Passage to Tahiti

La Orana! 

I sit here writing this in the Wi-Fi lounge at Papeete Marina in Tahiti. Reaching Tahiti has felt like a huge milestone – definitely the longest passage of our sailing careers so far and with much of it overnight on the open ocean one to celebrate. The first leg was a short one, approximately 25 nautical miles (nm) east across the pacific from Tahaa to the island of Huahine. I say short but it still took over 6 hours and at times felt very washing machine-like! I had imagined huge rollers in the Pacific but the sea was far more confused with small waves coming from all over. Fortunately, we have our sea legs these days. A couple of months ago things might not have been so pretty! 

All calm in Huahine-Nui when we arrived

Huahine-Nui

Huahine is actually two islands: Huahine-Nui and Huahine-Ito which refer to the size of the mountain ranges in each: big and little. Nowadays the islands are joined by a bridge. Both are ringed by coral which in places produces spectacular waves enjoyed by surfers. We arrived through the main pass on Huahine-Nui late afternoon to find no free moorings in front of the yacht club. Anchoring on the reef looked like our only option until we spied one last mooring out there too. It was a stroke of luck as we were all a bit tired, and the position of the mooring was in a beautiful quiet sandy spot where we could spy lots of rays and fish below us. I think Huahine has been our favourite island so far. It has such a relaxed vibe about it. While we were there it was election day in French Polynesia which seems to be taken as an excellent excuse for everybody to have a holiday! The town was heaving with people all carrying enormous flags, either blue and white or red and white with a hint of blue. After a bit of research it transpired that the blue and white flags were for the Pro-Independence "Tavini party whereas the red and white ones represented the sitting party more favoured by Macron. Watching those flags mingle in the crowd, there was no hint of their significance. Even the tooting cars accompanying the walkers waved flags of different persuasions out of their windows.  It was all very casual - people of all ages either wandering along chatting or peeling off to greet friends , buy street food or enjoy the music blaring out from the boom boxes in front of the local “U supermarche” . By the end of the main street only a handful of “marchers” actually remained! It was utter mayhem but wonderful too! Quite an experience.

Pro-Independence "Tavini" party flag

Incubant Tapura Huiraatira party flag

 

But more were to come as Skipper had booked me a dive for my birthday – my first ever. Duncan was elected to come too, and we spent a wonderful afternoon on the reef amongst the fishes. 

Duncan dinghies us ashore

Before the dive

Annie our instructor was amazing. I’m not sure how she got me down there as I must have been her most reluctant diver yet! I think there were times when Duncan thought his oxygen would run out before I was able to get down to the reef, but I did and when I finally relaxed I can honestly say the whole experience was quite magical. 

The dive was followed by a fantastic meal out courtesy of Mum (thank you very much!) at the Huahine Yacht Club – an incredibly fun night out involving unidentifiable fish steamed in an array of different delicious sauces, French patisseries, and jugs of Hinano lager!! So, all in all a brilliant pre-birthday celebration. 

Birthday tea

Huahine yacht club

I say pre-birthday as on the actual day we were out on the ocean doing the 100nm passage from Huahine to Moorea. Not your normal birthday that’s for sure but we did it. How can I describe the passage? It was long! The day passed just like any other short passage, reading, fishing, and chatting but the real difference came at nightfall which arrived quickly catching me out while I was cooking dinner. By 18.30 darkness had completely enveloped us with only the moon and the stars illuminating the blackness all around. Papillon’s navigation lights felt very insignificant shining out into the night but we were glad to see how well they were functioning with their new LED bulbs. With daylight not expected for another 11h we decided to adopt a 3h watch system from 9pm. Mine turned out to be the least eventful – only one other approaching sailing yacht to identify (and avoid) and Jenni’s first of many satellite weather updates to interpret (thank you excellent Shore person!!). Otherwise, it was star gazing all the way reminding me of all the things I enjoy about night sailing at home; the quiet, the stars and the sound of the waves splashing on the boat. Poor Duncan wasn’t so lucky. The rain and wind arrived, and he had quite a rough time of it. There was a slight problem with the bilges during his watch which got Skipper and me up, so we were at least able to make him a cup of tea, but I think he was ready for it to all end at 03.00. Skipper had the last watch in continuing fresh winds and with Tahiti approaching more traffic to navigate … meaning that I was up again as a second pair of eyes. So not a lot of sleep was had by all, but we did it, finally reaching Moorea, an island about 20nm short of Tahiti, 26h later. 

Approaching Moorea

Mont Muaroa

Our chosen anchorage was clogged up with other boats but our second choice in Inner Opunohu Bay proved to be inspired – quiet and simple. So, with a huge sense of achievement and no drama the anchor was dropped and we could rest up. I can’t write much about Moorea as we were there barely 20h with most of them passed in a jet lagged stupor but it is clearly beautiful and definitely worth exploring further. The peaks are jagged and far more dramatic than any others we have seen so far and the reef, or what we saw of it, was spectacular. We did manage a short trip ashore to check out the yacht club but were unable to toast our successful passage as planned.  It turns out that no alcohol can be served in French Polynesia on “Election Results” day! Who would have known?  We opted for soft drinks instead and, as the rain clouds gathered made a speedy exit, vowing to return on a non election results day....  and...if you are interested the Tavini Party won. 

Papillon at anchor

Day of rainbows on Moorea

 

Halting any further exploration of Moorea was Duncan's imminent departure from Tahiti in 36h. The 20nm passage to Tahiti the following day proved to be wild and completely at odds with all weather forecasts. At one point we actually cut our losses and turned around, but with the winds easing slightly we decided to give it another go and turned back again. It proved to be the right decision as the closer we got to Papeete the calmer the seas became. I wish I could say the same for my nerves. For reasons I still can't explain I have somehow been adopted as Ship’s chief radio operator. Living up to all expectation it proved to be a nerve wracking job but despite some awful French a berth was somehow granted at the local marina and a safe entry into the port of Papeete negotiated with the local Port Authority – two major successes! Tying up was also not as nerve wracking as we had anticipated - the only drama being me slipping off the salt drenched coach roof into Duncan’s arms.  It was a spectacular and sore event but at least got me out of a shopping trip that never was. It turns out that the day after election results in French Polynesia is a public holiday and nothing is open!! We have so much to learn!! Fall-back pasta mush was resorted to …again but cheered up this time with a very passable bottle of red wine skipper had somehow managed to squirrel past first mate back in Raiatea!! We had safely arrived.

Flowers in Huahine

Papeete dock, Tahiti