We had been looking at boats online for sometime, getting an idea of what we wanted, what was available and a feel for the market. This whilst we were still both working, but intent on renewing some of our cruising experience once we had retired. We had pretty much landed on two criteria. First we wanted the boat to be in Tahiti. We had loved our rather brief time in French Polynesia during our Pacific crossing in 2009 and were very keen to spend more time in this wonderful part of the world. It is also a perfect place to start the slow trip west back to Australia when we were ready. Second, we had decided that the Fountaine Pajot Belize or Bahia would perfectly suit our needs and we really liked the look of this generation of cruising cats.
I was helping to crew a boat from Fiji to Brisbane in November 2022 when when this Belize appeared for sale in Tahiti. It was frankly a bit early for us in terms of our broad plans, but we felt that if it was still there in 2023 we would seriously consider it. Long story short, come February 2023 I hopped on a plane with Piet to spend a week in Tahiti, check the boat and have a bit of a holiday too.
Piet’s official role was to be the impartial observer and make sure I didn’t buy the dream rather than the boat and end up with something I would later think twice about. His unofficial task was to make the trip a lot of fun and share a beer or two. Both tasks admirably performed, thanks Piet.
So we spent a day poking around the boat, had it hauled for a survey and also had a separate survey of the engines by a mechanic and the electrical systems. Having had a bluewater cruiser before I was well aware of how easy it is to miss some big issues if you don’t know what you are looking for. Happily nothing emerged that was not a) fixable b) unexpected in a boat this age and c) negotiable within the price.
We really appreciated the work of Nikki from Sail Tahiti, Adrian Pataki who checked the mechanics and Vincent Goyat the surveyor. They were all very professional and a pleasure to deal with. I can highly recommend them all.
So business over with and just the final price to negotiate over the coming week or so, it was time for Piet and I to explore a bit of the Iles du Vent. We hired a car, checked out Teahupo’o, had a body surf at Papeno’o, went a very long way up a road into the stunning interior which we probably shouldn’t have with said car and had a beautiful day trip to Moorea. Lots of fun. All in all a very successful trip.