Next on our tour of the Society Islands is Taha’a, a small island between Huahine and Bora Bora, reknowned for its coral gardens on the west side. Continue reading “The Coral Island – Taha’a, French Polynesia”
I’m told that guardian angels come in all shapes and sizes. Our particular guardian angel on this occasion was an underwater rock wall….
Continue reading “Between A Rock And A Hard Place – Huahine, French Polynesia”
Moorea is another one of those stunningly beautiful French Polynesian Islands – from a distance. Up close we have to say it was a little disappointing. We were hoping it would be more relaxed than Tahiti, but it was too commercialised and touristy for our liking – too many big hotel complexes, too many jet skis (oh, how we wish they’d invent an Olympic sport of skeet-shooting jet-skis), but nothing can take away from the simply stunning scenery.
Continue reading “A Whale of A Tale – Moorea, French Polynesia”
Well, I guess Papeete isn’t that big a city compared to others, but after a few months of coral atolls it was a shock to the senses to be back amongst the hustle and bustle of traffic and city noise. Continue reading “Bright Lights, Big City – Papeete, Tahiti”
Last stop in the Tuamotus for us but far from least – Tahanea is a beautiful uninhabited atoll on the eastern side of the group, now a nature reserve, where we’ve spent a wonderful two weeks doing what we love best – diving, snorkeling, beach-combing and relaxing. Continue reading “In Heaven (with the door shut) – The Tuamotus Pt 3”
Our next stop in the Tuamotus was Makemo, west of Raroia. Although only 70NM away it’s impossible to do the trip as a day sail because of the need to time exit and entry through the passes at slack tide. So we opted to do a slow overnight sail to Makemo, pottering along at 3-4 knots and arriving at the pass just after dawn and just on slack tide. Trying to time slack tide is something akin to a black art, with lots of mumbling and muttering while hunched over various tide data, but mostly it comes down to guestimation – and amazingly we seem to have got it right so far. Continue reading “In Heaven (with the door shut) – The Tuamotus Pt 2”
