The Society Islands - Tahiti and Moorea

We left Toau in the Tuamotos in the afternoon for the 230nm trip to Tahiti - The electronic charts we have are known to have some inaccuracies in these waters, so unless you have local knowledge of an area approaching an island in the dark is certainly unwise, so we planned a two night passage and arrived in Tahiti just as it was getting light.  

Arrival in Tahiti Marina, with a view across the water to Moorea

After the unspoilt beauty of the Tuamotos, it was quite a change to be in a marina, especially one located in the centre of the town!  Papeete is a bustling place, there is a large daily market where you can buy anything from meat and veg downstairs to very expensive pearls upstairs 

Heiva Outfits - available in the market.

Our stay in Tahiti was during the month of July, the Heiva Celebrations.  Heiva is apparently the Tahitian word for Entertainent, it is a celebration of the language and culture of the islands and involves much singing, dancing and traditional sports.  The event is opened with fire walking, open to anyone over the age of 10 - unfortunately we missed this as it happened before we arrived in Tahiti.

Sand Wrestling, one of the traditional Polynesian sports played during the Heiva

Fruit Carrying - the fruit and vegetables had to be held on to specific sized poles using only vegetable fibres.  There were several heats according to the weight of the contestants, and they carried between 15 kg (ladies) to 50 kg for the heaviest men.  The fruit poles were re-weighed at the end of the run and penalties awarded for loss of fruit en route.

The contestants ran approximately 1km, although shoes made of vegetable fibres could be worn we only saw bare footed runners.

The real highlight of the Heiva are the singing and dancing  competitions - over 6 nights 28 groups of up to 160 dancers perform four or five dances and up to 60 singers compete in various categories before the winners are chosen to perform over three nights.  We attended one of the early rounds and also one of the winners' performances - both were wonderful.

The dances all told stories of the history and culture of the Polynesians - it was spectacular.  (Heiva dance photos by Annie, thanks)

We rented a car with Hugh and Annie for a couple of days in Tahiti and drove round the island, stopping at Venus Point where Captain Cook was commissioned by the Royal Society of London to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun and the distance from Earth to the sun in order to assist Navigators in establishing their longitude.  The observation was carried out simultaneously in Norway and Canada, and at the time the results were considered a total failure due to inconsistencies in the timings - many years later, using modern technology, it was established that Captain Cook was only 8/10ths of 1% out in his calculations!

Venus Point Lighthouse, built out of Coral stone in 1868 by Thomas Stevenson (father of writer Robert Louis Stevenson), the family responsible for the construction of most of the lighthouses around the coast of the United Kingdom.

Venus point is now a popular place for locals with their outrigger kayaks, called Va'a

When we set off from the UK over 4 years ago, the plan was to sail round the world and get a tattoo - Polynesia is famous for the quality of their tattoo artists, we decided that even though we have only been half way round the world it was time to have the tattoo.

Ian went first - the tattoo artist, Simeon, does the whole design freehand, designing the pattern permanently as he goes.  You have to hope you like it!  I had one on my foot - the story of a voyage on the sea.

After two weeks in the marina in Papeete we set off with Hugh and Annie on Vega for Moorea, a mere 28 miles away and went to the lovely Opunohu Bay where we swum with Tahitian Stingrays.  The stingrays are actually fed by one of the local hotels and are incredibly tame, wrapping themselves round you hoping to find a fish hidden in your pocket!

Paddling with Stingrays, with Hugh and Annie

The next morning we moved the boats to the head of the bay and went for a hike, the first exercise for weeks!

Nautilus and Vega in Opunohu Bay, Moorea

The view down over Opunohu Bay on the left, and Cook's Bay on the right.  You can just see the line of breaking surf on the outlying reef.

A lovely walk, with well signed trails. Our walk also took us through a pineapple farm, the plants are low growing with incredibly sharp leaves - very thick gloves are needed for the harvesting.

We left Moorea that afternoon for an overnight sail to Huahini to ensure we arrived in daylight.  We were headed for the north of the island, to Fare bay, and on the way we passed the very sad sight of the yacht Tanda Malaika stranded on the reef - we had met them several times, initially as they passed us on the way across the Pacific but more recently we had been neighbours in Tahiti Marina.  They had arrived in Huahini in darkness and mis judged the reef - the yacht is a right off, stranded in the shallows being ripped apart by the waves crashing on the reef, it has been stripped and is due to be dragged off the reef, weighed down and sunk.  The family on board were rescued by helicopter but are all un injured. A sad end to their dreams, and a  salutary lesson in exercising great caution when approaching islands surrounded by reefs.  

We plan to spend a few more days in Huahini before heading north west to Tahaa and the western end of the Society Islands.

The Tuamotos Continued ... Fakarava and Toau Atolls

It is over 50 miles from Tahanea Atoll to Fakarava Atoll, and in order to arrive in Fakarava in daylight, we had to leave Tahanea in the dark ...  very cautiously, with Ian on the foredeck armed with a high powered torch on the lookout for coral bommies and standing waves  in the pass.  Entering and leaving atolls in daylight is exciting enough, but in pitch dark the waves breaking over the foredeck really did seem huge!  The rest of the trip was uneventful, we sailed in company with Jadean and Impulse - unfortunately there were no available mooring buoys when we arrived in Fakarava so we had to anchor and float our chain with fenders to keep it off the coral..

Fakarava Tumakohua pass is famous for it's 'Wall of Sharks', mainly black tip, white tip and grey reef sharks, there are literally hundreds making their way in and out of the pass - a magnet for scuba and snorkellers, you time your dives so that the current pulls you into the atoll, past vast numbers of sharks.  The water is incredibly clear, and the sharks just ignore the divers as they make their way in and out of the atoll.

The South Pass, Fakarava - and the Wall of Sharks.  We ended up repeating the dive six times, and were never disappointed.

We left the South Pass and spent two nights anchored off the  village of Pakokota in the middle of the atoll before heading for the main town of Rotoava near the North Pass.  Rotoava is the main town, a 2012 Census states that the population at that time was 809 people - there is a school, several restaurants, two supermarkets and Fakarava Yacht Services where you can rent Bicycles, get your Cooking Gaz bottles filled and use the WiFi.  The WiFi was incredibly slow, but the bicycles were great - we rented a couple and set off to explore the island.

 Our first stop was a small Pearl Farm, Hinano Pearls.  Tahitian Pearls are dark in colour, but this is not the reason  they are known as Black Pearls - it's because they are cultivated in the Black Lipped Oyster - a very labour intensive and delicate job involving the insertion of a small shell bead and piece of mantle into the gonad of an oyster.  The oysters are delicate, and do not survive out of the water for long so the whole process has to be done rapidly, the oysters are returned to the sea, strung onto lines that are suspended 6m below the surface of the water where it takes appproximately 18 months for a sufficient number of layers of nacre to form around the bead.  Oysters who produce good quality, iridescent and blemish free pearls are re-used several times - those that produce mis sharpen or poor quality pearls are discarded.

The oyster was cut open, a large but low quality pearl was removed and the whole process explained to us.  The pearls are eye wateringly expensive - even simple bracelets on elastic thread were on offer for $150 to $250.

After the Pearl Farm we cycled along the only road to the northern end of Fakarava, past coconut plantations.  The last 6 km were on dirt track - the road had run out.

The North Pass, Fakarava.  One of the wider passes but also known to have some complex and unpredictable currents, so not suitable for diving unless in the company of a local guide. 

The final atoll we visited was Toau, an easy day sail from Fakarava - although we had the wind and the current with us in the pass, the waves are still pretty impressive - as was the fish we caught on the way into the atoll!

A Grouper - caught in the entrance to the Atoll, we let him go again.

We met a local family on Toau, they farm Copra and showed us how to open a coconut and remove the flesh in about 10 seconds - when we have tried, it's taken about an hour!

Very confident use of a large machete opens a coconut, and the husks are frequently burnt to keep the mosquitos and other insects away.

The Coconut meat is dried in the sun for two or three days then sent to Tahiti for the oil to be extracted.  We were also shown how to grate fresh coconuts to make coconut milk which forms a huge part of their diet.  We have been sailing in company with Yachts Jadean, Impulse, So What and Nahoa who are all anchored in the beautiful turquoise water of the atoll.

The locals also offered to take us all on a Coconut Crab hunt - Coconut Crabs are a species of terrestrial hermit crab, the juveniles use discarded shells for protection and as they mature they develop their own hard exoskeleton.  Apparently they can grow to have a leg span of 1 metre, but the ones we saw were not that large.

Although the crabs have claws strong enough to cut their way into coconuts, the coconut is only part of their diet - they eat any fruit, nuts and any other organic matter they find.

The crabs are nocturnal, and have no difficulty climbing trees in search of food.

We spent a couple of days at the South of Toau, then moved back up to the pass - the locals told us the sharks there were more aggressive, and we discovered this for ourselves when we were out in the dinghy.  We were motoring across the entrance when a shark attacked the engine, it's second pass stopped the motor - apparently it was only about 1.5m to 2m long but we were much more focussed on getting the engine going again to study it closely!  Needless to say, we did not do any diving in that location.

Our final days on Toau were spent on Anse Amyot in the north - a beautiful calm lagoon with mooring buoys where we could do some diving without worrying too much about the sharks.

Diving the coral drop off in Toau - it's like a huge underwater cliff, dropping from about 10 metres down to hundreds of metres.

We have loved our time in the Tuamotos, and thanks to Kim and Barry on yacht Jadean who have been taking us out in their RIB and filling our scuba tanks we have done some spectacular dives that we certainly would not have been able to do with out them.  It has been fantastic.

Our next stop is Tahiti - where there are supermarkets and shops, and a marina with shore power and showers, and where we are going to be meeting up again with Hugh and Annie on sailing yacht Vega.

Tuamotos - a Pacific Paradise

We left the Marquesas in company with three other yachts - Jadean and Nahoa (both catamarans) disappeared off in the distance, and the other monohull Sula  headed to a different atoll so we were soon back on our own, on a tight beat well reefed down in rather feisty conditions.

The  435 mile trip from the Marquesas was uneventful, but timing is critical - the French Polynesian Tuamoto Archipelago is a vast 1000 mile arc consisting of 77 atolls, broken rings of coral reefs formed on the remnants of ancient volcanoes. They rise suddenly from depths of thousands of metres, low lying, the tallest thing on the islands in the coconut palms growing no more than a couple of metres above sea level,  they are only visible from a couple of miles away.  The wind and waves force the sea into the atoll over many of the shallow reefs, and although the tidal range is only about 50cm, the current rushes at up to 9 kts in and out of the various Passes, or navigable entrance to the atoll.  Timing your entry for slack water is the key.

Although the Tuamoto Islands were already occupied by local Paumoto people, the first Europeans to sail here in the 1700's were not impressed, the only fresh water was occasional rain fall, the rocks and coral are incredibly sharp and unforgiving, the islands were referred to as 'island of flies', 'islands without end' and 'The Dangerous Archipelago'.  The archipelago was annexed by the French in 1842, and in the 1970's to 1990's  some atolls were used for Nuclear Testing.  Today about 60% of the islands are occupied, the inhabitants making a living from Pearl Farming, Copra (dried coconut) production, fishing and now tourism.

The first atoll we were to visit was Raroia, famed as the reef Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki raft hit on it's voyage from Peru in 1947.  We arrived  well before dawn, catching up with the two catamarans who were drifting towards the entrance pass waiting for Slack tide.  At 0600 we braved the pass, there was much confusion regarding the actual tide times, no sources seemed to agree, so we decided to give it a go - not our best bit of timing as we had as much as 5 kts against us, but the sea state was manageable, and if we couldn't make it we could just slow down and allow the current to carry us out to sea again.  The section with the strongest current did not last more than a few hundred metres so we ploughed on, accompanied by early morning dolphins enjoying the turbulence.  

Entering Raroia atoll is an incredible experience, far from being the largest atoll, it is still vast -  20 miles long, 6 miles wide, the water inside the atoll is between 20 and 40 metres deep but suddenly rising from the bottom are many coral heads, or 'bommies' that would be the end of an unwary navigator.  You need to sail the atolls in good light, ideally with the sun either high or behind you and someone of the foredeck.  Despite the crystal clear water, the bommies are very hard to see lurking about 50cm below the surface of the water.

 

Sailing across the Atoll - keeping a good lookout for coral bommies as we head for our anchorage in the distance

 

Approaching the Motu you can see how low lying they are.

 

Anchoring in the Atoll - it's hard to believe how big they are, the yachts can just be seen in the distance

 

Heading to shore in the dinghy - the grey lumps in the water are small coral bommies in the shallows

 

Taking a dinghy ride out through one of the (non navigable) passes between the Motu - heading for the outer rim of the atoll all looks deceivingly peaceful.

 

Black Tip Reef Shark - one of the dozens that we saw swimming in the shallows of the pass

 

The windward rim of the atoll is a word away from the peaceful beauty of the anchorage - the constant wind and swell, coupled with storms and cyclones gives it a very desolate look.  The water is pouring into the atoll so fast that even walking in the shallows is challenging.  There are huge banks of old smashed coral in the distance.

 

 

This is a Pearl Farm float, washed up on the shore.  The pearl oysters are cultivated on ropes that dangle from the wooden frame.

 

 

 

 

As well as coral, sharks and coconut palms, there are thousands of hermit crabs on the islands.  There are rats on most of the islands that climb and gnaw their way into the coconuts - these hermit crabs are taking advantage of the added food source.

 

Some atolls are affected by Ciguatera fish poisoning, a toxin produced by a type of algae found on coral reefs, and then eaten by the grazing fish. Although it seems to be harmless to the fish, the effects on humans are initially similar to food poisoning however there are neurological symptoms that can last for up to a year.  This local family had been fishing over night - they clearly know which fish are safe to eat - and were very happy to exchange a few for some grapefruit we'd brought with us from the Marquesas.  Later we had a fish BBQ on the beach with the other cruisers.

 

The locals chucked the guts into the sea as they cleaned their catch - the sharks came in to help themselves to an easy snack.

 

We visited four atolls in the Tuamotos:  Raroia, Makemo, Tahanea and Fakarava.  We spent our time snorkelling in the shallows, scuba diving, paddle boarding and just walking around on the Motu.  Our visit to Makemo, one of the inhabited atolls, coincided with the visit of the monthly supply ship from Tahiti - we were able to buy some fresh produce on the dock, directly from the ship.  There was also a Boulangerie in the village, so baguettes were on the menu again.

The atolls have all been incredibly beautiful, wild and unspoilt.  Not always peaceful though - we have just experienced 4 days of squally wet weather, there is very little shelter in an atoll, and when the wind backs through 180 degrees we can say with first hand experience that there is no shelter at all - the 25 mile fetch inside the atoll is plenty to build up a very uncomfortable swell!  With the accompanying clouds and rain, navigation inside the atoll is really not to be recommended - no option but to wait it out.

 

 

 

Sailing in the atoll

The real highlight of the atolls is underwater - not only snorkelling in the shallows, but scuba diving through the passes.  Nothing can really compare to drift diving through crystal clear water over forests of coral surrounded by fish ... and sharks.  That's for the next blog.  In the meantime we will shortly be heading for the north of Fakarava where there is the main town, out through the pass a quick stop at Toau Atoll and on to Tahiti - where we hope we will finally find some WiFi and be able to actually upload the blogs!