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12th July - 28th July, 2005
city, full of life and vitality. We docked in the thick of everything, right on the main harbour wall in
the centre of Papeete, and it was certainly a shock to the senses to have the sound of gentle
waves lapping against the hull replaced by cars and trucks whizzing by on the main waterfront
road just meters away. However, being in a big (it’s all relative now) capital city with a population
of 100,000 certainly has its advantages: not only because we had access to electricity and water
on board for the first time since Columbia, but more importantly in terms of shopping, food and
entertainment. Needless to say, we made the most of our first night in town.
Resurrection of the Skardu Cocktail
One of the things about sailing is that you keep running into the same yachts time and again in
various ports, sometimes thousands of miles apart. In Papeete we docked alongside “Lista
Light”, an 80-year-old English-flagged wooden yacht that we had met in the Marquesas. We
invited them and another yacht on board for sunset cocktails, and soon had squeezed 10 into the
cockpit; possibly another Skardu record.
After a few warm up rounds our guests were judged ready for the return of the “Skardu” cocktail,
a recipe only revealed to those who are brave enough to try one. They have NEVER failed to
deliver, and this night was no exception. As the drinks kicked in we headed to the main
waterfront in town to enjoy the delights of the “Roulottes”: deluxe versions of your regular late-night
kebab or hotdog van offering everything from roast veal, to crepes, to almost every kind of
Chinese food imaginable. Mark was soon rambling on in his meager Cantonese to the owner of
the “Hong Kong Roulotte” where the superlatives lavished on the chow mein are well deserved,
and Quintin was seen passing up the opportunity to have a nutella crepe, surely not a good sign
for a chocoholic! Needless to say the night ended up in a lot of dancing, which was the best form
of exercise we had had in months (you’ll know what we mean if you’ve ever seen us dance!).
Torben, Barbara and Tim were eager to explore some more islands before they left, so the next
day we headed off to Moorea, an island 12 miles away from Tahiti, but a world away in other
aspects.
Moorea History and Sights
Although not its discoverer, Captain Cook was the first to make Moorea famous. One of the
main bays on the small island is even named after him, which is all the more surprising because
some say he never even visited it. The only story that is known for sure is that on one occasion,
when a stolen goat was not returned to him, he took his revenge by smashing up canoes and
homes with typical anglo-saxon compassion. Still despite repeat visits by explorers, it’s doubtful
that Moorea’s beauty has diminished much in the last 250 years. The lush tall volcanic
mountains still rise from the centre of the island, and the calm turquoise bays are still protected by
the reef encircling the island. We went for a long 5 hour hike up through pineapple plantations
and forests littered with ancient maraes (social/religious gathering places) and tikis (statues) to a
beautiful lookout from where we could survey half the island!
We had thought that since it was Bastille Day there might be some celebrations on the island, but
as it happens, there weren’t; something about the Polynesians trying to emphasize their
independent spirit and eschewing all French holidays. In fact the only sign we saw was when a
young Frenchman we came across on our hike was trying to encourage some local Moorean
children to sing the French national anthem. He had no luck.
On-board Entertainment
Instead of Bastille Day celebrations we decided to have a night in and play an interesting game
that Tim brought out called “Killer Bunnies”. Despite its name, this quickly became a favourite on
board. Nights in rainy anchorages (yes, they do happen even out here) were often spent trying
to kill each other’s bunnies in order to win the magic carrot. However, the highlight of the game
was always when Tim broke out into the “Bunny Foo-Foo” song, one he had learned at camp
many moons ago. The look on his face was priceless.
If this doesn’t give you an indication of what lengths sailors will go to for entertainment, the
following night was Tim’s birthday and as his present we all (well, not Barbara of course) had to
shave our stubble into patterns of his choice. The surprise was that we weren’t allowed to shave
them off until Tim left three days later! In retrospect it didn’t seem too bad given that 9 months ago
we both shaved all our hair off for no good reason at all.
Papeete Market and Town
Eventually we had to return to Tahiti again to bid farewell to Torben, Barbara and Tim. It was
great having them on board, but as they continued their own travels, we had to get down to some
badly needed boat maintenance. We spent the next few days running around all corners of the
town trying to get our radar and a sail repaired, fixing our washing machine, buying some new
clothes (oil stains and sea water have made short work of our meager wardrobe), and
reprovisioning for the next couple of months at sea. The main market in Papeete offered a
fantastic selection of exotic fruits and vegetables, and because of the large Chinese community
here, we were also able to stock up on a lot of Asian specialities that had been hard to find
elsewhere. However, the highlight of the market had to be the sandwiches and fresh baguettes
for sale. Who came up with the inspired idea of filling a baguette with chow mein? Brilliant! The
other thing to mention is that at 50cents a loaf, baguettes are probably the only cheap item in the
whole of French Polynesia. A can of coke in a supermarket will cost $2.50 and a pack of
Doritos crisps will cost at least $5. How can people afford to live here? One quick answer is that
there is no income tax, and oh, the price of baguettes is subsidized!
Heiva Festival
During the whole month of July, the French Polynesians celebrate what they call the Heiva
festival. The best representatives from all the islands come to Tahiti to compete in events as
varied as drumming, singing, dancing, stone-lifting, fruit carrying, and javelin-throwing. Despite
our best efforts, we managed to miss most of the events while Torben, Barbara and Tim were
with us, but on one of our nights alone we were lucky enough to find the last 2 seats to the final
event when all the winners of the song and dance events came back for an encore
performance. The dance troupes, some 100 strong, acted out old stories, all the while
accompanied by a large percussion group on various drums. Not understanding Polynesian it
was somewhat hard to follow the plot of some of the dances, but it is fairly safe to guess that most
of them were along the lines of good triumphing over evil. This was the premier league
compared to all the dancing we have seen so far in the Marquesas. The other big surprise from
this show was that it renewed our faith in French Polynesian women. Most of the young dancers
were gorgeous, and it just makes your wonder where they hide the rest of the time. Normally
they tend to have that misplaced gene that forces them to balloon on their 25th birthday, but here,
at least from a distance, most of them looked really cute… maybe they were all just shy of their
25th birthday? We won’t comment personally on the men, but outside counsel tells us they were
pretty hot and beefy too.
“Thar she blows”
After 5 days berthed on the town wall , we’d seen enough of Papeete, and caught up with a
couple of friendly Kiwi boats, so we decided to sail to quiet Moorea to finish off the rest of our
maintenance work. Our timing could not have been any better.
While scanning the horizon en route, Mark caught sight of a massive splash at least 10-15ft high
in the distance – there was no mistaking that it must be a whale. We headed the boat round to
make straight for it when it again jumped up clear out of the water, landing with a huge splash on
its back. At that point one of the Moorea high-speed ferries appeared out of nowhere and came
flying over the top of the whale’s wake. We held our breath, not sure what would happen to the
whale, but in another display of elegance it soon breached again, this time completing a full
somersault, its tail high in the air, and its white underbelly clearly visibly – what a sight! The
humpback whale must have been at least the size of Skardu, around 40 feet, and only 50 yards
away! That was the end of it’s aerial displays, but we turned around and followed it for close to
half an hour, working out that it would surface every 3.5 minutes to get air, and having fun
guessing where it would pop up next. A couple of times we guessed pretty well, and it surfaced
only about 20 yards from us… pretty frightening and exhilarating at the same time. As it swam
back down into the deep for the last time, we could make out its tail-fluke flapping away, and its
white belly turning from white to turquoise to dark blue as it plumbed the depths of the sea. Sadly,
we were so mesmerized by the sight that we forgot to take many still photos, but hopefully the
video will capture some of the magic.
More of Moorea
Our time back in Moorea whizzed by. We spent some time cleaning and waxing the hull, and
working on our website, but allowed ourselves a couple of evenings out. Judy, a friend of Mark’
s from Kellogg, had spent 2-3 months in Moorea last year and had told us to look up a friend of
hers, Haemata Hall, while we were there. Haemata’s mother is Tahitian, and his father is
American, having arrived as crew on Peter Fonda’s yacht 30 years ago. Although Haemata
was educated partly in the US he was able to give us a pretty good insight into local life as we
visited a few of the local hot-spots one evening, and invited him on board to have dinner. This
visit to Moorea was fairly short; and once we were finished with our work, it was time to head
back to Tahiti again to prepare for the arrival of our next very special guests.
