Tahiti is a Very Pretty Island

Our beautiful anchorage in Papeete

I wasn’t entirely comfortable when David suggested a stop on the uninhabited atoll of Tahanea in the Tuamotos Archipelago on the way to our redirected destination of Papeete, Tahiti in the Society Islands.  I did not want to jeopardize our precarious status as visitors to French Polynesia under the ominous shadow of Covid-19 restrictions, for just a couple of nights reprieve.  But after 36 days at sea, and the possibility that we may never get a chance to see these dazzling atolls otherwise, my inner dialogue of rationalization brought to mind all the possibilities of Maritime Law that might cover our potential excursion.  And we did, in truth, need a rest break, repair stop, and a calm place to refuel our tanks from the jerry can supply, not mentioning….a cocktail and a swim!  And so it was that our first landfall in French Polynesia was to be a beautiful and memorable one.  David has already told you about the visit by the French Navy who were so polite, informative and helpful, and very cute, so you know that it all turned out well.  We drank the champagne that had been cooling for a month in the Dometic for this very occasion on our second evening watching a magnificent sunset and congratulating ourselves on a safe, successful,  and largely uneventful but long, so very long, Pacific Passage.

Tahanea, Tuamotos

We still had another 280 Nautical Miles to go to reach our first anchorage in Tahiti.  When the wind stopped filling the sails on our last afternoon as predicted, we motored the final distance, both of us on watch on the bridge, excited about landfall and diligent about the potential dangers that a night approach in unfamiliar waters might present.  We could make out the dark shape of the northern Tahitian coastline post twilight, dappled with lights.  The smokey emanation we had noticed for hours in proximity to Tahiti was suddenly perfumed by a more pleasant fragrance that could only be flowering plants.  It was intoxicating and conjured the many images of the Polynesian Paradise we had traveled such a long way to see.

This is what we saw when we woke up in Venus Point on our first morning.

We had a good sense of our position when we dropped anchor at Venus Point well after midnight, but it was a delight to wake up the next morning to see the green mountainous peaks dotted with houses.  There were a few local canoes about the bay and a man on a paddle board.  This was the first civilization we had seen since our departure from Panama City and Taboga at the start of the world wide lockdowns and it looked…well...normal.  And encouraging.  Although we might have remained in this beautiful spot for many more days under actual normal conditions, we wanted to push on to Papeete and get ourselves legally into the system.  Papeete, our temporary haven was 7 miles away.  It is a commercial port and is home to the largest population in French Polynesia.  The entrance to the harbor is restricted to daylight hours until 6pm and requires a series of VHF Radio exchanges as you make your way past the Faa’a International Airport and runway to the anchorages in the surrounding lagoon.  Again, things seemed normal to us as we slipped into the entrance before a rather large car ferry from the neighboring island of Moorea.  We didn’t know what to expect in the anchorages.  They are full of stranded cruising sailboats from all over the world, but not packed full, and there is plenty of space between the boats.  The water is clear dark blue in the channel depths and tantalizing turquoise in the shallows.  It is very protected calm water tucked behind the breaking seas on the distant shoals.  Soothing ocean sounds with the visually spectacular backdrop of Mo’orea.

We anchored near a group of familiar sailboats we recognized from Panama, some of whom we know, and have been in contact with via satellite on our collective journey to get here.  So, along with the Net Community, a morning VHF radio informational broadcast of fellow travelers who have been in FP long term or have just arrived, and the FP Facebook Group, we’ve had plenty of support and information available when we need it.  In fact, we were invited and attended a sunset cocktail gathering by dinghy in the shallows on our second night here and met some very nice people.   We also have LTE cell service on our phones, which doesn’t allow much video streaming but we appreciate it very much all the same.  We have been able to update ourselves with all the crazy news that we’ve missed during our month and a half of quarantine at sea, even though we were teasingly advised not to do so.

So here we are in Tahiti and legal.  David, who is, until the end of the year, a member of the European Union, can stay here until Dec 31st.  I, who am not a member, am allowed only 90 days.  There is some talk about extensions for other non EU nationalities so we’ll see how that plays out.  Right now, and this has been going on for some time, there is an anti-sailboat cruiser sentiment from the locals.  We have been made aware of this from many sources.  It has a lot to do with perceptions, a difference in perspectives and misunderstandings I am sure, as I have seen this sort of thing in the Caribbean also.  But an anchorage full of sailboats can sometimes spoil a secluded view.  And having us all stuck in one place doesn’t help our cause.  There is also a reasonable amount of fear of contagion by foreigners of this COVID pandemic, and let’s face it, it wouldn’t be the first time.  So, again, we will see what happens.  So far, we have been treated fairly and politely by everyone we have met both formally and casually.  The locals greet us with a smile and "La Ora Na" (Hello).  And from my American perspective, I am almost certainly being treated better here by the Polynesians under the circumstances, than they would be in my country right now.

As I mentioned in a post on our Cat india Page, many of the lock down restrictions had been lifted only three days before we arrived.  Quelle chance!  Water-sports are now allowed.  For the last six weeks no one was even allowed to swim next to their boats!  Many restaurants and shops are open and it is no longer necessary to obtain permission to go ashore.  The only restriction we have now is movement for sailboats.  Inter-island travel is still restricted although today they have lifted the ban on island groups, so one can travel the less populated islands in the Marquesas Group, or Tuamotos for example, if you are already there.  Even though that doesn’t help us here in the Society Islands, it is still good news.  Meanwhile, we can swim to cool off, snorkel the pretty reef all around us and paddle-board to our hearts content.

We also have time to service our equipment...

like these winches that got some good use on the voyage!

Monday, we rented a Fiat!  The island is easy to navigate and the roads are in very good condition.  Once outside Papeete, the traffic is sparse and the coastal roads are very scenic.  Tahiti is a very pretty island.  It is lush, green, and fragrant.  Bougainvillea in rich purples and vibrant fuchsia on every corner, brimming hedges of red hibiscus line the roads, fragrant frangipanis drifting on the breeze, groves of swaying banana trees (les bananiers), endless green ridges hiding distant peaks in the clouds.  And it is really true that Polynesian women, called vahines, tuck flowers behind an ear, or wear a wreath of them.  It is lovely.  The coast is amazing.  Most of the main road beyond the city is coastal road leading to neighborhoods of lofty homes on the lower mountain ridges or waterfront dwellings on the bays.  Along these roads were seen many young people carrying boogie boards and surf boards either on foot or bicycle.   There were lots of swimmers and surfers in the shallow waters but beyond the bays are long shoals of breaking waves.  Real Surf!  One of the places we wanted to see was the well known village of Teahupoo which has one of the most dangerous waves in the world due to their size, power and speed breaking over a sharp coral reef lying only meters below the surface.  A Teahupoo wave can reach a height of 30 feet in a big swell!  In season, spectators can rent a boat to take them out to the break to watch the surfing up close!  We could see a few surfers out in the big surf from our parked car but sat for a long time watching the younger ones in the shallows.  It was incredible watching what we estimate to be five year old girls and boys surfing smaller waves on proper surf boards.  I am telling you that these babies were unbelievably good at it!  Future champions!  We didn’t see any restaurants open yet outside of the city so for our lunch we stopped at one of the many CarreFour Supermarkets and bought sushi rolls and tuna sashimi.  A supermarket is not my usual nor ideal source for sushi but we know how fresh the tuna is here and I see them put new sashimi out each day and it is delicious!  We took it to the coast and picnic-ed with the ideal view!

It was a wonderful drive.

Especially on the coastal roads.

Beautiful Venus Point

And the lighthouse that guided us in one our first night.

Local boat.

We found a pink church

and a blue church

and a yellow one!

Teahupoo

These kids are skilled!

Everyone surfs.

The offshore break.

David posed a question in the title of his last blog - Are we mad?  Believe it when I tell you that it was question we asked ourselves for almost 40 days.  Because until and only when we were given a haven here in French Polynesia, were we absolutely validated in our choice.

When WHO declared an International Pandemic on March 11, 2020, everything changed.  Any travel plans that were made were subject to change, if they hadn’t already.  No one knew what to expect either.  The infection rates were escalating everywhere and rapidly.  This COVID-19 was on the loose and had found its way into almost every nation of the world and it was coming our way.  Borders where closing, shops were closing, businesses and transportation were shutting down and for how long was anyone’s guess.  Facts elusive, rumors rampant.  Fear and uncertainty prevailed.  Boats were now headed North instead of West.  David and I were in mid-provision for a Pacific Ocean passage that we had planned and worked towards for well over a year with a limited travel window in our long term retirement plan that does not include actually retiring on our sailboat.  And we are not alone.  Many people can only afford or even desire to do this as a once in a lifetime experience and on a schedule due to health, age, finances, GRANDCHILDREN!  So, what do you do in the unlikely event that the world shuts down suddenly and anyone around you could be carrying a deadly virus?  And you are on your sailboat (and only home) in PANAMA?  This is the stuff of fiction novels, right?  We immediately concluded two things:  1) We did not want to stay in Panama, nice as it is and 2) We were better off quarantined at sea even if the destination was fluid….literately.  

Our departure was a bit of a scramble but we pulled it off in time, others didn’t.  We do know now that Panama had a brutal lockdown.  They even segregated the sexes for outings, allotting different days during the week to discourage commingling.  Severe curfews were in place, liquor sales banned.  It would have been very difficult for us to get into town for groceries or any other needs as they closed the access points.  As for the quarantine that the whole world endured, we spent 40 days at sea, well provisioned and catching fish during this quiet time on the planet.  We were the lucky ones by far and no time was lost in our over all plan since that particular passage will always take around 30 days or more.  We were as safe as anyone could be from the virus anyway, it was also a smooth sail.  We were hoping the news would be better and conditions would be improved once we arrived on the other side of the ocean.  But the virus still cast a long shadow on our plans.  Every day we read grim reports from friends, family, our lite news feed.  Our network of fellow travelers passed on their bad news too.  For weeks the information was bleak indeed.  Especially when we were refused entry into the Marquesas.  That was very bad news day.  We formulated contingency plans based on what if’s until we finally decided to accept what is.

The rest is history as we have reported to you.  It turns out we are not mad after all, just very very lucky.  We are grateful to have this haven in French Polynesia.  The clock is ticking on my stay, but I am ever hopeful that we will still get to see more of these beautiful islands in the coming months.  Our story is a good one, a great one, in fact.  But we’ve all had to adjust.  On the bright side, Tahiti is a very pretty island.

Isn't it?