We arrived in Bora Bora around 5pm on the 19 th June 2021 after a pleasant sail from Tahaa Island. We picked up a mooring next to Andrew and Carolyn on Askari and joined them for drinks aboard. The next day wet tied up our dinghy at the Bora Bora Yacht Club and walked the 2km to Vaitape, the main town on the island. Being a Sunday, the town was quiet, so we walked back to BBYC for happy hourat the club.
On Monday morning Annie cycled back into town to start the check out process at the Gendarmerie and was told our zarpe document will be ready by Wednesday morning. Bob McDavitt our weather router, indicated that a low over Maupiti will delay our departure until the next Monday. The upmarket timber and grass roofed bungalows had us gawking.
Blue water and pools above it!
Bungalows on the water
The reefs don’t allow a passage around the south of the island, so we sailed down the west side of the island, picking up a mooring and visiting the famous Bloody Mary’s bar and restaurant, dating back to the 1950’s. There are numerous rolls of names at the entrance to the restaurant of the rich and famous who had been to Bloody Mary’s.
Bloody Mary’s jetty.
Roll call of the rich and famous.
On the Thursday we took the dinghy in to Vaitape to complete our check out. We also bought last minute provisions for the trip to Cairns, Australia. The documents hadn’t come through from Tahiti yet, so we anchored in a lovely spot behind Motu Toopua for another night.
Fruit and veg from sidewalk stall.
How to recycle tyres
Proud gardeners
Farmer’s market
Background music.
Friday morning proved successful at the Gendarmerie and we were issued with our exit papers and our passports were stamped. We set sail for Maupiti at 10:00 in a 15 knot NE wind and 1m sea. Arriving at the Onoiau pass, Maupiti at 14:30, we were confrontedwith big breaking waves on both sides of the narrow pass. The water was like a washing machine and we had to gun the motor flatout to make 2 knots through the fast out flowing current.
Leaving Bora Bora.
Approaching the pass
Where do we go in?
Maupiti.
Once inside the lagoon the water was flat and we motored up the channel to anchor close to three other boats. We had Andrew and Carolyn Bellamy from Fremantle, on Askari over for drinks. Saturday morning, we walked through the village of Vaiea to a row of low key eateries next to the sports field, where we enjoyed coffees and excellent chocolate cake.
Anchored in Maupiti
Coffee and cake queen
Chewing the fat with Andrew and Carolyn.
Sunday was a big day for Maupiti – the FP government had a new ship built in Spain to service the Society Islands as a freighter and ferry – a real lifeline for Maupiti to the rest of the islands. The celebrations started with music and dancing as soon as the ship entered the pass at 08:00. Everybody was dressed up and the welcoming committee stood ready with flower garlands for all the tourists that got off the ship. Really moving to see this event.
The new ship approaching
The music section.
Welcoming with flowers.
Ship docking
After the welcoming, Annie and I decided to climb the mountain above Vaiea to see the island from the highest point. A tough climb but very rewarding in terms of the view. We got back on board for cold beers and had a swim. The water maker was started and we filled the water tanks for the trip home.
At the top
Cairns is over the horizon.
Afterwards we went ashore to donate all our surplus clothes and linen, kitchenware, books etc. to the islanders, who are doing it tough due to the downturn in tourism. We had farewell drinks on Askari and to post this blog. Wish us luck as we do another long leg to finish our circumnavigation. We should arrive in Cairns in 3-4 weeks and as before, you will be able to follow us on our Predictwind tracking page. Cheers for now!
Raiatea and Tahaa Islands are two separate islands, surrounded by vast coral reefs. We arrived here on the 9th June and after entering the lagoon through a northeast pass off Tahaa, we motored into a few bays in Tahaa to find that the bays are all exceptionally deep. We decided to head for Raiatea a short distance away, to look for shallower water, which we found off the Carenage on the north west corner of the island.
Raiatea & Tahaa.
Raiatea is home to three large charter fleets of mostly catamarans of the Sunsail, Moorings and Dream Charter companies. They occupy all the marinas and the surrounding anchorages, forcing us cruisers to anchor further out. Due to Covid-19 their boats are largely unused at the moment.
Anchored outside the Carenage – our neighbour aptly named “Patchwork”
We were anchored just outside the Raiatea Carenage which is the oldest and shabbiest marina on the island. We dropped our big gas cylinder for a refill and took our bikes ashore for the 5 km trip into Uturoa, the main town. We had a successful morning by getting Covid-19 vaccinations. We opted for the Janssen single shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, rather than the Pfizer two shot option, which would tie us down here for three weeks.
Raiatea hospital where we got vaccinated.
We also established from the national police that checking out and getting the all important exit papers for the boat (zarpe) would take two days. Not wanting to brave the traffic and cycle to and fro, we motored Esprit to Uturoa and tied up at the wharf behind the Shell service station. Annie stocked up with food at a brand new Super U supermarket in Uturoa. She also found Nicola, a French Canadian who was happy to do our laundry in his washing machine on board his boat for a small fee – amazing.
I like the simplicity of the churches
On the 15th June we set off to sail around Raiatea Island, but the weather was a bit ordinary with rain squalls every now and then. Unusual, the locals told us, as we were now supposed to be in the dry season. Our route down the West coast took us outside the reef for a few miles, as the inside passage was too shallow for our 2.2 m draft. The first night we tied up to a buoy in Tuatau bay, where we sheltered from the easterly wind in a lovely setting.
The rugged West coast of Raiatea.
Our anchorage at Tuatau.
Motoring up the Southeast coast.
The next day was a wet affair with rain squalls and narrow passages between the island and the reef on the South eastern side of the island. We picked up another buoy in Opoa bay as the sun was coming out and went ashore to visit a UNESCO world heritage site called Taputapuatea. This archaeological site is at the heart of the Polynesian cultural landscape. Inhabited by the ancient Ma’ohi civilisation, it is believed to be the last region to have been settled by human societies in 1000 AD. I have now seen enough Marae old stones.
Anchorage at Opoa Bay.
The ancient site layout.
Old stones 1.
Old stones 2.
Old stones 3.
Where the hell are the buildings?
Our third night was in the lee of a small island Tipaemau, in the entrance of the Iriru pass on the East coast, where we met up with Neill and Heidi on Artemis. They invited us over for a fabulous lasagne dinner and dessert.
Anchored off Islet Tipaemau.
Heidi & Neill with their tasty lasagna.
We left early the following morning as a big squall from the East was heading our way. We outran it, motoring north to Uturoa where we tied up at the Total wharf to fuel up for our second Pacific crossing to Australia. We took on 325 l of diesel in the main tank and back up jerry cans and 30 l of petrol.
Squall from the East.
Then we sailed up to the North coast of Tahaa to visit the coral gardens off the Tautau and Maharare Islands and did a snorkel in the afternoon. The coral was average, as some green weed had started growing on it, but there were plenty of colourful reef fish.
The hamlet of Tiva on the West coast of Tahaa.
Anchored off the coral gardens.
The holiday resort next to the gardens.
Annie going for a snorkel sticky beak.
We were all set to leave this anchorage to sail to Bora Bora the next morning, but a huge northerly weather system set in with a deluge of rain lasting from 7:30 until 12:30. We motored down to the Paipai pass to exit the lagoon and set sail for Bora Bora at 1 pm. Next report from Bora Bora.
On Monday morning 31st May, we anchored at Fare village on Huahine Nui Island, 90 nm northwest from Moorea. Picture pretty, but without the dramatic mountains of Moorea. Huahine is known for the vanilla bean pods it produces and visiting a vanilla farm, plus cycling around the island was on our to do list.
Huahine Nui and Iti islands.
A model showing the topography with the surrounding reefs.
But first I had to research the Covid-19 entry protocols for ports of entry into Australia, as we had given up on Fiji. The latter would have cost us over $2,600 in tests and entry costs into Fiji and limit us to disembarking at only one of the 300 islands of Fiji. Both New South Wales and Queensland on the Australian eastern seaboard, have compulsory 14 day quarantine in place for international arrivals. The cost of quarantine in an approved hotel plus the cost of leaving our boat in a marina, to be paid by us, is around $4,000.
Happy hour at the Huahine Yacht Club.
Having registered our sailing plan from FP to Cairns in QLD with the Australian Border Force, we set about enjoying Huahine, which consists of two islands joined by a bridge, Nui (big island) and Iti (small island). We cycled the 23 km route around Nui visiting the original settlement of Fare Pote’e near Maeva on the north-east corner of the island.
The locals are proud of their sidewalks.
Fare Pote’e museum.
Inside the more than 200 year old museum.
The little daughter of the supervisor, showing Annie the fish.
This was the original capital in ancient times. There is an interesting legend of the Princess Hotu Hiva who escaped an arranged marriage on the nearby island of Raiatea by hiding in a barrel and floating across to Huahine.
The legend of Hotu Hiva – click to enlarge.
Hotu Hiva arrives by barrel.
The spot where she reputedly landed.
There are numerous Maraes (sacred sites) here and the original fish traps of the ancients in the river –still in use today. We also stopped at a stream which teemed with 2-3m long eels. The hills from Faie to the Bay of Maroe were quite steep, so we had to push the bikes.
A nearby Marae.
Ancient fish traps.
Public toilets near the sites – note the timber shingles and woven palm frond walls.
Push Annie, push!
At the top – totes sweaty.
We met Daniel from Berlin at the Huahine Yacht Club, who told us about Avea Bay at the southern tip of Iti, the small island. The next day I met four lovely ladies having lunch at the yacht club, wearing their traditional Tahitian flower crowns called “Hei Upo’o” which are worn to celebrate the beauty of everyday life in these islands of paradise. The embodiment of “The Happy Life”
Lovely ladies at the yacht club.
Tara, one of the ladies has a restaurant “Chez Tara” at Avea Bay and she invited us to lunch on the Sunday. We motored the 8 nm down some narrow channels to Avea Bay on the Friday, which has the clearest water we have seen – anchored in 10 metres depth, we could see every link of the anchor chain on the white sand. It was a 50m swim to the kilometre wide reef, only 1.5m deep.
Esprit anchored in the clear blue water.
A traditional house boat anchored near to us.
Me, celebrating the achievement of having swum the 50m to the reef and back.
On Saturday we cycled the 16km up the east coast to Tehoro in the north and back, followed by a short 10hm cycle up the west coast to Ha’apu Bay and back on Sunday morning, finding the vanilla farm closed. Spruced up after a swim and a beer on the reef, we settled down at Chez Tara at 12:00 for lunch.
Time to assemble the bikes again.
So that Ms Armstrong can take off again.
Palm trees along the road.
Bananas growing wild along the road.
So, this is how they keep the verges trimmed.
Some parts of the island have been inundated by these creepers taking over the trees.
A pity the vanilla farm was closed on a Sunday – we will try another farm on Tahaa island.
Marea near Avea Bay – how did the ancients move these stones?
At the top of a hill – no Sweaty Betty, this one.
Back at Avea Bay before lunch.
We were welcomed like old friends with hugs and Annie was presented with a fresh “Hei Upo’o” and a bunch of bananas, as I had mentioned earlier she wanted to bake a banana bread. The freshly grilled Mahi Mahi fish, chips and salads washed down with the local beer, went down a treat, resulting in a long Sunday afternoon Nanna nap.
Two lovely ladies.
Well fed and lubricated.
I begged Annie to take off her “Hei Opo’ou before she went to bed.
On the Monday we motored back to Fare in the rain, anchored and at 5pm joined a bunch of German, Dutch, Swedish and British sailors for a convivial happy hour, half price, drinks session at the yacht club. Tuesday was perfect for recovery as it was raining most of the day.
Next stop Raiatea island.
Wednesday morning the 9th June, we set sail for the short 22 nm sail to Raiatea and Tahaa Islands.
