21 August 2024 – First Day in Moorea

The bay in which we are anchored is lovely and attractive but there are gusts which suddenly appear from nowhere and one minute it is dead calm and the next some 25 kts. This meant we moved around a bit in the night but all was well.

I woke early before the sun came up and all was quiet but what I did notice was that our dinghy which we had tied off the stern had overturned. We had raised it off the deck but had not lowered the engine on to it. This showed the severity of the gusts and a number of fenders which had been on the side of the hull had been blown on to the deck.

It was a lovely sunny day with the odd small wisp of cloud here and there. We had a nice breakfast of delicious fruit of bananas, papaya, pineapple and mango.  Mark and I turned the dinghy over using the halyard to raise it so we could then lower it again. We then used our crane to lower the outboard on to the dinghy. We then put in the fuel tank and the anchor etc and prepared to go ashore.

I had earlier read the guide to Moorea and it sounds lovely. “It says if you have been dreaming of turquoise lagoons, white sand beaches, vertical peaks and lush landscapes then you would be hard pressed to find better than Moorea”.  

The island was formed as a volcano 1.5 to 2.5 million years ago, the result of the Society hotspot in the mantle under the oceanic plate that formed the whole of the Society Archipelago.

It is theorized that the current bays were formerly river basins that filled during the Holocene searise.

Moorea is about 16 km (10 miles) across. There are two small, nearly symmetrical bays on the north shore. The one to the west is called ʻŌpūnohu Bay. The main surrounding communes of the bay are Pihaʻena in the east and Papetōʻai to the west. The one to the east is Cook's Bay (which is where we are currently – see today’s picture), also called Pao Pao Bay since the largest commune of Moʻorea is at the bottom of the bay. The other communes are Pihaʻena to the west and busy Maharepa to the east. The highest point is Mount Tohivea, near the center of Moʻorea. It dominates the vista from the two bays and can be seen from Tahiti. There are also hiking trails in the mountains. Vaiʻare Bay is another small inlet, smaller than the two main bays, on the east shore. The main village is located just south of the bay.

The island had a population of 14,226 inhabitants in the 2002 census which increased to 17,718 in 2017, distributed in the associated communes of Afareaitu, Haʻapiti, Paopao, Papetōʻai, and Teavaro. Together with Maiʻao it forms the commune of Moʻorea-Maiʻao, which had 14,550 inhabitants by 2002.

Once we were ready we headed to end of the bay which is a village. We attached the dinghy to a pier adjacent to a snack bar which was doing a rip-roaring trade. We got rid of our rubbish and then bought some fruit and vegetables at a small shack nearby. We then went to the supermarket next to the snack store and bought some bread and bacon etc and some frozen stuff. I took this back to Stormbird to put in the freezer whilst they looked around. When I returned we had a snack and a drink at the snack bar and some banana cake and chocolate cake. We found a nice lady who made contact with a car hire company and ordered a car for tomorrow.

We got back in the dinghy and then went up the East side of the bay and moored at the petrol station pier We then had a walk up the east side of the bay and came across a number of clothes shops and a pearl jewellery store. We could see Stormbird anchored the other side of the bay.

We walked for a while and then saw a good point to take some good photos and todays picture is from that spot. We returned to the dinghy and I spotted a boat I recognised which was John Kretchmeyer’s boat which we saw in Ahe and Rangiroa. We went over and said hello and we had a catch up and we may meet up with them for a drink over the next few days. We also went past a massive Catamaran called Hemisphere which apparently was the largest Catamaran in the world.

We returned to Stormbird for lunch and then Mark cleaned the stainless steel and I did some of the hull particularly the stern. After all these miles there is quite a bit of grime on the hull. It is hard work and takes time to get it off.

We finished as far as we could and sat on the rear deck resting and then had a sundowner. It was enjoyable to sit in chairs at the stern and to watch the world go by.

Mark cooked a chicken risotto with ratatouille which was delicious. We sat in the cockpit reading or chilling and listening to the water and wind. It had been a chilled day and we look forward to exploring the island by car.      

 Crewing Opportunity Year Two

In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I ca