Tahiti Islands (I)

Cruising Logs for Tahiti Islands (I)

Cruise on a Moorings® Boat - August 1998

Tara and I left on our anniversary trip to Tahiti the evening of August 1, flying to Los Angeles. At the LAX Sheraton, we met up with Charlie & Jeanne, our buddies from New Jersey. On the 2nd, we flew to Tahiti via Honolulu, arriving after 11pm local time, and stayed at the Maeva Beach Hotel as arranged by MarinerTravel. Decent place on the beach.

In the morning, the view of Moorea, even from a somewhat dirty beach, was beautiful. The hotel next door, the Beachcomber Park Royale, was fabulous, and we made a reservation at the over-water signature restaurant (Lotus) for our final meal of the trip two weeks hence and arranged an Avis rental (less than $50) for our final day, on which we will have 12 hours in Papeete prior to our flight home.

Christian met us at the afternoon Air Tahiti flight, expecting to take us to a hotel since Clearwater had not informed them we were to sleep that night on Lorraine, sister ship to our Tortola-based Beneteau 445.  The base changed gears easily and quickly, and found us some cold beer and water for the night. I was not charged for transfers, as has always the case for us if you simply take the Moorings® transportation that's already there.

The marina was pleasant with Moorings® having the prime slips. Before sleeping aboard the night of the 3rd, we had dinner at the Clubhouse, a restaurant adjoining the marina where Moorings® has their base.  Good food at reasonable prices.

Our provisioning was delivered the following morning.  Despite our 13 days on the boat, we had ordered full provisioning for 7 days, feeling that we would eat on shore and/or buy supplements.  We had _lots_ of food, even though they gave us only 4 dinners in the first batch.  We were asked to come in midtrip for the other three dinners, more water, ice, paper products and other provisions.  We exchanged a lot, preferring other items like good cereal and yogurt to eggs and ham, and cheese and crackers to candy or chips.  I had nursed a little insulated bag through our entire 48 hours of travel containing some creme cheese with smoked salmon, caviar, and some other little gourmet items for breakfasts. The local availability of fresh baguettes (Yes, they ARE subsidized by the Government!), combined with what was on board and gave us plenty for breakfasts and lunches the entire trip.  We ate every other dinner on shore.

DAY ONE: Up to Tahaa

The chart briefing by Christian was wonderful--the best we've ever had, including extra diagrams, slides, and specific recommendations for shore activities.  We pulled our lines at 11:55am, and motored inside the lagoon in very light NNE winds up to Tahaa, anchoring initially at T5 on the east side of Tahaa off Motu Mahaea.  This beautiful anchorage has a marvelous view of Huahine, a great beach to walk, and an interesting island where several families were having picnics. We picked up 4 coconuts of various ages to take back to Lorraine.  The coconut juice was delicious, and the fresh meat great for snacks.  The warm, calm water invited us swim around the boat, but found nothing much to look at down under. 
We motored to Baie Faaaha and the Motu Pearl Farm, and learned a lot about culturing pearls with South Pacific oysters and Mississippi River mother-of-pearl "nuclei" as starter grafts.  Purchased two nice round pearls to be made into earrings for Tara, and a larger one set in a gold frame for a pendant. After looking at pearls just about everywhere over the next couple of weeks, we'd go back to Motu again if we wanted to purchase some more.

We motored to a mooring (T2) for the night off the Hibiscus restaurant, at which we had made reservations. Very average restaurant.

We were never consulted or offered any options as to our food. It turned out that there was only one entree, which he had failed to announce, simply putting it on the table in front of us. Jeanne is allergic to shellfish, and he had nothing to serve her as a substitute, not sympathizing at all with her condition.  Finally, the bill was outrageous, working out to about $45 pp., including a fairly good but simple dessert of fresh pineapple.

My advice is to go there only on "show" nights--Friday or Saturday-and make sure you know what he is planning to serve before committing to the reservations.  It was our only bad dining experience of the trip.

DAY TWO: Inside the Tahaa Lagoon

After breakfast, Tara & Jeanne walked from Leo's into the little village. We picked up the ladies and motored back out into the east Lagoon.

We found a nice, but light easterly breeze, and sailed up to Vahine Island, which is entirely occupied by an upscale resort. It was our first look at the "bungalow" hotel room construction, which we saw either existing or under construction just about every where we went in the sailing island group, particularly on Bora Bora. The rooms sit on stilts of either steel or concrete, and are on finger piers off a larger pier sticking out into the water.  Each room usually has a private balcony and a stairway down to water level for playing in the lagoon. Very nice, but rather small and very expensive--$500 to $800 per night most places.  Vahine had three such rooms, along with twelve more cottages on shore.  They welcomed us warmly and served us drinks, including $8 huge Pina Coladas and some $4 flavored rum for Tara (vanilla) and John (nut).  They agreed to make a "salad" for lunch for us.

We raised the sails again around 2pm, and sailed entirely around the northern half of Tahaa, never got above 4.5 knots, but very enjoyable regardless.  We anchored off Ilot Tau Tau (T11), one of the many gorgeous anchorages we experienced on this trip.  Bora Bora was off to the west, and we lined up hoping we'd get the sun to set behind it.  The view south included the blue, blue lagoon in the foreground, the barrier reef, and the deep blue Pacific beyond. The water around the boat was15-20' of crystal clear aqua invitation.  T11 is listed as "Day", but the holding was great in sand, and we spent the night, given the fairly light winds expected.  Grilled mahi-mahi with a vanilla sauce made with a couple of Tara's beans was devoured by all.  The wind finally came up at 2am with some light rain, perhaps 15-25k, but Lorraine held her anchor great.

DAY THREE: Passage to Bora Bora

A light "passage-making" breakfast of cereal, juice and coffee was downed, but we decided to wait for the early winds to abate and did some nice snorkeling off the edge of the motu.  At 11am., we set off for the pass in 20k winds. We found 8-foot swells running into the pass, and motored with main up into the wind and waves.  We were almost through the pass when Lorraine went up on a swell, and there in the trough was a loose Moorings® dinghy, bouncing and spinning around. Somehow we missed her, and no one even suggested turning around to try and retrieve her! I reported the dinghy to Moorings®, and we later heard another 445 claim the dink.

We had a great ride up to Bora, making the passage in 3.5 hours at an average speed of roughly 7 knots.  Give the light at the SW corner of the barrier reef plenty of room, and pay attention to your starboard side once you get close.  As we neared the island, it just kept getting prettier and prettier, and the view as you enter the lagoon is breath taking.

All 12 Moorings® were taken at the Bora Bora Yacht Club (B1), and three more boats anchored, so we did likewise in mud in roughly 65'. We had a drink on the BBYC deck, and Tara reserved a wonderful table for four in a little alcove where we had a very nice dinner.

DAY FOUR: Paradise Found

We left BBYC at 10:45am, and motored through the pass to the East Side and the Lagoonarium.  The pass was tricky--the depth instrument showed 1.8m much of the time and we were a bit nervous as we motored slooowly toward the 5 big palm trees. Later, I suggested Christian also give charterers the compass heading so you know if you are on track.  Went ashore at the Lagoonarium and found half of the tourist population on the little island, or so it seemed. We decided to return early in the morning, and continued on to B23, anchoring in 10-12' of exquisite aqua water.

We walked the beach, which was nice, but Club Med across the lagoon uses it as if it's their property, and the locals do not like it.  It was the only place we detected any negative vibes toward tourists. Snorkeling the Coral Garden on the south side of the motu (east of Pt. Faroone) was, in a word, GREAT! We had been told to walk as far east as possible before entering the water, as a strong current running east to west takes you over the garden without any effort on your part. DO NOT miss this spot!

We took the dinghy across the lagoon, but the weather turned nasty. Our very wet ride back seemed endless, into a chop brought up by some heavy clouds and winds.

DAY FIVE: Tara swims with the sharks

After breakfast aboard, we motored to the Lagoonarium, arriving about 10am.  Great place, not to be missed and well worth the $20 admission, but make sure you have cameras and film in advance--$40 there for a disposable Kodak film camera!  The sharks and rays were most spectacular, but the turtles were great as well and the reef fish ate bread (free baguettes supplied on shore) from Tara's hand. I blew through a 27 exposure disposable underwater camera in about 15 minutes and wished I'd had another. The water was extremely clear and the pictures from this simple camera were sensational with vivid colors, etc. The hardest to photograph were the sharks--they were clearly afraid of us and would not pose or come anywhere close at all. By having one of our party swim on one side of the area, we were able to get the sharks to come near another of us, standing motionless until the last minute and got proof that some of us do, sometimes, swim with the sharks.

After lunch aboard we motorsailed around the island to anchorage near B4 that Christian had marked on our charts, next to the reef off the Bora Bora Hotel.  They had their buffet dinner and show that night at $60pp. The restaurant Bloody Mary's van picked us up at the hotel for the 5-minute ride to dinner. The food was pretty good, the place a little touristy. We felt a little like we were in LA or Orlando, and once you're inside, the place has no view. You sit on tree stumps around little tree section tables on a sandy floor, but quite nice regardless of how that might sound. We had fresh grilled Wahoo, mahi mahi, marinated marlin and calamari steak, at $23-$25 per entree plus drinks and dessert. We rated our dinners between a 6.5 and 8. After being dropped off by BM's van at Bora Bora Hotel, we had a drink at the beach bar and watched the Tahitian hula show, which was great.

We spent a second consecutive noisy night in the forward stateroom as Lorraine was "sailing" on its chain and Moorings® had not supplied a snubber line.  In fact, the base didn't even seem to know what I was talking about when I inquired about where it might be.  Since 90% of the time you are anchoring with all chain, a snubber is a real must.

DAY SIX: Island Fever?

Went ashore at the Bora Bora hotel.  We had no trouble at all dinghying in and tying up to their little dinghy dock (use back side) 4-5 times while we were at this anchorage and everyone was very friendly.  We walked to Viatape, over 5 miles! The ladies liked the little boutiques along the way. Viatape was a disappointment, with almost nothing at all of interest there.  There were no taxis!  I saw the van from Bloody Mary's parked in town, found the driver, bought him and his buddy a beer and negotiated a ride back to the hotel.

We anchored for the night in B5 (Christian's BB favorite) with only two other boats--we had a beautiful view of the mountains through the opening between the two motus. The shallow water had many large rays, which were very easy to see.

DAY SEVEN: Does the Doctor make Boathouse calls?

I woke up with a throat so sore that I could not even drink cold water without severe pain.  I called Moorings® at 8:05am (after the weather report) to try and find a doctor in Bora Bora who could see me on a Sunday morning.  They went to work and found me a doctor in Viatape who worked on Sunday, and said he could see me but I "must be there before 9:30am."

A quick dinghy drop-off and I found the doctor's office at 9:25am, as he was preparing to leave for house calls at 9:30, hence the deadline. He took one look at my throat, muttered some concerned words in French, and wrote out four prescriptions, including an antibiotic, giving me 2 starter pills since the pharmacy was closed on Sunday.

We motored over to anchorage B10 between Motu Tapu and the north end of Topua and anchored in 15 meters with sand bottom.  Later we visited the nearby Bora Bora Lagoon Hotel (on the NE side of Topua) by dinghy to look around and get a drink. It appeared to be a beautiful place with many bungalow-style rooms and a nice dock where guests are ferried back and forth to the airport and other attractions. HOWEVER, you would have thought we were bank robbers or something; when we asked reception the bar location, they said they would have to call Security. Security turned out to be 6'5" tall and followed us around, constantly trying to shepherd us to the deserted pool bar. I inquired about dinner reservations ($65pp) and this caused a call for a second security person.  Finally, a manager with decent English showed up and gave us a quick tour of the (beautiful) restaurant, but apologized for being "fully booked".  "Could we come back some other night?" he asked...

We finally gave up and returned to our dinghy, passing Michael Keaton on the way out to the dock, which might explain the emphasis on protecting their guests' privacy.  Back on Lorraine, the ladies fixed Mahi Mahi chunks on skewers. The anchorage filled up with late arrivals, about 11 boats in all, but it was very quiet and peaceful. Nice place.

A comment: We must have seen over 200 bungalow style rooms under construction around Bora Bora.  There is a really big new hotel (Meridian) being built over on the East Side near the Lagoonarium, smaller places are building on the NE and NW sides, and another one is starting on the southern end of the east side of Motu Topua. It's not going to be much longer before most everything you will want to do and see will be crowded like on Papeete or Moorea.

DAY EIGHT: Upwind Passage

The weather had turned almost cold, and we needed an extra blanket by morning. We were told later than El Nino had brought some of the weather patterns farther north than usual. After another quick trip to Viatape to fill prescriptions for the ailing Captain John and quickly visit a native church (try it!), we said goodbye to Bora Bora, and sailed and motorsailed to the west entrance into Tahaa. Left at 9:30am, arrived at the pass at 2:00, with a 6-7k breeze and moderate waves on the nose most of the way. It rained several times, with no sun, and no one was having much fun.

Motored down to the Moorings® base and experienced a VERY efficient turnaround for water fill, reprovisioning, fresh linens. We motored out at 4pm up to Marina Iti (T1) on the southern tip of Tahaa just inside Baie Apu, and took one of their three Moorings® for dinner and overnight. This is a tiny resort with about 5 cottages, a dock that is used by the surrounding area, and a nicely done restaurant.  We were delighted with their great food! Prices were quite reasonable by Tahiti standards, about $22-$26, except Tara's feast was a little more; Robert did not charge me for my soup. Jeanne and Charlie gave their meals a rating of 8, Tara a 9 and I gave my wonderful soup a Bo Derek 10!

DAY NINE: Racing to Huahine

We motored through Passe Teavapiti for an upwind trip to Huahine at 10:15am. We close reached on single reefed main and full genoa into 6-8' swells and chop in somewhat confused sees, averaging a bit above 6 knots.  Lorraine sailed beautifully, but it was not a comfortable ride.

Finding the right pass (Avamoa) of the two on the NW corner of Huahine is not easy.  Even with the assistance of my GPS, it was deceptive as there are some things on shore that look like the day markers you use to line up your approach, but these were for some other purpose. After leading the trailing M51 -which we were racing against- toward the wrong range marker for a quarter hour, we finally believed our little Garmin and bore off up to the pass and the town of Fare, arriving at about 2pm. We anchored in very shallow water (H1) off the Bali Hai hotel among a bunch of scruffy liveaboards and a couple charter boats and explored the hotel and the town. Nothing much was going on at the hotel, which, like me, looked a little tired. The shopping in Fare was interesting.

We lifted the hook again about 4:45p, and motored to H7 off the Hana Iti Hotel (just past the entrance to "Scotland"). We arrived pretty late and could not see well to anchor, stopping about 100 yards short of where we determined the next day to be the best spot to anchor.  (Just keep going until you can actually see the couple of larger hotel structures before you drop the hook) It was a beautiful setting, but windy, and we heard the chain grinding and rubbing against coral heads most of the night.

DAY TEN: We Go Back in Time

I made a fritata for breakfast, and it rained, and then for variety, it rained again. We will NOT go to "Scotland" today.  We moved the boat further south into a spot closer to the hotel's swim raft where there were much fewer underwater coral heads.  We dinghied in to explore the hotel around noon.

This is the hotel owned in part by Julio Iglesias, and it is a gorgeous place, completely different than the Bora Bora style hotels. No bungalows over the water.  Separate Tahitian-style thatched cottages dot the hillsides.  The exquisite pool looked like a little mountain lake created by a waterfall, hidden by lush foliage (we think we unintentionally interrupted a honeymoon couple there!). Walking trails lead up to an overlook on Mt. Teapaa where you can see and take pictures of all the colors of the lagoon and sea to the west and all the way through the two bays dividing the twin islands of Huahine to the north and east. The dining hall was a series of overlapping thatched roofs in a crescent around a lily pond. The staff welcomed us like guests and invited us to watch some hotel-style entertainment, in which a couple of Tahitians demonstrated how to open, husk, and eat the three styles of coconuts--green, dry brown and sprouting, including climbing trees to fetch some of them.  He made some quick Poisson Cru (Ceviche with coconut milk) and passed it around. Delicious.  We watched, had some wonderful drinks later, and explored the grounds, even swimming in their pool, until late in the afternoon, when we left, once again in a light rain.

Back on the boat, we were surprised to find ourselves caught on a coral head that had been missed earlier. I had to motor the boat over to the other side of the head and pull the anchor out the back way with the engine. No damage to either the anchor or the coral. We motored 45 minutes to Baie d'Avea, a delightful anchorage (H10) at the southern tip of Huahine. We went ashore to a little beach hotel (Relais Mahana-the only one there) and had four excellent very reasonable dinners, preceded by 45 minutes of entertainment--two guys playing ukeleles and singing Tahitian songs.  We gave the dinners ratings of 7.5-8.5 and enjoyed the $12-$19 price range even more. I reserved a rental car for the morning to explore the interior of the island.

We felt that, on Huahine, we had somehow gone back in time from Bora Bora, that this was more what Tahiti must have been like years ago before Papeete, Moorea and Bora Bora got so many hotels and immigrants from other cultures.  The people couldn't be friendlier, everything was very natural, the kids skipping down the road yelling "Bon Jour" at passerbies, and we loved every minute of it. In BVI terms, which most of you will understand, Huahine is the Anegada of the Tahitian islands.

DAY ELEVEN: Exploring Huahine

We picked up the rental car after breakfast. I rejected the suggested 4-hour unlimited mileage rate and took the daily rate plus mileage, as it turned out to be the same money assuming you will circumnavigate the island, with (a) more hours; and (b) the possibility of less $ if you take a shorter course.

The trip was very interesting. The people were very, very friendly. We loved and took several pictures of the "mail boxes" (actually for baguettes!) in front of the homes, all gaily painted with the family's names on them.  The kids waved and shouted greetings everywhere.  Little roadside stands had some real bargains on clothing and some Tahitian art (We learned they were bargains later, when we went to the big "wholesale" market in Papeete, and saw much of the same stuff at twice the price).

We spent over an hour at the Maohi museum on the north shore, and we could have stayed much longer.  The history of the Polynesian settlers and their migration patterns was traced, demonstrated, including religious sites and the use of large fish traps to feed their people. 
There were lots of archeological sites and ruins surrounding the museum, and other items of interest.  I highly recommend it, and you are not even charged for admission--only asked to make a donation if you wish.

They have a few things for sale in the museum, and Tara bought a nice Gauguin print for $12 that she later saw for $30 in Fare.  We arrived back at Relais and the boat at 3pm, and snorkeled around their pier. There were all kinds of fish in bountiful quantities-I think they feed them, and lots of nice coral as well in a large, nicely varied field.  Those who elected to rest on the boat came in and we had a snack of sashimi and Poisson Cru, both of which were excellent.

We decided to move up to the northern pass in order to get an early passage tomorrow back to Raiatea.  I hadn't been able to contact Moorings® for 2.5 days, and was unsure about the weather, which had been unsettled now for days. We anchored once again in H1 among the love-aboards off Bali Hai, and ate up some excellent tuna steaks on the grill, hording our beefsteaks for our last dinner!

DAY TWELVE: Wahoo!

There we were, halfway between Huahine and Raiatea.  It was a glorious sunny morning, with 15-20k trades out of the SSE and we're surfing at 7-9 knots on the backs of the big blue Pacific rollers. It's our last full day on Lorraine, and things couldn't be much better.  We had blown out our Downwind Sail just after raising it about 45 minutes out from Huahine. It happened in only about 12k of breeze so we suspected it was put away last time with a seam splitting already.  After dousing and stuffing it back into the turtle bag, the wind picked up some more and we were now doing fine, thank you, having all that we could handle with just the main and genoa.

A wonderful, fast passage, less than 3.25 hours to the pass into Raiatea! We picked up a mooring in Baie Tepua near the pass.  The bay was quiet and pleasant with some decent snorkeling off the reef near Pte. Mahavare on the south lip of the bay.  It was Ascension Day, and almost nothing was open in Uturora. So...thinking of our 8:30am arrival time at Moorings® (to make our plane back to Papeete) the next morning.

We motored over to the little basin outside the Moorings® marina and picked up a mooring there for the night--lots of air, a pretty bay, a sunset with a view of Bora Bora, etc.

DAY THIRTEEN: Papeete

The "Moorings® Drivers" came out to expertly take us in at 8:15am as requested, and we left for the airport at 9:30. Back in Papeete, we picked up our Avis car, and had about ten or eleven hours to explore the main island of Tahiti. It was pretty, and everyone was friendly, but it felt more like Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas) than anywhere else I had been in Tahiti.

GOOD THINGS I NOTICED ABOUT MOORINGS® TAHITI

• The boat was exceptionally clean.
• The mid-charter reprovisioning/water/linen turnaround was fast, complete and well organized.
• Christian's chart briefing was the best we've ever had.
• Ann, at the Customer Service Desk, was exceptionally pleasant and helpful.
• Lorraine had "stern perch" seats on the back rail, which were a nice addition.
• I liked the special fender system for the rear of the boat when at dock and for the front of the dinghy.

PROBLEMS

• The person on the radio should always have good bilingual skills.