Huahine

Our favourite island so far has been Huahine. It's one of the leeward islands, Iles sous le Vent,
about ninety miles west from Tahiti/Moorea. The distance meant an overnight passage which was uneventful, the best kind. We wanted to arrive at dawn to ensure a daylight entry through the pass. Our approach was across the top of the island, along the north shore, to avoid the reefs that stretch far offshore on the southwest  side. Apparently, four/five boats a year are lost along that stretch and we wanted to be sure and avoid the same fate. As it was, we arrived a little earlier than planned, around four a.m., but, slowed down, had breakfast and just jogged along until daylight arrived at six. There was quite a bit of turbulence going into the pass, but, not enough to worry about and it was fine. Most boats stop at Fare, the main town, but, we continued on, inside the lagoon, south to Avea Bay. It seemed to take forever to get there as we had a 1+ knot negative current along the way. The Bay didn't seem like much on arrival, scenery-wise, but, it turned out to be a great anchorage. We stayed there for five days and enjoyed it very much. We're late in the season and there weren't many other boats. The ones that did come in were mainly charter boats that never stayed more than a night. We anchored in about ten metres, just off a shelf. The rays like to swim along the edge of the shelf dropoffs and we saw two enormous ones there.

We're still learning the layout of tropical reefs and lagoons as we've never been in this type of environment before. Generally, the 'high islands' we've visited so far are sunken volcanoes. There is a protruding rim that protects an inner lagoon from the full power of the ocean. The waves crashing over the reef can be enormous and create a constant background roar.

Yet, the protection afforded the inner lagoon is complete. You can be anchored in shallow, calm, transparent water just inside the line of raging sea with only a bit of ocean swell if you're anchored near a pass.

We saw a lot of boats anchored very close to the reef edge, on the shallow shelf. That felt a little too exposed for us and we preferred the deeper water.

The island is very rural and agricultural with one main town and a few small villages. Avea Bay has the best beach on the island and a very nice little hotel, Relais Mahana. Next door was Chez Tara, a laid-back beach restaurant that is written up in Lonely Planet as 'one of Huahine's  undiscovered gems'.  Their specialty is 'legendary ma'a Tahiti', traditional Polynesian food, wrapped in leaves and cooked over embers in an underground pit. It's only offered on Sunday. You're told to arrive at eleven a.m. for the opening of the oven and a photo op. Then, the food is prepared and served at noon. In addition to the tourists, there were many locals as customers, servers and musicians, most in traditional garb. Notice this woman is wearing black pearl earrings. Pearls are big business in these islands.

After queuing up, the food was served to you, a little bit of everything.

It maybe didn't look so appetizing, but, it tasted good!

Surprisingly, there was a Europcar outlet at the Relais Mahana hotel and we rented a car for four hours, definitely long enough to tour the 60km ring road and see the sights. Very close by was the Marae Anini with its weathered, coral slab walls. A marae is a traditional temple. These marae with their coral walls and altars were very different from the modern marae we saw in NZ.

Further along, we were impressed with the archaeological site at Maeva. This used to be the seat of royal power on the island and has a concentration of pre-European marae.

There is an excellent little museum built in the style of an open traditional house.

Down the road from the museum was the public toilet. In the middle of a sun-scorched field, expectations were very low and the usual horrible public toilet was envisioned. It was a delight to find a clean, tiled, flushing toilet facility, no graffiti and in the entrance there was a fabulous, fresh, floral arrangement. Toilet pictures don't normally feature in this journal, but, it was a tribute to the island community and so surprising and unexpected I had to include it!

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Moorea

We left Tahiti after anchoring the last night in the anchorage area south of Papeete, near Marina Taina where we had to go to top up our diesel fuel.

It's about five miles south of the city and takes some effort to get to. It's a well-marked channel through the lagoon, but, any movement in Papeete harbour is controlled and all vessel movements must be reported to Port Control. Five minutes before approaching each end of the aiport runway you must ask for clearance to cross. Clearance is also required to exit through the reef via Papeete Pass. It seemed overly bureaucratic, but, you've got to follow the rules.

It was a calm day with hardly any wind, so, we expected to just motor the short ten miles over to Moorea, Tahiti's 'sister island'. It was an easy trip made special by seeing a large pod of dolphins at the Papeete Pass exit and then, on entry into the Cook's Bay Pass at Moorea we saw a large whale which surfaced very close to us. We were soon anchored on a very shallow sand bank with the most stunningly clear, turquoise-coloured water we've ever seen. We could lean over the side and see colourful fish and then a group of five very large  rays passing slowly under the boat, very exciting.

We were anchored just at the entrance to Cook's Bay (which actually Cook never anchored in, he was in the bay next door) with towering volcanic spires just behind us.

These volcanic spires catch the clouds and there is almost always a misty crown around the island. This was great because it provided cloud and even some rain showers which we were very grateful for.

There was also always a nice breeze and we began to feel some relief from the heat lethargy which we'd been suffering with on Tahiti. One sunny afternoon, we did a tour in our dinghy around Cook's Bay and neighbouring Opunohu Bay. We were anchored near Maharepa where there is a cluster of nice restaurants which were just a few minutes away by dinghy. We went to shore for lunch and a walk one day and rented a car for an island tour on another. We stayed five days and the rest of the time we were content to just enjoy the snorkeling around the boat, the gorgeous views and  atmosphere that surrounded us.

Moorea is only 40km around and has an excellent paved road. The driving was easy and the island lovely. There is no real town, just three, or, four clusters of shops/restaurants and many fine, low-rise resorts offering the usual thatched, over-water bungalows on the warm, clear, aquamarine lagoon. These pictures are of the Sofitel Ia Ora Moorea Beach Resort, on the best beach on the island.

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A Tahiti Tour

Our four week stay in Papeete, Tahiti was coming to a close and I can't say we weren't glad of it. As
mentioned in the last post the marina facilities were being torn down. Unfortunately, we were berthed very close to the construction site. Jackhammers, tile saws, cranes and earth moving equipment, along with their associated noise and dirt and dust clouds, were the order of the day, every day but
Sunday, starting at six a.m. The heat and humidity was oppressive, the sun beat down from a cloudless sky and there was  little wind to moderate the temperature, usually around 34C, dropping to the high twenties overnight. We were both suffering a severe case of 'heat lethargy'. I don't know if this a real medical condition (?) if not, it should be, it felt very real to us, doing anything at all felt like just way too much effort! We're hoping we'll acclimatize.

Papeete, despite our marina problems, is a vibrant, interesting place and we had managed to walk
around most of it (after dark, or, before seven a.m. when the heat was bearable). It seemed a bit behind the times, in a good way. The big activity for the many teenagers was doing bicycle 'wheelies' down the promenade while carrying very large, very loud 'boom boxes'. For boys, their dark hair was often streaked with a blonde Mohawk stripe which seemed at odds with the wearing of brightly coloured soccer knee socks, a different colour on each leg. It was an interesting look. There were excellent restaurants, in all price ranges. For locals the Sunday market, starting at 4 a.m. was a big event in their week, if the crowds were anything to go by. The freshest of fish, fruit and vegetables were on offer.

Despite Papeete's charms, here we were on the mythical island of Tahiti and we'd barely been out of the city.  We were very curious about the rest of the island and couldn't leave without seeing more of it.

Tahiti isn't a big island, only about 120km around and you don't need much more than a day for a complete tour. We could have rented a car, or, even rode the local bus, but, the temptation of a guided
tour in an air-conditioned vehicle was just too good to pass up. We booked on an eight hour group tour with Yota. On the day, it turned out we were the only clients and so got a private tour for the price of a group tour ticket, a nice bonus. Yota was a bit of a 'ham', but, a very nice young man from Japan. He's lived in Tahiti twelve years, he came for the surfing and never left. He took his guiding duties very seriously and obviously had put much time and effort into learning about Polynesian history.

Yota made the point, on numerous occasions, that even though Captain Cook always gets the credit
for the first European exploration of the South Pacific, he wasn't actually the first. The first in Tahiti was Samuel Wallis, another Englishman, the second was Bouganville, a Frenchman. Cook was actually the third explorer to visit. There was already a monument to Cook and recently, a Bouganville monument was also erected. The gorgeous Bouganvillea plant, that we all know and love, was named for him as he brought the first sample back to France.

We stopped for lunch which, unusually, was mediocre. Yota had wanted to take us to a nicer place right on the beach, but, when asked if there was anything we didn't want to eat, we said raw fish. Unfortunately, raw fish was the good restaurant's specialty and thus was out. We found that in most restaurants here, about half the menu is devoted to raw food: sashimi, tuna, carpaccio etc. and the local specialty is poisson cru, raw fish marinated in lemon juice and coconut milk.

 The tour was low-key and to be honest, there wasn't that much spectacular to see, however, it was a very enjoyable day out and we're glad we made the effort.

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Soirée Merveilleuse

Our elation at a Tahiti landfall soon turned to disappointment. Things just didn't seem to be going our way. It all started with the entry clearance which took five days and first, a long walk to the Customs office, followed by four trips by bus to Immigration at the airport to find out that 'yes, non-EU citizens must do, or have, one of three things on arrival into French Polynesia:

1. an air ticket out of French Polynesia (even if you're leaving by boat)

2. pay a bond of $1,600 USD each into a bank escrow account and we'd get the cash back
on departure

3. produce a bond exemption letter after paying a non-refundable $ 330 USD, per person, fee to a yacht agent

We thought we'd pay the bond, problem was nobody at Immigration could tell us how much it was and how to go about doing it. We were told to 'just ask at the bank'. After a long wait over the weekend (banks close early on Fridays) and a patient bank clerk that made many phone calls on our behalf, we pulled out our bank cards to begrudgingly pay the money and multiple debit/credit cards wouldn't work, for some unknown reason. Now, there was no choice, buying a one-way air ticket to nowhere seemed ridiculous, so, we went with the bond exemption letter option. We got back on the bus to visit the yacht agency and to fill out all the paperwork we'd already filled out. They took over the process and we finally got our clearance along with intimate knowledge of the local bus system, all you need to know is that yes, there are buses, but, there's no schedule, you just stand and wait.

We needed a rest, so on arrival at the marina had booked and paid-for a four week stay. The facilities were reasonably ok and we settled in. A week later a notice was posted saying that renovations
were starting and the facilities were going to be demolished starting that very week. When we paid the advance payment nobody bothered to let us know that there were to be NO facilities available
until the new ones opened in December! Now, there was going to be no toilets, no showers, no laundry and worst of all, no internet. The cost for a four-week stay hadn't been cheap. We ended  up paying a full price that included all the advertised facilities and now were to have none at all. It
was turning out to be a rather expensive parking spot. Polite complaints were met in the office with
a typical Gallic shrug. We're just trying to make the best of it. There are compensations, like our
gorgeous sunset view of Moorea from our boat. In Papeete, real estate is priced depending on the
presence and quality of a 'Moorea view'. I'd say we have one of the best views available.

At night, the waterfront along the city promenade is lit from below and becomes a magical shade of aqua. They've made a small artificial reef adjacent to the sidewalk and it was mesmerizing to watch the tropical fish.

Some of the boats here are interesting to ogle at although they don't seem to go out much.

We were in dire need of a pick-me-up, so, when we found out that the nearby luxurious InterContinental Resort and Spa offered a  Soirée Merveilleuse  every Friday night with a special buffet and a traditional Polynesia dance show, we went for it. Our bad luck theme continued though. When we arrived at the hotel for our special evening we met a picket line at the entrance. Then, they couldn't find our reservation and we ended up at a really bad table with a rather large pole right between us and the stage. However, the buffet was good and the dancing excellent.

Traditional dance is taken seriously here, it's not all about the tourist opportunities. Many schools exist throughout the islands. In July, there is a month-long Heiva festival in Papeete where competitions are held and the participants come from many different islands.

Before the show started, we spent a couple of hours enjoying the grounds. Very lovely, with two
infinity pools, over-water bungalow accommodation and a 'lagoonarium' which is like a very large, outdoor aquarium with many tropical fish. In spite of the startup problems, it was a nice day out and we enjoyed it very much.

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