THE SOCIETY ISLANDS

We sailed overnight in lumpy seas with lots of squirrels and arrived in Tahiti in the rain and dark, neither of which were ideal. As we didn’t fancy entering Papeete harbour at night we anchored in a bay around the corner. It was slightly nerve wracking going through a reef in the dark but we could see the leading lights and it was a relief to be in calm water and get a good nights sleep.

In the morning we made our way into the harbour and found a spot on the waiting pontoon in Papeete marina. They work on a first come first served basis and there were lots of boats in town. We busied ourselves using the in-house washing machines, had pizza for lunch with great Wi-fi and went shopping in our first decent supermarket for a while, which was a joy! French cheeses, decent meat, sushi, lots of vegetables and wine at a sensible price! It was actually really nice to be in a bustling town for a change.

They moved us into the marina the next day and then we finally could plug into the mains for the first since we left Panama. Our poor batteries were very happy and it was such a relief not to have to switch on the smokey old generator, or have to apologise to anyone near us for the terrible pollution emanating from our vessel. We had made the decision in the Tuamotu’s to order a new generator and with the help of Emma we had found an old model in Australia the same size as the one we had. It actually was more powerful, 9.3 kw as opposed to 7.5 kw, but had all the same fittings so in theory it should be easy to install. It was expensive to ship but life had become intolerable with our failing generator,  entirely our fault we should have replaced it in America. Our agent Vincent informed us of its arrival, the lovely Dominic, who sounded just like inspector  Clouseau, came to spec the job and arrangements were made to fit it the following week.

Before that though we had the Tahiti Rendezvous to enjoy. An annual event that is organised by Stephanie whom we had first met at the Puddle Jump seminar in Panama. We signed up on the Friday afternoon and then went to the opening drinks party. There were some great Tahitian dancers who put on a show for us, the boys jumping around the stage beating their ample breasts as entertaining as the girls with their wiggling bottoms, thus providing excitement for both sides of the audience! We retired to dinner with our new friends from Water Music and enjoyed a fairly boozy evening in a local restaurant and then later on the good ship Hullabaloo.

In the morning we picked up our crew mate for the weekend Geoff from Nawi.  Sadly Sandra, his wife, had had to return home to Australia with some health issues that morning, the upside of which was that we got to enjoy his company for a couple of days. Having said we would never race no 9 we found ourselves on a start line vying for position. We even hoisted the kite but then sailed into a hole and  retired. Of course the wind then filled in but our race was over. We all anchored in Cooks Bay in Moorea and went ashore for a very jolly evening and dinner in the hotel.

We were woken the next morning by Geoff calling Andrew on deck as he didn’t recognise any of the boats that were around us. It was very windy and we had dragged past four boats in our sleep, we were so lucky that we didn’t hit one of them. One owner later told us that he saw us float past in the middle of the night, extraordinary that he didn’t try to wake us!! We motored around for a little while trying to get our anchor down in different spots but ended back where we had started and a close eye was kept on our position from the shore all day. 

We took part in the Va’a racing, these being the traditional local canoes with an outrigger. There were three heats and we had a team of four yachties with two locals at either end. We were in need of a fourth team mate and Timmo from Vuda marine in Fiji not only found us an engine, in the form of 6.4 foot power house Daniel from South America, but also proclaimed himself our coach. An excitable Italian he had us in stitches as he got more and more enthusiastic with our progress as we made it into the final with last years winners. Sadly they just beat us but we were pretty thrilled with our second place and at least we didn’t tip over rounding the course mark as many did. 

After an excellent lunch there followed more onshore activities during the day, I learnt how to open a coconut, was on the winning ladies tug of war team but declined to get involved in the stone lifting. There were some amazing local dancers that were even better than Friday nights and Bryan and I set ourselves up in chairs to watch, moving closer and closer to the front each time any one moved until to our delight we had front row seats! 

We left early the next morning and headed back to Papeete and our new generator. Marina Taina found us a spot on a hammerhead which enabled a fork lift to get near enough to winch the old generator out and the new one in. I left Andrew to deal with the boys and headed off to Carrefour and what a joy that was, suddenly I had a limitless choice of foods! I spent most of the afternoon in there restocking our supplies and then had to wheel the laden trolley along a gravel footpath back to the marina.  Not easy but worth the effort; although I almost lost the lot down a steep driveway.

I got back to discover that the fitting had gone very smoothly but the voltage output wasn’t high enough. Glum faces all round but an electrician promised to come the next morning and on reading the manual it became apparent that this was normal. Sure enough the electrician fiddled about and BOOM we had power!!!! In fact so much power we didn’t know what to do with it all. We could suddenly run a washing machine, power the batteries, run the domestic circuit, heat water, boil a kettle, make toast, recharge all our devices at the same time. In addition to this the machine was quiet and there was no smoke coming out the back. Suddenly life onboard took on a whole new dimension. I never thought I would become the type of girl that could be in love with a shiny new red engine!

We headed back over to Moorea for a few days to enjoy these luxuries, big smiles on our faces, gradually learning not to hold our breath each time we fired the generator up. We bumped into Into the Blue and had a nice lunch onboard their boat and also went further up the bay and swam with the manta rays and grey tip sharks. Some people were feeding the rays with bits of fish and they could get them to climb up their bodies. Amazing as this was we didn’t fancy it and didn’t feel totally comfortable with the sharks swimming around our feet with all this fish in the water. 

We returned to Papeete Marina one last time as we had tickets to see the Hiva. This is a traditional singing and dancing contest with participants from lots of different islands and villages. We got there ahead of time, as there were big winds forecast, and found ourselves on the waiting pontoon as everyone had had the same idea. On our first evening Colin from Burmese Breeze, who was tied up in front of us,  came on board for a chat and before we knew it we had most of the pontoon on our boat for drinks. Around eleven o’clock I decided to make dinner for our remaining guests and was very proud of my efforts considering the amount of rum I had drunk. It became apparent the next morning that I hadn’t been as together as I thought as the chicken carcass that I had thrown out the galley window, thinking I was at anchor, was in fact strewn all over the pontoon. I was however in a much better state than Andrew who had stayed up to four am with his new mate Colin and could hardly talk.

The upside of this was that I managed to take him clothes shopping and purchase some trousers and a couple of shirts for him as he was so malleable.  The following day I took myself off shopping and even got a haircut and professional hair dye, the first one since we left England in October nine months previously. That evening we attended a surprise 60th birthday party for Lydia on Cheglia. Martin had done her proud and their must have been at least thirty of us onboard. All this time it is blowing forty plus knots outside the marina and we were oblivious to it all.

On our last night in Tahiti we attended the Hiva in the local stadium. It was the opening night and we had to sit through some rather long speeches and presentations. Then there was a singing group which I have to admit was not to our taste. However the dancing performance that followed was out of this world. A least a hundred dancers performing a love story which lasted at least forty five minutes and was truly memorable! After that there was another singing group and most of the audience got up and left. So thinking the dancing must be over we went of in search of the Tuk Tuks and bought ourselves some dinner. Imagine our horror when we got back to the boat and could hear music and drums from the stadium. We had missed another dance spectacular, that will teach us to listen to our stomachs!!

We escaped the marina and spent a last night in Moorea, the only excitement being a visit from the Gendarmerie to inspect our paperwork. We then set off for an overnighter to Huahine in pretty average weather and a lumpy sea. Arriving in the morning we set off inside the reef motoring along the bottom of the island in crystal blue waters admiring the beauty of our new island. We found Stephen and Grace in the anchorage and they suggested that we had lunch in Chez Tara which they had done the previous Sunday. And an excellent recommendation it was with a fantastic pig roast that had been cooked in the ground and a great local buffet. They also did a mean rum punch. Stopping by Water Music on our way back for a quick catch up we arranged to go snorkelling the next day.

We duly picked them up mid morning and dinghied around the reef to the recommended snorkelling spot. There were quite a few pretty fish and a very ugly moray eel. We stopped at an historical Marae site which was interesting and then retired for lunch on the table on Hullabaloo before waving them off. The weather was lovely so we decided to spend a few quiet days  enjoying the island. We moved a few miles West and dropped our anchor just by the outer reef which was  idyllic.  Going ashore to drop off our rubbish we came upon some villagers practising for their local Hiva which was to take place that weekend and they were very friendly and happy to let us watch their dress rehearsal. Amazing as the show had been in Papeete this felt a much more authentic experience. In addition to the dancing Andrew and I both loved the beat and rhythm of the drums.

The following morning a little local boat approached us with a smiling Bryan at the helm and a young french lady who he was giving a lift to. They stayed for lunch and we had a good catch up on his antics since he had left Water Music a couple of weeks before. Our final stop in Huahine was the town. On dropping our anchor we were hailed by our new friend Colin inviting us to join him and his crew mate Tamsin for dinner in the local yacht club, how could we say no. A fun evening was had with some excellent french steak and lots of french wine. Arriving back at the boat and keen to check for news from home I took my iPhone on deck. Sadly I then dropped it down the companionway and now the screen no longer works. All a-bit of a disaster, not least as I have lots of pictures on there that are not backed up to the cloud. Hopefully some young whizz kid at Apple will be able to retrieve them when we get back to the UK.

The next day was our thirty second wedding anniversary and we decided to celebrate by hiring a moped to drive around the island. Determined to have my own steed we set off with Andrew miles ahead and me nervously trundling along behind, as usual pissing off all the car drivers who wanted to overtake me.  We had a lovely day visiting another Marae site and drinking in the scenery of our favourite Polynesian island to date. I thought I had relaxed by the end of the drive, my hands told another tale as they wouldn’t stop tingling. I had been gripping too hard on the handles, and there was me thinking I was some kind of biker chick!

We had managed to book dinner in the smart hotel on the front. We got dressed up to the nines, I even blow dried my hair not that you would have known as by the time we got there I was doing my usual impersonation of Crystal Tips. Dinner was exceptional and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening. We were both agreed that the Society Islands were our favourite part of French Polynesia. They combined the ruggedness of the Marquesas, with the tropical paradise of the Tuamotu’s and they have some life with decent restaurants, bars and good supermarkets.

We were due in Bora Bora to celebrate Rosemary’s sixtieth birthday. We sailed to Tahaa, stopping for the night in a bay where we encountered our first, and as it turned out, only rude Polynesian. That in itself says something about the friendliness of the locals. Then on to Bora Bora, it’s iconic central mountain visible for miles, in stark contrast to the blue sky and fluffy white clouds. We picked up a Mooring ball outside the Yacht club, paying our weekly mooring sub to Frances who had just bought the business. A couple of weeks before a Catamaran had ended up on the reef when the mooring broke in forty knots whilst the owners were ashore. They don’t like you to anchor in Bora Bora so we just hoped the winds stayed calm. 

After an excellent, although pricey, lunch at the Yacht club we set off across the lagoon and found Zig Zag on a mooring ball just inside the reef. After a little disagreement with a Bommie we picked up a mooring ball alongside them and rushed over to say hello to Rosemary and Francois. We had last seen them heading out of Frustration Bay, but had kept in regular contact on the Iridium Go and they already felt like old friends. Rum was produced and the promised barbecued lamb chops and we had a jolly good catch up.

The next day their friends arrived from South Africa and New Zealand. Godfrey, Sheila, Chris and Sharon all old friends and the three girls had all been at school together. We felt very privileged to be included in the festivities. They had arrived on Bastille day, for which we had dressed Hullabaloo overall. We went into town in two dinghies to watch the parade, every club and local organisation represented but to be honest it wasn’t much of a spectacle. So we retired back to Hullabaloo for tea which led straight into drinks and the curry I had made for them all earlier. We had a lovely evening and it was obvious we were in for a good few days!

At ten to eight the next morning we found Godfrey and Chris loitering in the water behind our boat keen to aid in the dressing overall of Hullabaloo in celebration of Rosemary’s birthday. Promptly at eight am the flags went up and then, just in case the rest of the anchorage weren’t already awake,  we sang her Happy Birthday over the loud speaker. 

Later that day we moved around to the town as Francois was taking us all out to dinner at the beautiful St. James restaurant on the front. A truly excellent evening followed with fine wine and even finer food. Foie gras to die for, I was in heaven and we all had another great evening. 

The following day we all hired bikes and cycled around the island, stopping for lunch on the beach. As we draw too much to take the boat to the other side of the island it was great for us to be able to see it. I had been told I wouldn’t like Bora Bora, as it was so built up with hotels, but I loved the place and the hotels are very tasteful and blend into the landscape. It is no costa del sol! 

We met everyone for drinks at Bloody Marys and had a couple of them. Then Andrew and I had dinner there which was excellent. A last lunch on Zig Zag and then we waved our new friends off as they headed for the airport their four day stay over. We rather felt like we had had a mini Cowes week without the racing.  It is also probably one of the reasons we have such a fondness for Bora Bora.

Returning to pick up a mooring back at the yacht club we decided to first fill up with some fuel. My lovely husband had a blonde moment, of which it is true I have many more than him, and put a litre of diesel into the water tank before he realised that he was on the wrong side of the boat. An afternoon of trying to pump this slick off the top of the tank and out the port hole ensued and I have to admit he did an impressive job of setting up an effective pumping system. However the long and the short of it is having breathed in diesel fumes for the last few months we were now washing in and drinking the stuff! Now when asked how much diesel we carry I tell people that we can carry one thousand litres in our fuel tank and a little extra in our water tank for emergencies.

Shopping ashore I finally managed to buy an unlocked phone into which I could put my O2 SIM card. Unfortunately the only one available is pretty identical to the one I had when the girls were born. It takes me half an hour to type a simple message, as not only do I have to use the buttons in the old fashion way but the screen is so small I can’t see what I am typing! At least I won’t be running up any big data bills on it, I am sure it must be able to access the internet but god knows how!

We had a last dinner with Rosemary and Francois on Hullabaloo, together with Gregory & Susan  from Rapture with whom we had had a dragging contest with on the Tahiti Rendezvous. Then we waved goodbye to Zig Zag whose time was up in French Polynesia. We were going to double back to visit Raita & Tahaa which we had missed in our haste to get to Bora Bora. Sailing up wind we passed Water Music heading in the opposite direction. Whilst putting our mainsail away the foot tape which had been looking iffy finally ripped, time to find a sailmaker.

We headed to the Coral Gardens on Tahaa where we had arranged to meet Into the Blue. Somewhat the worse for wear we had Bill, Zoe & their crew-mate Roger onboard for dinner. We drank too much rum again, and ended up dancing on the aft deck into the early hours. All great fun but I woke the next morning and thought Enough!! Godfrey had laughed at me when I tried to persuade him that we weren’t on a permeant holiday and it was time to prove the point, for a few days at least, if not for the liver then for the waist line.....

We snorkelled the Coral Gardens which was a very different experience. A drift snorkel where the fish are literally in your face as you weave your way between the coral in very shallow water, trying to avoid a grounding. We then upped anchor and headed round the island and anchored off the reef where we remained for several days as we both went down with a bad cold, cant imagine why that might have been!

We found ourselves a sail maker in Raiatea who turned out to be a very tiny french woman. We manhandled the sail off the boat and left it with her and headed back to Tahaa. We had yet to successfully visit a pearl farm and there was rumoured to be one in Bay Apu and they provided mooring balls. We duly went ashore for the tour and learnt all about the process of cultivating the black pearls which are a major business in Polynesia. This particular farm purchased its oysters from the Tuamotu’s and its base pearls from the Chesapeake in the US. One oyster must be sacrificed as part of the process. It is selected on the colour inside its shell and its mantle is cut into 1mm pieces. These are then inserted into other oysters along with the seed pearls and then the grafted oysters go back into the ocean for eighteen months whilst the pearls develop. It is placed in nets to protect then from predators such as turtles and triggerfish. If the Oyster produces a good pearl it will be used again, but it is a pretty hit and miss affair.

We went back to the boat with a few purchases and then signed up for dinner in the local restaurant where they were having a traditional evening with food cooked in a fire pit. We were entertained with local dancing and a couple of fire eaters. Perhaps not the most authentic experience but fun nevertheless.

The winds were getting up so we headed back over to Raiatea with the intention of visiting the bottom of the island and in particular the Marae that was supposed to be the best in Polynesia. Long story short, I felt it was too windy to anchor outside the Marae and leave the boat, skipper not too happy with me. We motored for hours to find some shelter, got a phone call to say the Main sail was ready, turned around and motored back so that we could pick it up first thing the next morning, so all in all a bit of a waste of time. Mainsail retrieved with remarkably little money exchanging hands we went back to Tahaa to try and find some shelter from the winds to put our mainsail back up. We waited until almost sunset and then found a little respite and hauled it up much to the surprise to a couple of locals who got out a pair of deck chairs to watch the unfolding disaster. Thankfully there wasn’t one.

We headed back to Bora Bora to reprovision for our trip and check out. As we spend time in each place it all becomes very familiar as you work out the best shops to visit. Fully stocked we treated ourselves to one more dinner at the St James restaurant as it would be a while before we would find such fine dining again. 

We motored out of Bora Bora and set our sails ready for a few days at sea. We loved French Polynesia with its many different islands and vistas. The people made us feel so welcome and we experienced a very different culture, albeit one influenced by the French. It had also been a delight not to have to check in and out of every island as you have to in the Caribbean. But now it was time to travel further West, new places to visit, new cultures to learn.....