After a pleasant sail, we arrived outside of the reef around
the island of Tahiti at 7.00am on Wednesday, 14 July 2010, not quite two days
after leaving Manihi. Chad and Brad on
“Broken Compass” were following behind.
There was very little wind, and access to the anchorage inside the reef
of Tahiti required manoevering through a small channel and making a sharp right
hand turn to follow the channel inside the reef. It was quite a few miles to the
anchorage. We wondered how Chad and Brad
were going to manage so we turned back and motored some miles to meet up with
“Broken Compass” and arranged to tow her through the channel into the Port of
Papeete and then along to the anchorage.
The port of papeete was not a large one but offered docking facilities
for large cabin cruisers and yachts, cruise ships and container ships.
The waters were so blue and so clear, one could see the reef lining
the outside edge of the channel.
Suburbia scattered the landscape which appeared to be lush and green. It truely was spectacular and we were looking
forward to spending some time here in Tahiti and the remainder of the Society
Islands. This is where we hoped to meet
up with our friends, Brian and Ann on “Cabillito de Mar” who we last saw in the
Marqueses, and Nicholas and Lynn on “Girl” in Galapagos.
Mal mending one of our sails.
After ensuring that “Broken Compass” was anchored and secure,
we settled “Hasta La Vista” into the anchorage, which was near a marina with
restaurants, diving shops and marine shops.
The town of Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, was a few miles back where
we first entered the channel. Along
the coastline between the marina and Papeete were the inner suburbs of Papeete,
shops, service stations, restaurants and tourist resorts. On going ashore, we discovered that we could
walk to a large shopping centre containing a huge French grocery chain. During the next three weeks we often visited
the grocery store and spent hours looking at the seafood, one day of which, live
coconut crabs were displayed. They were
the most beautiful coloured crabs we had ever seen. Sadly, we didn’t have our camera with us and
we didn’t see them again on our following visits. The freezer section enthralled us and we
found such things as frozen half lambs from New Zealand and many other
delicacies which one would never see in a grocery store in Australia. The range of cheeses and meats in the
delicatassen also had us in awe.
Transport to Papeete was a bus service, which stopped near
the entry gates of the marina complex. Often,
we spent the day walking the streets, exploring the city and particularly the
markets, which were housed in a double story open building the size of a city
block. Fruit and vegetables, flowers,
wooden artifacts, spices and soaps, sarongs and shirts, and clothing for every
age group, and jewellery, and in particular, black pearls in varied settings, filled
the huge market building. One could
spend hours roaming these markets and then enjoy lunch with live Polynesian
music at one of the many restaurants and food stalls located there. We also enjoyed lunch at some of the many
French restaurants in the town. An
Australian couple, Peter and Nani on “Joule”, who we met in Granada, and who
were also anchored near us, joined us for lunch one day and we enjoyed their
company on other occasions.
Brian and Ann on “Cabillito de Mar” were anchored not far
from us and it was wonderful to catch up with them. Ann’s brother and sister-in-law were visiting
so the six of us arranged to go on a day island tour in a small tour bus. The island tour was certainly worth while
doing. We enjoyed the commentary of the
bus driver, the different stops during the day and the company of our friends. We fell in love with Tahiti. It was a fantastic day.
The beach and Bay where the Bounty
anchored for the loading of bread fruit, which was transported to the West
Indies to feed the slave population and to establish bread fruit trees in the
islands of the West Indies. Fletcher
Christian and his mutineers returned here for awhile before sailing on to
Pitcairn Island.
Tahitian country.
At midday on the 26th July, as we were carrying
out our chores, we heard a loud “Hasta La Vista baby” and turned around to find
“Girl” with Lynn, Nicholas and their two guests circling. Lynn and Nicholas said that they would be
arriving in Tahiti about this time and we were delighted to see them
again. They had left Galapagos some
weeks after our departure and sailed to Tahiti with only brief stays in The
Marqueses and the Tuamotus.
During the week and especially on weekends, Tahitian style
thatched huts built on flat bottom boats carrying tourists and locals motored
past our anchorage. Loud music bellowed
out and the cruisers were having a great time partying. I often wondered where they were headed and
then one day, Mal discovered that an area called “The Sandbar” was where many
locals headed on a weekend and especially on a Sunday. So one Sunday afternoon, we packed afternoon
drinks, collected Nicholas, Lynn, and their guests, Mike and Jan, and headed to
the Sandbar in our dingies. I expected a
high mound of sand with polynesian bodies relaxing under beach umbrellas, and others,
enjoying the cool clear waters inside the coral reef that surrounded
Tahiti. Mal knew better but was quite
happy to let me believe that we were going to a sand bar. To my surprise, we founds boats of all types
and sizes anchored and their inhabitants cooling off in water three foot
deep. Music was blaring. Many stood
around barbecues that had their legs extended so that they stood out of the
water cooking a barbecue lunch, and groups laughed and chatted while enjoying a
beer or a wine. We were all amazed to
see this unusual “Sunday outing” and decided to join in the fun. Mal and Nicholas anchored the dingies and we
slipped over into the water for a dip and a glass of wine.
Mal, Nicholas, Lynn, Jan and Mike.
