Tuesday 5th July 2016

We are eating lunch in the Bora Bora Yacht Club and I am drinking wine from a delicate tall stemmed wine glass. We seem to have found civilisation. Bora Bora is packed full of luxury hotels, the tourist is king. The road that runs around the island and right next to our anchorage is busy, jet ski treks, full of honeymooning couples, whiz by and tourist boats rock us with their wake but for now we don’t mind, it’s just nice to sip our cold Savignon Blanc from a fancy glass.

Last weeks anchorage in Vaiorea Bay, Tahaa turned out to have more than just incredible sunsets, it was full of oysters. The  pearl farm whose bouys filled most of the bay had a jetty, thankful to the owner for his help in anchoring, we dingied over to see their pearl farming demonstration. It turned out to be very interesting. A spherical bead of shell, just smaller than the pearl required is seeded in the gonad of an Oyster with a piece of its mantle tissue. The mantle is the outer piece of flesh of the Oyster that creates the mother of pearl coating on the inside of the oyster shell or if enclosed in a small space with a piece of sand as in nature, or a piece of shell as when farmed, coats the irritant to create a pearl. The Pinctada Margaritifera Oysters that thrive in the warm, clear waters of French Polynesia have a black mantle that produces the dark colours of the local pearls. Once seeded the Oysters are left to create there magic in the cages on the other side of the lagoon. They are harvested after eighteen months, each oyster and pearl can go through this procedure three times producing a diversity of shapes, sizes and qualities of pearls. The farm managed an incredible 900,000 mature oysters with another million in its nursery.

Of course at the end of the demonstration is the shop, we perused the selection of jewellery, they are lovely but so expensive, we splashed out on just one, small, but top classed blue, black pearl.

We returned to the boat, the sun now high in the sky, we grabbed our snorkel gear and drove the dingy the nautical mile back to Motu Tautau for the promised spectacular snorkel on the coral garden. We left the dingy anchored in the shallows off the northern shore and walked through the palm trees to the far end facing the outer reef. We then jumped into the channel between the islands. It was amazing, the gentle current pushed us back towards the dingy through a mass of mixed corals, it was great fun weaving though the bommies seeking out a route deep and wide enough to float through. 

However the real wow factor came from the fish, there were millions of them and with no depth to escape, they just swim all around you. They were every shape and size from a few centimetres to a couple of feet long, in every colour and pattern imaginable, it was as if a teacher had given a group of six year olds a bunch of felt tip pens and asked them to design fish.We loved it so much we returned the next day to do it all over again.

Back at the bay a Hallberg Rassy – Blue Raven had anchored next to us and they joined us for sundowners. As I think I have mentioned before, meeting new people is one of the highlights of the trip, when in real life do you invite people over just because they have turned up next to you for the night. We meet such a diverse bunch, from toddlers to eighty year olds, from New Zealanders to Swedes, from luxury Super Yachts to 30ft home builds and everyone has thier own stories to tell of how they came to be in this particulr tiny bay in the middle of the Paciffic.

The next morning we went a few miles up the lagoon to Tahaa’s main town Patio, again the water was deep but there were mooring balls to hook up to. We normally avoid mooring balls, we are bigger and much heavier than most of the sailing boats here but these looked robust and the breeze was gentle. We were keen to get rid of our rubbish and to the store, so we tied up and after an interesting ‘bilingual’ conversation between Rick and the Gendarme as to the bouys yacht size rating, decided to risk staying night.

The mooring held fast and early the next morning we headed off. The sea outside the reef had built to a three metre swell overnight and either side of the pass the surf was huge, a wonderful, if rathe daunting sight. Amazingly the pass itself was relatively calm and full of Dolphins, our exit was straight forward. Our twenty mile crossing, however, with the swell on our side, was very rolly and the entrance through the pass into Bora Bora quite hairy with cross currents, traffic and a three knot out flow against us. Still we made it and here we are sipping white wine, enjoying the view and discussing how we will spend the next couple of weeks on the island before the next big passage, 1200nm to Tonga.



Tuesday 28th June 2016

The wind howls around us in the dark, the rain starts to beat down on our backs as we, as fast as we can, hoist the dingy on to the davits, it looks like we could be in for another lively night. The wind has turned around to SE and our protected bay is becoming bouncy. We are still being held hostage by the weather, high winds restrict where we can anchor, the cloud restricts the visability and the rain restricts trips ashore and keeps us below decks. We have done a long list of chores, read a selection of books and watched our limited video stock all the way though for the third time. Now it is time for the squalls to stop, the sun to come out and the wind to drop so we can enjoy our fabulous surroundings, unfortunately the forecast is doubtful.

We left Fare last Friday after just one night to hide from yet another forecast for high winds. We motored inside the lagoon, bordered on one side by the hills and bays of the island of Huahini and on the other the outer reef with huge perfectly formed surf crashing over it. The cloud subdued the colours and the current kept us focussed on the route, the fantastic scenery passed by mostly unnoticed. About four miles south we found a large bay, with just a small entrance, that was calm and to a degree protected from the wind. Bourayne Bay felt like a large lake, we were encircled by densely wooded hills a few hundred feet high, the water was deep, until a shelf, that stretched completely around the shore, rapidly shallowed the water to a reef that almost broke the surface. A few houses sat around its perimeter but we saw very few people, just a couple of locals fishing once in a while, when there is a lull in the wind it was beautifully tranquil.

With time on our hands we enjoyed watching the weather. The wind that sweeps across the surface of the water, the ripples identifying its path. The rain a wall of water bearing down on us, reducing the visability to a few metres and then the short breaks in the cloud, allowing the sun in to light up and to transform the landscape. We turn on the instruments to monitor the gusts, we see 20, 24 even 27kts, we track our path around our anchor, uncomprehending at the effects of the wind and currents on the pattern that is formed.

After three days the wind drops a little and we carry on down the lagoon to Avea Bay. A bigger contrast you couldn’t get, Avea Bay is fringed by a long sandy beach, buildings regularly puntuate the shore, a small hotel sits opposite us. The sandy bottom produces bright blue water that as you look out to sea turns to a turquoise strip in front of the reef. Outside the reef is the ever present line of white, the surf continuing to pound in from the ocean. 

Conditions are still squally but there are periods of sunshine to take advantage of, we take the dingy in to the pretty hotel Le Relais Mahana, for lunch. The Mai Tais were expensive, rather sweet and wishywashy, the food was good however and the view gorgeous. 

The next day we go to explore the point at the end of the bay. We beach the dingy and walk along the sand, marvellous craggy trees lie low over the water. As we round the corner we are surprised to find large break waters built of giant boulders stretching out into the sea, more of the same have been used to create a wall. It is a major feat of construction, some one is trying hard to hold back the encroaching ocean. Set into the wall are two entrances from the sea each flanked by two proud Moai (traditional Polynesian staues), steps lead up to the community pavilions that are common here and the grounds are well tended but the buildings look abandoned and in disrepair. Nobody is around, a large sign says Private, we return to the dingy questions unanswered.

Back at the beach I swim out to the coral to assess it for snorkelling, the tide has changed and the water is racing from the ocean back into the bay. Rick drives the dingy while I fly along the shore travelling too fast to really see the small fish clustered around the bommies but the feeling of speed is so exhilarating I don’t mind. Approaching the bay the current and the coral stop and I swim to the dingy, it is shallow I could easily walk but the sea bed is covered with thousands of sea cucumbers (large slug shaped creatures about a foot long and belonging to the same family as star fish), I prefer not to put my feet down. 

We race back to Raya the sky is turning black and the wind is whipping up the sea. We tie up and dodge below, clean the galley, change the engine filters or watch Ground Hogday for the 650th time?

1st June 2016

Raya appears to have shrunk, we are on the outer wall of Taina Marina, Tahiti and are sandwiched between two superyachts. Both 130ft long, with 180ft masts they dwarf us and with two crews constantly cleaning we feel obliged to keep everything onboard shipshape. Needless to say I think the chances of Rick letting me hang the laundry out are zero. Further along the dock things get even bigger with the three masted, 180ft classic schooner, Atlantic, stealing the show.

In contrast, on the inner pontoons it is hard to find a boat over 45ft. We have noticed, beside the collection of Superyachts here, that most of the boats crossing the Pacific are really quite small, we normally feel huge. In fact some boats are really small, generally skippered by lone Frenchmen, they have little in the way of electronic navigation, no autopilot, no refrigeration, no watermaker, I can’t imagine how different thier experience is to ours.
We were pleased to find the guys from Toothless waiting to catch our lines as we pulled in to the dock and then to discover half a dozen boats we know tied up in the Marina, including two boats from the ARC that we hadn’t seen since we left St Lucia in December. Even more bizarrely the crew on one of these boats, Nina, turned out to be from Sissinghurst, had, a few years after we had moved, lived a couple of hundred yards from Ceylon House and whose children had both gone to Cranbrook, their youngest in Matts year. Certainly made plenty to chat about over a happy hour beer.

Although sitting in the Marina is not so lovely as anchoring in a beautiful bay we are enjoying a brief return to civilisation. Much to everyone’s excitement there is a large Carrefour supermarket a mere 200m away. Kids in a sweet shop comes to mind, as cruisers peruse a full fruit and veg counter for the first time in four months. The Internet is mostly good and there are a couple of decent restaurants onsite. Being on the lea of the island we are a bit short of a cooling breeze but the Superyachts protect us from the swell from passing craft and there is very little in the way of tide to worry about. Tahiti sits on an Amphidronic point, a point in the ocean where the tides are small, the tidal range increases as you move outward from these nodes.  It is caused by the the rotation of the earth and in turn the Corolius effect and local land masses, too technical for this blog, so for more information see – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphidromic_point

Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, was in contrast to the Marina area a bit of a disappointment. Busy, noisy, full of traffic with very few decent shops. There was a pretty little church – the cathedral, a large traditional market and a long boat filled waterfront but the long awaited chandlery was under stocked and tired and the black pearl shops, I’d been looking forward to, were expensive and commercialised. In fact we are finding Tahiti generally underwhelming . Yesterday we hired a car and drove around the island. It struck us as one long string of surburbia, small towns stretching the whole way along the road that circles the island. Of course, had we not just come from the Marquesas and Tuamotu, the high wooded mountains that form the interior of the island would have awed us, the lush colourful gardens of the houses would have enchanted us and the coastline of turquoise sea would have dazzled us – we have been spoilt.

Tomorrow a rigger is coming to help with the inmast furling system and to have a look at the vang which appears to have seized. We need a few more trips to the supermarket to restock and a couple of maintainance jobs are still outstanding. Then we will be off. The island of Moorea, the next stop on our visit to this final part of French Polynesia, The Society Islands, stands tantalisingly just a sort distance away.