FP Postcards: RAIATEA

If Tahaa's adventures were primarily in the water, Raiatea's were primarily on land.

I said I'd limit explanatory text, but this magnificent historical area merits some detail. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, Taputapuatea is the most significant religious site in all Polynesia. Every sacred temple had to incorporate a stone from this exact place in order to be legitimate--even as far away as New Zealand and Hawai'i. There are three enormous marae (open air temples) and multiple other stone platforms, all carefully maintained and still used for ceremonies. It was, in the best sense of the word, awesome.

On a dinghy river excursion we met James,
who enjoys telling people about local flora and fauna;

and Andres,
who sells produce directly from his
small riverfront farm
(here he is using a tool he devised
to snap limes off of high branches)

Andres cut a stalk of bananas for us,

and gave us "Polynesian tattoos"
by slapping the spore side of ferns on our arms

(Andres and Art, not Art and Nancie)

Oh goody!
When we don't get to shore, we get to have adventures on the boat!

FP Postcards: TAHA'A

We timed our arrival in Taha'a to coincide with their annual dance contest and festival. Groups from even the smallest of the island's seven villages had elaborate costumes and spellbinding dancers, young and old (adults one night, kids the next). 

The headdress (hei upo'o) partially blocking this photo...

...belonged to this stunning woman

Speaking of headdresses,
almost all women wear them for special occasions
(and no two are alike)

Produce is sold at stands along the road,
not in stores

We're not rum fans, but we couldn't resist
a bottle of award-winning spirits from the Pari Pari Rum Factory

This was all fun--but the best part of Taha'a was spending a lot of time in the water. The snorkeling was fantastic here!

French Polynesia Postcards: MOOREA, Cook's Bay

How many candles are on those brownies?!

Celebrating Art's birthday at Cook's Bay on the island of Moorea:

Banana beignets for breakfast,

in a spectacular setting

A Polynesian dance show was the perfect gift

After the show the musicians sang Happy Birthday to Art and the four gorgeous women shimmied in a circle around him. What a memorable evening!

Format change?

.

With extended stay visas in hand, we get to explore French Polynesia until it's safe to sail on to Oahu (after Hawaii's hurricane season). Itinerary is very fluid; we'll spend most of our time in the Society Island group, then retrace our route through the Tuamotu and back to the Marquesas--now our point of departure rather than our point of arrival.

We're excited about visiting places we had to bypass in 2015. That said, from the blog's--and therefore your--point of view, much will look the same. We don't want to repeat ourselves, and we think that at least in the well-travelled Societies we'll have internet access more frequently than we did in other island nations. Hence a format change: we'll try uploading fewer photos more often (with explanatory text rarely needed).

So: here are postcards from our first stop, Tahiti!

Mape trees at the Botanical Gardens

The largest tiki in Polynesia outside of Easter Island,
moved to the Gauguin Museum from Raivavae
 (the museum is permanently closed, but we..ahem..found a way in)

Museum of Tahiti and Her Islands

Roulottes (food trucks), downtown Papeete

Autonomy Day Parade
(red-and-white flowered patterns are ubuquitous in Tahiti)

An open rehearsal for Heiva i Tahiti
(their musicians are pictured above)

"The Most Beautiful Island in the South Pacific"

Or so Raivavae is described in sources as diverse as the Lonely Planet Guide and
Charlie's Charts of Polynesia. Since all the islands we've seen have been beautiful, how can one make that judgment?

We found the answer to that question. Raivavae has steep volcanic peaks, lush jungles, and a jewel-blue lagoon. It is as dramatic as legendary Bora Bora, but without all the resorts and crowds. We stayed two weeks, just living.

Everything was huge:
flowers, leaves, trees

Yards along the road were well groomed
(note bananas and papaya overhead)

There are only about 1000 residents on the island,
most of whom keep busy raising food for export
(taro field, above)

A typical house: bicycle, satellite dish, great backdrop

One day we rented bikes ($3 each) and rode around the island (+/- 15 miles).
How to feel like a kid again: a purple bike, with foot brakes!

Scene along the road:
outrigger canoe, bananas on sticks in the water (to keep bugs away),
motu--small islets--out at reef's edge

After-church finery
(I love the hats!)

People work hard to keep yards and the road clean;
this man is carrying old banana fronds on a wheelbarrow to dump in the jungle

The closest motu to the anchorage is Moto Tuitui;
we dinghied there for a picnic.

Motu Tuitui as seen from a nearby ridge,
with the wide ocean beyond

How did we get up the ridge?
 By wielding a machete to clear the nearly hidden trail,

and pulling ourselves up
with a conveniently placed cable.

Harvesting pamplemousse, our favorite FP fruit.
They grow everywhere here, and we were told we could take
as much as we wanted. Yay!!

One of the four little grocery stores along the perimeter road;
no set hours, but when the gate is open, the store is open.

This is one entire aisle, and there are three aisles.
No fresh items needed since everyone can get fruit, vegetables and chickens from their yards!

These large stones are the remains of a marae (open air temple);
there are many on Raivavae, but they are not cleared 

This tiki, however, is well cared for.
It is the only one left on Raivavae, and many believe it still possesses mana (spirit power).

Okay, here's yet another sunset photo.
But this was our view from the cockpit every evening,
and we wanted you to see it too!
(add your own gin & tonic)

The passage we dreaded most...

...turned out to be a good one!

It's extremely rare to be able to be able to sail directly to a destination, so we expected to cover the 2300 miles in 21 or 22 days. We'd girded ourselves for the possibility of 25 days, and would have been thrilled to arrive in 20--but it only took us 18!

We weren't just being naysayers. Our anxiety about this passage was based on numerous accounts of rough voyages and gales at sea along this route. (Indeed, two vessels anchored in Raivavae when we arrived encountered exactly those conditions. They too left from Whangarei, but the trip took them 26 and 27 days.) It seems we made some good navigational decisions along the way, but we're well aware that we were simply exceptionally lucky.

The strongest winds we had were 45 knots but those were in gusts and squalls, not sustained for days--and they were from behind, so they were quite manageable. For several days we had 16-18' waves, but since they were from the stern, we didn't have to fight them.

Though we didn't get below 36 degrees south, we felt we got to experience some aspects of the Southern Ocean. Seabirds were magnificent, particularly the majestic albatross. Southwest swells, unimpeded by any land mass, were grand. Our norms changed; "large swells" and "strong squalls" now mean something much bigger than they did prior to this journey. That said, no conditions were stronger than we could handle comfortably. It felt like we reached another level of voyaging, ever more at ease on the ocean.

Scenery was limited to the boat, each other, and endless variations of water and sky. (Fortunately, we don't get tired of any of those.)

A few glimpses for you:

Bundled up

Not so bundled up
(though still in snazzy long underwear)

Benign waves

Not so benign waves
(sorry, no photos of the largest ones)

400 miles from New Zealand, a tiny bird appeared in the cockpit.
It didn't eat any tidbits we left out, but it did drink water Art offered.

It left, then returned a few hours later--with two companions!
The pull of home must have been too great,
because they rested a while then flew away.
Sadly, we doubt the little birds could have made it back that far
with 35 knot winds and heavy rain arriving shortly afterward.

Night watch

At one point along our route we turned from an easterly heading to a northerly one--and realized that for the next year, our primary sailing direction will be to the north. Heading home...