French Polynesia
July 1-2, 2023 Running for flights to our dream destination
There are 5,730 miles between Cincinnati, Ohio and Papeete, Tahiti. The trip here was insane but against all odds, we made it by our expected time. It all started at our house Saturday morning. The car was packed with all our bags when we realized our first flight was delayed by an hour. Not much, but when you only have an hour layover in the between the first and second of four flights, it could clearly cause a problem. We would miss our second flight and all flights after that. I told Johan that I could not sit at home all day and we needed to make a move, even if it was just to get us to Atlanta. In the meantime, he spoke with the airline and confirmed that we would be able to book the same flights 2 and 3 for the following day. So, the five of us piled into the car with no reason to believe we would arrive on Sunday as planned, just an expectation that we would try to get to our boat by Monday and we would spend some downtime in a hotel in Atlanta. But we had to try right?? We landed in terminal B in Atlanta and all 5 of us sprinted (remember the littlest legs are 5 years old!) for the gate in terminal A, but we only arrived after the doors were closed. So close, yet so far. We could see the plane sitting there. We waited in line to talk to the airline in terminal A, but they said since our ultimate flight was international we needed to go to terminal E, the international gates. It seemed to be a Christmas miracle when they got us on another flight to LAX, one that would still get us in with plenty of time to spare before our trip to Papeete. We were slightly delayed in boarding but didn’t think much of it. Once we got on the plane, we sat on the tarmack for 90 minutes, with the clock ticking away for our international flight.
When we arrived at the gate in LA, we started a new family run. In this case there was also a bus involved to get us to the international terminal. We made it just in time, all other passengers had boarded but the gate was still open. When we walked up, the gate agent asked our name and, once we provided it, they told us our seats had been given away. The message was that we “had not checked in”, however, we had printed boarding passes. The gate agent told us that they were trying to call us (um, we were on a flight!!). I am not a compulsive person, but I literally threw my hat to the ground – not at anybody, away from everybody, but nonetheless, I threw it. You may guess that I had some stuff going on outside the trip that I needed the trip more than usual, you would be right. There was hustle and bustle as we imagined hanging in LA for 24 hours only to catch another flight the next night. At some point the mistake was recognized and we were allowed to board the plane – but we were that family that held up the flight and made people move out of their seats. The flight was delightful, good food, attempts at sleeping here and there. Just over 8 hours. One of the kids was a little uncomfortable due to motion sickness, running, tiredness and general anxiety. But they (and Johan, the flight neighbor), took it all in stride and planned for future use of Dramamine (for the plane, yes, not the boat – more on that soon). We touched down in Papeete, Tahiti just after 5 AM to singing Tahitians (see video).
Our luggage didn’t make it but we did! We had prepared for that, we all packed swim suits and two days of clothes – and you really need so few clothes on a boat in the tropics! The airline also provided us with a care bag – with one white t-shirt and some toothpaste, so, you know, we were good. We had to get on another flight to Raiatea, so we didn’t know if, or when we would see our luggage. We really didn’t miss much – just our raincoats, an underwater flashlight and large bottles of sunscreen and bug spray.
I was surprised at the number of potential destinations, and I am already planning our retirement by deciding which destinations we could pursue in the future. The prop plane flight from Papeete, Tahiti to Uturoa, Raiatea on Air Tahiti was 50 minutes long. This included a 10 minute stop in Huahine, an island we knew we wouldn’t make it to this trip, but would love to visit in the future.
We were excited to land on Raiatea where we were greeted by some crabs and some leis at the airport. Then we made our way to the dock and then to our charter boat, Babacar II, a 40-foot catamaran (the one in the header for this page) and our home for the week. Check-in and provisioning was painless and we got some great advice on the weather and sites to see around the islands. We were able to take the boat out of the dock on our own. It was essentially med-moored at the dock with a modified frontline attached to a caribiner instead of the anchor. It was pretty easy to detach and Johan was at the helm. We headed to Taha’a for our sailing introduction to the Society Islands and our first night at sea! The kids were happy as soon as we set off – sitting on the front net and loving every wave that rolled by – the bigger the better. They were already talking about moving there within the first hour!
We anchored outside of Motu Tautau, just west of Taha’a. A motu is just a small island that forms on the barrier reef . Once we anchored, we got in our first swim, had lunch and headed over to an intriguing spot we had heard about for passive snorkeling. By this I mean, due to the location of two motus (Motu Tautua and Motu Maharare), there is always a current running between them. The water is crystal clear and there are a ton of coral/fish to view as you “simply” float over them. It actually is not that easy though. The current is pretty fast and you want to make sure you don’t run in to the coral. So you spend some time flapping around to get your bearings and making sure you don’t hit anything. It is an incredible experience but the lack of control can be a bit daunting (in this stream and in life!), especially if you are travelling with kids! You can always do it again though, so no big deal if you miss something the first time. Besides the snorkeling, the view from Motu Maharare was really gorgeous. Palm trees, lots of coral fossils, chickens, kittens, and a gorgeous view of stunning Baie Tapuamu. Looks like a tropical paradise. It is a tropical paradise. There is a nice resort on Motu Tautau – Le Taha’a Island Resort and Spa. These were the only over-water bungalos we saw in west Taha’a while there are several of them in Bora bora. We eventually headed back to the boat. Those kids sure love the dinghy rides and they were ready to swim some more when we got back. Then we settled for the most spectacular show of the day – a sunset over Bora Bora, where we planned to sail to the next day. We saw a couple of very large sting rays and a black tip reef shark (my first shark siting outside of captivity! I celebrated with shark candy!). Anchoring overnight was new and challenging – people do it all the time it just takes a minute to get comfortable. We had practiced on day sails, but this was my first over night anchoring experience. The waters were calm and we were all exhausted. I am pretty sure we were sound asleep with a very dark sky over us at 7:30 PM.
French Polynesia is made up of 5 archipelagos and 118 islands & atolls:
1. Society Islands Archipelago
2. Tuamotu Archipelago
3. Gambier Islands
4. Marquesas Islands
5. Austral Islands
July 3rd, 2023 - Sail to Bora Bora
We woke up to rain, rain and more rain… it was so beautiful!
We had to wait it out a bit to decide for sure whether to go to Bora bora but eventually the weather cleared – we even had a rainbow as we left the barrier reef and entered the Pacific Ocean. The swells here are tall (on a good day 6-8 feet) but the time between them is quite long so, by themselves, they are not as choppy as what we have seen in the BVI. The ride downwind was not bad at all – about 4 hours. Bora bora is surrounded by a barrier reef and you can only enter from the West side. We approached from the Southeast, so we could see the island for a long time before we can enter into the lagoon. We had some moments to prepare ourselves. The same would be true if you arrived by airplane, since the airport is not on the main island but on a motu north of the island. You should take time to prepare for this special place.
When we arrived in Bora Bora, Johan had to dock the boat in in Vaitape to pick up our luggage. We had been very skeptical that we would get our luggage before the sailing week was up but the airline said they could get it to Bora bora. Low and behold, we got our luggage on sailing day 2!! We also took advantage of the stop to run to a grocery store. It was an early introduction to the friendliness of the islanders. I couldn’t speak French and I was looking for foil. I asked a shelf-stocker, who asked his manager. When neither one could answer, they approached a shopper who set all of her stuff down to help me find aluminum. After that we traveled a bit North again so that we could go around Motu Topua to a beautiful spot to moor for the night. Sound typical? It was anything but. The water was a rainbow of turquoise, fish were dancing around as we arrived. We could snorkel off the boat on full beautiful coral reef (which we also needed to carefully avoid on the sailboat). The view is majestic – Mount Temanu at ~2100 feet and Mount Pahia at ~2000 feet and Mount Nue. There is something spiritual about watching the clouds float past the summit of these mountains. Like the fingertips of heaven grazing the earth. I felt something special in my gut there. The first night in Bora bora we made lamb chops on the boat and fed the leftovers to the circling sharks (nurse sharks and black tip reef sharks). There were several of them circling the boat. I think they got word from the single shark that circled the boat when we moored.
We watched the sun set over the Pacific. Again, spiritual, don’t know what else to say. I’ve seen sunset before, the colors on the mountain behind us were brilliant. Something I have not experienced before – was a very special moment with Rory. I took him out to the roof of the boat to look at stars. It was very peaceful, and we saw a glow that appeared to be coming from the other side of the motu – we figured it was some sort of fire and continued to watch. But then we saw it and it blew us away – it was saw an incredible full moon rise. I don’t think I ever realized it was a thing – or if I saw it before in the BVI it was never quite like this. Stunning.
Primary Religion of French Polynesia: Christianity (by way of missionaries)
July 4th, 2023 - The Turquoise Rainbow
We woke up early the next morning to a view straight out of heaven and sailed around the motu, then the island proper.
It is too shallow to sail to the south of Bora Bora within the lagoon, so we sailed from the southwest corner all the way to the north of the island and back down to the southeast corner of the lagoon to get to the place that the charter company referred to ask the most beautiful point of the lagoon. By that, I think he meant the most amazing turquoise and emerald water you have ever seen, ever, or, as I called it, The Turquoise Rainbow. We passed close to all of the over water bungalows. Gorgeous, all of them, but Johan and I agreed that a boat is better for us :). The best part of the bungalows is the view from the boat as you pass them by. We didn’t see very many people out – presumably because they were all out doing water activities!!
The Turquoise Rainbow
The water is incredibly shallow in some places and the navigation markers are different than in the BVI. You need to follow them very closely to avoid the coral, including making 90 degree turns in some places.
Sailing around French Polynesia
No red, right, return. The channel is marked by red on the left and green on the right.
Around the island, red markers indicate island, coral no-go zone, and green marker indicates barrier reef no-go zone.
There are special navigational markers to help you avoid coral in extreme shallow areas. See triangle indicators.
We arrived in Motu Pitu Au and hooked a mooring ball. We ate some lunch and dinghied over to the southern tip of the motu to a spot where you could snorkel with eagle rays. The spot is marked by an old small sailboat (and my guess is they are feeding the eagle rays from this boat). We passed two on the way there – so it seemed promising, and we headed out in snorkeling gear with the kids when we arrived but we didn’t see any there. We did figure out that the place at the southern tip is NOT private and we were able to place our first order for poisson cru there!! Since we’d arrived on the islands, we had been asking about local food and everyone we talked to said poisson cru- it is essentially a fresh raw fish with some sort of citrus, coconut milk and a salad that is very close to a cole slaw. Alex and I had wanted to order since we heard about it - it was good but not the best poisson cru we had on the trip. Rory played with a soccer ball, Annika found a kitty and Alex was enthralled by a demo on how to open a coconut, the first of several on the trip, this became an obsession. On the way back, Annika drove the dinghy and the boys chanted “we are all gonna die”.
We stopped at the motu east of the mooring field. It was surrounded on the lagoon side by a shallow water quite a ways out the shore. The kids played on the beach and I took a walk to explore. It appeared to be an area of castoffs or homeless, but it also may have been a work spot. I saw dogs and a cat, a man chopping and burning palms. I wasn’t sure if I could even walk there, but he told me Allez-y! when I came close. The permission I needed to proceed. The next day we saw a boat dragging palm to the main island. Further down the shore there was another makeshift home where the young man was clearly trying to avoid any interaction with me. There was the smell of sweet smoke in the air as they burned plams and I headed back to find the others. We saw a puffer fish swimming in the shallow water.
We could hear the Pacific ocean on the other side of the motu so Alex and I decided to take a walk and try to see it. We found a path to other side, it was a bit rough at points but then very clear, a point where someone had deliberately cut a path to the Pacific. It was quite beautiful, though a different kind of beautiful then the lagoon. There were tons of coral. No place to swim but you could see it bc the water was so clear. Different shades of deep blues on that side of the barrier reef. We headed back to the boat after a short walk. This time it was Alex’s turn to drive the dinghy and he did ok for a bit, but then he accidentally let go of the steering wand and couldn’t get it back – so that was an amusing moment (caught on film by yours truly – you should see the angry look on Annika’s face!). We took on a bit of water but nothing too serious.
There as a cool floating wooden structure next to where we moored that turned out to be a “bring your own bar” bar. We saw some folks taking advantage and it looked like a fun thing to try in the future. We watched the sunset and cooked on our boat and then played family uno.
National Animal: Sea Turtle
July 5th, 2023 - The Biggest Adventure Day (aka “Swimming with Sharks!!”)
We woke up knowing that we were in for an adventure and some beautiful snorkeling, but this was beyond my wildest imagination! We had breakfast on the boat then dinghied to a reef south of the island dubbed “the aquarium”. We weren’t exactly sure where it was so it was a bit of a guessing game, but eventually we found several floating bottles clearly designed to be dinghy moorings. Part of the reason it was hard to find was becuase there was no one there!! This was a great recommendation from the charter company to get there before 9 AM, bc that is exactly when the tour boats started showing up. We had this giant aquarium all to ourselves! It felt like I jumped into a literal aquarium – the clarity of the water, the beauty of the protected coral, the diversity of species. Unbelievable. Even Rory got in and swam around a bit – he is getting so much stronger every day. Next we decided to go back to the eagle ray spot and try again. We saw several on the way to the aquarium – and this time we did see a couple while snorkeling in the water too. They are majestic creatures – similar to mantas but smaller with intricate designs, almost like tatoos, on their dorsal surface. Both parents and the big kids saw them. Rory hasn’t snorkeled since he had an equipment malfunction on day one.
Next, we made a game time decision… Alex and I wanted to swim with the black tipped reef sharks and we had some advice on the general area to go to but there were not any boats in that area. Just as we were getting into our dinghy, a motor boat from one of the resorts headed in that general direction. We decided to follow. Once we got out by the barrier reef, we again saw the floating bottles to tie up to. Immediately, we could see the sharks circling the boat in the crystalline water. It was just us and the one other boat with a guide and two guests… and about 10-15 sharks. There was no doubt Alex was the first one in – with Johan close behind. Johan has been diving with sharks many times and once had a goal to swim with the ten most dangerous sharks (he got to 3!). Only recently have I had any interest in swimming with sharks. I never wanted to do it before but leading up to the trip he would tell me how amazing it was and I gradually got more and more interested. I was excited about it coming into the trip but the shark viewings in the first few nights of the sail had me second guessing whether I would try. Annika was a hard “no” and Rory didn’t say much at all. I didn’t want to dangle my feet so I went all in at once and was immediately drawn in by the amazing world of sharks around me. They were mesmerizing, just gliding along but barely moving anything. The sharks were up to about 6 feet in length and the smallest around 2 feet. They circled the whole time, never flinched and were never aggressive. I heard some excitement from the surface and came up to see Rory in the water with Johan yelling “I’m swimming with Sharks!” I asked him later how he felt and he said he felt happy and scared a shark would bite his butt. Eventually we convinced Annika to get in too. She did not love it as much as the rest of us but at least she did it. I did not feel frightened – as long as I didn’t let myself think too much about what could be behind me. On the way back to the boat on the dinghy Rory screamed to every boat we saw, near or far, “I swam with sharks!!!!!”
Once we got back to the boat we got ready quickly and started our reverse whimsical tour around the north end of Bora Bora. Again- the colors – the contrast between azure, turquoise, teal with emerald green lush mountain side are astounding. I think the biodiversity of plants might be decreased (maybe due to distance from the mainland) compared to Hawaii, but they have these gorgeous canopy trees that look like they are out of Africa. This time we passed by Vaitape and headed to Bloody Mary’s.
We moored at Bloody Mary’s in the shadow of the magical Bora Bora mountains. We took our dinghy in and got a taxi to Vaitape for sightseeing and lunch. It was fun to see the city and the people – it took us a while – and some sweat – walking back and forth to find some lunch, pick up a few souvenirs and go grocery shopping for some odds and ends. Our taxi driver on the way out was named Valex from Alex Taxi. He was a nice young man. He dropped us off by the dock and that is where we found his mom when we returned. She was dressed in a tropical wrap and looked beautiful. We asked her a lot of questions. She was from New Caledonia, but her grandfather had property on Bora Bora so she moved there when she was 13. She is married with 5 kids, all who have names that start with V (like her) and include her husband’s name Alex (Valex, Valexandria). Our whole time in Bora Bora, I kept saying that the mountains felt almost spiritual to me – made me physically feel something – so Johan asked her if there were any local spiritual beliefs about the mountains. Nothing seemed to come to mind, so I asked her if her family was Christian (I had read that most of the Islanders had been converted by missionaries, except on Huahine) and she said yes.
I was initially not super excited about the idea of going to Bloody Mary’s (https://www.bloodymarys.com/index.html) – it sounded kind of gimmicky – but it was fantastic!! You have to call ahead to ensure a table. It was a large hut that was completely open air with a nice terrace covered in canopy trees. It was warm and very cozy, sand under foot, live local music, fresh caught fish. There was no menu, you just walked up to a table with beautiful plates holding the catches of the day and optional side items. The chef offers a description and you ordered as you stood there. The evening started off on a special note too. I was standing at the front of the restaurant, looking over the register where they had some gift shop items for sale. I told Annika that I really liked this turquoise Blood Mary tank and she said I should buy it. I told her I didn’t absolutely need it, just thought it was cute and we had other souvenirs we wanted to buy on the trip. There was a nice lady standing by and we chatted with her a bit. Then we went to our table and ordered drinks. A few moments later, the same lady came over to me and said she had gotten a really good read on me and saw that I was a person who always focused on others and told me that I needed to do stuff for myself – not just on vacation but at home too. She then proceeded to give me the turquoise shirt wrapped in a Bloody Mary’s bag. I didn’t know what to do – I started crying. I am a very lucky girl when it comes to my home life- but I have been giving, giving, giving at work, and I hope to walk away with a new perspective on that. So Julie – if you are out there! Thank you for making the night extra special!
Anyway, we ordered our fresh fish and one of the chefs was dancing at her grill (always a marker of my favorite type of restaurant). We met a family there – the mom was French and the dad was English and they had 2 adorable kids to play with our kids. They live in New Zealand and were down visiting friends. They eventually asked us to join their table while the kids played. We had a lovely time with them and made plans to make the boys penpals. We told them we could come to NZ to sail them around!!
There was also a local family at the restaurant who appeared to be having some sort of celebration so of course I had to dance with them too. They sang some beautiful songs together. Fantastic karma all evening. The place exuded warmth and friendship – we had a lovely evening.
Popular Island Food: Poisson Cru
July 6th – Bora bora to Taha’a (against the winds and currents)
We woke up early to head SE across the Pacific to explore Taha’a. Getting started was no problem, but as expected, the seas were rough, maybe even rougher than we expected. We had 6-8 foot swells + 3-5 foot waves and 20-25 knot winds. All of us were a little quesy and one of the kids was sick a couple of times. I spent ~90 min sitting with them and looking out the back of the boat at the horizon. We almost lost our bean bags in transit but I crawled up to the bow and saved them!
The conditions eased up as we got closer to Taha’a. Our goal was to get around to the east side of Taha’a for the night after entering the lagoon. As soon as we passed into the lagoon, we were surrounded by a pod of bottle nose dolphins. At first we just saw their dorsal fins so we circled back and they swam with the boat – they jumped out of the water and the baby did flips. There were 25-30 dolphins out there, all to ourselves.
We sailed to the south of Taha’a straight into the wind and had an early indication that it might be too windy to spend the night on the east side of the island but we went to investigate anyway. We quickly said no to the reef but decided to go into the Baie Ha’amene, the deepest fjord in French Polynesia and it was stunning. The majority was unspoiled land except a single road that runs around the island at sea level, through 9 villages. In our voyage we have seen many fires throughout the islands and the fjord was no exception. What is incredible about it is the smell- slightly sweet – burning brush from clearing the yard – palm or other tropical plants and trees. Wouldve loved to stay back there but we didn’t find any mooring balls and the low valley between the mountains created a wind funnel – so we sailed back to the south of the island and the very calm Apu Bay.
Picking up a mooring ball in French Polynesia is never dull, you don’t know what you will get on the other end (including crabs which alert kids to screaming). In Apu Bay we were introduced to the double mooring balls – which actually make so much sense. Each one attaches to one side of the boat so you have a backup if one breaks. You always have two ropes on the cat but here you have two in the water too. This is called multiple buoy mooring; I am not sure how common it is since this was the first time we encountered it. We picked up a mooring ball for the Champon pearl farm (free mooring ball if you visit, more information in the next post!) as we planned to head there the next morning. We had heard about the local Ficus (https://www.facebook.com/p/Le-Ficus-100077569140968/) restaurant and tried to dinghy over to find it but once we got there it was dark with only crabs crawling around. Later we found out that they are only open on weekends – so we would need to come back! We headed back to the boat for dinner. We played cards and the kids played their unique boat game of whack-a-mole through the boat portals. They came up with this creative game on our first family trip in 2020, when the youngest was still in diapers. The big kids would take turns sticking their head up through the portal and he would use his hand or a paper towel role to whack them on the head. Most fun you can have on a boat – they had me laughing so hard I snorted. So much better than screens!!!
Origin of the Tahitians: SE Asia (its complicated, more to come)
July 7th – Apu Bay: Pearl Farm & Le Ficus
We started our day off at the pearl farm as soon as it is opened. It was honestly fascinating to understand how the pearls are created, to understand how it works and how much work goes into growing and harvesting a pearl. I will explain it to the best of my memory. Only 1:10,000 oysters makes a natural pearl – this happens when a piece of sand or other debris gets stuck and the oyster uses it as a nucleus to form a pearl. But this is not realistic for a sustainable business. We visited Champon Pearl Farm to learn how a pearl is born on a farm. Instead of waiting for a natural pearl, they find an oyster with a beautiful, shiny, colorful interior shell that is likely to form a beautiful pearl. They determine shell beauty by gently but forcibly opening the oyster and using a special mirror to look at the inside of the shell. That oyster will be sacrificed and will become the donor oyster. They transplant a small piece of the mantle from the donor oyster together with a nucleus, a hard round material made from oyster shells often found in the Mississippi river. The nucleus is used to shape the pearl. The famers perform an antiseptic procedure where they transplant the nucleus together with the mantle from a donor oyster into the pouch of another (or thousands of other) oyster(s) for grafting. Each donor oyster can supply 50 recipients. This farm had 75-100 k oysters. There are two other pearl farms on Taha’a; we really loved visiting Champon!
While there, we also learned all about the grading system for pearls. Our guide, who was French, but moved to Tahiti after meeting her partner, showed us the difference as she rolled pearls in front of us. When rolling Category A pearls, you cannot even tell it is rolling because there are no imperfections. Category B pearls typically have one divot but that divot can be used to mount the pearl. Category C pearls have multiple imperfections but are still nice and round. “Toy jewelry” can be various wonderful shapes. The toy pearls are just as beautiful in my opinion and even more unique but the farm will not re-use an oyster that produces one because they are not as desirable. We did wind up picking up a few souvenirs at the pearl farm . We definitely paid well for our two nights on the mooring ball but what an amazing memory of this trip !!
When we left the pearl farm, we went to the bakery to get fresh baguettes, and I realized another amazing thing about this being French Polynesia. You are never far away from a fresh bakery (patisserie, boulangerie). We decided we would use the rest of the day to go out to the windy reef and see what we could find. Northeast of the channel we anchored and took the dinghy to the barrier reef. We saw some fish and coral but it was pretty cloudy and there was a strong current. Next, I dinghied over to the south side of the channel and the snorkeling was better there, many anemones and clown fish along with some larger coral.
We then returned to Apu Bay for the evening as we determined that the Ficus was open that night. This time we knew exactly where to go and when we arrived there were a grand total of two tables set under the tiki hut. This was hilarious because I was expecting it to be “touristy”. I am pretty sure the hosts just made the food at their house and warmed it up in the small kitchen. Food was: the best poisson cru we had the whole trip (local fish in coconut milk and lime, almost like a slaw), another fish dish with greens, pork with curry and a beef dish. All was good, especially the curry and the poisson cru. The wait staff/cooks were pretty shy and welcomed us warmly but stayed away once food was served. Apparently there is a show if you have more than 15 people, but we were only 10. After dinner, some of the neighborhood kids played soccer with our kids and had a great time. When we finally pulled the kids away from soccer, we thanked them for the delicious food and they give us the leftovers!
Largest Economic Activity:
Tourism, followed by Pearls
July 8th – Baie Tapuamu: Rum Distillery & Virgin Oils
Now we knew about the bakery so, of course, first thing next morning, Captain Johan dinghied in to get some baked goods and brought them back to the boat. Apparently, Rory (then, 5 years old) drove the dinghy but I only found that out later. We called the Vanilla farm to see if there was space on the tour but he had already started for the day so he offered to call back with an alternate time the same day or the next day. We decided to head over to Baie Hurepiti. It was a nice short sail and the kids were going to help me moor. I pulled up the ball and heard shouts of crabs! Crabs! I didn’t react until the shouts became shrill screams from both kids so I frantically and instinctively threw the ball back in the water. Turns out it really was just crabs. We moored and called the Vanilla farm but he had decided it was best to go the next day so we headed out to Motu Tautau for the night. It was rough for swimming there (and swimming is the kids’ favorite thing to do) so we decided to head into Baie Tapuamu by the rum distillery. We took a tour of the Domaine Pari Pari (facebook, website) rum distillery and of course did some tasting. They also made oil- extra virgin coconut oil, tamanu oil, and vanilla oil. The islanders have strong beliefs on the healing power of tamanu, that it can be used to relieve bites, cuts and stings. Annika had a small sting from swimming the day before so we bought some of it. It has a nutty smell to it but I like the way it feels on my face instead of lotion. We also learned about the restorative power of coconut oil. We learned that some of the elderly rub it on their gums every day. The coconut is used for so many things on the islands! There were several cats at the distillery so the kids were happy too.
There was a dreamy floating bar, Fare Miti at the end of the dock that looked like an old fashioned Polynesian catamaran. It was picture perfect – open air inside. We stayed for a drink and a snack and we met two of the most interesting sailors of the trip (who we ran into again randomly when we were going to the airport in Raitea). They had an amazing story, different versions of which are not all that uncommon in French Polynesia it turns out. They were lifelong friends from Switzerland (40+ years) who had a decades old dream to sail to Australia. Here is the kicker – they decided to sail west then down and around South America- not through the Panama canal. They had been at it since 2019 and here we were in 2023. These years included the COVID pandemic which drew out their trip even longer than espected. They told us about their time in some countries during COVID, including Uruguay, where they were not allowed to set foot on soil because of the pandemic. They became desperate for food so they gave their credit card and a shopping list to a stranger who went to shop for them. I asked them about their worst sailing conditions and they told me that they finally left Peru when the wind got down to 40-50 knots – oh yeah, and there was snow!!! They said their wives join them occasionally on the trek. I plan to follow up on their blog (make sure you use your browser to translate to English). They said it wasn’t updated but I can’t wait to check it out. Their story is really something and you should check it out! We returned to the boat for a swim and some paddle boarding with a plan to wake up early and head to the vanilla farm.
Oil Commonly used by Polynesians for bites & stings: Tamanu
July 9th – Baie Hurepiti: Vanilla Tour
The next morning we headed back to Baie Hurepiti. The kids were in charge of mooring and I was at the helm. It is so nice to be able to take on these roles in a less crowded place. There are only ~5-6 balls in this bay so not many boats and only one other catamaran and no people swimming around to worry about. Plus, I had settled into my comfort zone after several days on the boat.
Once secured, we dinghied over to this little non-descript dock with a slide on it and we were met by Noah, our guide for the Vanilla tour. He greeted us and one other couple and took us for a tour of his picturesque yard. His parents were born and raised in France but he was born and raised on the island of Taha’a- on a quiet part of a quiet island. The family had built everything from the ground up and it was spectacular. They had a huge Banyon Tree that was 30 years old. Throughout the day, Noah told us that he had left for a while to go to college in France and ultimately returned after 10 years and is now running the family business. We did not meet his mother and father – but waved to them in their residence on the property - such an amazing life story. Their property alone is worth the visit!
On the property, they grew
Lemongrass – a natural bug repellant
Noni fruit – can be fermented as a drink for stomach ailments and sliced for cuts and burns; currently being studied for arthritis and cancer
Red garlic
Mango – the tree was the only original one there from the time the family purchased the property
Papaya - we learned that the hollow branches could be used for straws
Breadfruit – filling fruit brought by the Polynesians for food
We learned so much from Noah about plant diversity in French Polynesia. I had mentioned to Johan earlier in the trip that French Polynesia seemed a bit less diverse than Hawaii – but it made some sense because they are further from large land masses. Noah estimated that 100 plants/seeds were brought by sea (ie. coconut floats and plants itself when it lands), 500 by wind and 500 by… BIRDS! People of course also played a role – in particular, the Polynesians. They were very good at identifying and bringing the most useful fruits for food or for medication. Not only that, they had a process of selection where they would choose the strongest, sweetest plants as they traveled east across the islands. Per Noah, it is known that you can find the best and the sweetest fruits furthest east in the islands as the Polynesians sailed from West to East. So, if you ever had any doubt that humans could affect natural selection – we clearly can!
Fascinatingly, it was always known the Polynesians came from an area around China but, according to Noah, some genetic evidence shows they actually came from Taiwan >1000 years ago. It seems this is not totally conclusive. I need to do some more genetics research on the topic - https://www.science.org/content/article/game-changing-study-suggests-first-polynesians-voyaged-all-way-east-asia, but it is an interesting discussion. The ancestors designed the original outriggers and sailed all that distance, >7000 miles. Another fascinating fact is that the Polynesians often had pigs on their boat because the pigs have such a good sense of smell and could detect the scent of a new island before people (of note, this is an entirely different reason from the pigs in the Bahamas). The ancestors used an island, possibly Raitea, as a home base and used various strategies to find neighboring islands from there, including the pigs and various patterns of cloud accumulation. Just fascinating.
Noah took us in his open air land rover – the boys were thrilled to get to sit in the front seat and without seatbelts. We took a short hike to the vanilla plants. They used to have a much larger plantation but it was destroyed by fungus. The work that goes into these non-indigenous plants is incredible. A cold front triggers the vanilla plant to bloom – when a flower is in bloom you have one day to fertilize it – and this is done by hand. It happens naturally in South American where the plants are endemic and have a special bird with a beak that fits perfectly into the narrow flower to do the job. But not in French Polynesia. Here, farmers have to dig deep into the flower and manually touch the stamen to the pistil. Both parts are there in the same flower, just centimeters apart but require assistance to make contact. On a single stem the adjacent flowers will bloom on consecutive days. You can easily see if a day of blooming and fertilization has been missed. The vines will then grow beans – but that is just the start. Once they are ripe, they endure months of pampering! They must be in a dry area and have constant turning and human massage. It is such a labor intensive business but that, and the pearls (and tourism of course!!) are major contributors to the economy in Taha’a.
Vanilla plants were not all we saw on this trip; Noah drove us around half the island! We went to a grocery store on Baie Ha’amene to buy vanilla products. It was Sunday so they kept the store open just for the tour. Then we drove along the fjord and on to the north side of the island and eventually back to Pari Pari. Before that, Noah showed us an area on the side of the road where they were performing a cheap processing of coconuts – and said he would love to see the islands make more “extra virgin coconut oil” as they do at Pari Pari. He said that the extra virgin coconut oil is believed to have special properties such as skin healing powers. The elderly often rub it on their gums at night – Noah sprayed it in mouth to show me he wasn’t joking. It took me this long to understand what Lizzo meant by “all I needed was some coconut oil”.
Other things they use coconut for on the islands include:
Husks for soil/mulch for flowers
Husks for starting fires in the grill
Eating
Cooking
Skin oils
Jewelry – braided/patterned
At our last stop, Noah prepared some delicious fruit for us including papaya, two kinds of bananas, star fruit and pamplemousse. It was a great way to end the tour.
On the tour, we met another couple, who were real sailors and they joined us back on our boat for a drink and some snacks. They had sailed from the west coast of Mexico to French Polynesia and had spent the last 90 days trolling around French Polynesia aboard their 40 foot catamaran, Flite Deck. I asked them the same question I asked the Swiss sailors about their most challenging weather, and they had a much more palatable answer, up to 25-30 knot winds. They planned their trip accordingly to avoid the bad weather. This seemed much more feasible to me, and gave me that thought…. maybe one day… It was such an engaging conversation, we hated to cut it short, but we needed to get to a safe spot closer to Raitaea for the night and the weather had picked up a bit. We sailed across the lagoon in pretty high winds, probably the fastest sailing speeds we have ever made, certainly for the trip, and maybe of any of our trips. It was invigorating and made me crave more speed. There were rough swimming conditions, but it was a beauteous storm, and once again, I enjoyed the colors in a different light.
The next morning we grudgingly headed back to the marina, with Annika at the helm looking like a boss. We had yet another lesson on opening coconuts with a local and headed to the airport. The boys made friends and played soccer at the open air airport. This was the final chapter of our sailing week, but we weren’t finished with French Polynesia yet.
This was the final chapter of our sailing week, but we weren’t finished with French Polynesia yet.
More on Moorea and Tahiti to come!