13 September 2024 – Bora Bora – Tahaa

It rained in the night again but we woke to a nice day and had breakfast. We were heading off to Tahaa, another Society Island which is contained in the same reef as Raiatea so effectively you have two volcanic cones in one reef like Tahiti which has Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti in one reef. The unusual thing about Tahaa is that you can circumnavigate it completely within the reef which you cannot do with any other Society Island.

Tahaʻa (sometimes spelled as Tahaa) is an island located among the western group, the Leeward Islands, of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the South Pacific Ocean. The islands of Tahaʻa and neighbouring Raiatea to the immediate south are enclosed by the same coral reef, and they may once have been a single island. At the 2022 census it had a population of 5,296. The island has an area of 90 square kilometres (35 square miles). Mount Ohiri is the highest mountain on the island standing at 590 metres (1,940 ft) above sea level. It is also known as the "Vanilla Island" and produces pearls of exceptional quality.

Tahaʻa was formerly called Uporu, after the island of Upolu in Samoa. Due to its proximity to Raiatea, it has been strongly dependent. But during the 18th and 19th centuries it was a strategic place in the conflict of rivalries between Raiatea and Bora Bora. At the time of Captain Cook's visits in 1769 and 1773, the island was under the occupation of Bora Bora warriors.

The island became a protectorate and then a French colony, and is now part of French Polynesia. There are numerous smaller islands in the reef surrounding Tahaʻa, particularly to the north. Tahaʻa is covered with lush vegetation, mostly coconut trees. Its waters are teeming with crabs, barracudas, grey sharks, Napoleon wrasses, dolphins, oysters and corals.

Like most Polynesian islands, Tahaʻa bases its economy essentially on fishing and tourism: on the motu (the thin strips of land rising from the coral reef) that surround it, especially in the north, there are numerous hotels and tourist villages, generally made up of fares or bungalows connected by wooden walkways.

Tahaʻa is world famous for its vanilla production, which accounts for about 80% of all Polynesian production. The island specifically cultivates the Vanilla tahitensis variety, obtained by crossing the pods of Vanilla planifolia with those of Vanilla pompona. The aroma of vanilla is so unmistakable in the air that Tahaʻa is also known as "Vanilla Island." Another source of income for locals is the harvesting of black pearls, facilitated by the abundance of oysters in the island's bays.

Thanks to the lush coconut forest, copra production is also a very important activity for the local economy.

In preparation for departure, we brought the dinghy up on the davits and then prepared Stormbird and put everything away and upped the anchor. This took some time as we had nearly 100 meters of chain out but we had held like a brick whilst here. Once done we headed toward the passe and as we departed we looked back and saw the peaks covered in cloud and I wondered will I ever be back? It had been a great few days but we were ready to move on. We went out the passe and then headed west keeping about a half a mile from the reef. Initially there was about 5 kts of wind and when it built to 10 we put up both main and genoa on a sort of broad reach toward the Northwestern corner of Bora Bora. We could see the white line of the waves on the reef as we looked around and when we reached the corner we turned more toward the wind.

We had placed a waypoint at the Passe Paipai which was on the western side of Tahaa. When we came on to our course we were sailing on a beat (as close to the wind as you can go). This meant tightening the sails and we began to heal over more. However, we were soon reaching 7.5-8.kts of boat speed in a relatively flat sea and it was glorious conditions. I used the water maker and filled the Starboard tank and all went well so that was good. However, the speed log ha not worked since Tahiti and I will have to dive on it tomorrow.

This continued for a couple of hours but as we came out of the lee (shelter) of Bora Bora we could feel the ocean swell but it was mild really. We carried on in great conditions but then the wind increased from about 12-15 kts to 20 -22 kts so we put reefs in both the main and genoa and we then felt more under control. Tahaa began to loom up and we could see it was a reasonable sized island but not that high.

As we approached the passe we could see a rainstorm coming and so we held back as visibility was declining. We waited and put on our jackets and we got showered on quite profusely. At least Stormbird got a wash!!. Once the rain passed through we proceeded through the passe keeping in between the red and green buoys whilst the waves crashed on to the reef either side. We decided once through to go round the North of the island which would mean effectively we will have got round the island within the reef. The island looked lovely and green with forest growing up its slopes and they were rainforest type trees. The houses were all really at the shore side and we were struck how neat and tidy they were in comparison to Bora Bora. There appeared to be no abandoned cars or lorries etc There was the odd house slightly higher but very few. We could see the ring road which runs round the shore the whole way round -some 70 KM. The scenery was pretty and there was the odd church with a red roof and community building. However, the reef was on our left with its lovely turquoise blue water like a ring around the island. The unusual thing here is that the reef is about 2 miles off the island in places so it is like an inside sea inside the reef.

We carried on round the island and had to navigate between the navigation marks and from time to time we could see the odd boat anchored inside the reef. The route took us some 3 hours before we came to the area where we planned to anchor. It looked good with clear blue water and the reef in front but it was some way from the main town and we were interested in hiring a car. There were a number of boats already at anchor here. We decided to carry on and find the town about 4 nm away. In addition, I had identified another anchorage on the South of the island.

We could see as we continued South, Raiatea in front of us and we will visit this next and we do not have to go out of a passe to do so and can do it within the same reef which is good.

We came across the main town but it was small and there was no anchorage. We carried on to the other anchorage only to find it full of mooring buoys (and boats) and it is very deep. We therefore decided to return to the original planned anchorage and approached it and anchored unusually for us in about 6.4 meters of water. We could see the bottom quite clearly and after we had anchored I went for a swim and to check the anchor. We could hear the roar of the reef in the background.

I could see the odd bit of coral below us and there were reef fish swimming around. Stormbird’s bottom looked good after its clean and then after showering we had a drink in the cockpit watching the light fade and the lights on Raiatea come on.

We had some more of the spaghetti bolognaise with carrots and broad beans. It had been a good day; the weather had been kind and we had done a tour of Tahaa. We look forward to exploring further tomorrow.

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