1ST JUNE, 2010, RAIATEA ISLAND & TAHAA ISLAND

Over the last few days we have been exploring these Islands but have not finished yet!  Allden Owles (the son of an old family friend) has joined us for a couple of days from a yacht called Briet.   We took Aqualuna into the mouth of the Faaroa River and set out in the dingy to go up the river that afternoon, but the tide was too low and James came out to greet us in his canoe.  He said he would take us to the Botanical gardens and show us where it is.  We landed in the area where the village was having it's Sunday Fete for the Tahitian Mother's day.  

We were made very welcome, lots of villagers playing Petanque, Volley Ball and many doing Line Dancing, much to our surprise.  We walked through the fete and on to the road past very neat gardens full of exotic plants. We eventually reached the Botanical Gardens which had a 'For Sale' sign by the gate.  It was amazing just like a mixture of 'The Secret Garden' and 'the Garden of Eden'  flowers and fruit trees everywhere, sadly slowly getting overgrown in places.  A small stream ran down the centre to the river.  James picked Star fruit, Limes, Pamplemouse, Oranges for us.  We spent a couple of hours there exploring through the undergrowth and down muddy paths and walking down the stream to the river where the old visitors pontoon was.  At 8 am the next morning we set out for the river, James was there to greet us again, we made our way as far as we could until we came across a huge tree trunk which blocked our way at the narrow end.  Back down river, much easier, and into the mouth against a strong wind back to the yacht just in time before a big squall came through.  James went back to his village and refused money so we gave him a BWR Aqualuna T shirt in which we tucked some money for him as a gift.  He said he used to be a tourist guide but now not working as there are not that many tourists anymore.  After we left we called into the town pier to go to Carrefour to buy more food for the yacht.  We then sailed around to Paufu Bay on the west coast, out of the winds, for the night.  Now we are heading down the west coast of Tahaa to go snorkelling before returning this afternoon to Taravana Yacht Club to help Margie Benziger celebrate her Birthday tonight.  Many of the BWR yachts will be there, this is what is so much fun with the BWR is that we are all there for each other to help celebrate special occasions and assist if there is a problem but still go our own way occasionally to explore.  There are so many different characters in the BWR and nationalities which makes it diverse and interesting as we learn about each other's lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Some of the BWR crowd at the Taravana Yacht Club Apu Bay