We sailed the entire way from Niue to the Vava’u group in the Kingdom of Tonga. It was a nice 2-day downwind sail with winds averaging 20 knots and seas a bit rought at 10 feet. We were within visual sight of SV Brahminy and within AIS signal of SV Panthera the entire way, and we kept in contact with both on the VHF radio. During the 2-day sail, we experienced a few squalls accompanied by some amazing rainbows. We also spotted a humpback whale a few boat lengths in front of us prompting us to change course. It next surfaced behind us and performed a beautiful show of several breaches. The seas were still rough as we rounded the Vava’u group from the north. We motored the last few miles to the village of Neiafu, the check-in point for the Vava’u group. It was still gusting to 20 knots making the customs wharf too difficult to use, so we anchored alongside and dinghy’d in to meet customs, health, and agriculture officials for clearing into Tonga.

The Vava’u group is 1 of 3 groups of islands that make up the Kingdom of Tonga. It consists of dozens of islands spread out over an area of 250 square miles. There are 42 anchorages with names that are so hard to pronounce that they simplified it by numbering them 1-42. The main town of Neiafu is the center of activity and where most cruisers initially go. There are restaurants, a nice market, churches, bakeries, grocery stores, banks, etc. The other islands are either uninhabited or have very small villages. We used Neiafu as our home base and made several excursions to other anchorages throughout the group.
One of the best things about cruising is getting together with other boaters. We had a fantastic dinner aboard SV Brahminy with Dan & Sara who caught a nice Yellowfin tuna coming into Tonga. Richard & Geri from SV Panthera also joined us, then we all went to our boat for dessert—a peach crumble that Karen had made. Jacintha finally got to use the maps she had drawn of Apropos months ago, handing them out to everyone while giving them a tour of our boat.

Tonga is an amazing cruising ground. Sort of like the San Juan and Gulf Islands in the Pacific Northwest, but with palm trees and warm water. Here are some highlights of our stay in Tonga:

Kava and Ukulele
One evening we took the dinghy to shore where we knew there was going to be a band called The Strings playing guitars and ukuleles. I brought my ukulele along and soon was sitting around a table playing Tongan music and drinking kava. Kava is a Tongan tradition enjoyed only by men and served by women. At the end of each song, wooden sipping bowls were filled from a huge yellow bowl of kava and passed around to each player. I’ve never drank kava before but heard about its tongue numbing, mellow/happy feeling effects. After about the 4th song, I was happy and numb! They sang and played traditional Tongan songs (mostly with 3 or 4 chords so I was able to strum along on my uke) until the kava was gone. I figured in the course of 2 hours I drank about a gallon of kava! Karen was the designated kava server, getting instructions from the guys to “stir it more” and “two scoops per bowl”. Jacintha fell asleep and the restaurant staff gave her a blanket and let her lie down on a table. After the last ounce of kava was drunk at around 11pm, we dinghy’d back to our boat where I slept great—and felt fine the next morning!

Matamaka
The tiny village of Matamaka (anchorage #15) is a 2 hour sail from Neiafu. We went there after reading about their small elementary school that welcomes cruising kids to join them for a day of school. After tying to a mooring buoy, we walked to the 2-classroom school to meet the teacher and ask if Jacintha could attend the following day. There were 2 classrooms, one for 8-9-10 year olds, and one for 5-6-7 year olds. The principal introduced us to both classes and welcomed Jacintha to join them the following day starting at 8:30am. We then walked around the village of a dozen or so homes, most with gardens and fenced-in areas for pigs. We stopped to talk to 2 men who were chopping up kava root. One of the girls we met earlier in the older classroom gave Jacintha a book and a small plastic toy. She was very sweet and declined our offer to bring her a book the following day. Back at the boat, Jacintha was very excited to be going to school the next day and even went to bed early but couldn’t sleep!

A Day at School
It was Karen’s birthday, so I made her tea and let her have a relaxing morning while I packed a lunch for Jacintha and took her to school. We tied the dinghy to the wharf at 8am and walked a short distance to the school, which sits atop a hill overlooking the bay. Along the way we passed the school principal who was waiting for a boat to take her to town for a meeting. So instead of 2 teachers and 2 classrooms, there would be only 1 teacher with 15 students in a single classroom. Jacintha and the Tongan students lined up outside the building for the morning prayer and announcements, spoken in Tongan. The teacher had her infant baby with her and after we entered the school, asked if I would be ok watching the class until 10am. I gladly accepted and began by asking the kids to introduce themselves and tell me their age. They were very shy at first but soon warmed up. They ranged in age from 6 to 11 years old (the older kids lived and attended school in Neiafu during the week, and returned to Matamaka on weekends). We did some math on the blackboard, with the younger kids doing simple addition and the older kids multiplication. I showed them where Seattle was on the globe and asked them how long they thought it took us to sail to Tonga, getting answers from 2 days to 2 weeks! I also asked them questions about Tonga and found the population of Matamaka was about 40 people. I asked them to sing their favorite song, which went “Good morning, good morning, how are you? I’m fine, I’m fine, and hope that you are too”. Next was reading and Jacintha volunteered to read a book in front of the classroom. Then they translated some English words such as “hello, house, boat, pig” to Tongan. Running out of things to do, I asked what game they wanted to play and they decided on hangman. When the teacher returned at 10am, I went back to the boat and left Jacintha with the class. When we returned at noon, the teacher thanked us for the donations of books and art supplies, and then had 3 of the older girls perform a short dance for us. She then announced the school day to be a half-day and asked the kids to line up outside beneath the bell where she distributed a bag full of toys Jacintha had brought for them. The kids were dismissed and we ate our lunch on a bench overlooking the bay. Afterwards we were joined by one of the boys in a game of stickball on the large lawn in front of the school.

Tongan Feast
We joined 5 other boats at anchorage #16 (Vaka’Eitu) for a Tongan Feast. A wonderful Tongan family provides the entertainment and food along the beach in front of their house. They cooked a suckling pig on a spit, sweet and sour fish, teriyaki chicken, yams, crab salad, taro leaves, fruit, and more. The hosts, who have 11 children,  also provided some entertainment with singing, dancing and guitar playing. Jacintha had fun playing with other boat kids while we ate and talked to other cruisers. It was a beautiful night with a new moon, brilliant stars, and hardly any wind.

Swallows Cave
After dropping anchor in Port Maurelle at anchorage #7, we drove our dinghy a mile away to explore Swallows Cave. We heard the best time to go was after 4pm since the cave opening faces west and in the late afternoon the sun shines right into the cave. Arriving at 5:30pm,we found the opening in the coral limestone and drove the dinghy inside. The inside of the cave was amazing—above the water, the ceiling rose to 50’, and below the crystal clear water, the floor dropped to at least 100’. The inside was the size of a small movie theater. With the sun shining into the mouth of the cave, thousands of small silver fish shined in schools a few feet below the surface as well as 50’ down. We put on our mask and fins and snorkeled around for 30 minutes enjoying the underwater scenery. On the cave ceiling were hundreds of swallow nests from which the cave was named after.

Jacintha’s Friends
After several weeks of hanging out with just mom and dad, Jacintha has been having a field day meeting up with old and new boat kids. While in Tonga, we reconnected with SV Bob The Cat and their 2 boys, and met new kids from SV Javelot and SV Fannie Fisher. Here are some pictures of Jacintha and her friends. Ivan, shown rowing in the picture below, was a great rower and rowed them all the way to shore and back. We later learned his father was an Olympic rower for NZ, and also rowed across the Atlantic, winning the 2-man race!

Niue is an isolated independent island nation located 600 nautical miles WNW from Rarotonga. Known as “The Rock”, the island is made up of coral limestone and is 12 miles long by 9 miles wide. There is no surrounding reef and the only mooring is on the west side near the village of Alofi.
Upon arrival, we tied to a mooring buoy, then took the dinghy to the wharf to meet customs & immigration, agriculture, and health officials for check in. Since there is no beach landing, dinghies are raised up 10 feet onto the concrete wharf by a self-operated electric crane. It’s a difficult and scary process when the surf is rough, which it seemed to be every time we hoisted our dinghy. After connecting the crane’s hook to the dinghy lifting bridle, you climb out of the dinghy via a set of stairs to reach the top of the wharf, where the crane controls are located. After raising the dinghy above the wharf, you swing the crane arm around and lower the dinghy onto a flat aluminum dolly, then park the dinghy in an area clear of the crane. Finally, you return the lifting hook back over the water and lower it for the next dinghy to use.

After all the formalities of checking in were complete, we walked around Alofi and found the Niue Yacht Club, who rents out the 20 mooring buoys. The yacht club is a very nice place to relax, use wifi, meet other cruisers, and get information. Ira, who volunteers her time at the yacht club, knows everything about the island. She called to make dinner and car reservations for us, and offered suggestions on what to during our short stay on Niue.
Some of the main attractions on Niue are the caves and chasms carved out of the limestone along the rugged coastline. We rented a car and drove around the island perimeter, stopping at 5 sights along the way. This was the first time I drove a car in 10 months, and after almost a year on a sailboat that moves at an average speed of 5 knots, driving at 45 mph seemed very fast (also scary since I was driving a car with the steering wheel on the right, and driving on the opposite side of the road!). We parked the car at the side of the road and hiked down to the coast on paths called sea tracks. At the end of the sea tracks was either a cave, swimming spot, or chasm.

Here’s our 4 favorite stops driving around the island:

Avaiki
Named after a derivative of the word “Hawaike”, the ancestral home of the Polynesians who first came to Niue on canoes, this site was celebrated by those of high-ranking, in gratitude of their safe passage. A short walk down the sea track, we entered a spectacular dripstone cave. After exploring the cave, we exited along the coast to find small pools of clear water among the coral limestone. These pools can only be reached at low tide and were full of juvenile fish and fragile coral.

Palaha Cave
Palaha is one of the the biggest caves on Niue with rare limestone formations formed over hundreds of years. We hiked down the sea track and entered the cave to explore the amazing stalactites and stalagmites formed as water drips through the cave ceiling. We could see different colors in the formations from various minerals, as well as the glassy look of a new stalagmite forming.

Limu Pools
Limu Pools are near the village of Namukulu. A hike down the sea track ended at the sea where a large sea-water pool is protected by huge rocks. The rock ledges and clear, deep water make this a great place for swimming. Since it was a cool, overcast day, we hadn’t planned on swimming so didn’t bring swim suites…but I couldn’t resist jumping off a cliff into the water wearing my red speedos!

Togo Chasm
Located on the rugged windward west coast of Niue, Togo Chasm was the last stop on our island tour. Along the 30-minute drive there, we passed through several small villages with  houses that were mostly abandoned from when a large typhoon passed through in 2008. Similar to a lot of other pacific islands, Niue suffers from a population decline as the natives seek opportunities elsewhere (like the Cook Islanders, Niueans enjoy dual citizenship with New Zealand). A half hour hike through a coastal forest opened up to the coastline with sharp pinnacles and sink holes. A crude cement path made it easier to walk though this area and at the end was an amazing chasm. To enter the chasm, we carefully climbed down a steep 40’ ladder, which was quite scary when looking down from the top. At the bottom was a long sandy strip of flat land surrounded on all sides by vertical rock walls. A few palm trees managed to grow inside the chasm. We climbed through a small opening in the rocks that led to the sea, where we sat and watched the waves force sea water into and out of the opening. Togo Chasm was an amazing place!

The entire tour took us about half a day. Afterwards, we showered at the bathroom facilities on the wharf, then rewarded ourselves with a nice sushi dinner at Kaika Japanese restaurant, where we had a 6:30pm reservation. The food was absolutely superb—miso soup, fresh seared toro (tuna belly) served 3 different ways, chefs-choice rolls of wahoo, tuna, and mahi mahi, and soba noodles.

Although our stay on Niue was only 3 days, we were very glad we stopped. The laid-back lifestyle and friendliness of the Niueans was similar to that in some of the other south pacific islands. We also met some cruisers from Australia who we would end up buddy-boating with to Tonga. Dan and Sara on SV Brahminy bought their boat in the Caribbean and are sailing it to northern Australia. We bumped into Richard and Geri on SV Panthera who are from England and are also on their way to Australia (we met them in Mexico and saw them again in Bora Bora). So on Saturday, we joined both of these boats in up-anchoring for the 2-day sail to Tonga, keeping in touch along the way via VHF radio with weather reports and whale sightings. We even got close enough (within a mile) to take pictures of each others boat during the passage!

Since we arrived at the north end of Rarotonga at 8pm, we had to wait until the following morning to radio the harbormaster to get approval and mooring instructions. Heaving-to is a way of stalling a boat and is usually used in high winds so the crew can rest. The typical procedure is to tack without releasing the genoa sheet so the headsail is back-winded, then lashing the rudder at an angle. The sheeted-in mains’l provides a little movement to windward and the back-winded genoa provides a little movement to leeward. These two counter-balance each other and the boat stalls facing into the wind, ideally moving at less than a knot. We’ve done this before in winds over 15 knots and it worked well. But trying to hove-to in only 5 knots of wind doesn’t work so well on Apropos. We tried different combinations of reefing the main and genoa while hove-to but the boat kept turning away from the wind and sailing on a beam reach at a speed of 2 knots. Since we would be hove-to for 12 hours, this would put us 24 miles away. Our goal was to stay in the lee of the island. So our only solution was to heave-to for a while starting at point A, sail slowly to point B, then turn the boat around and return to point A and repeat…..all night long! So instead of getting some rest, we would have to take shifts doing this. We thought about just dropping the sails and drifting, but a 1 knot current would take us away from the lee of the island and we’d get blown further away and into rougher seas. We found that going from point A to B took 2-3 hours, and returning to point A took 1 hour. So it took 3 cycles of this until daybreak. We then took the sails down in the morning and motored into Avatiu Harbor after contacting the harbormaster on VHF and hoisting our yellow quarantine flag.
Avatiu Harbor can only hold about 6 cruising boats and is exposed to the north, so any northerly winds makes this a risky place. Boats are required to med tie to a sea-wall. This means dropping an anchor in 20’ of water, backing up to the sea-wall, then tying 2 stern lines to cleats on the sea-wall. The day we arrived, there were no other boats moored here. The med mooring went well and a port worker caught our lines as we backed up to the sea wall. After meeting with custom officials to get checked into the Cook Islands, we took down the Q flag and were free to go “muck about” as the customs official put it. Later another official stopped by to confiscate all remaining fruits and vegetables. The cruising guides say they come aboard to search and fumigate the boat to kill any fruit flies, but he was satisfied with us handing over a few limes and didn’t even come aboard.

Being the only cruising boat in the harbor, we had lots of people stopping  by the quay for a look. A lot of New Zealanders come here this time of year to escape from their winter and we invited some aboard for coffee. We also found the locals to be very friendly. At the marina office I was asking where I could fill up our 5-gallon diesel containers and ended up riding on the back of her scooter while holding onto the two containers, to a gas station a block away. I decided to walk there for the next 2 trips and this supplied us with 30 gallons, enough to top off the tanks. A worker in the cafe located next to the quay offered to drive us to the laundry service a few miles away. Turns out she has a daughter Jacintha’s age so they played together when she was off school. Two other sailboats arrived over the next few days, both flying French flags.

The Cooks consist of 15 small islands scattered over 750,000 square miles. Captain Cook, after whom the islands are named, explored most of them in the 1770s. Rarotonga is only 25 square miles in area. The mountain peaks reach to about 2000’ and are a spectacular sight from offshore. This is the most important of the Cook Islands and over half of the population resides here. The town of Avarua is near the moorage and there is a public market, grocery store, hardware store, and lots of restaurants nearby. A road circles the island and a 50-minute bus ride takes you around the island.

Celebrating
We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a nice lunch at the Rarotonga Yacht Club at Muri Beach, located on the SE side of the island. We took a bus there and hitchhiked back. A young couple from Scotland and Montana picked us up and we invited them on our boat to chat.

I also picked out my belated birthday present–a nice Tahitian ukulele, something I’ve been eying during our 2 months in French Polynesia.

Tahitian Ukulele
I first learned about this type of ukulele, which has 8 strings doubled in 4 pairs and tuned to GG CC EE AA, in the Marquesas. I kept hearing them being played in places like Rangiroa, Tahiti, Huahine, and at the Heiva festival in Bora Bora. The one I chose is made in Tahiti by Raromatai, and is the Onaga model. I chose it for it’s superior acoustics compared to the other models I looked at. It also is a work of art with embedded pearl around the front and side body, carvings on the rear body and neck. A 4cm hole is bored in the back and a 10cm hole is bored in the front, then covered by a thin piece of wood. This works as a wood-skinned banjo and gives the Tahitian ukulele it’s unique sound. I’ve already found some good sources on YouTube for learning how to play it. My other ukuleles are 4-string Hawaiian-type and I mostly play finger-pick style. The Tahitian ukulele is meant to be played in a fast strumming manner.

Departing Rarotonga
After a 4 day stay, we will be departing Rarotonga and sail to Niue, about 600 miles away. We took care of the formalities (port captain, immigration) a day ahead. We still have a long way to go to reach Sydney…

I’m reading the book “The Bounty, The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty”
The HMS Bounty stopped in Rarotonga after their stay in Tahiti. Next they departed for Tonga, which is where the mutiny took place under the direction of Fletcher Christian. The mutineers sailed the Bounty back to Tahiti and some went on to Pitcairn Island where they started a colony which still exists today. Captain Bligh and 20 of his loyalists were placed in a 23’ launch boat and miraculously survived the 3,500 nautical mile trip to Timor. He then went back to England to begin the process of bringing the mutineers to justice.

A funny thing happened on the way to the gendarmerie (official you must visit to check out of French Polynesia). About 50 yards from the office, we saw a poster advertising Heiva, a huge annual festival of Polynesia culture featuring competition in dance, chanting, rowing, and sports. Each Society Island has their own Heiva, which lasts about 2 weeks. We decided to extend our stay in Bora Bora by a week to see the first 2 days of the festival. Our rational—we’ve come all this way so why miss out on something so special! Since we do have a timeline to get to Australia, this puts us a week behind schedule, but by spending a day or two less in the next few island groups (Cooks, Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia), we can get close enough to being back on schedule. And what better place to spend an extra week than Bora Bora!

So, instead of the last minute flurry of activities preparing the boat for a passage, we kicked back and spent the next few days snorkeling, paddle-boarding, relaxing, and getting together with other boats like Bob The Cat and Maestro. I’m also reading South Sea Tales by Jack London, which is very interesting because some of the stories take place in areas we’ve sailed through or will be sailing through.

Heiva 2015

During the day, we walked around Viatapi, the main village on Bora Bora and site of the Heiva. The waterfront area was transformed into an arena for the evening competitions, huts with Polynesian arts and crafts, and bamboo buildings with restaurants. After the 2-week festival, it all gets torn down and becomes a parking lot again.

Each night there are 2 performances (chanting and dancing) in an outdoor sand-covered arena. Each performance is from a different village on Bora Bora. The performances are judged and a winner is announced at the end of Heiva.

On the first night, the group doing the chanting (Himene) was from Tiipoto. They wore colorful dresses, flower headbands, and shell necklaces and chanted to a flowing, melodic ukulele rhythm and drum beat. The singing and swaying were very beautiful to watch.

The second performance was dancing (Otea) by the village of Faanui. This was done to a much faster beat and featured young women wearing grass skirts, flowered headbands, necklaces, and wristbands, and coconuts. The men wore grass loin cloths and headbands and were also very fit.

It was an amazing evening that started with a nice dinner with Erin, Len and  baby Trent from SV Maestro before the performance. We bought tickets and sat in the bleacher section to watch the 3-hour performance, which began at 8pm. A huge shower came through right at the end and we were soaking wet by the time we dinghy’d back to our boat!

We’ll upload more videos of the performance when we find faster wifi, but here are a few short clips….

Pearl Purchase
Similar to Tahiti, Bora Bora is a great place to buy black pearls. There are a dozen or so pearl shops in Viatapi, and Karen never grew tired of “looking”. By now, we are somewhat educated in pearls since we’ve been to pearl farms, pearl museums, and countless pearl shops. I figured this was my last chance to make a purchase since we were leaving French Polynesia in 3 days. I also figured she deserved it for doing something as crazy as quitting our jobs for a year, squeezing into a boat the size of most people’s living room, and sailing across the biggest ocean in the world.
So Karen found a nice black Tahitian pearl she hinted that she REALLY liked, and I snuck back to the store and bought it. It was sold as a loose pearl and I had it mounted in an 18K white gold stud with a white gold necklace. She chose this particular pearl for its size (13.4mm), quality (grade A round), and color (very light peacock). The owner of Baldini’s Pearls was very friendly and let me watch as he drilled and mounted the pearl.

One More Delay….
Two days before our intended departure, we were munching on some caramel corn at the Heiva festival and Karen broke a tooth (at least we thought so at the time).  Back at the boat, I inspected the tooth with a flashlight while stretching her mouth to try to see in the back. It looked like the break went down to the gum line, which brought worries of infection if not treated. We decided to delay our departure another 3 days so we could have it looked at on Monday. We knew a dentist office was located right next door to the Aloe Cafe, where we spent lots of time using wifi, and hoped we could get a walk-up appointment. Arrived there at 9am and only had to wait 30 minutes until the dentist could see her. Turns out it was a prior filling in the side of the tooth that had broken off. 30 minutes and only $40 later, a new filling was in and we were back at the Aloe Cafe eating bacon and eggs.

Bora Bora is called the “Jewel of the South Seas” for good reason—turquoise water, white-sanded islets, the famous Mount Otemanu and Pahia covered in lush greens, and the friendliness of the 6,000 islanders. The lagoon of Bora Bora is 3 times larger than its land mass. The island is about 7 million years old, and is somewhere between the Tuamoto atolls in age (10 to 40 million years old), and high islands such as Tahaa and Raiatea (2 to 3 million years old). A mere 8 million years from now, the island will have sunk into the ocean and been replaced by a lagoon surrounded by a fringe reef.

We arrived on a Sunday and tied to a mooring buoy next to the well known Bloody Mary’s restaurant. The following morning we took the dinghy to the south-east part of the island to a place called the Coral Garden, an amazing natural underwater park where all sorts of tropical reef fish are found. I was able to get better close-up pictures of fish here since the water was crystal clear, the sun was bright, and the fish seemed less afraid than at other reefs we snorkeled at. After several hours of this, we got back in the dinghy and motored to the Intercontinental Resort where we used the pool, played in the sand, and relaxed.

For dinner we ate at Bloody Mary’s, where you make your selection by looking at the displays of fresh fish and meat on ice before being seated. We had Meka (a type of swordfish found only in French Polynesia), Ribs, Steak, and their signature Bloody Mary (me) and Strawberry Daiquiri (Karen). The tropical atmosphere, sand covered floor, and great food made this a memorable dining experience!

As we moved to different anchorages around Bora Bora, I captured different views of Mt. Otemanu and Mt. Pahia at different times of the day.

Boat Repairs
Dinghy Engine–We use our inflatable dinghy like land-based people use their car. It’s our main transportation once we reach a destination and are anchored. We have a small 6HP 4-stroke Tuhatsu engine that has needed practically no maintenance during its 8 years of use (only changed oil and spark plug). Recently it has been stalling at low throttle, which makes it hard shifting into forward or reverse. So we suspected it was time for a carburetor cleaning. Thanks to YouTube, we were able to follow along the procedure while watching a 10-minute video with the exact same engine model. After removing the carburetor from the engine, we took it apart to gain access to the 2 jets for cleaning. Even a tiny particle can clog the holes in the jets and make the engine run poorly or not start at all. The low-rpm jet probably had some dirt or byproducts from ethanol in gas that was causing the engine to stall at low throttle. Using carburetor cleaner, we sprayed the casing, the 2 jets, and all of the orifices until all were shiny clean, then reassembled and reinstalled the carburetor back into the engine. It started up on the first pull and ran smoothly at low rpm, so we’re calling it fixed!

Zincs—While anchored in the crystal clear lagoon behind Toopua island, I got out our Hookah system (tankless diving) and changed the zincs, scrubbed the prop, and cleaned the hull bottom. Compared to the Marquesas, we’re getting far less barnacle growth on the hull, so it was a quick and easy job.

Sail Repairs—Friends aboard Maestro, a beautiful 72’ Irwin ketch, needed some minor repairs along the luff of their mizzen and main sails. Since we have a Sailrite sewing machine aboard, we offered to help out with the repairs. After transporting the machine to their boat via dinghy, we let out enough sail from their in-boom furling for Karen to sew patches along the bolt-rope where the chafing had occurred. Karen is getting very good sewing canvas and sails and it always feels good helping other cruisers.

Jacintha with Luke and Mathias from Bob The Cat (from NZ)

Just to the north of Raiatea is the smaller sister island of Tahaa with a single barrier reef surrounding both islands. We motored along on the inside lagoon, which was well marked with red (land-side) and green (reef-side) buoys. We chose Baie Haamene on the east side of Tahaa after reading about the Hibiscus Yacht Club in the guidebooks. After tying to a mooring buoy in front of the restaurant, we went ashore to walk around before dinner. We had the restaurant all to ourselves and the owners of over 25 years, Lolita and Leo, cooked a feast of fresh-grilled Thazard (Wahoo), skewered vegetables, salad, pommes fritzs (potato fries), taro, and creme brulee for dessert.  We bought some Tamanu Oil, which Lolita makes from the nuts of a Tamanu tree. It’s used for healing cuts, burns, insect bites, sunburn, acne, eczema, etc., and has a pleasant aroma.

Island Tour–We took a half day tour of the island that included stops at a pearl farm and a vanilla farm.  Our guide, George, drove us and explained the process of farming vanilla and growing cultured pearls.

Vanilla Farm Tour
Tahaa produces 75% of the vanilla that comes from French Polynesia and the vanilla grown here is know for its very high quality. There are over 100 ‘greenhouse’ farms spread throughout Tahaa. What they call greenhouses are just netting for keeping out birds and insects. They also reduce the need to weed around the plants. Inside are neat rows of the vanilla orchid, each with its own concrete trellis. Ground-up coconut husks are used as mulch and help keep in the moisture around plants. When the flowers appear, the caretaker pollinates the plant by hand–one flower produces one bean. Mass produced vanilla orchids in places like Madagascar and Mexico rely on bees to do the pollination. That was the way it was done in Tahaa when the plants were outdoors, but they get much higher yield and quality by doing it by hand. When the vanilla beans turn yellowish, they are picked and are ready to be sun-dried ocw.upc.edu. This process takes a few weeks since the beans are placed in the sun for only 1 hour per day. When the bean turns brown and is limp, it is ready to be packaged. A package of 6 beans of this high quality vanilla costs $20US. We bought 2 packages of vacuum-sealed beans, and a fifth of Vanilla Rum.

Black Pearl Farm Tour
The pearls found in the South Pacific are internationally recognized as a specific variety and given the designation as the “Tahiti Cultured Pearl”. Tahaa has several pearl farms.
The process of farming cultured pearls is fascinating and here’s what I remember from the tour:  An oyster can make pearls naturally when a foreign body, such as a grain of sand, gets inside. The grain of sand slowly grows as the oyster coats it with a substance called Narcre, also known as “mother of pearl”. The color can be black, white, pink, green or combinations. Natural pearls are rarely round and it takes a very long time for the pearl to get big (12mm and up). Cultured pearls start by implanting a nucleus inside a mature oyster. The nucleus (see picture below) comes from oysters found in the Mississippi River. They are machined to be perfectly round before implanting them in the oyster’s sex organ (oysters can change back and forth between male and female). The oysters are then placed in mesh cages that are tied to a structure near a reef in 2-4 meters of water. The oyster continuously coats the nucleus and after 18 months, the oyster is carefully opened up and the pearl extracted. The same oyster can be used for many cycles of this process and an oyster that produces a high quality pearl usually continues to produce high quality pearls. Pearls are priced by size and quality. For size, 8mm is considered small, 12mm is medium, and 16mm is large. For quality, class C has more than 2 flaws and is not round, class B has 2 flaws and is round or teardrop, and class A has 1 or no visible flaws when viewed by the naked eye, and is round or teardrop. A 12mm class A cultured Black Pearl costs around $1,000US from a pearl farm, and of course the price goes up with middle-men and the further away you get from French Polynesia.

Our next stop in the leeward Society Islands, Raiatea has nice inner lagoons surrounded by a barrier reef. We entered through Nao Nao pass at the southern end, another easy pass with little current. We decided to anchor near Nao Nao Island after reading about the good snorkeling there. It took a few tries to set the anchor due to the sharp drop-off of the sandy bottom—50’ to 8’ within a boat’s length, and within another boat’s length we’d be grounded. So we dropped the anchor and backed up to dig it in, then I dove in to take a look and saw that there was only 15’ of chain laying on the sandy shelf before it dropped off steeply.  We put out more chain and I was able to dive down and, after many free dives, move the anchor and chain another 15’ on the shelf, then we dug it in and were satisfied. There was only 1 other boat in sight and no village within earshot, so it was a very peaceful anchorage. In the morning, we took the dinghy to the south-west side of Nao Nao Island and snorkeled along a reef for a few hours. There was considerable current so we walked along the beach and drift snorkeled back to where the dinghy was parked. The snorkeling was excellent and the coral very alive, probably the best we’ve seen in the Society Islands.

After snorkeling, we went back to the boat and up-anchored so that we could reach our next stop by mid-afternoon—an archeological sight about 10 miles away called Marae Taputapuatea. Once again, the anchoring was tricky since most of Baie Opoa is deep. We found a relatively small sandy shelf that was 20’ below the surface surrounded by deep water. It took 2 tries until we were satisfied that we had enough chain down to hold us and I snorkeled above the anchor and observed the chain zig-zagging around a few small rocks on the bottom (a plus for holding, a minus for anchor retrieval). We then took the dinghy ashore to explore the marae.

About Maraes—
Ancient Polynesians used maraes for ceremonial social and religious activities. Marae varied slightly from island to island, but were all rectangular and imposing in size. The outer wall was made of stone. Inside, a raised platform was used for human sacrifices during religious ceremonies. Tables made of wood, called fata rau, were used for whole pigs and large fish as offerings to the gods. The remains were eaten by the priests and other privileged people. When tribes battled, many maraes were destroyed by the victor. Carbon-14 dating revealed some maraes to be built during the 12th century, but the Marae Taputapuatea was constructed in the 1700’s. Capt. Cook observed ceremonial activities when he visited Raiatea in 1769. The Bora-Bora and Raiatea marae were thought to be the most important and influential within the Society Islands.

We up-anchored from Moorea at 5pm for a 90-mile over-night sail to Huahini, the first of 4 leeward islands in the Society Island archipelago that we will visit. We motored until the final 20 miles when the wind picked up. A fringing reef extends more than a mile off the south and west coasts of Huahini. Within 2 miles, the depth goes from over 4000’ to 200’, creating world-class waves for surfers. We entered Avamoa Pass, which is wide and deep, but nonetheless a bit intimidating with the huge waves breaking on both sides of the pass. The village of Fare is just inside the pass and we tied up to a mooring buoy just off a nice sandy beach. The current was strong but another cruising couple saw us coming in and jumped in their dinghy to give us a hand tying to the buoy.

Fare
The village of Fare has a big grocery store, bank, post office, and a few restaurants and food trucks. The Huahini Yacht Club is on the waterfront (they call it a yacht club but it’s more like a hotel/restaurant). We spent 5 days relaxing on the beach, paddle  boarding, playing ukulele, playing foosball at the yacht club, snorkeling, and shopping. Marvalyn, who also joined us for a few days in Mexico, flew in to the small airport in Huahini and will be with us for 10 days while we visit Raiatea, Tahaa, and Bora-Bora.

Ukulele Jam Session with the locals

We motored 30 miles from Marina Papeete, including a stop at the fuel dock in Marina Tiana to top off the tanks, to an anchorage in Moorea. In the Tahitian language, the name Moorea means “yellow lizard”. The tall peaks and beautiful scenery rivals what we saw around Fatu-Hiva in the Marquesas. Mt. Mouaroa, shown below, is famous from sailing stories and also as the backdrop in the film version of South Pacific. A shallow, fringing reef surrounds Moorea and the passages are well marked with buoys. Once inside the lagoon, the water is calm. We anchored in 30’ of crystal clear water in Opunohu Bay on the north side of the island.

Stingray City
A 30-minute dinghy ride from Opunohu Bay is a sandbar known as Stingray City, located near Taotoi Pass. We arrived a few minutes after a tour boat anchored there so the stingrays and sharks knew it was feeding time. With our snorkel gear on, we jumped in the waist-deep water, anchored the dinghy to a coral head, then swam around the stingrays and black-tipped reef sharks. This was our first up-close encounter with stingrays so it was fun seeing and touching them. They glide so gracefully in the water and are used to humans feeding and holding them. Jacintha has now swam with Whale Sharks near La Paz, Sea Lions near Isla Partida (Mexico), Reef Sharks in Rargiroa (Tuamotus), and now Stingrays in Moorea. The underwater pictures were taken with a GoPro Hero.

We spent 5 days in Moorea, and most of the time we just relaxed, snorkeled and enjoyed the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. Here are some pictures….

From our anchorage, we drove the dinghy 15 minutes east to the Moorea Hilton. After tying up to the dock, we checked out the over-the-water bungalows and relaxed around the pool, all for the price of buying a few (very expensive) drinks!

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Boat Repairs–The saying that cruising is fixing your boat in exotic locations rang true today! 

Macerator Repair
A macerator is a pump for discharging water or waste overboard. Our galley sink needs a macerator since the bottom of the sink is below the waterline, and today it stopped working. The motor would run but the water in the sink wasn’t draining. The pump is located under the sink in the engine compartment, and was not easy to access for removal. Once I got it out and took it apart, I could  see why it wasn’t working—10 years of accumulated hair and gunk was wrapped around the cutter and shaft cialis for women. As I rotated the pump by hand, I could also see bits of the impeller that were also broken off. Since I have 2 of these macerators (Jabsco 18590-0000) aboard, one for the galley and one for the holding tank, I had purchased a rebuild kit before leaving Seattle buy kamagra oral jelly. I also had an entire spare used macerator which came with the boat. I decided to swap out the broken one with the spare and even though it was used, I could see the impeller was good and the shaft spun easily. After reconnecting the plumbing and wiring, we turned it on and it worked perfectly well, even better than the old one. Next I took the broken pump and replaced the impeller (it was missing all the blades, which is why it wasn’t pumping anymore!), chopper, gaskets, and housing with parts that came with the rebuild kit. We downloaded a YouTube video for rebuilding a Jabsco 18590-1000 macerator, a newer version of the one we have. Ours is harder to rebuild because the DC motor had to be removed to access the impeller and the springs & brushes were not easy to re-install. After finishing, I packed it away with the spares without testing it because it should not be run dry, but hopefully it will work if ever needed.

LED Light Fix
Since most of the day was spent fixing the macerator and it was too late to go ashore, I promised Karen we would spend an extra day on Moorea to make up for it, then tore into another project. A broken LED strip light had stopped working about a month ago. We have several of these on the boat and the broken one was one we mounted to a yardstick and used as a portable light. They have 40 high-intensity LEDs on a 12” strip that provides a lot of light—I used it when working on the engine and Karen used it when sewing. I was going to throw it away but decided to take it apart to see what I could find. Besides the 40 LEDs, the light contains a dozen components—resistors, capacitors, diodes, inductors, and a 5-pin controller. I found that one of the inductor leads was broken off from its solder pads. The wire-wound inductor was far too small and fragile for my big soldering iron, but I noticed that shorting the 2 pads with a screwdriver caused the LEDs to turn on. The inductor was right next to a capacitor, and one reason for it would be to low-pass filter a signal to remove noise. An open would not pass the signal on, whereas shorting the inductor would remove the filtering function but still pass the signal on. I tried soldering a wire across the pads, but was unable to get a good solder joint, so I cut a piece of metal from a terminal eye and taped it across the inductor pads. And so (being in French Polynesia) VOILA, it worked!

Bilge Pump Re-build
Another boat project! While searching for the macerator re-build kit, I found 2 kits for re-building a Jabsco 36600-0000 pump. We have 2 of these on the boat—one for the shower pump, which rarely gets used since we shower on deck, and one for the bilge pump, which gets used more often for pumping surface water from the bilge. These pumps, probably 30 years old, are diaphragm pumps driven by a DC motor via a belt. The re-build kit contained a valve set, diaphragm, pulsation dampers, and belt. As usual, removing the pump was the hardest part of the job since it lives in a tight spot in the lazerette.  The entire re-build took about 3 hours.

The 2-day passage from Rangiroa to Tahiti was mostly motoring with maybe 6 hours of sailing. The seas were calm but we went through some squalls where the wind went from less than 10 knots to more than 20 knots in a matter of a few minutes. The last 25 miles we saw 12 knot winds directly on the bow so we tacked back and forth to reach the new downtown Papeete marina.

Marina Papeete is brand new and not officially open yet. The finger docks can hold 75 boats and replaced the old wharf where anchoring and backing up to a sea wall (Med-mooring) was required. The marina allowed a dozen boats from Jimmy Cornell’s Blue-Planet-Odyssey Rally (a 4-year round the world rally with awareness on global changes to the earth’s environment) to dock during their visit to Tahiti and also made an exception for us and a few others. Since the rally boats left, there are currently only 5  boats using the marina! After checking in, we had our first real indoor shower since Puerto Vallarta–2 months ago.

Papeete is the largest metro area in the South Pacific. After spending nearly 8 weeks offshore and in the Marquesan islands and Tuamotu atolls, it seams like a big city, and marina Papeete is located right downtown.

Central Market
A five minute walk from the marina, the indoor market has stalls for fish, fruit and vegetables, flowers, and handicrafts. They also have fresh bbq pork and chicken that’s sold by the kilo, french pastries, and beverages. We bought pamplemouse, mangos, cucumber, eggplant, rambutan, pastries, sugar cane juice, bananas, bbq pork, and a hula outfit for Jacintha.

Notre-Dame Cathedral
We attended a church service at the cathedral, built in 1875 and restored in 2005. All the windows are stained-glass and inside is lots of incredible woodwork. The huge pipe organ and choir in the upper deck were amazing to listen to. The service was in French so we had no idea what it was about, but the experience was wonderful.

Medical Care Outside the US
During our first dive in Rangiroa, I scraped my ankle on some sharp coral and broke the skin. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but in the tropics, an open wound and being in the water a lot are a good combination for infections. Sure enough, a week later in Papeete the cut became infected and my ankle was painful and very swollen. We found a local medical clinic and after checking in at an outdoor window, I saw a physician after a 30 minute wait. At check-in, all they wanted was my name and where we were staying, no question about insurance or long forms to fill out. The doctor prescribed antibiotics after the nurse treated the cut, relieving some of the pressure by squeezing some fluid out. The charge was a mere $70 plus another $45 for the meds, ointment, and dressing.

Boat Repairs
Papeete is a good place to fix anything that needs it. There are 3 chandleries plus an Ace Hardware store, all within a half-mile of each other and about a mile from the marina. The chandleries are not anything like West Marine or Fisheries Supply, but the basic items can be found. I borrowed another curiser’s bike to make multiple trips, saving me lots of time. There’s also some labor services available for welding and diesel engine repair. Here’s some of the boat repairs and work we did during our stay in Papeete:

• Replaced the Genoa furling line that was chafed badly
• Changed the Racor filter
• Added cleats on the bowsprit for the whisker pole fore guy-lines
• Miscellaneous work on the wind vane
• Changed the engine fuel filter (fixed the low-RPM problem we were having)
• Did laundry (the manual way!)
• Re-filled propane tank
• Cleaned the dinghy