Jumping ship and being deported

  Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Monday, May 28, 2007

LEAVING BORAT

Goodbye Tahiti

After the regatta life on board slowed down to its normal pace of reading, snorkeling, sunbathing and drinking tea.

We motored over to one of Bora Bora's expensive honeym oon resorts, Club Med, where the manager was from the same country as Borat, Turkey. Borat told us he had managed to find where all the six Turks in French Polynesia are working and he wanted to meet this one, probably for the free drinks we would be offered.

Before leaving Bora Bora, Borat had been tinkering around with the boats engine and had discovered it was leaking oil. In the puddle of oil he found some bits of rubber and a ripped oil seal, not good. He then ran the engine and it started making a noise like a popcorn maker, which we later discovered was a loose screw, not Borat, but something metallic loose inside the engine, defiantly not good. Borat starting cursing the mechanics who had serviced the engine last week in Tahiti and he decided we had to return.

The reason this decision is a bit of a pain in the arse is because we will be going back on ourselves. We will have to head straight into the trade winds meaning we will have to tack up wind all the time. Also we will also be going against the general swell direction and against the current, all of these making it an uncomfortable sail. It took us 50 hours to sail back. Kat became really seasick from the start and struggled to hold water down which made her dehydrated and weak. She was also dry retching and bringing up illuminous yellow stomach bile and tasting blood. Altogether it was an ugly sail.

We finally got back to Tahiti on Thursday and the mechanics worked on the engine in the afternoon. They completed three hours work and explained they would need another day, but, they can't do Friday, they can't do the weekend, then its bank holiday Monday, then they may be able to finish on Tuesday and maybe we can get away next Wednesday but only hopefully....

Kat and I went for lunch and reviewed the news. We should have left Bora Bora on Sunday the 20th but now we might not leave Tahiti till Wednesday the 30th. Borat has to be in Fiji by the 18th of June to meet a friend and its a minimum, non-stop, 15 day sail from Tahiti to Fiji to cover the 3000 km. We wouldn't have the time to stop and explore the Cook islands, Tonga, Nuie, Samoa and Fiji, which was the original plan. Along with Kat's sea-sickness we decided to jump ship.

An hour later on the internet and we had two one-way tickets to Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook islands. Sailing around French Polynesia and competing in the Tahiti regatta had been an awesome two weeks. The engine problems had put a spanner in the works, or was it a screw, but we had our plan and it didn't involve missing out the chance to explore these south pacific islands. I mean, how often do you get to visit this part of the world? So we told Borat, packed our bags and jumped ship.

Hello Rarotonga!

THE COOK ISLANDS

Arrival in Rarotonga airport was interesting. "We're putting you back on that plane to Tahiti" said the police and customs as they were about to deport us from their country. 

The news that we didn't have an onward ticket, because we had planned to buy one later on the internet, was greeted by the police with a scowl, some finger pointing at the airplane we arrived on and a stern warning if we don't produce evidence of an onward ticket in the next three minutes we will be deported. They allowed us to make one phone call and so we rang Air New Zealand and booked a flight to Fiji. This kept the police happy and we were allowed in!

We flew out from Tahiti with an Irish couple who we later met at our hostel. They had also been crewing in French Polynesia and also had had their time cut short due to a problem on the boat. They told us the story about how they had been de-masted in a squall and had drifted for a while before being found and towed into a local harbour. They were boasting they had made front page news on the local paper until I mentioned that our engine had blown up (well ok, we had a small oil leak and a noise like a popcorn maker) and we had been interviewed for French national TV!(well ok, for a different reason but, hey, great story.)

We wanted to hire a scooter on Rarotonga, however you need to visit the police station to apply for a cook island license. The local police like to fleece the tourists for $16 for this pointless license by asking them to take a small test to make sure they can handle the complicated and busy road system around the island. Did I mention the island only has one single road that runs around it.

Clockwise

Here is basically what happened. The traffic cop addresses all the hopeful tourists about to take their test. "Ok people just take it around the block ok. So, go left, left, left and ummmmm, left, ok. Don't speed and try to indicate." (we're back one minute later) Ok, you've passed".

Driving along in my automobile

River crossing in Rarotonga

Cooper Out

Love Dan & Kat