We anchored behind the reef at Arue to buy 25kg of flour, to do shopping at Carrefour and to have the mizzen sail repaired by our neighbour on a yellow trimaran. He is a very skilled sailmaker and it turns out he likes playing a game of chess too!
this picture is from the camera on top of the mast. Can you see the reef?
wind would blow us on shore in Arue so back to anchor again at Point Venus
the sea was calm behind the reef under the lighthouse
good place for the dinghy and a nice place to visit
In the morning we rowed the short distance from the boat to the lighthouse at Pointe Venus over the shallows avoiding bommies, some call them potatoes. About 2 km to the U supermarket in Mahina. They had everything and more. We got great coffee beans from Brazil and Columbia to try.
On the way back we were stopped by friendly locals and bought bananas and papaya from them. They had star-apples and soursop too. A man was playing a small guitar, maybe a ukelele? He had lemons for sale all tidily bagged up. This place strikes us as a pleasant mix of Polynesia and France and so it should be! I discover what “Neem” is, kinda like spring rolls. Yum.
we will sail at sunrise
to Tahiti's sister island Moorea
Approaching Moorea you see a long stunning pale sandy beach. Lush green shoulders of forrest sloping upwards to cloud capped peaks. The day’s sailing had been perfect, sticking out a little genoa and easing gracefully across the 27 miles of sea in about four hours.
on approach to Cooks Bay
exceptional beauty
on land at the end of Cooks bay
very good quality, like in France
seems the captain is in a good mood today
the next bay is called baie Opunohu. Light wind, good light and plenty of time. A good time to try a first 'behind the reef' anchorage
It is very easy to get into Opunohu bay through the wide gap in the reef. But there is no room to anchor where my finger is. We count more than 34 sailing boats in that small area. So we turn starboard instead of port in the hope there will be room for us on the other side. Negotiating the narrow channel is a nice challenge. All goes well. The channel ends at a 2 meter deep tiny patch of sand surrounded by coral heads. 10 other boats are already on anchor there…..
We try to anchor very close to a few of them using only 10m of chain. I jump in the water to check our anchor and for nearby bommies or coral heads. What a pity, its too close for comfort. If the wind turns we are on the coral. Captain decides: too risky, we cannot stay here overnight.
So back through the narrow channel and down south into Opunohu bay
PGM 2021: NO boats allowed behind the reef. The locals say: we don't want you here. But the reality in the water is very different
Wooow... what a beautifull bay again
24 yachts on anchor where PGEM 2021 says the maximum is 5 boats
look at this structure on shore
what is that....?
an eco museum and coral restoration research center of Perpignan University. Entrance fee only 20 euro per person, no thank you
how strange these lush meadows with cows in the tropics, its very much like my home town in Holland
it is an intensive farming research center by the Polynesian ministry of agriculture
How ironic…but maybe I see this wrong….intensive farming, diary and meat are the number one cause of methane emissions which is the largest contributor to global warming and that sits right next to a research center that tries to find way to stop coral from dying, one of the effects of global warming, both EU funded
growth in the tropics
view of Opunohu bay to the North
