It was a shock to pull into the big city of Papeete, Tahiti after the peace and solitude of the atolls in the Tuamotus. (We haven’t seen a sizeable town since Puerto Vallarta.) After a light 3-day sail, we entered the busy pass of Papeete harbor, ducking a high-speed ferry, a Korean fishing boat and a small inter-island supply ship. We wanted to anchor in a quieter spot away from the main quai, where small pesky boarders are known to take residence so we could minimize our risk of taking on non-paying passengers (rats, ants, roaches, etc.) so we continued west inside the reef past the airport to Maeva Beach. Port Control requires that we get clearance to pass both ends of the runway, and amusingly enough, seconds after getting permission to pass the end of the runway a plane whizzed past our mast on its decent to the tarmac!
In Maeva Beach, we anchored in 12 feet of aquamarine water inside the reef with an unobstructed view of the craggy peaks of Moorea only 10 miles away. We felt like we were anchoring in a swimming pool! We could look down on our anchor and see an occasional stingray or conch sitting on the flat white sandy bottom. We were psyched to reunite with friends we hadn’t seen for over a month and to head into shore for a meal “out”. We went to one the restaurant trucks (called ‘les roulettes’) for an incredibly delicious $10 pizza. What a treat! ‘Les roulettes’ are basically snack wagons: outdoor eateries made up of a kitchen in the back of a trailer with either picnic tables nearby or stools at the counter. They feature filling gourmet meals for $6-10 (steak frites - steak in a pepper cream sauce with fries, fancy pizzas, Chow mein, seafood skewers and more tasty meals than I can even remember)
While Papeete is incredibly expensive, there are a couple of deals, such as ‘les roulettes’, baguettes ($.40 for a great snack or breakfast); and ham baguette sandwiches (only $1 in the public market). For everything else, Papeete is an amazingly pricey place. I’d be hard pressed in the States or Mexico to drop $20 on produce without buying more than we could possibly eat before it rots. But in Papeete (and most of French Polynesia in fact), $20 will buy you a couple of grapefruit, a mango and a papaya, all of which is grown locally and is literally falling off the trees maybe a few blocks away. Many imported fruits and vegetables from Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. are cheaper than locally grown items and I am still trying to put my finger on exactly why. I guess the French subsidies drive up the prices for everything, especially labor, since you’d need to bring home a pretty good wage to want to work in this paradise. The subsidies make it pretty expensive here, but only those that arrive from outside, sans subsidy, seem to find it so. We noticed many of the souvenir woodcarvings and Polynesian style pareos for sale were made in Indonesia (probably for pennies; otherwise they probably couldn’t make a profit on stuff actually made here). Regardless of how expensive fruits and vegetables were, we were excited to have them again after running out in the Tuamotus.
The bus ride into downtown Papeete from Maeva Beach, where we anchored, takes about 30 minutes and costs about a dollar. While we were in town we kept busy doing our official check in and extending our visas, getting our mail, checking email, locating and purchasing marine parts and provisioning. The supermarkets were air conditioned and well stocked like in the U.S. and, after the limited selection available elsewhere, was an overwhelming blast of color and choices. There are food products from all over the world and we often have to guess at the directions that are in various languages.
After some provisioning, a friend kindly offered to tow my dinghy of groceries out to my boat so I wouldn’t have to row against the wind, but we stupidly went too fast and gave the groceries a drenching. I was afraid for the flour I had just purchased, the handheld VHF and camera I had in my bag, but found to my relief that only the outsides of the bags got wet. Lesson: Regardless of how fast a friend’s planing dinghy will go, our Avon Redcrest does not like to go fast and quickly becomes a submarine with any load. Fortunately, the lesson wasn’t as painful as it could have been. Ah, bet you never worried much about submarining your groceries before! Another time when I went ashore to run a quick errand, the wind piped up so much that I almost didn’t make it back to the boat that day. I found myself trying to row against 25 knots and chop, trying to pretend that I wasn’t exhausted because I knew that if I let up at all, I’d end up grabbing some piling several miles downwind of our boat as I blew by (if I were lucky!). At least I would still be inside the reef!
In the evenings, we heard the sound of the Tahitian drums calling to us to come watch the dancers shake their hips in stacatto style. We were able to see several dance performances, complete with choral singing in strong, clear Polynesian voices. Often for the price of a drink (a $10 drink, sometimes!), you could watch an impressive show from the bar. I’m not sure how those girls can swing those hips so fast, but I did notice there weren’t any over the age of 25, and most were much younger than that. One of the most impressive shows we saw featured seven year old girls that swung their non-existent hips most provocatively; These children were just as professional as the other dancers and twice as cute.
We had tried to make it to Papeete before the annual Fete celebration but only were able to catch the last week of the celebrations. Fete brings together people from throughout the French Polynesian islands to compete during a month-long celebration. We did catch a few special events, including a crafts village, some canoe races and -our favorite- the fruit carrier’s race, in which Polynesian men in traditional dress raced around the city streets carrying 50 kilos of fruit tied to a log. It made my feet hurt just to watch them.
It was tough to keep our visit to Papeete short and everyone who went there found it was easy to get sucked into staying for several weeks. We were anxious to get moving again. It can be challenging sometimes to get things done, since business hours vary. Most shops and government offices close for a break during the middle of the day. Some places close at 11am and reopen at 1pm, others at 11:30am and reopen at 1:30pm, still others at 12pm and reopen at 2pm, and a few are closed until 3pm. Some offices and shops open at 7am, yet others not until 8am or 9am. On Fridays, many things close early, so some don’t take a break on those days and close at 2pm instead, and on Saturdays, many places are only open in the morning. It is hard to keep track of what is open when. We like to listen to the morning radio nets and have a decent breakfast and maybe even tackle a few small boat projects before heading to shore for the day. Yet, if we do that, by the time we pack a day pack, row into shore and walk into town, we often find we have only an hour or less before things begin closing on us and we find ourselves “homeless”, trying to find a way to kill a couple of hours on the street before we can finish our business. Many businesses don’t have signs or post their hours, so the best source of info is usually other cruisers. Many businesses look like they are just part of someone’s house. We ran into many of the same challenges in Mexico as well. Often while cruising simple errands just take a lot longer when we are dealing with so many variables. We are out here trying to slow down and enjoy life a little more, anyway.
We planned a big double birthday party on the nearby island of Moorea, but had to break the party into 2 parts, because the birthday girls and half the invited guests were in different locations, separated by stormy weather. The tragedy of that was that Garth had to make his famous cheesecake twice, which means that we got to eat it twice. But those are the hardships we face. Both celebrations turned out to be fun, with a big reunion of friends we hadn’t crossed paths with for a while.
We wanted to further explore the island of Tahiti before continuing on to the rest of the Leeward Islands. Few cruisers visit the windward (south) side of the island of Tahiti, but we were really keen to go since it sounded so inviting. Beating into large head seas dissuades most people from making the trip, but we were really glad we did. Identifying a pass entry on the windward side is always a little unnerving, especially when the wind and seas are up, as they were when we went. We sailed to Maraa on the southwestern side to visit the Maraa Grotto, an incredible natural cavern, undercut deeply into the rocky mountain above and filled with a shaded fresh water lake. We enjoyed an intimate but brisk swim in the cave as water droplets fell and ferns hung down from the cavern roof above. Apparently Paul Gaugin reported that he swam an hour before he reached the back wall, but that is a bit of an exaggeration, unless he was a very slow swimmer. It was a very special spot that really made an impression on us.
We continued southeastward to visit Papeuriri Bay, another great place with several treasures to enjoy. When we arrived, we were surrounded and welcomed by a group of local young men in outrigger canoes that were pleased to have us visit. After anchoring and eating a little lunch in this pastoral setting, we headed ashore to visit the beautiful botanical gardens and the Paul Gaugin Museum, located near where he had lived and created many of his most famous artworks. Gaugin led an interesting life as a world voyager as well as the artist most famous for depicting the life of Polynesians. We enjoyed the solitude of picnicking in the park on a weekday afternoon with the birds singing and coconut palms looming overhead. The waterfalls of Vaipahi offered yet another attraction that lured us to the area and made us want to stay. The waterfall was described in one of our guidebooks as follows: “If you’ve ever had dreams of standing under a clear, cool waterfall in a tropical pool lined with giant ferns, here’s your opportunity.” It was just as advertised, and we had a ball playing under the waterfall until we were surprised to turn around to see a large tour group. Since they only stayed for 4 minutes, it was hardly an interruption. They sure missed really enjoying the waterfall as we did. We meandered back, stopping for a snack at a restaurant overlooking the boat and witnessed a Tahitian family celebrating a wedding. We lingered to listen while the wedding family sang many songs in the clear, strong Polynesian voices. Polynesian music is so lovely, and we will miss being able to hear it on the radio and in the churches.
We wanted to stay for much longer except that we need to get moving to see the rest of what French Polynesia, as well as the South Pacific has to offer between here and New Zealand. We prepared for a 130-mile overnight passage to Huahine, but when we got outside the pass we concluded that with light winds, we didn’t exactly have the ideal conditions for a long trip. We decided instead to visit another nearby spot that intrigued us along the west coast of Tahiti-Iti. (Tahiti is shaped like a figure eight with two almost separate islands (Tahiti Nui or “big Tahiti”, the major landmass, and Tahiti-Iti or “small Tahiti”) joined by a low isthmus. What had sounded ideal in our outdated book turned out to be a relatively busy anchorage, with quite a few local motor skiffs zooming past our boat. Ashore, we enjoyed a nice hike along the shore around to the southern coast along a black sand beach as well as a nice lunch of poisson cru (fish cooked in lime juice and spiced with coconut milk). We considered continuing south to visit another grotto, but when the wind picked up we headed for the island of Huahine instead.
Moorea features peaks and mountainous spires that rival the dramatic scenery of Fatu Hiva and Oa Pou in the Marquesas. Moorea is much busier than it was when Garth sailed here 27 years ago and was chased by a wild boar on his bicycle. Now a steady stream of rental cars and scooters tour the road that rings the island; Cruise ships anchor in Cook’s Bay and ferries serve multiple locations on the island. But compared to Papeete, it is a pretty mellow place. We had a delightful 15-mile sail from Tahiti into Cook’s Bay, where we reunited with another group of friends we hadn’t seen for a while and celebrated Wendy’s birthday. We explored the tourist shops around the bay, caught up on some email, toured a juice and liquor factory (great taste testing!) and enjoyed a fabulous Tahitian Dance show where we were presented with leis at the conclusion of the show.
Before leaving Cook’s Bay, we topped off our water tanks and caught up on some laundry at the local watering hole. Water spigots tend to become a gathering place for cruisers since we all need to do laundry, usually without the luxury of laundry facilities and without unlimited supplies of fresh water as we do at home. Doing laundry becomes a rather social activity, since as someone gravitates towards shore armed with buckets, plungers and dirty items, we all think of the pile we need to tackle. Sundays, in particular, are good days to do laundry, since most things are usually closed anyway.
We sailed over to check out the Club Med location at the northwest corner of Moorea since we wanted to anchor near where we could feed the stingrays. We went in the pass with a good wind blowing behind us and found a strong counter current in the channel without much room to turn around. We had windsurfers and para skiiers zipping back and forth across the channel within 10 feet of the boat, as well as fishing and dive boats roaring down the channel. The area outside the channel was too shallow for us to anchor in. It was a hairy spot and we couldn’t wait to get out of there and find a quieter spot where we could anchor comfortably. So we scratched the Club Med idea and backtracked to Opunohu Bay. In contrast, Opunohu Bay couldn’t have been more peaceful and relaxing. We sailed in and just dropped the anchor when the depth was good. The bay was nearly deserted. As the sun set, live jazz music floated out over the water and we enjoyed listening to a pleasant female voice gliding through the “standards”. We enjoyed a few days of solitude and hiked past the lush valleys through tall pine trees up to Belvedere, a picturesque lookout over Opunohu and Cook’s Bays.
We then enjoyed a few more days anchored just inside the reef outside both Opunohu and Cook’s Bays in clear turquoise water where we could snorkel off the boat and appreciate the extra breeze that doesn’t usually reach all the way into these two deep bays.
At a cruiser potluck, we met a nice French couple who live in Moorea, and I got the chance to really test my French, talking late into the evening. When only one of us speaks the language, it can be a challenge to carry on a natural conversation, and we find we sometimes miss opportunities to get to know people better as a result. Many people speak English in the areas often visited by tourists (although some Polynesians speak neither English nor French), and Garth, who never studied French, has been able to figure things out without much difficulty. It was harder in the Marquesas to find those who spoke English but there were some. Garth is admittedly looking forward to visiting the next few English speaking countries so he can stop being a deaf mute.
We left Moorea for the south part of Tahiti since we felt we could spend a little more time enjoying the Windward Society Islands of French Polynesia before we needed to move on to the Leeward Islands of Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora Bora.
Cheers,
Wendy Hinman and Garth Wilcox
S/V Velella (Wylie 31)