On to the Tuamotos and Society Islands

The town of Hakamaii lies on the western shore of the island off Ua Pou. It is not a popular stop because of its exposure yet we landed on the beach to check it out and we were welcomed with much attention. After earning respect by landing the dingy safely on the steep, surf pounded, rocky beach we chatted with all the local kids and fisherman. The town consists of a beautiful church overlooking the bay, a school, post office and reportedly two stores. We followed the stream up the paved road through the nicest little town you could imagine. The immaculate yards are abundant with fruit trees and the street and stream valley are covered in mangos and breadfruit having fallen from the trees. The porches were filled with locals who looked surprised to see us but when we waved they giggled and enthusiastically waved back. As we were reaching the top of the town a family on their porch gestured and cried “kia kai, kai kai” which is Marqusean for “eat eat”. We almost hesitated but the family’s enthusiasm was too hard to refuse. In a few moments, after introductions and the kids being sent off to play, we were seated in front off a spread to rival any Thanksgiving feast. There were plates of fruit, caldrons of pork and beef along with the best octopus I have ever tasted.  The wine flowed freely and we were able to communicate through the youngest brother visiting from Paris. He and his family live in Paris and he has spent the last 18 years in the French military. He summed up the Marquesas Islands beautifully, “in the rest of the world no money - no eat, in the Marquesas no money but plenty to eat.” As we were leaving, the family packed two boxes of mangos and bananas as a parting gift.

We had spent a number of days waiting for better weather for the crossing and had a great end to our Marquesian visit but we were anxious for the adventure of being at sea. At 0900, August 8, with both anchors aboard and all ship shape we departed Baie Hakamaii twenty minutes behind Ichiban for the 5 or 6 day crossing to Fakarava in the Tuamotus.The first two days out were perfect sailing, 12 knots of wind and we sailed along at 4-5kots through calm seas heading us well to windward of our destination. We had timed our departure to coincide with, what I thought was, a mild and short lived weather front that would give us brisk sailing down and calm seas when we arrived. But at 1800, our third day out, the sea told us differently. Over the course of an hour the wind increased from 12 knots to the forecast 15-20, and didn’t stop till it was raging a near gale at over 30knots.

We now had the adventure we had signed up for and the next 3 days gave us ample opportunity to test our boat and our storm tactics. The first night we shortened sail and ran down wind with the seas. This is the easiest thing to do but created a challenge that if we didn’t make some progress across the wind we would miss our destination not to mention all of French Polynesia. During the night the seas built and the wind didn’t moderate. I spent the night listening to the noises of the ship and sea and watching the shadows of the waves. It was a little scary but we only shipped one wave into the cockpit (drenching me) and still Suuhaa instilled confidence.

In the morning we had to head the boat back to windward, so we headed up and spent the day clawing up and over 4 meter seas in the hopes we could still make our destination. By that night we were exhausted so we hove to. This is a storm tactic using the sails to stall the boat and balance it so it stays oriented about 45 degrees off the wind, slowly drifting to leeward. Easier said than done, but with the help of a 6 foot cargo parachute streamed off the bow we were able to get the boat stopped and oriented properly. Once hove to, in the face of this heavy weather we had dry decks, turned the anchor light on, cooked a decent dinner and we both slept soundly. The next morning, well rested, we were back smashing and pitching over the breaking seas and back on course to Fakarava. The only change was it would be the western entrance and not the eastern one as planned. By that afternoon we spotted Kuehi atoll and by evening had made it inside the island group. After heaving to again for the night we made Passe Garue at the end of the flood tide the next morning.

Sailing in and around atolls presents two navigational issues to contend with; one is getting through the pass into an atoll; and two, is where to anchor once inside. It is best to make the pass at low slack water so the following flood will lift you off a reef if you do go aground. The sun should be high in the sky so you can see through the waters and spot the uncharted coral heads. A calm sea outside the atoll is preferably as the swell

breaking over the reef causes major problems for predicting slack tide. When anchoring, you need to be on the weather side so the wind blows you off the beach and not onto the beach. Upon making Passe Garue, the only thing we had on our side was the sun high in the sky but that was useless because the wind whipping on the surface of seas made seeing the coral impossible.

We had chosen Fakarava as our destination because it well charted and has two wide deep passes, a perfect “beginner” atoll.  So in we went, with sails drawing and the engine at full throttle we pounded through the pass. Once again proving her strength, Suuhaa drove her nose into the bright blue waves and tossed water all over the decks without so much as a shudder. Inside however, we realized the weather was way too heavy to ride at anchor so in a moment we made a decision, tacked and headed straight back out the pass for the safety of open water. This was the end of our Tuamotu experience. We had few options other than waiting for the wind to calm down but decided to skip the whole ordeal and use the wind to get us to Tahiti. Our visa is only good for three months and typically cruisers spread this out over the 3 archipelagoes: the Marquesas, the Tuamotos and the Society Islands. But we had spent 2 months in the Marquesas and knowing that we will be spending many months in atolls later in the trip, we hadn’t actually thought to spend more than a few nights in the Tuamotos and so we weren’t heartbroken with this decision. We headed Suuhaa south west and within a few hours were charging along, leaving 6 miles an hour in our wake, toward new adventures on the well developed island of Tahiti.

Three days later, after an overnight stop at the small village of Tautira on Tahiti Iti, we anchored off the Tahiti Yacht club in a suburb of the biggest city in the tropical south Pacific, Papeete. We spent about a week here spending money resupplying with stores, spare parts and propane. Considering this is the only “westernized” city we have seen in 3 months and the only one we will see for another 6 months we got away for pretty cheap.

During this time in Papeete our minds were on our friends on Ichiban. During the passage, shortly before the gale hit, we had lost radio contact with them. This was on August 11 and it was now the 20^th and we had not heard from them. We were sure they were safe on one of the atolls and probably didn’t have internet access but still we worried and just to be safe we reported them overdue. The Yachtmaster in Papeete was of great assistance translating emails and forwarding them to the MRCC (which is the search and rescue department of the French navy!) who within 3 hours had located the captain of Ichiban by looking on his face book page! Well, we felt a bit dumb for not trying this ourselves but were very happy to hear they were safe on Rangaroa atoll. We continued to send them e-mails but with no response we figured the internet was spotty.

With our chores done and both agreeing that having fun in cities is proportional to one’s disposable wealth, we left Papeete and the island of Tahiti for the 25 mile crossing to Moorea. Just out of the pass we set our course, raised our sails and saw we were on a collision course with an incoming sailboat. As they got closer I realized it was Ichiban! We pulled along side, and after shouts, cheers and applause, talked them into skipping city life and coming straight to Moorea with us.

Moorea has long been known as gem of the South Pacific. Its fringing coral reef contains crystal clear water with a back drop of spectacular volcanic mountains. Its popularity as a tourist destination began with Captain Cook and continues to this day. During our stay we hiked, hitchhiked, swam, snorkeled and sampled the local pizza. The highlight was feeding the sting rays and reef sharks.  The tourist tour boats have tamed and trained these animals and they show up on a shallow sand bar every morning looking for breakfast. We arrived before the tour boats and jumped in the water with a bag of stinky tuna. The sharks showed up first but

luckily they were pretty timid. For some reason the stingrays loved the girls and within ten minutes were swarming all over Tra and Anna who were stuck, holding onto the rail of the dingy to scared to put their feet on the bottom. Justin and I were in tears listening to them screaming as the rays and tickled them with their wings. Although I finally had to rescue Tra by throwing her back in the dinghy she agreed it might have been the highlight of the entire trip.

 The Leeward Society Islands

We left Moorea behind us and sailed overnight to the island of Huahine, the first island of the leeward group. We had read that this was the “surf cruiser’s” anchorage and we also hoped to find opportunity to meet and create friendships with locals on this smaller, less developed island. Our sail over was rolly-polly which made me a little sick but the wind was steady and kept us pushing along. I did spot a flare as it lit up the night sky which gave Brad the opportunity to communicate with the French navy again. The flare was blue (not a red which would indicate distress) so the navy wasn’t too worried though neither were they willing to tell us what was going on. As dawn broke we were just off Huahine and were first greeted by pilot whales and then humpback whales. The pilot whales didn’t stay long but the humpback whales were all over. Quite a welcome! We came into the lagoon off the village of Fare and dropped our hook in crystal clear water.

Ichiban arrived a couple hours later and once again we were neighbours.

We kept ourselves pleasantly occupied during our two week stay in Huahine. There are the surf breaks, which, even to my non-surfer’s eye, could tell you are incredible and the local surfers on the island ride these waves like pros. One break in particular curls over into a perfect barrel and one of the most amazing things we saw was a local surfing in a barrel five feet over his head. Captains Suuhaa and Ichiban had many sessions on these waves (when they weren’t way overhead) returning afterwards with smiles and only minor injuries from the reef.

It was coming back from picking them up after a mid-morning surf session that we happened upon some friendly locals partying in the lagoon. Now, this is something each and every one of us needs to experience. We were waved over, given ice cold beers and everyone got to know each other while standing chest deep in the temperate waters. The music played, everyone laughed and after two hours and t-shirts for everyone, we said our goodbyes and went back to our boats for naps. It was, after all, siesta time.

It wasn’t all surfing and boat parties (though we did have a few, making new cruising friends in the process – Hi Whit!) on Huahine. During the better part of our stay the winds coming down the mountains and off the island were extremely gusty. Our wind meter clocked the speed of one of these gusts at 34 knots (that’s just over 60km/hour for you non-boaters out there). That’s a lot of wind when you have your anchor in only six inches of sand. There were a few nerve-wracking nights as we kept anchor watch and Suuhaa swung around in the wind. Below us, which is easy to see in this clear water, were also numerous pieces of coral and we could see our anchor chain wrap itself around this one and that one only to unhook and wrap around another piece or two. While snorkeling over our anchor one morning, we watched as our chain, wrapped a few times around a piece of coral rock, pick up and move this rock. There was some fancy maneuvering when finally decided to head out from Huahine a few

days later.

We had a boisterous 25nm sail from Huahine to the island of Tah’aa. Admittedly, I felt a little sick again; but, small price to pay to travel as we like through the south Pacific. The wind was perfect and we sailed inside the reef up a long inlet where we anchored at the end in some deep sticky mud and slept soundly through the night. We were up early the next morning anxious to move on to Bora Bora only another 20nm away.

Bora Bora is beautiful but I have to admit that we have been surprised at the difference in attitude from the locals on both Huahine and Bora Bora from that of the people of the Marquesas. These islands, particularly Bora Bora, are very touristy and localism is strong. While the presence of tourists creates jobs and advances development, which some might think is a positive thing; the locals seem to resent the people visiting. In the Marquesas, where tourism is on a much smaller scale, the locals welcome visitors and are as interested in us as we are in them. From the books we have read, it very much used to be that way here, but Bora Bora is all hotels, every motu (small islands on the fringing reef) are all owned by the hotel situated on each and therefore private. And I really think the locals resent this complete take over of their beautiful island yet it has happened and they are wrapped up in it. The general character of Polynesian people is generous and welcoming and I have to wonder if they are sick of what they perceive as guests overstaying their welcome.

 As I finish this entry, we are preparing to leave Bora Bora. Brad is washing down the decks which are covered in ash. The large central mountain of Bora Bora is currently on fire. It has been burning for two nights; the wind keeps blowing, fanning the flames and unfortunately the fire keeps spreading. We will get our final clearance and outward stamps in our passports from the gendarmerie here, buy a few last fresh groceries and head to American Samoa with a stop at Suwarrow along the way. Suwarrow has been on Brad’s mind for awhile, it’s a national park belonging to the Cook Islands and is supposed to be beautiful. This passage to American Samoa will be about 1500nm with Suwarrow as break at about the 700nm point and we can’t wait.