French Polynesia Continued & Beyond (a little)

There are a couple of constants in French Polynesia:

1. Women with a flower behind one ear.  Rumor has it that on certain islands a flower behind her left ear indicates she is taken while a flower behind her right ear indicates she is available.  Captain Ken did not conduct any field research to confirm that rumor.  Here is Eilo’s spin on that tradition – does this mean she is both taken & available?

2. Men and women paddling outrigger canoes fast.  It is a beautiful thing to watch their synchronicity in a 6 person canoe and the speed at which they cut through the water.   They compete amongst all the island nations of Polynesia.  This guy is doing 5 knots but he is cheating a bit as he is riding the wake of AURORA sailing along at 5 knots:

3. And tattoos.  I liked this foot – and the rest attached to the foot was not too shabby…

And our friend Nejat got inscribed with more traditional art…

This is pretty much where the tattoo art form originated.  Here is one of the first tattoo parlors in the world – about 2000 years old at one of the Unesco sites on Hiva Oa .  Our guide demonstrated where the Tattooee sat and you can see the little indentation in the rock where the tattoo ink resided for the needle work:

Our next stop in French Polynesia was Moorea…within sight of Tahiti but a different world entirely!   Moorea is not very developed and it is breathtakingly beautiful.   Here’s a shot taken as we passed through the reef.  The large sailing vessel on the right, EOS, is the largest privately owned sailing vessel in the world.  Nope - they did not have us over for cocktails.

This island was better planned and more beautiful than the others as they paid attention to preserving wonderful views from shore and they buried all their utility lines – the result is impressive.  Also it has tons of unspoiled open space. After entering the pass we anchored in a beautiful bay alongside public beaches which were beautifully tended.  The next bay over is Cook’s Bay (that guy got around didn’t he?) and we walked over the mountain to see it.  It was a long hike but we were rewarded with pineapple farms and volcanic outcroppings. 

We ate outside at a little café in Cook’s bay and found the well known Bali Hai hotel, from South Pacific fame…which has clearly seen better days but still mixed great mojitos! 

We enjoyed a drink by the water and reminisced about the articles in Time magazine when the Bali Hai was THE place to go!  We had Gary and Linda from a neighboring boat over for drinks….they are living in the islands and had plenty of advice on where to go and where to anchor.  The following day MISTO anchored and so we had them to dinner and toured the island with them the next day.  A beautiful island with flowers everywhere, some great archaeological sites and a wonderful restaurant with many tikis.  Here is a nice big one Eilo got attached to.

As more ARC boats arrived we had sundowners on the beach:

and a wild night in the local Hilton resort with OWL and NORTH and lots of Mr & Mrs drinks.  There were crazy dancers, some with fire. 

Food was excellent and a wonderful night was had by all.  We set off for an overnight sail to Huahine.  It was not a difficult sail but like all these islands you have to be aware of entrances and exits as you need to negotiate the “pass”.  The islands are surrounded by treacherous reefs.  On my (Eileens’s) watch in the early hours of the morning I heard a “Mayday Call” on the VHF radio.  A boat that had been anchored with us in Moorea and was making the same voyage had ended up on the reef about 4 miles from the pass.  They had lost power, lost their e-charts and then were using charts on an ipad but without GPS coordinates.  They thought they were farther out… a very serious OOOPS. I listened as another boat relayed mayday for them but they had to abandon their boat.  There were four of them on board, French.  We saw the boat being towed in a day later – it took hours to pump all the water out and the family were looking distraught.  I realized, once again, that what we are doing is not easy and not to be taken lightly.  Oh yeah!  The reluctant sailor.

Huahine was probably our favorite of this group of islands.  It had the beauty they are known for, was not overdeveloped and had a friendly feel about it.  We rented scooters and quads with SANDVITA, OWL, TULLAMOR, AND NORTH.  Had a crazy day exploring the island with stops at a nice gallery (the lady artist who studied in Rhode Island did excellent oil paintings),a Pareo shop, and a great restaurant – Chez Tara:

Our group of sailboats then determined it was time to move on and we set sail for Raiatea and Tahaa both of which are within the same circle of reefs.  We stayed in Apooiti Marina for a couple of nights.  Nothing fancy but they had a restaurant so we could have a farewell party for Stu on OWL who was returning back to the States.   It ended up being a great rendezvous location for ARC boats and the farewell party was huge!  Ken and I walked in to the local town but ended up getting a taxi ride.  Nice town with great grocery shops for stocking up!

Our mini flotilla (SANDVITA, OWL, NORTH and TULLAMHOR) decided to circumnavigate Tahaa.  Our first anchorage was close to two motos (really small islands that are scattered on the reefs around the main islands).  We had sundowners on on the beach with all the boats and TAISTELAI joined us.  We also had a rum punch impromptu party on AURORA as Ken had discovered a local juice mix which…when added to fresh pineapple, limes and rum was the best punch ever!  The next night was spent in Baie Haamene and we had cocktails on board while the locals drummed and practiced their traditional dances.  There was something reminiscent of Melville about the scene!  Our final stop in Tahaa was at the Coral Gardens where we had some of the most spectacular snorkeling ever.  Here is a parrot fish which came over to check out the GoPro:

The water is not deep, it is crystal clear and the fish literally surround you and nibbled at Eilo & Melike. 

The coral was beautiful and very healthy, we were thrilled to have experienced this.  Of course Captain Ken got bitten 3 times by coral (a month has passed and the weeping wounds have now healed – I’ll spare you the photos). Our night ended with dinner on OWL with NORTH as we were the only three boats in this bay.

Our last island in French Polynesia was the famed Bora Bora.  Approaching it one could understand the hype….it is an awesome sight with volcanic peaks reaching into the clouds and deep green views down to beaches, the island ringed with Motos covered with palm trees. 

ARC boats were meant to moor at Maikai yacht club but they had no moorings free when we arrived so we went around the corner to the Bora Bora Yacht Club and we were lucky!  The moorings were much quieter than those of Maikai which seemed to constantly be battered by the winds.  There was bad blood between the yacht clubs but we were warmly welcomed by the owners of Bora Bora and we fell in love with their restaurant (incredible food) and bar and the club in general.   Here’s some of  the club - AURORA is in the center of the first…

Luckily the ARC decided we could stay and they included Bora Bora Yacht Club in the itinerary.  Once again we toured the island and stopped at a nice resort…

where the barmaid was friendly and served more excellent Mojitos!  We had a dinghy race in the mooring field at the yacht club and boat crews dressed up and determined to fight to the bitter end to win the race.  Ken teamed up with Bill, Nejat, Chris and Doug (Pirates of the Pacific)…

there was a ladies team all dressed in Pareos and looking mighty good here just before the start, the Voluptuous Vahines?

I think that was their name.  Vahine is woman in Polynesian.  SCALLYWAG had dressed up to participate and SANDVITA and ATLA arrived looking like wild Vikings with war paint. 

The race commenced with much ado… 

Members of rival boats attacked each other with oars and attempted to block each other.  When one of SANDVITA’S crew pushed an oar at Ken….he promptly stole it – the Vikings with only 3 oars and 4 Vikings were now out gunned by the Pirates (we had 3 extra oars – just in case)!  Pirates of the Pacific won the race and the Voluptuous Vahines were second and voted in to win a prize.  Before we could set off on the next leg some remedial work needed to take place.  AURORA needed a sail batten car replaced, her freezer had to be fixed (thank you Bill on OWL) and other sundry items.  Having figured out our freezer, OWL then had a problem with theirs and so Ken was able to help sort out and get them back on line.  The ARC pulls together – it’s a wonderful thing.

Worth mentioning was that we found out that when leaving Raiatea Taistelai came across a day sailing boat that had capsized and were on the reef outside of Taha.  They pulled three people out of the water (most likely saving their lives) as they had no radio to call for help - and then righted the boat and towed it back to Raiatea!  Kudos to Taistelai.

Leg 5 started from Bora Bora to Suwarrow- Niue-Tonga.  A multi leg trip!  NORTH had decided to stay in the Polynesian islands and catch up with the ARC next year….sad to say goodbye for now to such a fun and wild couple.  We will meet again! 

We had a really lousy sailing plan on AURORA and executed it perfectly but eventually got to Suwarrow after sailing AURORA about 800 nautical miles when everyone else sailed the 560 miles directly to the deserted island in the Northern Cook Islands.  Here’s “the OWL” anchored in front of her:

Amongst other things, Suwarrow is known for a large concentration of various sharks.  After we dropped anchor they sent out a welcome committee, a black tipped reef shark – care for a swim?

There is also a plethora of large hermit crabs on island so the wheels started turning and a 15 foot by 4 foot course lined with coconuts became the race track and yes, the 2017 World Champion Hermit Crab Race was on.  None of the crabs were hurt during this exercise but they were disappointed the race was not carried by CNN.  I’m not sure who won as the cocktails were flying.  The highlight of our 3 day stay was promulgated by Lars (our friend from Sweden) from SANDVITA – the ARC’s token Viking.  He found and old cinderblock and concrete “bee hive” oven built by a hermit around 1972, who lived on the island over a period of 20 years by himself. 

We collected a lot of fire wood a fired that baby up and all 24 boats brought in their versions of raw pizza, beer, wine, cocktails, appetizers, and AURORA POLARIS made fresh cinnamon rolls  and brought in ice cream for all.  What a feast.   Lars cooked about 50 pies that afternoon and evening and most were excellent after he got the knack of it:

A personal note….while on Suwarrow we learned that Ken’s dad, Ed, had died.  His wish was to stay at home and he was granted that wish…dying in his own bed.  We were glad of that but sad to lose such a terrific human being.  Ed was interesting, thoughtful, artistically talented and an all round super guy…we were fortunate to have him in our lives and sad that he would not be home when we returned.

On May 23 we left Suwarrow and sailed to Niue.  Niue is the smallest independent country in the world but maintains a free association with New Zealand.  Our sail was OK and we arrived during the night but knew that mooring is possible in the dark.  As luck would have it Mick and Helen from LAURA DAWN were in their dinghy and guided us to a ball and assisted with tying up at 1;30 in the morning… heaven!

Niue was wonderful….friendly people and a super little Yacht club where they assisted all of us with all our needs.  We had a welcome buffet at a local resort and some of the island’s young folk danced for us.  The following day we toured the island and swam and snorkeled in caves, one being a sacred cave with crystal clear iridescent blue water, used by their ancient kings who use to bring their new wives here for fun and games and lucky:

climbed down volcanic rocks to the Togo chasm

 then climbing through a cave which led to the sea

and watch the sea enter caves with  a violent and exciting cacophony of sound.

Ate in a restaurant overlooking the reefs where dolphins cavorted in the water for our enjoyment and all in all had a terrific day.  The local town had shops and restaurants that are typical of these islands.  The shops have an interesting stock of goods but we have learned to find what we need to survive.  After three days we were to move on and were sad to say goodbye to Niue.

We had a terrific sail to Tonga.  The winds were, for the most part, strong enough  to keep us going.  We did some downwind reach passages and made excellent time.  This was one of our better passages and we led the way….  the engine was never turned on and we tacked to the finish line.  A wonderful sail!  Tonga is a relatively poor country compared to it’s neighbors to the east but once again the Tongans are  very friendly and happy to help you.  We hung out in town Vannua and found excellent Tapas at the Basque Tavern – which has a good enough internet connection to make this posting.  A highlight was a quick sail over to Morelle Bay and a visit to the Sparrow Cave which you could dinghy into:

Next AURORA is moving on to the islands of Fiji.