We thoroughly enjoyed Tahanea, but we were having a boat issue and the clock is ticking on this trip so we moved on to Tahiti. We had a great weather window and were able to sail a good portion of the way but ended up on a flat calm when we arrived in Tahiti. …flat calm sure beats a gale!
We arrived in Pateete, contacted port control for permission to enter the port, then made our way to the downtown marina. Dea Latis in Papeete Marina:
The marina is right downtown. Our first night in Papeete they closed off the waterfront and had five or six bands playing. This was really fun for a change:
They have food trucks every night of the week:
Marina:
Dea Latis, two over from the black hull sailboat:
Mega yachts:
Marina and harbor at night:
Coral garden in the marina:
Before we could completely relax we had to fix things…of course…
Our Xantrex inverter charger had been a problem since day one. Long boring story aside, it finally died. Our expensive inverter-battery charger failed in French Polynesia. We could not have found a more expensive place for this to happen if we tried. This is my fault, I knew it was a piece of junk and I should have replaced it before we left. Years ago when it was installed we had problems from the start. My very first call to Xantrex tech support years ago, I was told to “hit it with a hammer”. He then went on to explain that I should not dent it, but hit it just hard enough to knock the relays loose. Hit it with a hammer…
Anyway, we found a (the only) chandler that sells real inverter/chargers here in Tahiti. We were very lucky that he happened to have one of the exact model I wanted. Electricity in 80% of the world is 220 volts, our boat being from the US is 120 volts. He ordered this 120 volt model last year by mistake and could not get rid of it. He said “I will give you a deal” and he did! With his discount and the favorable exchange rate we ended up paying less than we would have paid back in the US!
…nothing is ever easy. Before I could dig into the electrical system of the boat we needed shore power. The electricity here is European 220volts so I had to buy a European shore power cable, they don’t sell complete cables. Soooo I had to source the parts for a cable. Nobody sells all the parts for a complete cable. It took us three days walking/riding the bus all over town to source the parts for a shore power cable…but we did it!
Shore cable complete but again, nothing is easy. Our boat uses 120volt electricity so we had to find a 220 volt to 120 volt step-down transformer before we could plug into shore power. Every store we went in either didn’t have transformers, was sold out, or wanted hundreds of dollars for one. Walking back to the boat frustrated, nearly defeated, hot, tired, sore, I decided to walk into a run-down appliance parts store to see if they could help. I cut to the chase, “parley vous English?” to which he replied in perfect English “yes”. Oh thank God I thought to myself. Where can I find a transformer? He told us (even drew a map) to walk up the street to this particular hardware store and assured us they have transformers. The hardware store and the people working there were awesome, and they did have exactly what we needed!!! OMG the final ingredient so I can get to work and fix the boat! …that statement just doesn’t have the happy ring I thought it would have but…we would be able to fix the boat, that is the important take away… Our new 2000 watt step-down AND step-up transformer:
New Victron 120 volt 3000 watt inverter with 120 amp charger, installed and working perfectly, it’s nearly silent. Our POS Xantrex sounded like a shop-vac.
For about 11 seconds I actually contemplated bringing the Xantrex back home because parts of it still work…and then I laughed and with great joy I hauled all 75 pounds of it and the associated cabling and sensors to the marina dumpster, held it over my head and chucked it in!!! BOOM!!! The dumpster was empty!! BOOM!!! What a great great day! I have NEVER felt so happy or relieved or overjoyed (?) to be throwing $1200 into a dumpster. I should have used that Xantrex POS to reenact this scene from the movie Office Space, where these guys let off some steam on a perpetually malfunctioning piece of office equipment. This is a “clean” version but you still may want to turn down the volume:
OK, Ok, I’m done.
Sooooo nearly five full days of our first-ever stop in TAHITI were spent fixing things and cleaning up. Remember that time I took you to Tahiti so you could do laundry? Yeah:
When we were able to catch our breath we went to a sidewalk cafe across the street and…oh yeah one full liter!!! (We had dinner too)
After the dust settled a bit we spent a few days around the downtown area eating out and exploring. We found a great brew pub called The Three Brewers. Excellent beer, great food, live music, 2-4-1 happy hour:
Downtown during the day, and the ferry terminal:
More on Tahiti in the next update. We did more than just fix, clean, eat and drink…well a bit more anyway. We are currently in Moorea which is really beautiful, next stop is probably Bora Bora.