Tahiti’s shape is of a figure of eight and comprises of the remnants of two ancient eroded volcanic cones. Tahiti Nui is in the Northwest and Tahiti Iti is in the Southeast, connected by an isthmus, Isthmus of Taravao.
Tahiti Nui is far busier, more commercial, heavily populated and the tourist hub of the French Polynesian Islands with its international airport and connections to all the other islands and atolls. Tahiti Iti is the simpler, more authentic and quieter part of the island. It is also the wetter of the two parts with 2,500 mm of rain per year.
Tahiti Nui is a place to moor Amelie and get boat jobs done with various “specialists” gathered around Marina Taina and Papeete.
Tahiti Iti was unknown to us and without doing any homework we motored for 29 nm to a bay outside Vairao on the South coast to chill for the Easter weekend, after working hard for a week in Marina Taina. Huge green hills lined up alongside the coastal road with shadowy valleys that lit up in the dying rays of the sun. Looking back to Tahiti Nui, the threatening rain clouds enhanced the gigantic mountain range, cloaking it in mist as the day waned. Quietness settled on the bay with the odd dog barking and fires dotted along the waters-edge, presumably to burn their rubbish and garden waste.
Several miles further south is the home of the renowned monster wave at Hava’e Pass at Teahupoo. It is claimed to be the most dangerous wave in the world, encouraging only expert level surfers to ride the wave. The size, power and speed of the wave is determined by the underwater topography. Fifty metres from a shallow reef the ocean depth plunges to 300 metres, causing a huge swell up to 50 feet high. As it breaks on the 2 metre reef it forms into a perfect barrel. International competitions are held here every year and unfortunately horrendous injuries and fatalities occur too, even with the expert surfers. We made a couple of excursions to this area and the power of this wave is immense. The spray from the top of the wave shoots to a huge height and the thundering noise as it crashes on the reef vibrates the air. Although majestic, the Teahupoo wave looked cruel, cunning and threatening.
During one of these excursions we found the “Ocean Potato Patch”, a coral cluster teeming with fish. Despite the light not being brilliant we had a pleasant snorkel and enjoyed being back in the water.
The end of the rainy season kept us aboard for several days but eventually we made an excursion ashore, primarily to find fruit and use our legs. A large modern pontoon awaited us, used for the passengers of the Paul Gauguin cruise-liner. We met a friendly stone carver at work on a huge volcanic boulder close to the pontoon who offered to take our rubbish in his pickup. An icy beer as thanks produced a massive smile of appreciation. We walked along the road for a short while, discovering a clean, well stocked supermarket and passed buildings housing the FP nuclear and radioactive monitoring centre together with the ocean conservation society!
A dinghy ride to Taravao after a detour ferrying a local surfer to the outer reef, left us confused as the channel markers appear to be incorrect, several times coming close to pranging “M” on the sharp reef. Entering the lagoon the port & starboard buoys are Red & Green, whilst travelling inside the lagoon we’re used to Green on ocean-side and Red on land-side, it took a while for that rule to be applied! The anchorage is deep and used during cyclones with a tiny, cosy marina with an active boatyard in the corner. The holding is claimed to be excellent but as it was murky and strewn with vegetation we were glad we had anchored elsewhere.
The original idea was to explore the East coastline of Tahiti Iti but the weather wasn’t kind to us, therefore we aborted that plan.
The following day we moved a short way, transiting the Temarauri pass into the Papeari lagoon and anchored west off Point Motuovini, a beautiful natural park close to the closed structure of the Paul Gauguin museum. Strong easterlies were predicted for the next few days so we were happy to be tucked up in this idyllic place, until we could reunite with Jaye and Irwin from Winsome, possibly at the end of the week. We were also pleased to re-unite with Adam & Danielle from Reverence
A short break in the weather and we snuck off to the anchorage outside Taina, to enjoy a sleep over with Jaye and Irwin on board Amelie. During the next 24 hours we fuelled up, provisioned, grabbed a pizza with Adam and Danielle from Reverence, met up with a few acquaintances for lunch, got haircuts and after saying our farewells, trundled off to Point Venus for the night to start our journey to the Tuamotus.