We cannot say goodbye

It's that time again. The preparations are coming to an end. We want to leave Tahiti. Yesterday we got our clearance from Traffic Maritime. There is a procedure in Papeete where you have to register and deregister when you arrive and leave Tahiti. Very few people know this and when we talk to other sailors about the subject, we always get astonished looks. In the Papeete marina, however, the so-called AON is filled out and reported to the relevant authorities, at least when you arrive. In order not to end up as a “carte blanche”, we duly deregistered. This is not yet necessary for Moorea, but it is for our other destinations in the Society Islands. As always, when we stay in one place for a longer period of time, we find it hard to say goodbye. You integrate, get to know people and even if not everything is perfect, you learn to deal with it all and get involved with the people. Leaving these people behind is always difficult for us, and we still haven't learned how to say goodbye. We always tell ourselves that we will meet many of them again. But what about the others? We're still in contact with some of them today, we still call or write to them. With others, we often think back to the time we spent together. And then there are those who spontaneously come to mind at some point. It will be the same for us in Tahiti.

Opunohu Bay, Moorea

But on the other hand, there is the anticipation of what awaits us. Ideas of places that we have already visited countless times in our minds. Ideas of what we want to experience in these places, mixed with the uncertainty of what we will actually find. Many places are unknown to most people. Islands that only a few have heard of, places that are so far away that some find them hard to imagine. They all have one thing in common. The beauty of nature is difficult to convey to someone who has not been there. People try to capture it with pictures, to describe it. But many things cannot be described and so our ideas of a place are largely inaccurate and we are always surprised at how different this village, this beach or this island is. We have rarely been disappointed. For the most part, the regions we have visited have exceeded our expectations. That spurs us on and is ultimately the reason why we keep going.

Baking bread on the Katinka Enjoy

We will meet one of our friends again today to say goodbye to him. Whether we will ever see him again is written in the stars. Others are moving with us, albeit a little later, as the preparations are not yet complete. That's no problem for us, we simply wait in a bay on the neighboring island. We have time. The cyclone season isn't over until the end of April, so it's not worth getting too far west before the end. But the probability of encountering a cyclone is decreasing all the time. Nevertheless, we are cautious and will continue to stay in the Society Islands before sailing to Samoa via the Cook Islands in April. So we are starting the sailing season very early, with the aim of being in New Zealand at the end of the year.

Shortwave helps in an emergency

As far as I can tell so far, everything is fine on the Katinka Enjoy. I gave the engines a test run, checked the oil and discovered something new again. In the engine room, starboard, there are two extra chargers for the engine batteries. I had previously assumed that all the batteries were charged by the Multiplus. So I'm always discovering something new on board. We have moved the storage space to the front cabin for better weight distribution. We defrost the freezer once again to refill it, and we've also become familiar with the bread maker. The only thing I'm missing is an adapter cable for the VHF radio system so that I can operate the outdoor station. For the time being, I make do with the handset that we carry as a spare. The manufacturer also leaves us hanging when it comes to changing the MMSI on our emergency beacon. The American manufacturer ACR Electronics does not respond to e-mails or any messages on their homepage. I keep trying in the hope of annoying someone so much that they respond. In the end, it will all come down to buying a new one. It will definitely not be an ACR. I don't know what effect this will have in an emergency. After all, the beacon is registered somewhere with an MMSI number and it will send the old MMSI when it is triggered. If we are then rescued, I don't care about the wrong number. However, if we are not rescued, that would not be so good. Until Fiji, we are connected to friends nearby via shortwave, so we have a backup. From Fiji to New Zealand the problem must be solved. We will keep you up to date in any case and wish you always fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.