Sister Sonja and Erik visit CINNABAR

Welcome to French Polynesia!!

It's been a good season for visitors here in les Iles-sous-le-vent, aka leeward islands of French Polynesia. Sonja and Erik managed to squeeze in a visit and they were blessed with (mostly) excellent weather and the some of the best snorkeling conditions we've seen here.

They pretty much did a reverse trip version of Joe and Lisa's visit, starting in scenic Avea Bay, Huahine. Their taxi driver happened to also be a tour guide and for the price of taxi fare she also gave them a mini-tour of the island before dropping them off. They had copious amounts of luggage filled with goods for us and select bottles of booze and a few bottles of excellent Ridge wine. Oh how I miss those California zinfandels!

Of course we had to do the Polynesian traditional pit-cooked Sunday brunch at Chez Tara and it was delicious and plentiful as usual.

We stayed in Avea Bay for six days because the snorkeling was absolutely outstanding. The waves were down so currents were light and the visibility was super clear. We snorkeled our favorite spots and explored some new ones too. 

Just another gorgeous sunset in paradise!

But eventually it was time for a change of scenery so we motor-sailed up to the town of Fare to get ready to head to Raiatea.

This paddler drafted off our wake and kept up with us for quite a while...at 6.5 knots!

One of the favorite excursions we had in Fare was a visit to the Passion Distillery. The owner Christian is passionate (hence the name) about distilling liqueurs in all the tropical flavors, passion fruit, pamplemousse, ginger, citron, cacao, nuts, coconut, pineapple, and the list goes on. We tasted many and purchased a favorite and left by 11:00 with a slight buzz.

Christian and his wife Rosie who poured our tastings for us.

Erik liked this sign at the town dock in Fare. We wondered if this was put up after someone drove into the water? 

The next day we motor-sailed in light breeze to Taha'a where we anchored for the evening. Sonja and Erik were able to get a quick snorkel in before the sun set. 

A little more wind would have been nice but otherwise it was a great day.

Raiatea was our next stop and we spent the afternoon and night at the Carenage anchorage before starting our Raiatea circumnavigation. We had a great afternoon snorkel in the pass and saw lots of fish, lion fish coming out of their caves and our first nudibranch sighting of the year. Two nudibranchs together (doing what?)! 

Erik relaxing at the anchorage before the big wind event.

Sonja had been saying that she wanted to get some sailing in and she sure got her wish. Because the next day the winds were coming from the NE and were predicted to be quite windy we chose to circumnavigate Raiatea counter-clockwise which would put us at a south anchorage (hopefully) out of the wind. As soon as we got out of the pass to head south the katabatic winds came screaming over the mountains. We were under jib only and were seeing 8.5-9.5 knots of boat speed, i.e. FAST. We had a very sporty sail back into the SW pass and it was slightly too much excitement as we navigated CINNABAR through the narrow channel while 30 knot gusts came over the mountains.

We eventually reached our destination and were happy to find an available mooring ball. The weather was still windy but a little bit more settled there and the next day we had an excellent snorkel session.

After snorkeling we continued east and northward until we got to our destination of the famous Taputapuatea Marae. 

A fun and educational day at Taputapuatea

We've talked about this magical marae, which was the traditional spiritual center of Polynesian navigation, in past posts. The one special thing we did this time was make an offering. One of our favorite aunts who passed away a few years ago had made some seashell earrings years earlier (lots of them as wedding favors). We added them to the offering alter and had a short, silent meditation, feeling the mana (spirit). 

Aunt Lynette's earrings hanging from a shell necklace.

Unfortunately Sonja and Erik had to fly home soon so after spending the night near Taputapuatea we had to complete the circumnavigation and head back to the anchorage near the airport. The weather was becoming overcast and squally and by that night the first squall hit.

The next morning in the rain we loaded up the dinghy with Sonja, Erik and their much diminished luggage. They got out of Raiatea in the nick of time before several days of bad weather.

Good Vacation!!

MYSTERY OBJECT: in the last blogpost we had a mystery object which nobody took a stab at trying to identify.

ANSWER: it is the inside of a SPROUTED COCONUT! (Check out the link.) It has taste and texture like a mildly sweet coconut sponge cake. Who knew cake grew on trees?

Sonja and Erik, you were terrific guests and you are welcome any time!

Link to ALBUM 

Sisters!!