A Day in the life of a Sailor in Tahiti and a look around Pape'ete Marina

Hello friends, my name is James and this is my 1965 Albert 30 Sloop Tritea. We are on a mission to sail around the world and see as much of this beautiful planet as possible. We are currently working our way through the South Pacific and I can't wait to show you everything we see. Good morning friends from Tahiti. Let's head over to the cruiser's lounge, take a look at what that's all about. I'm going to get some work done and then we're going to explore Papeete today and pick some things up and just see what's happening around town. This boat is so sick. Steel adventure boat. It's small. I love that boat. It's so cool. This is the Papeete marina office and the cruiser's lounge where they have wi-fi and really nice showers and bathrooms and you can just chill out and do work. It's really nice. Marina office, cruiser's lounge. And this is where I've been pretty much for the last like four or five days. One of the main reasons I decided to get a slip here in Papeete was so that I had access to this office and internet to upload videos, to edit, get all my stuff done. It's much easier to focus on that work and have reliable internet, the wi-fi to get all the videos up so you guys can see them. This place has been a dream. It's been so nice. So I've done a couple small like adventure, day adventures here in Tahiti but primarily it's just been working, working, working, which is awesome. It's great. But I'll show you around these facilities now and if you ever come to Papeete, this is a fantastic place. I think I'm paying for my size boat, I think I'm paying $24 a day which is stay aboard as well. So it's fantastic price. It's like pretty much the same price as Honolulu. So let's take a look at the cruiser's lounge. So yeah this is like a great facility and everyone in the office when I cleared in, like all the dudes that work at the marina were so nice and so chill. Like the day I showed up, they were having problems with the computer. I walked in and they're like, oh can we help you? And they spoke good English, perfect English. And I was like, oh I would like to get a slip for a week. And the gentleman who kind of runs all the docks and everything, Franco, super cool dude. He was like, oh our computer's having a problem. Well I was like, oh I came in the middle of the night and I'd like to get a slip for the week. And he was like, okay our computers are having a problem. This is like nine o'clock in the morning. He was like, do you have an access card? I was like, no. And he's like, okay let me just give you a day access card. He made me a day pass to get in and out of the gates because everything's really secured here which is fantastic. And he's like, can you come back afternoon so that we can sort this out? I was like, yeah no problem. It was like night and day difference between the bullshit you have to deal with in Honolulu with the state harbors and these dudes. And they work for the port, like they're part of the like government system. Super nice. And then the other amazing thing is when I got my slip, I filled out my paperwork. I didn't even know it at the time, but I was finishing all of my clear in, which was just one piece of paper saying where I came from, where I was going. And when I, a day or so later I was getting ready to go see the agent Tahiti crew that I'd hired. And I was like, okay I gotta finish my clear in process because I do it first with the police officer in Tuamotus and then you're supposed to finish it here in Tahiti. I spoke with the American captain I'd met in the Tuamotus and he said, oh no you can do all that clear in here. So when I went and talked to them they're like, oh yeah you already did it. They're like, just send an email when you're getting ready to leave beyond Morea where you're going and then we'll send all your stuff to Bora Bora so you can clear out there. This place is fantastic. It has been a really nice place to finally just relax after like, you know, a very long period of total full throttle adventure and get my ducks in a row so that I can push on for new adventures. So right now I'm going to drink this pot of coffee, do some editing, do some uploading and then me and you guys are going to walk around and look at Papiete later today. Well, my day's chores might be changed up a bit. We'll see if the rain passes but nice to get the boat washed off. Very, very rainy day here in Tahiti. There's another solo sailor who came in last night. He had a passage from Ecuador of 40 days with a quick stop at Picaran and he got in last night tied up and found out this morning that there are no slips available. He like went into an empty slip that belongs to a charter boat that's coming back now. So we had actually corresponded on Instagram a long time ago. He's from the UK and so I saw him this morning in the cruiser lounge and he said they didn't have any spots so I offered to let him raft up to Tritea. I'm going to be here at least two more days. So we're getting ready to get that set up so that he can have a safe spot to relax, tie up and get over his crazy passage and doesn't have to wander around looking for anchorage in this shitty weather. So let's get the boat all situated and get him rafted up. So yeah yeah seems good. It's very chill. So we got Henry all taken care of. He's all tied up safe and secure now, rafted up with Tritea and um which is awesome because now he can actually relax and get some peace and rest. I'm only here two more days so likely what we'll do is he'll just stay rafted up to me and then when I get ready to leave we'll switch spots and um and I'll head out and um he can have this nice side tie slit. We're gonna brave the rains. Looks like there's some more coming and make our way to the marine store to pick up some supplies. Got a new sea hook. Lost mine overboard at some point on the passage to Tahiti and I got two new fenders. One of my fenders blew up, exploded on the dock the other day and um I'm just really short on fenders so I'm glad to grab these while I'm still around the marine store. Place was cool, fair prices and very well stocked so it's good to know if you're in Tahiti and Papeete you need marine stuff. They have a lot of stuff here so now it's time to head back. We'll cruise through town, see what's open and um dodge the rain as best we can. This is Papeete market. It's a large open air but covered market where vendors set up tables, sell their handmade crafts, different odds and ends, tourist stuff. There are food stalls all around so you can grab lunch or breakfast or coffee while you're there. There's also one whole section of fresh fruits and vegetables and if you come early enough in the day you can find a whole variety of fresh fish and possibly meat. Closer to the waterfront on display is a large traditional Polynesian voyaging craft. It was amazing to see the scale of this thing and to think about them being in the open ocean battling seas on such a small craft with very little protection. I'm not sure if this was originally a vessel or if it was just made as a sculpture but the thing is stunningly beautiful and really remarkable craftsmanship went into making this scale size voyaging craft. On next week's episode we go to the Tahiti pro surf competition at it was an unforgettable day. 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