tricks.
Jumping into a good party like any good guest on Sugar Shack. Of course she drinks hinano beer with the boys and manon rose (corte de provence of course)
The next morning, she takes care of business right on the bed (oops).
She just loves to cuddle.
She pops up in unexpected places.
Air Head Sally is so deflated when our guests leave that she actually tries to go home with them.
Just a wee bit of fun to brighten your day…like this rainbow over Tahiti
In our last blog, we try to entertain Wayne and Deborah during lockdown.
Events from this blog post occurred during the third week of August, 2021. Our blog posts run10-12 weeks behind our adventures.
Lockdown was extended for another 2 weeks. A real disappointment, but not a surprise as delta ravages French Polynesia. Just means we have to get more creative to fill our time. Clarification around the restrictions for cruisers were released and we are now allowed to swim and do water sports within 1 kilometer of our boat. Sweet. So, we discover an underwater sanctuary right behind Sugar Shack.
Deborah heads back to the states after spending a week with us on Sugar Shack. Once we drop her off at the ferry dock, we move Sugar Shack to a new to us anchorage on the south side of Vaiare Bay. It is super lovely, and after 24 hours we are the only boat here.
Vaiare Bay, Mo’orea
We miss the sunset from here, but we still get magnificent fiery skies.
And one more with an orange sky
We are anchored in 2.5 meters of beautiful, clear turquoise water. We have lots of happy hour guests the love to hang out with our green light.
Underwater Sanctuary
Rumor has it that the reef behind us hosts an underwater sanctuary for loads of fish and pretty corals. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. We explore the reef over several days and love getting a glimpse of the underwater sea dwellers.
Underwater Sanctuary
The above photo was taken at the surface looking at the marker (top), looking back at Sugar Shack (way in the distance) and Wayne striking a pose.
Lots and lots of purple coral in this area. It was as if the coral was telling us we were amongst underwater royalty.
This very large coral head topped the surface and created a super cool reflection off the water (top). The bottom photo is me at the edge of the drop off. You can see it goes way deep (dark water upper right) with the light beckoning me to come explore.
Life Abounds
These underwater gardens were teaming with life. We played with a huge variety of fish that were all curious to see the new visitors to their underwater kingdom. A beautiful little turtle decided his shallow sanctuary was too close for comfort and headed toward the deep.
It was amazing to see such a variety of fish enjoying this piece of paradise. Loads of butterfly fish, triggers, bat fish, neon fish, and angels.
And we swam through a school of fish trying to glean some information about their underwater education.
It always amazes me how much beauty is underwater, just a stone throws away from our boat. It is like visiting your favorite TV series each day, but in person.
The three musketeers
Thank you for spending lockdown with us Wayne! Even though it was not ideal, we had a great time hanging out with you.
Our new GoPro 9 took the underwater photos. Thank you Dad!!!!
We introduce Air head Sally in our next blog.. In our last blog, we try to entertain Wayne and Deborah during lockdown.
Events from this blog post occurred during the third week of August, 2021. Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.
Sugar Shack enters confinement / lockdown in Mo’orea with Wayne and Deborah on board. Not an ideal situation for visiting guests, but we make the best of it. Deborah has never been on Sugar Shack and we are determined to show her a good time.
Matt met Deborah at Maxserve in the 90’s (yep, well over 30 years ago and she still hangs around). I have had the pleasure of knowing her for about 20 years and was really looking forward to sharing our sea life with her.
Deborah
There’s a lot of gray area around the lockdown rules. The government stated that no inter island travel was allowed. Which sucked as we had planned on sailing Deborah and Wayne to the Leeward islands. The government (DPAM) stated “no leisure travel.” However, there was no clear law or rule about moving around to other anchorages within the island you were currently anchored at. Several cruisers wrote to the local authorities and everyone got mixed messages. One government group (police municipale) said yes, you have to move around to adhere to the local anchoring laws. Whereas DPAM (another government department) said “no moving period.” Who do you believe?
Some anchorages in Mo’orea (where we were located) have anchoring restrictions. Some places you can only anchor for 1 week and some for only 48 hours. These regulations were created by a different organization than the one running the confinement. So, two groups trying to instill their version of the law and we are caught in the middle. We decided to move to a different anchorage to give Deborah and Wayne a change of scenery. I mean, if we are going to be stuck on the boat, at least we can do is change the view, right?
We started in Opunohu Bay and moved to the Tiki anchorage closer to the reef.
What do you do on a 47’ boat 24/7?
Lucky for us, both Deborah and Wayne are super easy going and flexible. We chatted a lot, shared tall stories, laid out in the sun, and swam. We read, played a lot of games (Cards Against Humanity, Gin, Poker, Racko, Dominoes), watched a movie or two and went to shore to stretch our legs during our allotted time.
Fly a Kite. Matt found one kite in the water and tried to fly it despite the fact that it was missing a rod. He then got out another smaller kite and flew it off the back of the boat.
Work out: Deborah and I worked out in the mornings with some stretching, crunches, squats, and wrist weights. After all, you have to stay in shape during lockdown, right?
Some reading….
Played on the dinghy.
Pearl Shopping
A friend of mine, who runs a small pearl farm, provides me with imperfect pearls. I try to sell them to other cruisers to help my friend and to make the recipients happy. They get cheap pearls and all the money goes back to the pearl farmer.
It was great fun educating Deborah on the life cycle of the oyster and its pearl. She found some real gems.
The Tiki anchorage is not a bad place to be during lockdown. The views are beautiful as are the sunsets.
Lockdown view
Excursion on Shore
We decided to make use of our 1-hour exercise allotment and headed to shore. We have visited here before and had no problem using this old basin to access the village, but this time we were thwarted by a locked gate. So, we just enjoyed the entire basin grounds to ourselves.
No worries, we found plenty to entertain ourselves. Deborah at the welcome sign and departure sign. We also found some cool art work on the walls: a giant gecko and octopus.
Deborah so badly wanted to reach the palm tree…try as she might, she wasn’t nearly tall enough.
We had a lot of lounging around on the “lido deck”
The Underwater Tiki Anchorage
We couldn’t anchor at the tiki anchorage without stopping at the underwater tiki garden. Now technically, we are not supposed to be snorkeling. The locals can’t snorkel and do watersports so they ask that cruisers don’t do it either. But we were in a remote anchorage, far from shore with little traffic and we used it as our one hour of exercise. I know, excuses, excuses, excuses.
Snorkeling was a first for Deborah. We had a rough start, but that was because the mask did not fit her properly. After switching masks, she did rather well for a first timer. It can be scary learning how to breath under water.
Wayne and I swam out to the underwater tiki garden. Matt took Deborah by dinghy and helped her with her gear. She jumped in and swam around like a Rockstar.
We found all 7 sunken tikis along with several fish and little coral gardens.
We headed back to the boat to enjoy some water time.
Dolphins and Whales
We got so lucky! One calm day we were able to spy some whales just outside the pass. We jumped in the dinghy and went out to meet them. A large pod of dolphins enjoyed surfing the waves too.
Then the humpback whales came out to play. It appeared to be a momma and baby and another large adult. They were amaze balls!
Some random photo ops during lockdown:
Sunrise over Tahiti from Mo’orea
Crazy Fun Photos
Definitely not the holiday we had envisioned for Deborah. But hopefully she had a good time.
Coming up next we visit an underwater sanctuary. In our last blog, we welcome Wayne onboard Sugar Shack and get one day to play before confinement.
Events from this blog post occurred during the third week of August, 2021. Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.
