Tahaa and Raiatea
19 July 2009
Roger
Tahaa and Raiatea are two volcanic islands that share a common bordering reef. Tahaa to the north is rural and undeveloped, while Raiatea is the base for the Moorings sailboat charter business. Our passage of 15 miles from Bora Bora to Tahaa on July 6th was against a 15 knot wind, but there was just enough angle to beat directly for Pia Pia pass. We entered the Tahaa lagoon a little after 4pm, then motored north to an area on the outer reef called the Coral Garden. The sun was low and in our eyes when we started to looked for a spot to anchor. As we approached the reef, we suddenly saw coral very clearly just below the bow---luckily it was about 12 feet down, but with the sun going down, there was no way to pick out a sandy area in which to anchor, so we headed back across the lagoon to Tapuamau harbor. Again, the light was a problem and it was still very deep when we edged up to a coral reef at the head of the bay, eventually anchoring in over 70 feet, and trusting that the wind would not blow into the bay and bump us up against the coral.
In the morning, we motored to the north end of Tahaa's lagoon. In this area there is a sand shelf about 100 meters wide inside the reef, then it drops off to over 100 feet. The sand shelf ends in a vertical, and often overhanging, coral wall. We found a canyon into the sandy shelf and dropped anchor on a sandy slope, the anchor in 15 feet of water and the boat in over 100. Exploring the sand shelf and the motus (small, sandy, coconut palm covered islands with sandy beaches) in the dinghy and kayak, we surprised a number of large rays. This is another picture postcard perfect spot, with the clear water, waving palms, secluded beaches, and surf crashing on the outer reef. The wind started to change direction, so we had to raise the anchor quickly, and motoring around the lagoon to the north east, we found a mooring just off the sand shelf and opposite the Hotel Vahine Island. The resorts in Tahaa are hidden on the little motus, with buildings set amongst the palms, unlike the Bora Bora models with rows of thatched roof bungalows on stilts out in the lagoon. The Vahine was fully booked for dinner, but the Hotel La Pirogue, on the neighboring motu, had space so we had a very nice, albeit very expensive, dinner in the open air thatched roof dining room. We motored back in the dinghy in the dark, but shortly after getting aboard, the nearly full moon rose. The wind was from the south, swinging our stern over towards the sand shelf. The water was so clear, we could see every detail of the bottom and it looked as though we were in just a few feet of water.
We spent another day on that mooring, swimming, diving, and doing boat projects. On the morning of July 9th, the kayak set off south along the eastern lagoon with Kena following. We picked up a mooring outside the Hibiscus Hotel, this time in 130 feet of water. The hotel is an institution on Tahaa, a watering and feeding hole for cruisers for many years. It is also the home of the Hibiscus Foundation which rescues sea turtles. At dinner that night, the proprietor, Leon, brought a stack of large visitors books to our table and we spent a long time going through the entries, pictures, cards and sketches of hundreds of cruisers before us. Many of them were given turtles to release at sea. We arranged for a rental car for a tour of the island. The first stop was at an organic vanilla farm, run by the only woman vanilla farmer in French Polynesia. Vanilla is an orchid, a vine which grows 5 centimeters daily. It is a parasite, so it needs to attach to another plant to obtain nutrients---in this case, acacia. All of the other vanilla farms use concrete posts in large arrays, covered in nets. The nutrients are soaked into the concrete from above. The organic farm uses natural hosts, and is not covered. Apparently the vast bulk of vanilla production i in Madagascar, and around 90 percent of it is absorbed by the Coca Cola company. French Polynesia produced up to 300 tons annually in the past, but viruses have reduced that to only 30 tons. The beans are harvested daily during the season. The harvested beans are placed in the sun for about 20 minutes each day, then wrapped in sacking and stored in old freezer chests where the heat absorbed by the sun is trapped and they continue to dry. The vanilla beans I have seen in the past were dry and hard, but in fact the best, most flavorful are still very soft. The final step is hand massaging to release the flavor from the seeds into the flesh of the bean. We bought some of the beans, and were told to place them in a bottle of dark rum, which absorbs the flavor. Apparently you can keep using the same beans this way for up to 20 years---really? The vines normally flower in May and then produce beans for much of a year. This year, however, no flowers have appeared---it is not cold enough. Climate changech?
It was just 5 miles from the Hibiscus to the anchorage at Raiatea Carenage, the primary boatyard in all of French Polynesia. This is where Tarahumara went to have both rudders repaired, and where Victory Cat went to replace their propeller. The main task was to take our main sail to the sailmaker for some repair work---the sail slides were all getting worn and in danger of breaking, so they needed replacing. It turns out that everything was closing down for the big celebrations associated with Bastille day, so we were told the work could not be done until Thursday, July 16th, a week later, so after spending the night there and walking 5 kilometers into Utaroa, the big smoke on Raitea, we moved to the downtown dock for refueling and provisions. We had plans to stay at the downtown dock overnight, but learned that recently some kids had been releasing boats at the dock in the night as a prank, one that could have serious consequences, so when Victory Cat showed up and invited us to a party onboard at the Taravana yacht club anchorage, we followed them back to the south end of Tahaa. The Taravana Yacht Club (Taravana, we're told, means "totally crazy") is run by Richard and his son Maui. Richard is famous in fishing circles for building a sailing catamaran equipped with two fighting chairs, and landing many game fish all over the world. He tells me that the largest blue marlin ever seen was caught in the waters between Tahaa and Bora Bora---it weighed 1200 kilograms after having large chunks removed.
We spent several days at the yacht club, doing boat projects, attending the Tuesday night fire dances, telling tall tales, and meeting more cruisers. On Wednesday, Sal and I kayaked back to the Carenage while Tane sailed Kena across and we anchored there, this time in 90 feet of water. We're starting to get used to anchoring in very deep water, a necessity when the coral on both the reef side and the island side of the lagoon drops straight off from a few feet to a hundred feet. The good news is that the bottom at that depth is sand or mud, as coral cannot grow there. The mainsail was delivered the next morning, and we had a reunion with Mike on Arielle, who had just arrived from Moorea with two new crew members, one a Frenchman who is cycling around the world (he started in France, went to Iceland, then Newfoundland down to the southern tip of south america, and is crewing his way across the pacific to start the next leg. After a great struggle, we managed to get the Honda engine on our hookah dive unit working properly again, so we went diving in the lagoon with Mike and his crew. The mainsail repair was delayed an additional day, but on July 17th we left Raiatea and returned to Bora Bora, entering the pass just on dark and motoring to the anchorage next to Bloody Mary's restaurant where we went ashore for an excellent dinner. Our return to Bora Bora was to take the second kit boarding lesson, which we did on Saturday morning. The wind was strong, and our wills were like iron, but we were somewhat humbled by the difficulty of getting up onto the board---Tane and I both succeeded in the end, but not without some wild rides, leaping out of the water and torpedoing in at high speed and high pain. We were both exhausted by the end of our four and a half hour session.
That afternoon, we motored around the large motu in the south east lagoon to meet up with Galivant. Their son, Heath, about Tane's age, and two good friends were on board, so we had a great evening of drinks and story telling.
On Sunday morning (July 19th), we moved over to the Bora Bora yacht club anchorage, then set off to hike to the top of one of Bora Bora's peaks. Guided by Elizabeth and Seth from Honeymoon, with the crew of Arielle, Mark from Imagine and Alan from Follow You Follow Me, we made our way through the back streets of Vaitape and started up. The climb is essentially straight up for 760 meters, at about a 60 degree slope. In many places, there are ropes to help you. It took us a little under two hours to reach the top, from where we had a 360 degree view of all of Bora Bora. From over 2000 feet up, you see the entire lagoon, reef, and island. The weather was fine and clear, so the colors were at their very best. The trip down was even more challenging, as it is much easier going up this terrain than down. Mike observed that he may have difficulty walking the next day!
At a little before 11am on July 20th, we left Bora Bora, headed for Rarotonga. We have been to 16 different islands, to 35 different anchorages, made 16 passages, drunk countless Hinano beers, eaten hundreds of yards of baguettes, and spent many hours with great friends. Our experience in French Polynesia has been wonderful, and we've found the people to be uniformly friendly. The only negative has been the breathtaking prices!
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