Tag Archives: tahaa

Liward Islands

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We splash Sugar Shack a few weeks after we returned from the USA.  She is so pretty and dolled up that I hate to see even a spec of dirt on her.  But it’s a boat and our home and dirt is bound to happen!  We have lots to do to prepare to leave from French Poly!  But first, we decide to head to the liward islands of Huahine, Raiatea, Taha’a.  If we have to do boat chores and paperwork, we mine as well as do it in a picture-perfect setting!

Huahine

Amazing passage from Mo’orea to Huahine.  We typically make this passage at night because it is 90nm and it is difficult to make during daylight hours.  However, we had the perfect opportunity to make a go of it less than 12 hours after we arrived in Mo’orea. So, we took it.

We got up at 0400 (4:00am) and readied the boat.  Hook was up at 0430, and we rounded the Mo’orea corner at 0530.  We had a perfect beam reach with no swell.  Winds were 12-15kts out of the NE giving us a beautiful boat speed of 7-8kts.  Absolutely spectacular sailing day.

  • Miles to Destination:  91nm
  • Total Miles Sailed:  95.3nm
  • Total duration:  12.5hrs
  • Max Speed: 11.8
  • Average Speed: 7.5

We of course stop in at Izzy’s Burgers where I grab another photo of Isabel and I.  Man alive these are amazing burgers! Matt had the Huahine Burger which had bacon and topped with an egg!

Isabel and I at Izzy's Burgers

Isabel and I at Izzy’s Burgers

My dear friend Eve on sailing vessel “Auntie” and I went on a 7 mile walk to the Fare Pote Museum.  We got up early to avoid the heat and walked as the sun woke up the island.  It was so darn pretty!

Eve and I in Huahine

Eve and I in Huahine

We pass a few beautiful lakes/lagoons and just take in the pure beauty of the stillness.

We passed this super funny looking baguette holder – it is a large barrel. I guess they really like their baguettes.

We pass by a church where the sun lit it from the inside out.

Arriving at the Fare Pote Museum we capture a few photos of the sacred Mare.

Good Times: Good Friends – Huahine

For the past few years, I have been participating in an SSB radio net.  We have 7 volunteers who run this daily net that tracks vessels underway and monitors anchorage and weather conditions.  We have tracked vessels as far as Fiji, New Zealand, Hawaii and Alaska!  It is a rare occurrence when we are in the same anchorage, but it just so happened that 4 of the 7 net controllers were in Huahine.  So, we gathered onboard Sugar Shack for happy hour!

Poly Mag Net Controllers

Poly Mag Net Controllers

We also enjoyed many happy hours at the Huahine Yacht Club.  I captured many beautiful sunset photos here.  The sunsets are truly beautiful in the liward islands (well who am I kidding, they are beautiful everywhere).

Huahine Yacht Club

Huahine Yacht Club

This photo was taken without filters or editing!  Just my amazing iPhone 13 Pro Max doing its thing.

Taha’a – Coral Gardens

Eventually we tear ourselves away from Huahine and our friends.  We head to another liward island called Taha’a which is one of two islands inside the same lagoon.  We anchor near a beautiful resort to “borrow” their wifi and complete some of our necessary paperwork (see next blog on preparing to leave French Poly).

We find a new coral gardens that we dutifully named “the secret coral gardens” because only  locals seem to know about it.  Same drift snorkel but the coral and fish are a lot more healthier.  Wow what a difference man has made to the underwater world (and not in a good way). 

A few of our cruiser friends gathered for a dinghy drift.  We tied our dinghies together, enjoyed some cold drinks and snacks as the sun went down.

Raiatea

Perles d’O

We wanted to hide for a little bit, but it did not work out as planned.  The anchorage was not as comfortable as we had hoped so we ended up returning to Raiatea.  But it was pretty. 

Entering Pearl d'O Anchorage

Entering Pearl d’O Anchorage

There is a little, old pearl farm shack that is no longer in use called “Pear d’O”.

Pretty sunset with Bora in the back ground.

Raiatea

One of our favorite anchorages is in front of a small 8-room pension (hotel) called La Pirog.  We’ve stopped here many times, search our blog for past visits.  It is so pretty and is the perfect place for a sunset cocktail.

La Pirog Resort

La Pirog Resort

Day out on Sugar Shack

Our friends on sailing vessel Domum have been in the Raiatea Carenage yard for well over a month working on their boat so we decided to take them out for a day on Sugar Shack.  We motored (because there was no wind) two hours from the Carenage to the coral gardens in Taha’a.

Domum on Sugar Shack

Domum on Sugar Shack

Bora Bora

We end our time in French Polynesia in Bora Bora.  Not because it is “Bora Bora” but because it is the western most island where we can easily launch on our two week passage.  Plus we wanted to stop by Bloody Mary’s one more time.  Our friends on Grace (Dave and Helen), Rhapsody (John and Aida), and Askari (Carolyn and Andrew) joined us for happy hour, then we moved it to the dining room for an extremely tasty dinner.

And just for giggles…one more visit to the men’s room where their “flush” pull is very unique.

Goodbye Bora Bora….this is Hotel Conrad

 

During all this fun in the liwards we are dutifully preparing for our two-week passage from French Polynesia to Fiji.  Stay tuned for the next blog post where I explain all of our hard work to get ready for a huge passage.

Sugar Shack gets dolled up for her passage to Fiji.  Check out our experience a Raiatea Carenage.  Events from this blog in early April, 2022.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Delicious Taha’a & Bay Nao Nao

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We dropped the hook in Bay Apu which is the south side of Taha’a.  The home of Champon Pearl Farm.  This particular anchorage is not a favorite of mine primarily because there are well over 30 boats that moor here all the time.  The charter boats use it as a staging area and a frequent stop.  There are also at least 10-12 boats that are abandoned or have nobody caring them.  The good thing about this spot is that it is protected from the upcoming NW winds and we can check out the Champon Pearl Farm again.

Bay Apu, Taha'a

Bay Apu, Taha’a

The Pearl Farm

Matt and I took the SUPs out on a particularly calm morning (it was 0630).  You can see the water clarity from the paddle board photos.

Champon Pearl Farm

Champon Pearl Farm

We could see their pearl farm underwater which is located just in front of their dock.  The underwater pearl farm was not set too deep so we could see it all from the surface.  But I did stick the GoPro in the water to get all of these shots.

They are growing little oyster shells in tube like nets hung from lines and suspended by floats.

Growing baby oysters

Growing baby oysters

Once the baby oysters grow up, they put them in the harvesting nets which are rectangle.

And they were harvesting lots and lots of oysters.  The larger oysters that have been harvested (with the nucli) are in square or rectangle nets and suspended from a line being held up by floats.

Harvesting Pearls

Harvesting Pearls

They had a maze under water.  I wish these photos came out better, but you can see how close they are to the surface and how many lines crisscross over each other.

Here is a view from above the water looking down onto the farm.  I love the top photo where you see Matt by the red marker and the white pearl float in the foreground.  Look at me so artsy.

It rained and rained and rained while we were here.  We are lucky we had an hour to get these photos.  On the way back, we got rained on.

Bay Nao Nao

We finally had a rain free day and decided to head south to the beautiful bay of Nao Nao.  On the way, we leave the lagoon and try to catch some fish.  But, despite all the birds flying around and the jumping/flying fish, nothing got on our hook. This is me hiding in the shade while underway.

We went for a walk with our friends Steve and Lili (from the boat Liward) and we met the most interesting, self-proclaimed extremist who believed it was imperative to bring back the old culture and history of Polynesians.  It was super interesting and educational to talk to him. He is covered head to toe with stories on his body (in tattoos).

He built his own maraes in 2012, to represent his family, ancestors and protection for his house and island.

Ile Haio / Bay Nao Nao

This is truly one of the prettiest bays in Raiatea.  I call it Bay Nao Nao but technically it is really Ile Haio.  The motu by the pass is called Nao Nao, but the motu where we grab a mooring ball is actually called Ile Haio.  Technicality, but just wanted to point it out.  It has been raining a lot.  Bummer for activities, but great for the islands.  It makes everything so very pretty and green!

Bay Nao Nao aka Ile Haio

Bay Nao Nao aka Ile Haio

And Sugar Shack is looking oh so lovely sitting in this bay!

We had a “Flag off” with our friends on Liward.  They are registered in Kemah (Houston).  They put up their 4’x6’ which was so cute!  So, we put up our Texas flag which is 12’x18’.  We won in the size department, but we lost in the flying department.  Our flag was so big that the slight breeze was not able to get her up and flying properly.  But she still looked pretty.  Then we had to dry her off as she got soaked in the rain storm. Where do you dry such a huge flag? 

One night we had Tequila and Nachos on Liward. Man oh man it was tasty.

I was gifted one of the patron bottles which I promptly cleaned and filled with sea shells.  Liward is in the background.

Matt getting artsy with a bottle….makes you thirsty, right?

In our last blog, we enjoy a hoppin good time in Huahine.   Events from this blog post occurred early October.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

A Twirl through the Societies, Part II

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We continue to show Donald the beauty of the Societies. It was time to leave Huahine and head back to Raiatea.  

The great thing about cruising the Societies is that the islands are not very far apart.  We had a small weather window and decided to sail back to Raiatea.  We still had lots of gusts (up to 35-38kts), but it was our best opportunity.  This trip was with the wind and waves so it would be a lot easier than our trip to Huahine.

As we left, we had gusts up to 38kts and then they would die down to 7-8kts.  Talk about learning and trimming the sails a lot.  It sure was interesting.  We ended up completing the passage in 4 hours (as opposed to the 6 hours it took to get us there).  We had top speed of 11.5kt when we had a wind gust and surfed down a wave. 

Approaching Raiatea – I love how the mountains all wear cloud hats :0

Raiatea wearing a cloud hat

Raiatea wearing a cloud hat

Baie Haio – New Bay for Sugar Shack

We found a new baie to us.  Baie Haio is gorgeous and is located on the southern tip of Raiatea.  We are surrounded by palm tree shores.

Baie Haio, Raiatea

Baie Haio, Raiatea

We went exploring on shore and came to the town of Fetuna where there is a church, a small magasin, and a school.

Baie Haio, Raiatea

Village of Fetuna in Baie Haio, Raiatea

The moon peered out from behind the palm trees making a spectacle of himself.

The next morning Matt broke out the drone and captured more magnificent photos of Sugar Shack.  This is certainly my favorite bay in Raiatea and might be one of my favorite bays in the Societies.

Shot towards the motu as the sunrises

Shot towards the pass showcasing the reef and motu.

And the grand poo ba of them all – a shot toward the mountain.

Heading North

We got up early to head north.  It would be an upwind passage so we could not even take out the sail.  Just a motor.  But it was really pretty.  We exited the southern pass (Passe Punaeroa) because the is no navigable passage inside the lagoon in this area.  We re-entered the Passe Tetuatiare with the hopes of finding a good anchor spot behind Ilot Horea.  However, with easterly winds it dropped us too close to the reef so we decided to move on to plan B.

This image was taken as we were motoring outside the lagoon.  Check out the huge waves breaking on the reef between us and the lagoon.

Plan B was to move into Passe Rautoanui and hang a right to see if we could anchor near village Tevaitoa.  However, there were no moorings and it was way too deep for us to drop the hook. So, off we go to Plan C.

Plan C:  motor up to Baie Apu, Taha’a.  It was directly into the wind, so we motored the entire way.  We hopped on a mooring and took Donald to the Chompon Pearl Farm.

We started at the bottom of Raiatea (south) near Ile Haio, then exited at the first pink dot (lower left).  Plan B was in at the 3rd dot until we moved to Plan C and headed to Taha’a.

New Anchorage – Point Tenape

Donald told us about a cool place to have lunch – Raiatea Lodge.  So, we headed south toward a new anchorage across from the lodge.  It was a beautiful sail day with just the jib pushing us along at 5-6kts.  We passed by 4 different huts on sandy spits.  The locals use these for fishing or kit surfing spots.

Raiatea Lodge

Raiatea Lodge is a pretty little hotel.  They have a long pier and turquoise buildings.

Raiatea Lodge

Raiatea Lodge

They were kind enough to let us have lunch with them.  It was pricey, but tasty.

Raiatea Lodge

Raiatea Lodge

The next morning, we made French toast and motored closer to the airport where we picked up a mooring ball near Raiatea Carenage.  We had a lovely time visiting new spots to Donald, new spots to Sugar Shack, and new spots to both of us.  Although we did not get to do an overnight to Mo’orea due to weather, we had a great time.

Click here, if you missed Part I “A Twirl through the Societies.”  Events in this post occurred between 2-5 Oct. 2020.   Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind our adventures.