The Society
Islands
Part 1
Tahiti
After an
uneventful overnight sail we were greeted by a dawn sighting of Tahiti.
Ah, Tahiti – so exotic, so evocative of the South Pacific. The
making, undoing and probably eating of Captain Cook!
We took a
mooring at the Tahiti Yacht Club at Arue, about 2 miles to the east of the
capital Papeete.
Arue was pleasant – a nice bar and restaurant and a wonderful Carrefour
supermarket just five minutes walk away. After a couple of months being able to
buy only the most basic of foodstuffs you would not believe the delight of a
well-stocked supermarket, with fresh vegetables, something we has hardly seen
for the last few weeks. The downside was dual carriageways and traffic – lots of
it. That was quite a shock to the system as well.
We went into
Papeete next day
to check in with the local authorities and to have a look around. Papeete is a big (for this
part of the world) city with over 120,000 inhabitants. It is noisy, scruffy,
dirty and pretty uninteresting, apart from a wonderful covered market selling
everything from fish, fruit and veg, clothing and tourist tat.
We checked in,
visited the local chandlery for a couple of bits, replenished a gas bottle and
did the odd bits of shopping that could not be done at Carrefour. We took a
stroll along the waterfront. This was where most of the visiting yachts would
moor stern-to the quay Mediterranean style, except there was hardly anyone
there! The local authorities had decided to tidy up the waterfront and had spent
a lot of money on new quayside facilities, such as power and water.
Unfortunately they then decided to charge such an exorbitant rate to moor up
that nobody goes there any more, and the vast majority of visiting yacht now
anchor – free – a few miles down the coast. So because of municipal greed the
money has been wasted, and the once vibrant waterfront is now deserted, with the
consequent loss to all the local businesses.
We hired a car
for the day to drive around Tahiti. All in all
it was rather disappointing. The suggested sites of interest (waterfall,
blow-hole, botanical garden, grotto were either a let-down or closed. The island
felt more like the south of France than South Pacific. The day
was redeemed by an excellent lunch in a local restaurant (though expensive, like
everything here) and a drive inland through meadows reminiscent to Devon, even down to the red soil.
The green rolling hills
of…..Tahiti
In all we spent
10 days in Papeete. Having read the above this may
surprise you, but a degree of civilisation does have its attractions after the
Toamotus, before the short sail (motor actually as it was flat calm) to the
neighbouring island of Moorea.
Mo’orea
From Tahiti the incredible peaks of Moorea beckon. This is the
island of James Michener’s Bali Hai. The two deep bays on the northern
shore, Cook’s Bay and Oponohu are stunningly beautiful with the backdrop of the
jagged volcanic peaks. However they are somewhat oppressive as an anchorage,
with the added likelihood of evening bugs, so we chose to anchor behind the reef
at the entrance of Opunohu Bay in 4 metres of crystal clear
aquamarine. Even the mast casts a shadow of the seabed!
Our introduction
to Moorea was slightly soured by the first rude and inconsiderate yachtsman we
had met all trip, but that was soon forgotten by the sheer beauty of our
surroundings.
The anchorage, Oponuho Bay,
Moorea
French
pig!
The lush
interior
Roadside
stalls
Local fruit and veg?
Bananas, mangos, papaya, grapefruit and taro
Or local fish – dorade or
mahe-mahe as the locals call it
Highlights were
a beautiful dinner in the Mayflower restaurant, the best for many months (shrimp
dumplings in a ginger sauce, followed by lobster ravioli - it’s a tough life!),
and a visit to the local agricultural college with a delightful tour through
their exotic plantations.
Yes, you’re
right
No
idea
Avocados
Grapefruit
? – do you
know?
Banana
These are an ornamental
variety – note mini bananas
One for all you
birdwatchers – a finch of some kind – no bird book
Ginger
–apparently
More bananas – proper ones
this time
Notwithstanding
the above, Moorea was rather beautiful but dull, and after a week we took the
90-mile sail to Huahine. On leaving in very little wind we were a bit concerned
that we would not make Huahine in daylight. We hoisted the Code O (large light
asymmetric genoa) at 8.30. By 12.30 we took it down again when our boat speed
reached 17 or 18 knots. We had made up our time and anchored off the little town
of Fare in
Huahine by 4pm. We should know by now that speed is something this boat has in
abundance, but it never fails to amaze me how easy it is to go fast in ‘Snow
Leopard’
Huahine
After the dirty
bustle of Tahiti and the rather dull, but beautiful Moorea it was nice to be
back on an island that felt like Polynesia
again. The main village, Fare had a bustle and character to it as the locals
went about their daily lives. Gone was the ‘big city’ atmosphere of Papeete or
the sterile tourism of Moorea, Huahine was an island looking after its own, with
friendly smiles back on the agenda
The island is in
fact two islands, the larger Huahine Nui linked to Huahine Iti, by a small
bridge over the dividing waterway. Both islands are surrounded by one continuous
reef, with four passes giving access to the mountainous islands
inside.
Whilst in Fare
we heard that the local dance troupe had been hugely successful at the Tahiti
Heiva (festival) held every July and on their return was to put on a special
performance for their own islanders. This was programmed for Friday night, but
in true Polynesian style, on Friday morning everything was postponed for 24
hours.
We took the
opportunity to motor down the channel inside the coral reef to a delightful
anchorage at the southern tip of the island, Avea Bay. This should have been a beautiful
calm anchorage in the prevailing easterly trade winds, but that night the wind
decided to reverse, blowing from the west, setting us up on a lee shore, just a
few metres from some rather nasty coral heads. We spent a rather anxious few
hours on anchor watch until at about 2 in the morning the wind died down and
returned to its normal direction. There was a clear explanation for all this
angst and trouble – we had set off on Friday 13th, so it wasn’t until
the following morning that we were allowed to rest easy. Superstitious –
moi?
We return to
Fare next day and that evening did watch a tremendous spectacle of traditional
dancing and singing. I think the whole island turned out to watch and sometime
the audience were as riotous as the performance. No polite applause here as they
joined in the dancing and some songs, laughed, shouted and cheered. A good time
was had by all.
Fare Ihi no Huahine - the
prize-winning dancers
We decided a few
days peace and quiet would be in order and once again set off south to
Avea
Bay. This time no dramas,
but, peace, swimming, dinghy exploring and reading were the orders of the day.
This may sound somewhat surprising, but we rarely have days with nothing to do,
so these came a really pleasant break.
Only one thing
more to report from Huahine – sharks. The Pacific seems infested with them and
though we are continually assured that they are harmless when you are
snorkelling and a five foot shark swims by you do get are certain jolt. What
happens if that particular shark is in a bad mood? How do you tell if a shark is
in a bad mood? Is he just inquisitive or looking for a snack? I still find it
unnerving being in close proximity to sharks in their environment.
Our friends, Chris and
Lorraine on ‘Gryphon 2’ anchored behind the
reef in Avea
Bay
Raiatea and
Tahaa
These two
islands, again surrounded by a single coral reef, lie 25 miles to the east of
Huahine. We sailed very gently across, dead-running with just the jib and
anchored on the edge of the surrounding reef in the lee of Raiatea. Now the weather has changed and we have had a
succession of small fronts pass over, bringing squally winds, rain and
occasional thunder.
We had a small
electrical problem which necessitated getting the batteries fully charged. We
managed to persuade the small Apooiti marine to let us squeeze in for one night
so that we could use the shore power. It was very strange being able to just
step off the boat onto land. It was the first time we had been alongside since
Colon in Panama back in April.
With the problem
sorted, and a minor fuel leak sorted as well, we headed the 3 miles across the
island of
Tahaa and to a delightful,
calm anchorage at the grandly-named Teravana Yacht Club. Owned by Richard, an
American ex-charter skipper, the yacht club consists of a beachside bar and
restaurant, and a few well maintained moorings for his customers. What more
could you want from a yacht club anyway? So delightful was this spot that a few
days rest and relaxation were in order, again. We even had internet access,
which is why this section of the blog has been
posted.
