bora bora

to us this island was the most famous in all the french polinesia so we had great expectations about it! and indeed what they say about this place is true. the town is actually rather ugly and disorganized but the surroundings where there must be at least 20 of the greatest hotels in the world are definitely very pretty. there are many shallows inside the lagoon and we ended up sailing for many miles over 10 feet of water or less over white sand, giving us the impression of being inside a huge natural pool. there is also a place called the coral garden, and the name is exactly what the place is, a garden all right!



outside of the lagoon by the reef there are many sharks and we went swimming with them. this was a different experience from fakarava where we were diving with tanks. here we were only snorkeling and the water was rather deep and there were simply too many black tips swimming so close by…. It was a great sensation but I must admit we never went far from the dinghy, just in case we quickly had to jump up on board!

as in the other islands, we visited the hotels and had dinners there. the most special of the island was the st. regis where my dad took us for dinner one night and we had excellent food, dessert and wine all in this very luxurious and wonderful place standing over the lagoon and from where we could see puerto seguro anchored in front of us.




bora bora was also a sad place because it was my parent’s last island. from here they flew back home and esteban and I stayed once again alone in the boat. On their last day we all experienced a min cyclone. The wind was blowing about 40 knots gusting to 55. the boat was heeling as if it had all the sails up when we actually had none. the lagoon was full of white caps and waves. It was quite the storm. fortunately nothing happened, the boat was safe and my parents got to the ferry and plane safely.



a mis papas: fue un viaje inolvidable. gracias por haber venido a navegar con nosotros. nunca lo voy a olvidar. ha sido el mejor viaje. los quiero mucho y me hacen mucha falta.

raiatea and tahaa

some 30 miles west of huahine are the islands of raiatea and tahaa which are independent but share the same lagoon. we anchored in faaroa bay in raiatea and went on a long dinghy ride up the river at the head of the bay. there we met a local by the name of james who took us around what he called the “botanical gardens”. in reality this place is a terrain of land with jungle type vegetation, and no paths whatsoever to go around. we walked through a mase of plants and mud and managed to even see a couple of little snakes in the streams. at the end this turned out to be a great adventure! we did see almost every type of plant known in the region and we eat fresh fruit from all the trees. he even gave us a little show of climbing palm trees which I unsuccessfully tried.



after the expedition, we went down the river and on to the boat where we had the now so common and favorite meal of the pacific: raw tuna with soy sauce and green lemon!! very good! after a great night we went around almost the entire lagoon the next day and had a tour by water of both islands. they are quite big and developed and of course, beautiful as all the other ones in the region! after this, we left through the north west pass on to the last island of the chain: bora bora.

huahine

some 100 miles from moorea lies another magnificent island of the society group: huahine. this is the less touristic of all with the most remote and untouched anchorages. for my parents it was their first overnight sail and they handled it quite well. the wind was blowing steady and in a good direction so it was a very calm and nice sail. when we arrived in huahine we entered the lagoon and went to the middle of the island to find a very unique spot to stay in port baouraine. this place looked like a lake picture from patagonia. and because it was raining and a little foggy it made us feel like in a different place altogether. here we went snorkeling, swimming and enjoyed yet another of the great hotels! this one was the te tiara and the people treated us very well. we felt like hotel guests but did not have to pay for the room!!!! this was a much relaxing and wonderful place!

moorea

this was a great idea to spend the day in great beaches all with great comfort. like this we saw the sofitel, the hilton, the intercontinental and a couple of other very luxurious places all with the typical wood cottages on the water and each with fancier and nicer bars and restaurants. in one of them we had our little half an hour of fame! we met a group of argentinean reporters from several magazines and newspapers in argentina that heard our story and seemed very interested in our trip and the blog. they even took our picture which may be published in one paper or magazine one of these days!!!
















This island can be seen from Tahiti. It is a less crowded island with very pretty anchorages. We anchored in several places and tried something we had never done before on the trip. because my parents were on board, we anchored close to beautiful hotels and slept on the boat but sometimes used some of the hotel facilities such as the pool or restaurant.
































The lagoon in this island is very clear and we swam with rays and even fed the sharks!

tahiti

After two days of sail from the tuamotus, we saw the first of the society islands: tahiti. This crossing was very windy which was OK, but we had too many squalls during the day and night and also too much rain, so we did not have a dry or comfortable place to sit and sail from…


after this wet ride we arrived into the biggest port of the entire French polynesia and also the capital of Tahiti: papeete. This port receives cruise ships and hundres of sailboats every year. The marinas have mega yachts and there is traffic and a rush hour just as any big city. Here we anchored off the marina taina and used the buses to go everyday to and from town. We went into the biggest supermarket we have seen on the trip so far. A Carrefour full of different chesses, wines, fruits and meats, hundreds of different cereals and cookies, and all with air conditioning, civilization heaven!!!! My parents also arrived and joined us for the next leg of our trip. We picked them up at he airport, rented a car and toured the island, went to the city market, restaurants and shops. We also did some snorkeling and prepared to go to the next island: moorea.






Message from dad:



hola amigos, seguidores del blog de mafe & peish. tuve el privilegio de acompañarlos con elena en una travesía de Papeete a bora bora durante 20 días conviviendo y viviendo dentro de puerto seguro, visitando sitios espectaculares. Islas exóticas, comidas diferentes, mares cristalinos, definitivamente como padre y suegro de la tripulación doy fe que es un privilegio y una decisión acertada de quien sea capaz de organizar un viaje de este tipo. No hay horarios, decisiones propias, sitios insólitos, experiencias diferentes, gente dispuesta a compartir aun sin el idioma. Obviamente esta fue una travesía suave, no de oleajes ni riesgos y algún confort no muy usual. El regreso de esta tripulación por fortuna será guiado por el mapa con muchos detalles que ilana (pollinota) envió para darles el animo a mafe y peish en su velero de regresar como todos quisiéramos a nuestro sitio que siempre será lo mejor.