Two weeks ago, Mark and I arrived in Papeete, the capital of
Tahiti and French Polynesia, and attached Irie to a mooring ball off Taina Marina in an area called Punaauia. We have so much work to do, stuff to buy,
boat projects to fulfill and things to accomplish after over a year of not
being able to do anything efficient in regards to the boat and the internet,
that we will probably be here a while. Whether we want to or not. As with all
civilized and “citylized” places, being in one brings pleasure and dread, and
requires a lot of effort, patience, endurance, and money.
The mooring field off Taina Marina with Tahiti in the background
The Good
Broccoli! Fresh mushrooms! Different kinds of meat, cheese
and bread! The selection, the air conditioning, the space, the pure joy of
shopping in a western-style, mosquito-free, well-lit grocery store (like the
Carrefour) pleases many of our deprived senses. We still like chicken, carrots,
onions, garlic and cabbage, and we still enjoy a fresh baguette once in a
while, but it is mighty nice to have a change in diet for now. Although the
abundance of tasty (fatty) foods is already showing a change in “belly looks”
as well!
A western-style mall and supermarket
Other (English speaking) cruisers! Yes, we can finally
communicate in earnest again and have a social calendar to prove it. The new
cruising season has started and a new group of sailors has crossed (and is
crossing) the extensive Pacific. We caught up with a few people we met in
French Polynesia and the Galapagos last year; they are all here for the same
reason: to work on their boats! And, I managed to meet and talk to Yvan
Bourgnon, the famous Swiss-French sailor who is trying to set two world
records.
BBQ/potluck on one of the docks at Taina Marina - Mark and Lily are getting some meat
Marine stores! There are a few “real” marine stores –
although as with most of the stores here, the choices, availability and prices
in Panama were much better – so we have managed to check some items off our “to
buy” list. Now, we still have to find (or order) the other 95 items…
The wireless internet is not too bad. Some providers truly
suck – yes, even here, Ioranet is deficient - but after a few tries and tons of
money, we think we found some reliable internet, most of the time…
English (and tourism) is more common here, so communicating
with the locals and the French ex-pats is much easier, especially for Mark.
Full moon over Tahiti or "Under the Tahitian moon", as Porno for Pyros sings appropriately
The view of Mo’orea across the channel and a full moon above
the Tahitian hills is something honeymooners and other vacationers pay hundreds
of dollars for and enjoy from their hotel balconies. All we have to do is drop
anchor or pick up a mooring and look around us.
Sunset over Mo'orea, Tahiti's sister island, about 10 miles away
The Bad
The cost of everything but baguettes (and the usual
subsidized items – chicken, rice, pasta, sugar, milk, the four vegetables …) is
outrageous. Now that we can finally
touch the items we have so long desired, we have to consider whether they are
worth the high price. Of course, we splurged on some goat cheese, croissants,
salami and ice cream the first couple of days, but now we are back to “the
usual” food stuffs, with something extra here and there. Tomatoes cost $4 a
pound, zucchini $5 (we have not eaten any of these yet), chicken breast $14 a
pound (when I wrote chicken before, it meant whole chicken – frozen). Boat
products cost twice the price than in the States, alcohol – other than beer ($2
a bottle) - is still unaffordable (the cheapest wine costs $8 a bottle,
drinkable rum costs over $40 a bottle) and tax and import duty is high. To
order something into the country (with a value of over $300 including the
shipping costs, which are taxed as well!), you need to use an agent, who charges
$250 and up. This would add 20% to the cost of a new jib ordered from abroad
for example. On the other hand, if we would buy a new jib here, it would cost four times more.
Billboards and fruit stands - $11 for 4 small pineapples or one watermelon
Pape’ete is a city, so… it is busy. Four to six lane roads,
traffic jams, cars parked everywhere, people crowding the stores, dinghies
buzzing back and forth in the anchorage and local boat traffic creating massive
wakes, especially in the weekends. There is music, there are fumes, there is
garbage, there is smoke from fires, grit from construction, and noise from
landing planes. Parts of the mooring field consist of garbage, seaweed and
scum, making showering impossible and creating massive stains on our waterline.
Many people make Taina Marina their home, so the selection of moorings is very
limited. A spot in the marina itself costs $60 a night for a catamaran of 35
feet (no weekly or monthly fees) in this high season. But, they are full at the
moment anyway. The World ARC fleet is here…
Traffic and four lane roads in front of the marina and along the road to Carrefour
The heat and the hassle trying to locate necessary boat
items are very draining. The sun, especially when there is no wind, can be
relentless. The distances between useful stores are big. There is a main bus
route (every trip costs $2 per person which adds up quickly) to and from the
city, but most of the time, we are walking for hours to get to a store, only to
discover that they don’t have anything we need – either it is not in stock,
unavailable or the wrong size.
The ugly
I will just repeat here that Pape’ete is a city and that
comes with the ugliness of a city: noise, smells, dirt, crime, crowds, garbage,
expense, and lack of authenticity. It sometimes reminds us of a third world
country, but with higher than first world prices.
Parking lot at the Carrefour grocery store
It is possible, however, to find a relatively remote mooring
ball or spot to anchor and forget about it all, until you have to take that 30
minute dinghy ride to amenities and facilities again! :-)
Meeting up with Mark and Marian from SV Zenna and getting to know Emma, who took care of SV Liward during the owners' absence
Sister island Mo'orea during the day
Ma Louloute on a mooring ball in front of Marina Taina during Yvan's visit in Tahiti
Yvan Bourgnon and his wife Nadia, who joined the support boat in Fakarava
It was raining on the day after my cousin Griet and her
husband Wim arrived in Tahiti, but we rented a small car from Eco Car – across
from the airport in Faa’a – anyway. While my three companions stocked up on
fresh baguettes in the store, I effortlessly hitched a ride to the rental place
and picked up our 4-door Dasia Sandero. Under grey skies, we started our
anti-clockwise tour of Tahiti Nui, the biggest and northern “round” in the
figure eight making up the island of Tahiti. The bottom part - Tahiti Iti -
would have to wait for another time…
From Taina Marina in Punaauia, we drove south to the wet and
grey beach at PK18. The silhouette of Moorea loomed across the channel,
shrouded in clouds. Our raincoats were still needed at the impressive marae
(ceremonial platform) of Arahurahu, where panels informed tourists about its
history and tikis in three languages. Soon after this cultural and
archeological stop, the rain subsided. The four of us had a quick look at the lush
Mara’a caves before continuing along the south coast to the Vaipahi water
garden which consists of an extensive park with a beautiful layout of plants,
flowers and a pretty waterfall, and a set of hiking trails. Since we planned to
go all the way around Tahiti Nui in a day, there was no time for long walks, so
we enjoyed the sights in a relatively quick manner and without much exercise.
At Taravao, Tahiti’s second largest city, we turned
northwards and watched out for a picnic area, which we “stumbled across” near
Maha’ena. A few tables and an ocean side park were hidden behind a fence,
invisible from the road. Even from the parking lot, another fence prevented us
from walking onto the grass and towards the facilities. This country is proud
of their fenced in parks, without any – or with closed – gates! The chilly
breeze did not take away from an enjoyable outdoor lunch, but it did put doubts
in Wim and Griet’s minds about Tahiti being a tropical and hot island paradise!
At PK22 (kilometer post 22), a pleasant walk brought us to
the three waterfalls of Fa’auruma’i, also called the “trois cascades”. Mark and I visited these three beauties before
with friends and I think they are one of the highlights on Tahiti. Impressive and
with the appropriate sound of rushing water, they tumble down vertical mountain
cliffs. A little bit further west and across the street, the Arahoho blowhole only
produced a whispering gurgle. While I was awaiting a photogenic “puff”, camera
at hand, I joked to Mark that he should keep a lookout over the vast ocean,
where he might spot another kind of blowhole: the breathing spout of a whale. As
we were about to leave the site, he took my suggestion seriously and… saw a
humpback whale surface not far from shore. That encouraged us to scan the
horizon for a bit longer and to observe a few more “humps” and flukes (tales)
in the distance!
For me, the only new thing to do on our daytrip was the
track into Papeno’o valley, which started at PK18 (the “pointe kilométrique” began
counting down again from Taravao back to Pape’ete) and ran inland. Not knowing
how far into the valley we would be able to proceed with our little car, we
took our time avoiding potholes and enjoying the scenery. The green
surroundings sported high elevations, Tahiti’s biggest river and scattered
waterfalls. While we progressed at a snail’s pace – the many potholes on this
dirt road were unavoidable – the truck drivers (carrying groups of tourists)
returning to the main road smiled at us and gave us the thumbs up. The trip was
adventurous to say the least – we had to cross narrow bridges, streaming rivers
and “scary” areas with steep ascends and descends – before we were forced to
turn around about 16 km into the journey, because the road down another hill
was too steep and muddy; we were worried we would not be able to get back up
afterwards. And, we needed to head back to reach the main road before dark
anyway.
Our last stop was Point Venus, were the backdrop of the
black sand beach was gorgeous and the sunset over Moorea concluded a nice, but
tiring day. Dinner was had at the popular roulottes (food vans) in Pape’ete,
before we arrived back at Taina and Irie, exhausted but satisfied, and with the
knowledge of a favorable weather forecast for the coming days. Before we left
for Moorea, however, I had to return our car – with a broken fuel gauge –
spending much more money than expected on the already expensive gasoline. I
will just hope that Eco Car does not rent their vehicles out with this kind of
issue on purpose… 
