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.

toau

after leaving fakarava we intended to go to kauehi but the current and the wind were against us. we struggled for most of the night and when we were getting closer we noticed we had to waste too much diesel just to try to be at the right hour on the entrance pass to this atoll. therefore when were close to the entrance but several hours away from the appropriate entrance time, we decided to relax, stop the fighting against all weather conditions and the rocking and simply turned where the wind would be in the best side of the boat. once we had the wind behind us and the current in our favor, we simply picked the atoll in front of us as our next stop! Toau was the name of this place. another beautiful place full of sharks, with amazing water to dive and fish.



in the bay we moored (anse amyot)we were lucky to met the couple that lived ashore gaston and valentine, and they had us for dinner in their great little restaurant! we swam with the manta rays, dived and explored this beautiful place with white sand patches and coral heads. After a few days of this paradise, we set sail to the other archipelago of the French Polynesia, the society islands.



Toau.
En Toau terminamos, pero no era nuestro plan, salimos de fakarava al mediodía, como recuerdan, cuando se puede, no cuando se quiere, y navegamos hacia Kauehi.
Nos toco mal clima, corriente en contra, mucho viento y no se daban las condiciones para entrar. Tendríamos que dar vueltas toda la noche para poder entrar con luz.
Decidimos no sufrir más y dirigirnos viento a favor hacia Toau.
A la mañana llegamos y debido a la corriente continua de este lugar, de 3 a 4 nudos, no se puede anclar y toca rápidamente amarrarse de una boya.
El Lugar consta de una pequeña entrada ciega, con 8 boyas en total y el agua de distintos tonos de azules y turquesas.
Aquí vive solo una pareja gaston y valerie, dueños de las boyas y de un pequeño y pintoresco restaurant, que solo lo abren cuando junta a la tripulación de varios barcos.



La vida marina aun es muy rica en estos lugares pocos explotados por el hombre. Nadamos con 8 mantarrayas por una hora en un lindo arrecife. Estos animales dan vueltas en círculo para generar corriente y poder ingerir el plancton del agua. Aunque si uno se les acerca y las imita girando hacia el otro sentido, las mantas terminan imitándolo a uno.

Una vez mas los tiburones hicieron notar su presencia, luego de arponear un par de peces, el arrecife se lleno de varios tiburones, hasta tal punto que decidimos salir del agua. Es increíble como pueden oler la sangre a gran distancia, un pez en agonía, o simplemente el ruido del arpón. Así que amigos, pesca submarina es más que riesgoso por estas latitudes. A la hora de limpiar los peces, lo hicimos desde el dinghy, arrojando las tripas y cabezas al mar, mientras veíamos el espectáculo de 8 tiburones peleándose por la comida. Como verán no hay paraíso perfecto, jaja.

fakarava

After a 6 day sail from nuku hiva (actually motor only as we went through an incredible calm) we arrived in fakarava. In one word, spectacular!! We went diving with hundreds of sharks on a drift dive in the pass. We also saw them from the surface near the beach. We visited a famous pearl farm and toured around the island from a fancy hotel in one end to an abandoned lighthouse on the other end, all by dinghy or walking thorough the only road that circled the entire atoll. Once again we had drinks and dinner on different sailboats and had a wonderfull time in this peacefull anchorage. Every morning, as we have been doing for the most part since arriving in the French Polynesia, we would get fresh baguette and pain au chocolat for breakfast! And after that a very good lunch mostly of freshly caught tuna, and sometimes, freshly bought!! But good all the same!!



Fakarava
Entramos sin inconvenientes, a la hora justa, a este asombroso atol.
Compuesto de una población de 1000 habitantes distribuida en esta larga y angosta isla, con aguas transparentes y llenas de vida Marina.
Solo 2 almacenes de comestibles, una panadería y 1 restaurante abierto ocasionalmente, y al final de la isla, un lujoso hotel estilo polinesia con bungalows en madera.



Pero si tenemos que resumir en una sola palabra nuestra experiencia en este lugar, seria “Tiburones”. Cientos, miles, por donde quiera que uno nade o bucee.
Verán estas fotos que parecen adulteradas, pero no, son reales y ahí buceamos, nada mas ni nada menos que en la entrada del atol. Bajamos con un par de instructores locales, nos arrojaron de su lancha en la entrada y bajamos arrastrados por la corriente entre estos tiburones. Uno no necesitaba nadar, la corriente se encargaba de llevarnos, como si estuviésemos volando lindísimo, y los tiburones curiosos giraban alrededor nuestro. Se llegaban a acercar hasta un metro de distancia, muchas veces demasiado cerca para nuestro gusto. La transparencia del agua increíble, una visibilidad de 30 mts con una cantidad y tamaño de peces asombrosas.

Otro de los lugares interesantes que visitamos fue un criadero de perlas negras, famosas en toda la Polinesia. Hemos leído en las guías de navegación que varios buzos de perlas han sido atacados por tiburones.

Existen varias especies y unas son más agresivas que otras. El mas temido es el tiburón Limón, que hemos visto varios y el Tigre, que por suerte no tuvimos la fortuna de verlos. Dicen en la polinesia que si uno ve un tigre una vez, esta bien, pero si vuelve a verlo por segunda vez, es la última vez que vera algo.

the tuamotus

The tuamotus is the next archipelago. It is a group of atolls 500 nautical miles south west of marquesas and it is considered the most difficult for sailing because of tougher conditions. Every atoll has at least one passage into the lagoon and can only be crossed at slack water, hopefully high tide and during daylight. This is possibly during one specific hour of the day, so all the sailing has to be planned to arrive or leave the atoll at a specific time, which is certainly almost never the case, so we had to wait a few hours just outside the atoll for the right time to arrive. Of the many atolls, the most know is probably muroroa because of the nuclear testing france used to do here several years ago. This practice has stopped and visits to the atoll require a special permit nowadays. We did not sail near this atoll but stayed in the middle ones and went to only two at the end.




Los Toamotus es un archipiélago de atoles, donde se encuentra el famoso atolón de mururoa. A mucha gente le resulta familiar este nombre, ya que en este, los franceses realizaron varias pruebas atómicas . Pues hacia ellos nos dirigíamos, aunque bastante preocupados por la entrada. La razón es que un atol es como si fuera una isla en forma de circulo, con una laguna interna muy profunda y con solo una o dos entradas.
El pacifico se caracteriza por tener una diferencia de mareas muy abruptas, por lo tanto, con marea alta, el agua fluye hacia la laguna, llenándola y en marea baja ,se vacía .

Solo tendríamos 2 oportunidades al DIA para entrar, por un periodo de una hora cada una. Pasado ese tiempo, el agua comienza a circular con mucha fuerza generando corrientes de hasta 12 nudos y olas estáticas, poniendo en peligro a cualquier embarcación a vela.
Por suerte luego de 6 días de navegación y habiéndonos consumido casi todo el diesel abordo, llegamos a la entrada de Fakarava solo 2 horas antes que se produzca la calma, pero si con solo 4 galones de diesel en el tanque.

nuku hiva

Nuku hiva was the last island of the marqeusas. It is further north and it is probably the biggest of this group. Here we rented a car with friends and toured around the entire island and were fortunate to see spectacular beaches, different towns, and altogether a wonderful landscape. We also visited the grocery shops in town and bought fresh produce from the farmers in their farms. We visited a nice hotel where we had happy hour with other cruisers and also spent many nights on board different boats from other friends having dinners or drinks! This is a big part of cruising, meeting the people, their boats and getting to know them and their stories, it is fantastic. All of them are so different and have great stories to tell of how each got where they are!

Llegamos a esta isla con las últimas gotas de luz y anclamos cómodamente en una bahía muy grande pero bien protegida. En esta isla decidimos alquilar con una flia amiga una camioneta y recorrer toda la isla. Valió la pena, pasamos por caminos de tierra, cornisas, vistas panorámicas de múltiples bahías, pueblos divinos y hasta ruinas históricas. Creo que lo mas nos gusto fue hacer las compras de frutas y verduras en una finca perdida en medio de la isla, pero la verdad nos vieron la cara de turistas y nos cobraron lo mismo que en el mercado central.
Una vez mas, nos preparamos y salimos navegando hacia el segundo archipiélago que visitaríamos: los Tuamotus.

ua pou

After tahuata we continued to Ua Pou and sailed during the night. Most of the islands in this archipelago are only 12 hours away, and we would try to sail during the nights to arrive with daylight. This island had a pretty landscape but not the best holding bottom in the anchorage. So we arrived, had lunch and decided to move on to the next one taking advantage of the good winds!

Navegamos toda la noche rumbo a Ua Pou, al llegar anclamos y realmente no nos gusto mucho el lugar. Aprovechamos a almorzar en el barco y volvimos a navegar 6 horas mas hasta la próxima isla.

tahuata

This island south of hiva oa has pristine waters a small town and picture perfect beaches. We anchored in what we thought was the prettiest beach and had three fantastic days of swimming, getting fruits from the trees on shore, washing clothes with spring water and socializing with the cruisers we had already met along the way. We really enjoyed our time in this little place.


Tahuata
A solo 2 horas de hiva oa, encontramos una asombrosa playa de arena blanca, agua turquesa, palmeras y árboles frutales.
Anclamos rodeados de barcos amigos, y pasamos una excelente estadía en esta perdida playa.

Bajamos a tierra a recolectar limones y pomelos silvestres, juntamos unos cocos y decidimos lavar ropa con agua mineral en medio de la selva

hiva oa

Hiva oa was the next island where we had to go to do immigration and check-in in thetown of atuana . the island had a picturesque little town but a very crowded anchorage. we had to set two anchors not to swing too much. after two nights, we finished with our chores on land, exchanged money, walked a little around a very pretty town, and had what I think was the worse burger I have ever tried in my life; we lifted anchors and set sail to a near by little beach in another island nearby.



Hiva Oa
Esta isla presentaba uno de los anchorages más incómodos. Nos vimos obligados a poner dos anclas, una en la proa y otra en la popa. Teníamos un oleaje considerable entrando al puerto, sumado a esto una gran cantidad de barcos anclados..
El pueblo muy bonito y pintoresco y en la gendarmería por suerte nos encontramos con unos agentes muy amables. Una vez realizadas las compras y hechos los tramites nos dirigimos a una pequeña isla llamada Tahuata.