Gryphon, Part II

There's weather in paradise too, you know. Last night, ten minutes before midnight, it was like someone turned on the wind machine; like somehow we were just magically transported from the South Pacific to South Africa. But no, a quick look around confirmed we were still in Tahaa and not Table Bay. It had been rainy and squally all day yesterday, but the squalls packed no more than 20 or 25 kts at the worst. But now, suddenly, it was blowing constantly 20 to 30 kts and the gusts were topping 40 knots. We scrambled out on deck and took down several gratuitous pieces of canvas: the rain shade over the forward hatch (little 'shade' from horizontal rain) and the water-catcher (of little use as it billowed like a circus tent in a storm). In spite of slewing around for miles last night, heeling at times like we were sailing, Gryphon stayed put through the gusts. Yachties weren't the only ones affected as we watched the lights of Tahaa wink out, everything on shore going black. Now, in the light of morning, we see normal activity around the island and on the neighboring boats. The wind has moderated to 15 to 25 kts. The forecast is MOTS for the rest of today. (More of the same.) But, while you're here, I might as well tell you a little about Tahaa. The island is roundish, about 5-6 miles in diameter, but the perimeter road is 42 miles long. That should give you some idea of the convoluted nature of the shoreline. Several of the deep bays here cut almost to the middle of the island. The west side of the island, protected from the easterly tradewinds, is verdant with all kinds of lush growth: flowers, fruits, roots, coconut and breadfruit trees, and vanilla. The small island of Tahaa produces over half of French Polynesia's crop of vanilla beans. One day we took a short walk out away from the village at Tapuamu into the low hills where all the crops are grown. The first people we met were a family with a big, 6-man racing canoe in their yard. The men were working on refinishing the outer skin of the canoe. It was 20 years old, made from wood, and is the Tahaa representative for the big upcoming inter-island races. When we left there, the lady of the house, Barbara, walked with us and in careful French started telling us about the plants. Especially vanilla. A lot of vanilla is grown on Tahaa and Barbara had a small plot of vines that she wanted to show us. It was fascinating to see how she pollinated each flower one-by-one by hand. Labor intensive for sure. The flowers are only open for one morning and if you miss pollinating it, it dies without producing a vanilla bean. So, in the flower season, someone must attend to the flowers every morning. Barbara insisted that we each try our hand at pollinating a flower. The bits are so small we could barely see them without our reading glasses and we managed to break things off the flowers; not exactly how Barbara had shown us and, judging by her sad frown, expensive mistakes as well. After our little ‘tour’ we wandered the rest of the way along the loop road and saw so many vanilla vines, coconut groves, citrus trees, papaya trees, taro plants, arrowroot plants, ginger flowers, halyconia... it was remarkable really. We think that a lot of the flowers are being commercially grown to satisfy the hotel trade here on the island. We also saw coconut palm thatch being made and stored, again probably for the hotel trade. The village of Tapuamu has a small dock that is used to access a Relais et Chateaux hotel on a nearby motu and you can just imagine the brilliant sprays of flowers in each room and on every dining table. Back in the village we stopped and talked with Mama Naumi who has a little craft store in the front of her house. She was so sweet, only 82 years old. She really wanted us to buy something, so we bought two woven bracelets of vanilla for $10. Then she handed me two more whispering, "A gift." Then ‘Papa’ came around the corner carrying three ripe papayas for us. While he was giving us these, Mama came back and put a necklace on Raine and a shell lei on me. We had to leave before she gave away the store! We've sailed and motored completely around the island and now will probably just sit here until the weather calms down again.