The Society Islands 2

Some of the peaks of Moorea

Moorea

Moorea is the island that inspired the musical and the film, South Pacific. It is very beautiful with its variety of mountain peaks standing starkly against the sky. Our anchorage behind the outer reef was close to Cook’s Bay. We stayed for one night breathing in its relaxed and peaceful atmosphere after the hustle and bustle of Tahiti.

Bye bye Moorea

We weighed anchor at 1600 hours and motored out into the sea heading for Huahine 94 miles away. We motored all the way noting the long, high swell coming up from storms further south.

Huahine

As dawn broke we could see the outer reef.  Huge waves crashed on to it, sending spray high into the air. We had planned to go to the main village of Fare, where there is a shop. However, we still had all the groceries we needed from Papeete, so Jeremy identified three possible anchorages in the lagoon on the west side of the island. We were tired and hungry after our overnight sail. All we wanted to do was drop the anchor, eat and sleep.

Breaking waves at Huahine

The first anchorage had a resort built close to it with lots of thatched bungalows on stilts sitting just above the water. The second anchorage had five or more yachts and catamarans anchored in it, so we chose to anchor off Motu Valorea.  Unfortunately, there was a current running at 1.5 knots, so swimming and snorkelling were out of the question. We spent the time researching our navigation for our trip to Suwarrow (one of the Cook Islands) and American Samoa. We left the next day, 24^th May, which was a special birthday for our sister-in-law, Eileen, and also the day the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, resigned.

Raiatea and Tahaa’a

These islands share the same outer reef. We went to Raiatea first, a journey of 27 miles. There was enough wind to fill the genoa but not enough to keep the wind in it in the big swell. We motorsailed, arriving at lunchtime and having the all too familiar problem of finding an anchorage that was neither too shallow nor too deep. Our chart plotter showed a possible place south of the main town of Utoroa. What it didn’t show was the small pearl farms and other fishing obstacles we had to negotiate. We dropped the anchor close to a sandy shelf and had lunch. Later, we snorkelled and found that the sandy shelf was fairly free of bomies, but only about 5 feet deep, which is the same depth as Sal Darago. We put out a second anchor to stop us swinging off the shelf and drifting into the deep lagoon.

Replacement gearbox coupling

The next day, Saturday 25^th May, we weighed both anchors, motored very slowly across the lagoon watching out for reefs and bomies until we reached the deep, marked navigation channel. We went straight to the place we’ve always called the carenage at Utoroa, but apparently the carenage is 5k away. We tied up to the town quay, where boats can stay for no charge but you have to beware of the possibility of theft from your boat and the attraction of the quay at the weekends for groups who like to drink and party.

Rainbow over Tahaa'a

I needed to see a doctor as I’d developed a fungal infection which was not responding to first aid treatment. The French yacht in front of us had a female doctor on board who was running a clinic in the town. The Lord provides again! An hour later, we were waiting outside Laetisha’s surgery. Half an hour after that, I had a prescription for antiseptic and antifungal powder and a diagnosis of “not serious”. The consultation cost 3600PCF (36USD) and the prescription a little less.

Cruise ship leaving Tahaa'a

We shopped in one of the well-stocked supermarkets and came out into heavy rain. After unpacking our shopping in SD, we braved the rain to dash to a take-away van and buy a couple of lunches. Soon afterwards, we left the town quay and motored in the rain to Tahaa’a, anchoring not far from the village of Tiva, on the edge of the shallows before the outer reef. We were going to go to the lovely anchorage off a motu further north, where we’d been nine years ago, but it had been taken over by a resort of thatched bungalows on stilts over the water. Sadly, unspoilt Tahaa’a, like Huahine was cashing in on Bora Bora style developments.

Grey clouds over Bora Bora

We spent three nights at anchor, mainly relaxing, after Jeremy had replaced the Panama gearbox coupling for the Tahiti one. We weighed anchor on Tuesday 28^th May and proceeded to motor round the lagoon, stopping for two baguettes at a very small harbour in Baie Vaiorea. Finding an anchorage for the night proved difficult with reefs that we could not see rising up from 19 metres to 1 metre. We scraped both keels leaving a little of our antifoul paint behind as we turned away and headed for deeper water. After a brief stop for lunch in a bomie infested place, we motored on and found good overnight anchorage behind three catamarans on a sandy shelf with some well-submerged bomies.

Sunset over Bora Bora from Tahaa'a

The next day, Wednesday 28^th May, we left the anchorage early and motored to the town quay. We wanted a laundry and believed there was one nearby. Sadly, there was no laundry in Utoroa but a woman called Violetta will do laundry. She is based near the carenage. We shopped, had lunch, then returned to our previous anchorage near Tiva village on Tahaa’a. We left via Passe  Papai  just after 0700 the next morning and motored 25 miles to Bora Bora.

Bora Bora

This island is remembered as an American military base during WW2, when service people outnumbered locals. Today, Bora Bora is a tourist destination said to be the most beautiful island in the South Pacific. As we neared the only pass into the lagoon, I checked online for anchorages and learned from Noonsite (a cruisers’ website) that new regulations had come into force in January this year and anchoring was only allowed in one designated area. What actually happens is most visiting boats pick up a mooring and Francis comes along in his launch with two other men on board, welcomes you to Bora Bora, charges you 5000PCF for 3 nights, asks you to photograph a map of the mooring fields, checks the captain’s passport and offers services such as water and rubbish disposal. Laundry service will start next month, although he did his best to find someone to do our laundry. His wife would have done it but we found Sophie by telephoning Tourist Information. She collected our laundry from an agreed place ashore and returned it the next day.

Mai Kai Marina, Bora Bora

Today, we went to the gendarmerie to clear out of French Polynesia. We should have given them more than 24 hours to arrange this. All being well, we can pick up our clearance documents tomorrow (1^st June) and leave for American Samoa, over 1000 miles away.

Local brew

Au revoir, French Polynesia.