Oa Oa! (Or a Tahitian term for expressing your happiness)
Above is a watercolor from a long time friend, Titi Becaud, a lovely French lady which arrives in French Polynesia on a sailboat years and years ago. They elected, with her husband and son, Bora Bora as their new home. I saw her the last time we came here, in the meantime she has become quite renown for her work and a really cute children book full of drawings relating the story of a Tupa Crab: "Un autre jour a Bora-Bora".
I always loved her watercolors since a little girl when Titi and my Mum used to sell the paintings on the port of Saint-Tropez!!!
On another subject, the history of Bora Bora is quite interesting:
The first signs of human life on the island (formerly called Vavau -which may indicate that it was colonized by inhabitants of a Tonga island carrying the same name) are dated 900 BC, just after the populating of Raiatea. According to the legend, Bora Bora means "first born" because it was the first island to emerge from the waters after the creation of Raiatea. In the ancient times, it was actually called "Mai Te Pora" which literally signifies "created by the Gods". Approximately 40 maraes can be found in Bora Bora - the most significant one being the marae Fare Opu which is decorated with petroglyphs.
Bora Bora was first "discovered" by the navigator Roogeveen in 1722 then by Cook in 1796. It was converted to Protestantism in 1818. Famous for its warriors, the island resisted a long time to colonization until it was finally conquered by France in 1888. However, it kept its traditional lifestyle until the end of the 19th century. All this changed brutally on January 27, 1942, when Americans used the island as a supply base for the allied ships crossing the Pacific in an operation baptized Bobcat (after the attack of Pearl Harbour in December 1941). 5,000 GI's disembarked with heavy military equipments and built a 2,000-meter runway on motu Mute. This runway was used for international flights until 1961 when Tahiti Faa'a international airport was finally built.
The worldwide reputation of Bora Bora is also due to many artists, writers as well as navigators like Alain Gerbault and Paul Emile Victor who decided to spend the rest of their lives on this legendary island.
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Tahaa was according to legend detached from Raiatea by a sacred eel possessed by the spirit of a princess. Raiatea itself is recognized throughout Tahiti as the "Sacred Island", the cultural heart of all Polynesia. It is believed by historians that Raiatea was the main stopover point for early Polynesians newly arrived from Hawaii, then known as Hav'aii.
Tahaa soft mountain shapes and filigree coastline has been nicknamed "the vanilla island" because of its many plantations. Vanilla here is known as the Black Gold!
The several motu with their stunning white sandy beaches and the turquoise-toned lagoon charm every visitor. It is also a unique place in Polynesia for the fact that it is possible to circumnavigate by boat the island from the protected waters of the lagoon!
In the bay of Faaaha, where the God Hiro was born around 1490, is today marked by but a few stones - and many legends. He is famous throughout Polynesia for navigating to the distant islands of Hawaii and New Zealand using only the stars as a guide.
We loved the Motu where the Pirogue Hotel can be found and Tautau with its lovely Coral Garden for the pleasure of snorkelers. Fish are not shy and plentiful, very curious about the swimmers!
Here is one legend that I like very much explaining the origin of the coconut and that one can find the eyes and the mouth of the eel on their shell:
"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess daughter of the moon's son. Her name was Hina. She was so beautiful that lightening came out of her body.
She was destined in marriage to Lake Vahiria's King who was a disgusting eel. Hina ran away and went under the protection of the important Maui, who stops and adjusts the sun.
From the cliff of Vairo, they saw the eel that was coming to pick up Hina. Maui through his hook and screamed : "from my fief no king can escape. He will become food for my gods."
The eel swell the hook, was captured and the head was cut off. Maui wrapped the animal in a piece of Tapa and gave it to Hina advising her not to put the parcel on the ground before she reached her house. "The head of the eel contains great treasures for you".
But Hina forgot the parcel on the floor. The tapa went open and the head of the eel faced the floor. Young shoots came out and the first coconut trees were born."
I discovered something else very interesting on Tahaa, jewelry made from the giant black mussels. I will have to try and work this new medium but first I need to find some!
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We left Tahiti at sunset with our local friends excited of the week-end ahead. This was an easy night watch!!
They took us all the way south of the island: in Parea. What a gorgeous spot, after a lot of eating, talking, singing, drinking and the usual frolicking on the beach or in the water, we went for diner at the Mauarii Pension, a very picturesque restaurant on the beach. The next day we explored the two islands by dinghy and moved to Fare for our friends to fly back to Papeete. The village is really cute and everyone so friendly!
Restored Tahitian maraes (temples) and centuries-old stone fish traps tell the story of an ancient culture whose proud descendants still reside in this magnificent paradise. Huahine is an agricultural island, rich with watermelons and cantaloupes. Vanilla, coffee and taro plantations are plentiful, as are groves of breadfruit, mango, banana, papaya and flowers. International surfing champions seek the massive waves at Avamoa Pass, and the world's largest outrigger canoe race, the Hawaiki Nui Va'a, begins here each October.
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After nearly three months it is time for us to leave Moorea, our enchanted island of the Pacific. With heavy hearts we are lifting the anchor and thinking of all the good souvenirs and friends we had made here. A special thoughts to Carl&Minette, Jean-Louis&Agnes, all onboard Askari, Sandrine&Florian from the Aquadisco, Bill&Mary, Eugenie&Milly&Tim and all the others which I will not forget... Maruru, Nana.
Click Here to See Pictures of Moorea and our Friends!
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What a great afternoon, with my friend Brit, having fun with the two ladies at the Natural Mystic shop and learning how to paint on a Pareu. It took us about two hours to finish the work! First we had to think of something to draw then they give you a small jar of Gutta, which is a rubbery substance derived from the latex of any of several tropical trees of the genera Palaquium and Payena. You use the gutta to draw your design and then you fill up the different area with the paint. The result was really surprising and could not believe how well they came out!
Click Here to See the Website of the people making the dyes with tips to try making your own pareu!
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The most incredible dancing troop of the Pacific, the "Ballet de Tahiti".
The Tahitian styles of dancing are:
Te Mahana Hiro'a O Tahiti includes two basic types of Tahitian dancing:
• Otea " the famous hip-shaking dance of Tahiti performed to the syncopated rhythm of wooden to'ere and other drums Click here to learn how the dancers move. May take a few minutes to download.
• Aparima " a fast dance performed to music, including the Tahitian ukulele.
the finer points of the otea include having a theme or story line "that can be seen through the dance. The dancers also do 'orero, a formal speech."
The Otea style of dancing includes:
• Paoa " where the dancers sit in a circle and chant while select members dance inside the circle;
• Hivinau, where everyone in the circle chants while dancing.
During competition and the famous Heiva in June & July:
"The dancers must do the paoa and hivinau. The judges are also looking for poise and synchronization". "We're very particular that the girls' feet are flat on the ground and their legs are not spread. Also, their hips need to move without their shoulders shaking."
"The boys need to do the pa'oti " the scissoring " with strong movements of the legs, while bending down and keeping the back straight. And, of course, they've got to sustain these movements. Tahitian dancing is very vigorous.
When our Tahitian friends came for dinner on Blue Dawn we had the good surprise to find out that the winner of the 2009 taure'are'a was with them. This 10 years old boy gave us a very expressive dance and storytelling show!
Click Here to check out the Website for the competition!
Click Here to See Pictures of Ballet de Tahiti!
Click Here to enjoy it live with the Video!
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Jean-Louis, Agnes and the kids took us for a swim with the rays and to see the underwater Tikis (sculptures made by a local artist). When we arrived with the dinghies the rays were already circling the boats waiting for us to get in the water! They are really huge and were crawling all over us, especially because we had fresh fish for them. I scared myself out when one of the gentle animal bite my finger, hopefully they have no sharp teeth!
Click Here to See Pictures of the Rays!
Click Here to See Underwater Pictures!
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While being in Cook's Bay, we met the most amazing Tahitians, the locals are always really friendly but those guys are the types which you can count as exceptional! Carl & Minette, Jean-Louis & Agnes have been such fabulous hosts, trying to do a lot of special things for us. This turned out to be a perfect timing as our long time friends, Bill & Mary just arrived from Aussie.
We had such a laugh when they took us on their sport fishing boat, Geoff is never interested in fishing (or I must say will not even touch a fish unless filleted in his plate) and they made him bring one back on board. Check out the video, this one is for you Michael, Captain Blight is still there! To thanks them we had a diner party on the boat, the 10 of us were quite loud and drunk by 1am. The children gave us a private show of dance and storytelling, cannot get better than that! It is really good a we have our good friend Bill & Mary from Australia with us on the boat!
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