French Polynesia Week 1

Well, the Four Fabulously Fortunate Friends are off once again. We were still in South Africa last year when we decided to plan a vacation in French Polynesia; ten days on a chartered sailboat then a week in an apartment on Moorea. Follow along and enjoy the trip. See more photos as you read (or scroll!) through the text)

Sandy and Carl flew to LA this morning to meet up with Roberta and Elliot who had spent a wonderful week in San Diego. We all boarded Air Tahiti Nui for the eight hour flight to Papeete. The flight was uneventful except for the hour when we searched frantically for Sandy’s passport which got lost after we checked in for the flight. We were all greatly relieved when the passport was found on the floor near our seats. Papeete was warm and humid; unfortunately we arrived after dark so we could not see the beauty of Polynesia.

We got back to the airport two hours before our flight to Raiatea. Amazingly, we accomplished a lot in that two hours. We had breakfast, got money from the ATM machine, got a French Polynesian SIM Card for the cell phone, called the Moorings to revise our arrival time and checked in all of our luggage. The 45 minute flight to Raiatea was uneventful and at the end we had great views of Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora-Bora in the distance. After a short taxi ride to the Moorings base we got checked in, checked out and spent several hours stowing the food and our stuff. We motored our 43 foot sailing yacht Pitai (Polynesian for Fairy Tern, a local bird) out of the harbor at about three and headed for a restaurant on Tahaa that has a big mooring field out front. Unfortunately, all of the moorings were occupied, so we motored further up the west coast of Tahaa and anchored inside the reef. It is a lovely spot, we are all alone watching the sun set and the purple sky silhouetting Bora Bora off to the west.

It was our first night at anchor and the wind picked up and shifted towards the south. About 3:30AM the boat was bouncing a little in a slight chop. Carl went on deck to make sure the anchor was not dragging. We were in the exact same spot so he went back to bed. Some of us went for a swim before breakfast after which we ate very well. Later in the morning we put the snorkel gear in the dinghy and motored a couple of miles to a shallow spot between motus (small islands along the barrier reef) with lots of coral heads and colorful fish. After over an hour of snorkeling we returned to the dinghy and took turns being graceless and clumsy climbing or being dragged back aboard. After lunch we went for our first sail then motored into Hurepiti Bay where we picked up a mooring in front of Vanilla Tours. Tomorrow we will tour a vanilla plantation then tour the island with Alain, a self taught botanist. For supper we barbequed steaks and fish but only after we spent three quarters of an hour and two boxes of matches trying to light the charcoal. This should be our worst problem!

At eight AM we joined Ron and Cindy from CA (on another charter sailboat moored near us) on the Vanilla Tour. First Alain showed us around their property, pointing out different plants and fruits. In particular, he showed us his vanilla plants and demonstrated manual pollination. It seems the bees do not pollinate vanilla plants anywhere except Mexico. He carefully scraped the pollen from the edge of the plant and spread it in the female part of the plant. He said that at times he has pollinated over 3,000 vanilla plants, “but he doesn’t smoke a cigarette after each one ;-). We then went to a vanilla processing area where hundreds of kilograms of vanilla beans were drying in the sun and then sorted for size and packed for shipment. We each bought small bottles of the extract as gifts/souvenirs. The tour around the island was fascinating. Alain pointed out many more fruits and medicinal plants. We stopped at an overlook with great views of bays on both sides of the island. Alain served us samples of mango, pampalmouse, star fruit and coconut. We then drove to the village of Patio on the north shore then back around to his home where we were greeted by his wife and a refreshing fruit drink. Back on the boat we BBQ’d steak and fish and spent to evening playing Texas Hold-um.

We were up early and after breakfast we stowed all of the loose gear and headed out the pass on the way to Bora Bora about 20 miles away. We hoisted sail but found fluky winds. We motored for five hours and easily entered the pass on the west side of Bora-Bora. We then headed down to the Bloody Mary Restaurant where we just missed getting the last mooring so we anchored in about 65 feet of water. An unusual depth but with all chain anchor line and good protection from the nearby hills it was safe and calm. As a remarkable coincidence, the boat that took the last mooring less than five minutes before we arrived was Ron & Cindy, the couple we met on the Vanilla tour on Tahaa. We had an excellent though expensive dinner at Bloody Mary’s and we watched the nearly full moon rise over the hills of Bora Bora as we dinghyed back to our boat. Another beautiful day in paradise.

Carl was up early to watch and photograph the sun rise and the moon set. After breakfast we went ashore and hiked around the south end of the island. We toured the Black Pearl Farm and Bora Bora Hotel ($1,200/night for ocean bungalow!). We stopped at several small boutiques and a small market before heading back. In the afternoon we motored around to the west side of Topua Island for snorkeling and a relaxing evening aboard. Elliot & Roberta taught Sandy & Carl how to play cribbage.

We were up early and underway by 8 AM. We motored north along the channel then through the pass. There was a nice breeze blowing from the SE so we set sail and galloped (there’s a bit of ocean swell here) along at 6.5 knots of great sailing (while it lasted). Once we got south of Bora Bora, we needed to turn SE towards Tahaa. You will recall from the previous sentence that the wind direction was SE so we tacked off at an angle to the wind but it was pretty slow going so after a while we dropped the sails and motored the rest of the way. We picked up a mooring at the Taravana Yacht Club, filled our water tanks, got rid of our trash, charged our computer and cell phone batteries and got a wireless internet connection to check email. We did all this without seeing a soul since the staff takes a break mid afternoon. We left them a note saying we’d be back for dinner at 7 and when we arrived our table was set (we were the only dinner guests this evening) and we were greeted warmly by the owner/manager Maui Postma, a young man who was born on Bora Bora, went to High School in Hawaii and college at UC Davis in CA. Over drinks Maui told us a lot about the history and culture of the area. Dinner at this open terrace restaurant overlooking the harbor, was superb. As we puttered back to Pitai in the dinghy, the stars were awesome with the full arc of the Milky Way visible across the sky. Another round of cribbage brought an end to a fabulous day.