Sailing around the islands of French polynesia

  How would you like to visit a place where the water is so blue that all you can do is stare in complete wonder at it? When you jump in that turquoise blue water, the temperature is so perfect that you don’t feel cold and you can spend hours swimming around looking under water and watching the small colorful fish go by.

Welcome to Tahiti! Our vacation on the islands of Tahiti, Bora Bora, Raiatea, Taha’a, and Mo’orea in French Polynesia had two parts; a sailing adventure and a resort experience. The sailing adventure is the focus of this article and there is another article about the resort experience, Tahiti and Bungalows in Mo’orea.

Sailing Adventure

Raiatea

We spent a week on a 40 foot catamaran that we bareboat chartered from Moorings. We slept, cooked and ate on the Moana Iti (which means little sea), as well as snorkeled, swam, and paddleboarded off the boat. The catamaran had three cabins and was a comfortable size for the four of us — my husband and two friends. The master cabin was in the starboard pontoon and had a full sized bed and a head (bathroom) that included a shower. The port-side pontoon had two cabins with a head in between the two cabins. The air-conditioned salon had a big table and seating area, captain’s desk, and the galley. In the front of the boat was a trampoline, a mesh area that you can sit on and look through to see the water. The aft area of the boat had a large table and seating area, the helm, swim deck, and a davits system for the dinghy.

Sailing allowed us the freedom to go where we wanted, but somehow we had to decide where to go. The Moorings gave us a suggested itinerary but the most helpful thing was spending several hours with one of the captains who helped familiarize us with the boat. The captain, a French man named Michel, advised us on where to anchor or moor given the wind and sea conditions and what we would see in different locations. Of course we had some ideas of what we were interested in, for instance besides going to different islands, we wanted to visit a black pearl farm and a vanilla farm.

The Moorings base is at the Apooiti Marina on the northern end of Raiatea island. This is where we started the sailing adventure. We spent the first night in harbor due to a large storm and by the next morning we were antsy to go. The conditions still weren’t the best. We wanted to go to the next island north, which shares the surrounding reef with Raiatea, but we had to cross the small channel between the islands. The east wind was funneled through the space between the islands and sometimes gusted to 30 knots per hour! The water was very choppy, so we just motored and once we reached the west side of Taha’a, the island sheltered us from the strong winds, much to our relief.

Taha’a

We anchored in the Northwest area of Taha’a near some motus (tiny reef islands), where the Taha’a Island Resort & Spa had bungalows over the water, see photo above. We chose to anchor at this location because of the Coral Gardens nearby, which we planned to visit the next day.

After a night on the boat, where we slept while being gently rocked by the wind blowing on the water, the sun rose over the island of Taha’a.

Breakfast consisted of fried rice cooked on the galley stove — using leftover rice from dinner the night before — and fruit. After we cleaned up, we put the dinghy in the water and went to the Coral Gardens. In between two motus, where the water is very clear and shallow, live a large variety of corals, fish (clown fish, trigger fish, moorish idols, sergeant majors), clams and other sea life. We snorkeled around trying not to get pushed into the coral by the wind or the current, which were going in opposite directions. The water was three feet deep in some areas with the coral about six inches below the water. It was a colorful maze and I had never seen anything so stunning before!

Next spot on our itinerary was Bora Bora. We knew it took about three and a half hours to get there, so we pulled the dinghy out of the water, lifted anchor, and were on our way!

Tahiti and its neighboring thirteen islands, sometimes referred to as the Society Islands in French Polynesia, are located south of the equator in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Most of the individual islands have a reef system circling them, although in the case of Taha’a and Raiatea, they were both within the same reef system. The reefs created shallow lagoons next to the islands and protected them from the deeper waves of the Pacific. The water in the lagoons can be saltier than the Pacific, when we were at Raiatea, we were able to float in the water with no effort.

In the reef systems there were passageways, deep channels that allows boats to go through to the ocean, the passage on the west side of Taha’a was south of where we were, so we sailed south, then headed west through the passage. We left the protected water of the lagoon for the Pacific Ocean.

Once in the Pacific Ocean, away from the protection of the island and surrounding reefs, we had strong 20 to 25 knot winds. The swells were 6 to 8 feet and came from more than one direction, so every now and then we would have a huge swell lift us up and down. We tried to lift the sails up and do some sailing, but between the winds and the swells, we got tired of fighting to keep steering the boat and decided to lower the sails and just motor to Bora Bora.

In the end, it took us five hours to get to the next anchorage spot just south of the only Bora Bora passageway into the lagoon. This passageway here was deep and wide enough for cruise ships. It was strange to see such a big boat next to the island as we approached it.

Bora Bora

We were thrilled to finally drop the anchor. We made it before the sun went down and it got too dark. We were sheltered by a small island called To’opua, but there was still enough of a wind to blow the boat around. When you’re on anchor, one of the things you want to make sure is that the anchor is holding, that it has grabbed hold enough that the boat doesn’t drift. The wind pushing on it made us even more nervous and we spent the first half hour (at least) checking that we weren’t drifting. We checked our position in regards to the other boats near us and the island. Once we knew that the anchor was good, we could relax. We also started making use of an app called Anchor Watch that sounds an alarm on the phone if the boat drifts past a safety area around the anchor.

A few weeks before our trip, Moorings asked us how we wanted to provision the boat. We did a mix of dinner, lunch, breakfast, and snack foods. We had pan-fried mahi mahi for dinner this night, and ate as we planned how we were going to spend the next few days in Bora Bora. We were exhausted after the long day at sea and fell asleep easily. One good thing about the steady wind blowing, we could open the hatch and feel a breeze in the cabin. Of course, it started to rain in the middle of the night, so we had to wake up and close the hatches.

The next morning, the rain clouds were gone and we had pink clouds with the sunrise.

There was shallow water near the reef, which is where the stingrays would gather. We saw a few glide under our boat as well. We wanted to see the rays so we headed out on the dinghy. We were warned not to get near the tour boats that were in the area as the captains and tour operators, who were feeding the rays to gather them near the tour boat, didn’t take kindly to other people coming close. If we waited for them to leave and went in the area then it was okay. So we waited for them to leave, meanwhile, more tour boats showed up. We did see a couple of rays while we were out on the dinghy, but we eventually gave up and went back to the boat.

As we reached the Moana Iti, there was a man on a boat next to it. He told us that we weren’t allowed to anchor there and to use the mooring balls that they had just started installing. This was news to us as Moorings didn’t mention anything about it and in fact the chart we were using from Moorings only showed anchorages there. We did pay the $20 (US dollars since that was all we had on us at the moment), even though we were going to leave the area in a few hours, we picked a mooring ball with a number, so that he could write it on the receipt and that ball would’ve been ours for the day/night. The Bora Bora committee was installing mooring balls throughout the island. They happened to just start with that side of the island. The mooring balls would help protect the reef from damaging anchors, which we understood and could support.

After we ate lunch, we left the mooring and headed toward a restaurant called Bloody Mary’s. It was an impressively scenic route past the tall peak of Mount Otemanu and down the deep water channel in the middle of the island. Bloody Mary’s had mooring balls out for their visitors, and if you ate at the restaurant for dinner you could stay on the mooring all night. It was a little tricky finding their mooring balls, but we found them on the north side of their dock and in fact we took the last one available. Now we had some time to relax, some of us went on land, scoped out Bloody Mary’s and made reservations for dinner that night.

Later that day we arrived at the restaurant early in order to enjoy Happy Hour at the bar. The first order of business was to put your shoes in the cubbies by the door. This might sound strange until you realize that the restaurant flooring is sand! It was fantastic to walk around in a restaurant without shoes!

The inside of the restaurant was very tropical with wooden tables and stools, large polished wooden poles held up a palm frond thatched roof. There were plants and colorful art on the walls. The waitstaff was very friendly and dressed in tropical prints to fit the theme.

At the bar, the Happy Hour deal was 2 for 1. We’d already ordered drinks before we realized this, so we each had 2 drinks! I had the Tahitian Rum Punch. The rum punch had a nice vanilla flavor along with some cacao flavor. My husband had a Mai Tai, which was also made with the vanilla rum. I had wanted to try the restaurant’s name sake and have a Bloody Mary, but there was only so much I could drink!

While we were at the bar, there were some other patrons that we started talking to, we found out that they were on a sailboat as well, currently moored at the Bora Bora Yacht Club, which is where we were heading to for the next night. Since they had sailed around the area before, it was good to talk to them and get some tips.

For dinner, before leading you to your table, the hostess showed us the choices for appetizers and proteins for your meal. An impressive display of different fishes, pork, chicken and steak was laid out on ice, making the choice more difficult than just seeing a list on a menu.

My husband and I chose the sashimi appetizer to split and since I was intrigued by the vanilla sauce that came with the parrot fish, that was my choice for the main course. My husband had a marinated and grilled marlin.

For dessert, we had the Tahitian Vanilla Créme Brulée to continue on with the vanilla theme. This turned out to be one of our favorite meals of the whole trip. The flavorful, well made food and atmosphere of the restaurant made it special.

The next morning, my husband, who had booked a scuba expedition, was picked up by boat at the Moana Iti. While he was off, we took advantage of one of the perks of staying the night near Bloody Mary’s — we emptied our trash and filled up the Moana Iti’s fresh water tanks. So we moved the catamaran over to the Bloody Mary’s dock to take care of these chores.

We had just finished one of the water tanks the day before, so it was good timing as we were at the half way point of our sailing adventure. The 200 gallon tank took over an hour to fill using the hose from the dock. About the time we finished up my husband returned from his scuba diving. He had an exciting two dives where he saw black tipped sharks and rays. Next, we were off to the town of Vaitape, just north of where we were.

Vaitape is the largest town on the island of Bora Bora, with a population of about 5,000. They have a grocery store within walking distance of the small harbor and we wanted to pick up some provisions. As it was lunch time, we found a place to eat called the Aloe Cafe. Even though it was warm and humid, sitting outside under the wide roof with ceiling fans was pleasant. Taking a break from fish, my friend and I split a cheese pizza, as we were in a French influenced place, the pizza had pieces of brie on top of a very thin crust with tomato sauce and other cheese! It was délicieuse!

The Chin Lee Super Market was busy with a mix of locals and tourists going in and out, many of them carrying baguettes under their arms. The market had the provisions we needed, including foie gras and various cheeses from France. As French Polynesia is a French protectorate there is many food items imported from France. We had been enjoying baguette’s for breakfast, and in the store there were bins full of warm baguette’s. We were able to buy a bottle of wine, liquor is expensive on the islands, but wine is reasonably priced.

We walked back to the Moana Iti docked at the harbor and headed to the Bora Bora Yacht Club. The yacht club has many mooring balls that you can stay overnight on for a fee. We ended up mooring by the Dash, the sailboat owned by the people we met at Bloody Mary’s. This location is even more sheltered than the place we were last night, it was easier to grab the mooring ball without the wind pushing you around. Once we were settled, we took the dinghy to the club, paid our mooring fee and made reservations for dinner.

This was the most popular place we had moored or anchored at, with about a dozen boats moored here. We were also the closest to land with houses and party clubs.

We ate dinner on the dock while watching the sunset. After the sun set, the lights under the dock illuminated the coral and fish. We had scallops and tuna for dinner, and another vanilla créme brulée.

This was probably the most uncomfortable night on the boat, we were close to land, and there wasn’t a lot of breeze, although enough to smell the smoke from someone’s fire. Late into the night there was a club playing dance music. Eventually, it did quiet down. As dawn approached, and it started to get lighter, I could hear many many roosters crowing to welcome the day.

We were faced with the long haul back to Taha'a. It took us five and half hours to get to the next mooring on the south side of Taha’a. The Pacific Ocean conditions and wind were the same as our trip northwest to Bora Bora, just this time we were heading more into the wind.

Taha’a

Our next mooring location was in Apu Bay near the Champon Pearl Farm, a black pearl farm. There are mooring balls you can use for free if you’re going to visit the pearl farm. We had a pleasant night stay here. We took the dinghy in to the longest dock along the shore, which belonged to a restaurant that wasn’t open during the day (and only open a few nights a week as well), we could dock the dinghy and cut through to the road to walk to the pearl farm.

The Champon Pearl Farm was very nice, a family run business with the mother, son, and daughter working together. While standing next to the shore, in the shade of some pine trees, the daughter explained the process of growing and harvesting the pearls, which her brother did. Each growth period was about three years, so to have one oyster make a large pearl could take 10 years or more. The black oyster has a black mantle that lays down the special color of the black pearls. Even though they are called black pearls the coloring could be shades of blue, green, gold, or pink. They also made the pearls into jewelry here, so we were ushered over to sit at a large table and shown the different jewelry pieces starting from a simple pearl earring all the way to more intricate necklaces.

After completing our purchases, we decided to stop at a little shop that we saw by the side of the road as we walked to the pearl farm. It was a boutique that had crepes, ice cream, and some items for sale. Being on land, especially in an area sheltered from the breeze, we were feeling the heat and the humidity, it was about 35º C (95º F).

Next we wanted to visit a vanilla farm that was on the east side of Taha’a. We decided to brave the wind, which was still blowing strong from the east.

Originally the captain that we met with on the first day had indicated on the chart where to anchor before taking the dinghy over to the island then to walk to the vanilla farm. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong and making the waters too rough to ride the dinghy that far, so we decided to take shelter in a bay (Fa’a’aha Bay) nearby.

There were mooring balls in front of a structure that we thought was a restaurant, and we thought we could eat there and walk to the vanilla farm, so we attempted to grab the mooring ball. It was not easy with the strong wind pushing us around. There was a current in the bay as well. We tried many times, even losing the boat hook — the handle on the end of the hook slipped right off, the hook floated on the water for a little and we tried to get it, but it was impossible and eventually disappeared. Two men from the restaurant saw our troubles and came out to help. They asked us if we wanted to eat there and as we were hungry we said yes. We boarded their boat and they took us to shore and the restaurant. We were a little nervous about what we were getting into, but the men were very friendly and helpful. They helped us onto their dock and sat us down in a covered patio area. We ordered beverages, and they brought a snack of deep fried slices of breadfruit and a light curry coconut dipping sauce. They had another large group of people — turned out to be the same group that had been in front of us at the pearl farm — in another area that were finishing up their lunch. It was a very pleasant spot to sit and relax in.

Eventually, the woman waiting on us lead us to an area where several plates of food were laid out buffet style. We served ourselves and sat down at the table. There was green salad, poisson cru — the national dish of raw fish marinated in citrus and coconut milk— chicken cooked with pineapple, fried breadfruit balls — very ripe breadfruit, scooped and deep fried, crispy outside and soft starchy inside — ipu - steamed breadfruit in a lotus leaf — and an au gratin with pumpkin and potato. The food was incredibly fresh and tasty.

We learned that the older man who originally helped us out on the boat is the owner of the place, the other man on the boat was his son-in-law, and our waitress the older man’s daughter. Eventually, the talented chef who had cooked this amazing food came out, and she was the older man’s wife. A family business! The restaurant normally works by reservation only since they don’t always have people come by. Since they had the large party there, they were able to accommodate us on the spur of the moment. We felt so lucky to have been able to experience this little piece of paradise.

We ran out of time to go to the vanilla farm. We would’ve been able to walk from the restaurant, but we needed to get back to the Moorings base before 5pm. We had checkout at 8am the next morning and rather than try to find another place to anchor at — and since we were without a boat hook — we opted to head back to the marina. We crossed back across the channel between Taha’a and Raiatea, and returned to the Apooiti Marina. This was a good decision, because we were able to clean up, pack up and eat one last meal at the La Voile d’Or, the restaurant at the harbor.

The sailing adventure was at an end. It was quite an experience, we wish the weather had been more cooperative, but overall we were able to see and enjoy the sites and activities afforded by being on a sailboat in French Polynesia.

The next part of the vacation, where we stay at a resort on the island of Mo’orea is in the this post on Tahiti and Bungalows in Mo’orea!

Note: There are no ads in this article, I was not paid by anyone for mentioning their business.

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