Hawaiki Nui

There was a silver lining to being stuck here in the boatyard on Ra'iatea waiting for a new gearbox to
arrive. It meant we'd be around to view the arrival of Hawaiki Nui, the annual interisland outrigger canoe race between Huahine, Ra'iatea, Taha'a and Bora Bora. This is a really big multi-day event, televised with live coverage. We'd seen boats out training at every island we'd been to, now we were going to see the event they'd all been working so hard for.

After stopping at Ra'iatea the race would continue to Taha'a and finish up the next day in Bora Bora. There was going to be a big celebration on Bora Bora, a community ball with music and dancing. Unfortunately, we were on Ra'iatea and would miss the party, but, we were able to view the finish for the men's juniors and women's classes along with the mass start of the men's class. It was quite a sight. The day was wet and cloudy. The canoeists would no doubt appreciate the refreshing rain and absence of full sun, but, the swell was significant at the finish line and made for hard going even in the lagoon, can't imagine what it must have been like in the open ocean for these small craft, it must have been exhausting.

The canoes seat six paddlers, the person in the stern adjusts the course by steering with a J-stroke. The other five paddlers provide power.

The stern paddler also keeps count of the strokes. After a number of strokes, there is a spoken command and each paddler switches their paddle to the opposite side.

The crews were varied, men/women and young/old.

There were lots of spectators, but, the crowd was very subdued with just some polite applause as boats passed. That changed at the finish line, where a welcoming group of drummers started up as each boat came into view.

Each finisher received a floral garland.

After the men's juniors and women's classes arrived, the men's class assembled for the mass start of the final leg to Bora Bora.

And they're off...

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Ra'iatea - Boatyard Blues

Yes, the title of this post is correct. We're back in Ra'iatea and unfortunately stuck in a boatyard. Before leaving Hurepiti Bay, Tahaa enroute for Bora-Bora, our pre-departure check of the engine room showed a lot of oil had sprayed out from somewhere. Further investigation revealed that it was gear oil. G found a couple of slightly loose bolts, tightened them up and topped up the gear oil. We started the motor, put the boat in gear and all seemed well and sounded good. We headed out and stopped a couple of times to check that there weren't any leaks, it all still seemed good and we continued on for about an hour. We lined up our aft transit bearing line and headed into PaiPai pass, applying a little more throttle to get us to 5.5 knots to ensure we had enough way on for accurate steerage in what could be turbulent waters. The pass is about 0.5 mile long and 300 yards (approx. 300 meters) wide. It's always nerve-wracking in these passes as you can see the submerged reefs, usually with a lot of wave action, close on either side of you as you pass through.

We were barely past the reef, almost into the open sea, when, all of a sudden, there was a loud bang
and then a sickening 'crunch-grind-crunch' sound. We took the engine out of gear and when we started floating back towards the reef quickly put it back in gear again. The noise got worse, but, we persevered for a few minutes just to clear the exit. What now? We're sticklers for not towing dinghies and even though we have dinghy davits, for the first time, on this boat, we don't store the dinghy in them when we're on a long offshore passage. It's strapped onto the foredeck. As this passage was just twenty miles on a windless day with a flat calm sea we'd taken the motor off and put the dinghy, luckily, up on the davits. It was a simple matter to just drop it into the water, strap it on sidesaddle and get the 8HP Yamaha outboard down using our new outboard crane that we'd had fabricated in NZ. Then, G provided the propulsion from the dinghy while A steered. Luckily, even though we were now in open ocean there was hardly any swell and no wind, so, we were able to get 3.5 knots, but, to where?

Unbelievably, we realized that we were within just eleven miles of probably the only place we could get any engine repairs done in all of the Leeward Islands. We went south, back to Ra'iatea and entered through the all-weather Pass de Rautoanui and came back north a little to Chantier Naval des Iles boatyard where we dropped anchor outside their entrance. Thierry,  the mechanic,came out the next morning and removed our gearbox for a preliminary diagnosis. He showed it to us on the workbench, the damage was very ugly and it was obvious that we'd need a new gearbox. He couldn't really say what had happened, other than a large quantity of gear oil was missing. Later, we found that a drain plug, which is, for all practical purposes, inaccessible in our installation (and it should still have been factory-tight as we'd never used it, we change the oil through the top using a vacuum pump) had come loose and we can only surmise that's possibly where the leak occurred, although we're not sure. Very disappointing as our 'new' engine only has 1,100 hours on it. We'd rigorously followed the maintenance schedule for gear oil changes and made sure to use the correct grade of oil (which is an obscure type very difficult to source).  We'd just had a professional 1,000 hour Yanmar service done in NZ (for $2k!) and now this. Another chapter of how to sail the world by fixing your boat in exotic places.

It wasn't a good idea to stay at anchor. We were wide-open to the prevailing winds and deep, 25m, so, if the wind came up we wouldn't be able to increase scope that much (we only have 90m of chain). If we started dragging without an engine, it would not be a good thing. We made our way, with a couple of helpers, into the tiny, hot, dirty boatyard. We're sandwiched in like a sardine, between two huge catamarans which tower over us, but, at least we're still in the water. We've asked for gearbox quotes. Even if we find one, it probably won't arrive for at least 2-3 weeks and probably longer if it gets held up in Customs, which is likely. Let's hope that it is only the gearbox and that the engine doesn't also have damage. We only have six weeks left on our visas, so, it looks like our cruise of French Polynesia will be cut short, not by choice.

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Ra'iatea/Taha'a

From Huahine, the next islands westward are Ra'iatea and Taha'a, just a short twenty or so miles away. There are eight entrances through the barrier reef into the large, deep lagoon which both islands share. Taha'a, the smaller, northern island can be circumnavigated within the lagoon while you can't quite make it all the way around Raiatea. We spent eight nights here, in four different anchorages. The first was on Ra'iatea, in Faaroa Bay, which offered the possibility of taking your dinghy up the only navigable river in French Polynesia. The bay was quite heavily populated, but, the river entrance looked intriguing as we watched other dinghies disappear into the jungle.

Early the next morning, it was our turn. We'd hoped there'd be lots of birdlife, but, strangely, there wasn't any to speak of. We've seen lots of rivers and this one didn't have anything memorable really. There was supposed to be an abandoned botanical garden at the head of the river and we looked forward to having a look around. There was a substantial concrete dock to tie up to so we disembarked. It didn't look abandoned and there was a short path, with benches, through a manicured area which we started along. Unfortunately, we came across three workers tending the plants who promptly told us: 'it is closed...'. We said can we just walk around the path. 'No!', so, we had to leave.

We headed further upriver and came across a local man who waved us over to his dock to invite us to come and see his smallholding. We were reluctant, but, he seemed friendly. It turned out to be a highlight, he was very proud of his two hectare plot that he tends with his wife. We got the tour and came away loaded down with fresh papaya, cucumbers, coconut, bananas and a few other fruits we don't know the names for. We don't think the farmer expected payment, but, we made a token payment anyway as we appreciated the time he spent with us. We'd asked for just 'one' banana  to try and we were given 'one' bunch of about fifty! These little bananas are only about four inches long and super-sweet.

A surplus of bananas that ripen all at once can only lead to one thing, banana bread! It seemed crazy to turn the oven on in the heat, but, this lovely loaf made it worthwhile.

Before heading northwards to Taha'a we spent a couple of nights in Haamene Bay, close to a village, which allowed us to stretch our legs, stock up on fresh baguettes and use the internet at the
post office. We then carried  on northwards to Taha'a and around its top. On the westward side of the island, we caught our first glimpse of Bora-Bora, just another twenty miles westward.

We anchored between an iconic-looking 'motu' (islet) and the 'best' resort on the island with the now ubiquitous over-water bungalows.

The attraction at this location was snorkelling the coral garden that runs between Motu Tautau and
the resort's motu. We went over the following morning and it was fabulous. You park your dinghy on the beach, walk to the end of the island, enter the waist-deep, crystal-clear water and float down over and between the coral gardens. It was very shallow, but, the variety and number of fish was amazing. Unfortunately, we don't have an underwater camera, so, no pics, but, it really was very special.

We moved down to Hurepiti Bay, past this lovely waterside church and holed-up at the end of the very protected bay for two welcome rainy days.

We'd hoped to book onto a vanilla plantation tour, by 4x4, up into the mountains, but, due to the wet weather that idea was a washout. We upped anchor the next morning, which dawned absolutely clear, windless and a little cooler and headed through the PaiPai Pass on our way to Bora-Bora.

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