Tahiti 1

15 June 2023

by Johan van Dongen

This blog entry covers the passage from Toau in the Tuamotus to Tahiti, the search for a safe place to leave the boat for a few weeks to allow me to travel home, as well as a road trip around Tahiti island before actually leaving.

The passage

On June 13th we left Toau at around 22:00 in the evening for the relatively short (240 nm) passage to Tahiti. The prospect was that it would be a relatively fast one, being we'd have the South Eastern trade winds about on the beam. I don't have a record of, nor do I remember the details of the forecast, but it definitely was nothing that caused me concern.
See track of the actual passage below.

After about two thirds of the passage, winds did increase to strengths which were quite much higher than expected, and I find in my records that we had some stretches where we made a speed of over 12 knots for a few minutes at the time, which is well above the upper limit of my comfort zone of 10 knots, together with 30+ knots winds appearing in the logbook. I presume we were sailing with a fully reefed sail at that time, but at some point in my watch I felt uncomfortable with the wind and waves and their direction, and tried to wake Chris to get help lowering the main sail completely. When that did not succeed, I started the engines, and just released the main halyard, and to my happiness the sail came down by itself smoothly. I changed course to get the wind more from behind, after which it became instantly quiet, with very bearable wind and wave action. Not the first time I have such experience, but every time a pleasant surprise! From there the rest of the passage was uneventful.

Th point where I lowered the sail is in the right upper part of the track shown below:

The next day when we arrived to Papeete we heard people taking about a sudden, unforecasted storm that had occurred the night before...
In the end the 240 nm took about 38 hours, and average of 152 nm / day, which is a very good passage average for the KAIA.

Approaching Tahiti

In the early morning of the second day of our passage, the Tahiti island mountain peaks began rising out of the fog and clouds. Note that the highest mountain on Tahiti is Mount Orohena is 2241 meter high. It was a magnificent sight, and we approached the island with much anticipation.
06:49

07:43

Here one can see the peninsula of Tahiti Iti ("Small Tahiti") with its own (ex vulcanic) mountain peak on the left side.
08:16

08:59

09:40

The search for a good place to leave the boat

I had been investigating the anchoring possibilities around Papeete before departure, and was unsure what would be the preferred option. I preferred a marina, because I would be leaving the boat alone, and felt the boat would be better protected in a marina than at anchor, however, had been unable to secure a reservation. Chris, who is a very courteous and agreeable person. Had agreed to stay on the boat during my absence (of about two weeks), so that lowered my anxiousness quite a lot.

The best options I was aware of were: a bay East of Papeete (near Taunoa) in the map below, Papeete Marina in the harbour of Papeete, and the Taina Marina, around the corner of the island, or the extended anchorage right adjacent to the Taina Marina. But just from looking at the map, and reading reports about the options, I could not be sure what would be best.

There was one further option - a supposedly very good anchorage in the bay of Taravao, at the isthmus between Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti (see map below), but that would be very far from the action (and the airport) in Papeete, so I decided to ignore that one for now.

So what we did was check each of the options around Papeete.

We briefly entered the Taonoa bay, but couldn't detect any other boats, not any dinghy landing facilities, so decided to go on.

The next option - the Papeete Marina (see detailed track below)

We entered the main entrance to Papeete (same as ferries and cargo ships), approached the marina, and floated around there for a while, and I phoned them to see if we could get a berth. The answer was "We have no vacancies, and accept no reservations. We are giving each berth to the first person arriving to the marina after a place comes available. We don't know when that will happen.". What? What kind of arrangement is that?

So again we went on to check the Taina Marina area. For that purpose, we would take the inside route, i.e. inside the reef around this part of Tahiti, and pass around the airport. See the track below.

This was not as simple an operation as I had thought. Indeed, the route was well marked by green and red buoys, but there was a need to request radio permission before crossing the airport runway center line (with our 16 m high mast we could be a potential obstacle for landing / taking off airplanes), once on each runway end. In the end we managed it, but it was a bit stressful.

Here we are on our way to the airport:
11:46

One can see the red and green buoys we needed to pass between If one looks carefully, one can see the airport tower. I think we have just passed the runway center line on its Eastern end. Straight in front of us you can see the island of Moorea, which is 5 miles West of the coast of Tahiti.

This is a zoom on the part of the track right next to the airport.

One can clearly see the runway, the reef edge, and the yachts which are anchored (white dots) inside the reef.

In this picture below you can see the yachts at anchor in front of us - it is a very strange sight, because one cannot see the reef, it looks as if the boats are anchored in the open sea. I definitely was not going to leave the KAIA there!

Here another picture of the boats in this anchorage...

As well as a picture looking back to the end of the runway, just before passing the center line....

And here a picture forward to the Taina anchorage area:

This is the track we followed through the Taina anchorage area. The white dots are all yachts at anchor. The largest group of boats I have ever seen anchored together...

We were looking for a free buoy (and did not find any), or at least for sufficient free space between boats already lying at buoys, but everywhere it was too crowded to feel safe. In the end we did find a (barely) acceptable spot and anchored not too far from the Taina marina. By now it was close to 14:00, on June 15th.

Chris then brought me with the dinghy to the Taina Marina, and returned to the boat. I inquired if the marina would have a free berth for the KAIA, but no, nothing available. Also here - first come, first served, no reservations.

Renting a car, exploring Papeete

The first thing I did was to book a rental car for the four days until I would leave for home on the 19th.

I took a taxi to the car rental in town, and picked up the car.

By now it was late in the afternoon, and on the way back there was an opportunity to enjoy the sight of the sun setting over Moorea.

Here a view over downtown Papeete, from the same spot.

And again, an even more beautiful sky over Moorea...

On the way from there to the Taina Marina, there was one of the main attractions (for me) of Tahiti - the Carrefour department store! This huge store is unbelievably well stocked with everything that such a store in main land France would have - fantastic baguettes, cheeses, wines, ready food, excellent fresh fish, meat, vegetables and fruits, what not. And at reasonable prices. What a delight.

I parked the car, called Chris, and he came to pick me up with the dinghy.

After all - a place in Papeete Marina?

The next morning, we woke up in our anchorage:

And the view towards the Taina Marina:

I did not feel comfortable in this place - too close to other boats, and a lot of dinghy and other motor boat traffic passing right by us on their way from and to Taina Marina. So we moved the boat a bit back in the direction of the airport, close to shore.

After that, Chris drove the dinghy on the way to shore (the marina), and we took the car to town.

We parked in the center of Papeete, right next to the huge "Gaugin Banyan" tree...

An impression of downtown Papeete...

We then headed for Papeete Marina, which is right in the center of Papeete. To my huge surprise, they related to me completely different now that I appeared in person, than they had yesterday, on the phone. "Yes", they said, "there is one catamaran leaving tomorrow morning, and if you want to get their berth, you should coordinate with them, that the moment they leave, you slip immediately in, instead of them. And then you come to the office to finish formalities. Here is a chip to enter into the marina and visit them, please return it when you're done. We can already fill in some of the forms to register you, to save time tomorrow".

Wow, I was flabbergasted. Of course I jumped on the opportunity, went to the boat in question, and yes, the owner said that he was waiting for guests to arrive the next morning, and intended to leave at around 11:00.

I agreed with him that we would be waiting for him to come out at that time, and take his place, and please, update me if there are any changes, and please, don't make arrangements with anyone else...

We exchanged WhatsApp phone numbers and promised to keep in touch.

This was of course a fantastic development - the Papeete Marina is a very modern and pleasant marina, in center of town, and a great place to be based for exploring Papeete. Even though Chris said, that he did not mind staying at anchor, I felt he was pretty happy if the boat would be here in the marina.

The next day, we made sure to leave our anchorage early, to be sure to make it to the Papeete Marina in time. See the track of our trip within the reef, the same way we came, below.

This time, in the eagerness to be on time, I missed the requirement to coordinate my passage over the West end of the runway centerline, and was reprimanded over the radio for not requesting permission, and told to leave the area immediately...

Further on, approximately where we crossed the East end of the runway, I suddenly saw a canoer come at me from the right side with great energy and speed, seemingly determined to ram me in the side!
However, it turned out that he just wanted to fit and stick just behind me:

And here he is paddling with a vengeance, just a few meters behind me, utilizing my wind wake to keep up a high speed.

Here a video of his efforts. He kept it up for about a mile. Huge stamina!

When we arrive to the marine, just before 11:00, we found that the departing yacht's guests had just arrived, and there would be a slight delay.

I went into the marina deeper than where the boat in question was, so that when he would leave, I could immediately enter his berth, and no one would be able to slip in before us....
Here a track of the manouvering we did to get the spot.

The location where we stayed was however not a normal place to tie down to, so we had to watch it carefully, so as not to collide with boats in the adjacent berths.

It took the departing yacht almost an extra hour to leave, but in the end he did, and we immediately slipped in.

Bingo! The new view from our cockpit!

And this is a view of the part of the marina where we were lying (2nd from left)

And a picture of the KAIA in its berth.

I considered myself very lucky to get the place. The departing yacht could easily have delayed or cancelled his departure, which would have required us to return to the Taina area...

By now it was noon of the 17th and my flight was leaving the 19th early in the morning. But I was elated. I could safely leave the boat here, and Chris would be in a prime spot while I was away.

We registered into the marina, and I explored the area a bit.

Next to the marine there is a beautiful park, with several restaurants in it, as well as a double canoe according to a traditional design from Captain Cook's times...

Next to the boat inside the marina, there was a beautiful small sea turtle feeding. Not sure if it was a Green Turtle, or a Hawksbill Turtle.

Now I had the 18th completely free, which I was going to use to make a tour around the whole Tahiti island, in clockwise direction.

A drive around the island

From our arrival to Tahiti, I had been fascinated by the interior of Tahiti. When one looks at the map of Tahiti, one sees that the population is living only near the coast, all around the island, and no one appears to live in the interior. The interior appears to be so wild and rugged, that it is difficult to enter, and only by a terrain vehicle. I had rented a regular car, and decided to see how far inside I could get with it.

The valley that reaches deepest into the inland is the Papenoo valley - see the map hereafter. Actually, one can apparently cross the whole island starting from this valley, if one has a proper terrain vehicle.

The triangle indicates where the next picture as taken.
I loved this landscape...

I succeeded to go a bit further than that, and encountered other day-tripping people, including ones that took to the water of the Papenoo river.

However, quite soon, the road became too difficult to pass over with my car, and I had to return to the coast, and continue my tour around the island.

I came upon a kind of party held in the open air by, and for, locals, with a few hundred people attending, with loud music and a number of food stalls.

Some chose to cool off in the river exit next to the party.

All the time during my trip I got peeks into the islands interior, giving a primordial impression.

When I got to this point on the island I could see the outlines of Tahiti Iti in the distance.

A bit later I arrived at the isthmus between the two parts of Tahiti, and the road that leads to Tahiti Iti.

Tahiti Iti is the site where in 2024 the Olympic Wave Surfing competition (the first time it is part of the Olympic Games) will be held. Specifically, near the village of Teahupoo.

The competition itself will take place just outside the local reefs around the island (hardly visible in this picture).
Apparently a well known great place to engage in this sport.
You can get there only be taking a local water taxi

The view from this spot in land direction is beautiful. Actually, there is said to be a beautiful wilderness without any roads east of Teahupoo, only accessible with a local guide...

A little later and a little further back there is this view on the sun setting on Tahiti Nui

The rest of the trip around Tahiti takes place in the dark.

On the way, I have a real nice steak and chips with shrimps' meal in a roadside restaurant.