It was a short passage from Tuamotus to Tahiti, about 36
hours with mixed seas, but a breeze that strengthened the closer we got making
the ride more comfortable. The lush
green mountains of Tahiti-Nui, Tahiti-Iti and Moorea loomed before us, a stark
contrast to the flatness of the Tuamotus.
We were all excited about our arrival in Tahiti for so many reasons:
access to fresh food, shops, civilisation, chandleries, wi-fi to name a few,
but most of all we were looking forward to catching up with friends from home
who were meeting us here to share some of this adventure with us. After eleven months away, we were looking
forward to seeing some familiar faces.
The Society Islands themselves exceeded our
expectations with their natural beauty and the quiet, friendly nature of the
people who live there. Tucked inside the
barrier reef that wraps around each island we were protected from the surf that
crashed upon it only a hundred or so metres away. It was strange to be anchored in calm waters,
watching a perfect wave break over the reef.
The warning of Moana’s father, ‘don’t got beyond the reef’ echoed in our
heads many times as we cruised the islands.
At times sailing between islands in a nasty cross swell we very much
agreed with this statement, always such a relief to re-enter the calm water
inside the pass.
TAHITI
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| TAHITI - Not far to go now... |
Just before sunset on Friday evening 22 June we found a spot
to anchor near Marina Taina, just to the south west of Papeete. It was a convenient spot, close to the dinghy
dock which gave access to the shopping mall and Carrefour, a few restaurants
and wi-fi. On Saturday morning we had
our first reconnection with Newport when Rod and Kerry joined us on RAFTKIN for
morning tea. We enjoyed catching up, swapping
stories and getting great tips on where to go and what to see in the
Societies. We caught up with them again
for dinner at the best pizza restaurant in town, and again on Sunday.
Five minutes walk from Marina Taina was the Carrefour, the
biggest supermarket we had seen in months, stocked full of goodies. After almost three months at sea or in the
more remote parts of French Polynesia, our provisions were getting low,
certainly in the fresh food department.
It was exciting to see eggs and cheese, tomatoes and lettuce, oranges
and apples again. Over the next week we
wheeled several trolley loads of food along the goat track back to the marina,
loaded up the dinghy at the dinghy dock and ferried the goods back to RAFTKIN.
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| Dinghy dock maddness at Taina marina |
Wednesday 27th June was the Skipper’s birthday, so we cooked a big breakfast, then dinghied into the marina and walked to the local bus stop to catch the local bus into Papeete. It was about a 30 minute ride into the capital of French Polynesia, a bustling city with lots of cars, plenty of construction work and far more high rise than we expected. We wandered around town, checking out the produce market and the shops, replaced broken shoes and picked up a few essential items. We looked through the pearl museum and learnt about the history of the pearl industry. We then walked along the waterfront back towards Marina Taina, to the bus stop we knew would get us back there again.
Thursday and Friday we hired a small car to explore the
island and pick up a few extra things from more far flung places like the
chandlery on the outskirts of Papeete. Tahiti
is actually made up of two islands, Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti, connected by a
small isthmus. There is a road that goes
right around the shoreline of the islands, making touring in a car very
simple. After picking up what we needed
from the chandlery we drove out of Papeete in a clockwise direction around Tahiti
Nui, looking for the red signs that indicated a place of interest. We stopped in at the Tahiti Yacht Club to have
a look around and were delighted to see a strong fleet of Hobie 16s sitting on
the hardstand ready for sailing. Not far
from the yacht club we found Point Venus where Captain Cook set up an
observatory to record the transit of Venus.
There was a great park where we enjoyed a picnic lunch of baguette and
brie, as you do when in the French part of the Pacific. We continued on and found Faarumi Waterfalls,
where we followed a trail through lush rainforest to the bottom of the
cascades.
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| Hobies! Tahiti Yacht Club |
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| Traditional canoe/outrigger at Point Venus |
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| Faarumi Waterfalls, Tahiti |
We reached Taravao, a small town on the isthmus that
separates Tahiti-Nui from Tahiti Iti, in the late afternoon and decided to
leave the exploration of Tahiti Iti for Friday.
Instead we opted for a coffee break/ icecream stop at the local
McDonalds. Coming back down the south
western side of Tahiti Nui we stopped in at the Paul Gauguin museum, driving
down a long driveway through beautiful gardens with large thickets of giant
bamboo. The museum was closed, but we
took a peek through the open doors into the courtyard. On the plus side this meant we were back at
the marina in time for Hayley and Megan to catch up with the kid boats that had
arrived, Shawnigan, La Cigale, and new kid boat Coastal Drifter. We all ventured out to the Pizza Roulotte, where
we overtook several tables and enjoyed catching up with friends.
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| Boat kids at the roulettes for dinner |
Friday 29th June we set out in our little hire
car once again for Tahiti Iti, travelling anticlockwise this time. We stopped at Mara’a, where there were three
natural grottos cut into the rock face.
Water drips constantly through the rock forming lakes of crystal clear
water inside each cave. We continued on
and made our way across the isthmus, where we saw many vegetable gardens,
farmland and even cows. It had been a
while since we had seen cows. On the south
western side of Tahiti Iti we found Teahupoo.
We stood on the beach in misty rain watching the famous surf break. Returning to the car, we found our way up a steep,
narrow road through farmland to the Belvedere at the top of Taravao Plateau. We had a great view back over the isthmus
towards Tahiti Nui.
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| Mara'a Grottos, Tahiti |
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| As close as we got to surfing the break at Teahupoo |
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| Belvadere on Taravao Plateau, Tahiti Iti |
We spent the weekend on the boat and around the marina. Hayley and Megan enjoyed catching up with all
the kids, whilst Dave and I cleaned the boat, did the last of the provisioning,
refuelled and generally got ready for the arrival of our friends. Sunday afternoon the Pelizeno Pirates rode
out to Taina from Papeete to catch up with us before we left Tahiti. A big group of family boats went out for
dinner at the Roulottes, where it absolutely poured with rain making the
alfresco dining a challenge, but great to be all together again.
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| No clouds over Moorea (from Tahiti anchorage) |
MOOREA
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| MOOREA - Opunohu Bay |
Monday morning 2nd July could not come quickly
enough and the kids were absolutely beside themselves when at last it was time
to take the dinghy into the marina to collect our wonderful Newport neighbours,
the Camelos. Two dinghy loads and a
happy reunion later we lifted anchor and motored off down the channel, Moorea
bound. The Camelos didn’t have time to
back out of the short passage between Tahiti and Moorea, and bravely faced the
big swell, which appeared to come from both north and south as we motor-sailed
across. Big smiles when we came through
the pass into Opunohu Bay and anchored in the still water of the eastern
anchorage, between the reef and a beautiful sandy beach. Paradise at last. Hayley, Megan, Rodrigo and Rafael lost no
time and spent the afternoon swimming, jumping off the boat and paddle boarding
around the anchorage.
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| Everybody needs good neighbours |
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| Newport kids in Moorea |
We spent the next couple of days enjoying this anchorage and even had a chance to get the windsurfer out to enjoy a strengthening breeze on Tuesday afternoon that made the windsurfing fun. On Wednesday we took the dinghy to the head of Opunohu Bay where we went looking for the local prawn farm. We ordered a couple of kilos of fresh prawns and took them back to the boat for dinner. Wednesday was a beautiful, sunny day and the night looked clear. The kids decided it would be the perfect night to sleep on the trampolines. After a delicious meal of prawn ceviche, courtesy of Marcello, followed by garlic prawns by Liz (YUM!), we got out the sleeping bags and the four kids made their way to the bow to settle down for the night. What a great night!
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| Famous Camelo pancakes |
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| Fresh prawns for dinner from Opunohu Bay |
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| Sleep out on RAFTKIN at Opunohu Bay |
Thursday 5th July we decided to shift the boat
the other side of Opunohu Bay, to a small anchorage tucked inside the
reef. This spot meant we were closer to
‘Sting Ray City’, a sandbar to the south near the InterContinental where sting
rays (and sharks) gather to be fed by tour guides. It was also closer to the accommodation booked
by the Camelos for their last two nights on Moorea, although Rodrigo and Rafael
elected to stay on board RAFTKIN an extra night. We were tempted to kidnap them
and take them with us! Once anchored, we
took the dinghy up the narrow channel in the reef to Sting Ray City where we
tied up to a buoy and cautiously slipped into the water. This blog won’t report who screamed when 😊,
but it is rather a daunting thing to jump into the water and have a couple of
large stingrays greet you with a kiss.
They soon worked out we didn’t have food and kept a more comfortable
distance away.
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| East anchorage at Opunohu Bay |
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| Off to Sting Ray City |
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| Sting Ray City |
Friday
6th July was another big day.
After breakfast we dinghied up to Sting Ray City to swim with the rays
again, then the four kids spent the day with Liz and Marcello at the resort
they were staying. Dave and I went back
to the boat to tidy up, wash sheets and tidy the boat a little. Soon it was time to pick up Ainslie and
Oliver from the nearby wharf for a week of tropical island fun. We started the adventure with a dinghy ride
down to the sting rays before we picked up Hayley and Megan. Ainslie and Oli adopted the same caution when
getting in the water. We were all warier
of the sting rays than the sharks, perhaps something that lingers from living
on Pittwater. After sad goodbyes to our
wonderful neighbours, we hopped in the dinghy and made our way back to RAFTKIN.
Saturday morning we decided to walk to the Belvedere above
the saddle between Opunohu Bay and Cooks Bay.
It was about an hours walk along the road and up the hill, passing by a
couple of ancient marae sites along the way. At the top we looked out over
Opunohu Bay and Cooks Bay and out to the north.
Beautiful. On the way back down,
we found a track through the bush, which was much nicer than walking along the
road. The track came out just above the
agricultural school, which has a small shop selling juices, icecream and
coffee. Perfect!
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| Crazy Newport kids walking to the Belvedere |
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| The Belevedere |
We had one last venture down to Sting Ray City to swim with
the rays before we lifted anchor and moved around to Cooks Bay. We had hoped to sail on to Raiatea, but there
was a front coming in with strong winds forecast. We hoped that Cooks Bay would offer good
protection from the wind and it was nice to have a change of scenery. We took the dinghy into the nearest dinghy
dock, which was out the front of an old-style resort. Nothing was open because it was Sunday, so
after a bit of a walk around with rain off and on, we made our way back to RAFTKIN. By nightfall the bay had changed from
tranquil harbour to gusty bay. The wind
strengthened overnight and we each took turns to get up and check our position
in the bay, confirming that we hadn’t dragged.
By morning the strongest gusts had passed, but it was still very windy
and remained so all day Monday, with passing rain showers. We took the dinghy into the dock again and
went for a walk around the bay, stopping at the supermarket for a few supplies
on the way back.
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| Windy day in Cooks Bay anchorage |
The wind finally started to abate on Tuesday and we decided
to leave mid afternoon for Raiatea. We
spent the morning enjoying the calmer anchorage. The kids and Dave took the dinghy over to a
pretty swimming hole in the reef, while Ainslie and I followed on the paddle
boards. We spent some time snorkelling,
the kids mucking around on the paddleboards and soaking up the sunshine after a
couple of days of rain. We got back to
RAFTKIN and had a light lunch before lifting anchor ready for the overnight
sail to Raiatea.
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| SUP fun in Cooks Bay |
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| Mad Meg in Cooks Bay |
The wind was strong and steady as we left Cooks Bay heading north west. As the afternoon progressed the wind steadily built and we soon put in a second reef and reefed the jib. Not long before dark we took a third reef and further reduced the jib sail area, just to be safe as the wind was gusting over 30 knots. Combined with the cross swell, this was a very uncomfortable passage and all on RAFTKIN resorted to the stable side position once the sun went down.
The wind died out after midnight, so we had to shake out the reefs to keep moving. As the sun rose we could see Huahine off our starboard side, with Raiatea to port in the distance. Seemingly not far away, it seemed to take forever to reach our destination. No one was particularly hungry, so we saved our celebratory bacon and egg breakfast until our arrival. At 1:30pm we had the south pass in sight. We dropped the sails, lined up RAFTKIN and motored through the pass into the calm waters behind the reef. A collective sigh of relief was clearly audible from RAFTKIN!
RAIATEA-TAHAA
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| RAIATEA-TAHAA - Behind every rainbow... |
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| Made it! Entering Nao Nao pass at Raiatea |
We found a pretty little anchorage in the turquoise waters
behind Isle Nao Nao and spent the afternoon snorkelling and relaxing after what
had been a difficult night. Thursday
morning the wind was up again and there was more wet weather on the way. We enjoyed the sunshine while we could, then
as the weather deteriorated we lifted the anchor and headed north, around the eastern
side of Raiatea to find a more sheltered anchorage.
We looked in several bays, but decided to
keep moving north. Raiatea is actually
two islands, Raiatea and Tahaa, located within the one barrier reef. We crossed the gap between Raiatea and Tahaa
and motored around the western side of Tahaa.
When we reached Tapuamu Bay the sun was just peaking out from behind the
clouds. We anchored in deep water out
from the town dock. Ainslie, Oli and
Dave went off to find the coral gardens on the reef opposite the bay. Hayley, Megan and I went for a paddle board
in the bay.
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| Another day in paradise, motoroing to Tapuamu Bay, Raiatea |
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| Jumping for joy to see the sun in Tapuamu Bay, Tahaa |
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| Off to the coral gardens in Tahaa |
We had a light dinner on the boat, after which Ainslie, Dave and I sat outside and enjoyed a dark n stormy while we listened to the sound of the Tahitian drums, singing and dancing as the local groups practised their Heiva routines. It was quite a spectacle!
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| Sun sets over Bora Bora from Tapuamu Bay |
The sun was out when we woke of Friday morning and the wind
had dropped, so we dinghied across to the coral gardens and tied up to the
small motu opposite a resort. After
trying to swim around against the current for a while, we saw that all the tour
groups were walking up the side of the motu with their snorkelling gear. We followed them and at the edge of the motu,
everyone donned their gear and jumped in.
It was like a superfast pass dive.
The kids loved it, but it was so fast we didn’t get to see much.
Back on the boat we lifted the anchor to sail down to the
anchorage on the NW side of Raiatea, near the airport. Sadly, it was time for Ainslie and Oli to
leave. The rain came back for a little
while, but disappeared again and we had a lovely sunny afternoon chilling out
on RAFTKIN before it was time to go to the airport. Perhaps the most unique airport drop off they
and we have ever experienced – a short dinghy ride around the bay and up a
channel to a dinghy dock right at the airport terminal. Such a fun two weeks we have had with our
visitors. After looking forward to it
for so long, it was hard to believe it was all over. A quiet night on RAFTKIN tonight.
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| Outriggers paddle in the slip stream behind RAFTKIN |
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| Just hanging about in Upapa Bay, Raiatea |
On Bastille Day, Saturday 14th July the sun shone
and the wind had died out when we woke.
The water was glassy again and we felt so lucky to be in such a
beautiful anchorage. We even felt a bit
guilty that Ainslie and Oli had left and missed this, but that feeling was
short lived... there were still many
rainbows on the horizon. We took a taxi into
Uturoa, but missed the parade which had been on early in the morning.
After walking around Uturoa for an hour or so we started to
make our way back towards the big Hieva Festival tent on the outskirts of town,
stopping at a windsurfing competition on the way. As we were checking out all the different
rigs lying on the lawn, the skies opened up pouring down bucket loads of
tropical rain. We stood under a tree for
a while, but that didn’t offer much protection.
A guy from the windsurfing competition motioned that we could stand
under their tent - a little awkward as they only spoke French, us only
English. The rain cleared enough that we
could head for the next shelter before it came down yet again, and so we leap
frogged from shelter to shelter until we got to the Hieva tent. There was nothing happening today, but on the
water there was canoe racing. It was so
fun to watch the ladies and then the men’s teams compete, even in the rain. Drenched rats, we walked all the way back to
the dinghy dock (only about 3-4 km) and back to the boat to dry out. It was a most enjoyable day, despite the rain.
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| Trying to stay dry at Hieva Outrigger carnival, Uturoa |
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| Go Girls! Ladies outrigger race, Uturoa |
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| Men's gun team heads out for outrigger race, Uturoa |
Rain rain go away.
Sunday and Monday were perhaps the wettest days we have had on the boat
since we started. We spent the days
doing school, watching movies and getting a few jobs done on the boat. By Tuesday the weather had started to clear
and we were ready to move on. We motored
around the eastern side of Tahaa and into Haamene Bay. We took the dinghy in to check it out the village
of Haamene and went for a walk along the road up the hill behind the town where
we were rewarded with a great view down over the bay.
The sun was shining this morning when we woke up on
Wednesday morning - hooray! After school
we pulled up anchor and made our way around the northern side of Tahaa, looking
for an anchorage on one of the sandbanks near a motu. It was still pretty windy and exposed, so we
decided against it and just headed into Tapuamu Bay. To our surprise when we rounded the corner,
Yonder were moored in the bay. Happy
reunion! The girls spent the afternoon playing
with Adrian, then we all headed over to Yonder for dinner. Such a fun night where Adrian, Megan and
Hayley entertained us with magic tricks under the tuition of master magician
Rob 😊.
BORA BORA
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| Bora Bora |
We waved goodbye to Yonder and motored out of Tapuamu Bay
late on Thursday morning, then motored down to the pass. Exiting through the pass was quite
spectacular, as large waves formed and then crashed on the reef on either side
of the pass. The sun was out, the sky
was clear and everything looked clean and shiny after a week of rainy
weather. We were quite pleased this was
a short passage, just a few hours over to Bora Bora. As we came through the pass into Bora Bora we
radioed Dol Selene and they answered – so good to hear from them! They saved us a mooring at the Bora Bora
Yacht Club and helped us get attached, then came aboard for a post-passage beer
and catch up. When they left we tidied
up before they returned at 5pm with Barefeet for sundowners. Great catch up and planning for the days
ahead.
On Friday morning we went for a walk to the gunnery, which
sits on top of a ridge overlooking the lagoon and pass into Bora Bora. It was a good climb in the sun and it felt
great to be walking. The view down over
the lagoon was magnificent. In the
afternoon we took the dinghy around to the point and walked into Vaitipe. We walked passed a large group practising
drums and watched for a while, then on to the Hieva tent, but that was all
quiet. We walked around town until the
roulettes to open at 6pm, then had steak frittes for dinner. On the way back to the dinghy we stopped
again at the spot where we saw the drumming.
This time we watched a big group practising dancing. Both Hayley and Megan Kids were so tired, but they were mesmerised by the
dancing.
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| RAFTKIN crew at the Gunnery at Bora Bora |
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| Drum practise in Bora Bora |
We were up early on Saturday morning to indulge in a little
wi-fi at the Bora Bora Yacht Club, before dropping the mooring around 10:30am
and making our way around to the south east anchorage on the other side of Bora
Bora. The SE anchorage is tucked in
behind Motu Piti Aau and has the back of Mount Hue and Mount Otemanu as a
backdrop. We dropped anchor in deeper water, backing the boat up towards a
large sandy shoal that spread across the rest of the bay. The perfect playground.
We arrived just in time to head out for a snorkel around the
southern side of the motu with Dol Selene, Barefeet and Adagio. The water was so clear, the coral pretty and
there were plenty of fish. At another
spot we stopped to see a large group of sting rays and sharks. A guy from a charter boat had been feeding
them, but it wasn’t as daunting as in Moorea. On Sunday morning we took the
dinghies to a different section of reef further to the south at Point Matira. The reef was absolutely teaming with fish and
we saw the biggest moray eel we have ever seen.
Dave rigged the windsurfer when we got back from snorkelling and we
spent the afternoon scooting back and forth across the bay. We each had a turn, Dave ever patient
teaching the girls.
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| South-eastern anchorage, Bora Bora |
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| Boat toys come out in the SE anchorage |
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| Heading out for a snorkel, SE anchorage Bora Bora |
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| Spot the gigantic mooray eel, SE anchorage Bora Bora |
We enjoyed two nights in this beautiful anchorage, then it
was time to move on to a new anchorage on the eastern side of the island
between Motu Tape and Motu Tofari, just a short distance from where we were. The anchorage was between two big resorts and
not as pretty as the last one, but just behind the anchorage there was a large area
of reef where giant manta rays swim in the channel, feasting on plankton. The visibility was poor the first afternoon
we visited the mantas. There was so much
plankton in the water it was like swimming through a blizzard, but after
swimming around searching for a while we watched one giant creature swim out of
the murkiness. Incredible.
The next day the water was so much clearer and we could see
to the coral and sand on the bottom. We
swam slowly through the channel and there they were. Four giant mantas cruising back and forth
through the channel. I even saw one get
a bit annoyed at the remoras (sucker fish) attached to its underbelly and after
trying to shake them off it did a big loop de loop. Just magnificent creatures.
We moved on Wednesday morning, but not before one last swim
with the mantas. There were just two cruising the channel this time, but they
swam into a shallower section of the channel so we were able to see them so
clearly. Awesome.
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| Eastern anchorage, Bora Bora |
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| Giant manta ray swims by |
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| Meg swims with the manta |
Back at Bora Bora Yacht Club, the kids got some school work
done before we dinghied into town to see the gendarme and organise check out
from French Polynesia. We caught up with
the Pelizeno Pirates over lunch at the Hieva roulottes, before finishing the
shopping and heading back to the boat.
The kids played with Zenon (Pelizeno), Will and Sam (Bonaire) all
afternoon, jumping off the boom of Pelizeno into the water. We
enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the yacht club on Wednesday night, with Pelizeno,
Dol Selene, Bonaire and Adagio (15 of us).
School and general administrative duties completed for the
day, we motored over to the anchorage on the western side of Isle Toopua on
Thursday afternoon. Another anchorage
amidst turquoise waters, with another stunning backdrop of Mount Hui and Mount
Otemanu, which just looks different from every angle. Once at anchor we enjoyed being able to swim
off the back of the boat and Hayley and Megan had a great time skurfing, swimming
and mucking about with Zenon, Sam and Will.
We invited Pelizeno, Bonaire, Dol Selene and Barefeet over for ‘last
drinks’ on RAFTKIN, being our second last night in French Polynesia. We sat on the ‘pool deck’ (up near the bow)
and enjoyed the beautiful view and the breeze as the sun went down.
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| Heading into the south western anchorage |
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| Kids pool party in the SW anchorage |
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| Boat kids toast to Bora Bora (Sam, William, Zenon, Hayley, Megan) |
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| Last drinks in Bora Bora 0n RAFTKIN |
Lisa and I had planned to go paddle boarding on Friday morning,
but a big squall came through early and with it a very strong breeze. We gave it a miss and opted for an early trip
into Vaitipi to pick up our departure papers from the gendarme and complete
final provisioning for the next 2-3 weeks.
Back in the anchorage the kids enjoyed some skurfing and burnt off some
energy before the passage, followed by a quiet last night.
We woke early on Saturday morning to a slight breeze and a
little bit of rain about, but the weather looked good for our passage to
Suwarrow (Cook Islands). After a quick
coffee and weather conference on Pelizeno, we were ready to go and by
mid-morning we were motoring out of the anchorage and down the channel towards
the pass. We got our sails up whilst
still inside the lagoon, so much nicer to do that in flat water, then motor
sailed through the pass. Once outside
there was just enough wind to put the spinnaker up and we slowly sailed away
from French Polynesia.
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| Last swim in Bora Bora (Photo by Barefeet) |
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| Its never a race until you get started to Suwarrow with Pelizeno (Photo by Barefeet) |
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