Papeete, Tahiti

Anchored around the NE side of the Island, past the airport and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Looking out to the sunset, huge rollers break on the reef only a few hundred meters away. In the distance, Moorea looms! It is a beautiful setting. A short dinghy ride to a marina gives us access to 'le truck' which takes us downtown. A ten minute walk to the 'Carrefoure' which is the French equivalent of Walmart.
The sun is shining and the breeze makes the heat and humidity almost bearable. Tahiti seems like a crossroads for ocean travelers. From here boats are bound N to Hawaii or E to the Panama Canal or W to Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. French boats, Dutch boats, English boats, Canadian boats, American boats, Polish boats etc... And everyone of them has tales to tell, the common bond being the oceans we've crossed and the ones we gaze ahead at. From the largest sailing yacht in the world, the 'Maltese
Falcon' moored downtown to the grubbiest little derelict still afloat, you see them all here.
And among them, Toketie bobs gently, pulling on her anchor chain...almost to say...'where to next?'....and we ask ourselves the same question. This feels like a halfway point and we take a deep breath before taking the next step across a very big ocean.