Part 1: More to Discover in the Society Islands
Wow, a year has just flown by! Last July (2020), with a whole year ahead of us in French Polynesia, we wondered what it would be like to cruise this area again. We’d have to ‘slow down’ and would not have the pressures to sail across the entire Pacific in one season. But we like moving fast. Would we get bored?
We left a bunch of great kidboat friends in New Zealand, some of whom sailed to Fiji. Would we find any new kidboats with less cruisers arriving in the area? Would the locals be unfriendly in this post-covid world (as some social media groups seemed to suggest)? With the uncertainty of Covid, would there be anymore ‘lockdowns’? How would we feel cruising some of the same places again? And what would it be like to spend cyclone season here?
As with many things in life- there is a silver lining. For us, the covid-induced change of plans to come back to French Polynesia turned into a fantastic year. We feel so lucky to have been able to make it back here and to have had so many great experiences.
Why Go Back to French Polynesia?
After getting ‘stuck’ in New Zealand during Covid, our plans for more South Pacific cruising were upended – a common issue facing most cruisers in the area. With most borders (understandably) closed and assessing our options with a wish to distance ourselves from the upcoming cyclone season but also get back to cruising (and kiting) in warmer climates, we decided to embark on a passage back to French Polynesia. After a safe but somewhat daunting voyage back to French Polynesia, we found ourselves with a year ahead to explore this archipelago, for the second time.
The first time we came here, we ‘zipped’ through in four months. Most cruisers are granted a 3 month visa. We had applied for our longstay visa in case we wanted to stay (as seasoned cruisers who were into their second year here had strongly encouraged us to stay), but we couldn’t fathom a whole year here -plus there were so many more places to visit. And what about cyclone season, wasn’t it risky to stay in French Polynesia? So we continued on after 4 months and felt we’d spent a good amount of time here and did not feel that we missed out. It turns out that there was plenty more to see and do and we feel grateful that we made it back to enjoy it.
Three Months in the Society Islands
We spent from late July through to October in the Leeward Society Islands: Huahine, Raiaea, Tahaa, Bora Bora and Maupiti. We met new kidboat friends along the way and balanced our days exploring, playing in the water, kiting, doing some school come September, and some excellent hiking.
Huahine – Friends, Foil Projects and more!
After a pleasant light wind overnight sail from Moorea we arrived in peaceful, quaint Huahine. We were still reveling in the warm temperatures and brilliant blue waters as we gazed at the dense green hills contrasting with the surrounding turquoise lagoon. We enjoyed Huahine the first time here, but somehow, we were appreciating the scenery and warmer temperatures even more after sailing ‘uphill’ 2200 miles from the relatively colder climate and waters of New Zealand.
Gavin and the kids got straight to work on their summer project: building a new kite foil. We purchased a ‘race’ foil board in New Zealand that had a set of carbon foils – but at 450 cm 2 they were a bit too small for the older people on board to learn on.
Small foils generally mean less water resistance, resulting in a faster foiling speed which appeals to the foil racing crowd, but it also means the foil requires a faster speed to get lift out of the water, and is less forgiving at slower speeds, resulting in stalling and coming off the foil.
Gavin had purchased a roll of carbon and some more epoxy supplies in New Zealand in anticipation of this project. There were a few folks (including myself) who doubted whether making our own foil was a feasible idea. Would it actually work? Aren’t foils complicated? How can we realistically build this off the back of Slingshot?
Well, when it comes to Gavin and a project, I really shouldn’t doubt him too much. The foil turned out to be fantastic, and was a perfect learning foil with plenty of lift and stability. Even better, it was a great learning experience for the kids (and me) as we participated in each of the several steps required for completion.
We enjoyed meeting some new kidboat friends, s/v Maple and s/v Flip Flops and the kids enjoyed playing with their new friends.
Happy Hour Beware!
It was here in Huahine that we indirectly experienced our first and only (so far) brush with crime. The yacht club at Huahine puts on a happy hour and we were invited to to join a group of other cruisers to enjoy while the kids stayed behind on one of the boats.
On our way back from (just after dark), we were just ahead of our friends when we saw an aluminum boat without a light motoring away from our friends’ boat. I remember noticing it thinking it was a bit strange that there were no lights and I thought by the type of boat that is was probably a local. However, we’ve seen locals spear fishing at night using flashlights to attract fish, so didn’t think too much about it.
Soon after we got back to Slingshot, our friends radio’d to say that they’d had some folks on board who’d been going through their stuff but looked as though they’d been ‘caught in the act’ and left things scattered. Nothing of real value was missing thankfully, other than a kids wallet that had some cash in it.
It was a good reminder to be security conscious – something we’d become lax with. And, our experience in French Polynesia previously was thankfully crime free. Other than making sure to lock things up in Papetee, an area known where things can potentially go missing while at the marina or in anchorage, we didn’t notice any crime ourselves and in general the people are so friendly that we never felt the need.
Afterwards we joked that perhaps the happy hour deal at the yacht club was a boon to criminally minded folks who knew to head to the anchored yachts when all the dinghies were at the dinghy dock.
We spent a gorgeous couple of weeks enjoying the anchorages and beaches on Huahine, kiting and going on walks. We are told it is the island that the Disney movie, Moana, is based on. They are not far off! Beautiful in so many ways.
Kiting in Raiatea and Tahaa – consistent wind and warm water!
Our next stop was to nearby Raiatea and Tahaa. We loved kiting in the windy spot between the two islands Raiatea and Tahaa that share the same lagoon. It seemed to blow 20plus knots every day and we all honed our kiting skills – Nathan in particular. Somehow he was already landing double backrolls and Gavin and I were soon left behind. How did that happen so fast?
After months of cooler temperatures in New Zealand, we were reveling in the blue warm water and consistent wind. We chuckled as cruisers checked the wind forecast and made their way to spots that were more sheltered from the wind – not us! As there is a surrounding reef there is protection from the waves, so anchoring in 20 knots gusting up to 30 is still completely comfortable in Slingshot – we position ourselves where the fetch does not have time to build up despite the wind strength, so while there are waves, we still remain comfortable (our hull shape and 60 feet of water-line helps). It was still summer vacation for us so there was a lot of kiting.
We also enjoyed the magical coral garden spot in Tahaa (one of our favourites), toured a vanilla plantation, and enjoyed some more hiking to waterfalls. Julia also celebrated her 9th birthday and we had fun sharing her special day with another kidboat s/v Ubi.
Magical Maupiti
Soon after we made our way to what has now become our favourite Society Island – Maupiti. Wow. It reminded us of the way the Society Islands might have been 50 years ago. With a somewhat tricky pass to enter (a windward facing pass with recommendations to only enter with less than 2 meter ocean swell) less cruising or charter boats enter. And there are no large hotels – just a smattering of discrete pensions among the local population.
We enjoyed kiting at the sandbar, hiring bikes to ride around the island and some magnificent views from hiking to the lookout in the centre of the island. I think the most delicious mangos we’ve ever tasted were when we were offered freshly ripe mangos while cycling by a local who saw Nathan picking some fallen over-ripe mangos off the ground. There is just something decadent about tasting a mango perfectly ripe right straight from the tree.
We also enjoyed finding some ancient petroglyphs etched into rock after taking a few wrong turns to find them.
A highlight of Maupiti was the family of manta rays that visited the cleaning station in the reef daily. The kids did a school project researching them and then writing a report and swimming with them on several mornings. We spent almost a month in Maupiti. We regretted sailing past this spot last time in French Polynesia (we sailed by in order to meet a group of kidboats in Suwarrow) and felt so lucky that we were able to get back to enjoy this magical spot.
I’ll always remember Maupiti with fondness as it was there that I managed to start landing my back rolls while kiting. We spent many beautiful days kiting in waste deep blue water with Julia frolicking and snorkeling in the shallow waters playing with the sea cucumbers and Nathan zipping back and forth perfecting yet more tricks in his quickly expanding repertoire.
Bora Bora – Spectacular Views
After Maupiti we sailed the short 20 miles back to Bora Bora. We’d spent three weeks there last time and we wanted to have another taste. There was still more to do!
High on our list was to hike Mount Ohue, the hikable ‘summit’ in Bora Bora. Cruisers we’d met last time in Bora Bora had told us of their arudous trip to the top with a guide 20 years ago as honeymooners and did not think it was suitable for the kids or possible without hiring a guide. But then after we left Bora Bora, our good friends on Queen who we didn’t meet until Tonga, did the hike as a family and, while tough, did it with all three of their kids, the youngest being 8 years old!
So we woke up early one morning, first finding three of the warmest freshest crusty Bora Bora baguettes to put in our pack and plenty of water, and set off. It was a winding journey to the top with a few wrong turns, ropes, and scrambling where we needed our hands. We savoured the views as we ascended, each time wondering if it could get any better – it could! When we reached the summit, there were actually pink hibiscus flowers fluttering in the puffs of wind to accentuate the emerald greens of the foilage and pristine blues of the distant lagoon below. WOW. Truly spectacular and without question the best views in of all of French Polynesia. An absolute must do!
“Hey Mom, watch out!!” came the yells of the rest of the family down below as they watched me swing in a wide circle, legs dangling and rocks skittering down towards them as I lost my footing while descending and luckily had a solid hold on a rope. “Yikes!” The kids still like to play, “Remember When..” about this moment… the time mom almost dropped over the edge of Bora Bora.
Other fun discoveries were the snorkeling spot with schools of friendly fish who, hardly daunted by our presence, actually swarmed towards us to nestle into our bodies searching for breadcrumbs that we didn’t bring. The resident moray eel watched us carefully from the protection of his crevice as we flipped overhead. As this was a Covid year, there were barely any other tourists or boats in our anchorages. Also because of Bora Bora’s nightly anchorage fees of $30 per night we were almost completely on our own.
Nathan and I had a memorable day of circumnavigating Bora Bora in our sailing dinghy. What a day! It took 3 hours and we happily chatted and traded the helm, and then buckled in for the stiff upwind beat back to Slingshot. One of my favourite days of the entire trip!
And the thing we kept talking about after leaving Bora Bora, were those consecutive 25 to 30kt days we spent anchored on the backside of Bora Bora, kiting and racing around our own made up course as the tradewinds accelerated around the land.
It was pretty fun to be reminiscing about our ‘second’ trip back to Bora Bora. Cruising lifestyle has its perks!
[IF YOU GO: we highly recommend downloading the “MapsMe App” which shows hiking trails and allows gps navigation without needing signal or data. This app has helped us avoid several wrong turns in our travels and to find hikes as there is little to no signage on most hikes we’ve found here in FP.]
[IF YOU GO: As of 2020 when we went there were still free spots in which to anchor as noted on the lasted maps of the anchoring areas – found online. And if you wanted to stay a full month, then the fee was $300 USD. We do not trust the bouey’s and suggest you check them carefully – if there is any strong wind forecast, stay on your boat [we helped friends on SV Archer in 2019 when their Bouey broke free while they were off having dinner and their boat suffered major damage and the Bora Bora company in charge of the bouey’s denied any responsibility…]
Then it was another stop back to Raiatea for some provisioning, kiting and hiking. We finished with a visit to the most sacred of all Marae sites in all of Polynesia, and a beautiful hike to three waterfalls before setting off for Moorea and Tahiti as cyclone season approached.
Haapiti – Jewell of Moorea
Moorea is a pretty amazing spot, and we especially love the views of the spectacular hills from the anchorages. This time we met kidboat friends s/v Maple, s/v Belladonna and s/vMojo in Haapiti, a bay we hadn’t visited before and we were in awe. It is well regulated with anchoring restrictions limiting the days boats can anchor there (72 hours), and a well known surf spot. The visiting dolphins and whales made this a memorable spot. We celebrated my birthday aboard here and it was fun to remember where we were for my birthday before – Hapaii group in Tonga with s/v Knot Home – so many fun birthday memories in different locales for us all over the past few years! Then it was back to Tahiti as ‘summer’ in the Southern Hemisphere approached and we looked to getting further east in advance of cyclone season.
Next up – Part II – Cyclone Season in French Polynesia
WOW! WOW! WOW! What an amazing and incredible journey.