Day 74 Marina Taina

Familiar surroundings
There are a lot of ways to travel and see the world. I have been car camping and stayed in public campsites; travelled by plane to stay in hotels from moderate to luxury; trekked and camped with adventure travel groups and now stayed in marinas with other boaters - most of them on sailboats. (About the only thing I have not done is travel on a cruise ship, although Club Med was reputed to be similar).
After a few days in Tahiti's Marina Taina, it is easy to see some of the same characteristics as the marina in Puerto Vallarta.
Unlike the hotel experience, the marina is like belonging to a club. Everyone is very open and friendly and instantly willing to share ideas and experiences. You may own a catamaran and be from Florida or a racing sloop from Italy but you all share some of the same history if you have been cruising for long. Some are experienced and some are just starting out but they all are willing to help with the problem of the moment. (Like the time Dave Kelly came over and helped us fix the rudder post leak). In fact, it is interesting to see how different everyone is and yet how similar. I am sure that if I met most of these people at the pool of a resort hotel, we would not have the same bond or the same conversations.
Unlike the U.S. car campers, the international cruising crowd are all pretty worldly and sophisticated. If they were able to afford this level of toys, they have also usually achieved something in their lives. They also share an adventurous spirit and an amazing self reliance in the face of difficulty. The idea of losing your engine or part of your sail and still carrying on when there are thousands of miles of ocean to cross takes a certain toughness that most holiday travelers never have to summon.
One might not expect the French port of Papeete to be much like the Mexican port of Puerto Vallarta and perhaps it is not but for the Puddle Jumpers there is a lot the same. Many of the boats at Marina Taina are owned by local Tahitian people but they are mostly abandoned during the week and many look like they have not been visited in a long time. The boats that are being lived in are all cruisers and since there is only one direction to travel at this time of year (going with the Southeast trade winds is the only practical direction) everyone has come from East of here and is going West. They all started from somewhere between Seattle and Ecuador and they are all following the Polynesian island chain. Some are from Eastern U.S. or from Europe and came through the Panama Canal but for this part of the trip, they all shared similar experiences of a long first crossing from the Americas to Polynesia and they have all stopped at many of the same islands to get here. Ninety nine percent are doing this for the first time and have learned a lot along the way.