Joe and Lisa Visit CINNABAR

(Sylvia)

Photos by CINNABAR, PANGAEA and Joe/Lisa.

Our friends Joe and Lisa came to visit us and their 3 week visit absolutely flew by. We were on the island of Raiatea so after arriving in Papeete they got a short flight from Tahiti to Raiatea. The Raiatea airport has a dinghy dock so Tom was able to motor right up to the airport to get our guests and their luggage which included numerous bottles of booze for us.

Lisa got a kick out of transport by dinghy.

We planned to start their visit by circumnavigating Raiatea and visit what we were told were some beautiful and uncrowded anchorages.

First sunset aboard CINNABAR. PANGAEA was anchored nearby and we planned to do the island tour with our friends Katie and Mike.

Our first stop was at the famous marae of Taputapuatea on the East side of Raiatea. Luckily both mooring balls were available so CINNABAR and PANGAEA were able to rest side by side.

The next morning we all headed into the beach at Taputapuatea. The significance of this marae is that it was a place of learning where priests and navigators throughout the Pacific would gather to make sacrifices to the gods and share their knowledge of ocean navigation. 

Joe, Lisa, Sylvia, Katie and Mike

Beautiful Wahine

Back on the boat and hopeful for a BBQ, we discovered that the inner grate of our little grill had completely corroded. But fear not, after a bit of head scratching CINNABAR'S 3 engineers pulled a large duck confit can out of the garbage and turned it into a grate. BTW, this was Lisa's idea.

We visited several more anchorages as we continued to travel around the southern end of Raiatea, with our last anchorage being a lovely, secluded spot on the west side, which meant sunsets again!

Clear water, tall green mountains...wow!

Our next destination would be Huahine. We traveled to the nearby island of Taha'a (which shares the fringing reef with Raiatea) and spent the night there posed to set sail for Huahine the next morning. We lucked into perfect weather for our upwind 23 nm sail, mostly sunny, no squalls, fairly flat seas and just enough wind to hoist the sails.

Joe did a terrific job of driving most of the way.

We spent a short amount of time in the town of Fare, just enough to provision, and then we moved down to our favorite anchorage of Avea Bay in SW Huahine.

Lisa, Joe and Sylvia enjoyed an island tour with the same guy who gave a tour to the Obamas, Oprah, and Tom Hanks last year. It was a fascinating tour and we can heartily recommend Eco-Island Tours in Huahine. Paul operates out of Fare (North Huahine) but he had no problem picking us up in Avea Bay (South Huahine).

The tour included a visit to a vanilla plantation that smelled divine.

While in Avea Bay we enjoyed lots of snorkeling...

Pretty day for a snorkel, but these two were game to go in any conditions.

...happy hours at the nearby Le Mahana resort, traditional Tahitian pit-cooked brunch, and Tom's coconut clinic on shore.

Lisa enjoys the fresh coconut. Note Mike in the background with his machete.

The guys even got a bit of kiting in after getting skunked on their first attempt by a massive squall.

Taking shelter under the kite during a squall.

Joe, Tom and Mike kiting on a non-stormy day.

Sadly the end of Joe and Lisa's visit was approaching so we headed back to the town of Fare.  

Anchorage off of Fare

They got to enjoy one last Polynesian sunset before their taxi would pick them up the next morning.

Not bad for a final sunset, Fare Huahine.

Here are a few pictures of Joe and Lisa's visit: Joe and Lisa Visit CINNABAR

Now for the bonus question: A cold one of your choice to the first one who can identify this thing. 

What is this?????