The last episode had the good ship Kuaka happily anchored on Ahe Atoll in the Tuamotus. A lot has happened since then. First, the wind went in a perfect 360 degree shift, necessitating some exploring on the far side of Ahe. Anyone who has driven around a deep-to shoreline with huge coral bommies (more like coral towers) will recognize the below GPS track!
But all that “exploring” resulted in a beautiful anchorage, smooth water, and a nice hike along the motu (motus are the low islands around an atoll).
With a limited timeline and more areas to explore, we headed out through the Ahe pass for a very, very slow overnight sail to Rangiroa (too far to go in a day, not quite enough for overnight). After dropping the hook among a heap of cruising boats, we rented bikes and took off to explore the motu.
While billed as the most touristy and developed atoll in the Tuamotus, we found it still quite nice, with just a few small stores and one big resort. The snorkeling inside the pass was phenomenal and the 3 boats of Danish kids anchored around us provided plenty of entertainment. Unfortunately the clock was ticking (and we were getting bored), so one final overnight sail took us around Point Venus and into Papeete – the largest city in French Polynesia. We had arrived in the Windward Islands. Some sort of wild luck even caught us a spot in the Marina de Papeete, right downtown!
Papeete is the most convenient place to fly in or out in French Polynesia (the only international airport), and also has marine suppliers, big grocery stores, and all that kind of stuff. Unfortunately for the parents, this meant that their time to depart had come. Fortunately for my sister Molly and her husband Chase, it was time for them to fly in!
In the meantime, we rented a car to explore Tahiti. First, we got in some surfing at Teahupoo.
Then we went to check out the problematic observation platform. It is very important to travel with the team hat on.
Then we read some historic signs with our hands on our hips.
And we ate creme brulee with Tahitian Vanilla (yummy). This really helped to explain the posture of many Tiki throughout Polynesia.
After a morning, snorkel, Pam and Peter headed to the airport and the remaining three of us started to cause some trouble. After a top notch grocery shop and general exploration of the marine suppliers of Papeete, Chase broke into our breadfruit stores.
We headed over to Moorea for some exceptional snorkeling, great hiking, ice cream, and pensive evenings. We had such a great time that I can’t find many pictures except the breadfruit one. It was calm, not too hot, and all around pleasant.
This was followed by a sporty overnight sail with lots of traffic to the island of Huahine, in the Leeward Society Islands (downwind).
We had a surprise waiting for us at the airport – Sophie! With a few days notice she had some work things shift around and decided to come join in the adventure for about a month. We of course celebrated with some fantastic ice cream from a frenchman who tows his ice cream cart behind his bicycle (with his cat on the bike as well).
The Maramu (Tahitian for obnoxiously strong) wind set in and we moved to another anchorage on Huahini Iti, and then back to the main harbor. We explored the island, including more ice cream, an amazing shell museum, some more wind, grocery shopping, Marae (historic polynesian stone platforms), snorkeling, more wind, and more ice cream. We even met a real life french Captain Ron at the Huahine Yacht Club Bar. We then all watched (or re-watched) Captain Ron.
With the days counting down until Molly and Chase’s flight, and because we were kicked out of our anchorage by the municipal police, we headed out the pass for Raiatea.
It had been blowing for about a week with a correspondingly large but pleasant sea state. This stayed pleasant until the pass at Raiatea – advertised as an “all weather” pass. The assessment holds, but rolling downwind in 25 – 30 knots with seas breaking all around and a wing foiler doing flips in the middle of the channel felt a wee bit exciting.
Our last 3 days with all 4 aboard felt idyllic. We found a beautiful pearl farm with free mooring buoys for the first night, followed by a vanilla farm and free u-pick giant avocados!
Raiatea and Taha’a share a common barrier reef, allowing for travel around and between the islands in protected waters. The local houses on Taha’a had baguette mailboxes, showing that the locals clearly have their priorities straight.
The next day we moved to an anchorage with exceptional snorkeling.
We came back to Kuaka and low and behold, there was a floating Tapas and Rum bar right in front of the boat. Seriously, does it get any better?
Apparently it doesn’t, because the before we knew it Molly and Chase had a leave. We ferried them to the airport in the trusty Sea Tomato (our dinghy). The airport even has its own dinghy dock. Sophie and I headed to the town of Uturoa afterwards for a quick grocery shop and patisserie visit before moving Kuaka back over to Taha’a. Uturoa has taken the prize for cutest truck seen since leaving home.
It proceeded to blow hard, so we sat tight, wingfoiled, and met some other cruisers on a super unique boat (https://reddogyachts.com/). We moved around to the other side of Taha’a to anchor in a secure spot and took the shuttle boat into Uturoa for more grocery shopping. The only downside was a sketchy dinghy dock ramp that we negotiated with ease.
It’s blown consistently since then – and there are numerous signs that Kuaka is sad to see Molly and Chase go. I’ve spent a whole day trying to get the dinghy outboard to run again (it died the day Molly and Chase left), both oarlocks broke on a long up-wind row back to the boat, our watermaker sprung a leak, and my trusty backpack ripped apart in the Uturoa grocery store! I even opened the charts for our next passage and found that one was mis-printed with everything to the west of the Cook Islands missing! It is beautiful here though.
Luckily, all except the outboard have been easy fixes and we’re still having a good time. We’re currently tied to a mooring ball on Bora Bora with clearance to leave for points further west, hopefully tomorrow.
That’s all for now from the Kuakites – currently whittled down to just Ben and Sophie. As a final note – the presence of parents, sibling / spouse, and Sophie have led to massively improved menus aboard. It will be a grim day indeed when it’s just me, ramen, and french tea cakes (which I have stocked away of course).
