Raiatea

Anastasia
Phil May and Andrea Twigg
Thu 10 May 2012 05:07
16:43.4S 151:26.7W
 
Raitaea is notable for having the only navigable river in French Polynesia.  Yesterday we teamed up with the crew of Serendipity and went up the river in our tenders.  It was a bit punishing on our outboard motors, occasionally hitting submerged logs and river banks, but it was a very pretty trip being surrounded by the jungle.  In some parts there were masses of flowers that had fallen off the trees and were just floating down the river.  The river is lined with breadfruit trees and everywhere you looked there were breadfruits that had fallen in the water and drifted down until caught up in branches.
 
We picked a fresh breadfruit from a tree overhanging the river, to take back and cook for dinner. 
 
A scary guy with a big machete, who was out tending his plantation, called us over and gave us big bunches of bananas, cucumbers and papayas, even though none of us had any money or anything else we could give him in trade.  The Polynesians are such friendly and generous people.
Serendipity's tender taking the lead up the river with David, Peter and Bob onboard.
And the rest of us following in Anastasia's tender.
It is important for Bertie to look cool, even when on an intrepid jungle adventure.
We had to skirt around logs and fallen trees.
In some places the river was littered with flowers.