A One Week Fly-by of the Society Islands

Clarks Arriving

We had been in Papeete Tahiti for two weeks.  We have Tom’s son’s 50 foot catamaran, Alyosha and our plan was to head to the Leeward Society Islands, about 100 nm from Tahiti.

My sister Geri arrived with two of her 17 year old triplets, Kendall and Austin, on a Friday morning and, by Saturday morning, we were underway.  Unfortunately, we left the dock at the same time a paddleboard race was starting from the mark in front of the marina. 

Paddle board Race

Never having driven a 26 foot wide boat before, and with sea monkeys crawling all over the surface of the water, it was daunting to thread Alyosha through this jungle.  We had to get fuel from Tania Marina, about 10 nm south.  And that’s where these boards were headed. Also, although every morning for two weeks had been perfectly still, this morning it was blowing 20 knots, and gusting to 30.

My heart was in my mouth as I headed out the entrance, but fortunately, thanks to expert help on deck, we arrived at Marina Tania with no mishap.  I did not do a stellar job of docking the boat. There was a cross wind and a current that pulled the stern away before I could get a line on the dock. However, the marina staff was wonderful.

We put 400 litres of fuel in the tanks, and then I had to get off the boat to pay for it.  With so much freeboard, it was an 8 foot drop to the deck.  With the help of the dockhand, I managed to get my legs over the lifelines and reach for the deck.  However, my bathing suit got caught on a cotter ring from the life line and there I hung, while everyone laughed and Geri took pictures!

Getting back on was not so exciting and we were off.  I could not breathe until we left the Papeete channel and could put the boat on autopilot.

It was a cloudy day, around noon when we were clear, and we headed to Bora Bora, the farthest of the islands.  It was fun showing the kids how everything worked on the boat, and they were good sports about it all. We even set up a watch schedule to include them, as we would be sailing until noon on Sunday.

The wind was favorable and the engines were off within an hour.  We sailed all day, and all night under a moonlit sky.  Finally, about 3am, we were making only 2 knots so Geri and I reluctantly turned an engine on. It was just too pretty for the noise.

We passed Huahine at sunrise and rounded the north end of Bora Bora at noon.  Everyone was excited to finally see the one island that is on almost everyone’s wish list.

By mid-afternoon we had picked up a mooring at Bora Bora Yacht Club and were having lunch on its deck. 

 Hai, Moorea

Geri and Austin in charg

a

B

B

Tom had brought an EYC burgee to place here, but there was already one hanging.

The next day we headed to the south end of Bora Bora for some great snorkeling.  Unfortunately, we got entangled with a coral head and a piece of the keel came off.  No water was invading, but it was something we definitely had to attend to, and it put a damper on our day.

So the next day, we headed to Raiatea.  I had previously connected with a fellow Taswell 44 owner whom I had met in the Bahamas and who was in Raiatea, and he and his wife joined us for cocktails and gave us some helpful advice on a boatyard that could haul a 50 ft catamaran. We now have an appointment to haul the boat on May 15.  Fortunately, Geri had seen the piece come off so we had retrieved it. It’s a clean break so should be able to just be put back on.  Famous last words I know!

In the meantime, we visited downtown Utoroa, where a cruise ship dwarfed the entire area.  There were demonstrations of island dancing, and lots of little booths set up to attract the cruisers. 

 

That afternoon we moved on to Tahaa, where there was supposed to be great snorkeling in a “coral garden”.  We anchored in 20 feet of water, not knowing where to go from there.  Plans to swim were quickly dashed when an 8 foot shark swam by!

The coral garden was hidden behind a small island (motu) and it took us quite a while and a few wrong turns to find it.  But it was worth the hunt.

The snorkeling was so good that we were standing in 5 feet of water surrounded by hundreds of colorful fish.

All voted to stay here another day and snorkel again.

Working our way back to Moorea, which is close to Tahiti, we moved on to Huahine, which is actually the prettiest island I have seen so far.  It was only 25 nm from Tahaa, so we were there before noon, to check out the town and prepare to depart that night for Moorea (90nm).

We left at 5 pm, with a west wind blowing to help us get southeast to Moorea.  Because of where we are there is almost always an east trade wind blowing, so this was unusual, and I expected stormy weather as a result.  And we did hit some squalls, which required tacking the boat throughout the night.  But we had no lightning, and no winds over 30 knots.  Since we only had a jib out, and a lot of that time it was reefed, it was not an uncomfortable ride, though sometimes wet.

Geri had reserved an on-water bungalow at Bali Hai Club for the next four days, so we checked them in on Saturday morning when we arrived.  She had picked the hotel because we could anchor right in front of it. Their room had a porch with a swim platform and ladder, so we pulled the dinghy right up for unloading (and cocktails).

Our visitors are here for another four days, so we’ll see quite bit of Moorea before they take the ferry to Tahiti and fly home.  Our plans are to then go back out to the islands and spend a bit more time exploring them before flying home from Tahiti at the end of May.