“ENOUGH BACKSTORY – Get to the Fun Part!”

WEEK 1

Day 1- We arrived in Tahiti at 5am after the 8-hour overnight flight (the typical brutally early arrival time when flying from Los Angeles), and after a painfully slow and hot immigration line, we headed directly for the boat at 7am. 

We were met by the Sail Tahiti rep Sophia, shown around Be Happy, signed paperwork, and paid the 9,600 euro damage deposit.

TIP #1: Be prepared for the damage deposit! We had notified our credit card in advance to make sure a large foreign transaction wouldn’t get flagged as fraud. 

The charter company also had one of their team take us out on the boat for a few hours to go over the systems (and I suspect make sure that as new charter clients we could handle the boat). This was very valuable time, as even though I’d learned on the Excess 11, each boat has different systems and we were able to go through the specifics like the water maker, electronics, anchor windless controls, etc. There are also some location specific issues, like radioing the Papeete Harbor Control to request permission to enter and exit the lagoon pass and to cross in front of the airport runway!

TIP #2: Don’t be offended if the charter company wants to send someone to sail with you for a few hours. It means they care, and have important local knowledge to share.

Our first night was spend anchored at the Airport Anchorage. Despite a name that conjures up images of anchoring next to LAX, it is a wonderful spot with breathtaking views of Mo’orea at sunset), and a great place to spend a night before setting off for more distant islands.

TIP #3: Don’t be in a rush. In my original planning I had thought we might get on the boat, provision, and be off to Moorea the same day. After more careful consideration, I realized this was a vacation, not a race, and decided to set that tone early.

It also just happened that one of the sailing families we had met on our 2025 trip was anchored two boats away (Jason, Amanda and Dylan Ward on SV Morning Stars), and it was a treat to reconnect with them for sundowners and an update on their adventures over the past 6 months.

Day 2 – Our friends shared local knowledge and took us to the closest market to provision for the upcoming week. Now by closest I mean we took a 15-minute dinghy ride to a dock (where my wife’s brand new hat blew off and promptly sank), walked 20 minutes in the intense tropical heat and humidity, shopped, found a replacement hat for my wife, then wheeled it all back to the dock, loaded up the dinghy and took it all back to the boat.

TIP #4:  Know where to provision and allow plenty of time. Grocery stores are often not close by, and unless you have a rental car you will need to walk or take an expensive taxi.

“Can you speed this story up?”

Sure, let’s get to the highlights! The next day we set off for our crossing from Tahiti to Mo’orea. This is about the equivalent of going from Marina Del Rey to Catalina—the difference being that the sea in-between is wide open to the entire Pacific Ocean and conditions can be anything from flat calm to dangerous. Our forecast was for wind on the nose and manageable seas (1-2 meters), and we motor-sailed most of the way to our first anchorage in Cook’s Bay, arriving there with plenty of daylight to find a good spot to anchor.

TIP #5: Plan your passages to arrive in the morning or mid-day. Entering the passes and anchoring at night is not something you want to deal with on a first-time visit (or anytime). 

Cook’s Bay is an iconic bay on the north side of the island. There is a small market for provisioning, and everything from small roadside snack shops to hotels line the bay.

That said, our weather was set to take a turn for the worse, with heavy rains in the forecast, and the bay was crowded, leaving us in a spot that was less than ideal for protection. We rode out the anchorage that night, and our anchor held like a champ. That said, we watched the catamaran next to us drag past us in the middle of the night as the crew ran around on deck in the rain to get their anchor reset!

Before the trip we had reached out to Eileen and Brown from Sailing Blown Away (https://www.youtube.com/@SailingBlownAway), and we had brought some special items from Los Angeles for them. They were anchored in Opunoho Bay, and we were looking forward to meeting them. With more questionable weather in the forecast, we got up early and decided to change locations earlier than planned to Opunoho—about an hour’s sail to the east. 

TIP #6:  Watch the weather and be flexible to adjust your plans if necessary. Don’t get locked into a rigid schedule. Weather rules and you need to build flexibility in your schedule.

It was an easy motor from Cook’s to Opunoho, but I must confess that our entry into the anchorage was not the shining moment of my sailing career! The anchorage on a chart looks straightforward, but it is littered with shallow reefs and there is a VERY specific safe way in and out. We approached it carefully but made the turn early and had to make a swift course correction as the water got shallower. Luckily our cat only draws 4.5 feet, but after trying twice to make sense of the entry I picked up my phone to call Eileen on WhatsApp. When I looked at the phone, I could see that she had been frantically messaging me:

>  We see you!

>  MISSED VOICE CALL

>  Keep going into the valley Don’t Turn!!!!

>  Too soon. Don’t Turn.

>  MISSED VOICE CALL

>  Don’t come in that way!!!!

>  MISSED VOICE CALL

When I called Eileen she was astounded that we hadn’t run aground on the reef. Luckily we had realized our error and backed the boat out the way we came. She couldn’t believe our luck! From that point she talked us through the correct path in and helped us to find a great spot to anchor.

Incredibly, two boats away was a couple on SV “O” we had met the year before in Cook’s Bay! We arranged for sundowners on Blown Away for all of us, where we did the walk of shame in front of these experienced cruisers. Happily, they confessed that they had done as much or worse in their early days cruising.

TIP #7: Have a solid understanding of any location you intend to anchor. The passes and reefs are tricky, and something that seems obvious might not be! Get local advice if possible.

By this time the weather had gotten quite unpredictable, with periods of beautiful clear skies that would quickly turn into intense showers with 20-30 knot winds. We had arranged for a rental car on Mo’orea so that we could see some cultural events and sights, but that meant leaving the boat unattended at anchor, which made us a bit nervous.

My father had been fighting a cold since we arrived and wasn’t feeling up to going out, so he volunteered to stay aboard the boat to keep watch while we went out for a night on the town. Happily, there were no issues and when we returned “Be Happy” was right where we left her.

Since we were anchored across from a public beach, our son found it easy to make new friends, and there was a constant stream of guests swimming across the channel to hang out with him!

TIP #8: Get off the boat and do some shore excursions. Most of the islands rent cars and scooters, or even e-bikes, and often a small town is just a short walk away. Tie up the dinghy to a coconut palm, make new friends and see a bit of the islands from the land side.

We spent the next few nights hunkered down, and on one of them I received a call from Eileen warning that there was a chance of being hit by a nasty storm system (winds up to 50 knots). She walked me through their procedures for securing the boat and preparing, just in case. We lashed sails, stowed everything on deck, let out more chain, and set our anchor alarm. I was prepared to start the engines (wind at 30 knots) and motor into the wind at low RPMs (above 40 knots), and motor forward full throttle (50 knots and up). I was up every hour or so checking, but thankfully the worst of the system missed us, and the winds never got over 30 knots.

TIP #9: Be prepared and have a plan. Even though nothing came of it, I felt very good knowing I had a solid plan should things get spicy!

We said goodbye to our friends and made a morning crossing back to Tahiti to drop off my father and son, and to pick up our new crew for week two. Going back to the marina meant docking the cat in tricky crosswind conditions. I called the charter company and arranged for their crew to jump on board and park the boat. Better to admit you aren’t quite ready and ask for help than to risk damaging an expensive catamaran!

It was bittersweet watching my father and son head to the airport after sharing the maiden week of this dream. It was truly the chance of a lifetime to have all three generations together on this adventure. The weather hadn’t been ideal, and my father had spent much of the week sick with a cold, but despite those issues we managed to make the most of every moment to truly appreciate our time together in this tropical paradise. 

Our schedule, however, didn’t allow much time to reminisce, and we were quickly busy planning for our afternoon departure with our new crew. 

WEEK TWO

After provisioning and swapping crew, we set sail back to Opunoho Bay, where we would stay for one night before making a long overnight passage to Huahine. It was a bit of deja vu as we motored into the pass, but this time I took us into the anchorage like a seasoned pro (well, at least that’s how it looked in my head). We rounded the channel into the anchorage (where my wife’s brand-new hat #2 blew off and promptly sank), dropped the hook and the six of us had dinner on the boat while enjoying a stunning sunset. The weather had finally turned, with the trades settling into their normal pattern.

The next day we took the dinghy to a stingray and shark snorkeling area, had lunch at Coco Beach (a private motu accessible only by boat), then headed back to “Be Happy” so we could set off for Huahine before dark. We calculated that the 90-mile passage would take us about 17-20 hours.

For the passage we set up three 4-hour watches (6-10pm, 10pm-2am, and 2-6am). I chose the 2-6am watch, as I love experiencing the night sky and sunrise at sea. The sky didn’t disappoint and I was able to find the Southern Cross (with a little help from ChatGPT and an astronomy app on my phone).  Staring up at the same star paths used by ancient Polynesian wayfinders centuries ago added a profound sense of scale and history to our passage.

As we approached Huahine, I noticed that our friends on SV “O” were just a couple of hours ahead of us, so I messaged them on WhatsApp:

> ME: I see you on AIS a couple of hours ahead of us. We are headed to Huanine…coming around the north side.

> SV “O”: Hahaha, we saw you and O2 [another friend] when you left Mo’orea. We’ve been watching you since then. 😀

Since we were both headed to the same anchorage, we were able to cheat a bit, and follow their lead right into the lagoon, then negotiated the narrow path through the lagoon from the north to the south end of the island. And since they were two hours ahead of us, when we arrived they came out in their dinghy and guided us to an available mooring ball. In this bay boats are required to use the free mooring balls, rather than drop anchor.

We all had dinner on shore at the local hotel restaurant and got into a little debate about how the rest of our week would play out. James had gotten an invitation for dinner at the Bora Bora Yacht Club, which sounded fun, but to make that we would have to leave the next morning and continue north for another 7 hours (past Raiatea and Taha’a). That would mean that we would then have to travel back to Raiatea, and then to Mo’orea and Tahiti to get the boat back on Friday, April 3. 

Being on the move every day wasn’t most of the crew’s idea of a relaxing vacation, not to mention that we ran the risk of being very far from Tahiti with a 25 to 30-hour upwind sail ahead of us. And if the weather turned again, we could be in danger of missing flights or even having to fly back to Tahiti and pay to have the boat returned by the charter company.  So, after some discussion we decided that Bora Bora was too much of a stretch, given our schedule, and we would relax in Huahine for a few nights instead. 

TIP #10: Don’t try to squeeze in everything. Give yourself time to relax, and when making decisions weigh the risk and options should things go wrong.

The Dinghy Fuel Incident

Our dinghy was getting low on fuel, and I had found a jerry can with gas in one of the lockers. I texted a photo of the container to the charter company to confirm that the fuel was spare dinghy fuel, but they didn’t respond.

The crew decided it smelled like gasoline and added it to the tank. They wanted to head to town and rent scooters, and my wife and I wanted to rest after the long passage and just enjoy being on the boat, so I decided to shuttle them to shore and bring the dinghy back to the boat in case we needed it.

About halfway across the bay the dinghy engine died, and we had to paddle it to shore where we tied up to a palm tree on a private beach. The homeowner came out and we explained the situation, and he agreed we could leave the dinghy there while the fuel situation was sorted out. They set off with the contaminated fuel tank, and I hitched a ride back to “Be Happy” from our friends on “O.”

About five hours later the crew came back, fuel changed and dinghy good as new. Just about that time the charter company answered my text: “NO, that is an oil mixture, don’t use it.” Mystery solved, though why they kept 2-stroke fuel on a boat with a 4-stroke outboard is anyone’s guess.

Our last morning in Huahine we motored up the lagoon to the main town where we did a little shopping. We were told by a woman in her shop that Huahine means “sexy woman.” And when standing in the bay facing the mountains you can clearly make out the form of a pregnant woman lying on her back. The male equivalent is on the other side of the island, but that’s an image best experienced in person!That evening as we departed for Mo’orea we were greeted with another jaw-dropping sunset over the islands of Raiatea and Taha’a.

Rather than go back to Opunoho for a third time, we elected to sail to the far side of Mo’orea, to an anchorage our friends had recommended called Ha’apiti. The overnight sail back was a long motor sail, with the winds between 20-30 degrees off the bow, and we tacked a few times to avoid punching right into the shifting wind.

We were greeted with yet another stunning sunset on our final night on Mo’orea, followed by an equally striking sunrise. 

Our final crossing back to Tahiti was another motor sail to windward under gentle winds and calm seas.

We refueled and returned the boat to the slip by 1pm on Friday, April 3rd. Packing up the boat and some basic clean-up, and charter company check-out was complete by 3pm.

Looking back, that dream of dropping the hook in an azure lagoon was completely worth the effort it took to get there. Sure, the reality included a few steep learning curves, a contaminated dinghy fuel tank, and a veritable graveyard of my wife’s hats at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. But those humbling moments just made the victories that much sweeter. We sailed under the Southern Cross, shared an unforgettable adventure across three generations of family, and witnessed sunsets that pictures can’t do justice. If you’ve been staring at your own inspiration board wondering if a Tahitian charter is attainable—it absolutely is. Put in the time on the water, respect the local knowledge, and make it happen. 

And make sure your hat has a chin strap!

Ken & Felicia Wallace, French Polynesia 2026