Moving on to Moorea

Our replacement chartplotter and tillerpilot arrived on Wednesday so there should have been nothing holding us in Tahiti. We had however booked tickets to see the Heiva finalists on the Saturday night, so we stayed on in Tahiti for them. To make it easier to get to and from the Heiva, we motored Brio the 5 nm back up to the town quay from where we had been staying in the mooring field off Marina Taina. To do this one has to pass the airport and is required to radio the Port Captain requesting permission to go past. Presumably so one’s mast doesn’t tangle with the undercarriage of an ascending or descending plane. Both times we did this Louise used her best radio enunciation and listening ears, but still found the Port Captain’s instructions confusing. Suffice to say, both times we made it past the airport without connecting with a low-flying jet.

As with the previous Heiva performance we saw, this one was also spellbinding. The dance and singing troupes who performed were the winners of their categories, so they were the best of the best. The ‘singing sunflowers’ were back again! It rained a little during the show and a kindly woman in front of us held her very large umbrella so we could shelter under it. The rain didn’t stop the show though and even enhanced it as the rain slick stage area reflected the colours of the costumes wonderfully.

Before the Heiva we had Lindy and Michel aboard Brio for drinks. Lindy and Michel’s son, Lio, was in one of the Heiva groups and we had met him at a rehearsal. He is Tahitian, but has lived in the US for 12 years and is studying there. Lio had given us his and his mother’s phone number in case we needed any help while in Tahiti. We actually rang Lindy, not for help, but to find out if Lio had made it into the finals. Lindy was one proud Mum of her boy who was just now starting to show an interest in his culture. Michel is a politician with the Independence Party that is currently in power. While we weren’t able to spend long with them it was great to meet them and learn a little more about the French Polynesian culture and Franco/Polynesian politics.

What Ivan would look like if he was in the Heiva

The next day, Sunday, we readied to sail to Huahine Island, approx 100 nautical miles away, so an overnight sail. By the time we got away it was well into the afternoon and with little wind we motored, deciding to go the few hours across to Moorea and stay the night there before continuing on to Huahine. As we entered the pass to Opunohu Bay, Moorea, the wind picked up, rain started to fall and the light was fading. We dropped the anchor among about 15 other yachts, not far from where we had stayed when on Water Musick for the Pacific Puddle Jumpers weekend. We spent the next 3 days at anchor due to there being big seas and winds outside the island. Much nicer to wait for some settled weather. It also gave us a chance to explore Moorea and do some ‘must do’s’. The main ‘must do’ was a trip to feed the rays. James and Sophie on Paramour III kindly offered us a lift in their dinghy as it was too far for us to row (our dinghy outboard is kaput). There is a certain ambivalence in feeding the rays: it’s nice to feed them so they come up close and brush their soft bodies by you, hanging around like a dog waiting for pat, but they are becoming more and more habituated to humans feeding them, so ultimately it is not good for them. I had to cast my biological morals aside as we offered the rays tinned sardines. While they would come up to us for sardines, anyone who offered them fresh fish pieces was soon surrounded by frenzied rays. It was quite an experience watching them and the black-tipped sharks that hung around the edges.

Ray whisperers

The next day we did the ‘Three Coconuts Walk’. We hitched a ride with a local woman, Tooria, who dropped us not too far from the start of the walk. She was an interesting and articulate woman, keen to give us her view of the French/Polynesian political situation, and insisted on our return we drop into her place for a beer. Was it not hot and are we not Australian?! Of course we said we would drop in! Three Coconuts Walk was a shaded path winding up the mountain through enormous and vibrant green ferns, huge mape trees, a forest of bamboo big enough to use as scaffolding and across a creek. The 1½ hr walk ended on a ridge where we could see one side down to the bay where we had left Brio and on the other side another bay. After baguettes for lunch we walked back down to the start of the track and hitched a lift back to Tooria’s house, recognising it by the blue pareo (sarong) she said she would leave on the hedge.

aiming for that on the 3 coconuts walk

Louise checks out the bamboo

Mape trees

Tooria introduced us to her husband Laurance, an art dealer. Laurance only spends 3 months of the year in Moorea, their home base, while the rest of the year he is either in Paris or New York for work. The sort of art that Laurance deals in has names like Picasso, Matisse and Gaugin attached to it! We spent a lovely couple of hours in Tooria and Laurance’s beautiful waterfront home, covering all sorts of topics, including the fact that Tooria’s first husband was good friends with famous sailors such as Bernard Moitessier and Eric Tabarly. For those of you who hero worship him, Ivan and I can now say we have met someone who washed Moitessier’s underpants!

As with meeting Lindy and Michel, we felt very lucky to have met Tooria and Laurance; to have spent time with ‘real’ people who live here and gain a further insight to life in French Polynesia. It’s not all coconut milk and hibiscus…..many people are feeling the pinch of constantly increasing prices and unemployment.