Pearls of the Pacific

The other Society Islands. https://www.oceansfive.net/societyislands

We sail into Huahine on Monday morning, around 9am and set anchor in the Baie d’Avea, just down the bay from the tiny Mahana Hotel. Most, if not all, of the Society Islands consist of a central volcanic island surrounded by a lagoon and then an outer reef where ocean swells break so that the island is protected. The Tuomotus, an older island chain, consist of only the coral ring - the central volcanic island eroded over millennia. The Society Islands are progressing slowly in that direction, the lagoon area being where the island once extended out to the reef. The lagoon is full of marine life and because it’s protected, may be a wonderful anchorage, snorkel or dive area. We’re anxious to explore the lagoon around the southern end of Huahine. Rob, Amanda and I jump in the dinghy, Amanda with her ever-present underwater camera in hand. Periodically dipping our masked faces in to find a worthy snorkel spot, we don’t have the best of luck. Nice snorkels, but coral doesn’t look very healthy and limited fish. Hermione, Distraction and Aurora are anchored in the same area, thus we meet for Happy Hour at the Mahana Hotel in the evening.

Very sadly, Rob’s sister Elizabeth calls to let us know their oldest brother, Kenny, passed away in his sleep. He hasn’t been well for a number of years, but it’s still a shock. We’re grateful that he’s been close to Elizabeth’s family the past few years and has really enjoyed living near them in Colorado. Ugh. Life keeps happening even though we’re not there. Obviously. We feel very far away at times.

The following morning, Amanda and I take a quiet snorkel off the back of the boat toward shore. We are gifted by a very curious spotted eagle ray. He comes out of the deep blue and swims up to us for a look. He circles away and then returns for another look. Amanda, who has lots of eagle ray experience, says she’s never seen one so curious and come so close. She captures a beautiful photo of his black back with silvery white rings, like little atolls. We begin to swim toward the hotel dock when Rob picks us up in the dinghy, suggesting the snorkelling may be better near the hotel. And he was right!! We tie the dinghy on the little dock. Rob and Amanda get in first, with me bringing up the rear. Just before I get in, Rob yells to Amanda an octopus is swimming directly at her! She’s so excited she hurriedly fumbles with her mask and camera. I jump in in time to see this incredible creature blossom from a wrinkly sandy-colored mass lying on the bottom, into as large and full as he can make his body, now bright orange. Amanda catches it on video! Truly amazing! During the same snorkel, we finally see anemones with clown fish snuggling in their tentacles and peering out at us. So cute! Maybe not as cute as Nemo, but pretty close.

Rob and I hop in the dinghy early the next morning and explore the shoreline on the southeastern part of the island, into some of the bays lined with wooded hillsides. Passing through a large bay called Port Bourayne, we drive under a bridge (known to be a fun place to jump off, which we quickly decide won’t be in our plans) and into Baie Maroe, which opens up to the other side of the island. Since the sun’s out, we return to Jolie to scoop up Amanda to snorkel in an area toward the break. On our way there and back, we dinghy over the shallow, sandy-bottom expanse before the break. The water here is crystal clear and the color of pale turquoise as the sunlight passes through the water, creating moving patterns on the white sand below. As we zip along, we spook a couple of rays, easily visible dark forms flying above the white sand. Amanda jumps in with her camera and we try to corral the rays closer to her with the dinghy so she can catch a photo. As she’s looking one way, she doesn’t realize our herding technique has actually worked and two of the rays have silently swum up behind her. We can hear her squeal of delight through her snorkel as she turns and sees them. She’s quite fearless with the underwater creatures! The snorkel close to this area is pretty - coral bommies interspersed in the white sand with lots of brightly coloured tropical fish darting about. We always appreciate when the water is so clear, allowing precise visibility and bright sunlight to bring out the colors. We’re able to make out more details of the patterns of color on the fish. What may look like a purple fish, actually has a fine pattern of orange or pink lines interspersed with blue. Or beautiful neon pink squiggly line patterns on its head. They’re a work of art. One variety is even called a Picasso triggerfish. Appropriate!

Later the same day we rent a car to see the island from the interior - very rural with some very steep hills. After driving for 45 minutes to a lunch place that had decent reviews, we find it closed. Like a number of the small restaurants, it’s actually someone’s home, a modest home on the beach with outdoor tables set up under a flat roof. One of the our other planned destinations was to see the “famous” sacred eels, but we struck out there, as well. Closed. Back to the town of Fare, we finally find a little french restaurant for a lovely late lunch. Meanwhile, Calvin and Ellie move Jolie from the previous anchorage over to the bay where Fare is located, as well as the Village Yacht Club. Nice evening in which we meet a number of the other boats for sundowners at the yacht club, then strolled over to a little pizza truck and returned to Jolie for a very low key dinner. Amanda chose a baguette with brie and a pear instead of pizza. I’m a little jealous. It looks way better than our pizza.

Dang! I wake up the next day with a flu bug that’s being passed around the fleet, thus the next few days I’m more of an observer than a participant. Ellie, Calvin and Amanda are up and out early in the dinghy so Calvin can surf on a nice break not far off the boat. Amanda catches some great photos of the action. (Ellie’s a bit nervous about taking photos after being aggressively yelled at the day before by someone else in a dinghy as she tried to photograph Calvin. Supposedly, no one is allowed to take underwater photos in French Polynesia without a license? This wasn’t underwater….) Shortly after, we move Jolie out through the pass of Huahine and have a lovely downwind sail, flying the Big Banana, to Raiatea, about 4 hours. We anchor by the tiny Motu Tipuemau, where JaZoFi has spent the past week and raved about it. Only a few boats are able to anchor in the small deep area which is surrounded by shallow, clear water and coral beds. We’re happy there’s a spot for us!

Everyone hops in for a snorkel and later returns full of excitement about how beautiful the coral and sea life are. It’s fun to hear Rob and Amanda excitedly talk about the scenes they’ve seen - they’re both such marine life-lovers! Apparently, they were in the water at the right time later in the day to catch photos of the little rainbows refracted onto the landscape below.

Distraction joins us in our little heaven the next morning, having run the keel aground twice on the tricky passage entering into this anchorage. Fortunately, no damage is detected! More snorkelling by all. Amanda decides to give her macro camera set-up a go, which is even larger than her other camera. She dons her swim suit, her weight belt, her beautiful long free diving fins and heads off with camera in tow. I’m still not feeling well and watch them from the cockpit of Jolie. Amanda zeros in on something she wishes to catch on “film.” She floats in the same spot in the shallows, waiting so patiently to capture the right moment from her constantly moving subjects. A wildlife photographer has to be exceedingly patient. She stays out long after Rob decides to return to the boat. Later, she shows us some of her photographs. Beautiful! My favorite was the ones of a little anemone fish safely tucked inside its beautiful anemone. She’s a very talented photographer!

On Saturday morning, we reluctantly depart this serene, gorgeous spot to motor over to the north end of Raiatea, near the airport. Early evening, Rob drops Calvin, Ellie and me off at the quaint beach restaurant, Fish and Blue, then returns to Jolie to pick up Amanda and dinghy her over to the airport. Wonderfully convenient to be able to just dinghy to the airport on Raiatea! Love that! But, don’t love that Amanda’s visit is over already. We sadly say our good-byes. Time really does pass too quickly! Shortly, Rob joins us for drinks and dinner with friends. Once in a while (actually, rarely), we find a fairly sophisticated restaurant in an area that’s not very populated. The woman who owns Fish and Blue is from France and looks as though she just arrived from Paris - her chunky glasses, cute short hairstyle and makeup, as well as a beautiful gauzy scarf draped over a lovely linen dress. I wonder what her story is? She’s too busy to visit, but I bet it’s good! The bar area next to the beach dining area has a pool table. We play couples, pool after dinner - very poorly! And lose to Mike and Emm from Distraction, as well as Calvin and Ellie. Still a very fun night.

Our next move is a short motor from Raiatea across a channel to the smaller, less populated island of Taha’a. Weather predictions are of a lightning storm. We nestle in a little bay (Baie Faaaha) with tall hills around us, hoping lightning will be attracted to them instead of our metal mast. The bay is dotted with a few homes, and a small town center. In the afternoon, we notice a small figure making his way toward our boat, in an old white plastic kayak. He’s proficiently rowing along using a green, plastic garden rake as his paddle. I wave to him, he stops paddling and waves back. Then, head down, fervently paddles even harder to reach the side of our boat. This adorable little boy with his open, smiling face, donned only in his blue underwear, speaks exclusively french.

We manage to communicate just fine. He’s 7 years-old and has grown up on this bay. I tell him how beautiful I think it is and he smiles proudly and nods his head as he looks around the bay, as though he’s appreciating anew its beauty. We give him a lollipop and some colourful pens fastened together with a green rubber band. He excitedly accepts our meagre gift, yells good bye and rows home. About 30 minutes later, I see him determinedly rowing his big, green rake back toward us. A big bulge in his cheek, lollipop stick protruding from his mouth, he’s returned to give us back the green rubber band. In the bow of his kayak, the pens are floating to and fro in a puddle of water that’s collected there. I get the water ball and Calvin and I play catch with him for a while. When he’s had enough of us, he calls good bye and paddles his way back home. And that was the last we saw of him. This little exchange with him has been one of my most memorable experiences of the trip. Today is June 2nd, our granddaughter, Aubrey’s, 7th birthday. Our little 7 year-old paddling friend has been an acute reminder of how precious that age is, and what I’m missing back at home.

By the following morning, thankfully, the weather predictions have changed. Rob and I decide to drive the dinghy over to check out a local vanilla farm (The Vanilla Valley) before we move Jolie to another anchorage. A woman guided us around the farm, teaching us about the Tahitian vanilla vines and the pollination process. The individual flowers need to be hand pollinated - a tedious process. No wonder real vanilla extract is so costly. The beans are harvested, laid out to dry in the sun (the pod stays very flexible and leathery and smells so good!) and then processed there. We purchase vanilla extract (which, oddly enough, you can’t find in any stores here.) and beans and head back to Jolie. And off to a new anchorage along the northeast coast of Taha’a near a line of motus where we plan to snorkel a coral gardens area by the Motu Uravera. But first, Rob and I hop into the tender to check out a small island resort we’d heard about from Paul and Trish(on Babe) called Vahine Island Resort on the small, private Motu Tuvahine. Looking quaint and inviting, we dock our dinghy and walk ashore. We are quickly greeted and gently rebuked for coming on this private island without a reservation. Thus, Rob emails requesting a reservation for lunch the following day. Apparently, the chef determines whether there’s enough food to allow us there. Rob gets the thumbs up. Meanwhile, we run into Paul and Trish from Babe (and their visiting friends, Bob and Heather. Ha! For once, we’ll be able to remember their names!) They’ve sailed through French Polynesia a number of times and are a great resource of information. Drinks on Babe in the evening and they advise us on their favorite places to visit. Our view of a beautiful sunset with Bora Bora outlined on the horizon reminds of us our next island stop. Paul refers to it as “Boring Bora.” Not a place they’re very excited to visit again.

We begin the day with a gorgeous snorkel at the “new” Coral Gardens recommended by Stephanie, our French Poly adviser, by the Motu Uravera. This is one of our favorite snorkels thus far, with gloriously healthy corals (no bleaching) and copious amounts of tiny, colourful reef fish. After cleaning up, the four of us head into our much anticipated lunch at the Vahine Resort.

A very quiet, secluded, quaint resort. We don’t see another guest except a couple sitting outside their over-water bungalow. Lot’s of serene space - grass and combed sand - under the canopy of tall palms and pines. The bar and restaurant buildings are single story, cedar shake roofs and dark, round timbers, and multi-paned windows. Almost like a scene from the Shire in The Hobbit. We enjoy our meal and browse around the parts of the resort we’re permitted. This is the place to come if you really, really want to get away to a delightfully secluded, tranquil, very quiet (very, very quiet) spot.

On to Taha’a in the morning to a quiet anchorage on the western side of the island (Baie Tapuamu) not far from the floating Fare Miti Rhum Bar, situated at the end of a dock from the Pari Pari Rum Factory. (Clearly, we strategically located Jolie for our evening plans.) Rob and I drove the tender around to the southern end of Taha’a to visit the Champon Pearl Farm. This was a real, working pearl farm. At the end of the dock, was the structure which housed the woman harvesting the pearls and then reinserting a new “seed” for the oyster to grow another, larger pearl. Each oyster can be seeded up to 5 times, with a period of 18 months between each harvest. After that time, the oyster is then shucked for eating. Two other men were present assisting her with either hanging the oysters back on the line or shucking the unlucky ones. Huge piles of oyster shells were in the water around the shack. We were led down the long dock to a table under the canopy of a large banyan tree, where our guide explained the process, walked us back to the shack to observe more closely the procedure there and only then were we allowed into the shop. A woman there displayed the variety of dark, Tahitian pearls for us. Quite the process. I finally settled on a necklace with a single, beautiful pearl and we happily (at least I’m happy) made our way back to Jolie. After lunch, we make our way over to the “old” coral garden snorkel area, situated between two motus. This area is different. We anchor the dinghy and then walk along a path on one of the motus to the beginning of the snorkel. There’s a fairly swift current running between the motus which whisks you along through a maze of coral and numerous tropical fish. Really fun! We discover high tide is the best time for this snorkel, as we get trapped in shallow areas and have to carefully walk to deeper spots where we can snorkel again. The coral isn’t as healthy here and but still some beautiful spots. There’s quite a bit of algae growing from the top, but very worth the experience!

In the evening, we all meet at the Fare Miti floating bar and watch a spectacular sunset, highlighted with a man silhouetted by the sunset, standing in the water, spear in hand.

The bartender explains he’s hunting octopus. Unfortunately, this cute little bar has no bathroom. It’s been a while since I’ve had to hunt for a bush to squat behind. Fortunately, it’s very dark. So dark, I don’t realize I’m right next to the highway. Lol! Anyway, we all make our way down to a pizza joint and sit on some cement benches by the water to eat. Our pizza boxes came in handy as umbrellas when it starts to rain. Sophie, who is part of the crew for Babiana, has a heart for the many, very thin dogs we see across French Polynesia. She pulls out a big bag of dog treats (what a great idea!) which she breaks apart to feed to a sweet, starving dog, who has difficulty chewing the whole treats. We’ve hardly seen any stray cats, but the number of very thin, yet gently sweet dogs, is tragic.

The next morning, we take Calvin and Ellie over to experience the swift coral garden snorkel, knowing they’ll really enjoy it. Then a quick trip over to Raiatea Island to meet again for dinner at our beloved Fish and Blue restaurant. From our anchorage, we have a beautiful view of Bora Bora. It looks as though part of the island has a constant white fog in front of it. Turns out the source of this fog is the mist thrown up from the turbulent waves crashing below. On Friday morning, we awaken to a rainy day and motor the 4 hours over to the pass on the western side into the reef around Bora Bora. A boat is waiting for us at a mooring ball we’ve reserved (Normally, they do not allow you to reserve a ball but have made an exception for OWR because there’s an organized party for us in the evening at the Bora Bora Yacht Club. Anchoring is prohibited in Bora Bora, so that’s a bit of a pain.). It’s a fairly small island, but striking because of the tall Mt Temanu, which rises 727 meters above sea level. We run ashore to clear customs and a quick stop at the grocery store, hoping to find eggs. No luck. This evening is another Oyster organized party - drinks, dinner, dancing. We enjoy dinner with Pau and Helena from Mastegot as well as Tony and Anna from Ahlam. It seemed the party was winding down so we headed home around 10pm, but the next morning learn a number of people stayed out till 4 am, dancing and playing pool at a local disco! We need to up our game! Maybe.

We awaken to another rainy day. A ladies lunch was organized by Martina and Mary, so everyone drags themselves over to St James Restaurant. A few of them are really hurting from the late night before - Emm has a hard time even breaking into a smile at first - but all rally with a few glasses of wine and a nice meal. A few hours later the husbands are invited to join and lunch turns into dinner and beyond…. These people can party!!

Our last day to play on Bora Bora and it’s rainy again! Fortunately, the rain eases enough so we can proceed with a dive we have scheduled. Conveniently, the dive boat picks us up off Jolie and we head to the dive site, within the lagoon off the western side of the island. The first dive was unique in that we spent much of the time resting on the sandy bottom at about 50 feet. In the distant blue haze of ocean water, dark, blurry objects would appear. As they swam closer, large schools of spotted eagle rays gracefully swimming along became visible. If we were careful to remain still and not scare them, they swam much closer to us. Really beautiful creatures of various sizes. All of them seemed to time the slow sway of their “wings” so they moved synchronously. In the silence, the Swam Theme song from Swan Lake came to mind. How many times am I allowed to say “graceful” and “beautiful?” Those words come to mind, but they’re weak in fully describing the scene. The second dive had pretty coral and anemones with their corresponding “Nemos,” but it was quite crowded. Lots of other scuba divers and boats above us dumping off snorkelers. The snorkel boats were surrounded by black tip reef sharks. I wondered if the snorkelers could see them before getting into the water? There were so many, they must be feeding them. They’re not usually attracted in those numbers to boats. After returning to Jolie, Rob and I head to the grocery store to provision. Still no luck finding eggs. In a deluge of rain, we dinghy back to the boat. This being our last evening out before the 8 day crossing to Tonga, we had plans to eat dinner ashore. However, heading out into the hard rain again didn’t feel appealing. Frozen pizza on our warm dry boat sounded perfect!

It’s Monday, June 10th. Time for last minute boat prep and provisions, as well as our last on-shore meal/lunch for over a week. Bora Bora Yacht Club is the most convenient option. With bellies satisfied, we begin our 1300 mile sail to Tonga. I wish we had a couple more days to explore Bora Bora - we’ve only been here 3 rainy days. I would have loved to gone to the eastern side of the island where an area is known to have squadrons (I had to look that one up) of manta rays.