As most of you know by now I’ve been back in Ireland for a month. I had promised to write blogs from my final 2 destinations, Tahaa and Bora Bora but I’ve been putting off doing it. Mainly because I’ve been so busy since I got back, but also because the longer I leave it the more I am losing the sense of the journey and feel I won’t be able to convey the atmosphere in the same way as when I was actually in French Polynesia.
But two serious incidents have occurred out there, since I left, bringing it home to me the constant danger at sea and how fortunate I am to be here and in a position to write. So for that reason and also in order to finish the diary for myself, I’ll attempt the last two blogs.
Since I’ve mentioned that there have been incidents, I’d better say straight away that Sapphire and all on board are fine and reached Fiji this week without any problems, apart from some rough weather. However, one of the Arc boats, Ensemble, was blown onto a reef while at anchor during a storm in Niue, and almost sank. Luckily, at the very moment they were blown onto the reef, John, Patricia and Richard, the new skipper on Sapphire, were on their way to Ensemble in Sapphire’s dinghy for a dinner date. Although they were all anchored in a lagoon, the sea was very rough. At the exact minute that Ensemble was blown aground, the guys in the dinghy were looking for some way to board. Realising that Ensemble was likely to sink, Richard tore off his jacket, jumped into the sea and swam over to Ensemble to help. He cut the anchor and drove the boat off the reef while she took on gallons of water. Eventually they re-anchored and with the help of the other Arc crews working through the night, they pumped out all the water and patched up 3 large holes in the hull. The crew of Ensemble are a couple and could never have saved the boat if not for the help of other Arc crews. One of the many advantages of travelling in a group.
Sadly, the second incident was much worse. After Niue, the Arc boats made their way to Tonga. There, they were anchored in the same bay as a 2-handed Australian boat, Navillus. Navillus was heading to Oz via Fiji- same as the Arc. They left Tonga the afternoon before the Arc boats. It appears that at 1am it hit a reef and sank. Their EPIRB was activated at that time and an air search was carried out. The life raft was found but hadn’t been deployed so it must have sunk very quickly. One of the men managed to get a call out to his family from their sat phone, but unfortunately neither man has been found and after 6 days the search has been called off. On their way to Fiji, Sapphire passed a companionway door and a locker door floating in the sea. Must have been a sad and frightening sight.
Anyway, back to the blog. When I last wrote we were leaving Raiatea for Tahaa. We anchored in Bay Hurepiti, a small, peaceful bay where there were just 2 other yachts. The bay was flanked on both sides by very green high peaks. The breeze was channelled down from the peaks into the bay making it very pleasant to sit up top late into the night. Since it was to be my last night on anchor, Gavin, Jerry and I took our iPhones, speakers and most of the beer on board, up to the bow and took turns playing music into the small hours. This is a great way to be introduced to artists you wouldn’t otherwise listen to. Somebody was playing saxophone on a Russian boat beside us. Beautiful.
Somewhere along the way we had a found the phone number of a French man who organised tours of a vanilla farm on Tahaa. The next morning, hangovers intact, we headed for land and met up with Alain and his wife. They had sailed this way 30 years ago, from France and ended up in Australia as planned. When they got there they decided that Tahaa was where they really wanted to be. So, they sailed back, sold their boat and bought a piece of land. They never left. Over the years, Alain learned the ways of the Polynesians and now might well be the only person in the area who knows the old arts, crafts and medicines.
He has built his home in the traditional way. Originally, the Polynesians lived in communal groups. One building for sleeping in, one for eating and one for socialising. All his buildings are made from palm trees with hand-thatched roofs. This means that the roof has to be replaced every 5 years, which explains why most houses now have corrugated iron roofs. He also planted fruit trees, vegetables etc and is now fully self sufficient. We spent the first hour of the tour going around his house and gardens. The one thing that sticks in my mind was an amazing star fruit tree he had. I’d only ever seen star fruit in some of the posher branches of Tesco.
house walls - such as they are - made from palm wood
Star fruit tree
With the history lesson, and tour of the house and gardens over, we got into his 4X4 and headed inland to visit a vanilla farm. French Polynesian vanilla is said to be the best in the world and its export is an important part of the local economy. Vanilla originated in Mexico, grows on vines, and in Polynesia, is said to smell like liquorice. I thought it smelled like chocolate, but by this time, having been months without it, I often imagined I could smell chocolate. It seems that when the vanilla was brought to French Polynesia from Mexico it woudn’t polllinate. Some young kid discovered a method of manual pollination and that is how it is done today.
Our jungle transport. Looks a wreck but was very sturdy.
Patricia wanted to get a T-Shirt made for me with “I NEED Wifi” printed on it. Which I think is a bit rich given that we were in the middle of a jungle trek when I took this photo. Guess who was NOT on the internet!
Alain showing us a vanilla vine growing on a tree stump
Vanilla pods
This was growing on the ground in the vanilla farm. I don’t know what it is but it reminds me of my all-time favourite artist, Salvador Dali. In his house he has a couch called Lips. Looks very like this.
This guy was hunting wild pig. Most of the islands have wild pigs. I was jealous of his long socks as I was being bitten by all sorts of flying things.
Alain was the most interesting tour guide I’ve ever met. He was a mine of information on the flora and fauna. He picked fruit from trees and painted my nails, he pulled the stamen off a gardenia and gave it to us for lipstick. He gave us lemongrass to keep the bugs away – didn’t work for me of course! He showed how to use hibiscus to clean our snorkelling masks. And to top it all provided us with an amazing lunch, all from his garden, except the coconut which he cut from the trees around.
Grapefruit and Star fruit from Alain's garden
Using a machete to cut up coconut
Coconut milk (nothing like our hairy Halloween version) is really tasty
All chickens in the islands are wild. They are let roam because they eat giant centipedes which can be deadly. They love young coconut because the flesh is soft.
Jerry - even the straws were natural. Some sort of wood.
If you ever happen to be in the Society Islands I can definately recommend this tour. However, you can only get to Tahaa by boat. There is no airstrip and no commercal boats visit so I guess you’d have to be sailing by! After lunch we battled our way to the top of the island where we got a stunning view of our next destination – Bora Bora.
View of Sapphire from the top of Tahaa. Great shot of waves breaking on the reef behind her.
John - pity it's such a dark shot.
Poser!!
No such thing as health and safety here.
Copra drying in the sun. Bora Bora in the background.
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