A funny thing happened on the way to the gendarmerie (official you must visit to check out of French Polynesia). About 50 yards from the office, we saw a poster advertising Heiva, a huge annual festival of Polynesia culture featuring competition in dance, chanting, rowing, and sports. Each Society Island has their own Heiva, which lasts about 2 weeks. We decided to extend our stay in Bora Bora by a week to see the first 2 days of the festival. Our rational—we’ve come all this way so why miss out on something so special! Since we do have a timeline to get to Australia, this puts us a week behind schedule, but by spending a day or two less in the next few island groups (Cooks, Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia), we can get close enough to being back on schedule. And what better place to spend an extra week than Bora Bora!

So, instead of the last minute flurry of activities preparing the boat for a passage, we kicked back and spent the next few days snorkeling, paddle-boarding, relaxing, and getting together with other boats like Bob The Cat and Maestro. I’m also reading South Sea Tales by Jack London, which is very interesting because some of the stories take place in areas we’ve sailed through or will be sailing through.

Heiva 2015

During the day, we walked around Viatapi, the main village on Bora Bora and site of the Heiva. The waterfront area was transformed into an arena for the evening competitions, huts with Polynesian arts and crafts, and bamboo buildings with restaurants. After the 2-week festival, it all gets torn down and becomes a parking lot again.

Each night there are 2 performances (chanting and dancing) in an outdoor sand-covered arena. Each performance is from a different village on Bora Bora. The performances are judged and a winner is announced at the end of Heiva.

On the first night, the group doing the chanting (Himene) was from Tiipoto. They wore colorful dresses, flower headbands, and shell necklaces and chanted to a flowing, melodic ukulele rhythm and drum beat. The singing and swaying were very beautiful to watch.

The second performance was dancing (Otea) by the village of Faanui. This was done to a much faster beat and featured young women wearing grass skirts, flowered headbands, necklaces, and wristbands, and coconuts. The men wore grass loin cloths and headbands and were also very fit.

It was an amazing evening that started with a nice dinner with Erin, Len and  baby Trent from SV Maestro before the performance. We bought tickets and sat in the bleacher section to watch the 3-hour performance, which began at 8pm. A huge shower came through right at the end and we were soaking wet by the time we dinghy’d back to our boat!

We’ll upload more videos of the performance when we find faster wifi, but here are a few short clips….

Pearl Purchase
Similar to Tahiti, Bora Bora is a great place to buy black pearls. There are a dozen or so pearl shops in Viatapi, and Karen never grew tired of “looking”. By now, we are somewhat educated in pearls since we’ve been to pearl farms, pearl museums, and countless pearl shops. I figured this was my last chance to make a purchase since we were leaving French Polynesia in 3 days. I also figured she deserved it for doing something as crazy as quitting our jobs for a year, squeezing into a boat the size of most people’s living room, and sailing across the biggest ocean in the world.
So Karen found a nice black Tahitian pearl she hinted that she REALLY liked, and I snuck back to the store and bought it. It was sold as a loose pearl and I had it mounted in an 18K white gold stud with a white gold necklace. She chose this particular pearl for its size (13.4mm), quality (grade A round), and color (very light peacock). The owner of Baldini’s Pearls was very friendly and let me watch as he drilled and mounted the pearl.

One More Delay….
Two days before our intended departure, we were munching on some caramel corn at the Heiva festival and Karen broke a tooth (at least we thought so at the time).  Back at the boat, I inspected the tooth with a flashlight while stretching her mouth to try to see in the back. It looked like the break went down to the gum line, which brought worries of infection if not treated. We decided to delay our departure another 3 days so we could have it looked at on Monday. We knew a dentist office was located right next door to the Aloe Cafe, where we spent lots of time using wifi, and hoped we could get a walk-up appointment. Arrived there at 9am and only had to wait 30 minutes until the dentist could see her. Turns out it was a prior filling in the side of the tooth that had broken off. 30 minutes and only $40 later, a new filling was in and we were back at the Aloe Cafe eating bacon and eggs.

Bora Bora is called the “Jewel of the South Seas” for good reason—turquoise water, white-sanded islets, the famous Mount Otemanu and Pahia covered in lush greens, and the friendliness of the 6,000 islanders. The lagoon of Bora Bora is 3 times larger than its land mass. The island is about 7 million years old, and is somewhere between the Tuamoto atolls in age (10 to 40 million years old), and high islands such as Tahaa and Raiatea (2 to 3 million years old). A mere 8 million years from now, the island will have sunk into the ocean and been replaced by a lagoon surrounded by a fringe reef.

We arrived on a Sunday and tied to a mooring buoy next to the well known Bloody Mary’s restaurant. The following morning we took the dinghy to the south-east part of the island to a place called the Coral Garden, an amazing natural underwater park where all sorts of tropical reef fish are found. I was able to get better close-up pictures of fish here since the water was crystal clear, the sun was bright, and the fish seemed less afraid than at other reefs we snorkeled at. After several hours of this, we got back in the dinghy and motored to the Intercontinental Resort where we used the pool, played in the sand, and relaxed.

For dinner we ate at Bloody Mary’s, where you make your selection by looking at the displays of fresh fish and meat on ice before being seated. We had Meka (a type of swordfish found only in French Polynesia), Ribs, Steak, and their signature Bloody Mary (me) and Strawberry Daiquiri (Karen). The tropical atmosphere, sand covered floor, and great food made this a memorable dining experience!

As we moved to different anchorages around Bora Bora, I captured different views of Mt. Otemanu and Mt. Pahia at different times of the day.

Boat Repairs
Dinghy Engine–We use our inflatable dinghy like land-based people use their car. It’s our main transportation once we reach a destination and are anchored. We have a small 6HP 4-stroke Tuhatsu engine that has needed practically no maintenance during its 8 years of use (only changed oil and spark plug). Recently it has been stalling at low throttle, which makes it hard shifting into forward or reverse. So we suspected it was time for a carburetor cleaning. Thanks to YouTube, we were able to follow along the procedure while watching a 10-minute video with the exact same engine model. After removing the carburetor from the engine, we took it apart to gain access to the 2 jets for cleaning. Even a tiny particle can clog the holes in the jets and make the engine run poorly or not start at all. The low-rpm jet probably had some dirt or byproducts from ethanol in gas that was causing the engine to stall at low throttle. Using carburetor cleaner, we sprayed the casing, the 2 jets, and all of the orifices until all were shiny clean, then reassembled and reinstalled the carburetor back into the engine. It started up on the first pull and ran smoothly at low rpm, so we’re calling it fixed!

Zincs—While anchored in the crystal clear lagoon behind Toopua island, I got out our Hookah system (tankless diving) and changed the zincs, scrubbed the prop, and cleaned the hull bottom. Compared to the Marquesas, we’re getting far less barnacle growth on the hull, so it was a quick and easy job.

Sail Repairs—Friends aboard Maestro, a beautiful 72’ Irwin ketch, needed some minor repairs along the luff of their mizzen and main sails. Since we have a Sailrite sewing machine aboard, we offered to help out with the repairs. After transporting the machine to their boat via dinghy, we let out enough sail from their in-boom furling for Karen to sew patches along the bolt-rope where the chafing had occurred. Karen is getting very good sewing canvas and sails and it always feels good helping other cruisers.

Jacintha with Luke and Mathias from Bob The Cat (from NZ)

Just to the north of Raiatea is the smaller sister island of Tahaa with a single barrier reef surrounding both islands. We motored along on the inside lagoon, which was well marked with red (land-side) and green (reef-side) buoys. We chose Baie Haamene on the east side of Tahaa after reading about the Hibiscus Yacht Club in the guidebooks. After tying to a mooring buoy in front of the restaurant, we went ashore to walk around before dinner. We had the restaurant all to ourselves and the owners of over 25 years, Lolita and Leo, cooked a feast of fresh-grilled Thazard (Wahoo), skewered vegetables, salad, pommes fritzs (potato fries), taro, and creme brulee for dessert.  We bought some Tamanu Oil, which Lolita makes from the nuts of a Tamanu tree. It’s used for healing cuts, burns, insect bites, sunburn, acne, eczema, etc., and has a pleasant aroma.

Island Tour–We took a half day tour of the island that included stops at a pearl farm and a vanilla farm.  Our guide, George, drove us and explained the process of farming vanilla and growing cultured pearls.

Vanilla Farm Tour
Tahaa produces 75% of the vanilla that comes from French Polynesia and the vanilla grown here is know for its very high quality. There are over 100 ‘greenhouse’ farms spread throughout Tahaa. What they call greenhouses are just netting for keeping out birds and insects. They also reduce the need to weed around the plants. Inside are neat rows of the vanilla orchid, each with its own concrete trellis. Ground-up coconut husks are used as mulch and help keep in the moisture around plants. When the flowers appear, the caretaker pollinates the plant by hand–one flower produces one bean. Mass produced vanilla orchids in places like Madagascar and Mexico rely on bees to do the pollination. That was the way it was done in Tahaa when the plants were outdoors, but they get much higher yield and quality by doing it by hand. When the vanilla beans turn yellowish, they are picked and are ready to be sun-dried ocw.upc.edu. This process takes a few weeks since the beans are placed in the sun for only 1 hour per day. When the bean turns brown and is limp, it is ready to be packaged. A package of 6 beans of this high quality vanilla costs $20US. We bought 2 packages of vacuum-sealed beans, and a fifth of Vanilla Rum.

Black Pearl Farm Tour
The pearls found in the South Pacific are internationally recognized as a specific variety and given the designation as the “Tahiti Cultured Pearl”. Tahaa has several pearl farms.
The process of farming cultured pearls is fascinating and here’s what I remember from the tour:  An oyster can make pearls naturally when a foreign body, such as a grain of sand, gets inside. The grain of sand slowly grows as the oyster coats it with a substance called Narcre, also known as “mother of pearl”. The color can be black, white, pink, green or combinations. Natural pearls are rarely round and it takes a very long time for the pearl to get big (12mm and up). Cultured pearls start by implanting a nucleus inside a mature oyster. The nucleus (see picture below) comes from oysters found in the Mississippi River. They are machined to be perfectly round before implanting them in the oyster’s sex organ (oysters can change back and forth between male and female). The oysters are then placed in mesh cages that are tied to a structure near a reef in 2-4 meters of water. The oyster continuously coats the nucleus and after 18 months, the oyster is carefully opened up and the pearl extracted. The same oyster can be used for many cycles of this process and an oyster that produces a high quality pearl usually continues to produce high quality pearls. Pearls are priced by size and quality. For size, 8mm is considered small, 12mm is medium, and 16mm is large. For quality, class C has more than 2 flaws and is not round, class B has 2 flaws and is round or teardrop, and class A has 1 or no visible flaws when viewed by the naked eye, and is round or teardrop. A 12mm class A cultured Black Pearl costs around $1,000US from a pearl farm, and of course the price goes up with middle-men and the further away you get from French Polynesia.

Our next stop in the leeward Society Islands, Raiatea has nice inner lagoons surrounded by a barrier reef. We entered through Nao Nao pass at the southern end, another easy pass with little current. We decided to anchor near Nao Nao Island after reading about the good snorkeling there. It took a few tries to set the anchor due to the sharp drop-off of the sandy bottom—50’ to 8’ within a boat’s length, and within another boat’s length we’d be grounded. So we dropped the anchor and backed up to dig it in, then I dove in to take a look and saw that there was only 15’ of chain laying on the sandy shelf before it dropped off steeply.  We put out more chain and I was able to dive down and, after many free dives, move the anchor and chain another 15’ on the shelf, then we dug it in and were satisfied. There was only 1 other boat in sight and no village within earshot, so it was a very peaceful anchorage. In the morning, we took the dinghy to the south-west side of Nao Nao Island and snorkeled along a reef for a few hours. There was considerable current so we walked along the beach and drift snorkeled back to where the dinghy was parked. The snorkeling was excellent and the coral very alive, probably the best we’ve seen in the Society Islands.

After snorkeling, we went back to the boat and up-anchored so that we could reach our next stop by mid-afternoon—an archeological sight about 10 miles away called Marae Taputapuatea. Once again, the anchoring was tricky since most of Baie Opoa is deep. We found a relatively small sandy shelf that was 20’ below the surface surrounded by deep water. It took 2 tries until we were satisfied that we had enough chain down to hold us and I snorkeled above the anchor and observed the chain zig-zagging around a few small rocks on the bottom (a plus for holding, a minus for anchor retrieval). We then took the dinghy ashore to explore the marae.

About Maraes—
Ancient Polynesians used maraes for ceremonial social and religious activities. Marae varied slightly from island to island, but were all rectangular and imposing in size. The outer wall was made of stone. Inside, a raised platform was used for human sacrifices during religious ceremonies. Tables made of wood, called fata rau, were used for whole pigs and large fish as offerings to the gods. The remains were eaten by the priests and other privileged people. When tribes battled, many maraes were destroyed by the victor. Carbon-14 dating revealed some maraes to be built during the 12th century, but the Marae Taputapuatea was constructed in the 1700’s. Capt. Cook observed ceremonial activities when he visited Raiatea in 1769. The Bora-Bora and Raiatea marae were thought to be the most important and influential within the Society Islands.

We up-anchored from Moorea at 5pm for a 90-mile over-night sail to Huahini, the first of 4 leeward islands in the Society Island archipelago that we will visit. We motored until the final 20 miles when the wind picked up. A fringing reef extends more than a mile off the south and west coasts of Huahini. Within 2 miles, the depth goes from over 4000’ to 200’, creating world-class waves for surfers. We entered Avamoa Pass, which is wide and deep, but nonetheless a bit intimidating with the huge waves breaking on both sides of the pass. The village of Fare is just inside the pass and we tied up to a mooring buoy just off a nice sandy beach. The current was strong but another cruising couple saw us coming in and jumped in their dinghy to give us a hand tying to the buoy.

Fare
The village of Fare has a big grocery store, bank, post office, and a few restaurants and food trucks. The Huahini Yacht Club is on the waterfront (they call it a yacht club but it’s more like a hotel/restaurant). We spent 5 days relaxing on the beach, paddle  boarding, playing ukulele, playing foosball at the yacht club, snorkeling, and shopping. Marvalyn, who also joined us for a few days in Mexico, flew in to the small airport in Huahini and will be with us for 10 days while we visit Raiatea, Tahaa, and Bora-Bora.

Ukulele Jam Session with the locals