Week #9: back to "civilization"

After a week in Bora Bora, 10 days in Maupiti and 2 weeks in Maupihaa, we sailed back in Raiatea where we could refill and restock. The first priority was to find a supermarket and a boulangerie !

Our longest crossing ever !

It has now been 2 years since we got Wallis and it took us some time to get comfortable with the boat and ourselves as a sailing crew. The first few trips were limited to a couple of weeks of actual sailing, we sailed between a few islands less than 20 nautical miles apart which is typically a day trip. This time around, with no time constraints, we could look a bit further out…

The first crossing was between Bora Bora and Maupiti, it was only 27nm. We decided to sail over night in order to arrive at the Maupiti pass in the morning for easier entry. It was also a good opportunity to prepare ourselves for the crossing to Maupihaa, which is a 100nm from Maupiti. As it was a downwind course with good wind pushing us, we managed to reach Maupihaa after 24h and only one night at sea which was already a first achievement for us!

Things got serious when we had to plan a journey back from Maupihaa to Raiatea, which is a 140nm crossing against the prevailing winds. As the saying goes, sailing against the wind means “twice the distance” (as you cannot sail in a straight line) and “three times the pain” (as sailing upwind is far less comfortable than downwind). It took us 3 days and 2 nights at sea to come back to Raiatea… with a memorable storm welcoming us at 2am on the second night, while we were still 20nm away from the pass!

Every extra mile and additional hour at sea make us better sailors. As we gain experience and confidence, we will be able to reach any new land on the horizon.

Glamorous boat life ?

Cruising between islands and enjoying a beautiful anchorage are definitely the best parts of our new lifestyle, but there is a less glamorous side to boat life. Many simple everyday life tasks take a whole different dimension. Grocery shopping is not the biggest concern as long we we are planned and stocked up. The main concerns are regular diesel refuelling (for the main engine), gas (for cooking) and petrol (for the dinghy). These are usually available at the main island service stations, but docking the boat to get things done can be an adventure!

We need to refill our 350L tank every 3 to 4 weeks. We usually can find a berth with a tap and get water directly in our tank from a hose, however on many islands the only option is to use jerrycans and carry water back and forth to the boat. It takes 4 or 5 trips, with several 20L jerrycans to bring all the water on board.…great full body workout!

Also quite a lot of our time is spent maintaining and fixing the boat to keep it sea worthy and operational. Since we started this trip, we had to replace bits and pieces of the rigging, refill oil in the main engine, fix the tank gauges, change the engine stater battery and we still have a few items on our to do list: investigate loss of power on the windlass, check why the radar is not sending any data and a few more minor issues. All this while planning more major projects for the end of the year: hull cleanup and repainting, engine maintenance, new solar panel, Starlink installation… Who said we were not busy!

About French Polynesia

Hope all our stories have got you curious about French Polynesia. As starters, it is a collection of 121 islands & atolls, of which 75 are habited with a total population of about 278,000 people (mainly living in Tahiti). The Polynesians first settled here around 2,000 years ago, bringing with them a rich culture, a complex system of oral history and navigation skills. Today, we cannot even imagine how they navigated their Va’a (Polynesian boats) using the stars and their strong connection to the ocean. Incredible.

British explorer Samuel Wallis (funny that our boat is called Wallis) became the first European navigator to visit Tahiti in 1767. French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville visited in 1768, and James Cook in 1769. The French established a protectorate over the islands in the 19th century, eventually becoming a French colony in 1957. A consequence of that was the spread of Christianity that replaced Polynesian religion and banned many traditions and French became the administrative language.

In the recent years there has been an effort by locals to revive parts of their unique culture and traditions. The Tahitien language, Polynesian tattoos, traditional natural medicine, music and dance are some of them. We had a chance to meet Teoti, who explained us the work he is doing to revive Polynesian tattoo art. He told us that what we think of “Polynesian tattoos” are actually “Marquesan” Tattoos. The Catholic Church in Marquesas compared to Protestant church in other archipelagos was more tolerant to tattoos, and hence the Marquesan tattoos survived, today known as “Polynesian” tattoos. Teoti is trying to bring back the original “Tahitian” tattoos that were forgotten till now.