Bora Bora, August 18^th. ‘05

This covers more of Tahiti till departure and Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea- Tahaa and Bora Bora.

The photo album for this section is at: http://www.cometosea.us/albums/Slideshow/PacificToPhilippines.pdf start at slide # 75

I have just cleared out of French Polynesia, with the gendarmes here. This being my last port of my 3 months stay in French Polynesia. I need to get going in order to avoid the cyclone season in the Central South Pacific, which starts in November. My next stop should be Suvarov in the Northern Cook Islands. Then I am off to Pago Pago in American Samoa. 

When I arrived in Tahiti on June 17, I had expected to stay from 10 to 14 days in Papeete. But engine work and waiting for parts stretched this till August 2^nd. In this waiting period I did visit the nearby island of Moorea, from July 5 till the 9^th. But the extended stay was well worth it, in no small part due to the fine mooring arrangement I had at the Yacht Club de Tahiti in Arue. Other than one Swiss and several semi permanent French visitors, I have been the only foreign visitor. Having the bicycle made all the difference to do the 8 kilometers to Papeete. Public transportation was spotty and not available after 5 p.m. on Saturday till Monday morning. The yacht club has a very active racing program and junior training in Optimists, Lasers and Hobies. The assistant manager, Thierry Bride and his brother are world champions in the Hobie, at Guadeloupe in 2000. Tierry was away, when I left Arue, to Switzerland with a team of juniors to compete in the Optimists world championships. I made many new friends at the marina and I was treated like an honored guest by everyone. Most of the foreign visiting yachts anchored in front of the Taina Marina, which is about 5 k.m. south of Papeete. And then they were dependent on public transportation to get to town. The “Heiva” festivities ran for nearly a month from June 24. There were traditional dances, outrigger canoe races, “Himine” singing, stone lifting, fruit carrier races, and so on.

I ruined my digital camera by giving it a float test off the boat. Awaiting the replacement, I have been using my old Pentax still camera. The shutter sticks at time and I apologize for the quality of these pictures in the accompanying album.

My weekend routine was to go to the French mass at the Papeete Cathedral on Saturday evening and on Sunday morning to the Arue church, across from the marina, where the mass was celebrated in Tahitian and French. The singing, in particular in Arue, was such a treat.  I managed to get better all along in joining the men in the harmony parts of the Tahitian songs. Last Sunday, on Raiatea, my pew neighbor made my year. She complimented me on my Tahitian singing....  That is not unusual in the U.S. where I am a one-eye in the land of the blind, brought up in the Netherlands protestant singing tradition, but here I consider this a major compliment. I will dearly miss sharing mass with my Polynesian brothers and sisters, but who knows what is in store beyond the western horizon.

The weather on my visit to Moorea was not ideal. I stayed two nights in Cooks Bay and one night in Opunohu Bay. I watched the regular Wednesday night traditional dance performance at the Bali Hai resort in Cooks Bay. I walked from the far end of Opunohu Bay to the village of Papetoai at the bay’s entrance. It has the oldest Christian church building in French Polynesia. It was founded by British protestant missionaries in 1822. It was a long walk. I had left the bike back in Arue. On the walk back, my heart sunk seeing “Fleetwood” slowly drifting down the bay. Fortunately two fellow cruisers had already hooked on to her and were pushing her back with their dinghy. Before I left the boat she appeared to be well anchored. It turned out that a tree branch had become caught in the anchor flukes, in the mud bottom.  

The sail back to Tahiti was very rough and when I checked my oil I noticed that I once again had water in the oil. I did not dare to run the engine, so, I decided to sail in to the main anchorage at the Papeete quay instead of trying to slalom through the reefs at Arue. Commodore Tompkins was just starting to tie up and saw me sailing in. He immediately offered to tow me to a tie up. He had just sailed in from San Diego in a 21 day fast sail. A day later I had the opportunity to visit Commodore Tompkins and his wife Nancy. I had read about him and his growing up aboard “Wanderbird”, a pre war German pilot schooner. 

The other boat I got to know the crew of, on the quay in Papeete, was “Tournesol”. They spent extra time in Papeete awaiting parts for their engine water pump. I had spotted Scott Duncan at the internet cafe where he was scrolling up and down the screen with very large letters and at the same time comparing the West-Marine catalog, with a strong prism. I assumed that he was a crew member on one of the boats in the harbor. But then I got to talk to him and his companion Pam Habek and learned that both are legally blind and sailing their “Tournesol” from San Francisco via Mexico on the milk run to New Zealand.

They have a web site at www.blindsailing.com . Pam is a beautiful woman, always a bright cheery smile and a Tahitian Tiara flower behind one ear. Scott is also a very handsome man. Whenever things get a little rough for me, I just think of these two heroes who manage under such a handicap. As a single handler I have to be a little better prepared than on a crewed boat. I try to have a back up plan and an escape route. But their options are much more limited. Last week I had a chance to sit down with them at happy hour at the Huahine “Jimmy Buffet” bar. These people are precious and very special. 

I left Tahiti on August 2^nd., for what should have been a one day and one night sail. But the winds were extremely light and the night of  the third it turned in to a howler. But the next morning, tucked away in the Huahine lagoon, these hardships were soon forgotten. This island was delightful. Clear deep blue lagoons and white sandy palm lined beaches. The main town on Huahine, Fare, has a typical vacation   atmosphere because it attracts many tourist that come in by inter-island ferry and by air.

Sailing from Fare, in the lagoon, to Avea Bay, I met Jim Marco on “Intention” and his friend Karla Jacobs. Both are from the Bay area.  We have stayed in touch and buddied up again, last week, on the next island of Raiatea. Puturoa, the main town on Raiatea has a nice mooring basin where one can moor for free for 24 hours. I did this three times and from here went into different directions. Last Monday, I stayed with “Intention” on a mooring buoy in Faaro Bay and went with Jim and his friend John up the Faaro river, in their out board dinghy. On Tuesday I rode the ten mile, along the beautiful coast line, from Faaro Bay to the Taputapuatea marae. This is one of the main maraes from which the early Polynesians spread their influence to the other islands. They are large volcanic stone structures that served for religious and social gatherings. On several of these, human sacrifices were offered to their Gods. I spent the night before last in Hurepiti Bay on the island of Tahaa. I was the only yacht in the bay that night. Tahaa and Raiatea are both enclosed by the same reefs and in the same lagoon. This the nicest way to cruise here. The water is smooth, protected from the ocean swells by the reefs, you sail along this magnificent scenery of palm lined beaches and clear blue water. There are many quiet protected anchorages and a chance to snorkel or dive on the reef where you are in a virtual tropical aquarium. I had  a very nice broad reach from Tahaa to Bora Bora. The guide showed that  the Bora Bora Y.C. offers buoy moorage and advised to call ahead on channel 16. It turned out that they did not monitor the VHF at all. I rowed ashore with the bike and found that the buoy moorage was close to US$25 per day, unless you ate at the restaurant. The menu  was in the $35/50 range. Showers were $ 12.50. So, I pulled up stake and moved closer to town in an anchorage. Other than a bar and restaurant the Yacht Club portion of the restaurant was a misnomer. The “bible” cruising guide “Guide to Navigation and Tourism in French Polynesia” calls this a “must” stop for yachters. 

I promised to report the final outcome of my bond posting issue here in Polynesia. It looks like I may be the only or very rare U.S. sailor who managed to avoid this complicated and costly procedure. The issue is as to who sets this rule and who enforces it. I am still not 100% certain as to how this works. We are dealing with the Gendarmerie for keeping track of the boats, the Douane and Immigration (who both only have an office in Papeete) for the boat and goods coming and to be sure we do not overstay our welcome. In Hiva Oa the bond issue was not brought up. In Nuka Hiva, which is for most the second port of call, the Gendarmes insisted on having the bond posted. I wrote earlier about Nuka Hiva. In Papeete I told the douane/Immigration that I wanted to try and avoid posting the bond. They suggested that I do a check in and out at the same time, on leaving. This time period was stretched from 10 days to nearly a month because of my waiting for spare parts. When I finally came in they did raise their eye brows some. I might just have gotten lucky. But it might be worthwhile to tell the Gendarmes in Nuka Hiva that you will deal with the bond issue in Papeete, which is what I did