Cousins, Coconuts, and a Change of Plans
We recently took a much-needed vacation to Tahiti to meet up with Dan’s cousin, Dale, and his wife, Cindy, who had traveled all the way from Washington State to see us.
Originally, they were going to come sail with us, but with Equus currently without an engine, we did not want to subject them to staying with us in this very rolly harbor, unable to sail anywhere. So instead, we booked our flight on Tahiti Air and made the three-hour journey to meet our cousins in Papeete.
The last time we had seen them was on our drive across the country two years ago, when we bought a car and drove from the East Coast to California while visiting our two boys, my mom, and my sister. We met Dale and Cindy at a campground on the Columbia River and had an amazing and adventurous weekend together. We knew we wanted to get together again.
So we did.
We spent only one night in Tahiti before catching a ferry across the few miles to the island of Moorea, where we had rented an Airbnb for the week.
We arrived at halftime of the Super Bowl, where Dale and Cindy were already in town watching their home team, the Seattle Seahawks, compete against the Patriots for the championship title.
Dale picked us up at our hotel near the airport. It is only about a ten-minute drive from downtown Papeete. We arrived just in time for the second half of a very exciting game. There were tons of Seahawks fans there watching, many of whom Dale had already met and befriended.
We cheered the team on and watched their victory. It was an epic afternoon.
Vacation With a Side of Yanmar
The following day, Dan and I awoke early to drive into town and find the business where our essential boat part is being repaired. We have no engine without this part, as our Yanmar engine has not been manufactured since the 1980s. There is no replacement part on the planet. Trust me, we looked.
Getting the fuel pump out of the engine and shipping it to Tahiti for repair was miserable. It took two weeks to get there. Tahiti Air refused to ship it because it was an engine part, so it had to go by boat. Once it arrived, inspection showed it needed new seals, which had to be ordered from Yanmar. That added another three weeks.
When we asked how to pay, they requested either a bank transfer or cash. Considering neither of our banks would complete a transfer without signed paperwork and weeks of waiting, we headed to an ATM and pulled out cash.
God only knows how long the repair will take, or how slow the boat returning it to Nuku Hiva will be. Time will tell. We just pray that it works.
The Tahiti You Imagine and the Tahiti That Is
There is the Tahiti you picture in your mind. Huts built out over the water with the iconic blue ocean flowing beneath, white sand beaches, palm trees, beautiful Polynesian women with flowers in their hair, and floating tiki bars out in the bay where vacationers sip fruity drinks from coconut shells.
It is the perfect vision of paradise, the one that always played in my head whenever I pictured Tahiti.
The reality is that those are snapshots you might find, but they make up a very small portion of the overall picture.
Papeete is a busy working capital city. There are shops and restaurants along the bay and a very nice marina on the waterfront where several of our boating friends have stayed. One or two rows behind the main street, the polished storefronts fade into potholes and sketchy parking lots.
Meals in the popular tourist restaurants are pricey, and at least two we had were less than desirable.
There are some beautiful attractions worth visiting, including Fautaua Waterfall, one of the tallest waterfalls in the world, Pointe Venus with its dramatic black sand beach, the Arahoho Blowhole, where ocean swells explode through lava tubes, and the Vaipahi Gardens with their lush tropical walking paths.
These can realistically be seen in a day or two, and then you have seen Tahiti.
Moorea, A Cruiser’s Favorite
The ferries to Moorea are frequent and comfortable, and we took our rental car with us for the week.
We were happy to be heading off to Moorea, which many of our sailing buddies had described as less touristy, more rugged, and far more beautiful than Tahiti.
Moorea was formed from the same volcanic hotspot as Tahiti and is often considered her quieter, more dramatic sister island. Its deep bays, Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay, offer some of the best natural anchorages in French Polynesia, which is why most cruisers prefer anchoring here over Tahiti’s exposed harbors and busy marina.
Our beautiful little cottage, a perfect two-bedroom retreat for cousins, sat up on a hill overlooking the harbor.
There is a small airport on Moorea, but most visitors fly into Tahiti and then ferry over. To be honest, the airport looked pretty still. Not sure many people take flights there.
We spent our first full day on Moorea at the beach. There are about three beaches recommended for relaxing and swimming, shaded by palm trees with gentle waves lapping the shore.
The island is surrounded by a circular barrier reef, which breaks the force of the Pacific swells and creates a calm, shallow lagoon between the reef and shore that is perfect for swimming and snorkeling.
We collected coconuts and mangoes on our walks, drank chilled coconut water, and ate fresh coconut. One morning I made mango crepes for breakfast, and we definitely had our fill of fresh mangoes.
Moorea is small enough to drive around in less than two hours. Some of the highlights include the Belvedere Lookout with panoramic views of Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay, the Afareaitu Waterfalls with jungle-lined hiking trails leading to freshwater pools, the Lagoonarium for shallow reef snorkeling.
Then, there is the famous and fantastic Roui Juice Factory and Distillery, where local fruits are made into juices, jams, and liqueurs. Not gonna lie. The free alcohol samples were our favorite part!
Crazy Cousins on the Loose…
During our week, we spent days at the beaches, hiked to one of the waterfalls, and swam in the pool, toured the distillery, and enjoyed cooking at our cottage and eating on the porch overlooking the bay.
Most evenings, we walked down to the water’s edge at sunset and bid the sun adieu while wading in the quiet lagoon with a fruity cocktail in hand.
We had an incredible week, a perfect vacation, with the exception of a few sunburn issues. We are used to being under the cover of our cockpit enclosure and definitely fried a few places on our beach visits. We will remember that for next time.
I highly recommend a stay on Moorea with a day trip to Tahiti. Tahiti is iconic, but Moorea is epic.
One Last Sail Before Home
Before departing back to Nuku Hiva and our lonely boat, we spent two more days with Dale and Cindy.
We coordinated with our boat buddies on S V Carisma to take us out for a day sail. Cindy and Dale had never been sailing on a large sailboat, and we wanted them to have that experience.
John and Shannon picked us up in their dinghy and brought us out to the airport harbor, where they were anchored, visible from our Airbnb up on the hillside.
We had an epic day with great wind and made a three-hour loop between Tahiti and Moorea before helping them refuel at the dock. Carisma was departing two days later for new adventures.
If timing had been on our side, we would have been anchored beside them, but fate has other plans for Equus.
We bid farewell to Carisma and to Dale and Cindy and flew back to Nuku Hiva, making sure to stop at the large supermarket in Tahiti to stock up on supplies we cannot get at the tiny stores here.
Our boat missed us. She looked lonely as we stood on the dock across the bay from her.
We had gotten a ride to shore before our trip, but upon our return, there was a mile of water between us and home, and no friends left in the harbor to pick us up.
Bags in hand, we sat on the seawall, wondering how we would make it back when a kindly Frenchman with his wife and two small daughters pulled up to the dock while waiting for a rental car.
He agreed to ferry us out so we did not have to swim home with our luggage.
Safely home, we are still alive, still in love, still afloat, and grateful for a wonderful vacation with loved ones.
Now our friends have departed for new islands, and this broken engine thing really sucks. Considering we have spent time in five countries waiting three months or more for boat parts, we should not be surprised.
We are where we are when we were meant to be there.
So for now, I will write, Dan will fix, and we will enjoy the beautiful views of this island.
Today, we live here.
Fair Winds,
Captain Dan and First Mate Alison
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