Coconut Milk Run Part 1- The Society Islands

Ancient fish traps (still used) on Huahini.

Family and Friends:

Thanks to all of you who have stayed in touch. We thought we would give your email (and our fingers) a bit of a rest while we did some cruising and exploring in the Society Islands.

We left off in Papeete, Tahiti, just as Auckland-to-Tahiti MooCrew Phyllis, Steve and Dale departed "Moonshadow" to return to "the world." A huge thanks to them for helping to make it a safe and fun passage.

As quickly as we could reprovision and check out, we departed Papeete to see some of the "real" Tahiti. Tahiti is a "high" island. High mountains, high prices, high noise, high crime, and customer service is an oxymoron. One restaurant even insisted that they only accepted "French Polynesian VISA cards" and dive shops would only fill tanks that had some sort of French stamp on them. BOGUS!!! We did, however enjoy reuniting with old cruising friends in from Mexico on "Capricorn Cat," "Imagine" and "Toujours" and cruising down the west coast of Tahiti Nui.

We stopped at some lovely and mostly deserted anchorages as we made our way south along the coast. Pointe Maraa had some very cool fern grottos in the side of the mountain, just across the road from the lagoon. At Port d'Ataiti we took in the Gauguin Museum, and at Port du Phaeton we enjoyed a non-touristy Tahitian town and walked across the Isthmus between Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti.

Ile Moorea is a leisurely day sail from Tahiti, and the approach from seaward is spectacular. We pulled into Baie de Opanohu, which is right next to Cook's Bay on the north side of the island. We felt it was prettier, quieter (no restaurants or resorts) and with only a few other boats anchored. It shares the same to-die-for view of the impressive volcanic mountain peaks jutting out of the middle of the island. Diving just inside the pass through the reef was good and a 59-kilometer bike ride around the island with Vicky and Tom on "Sunstone" allowed us to exercise our "land legs" a bit and see the whole of Moorea. We moved "Moonshadow" a few miles west up a narrow channel to Club Med and enjoyed a few meals out, shows and social evenings, while sitting out a bout of hyper tradewinds that were blowing up to 38 knots.

	The main street of the main village (Fare) on Huahini.

Ile Huahine is a 90-mile easy overnight sail from Moorea. It is a beautiful and relatively undeveloped island. The main village of Fare on the waterfront is reminiscent of what Lahaina might have looked like 50 years ago. A one-street town with no new development, it is bustling by day with the arrival of ships and ferries and lazy by night. If Bora Bora and Moorea are the touristy spots, Huahine is where the traveler and backpacker comes in French Polynesia. Huahine was once a very important religious and cultural center. There are many archeological sites (some restored) and ancient fish traps that can still be seen. We made our way around the island by bike and then did some cruising inside the barrier reef to some of the well protected bays on the west side of the island. We found the well secluded Te Tiare Resort to be friendly and dinner out was quite reasonable by French Polynesian standards.

After a few days, we made the quick 20 mile jump west to Iles Raiatea and Tahaa, which share the same barrier reef. Raiatea, fohgeddabouddit! A small boatyard, a grubby village, unimpressive scenery, noisy and deep anchorages, a Moorings charter base and an airport. The next day we went north to Tahaa, a beautiful, quiet little island shaped like the Hibiscus flower. We hung off a little resort in Baie Apu, had a great meal on shore in the casual little resort there and a good rest in the calm anchorage. The next day, we made a leisurely circumnavigation of Tahaa inside its barrier reef and then went out the pass for a quick afternoon passage over to Bora Bora in fresh trade winds.

Bora Bora is best appreciated from afar. Its volcanic peaks are spectacular by sea from any angle and its brilliantly colored waters are stunning from the air. It is easy to see why it is called the most beautiful island in the world. But when you step foot on land, the overdevelopment, poor planning and general untidiness take over. Unless you are whisked from the airport to one of the well manicured, secluded resorts, the experience can be disappointing. The east shore is still pretty nice, but the west shore is tacky. I circled the island by both cycle and dinghy to get both perspectives. The hues of the water are just amazing, but the reef inside is mostly dead and lacking in any significant sealife. We spent time on a mooring at the Bora Bora Yacht Club and on the hook off the town of Waitape and Ile Toopua, the last being the prettiest and quietest.

There were lots of cruisers in for Fete (the Tahitian celebration of its autonomy from France) and Bastille Day. The Polynesian music and dancing competitions in Waitape for Fete were spectacular. At a cruiser's sunset happy hour on Motu Tapu we met a lot of new faces and planned some diving. According to the local Gendarme (police) Motu Tapu is a public island, but nonetheless, some rude French hotel people attempted to eject us from their "private" island earlier that day.

We got in a couple of jumps just outside the pass through the barrier reef in 50' to 100' of very clear (100+ foot visibility) water. Since the local dive operations go here and feed the fish for the paying customers, the sea life abounds. As you would expect, there were schools of colorful reef fish, but there were also an abundance of sharks - blacktip reef, lemon and some 10+ foot gray reefs complete with hitchhiking remora. In the cracks there were many moray eels and under the overhangs and in the caves quite a few beautiful but dangerous lionfish. A bit intimidating, but none seemed to pay much attention to us, as we weren't serving up lunch, and didn't appear the least bit tasty clad in all of our rubber and steel dive gear.

Cycling around Bora Bora.

A week in Bora2 was enough for us and it was time to move on west to the Cook Islands. We took on a load of diesel fuel and a few provisions and headed for Rarotonga.

Reflecting on French Polynesia, some of the things we will miss:

And the things we won't miss:

More soon

Aloha, George, Paula and MaiTai