Week #4: from sea to shore

After 3 weeks on the boat, we enjoyed spending a few days on land. We did 2 beautiful hikes on Tahaa and Raiatea which also gave us the opportunity to hitchhike around these islands and meet locals folks. Always a great experience! By the end of the week, it was time to move again... on our way to Bora Bora.

Hiking Mount Temehani

April 3rd was my first official day unemployed and guess what - I woke up with an alarm at 5am! The difference was that this alarm had the sweet sound of adventure as we were going to climb Mt Temehani, one of the stunning mountains of Raiatea! Polynesians, like Indians believe strongly in their mythology. The sacred Mt Temehani, as per the legends, is believed to be created by one of the important Polynesian deities Hiro.

We had to hitchhike to the ferry point from Tahaa to Raiatea, take the ferry and then meet our guide at a breakfast point. The beauty of simple life on the boat is that an activity like eating a pain au chocolat in a bakery feels so amazing! The hike is about 6 hours in total and living on water, we love these opportunities to walk. The unique climate hosts a range of rare fauna. In particular, Tiare Apetahi a type of gardenia that blooms only in morning hours. Unfortunately, even though lot is being done to preserve this beautiful flower, it is highly endangered and risks extinction.

One of the best parts of any hike is always the summit. Mt Temehani summit is about 770 mts, 2500 ft, the top offering a spectacular view of 5 out of the 7 islands of the Leewards archipelago- Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora, Huahine, Maupiti. The other 2 - Mopelia and Tupai are too small to be seen ! Hopefully we will see them with Wallis someday.

Meet Jean-Marc

Yamini had spotted Jean-Marc, an old funny looking grandpa, as we were waiting for the ferry across from Raiatea to Tahaa. He was negotiating with the lady-captain of one of the boats to go with her rather than with her father-captain on the other boat who would insist that he pay the crossing fee! Once on the other side, we got off the boat (after paying the fee of course) and started walking on the road hoping to find a kind soul to drop us by our boat.

It took quite a while this time around before we heard a car coming by and had a chance to lift up our thumbs. Here comes Jean-Marc in a small car just as old as him! By the time he registered, decided to pick us up, pressed on the break and the car agreeing to stop, he was waiting for us a good couple hundred meters away… Hopping on board, we were welcome by the biggest toothless smile and off we went. We had the funniest conversation during the 3km ride and I am pretty sure I understood 80% of it. Jean-Marc worked in Papeete and in the Marquises Islands before moving to Tahaa in a home that nobody was really using, he has been happily enjoying his retirement here with his wife from Fatu Hiva for the past 18 years.

As we slow down to reach our drop off point, Jean-Marc decides that it is time for all of us to have a beer, pulls off on the side of the road and open the trunk to pick up 3 beers from a cooler. 20 minutes later, Jean-Marc was back on the road and we were happily walking to our little dinghy, still smiling.

Crossing to Bora Bora

The big plan for the week was to cross over to Bora Bora. It is only a 30 nautical miles (55km) sail from the Tahaa north west pass, but for a comfortable journey you need to find the right weather window: not enough wind and you need to run the engine… too much wind can be bouncy… wind in the wrong direction can significantly lengthen the passage…

Based on the wind forecast (from windy.com), we expected the trade winds to pick up to 10-15kt from the East starting on Wednesday. Perfect, let’s get ready!

Checking again on Tuesday evening, the different models (there are 4 different ones on Windy, and we also check the local weather forecast) did not fully agree on when the shift would happen and how much wind there would be on Wednesday… However, all converged on Thursday. We therefore decided to enjoy one more day in Tahaa and took the opportunity to enjoy an amazing reef drift snorkel, before anchoring for the night right near the north west pass.

Next morning at sunrise (which also happened to be “moonset”), Wallis was boldly coming out of the pass towards Bora Bora. The first hour was slow but the wind picked up nicely and we were cruising alongside the Bora Bora reef at 7.5kt (an amazing 13km/h !). Coming into the Bora Bora pass is always a unique moment: the colors of the lagoon and the beauty of the island summits are simply stunning.

The last time we were here was in 2018 (see photo), so much happened in our lives since then... Amazing to be back in Bora Bora on Wallis, who would have thought !