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.