Tahiti 2014

After a lovely, brief sail from Moorea, we arrived safely and anchored comfortably at Taina Marina in Tahiti, full of friends, paddle boarders and outrigger canoeists to keep us company.

This was actually Amandla’s second visit to Tahiti.  Our first visit was in October 2013 on an unplanned  trip to the Society Islands for provisioning and repairs.  During that trip, we were so mesmerized by the availability of groceries after six months with little selection that we barely made it out of the Carrefour.  In fact, the first time we went to the Carrefour last year, we were so overwhelmed by choice that we had to return to Amandla before buying anything to regroup and make a focused shopping list.

This time, we wanted to see a bit more of what Tahiti had to offer.

The highlights included:

(1) The Courses De Porteurs De Fruits  –  During this contest, held as part of the Heiva festivities, competitors run one very long lap around the park (women) or two (men) while carrying logs laden with fruit weighing 30 kilos.  It was great fun to watch.

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(2) Tahiti Street Art – My love affair with Street Art continued to build in Tahiti.   I call it ‘Art Appreciation’.  The Captain calls it ‘A Crazed Obsession’.   Call it what you will, but you have to admire the beauty of these works.   Some of them were created during ONO’U 2014, but many others were created outside the festival.  A  gallery of my favorites is below.

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You can check out my entire collection here .

Unfortunately, I did not manage to find all of the ONO’U 2014 entries, but we will be returning to Tahiti one more time before we leave French Polynesia, so I will have another opportunity to seek them out.

(3) Tahiti By Car – We rented cars on a couple of occasions to tour Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti.  Trois Cascades was my favorite even though we could only view the first cascade due to falling rocks.

Trail To Trois Cascades

Bridge Along The Trail

The Captain Ignoring The Road Block

Inspite of Danger Falling Rocks

First of the Trois Cascades (1)

The Captain At Trois Cascades

Tahiti Iti Image Courtesy The Captain

Fisherman On Tahiti Iti Image Courtesy The Captain

(4) More Dancing and Singing – We were much further away from the action in the Tahiti arena than we had been while enjoying similar competitions in The Gambiers and Bora Bora.   And photographing inside the arena was prohibited! However, we were able to sneak a few snaps when Security wasn’t looking   I  preferred wandering around the crowd outside.

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(5) Friends and a Birthday – We were blessed to be surrounded by friends in the anchorage: a friend of the Captain’s from long ago (SY Pa Pa Ya Ga), three friends we met in 2013 (SY Kril, SY Pitufa, and SY Yum Yum) and two friends we met this year (SY Ruby Slippers and SY Romany Star).  SY Irie was also in the anchorage, but unfortunately, Mark and Liesbet were not on-board :-(.  I had a birthday and the Captain threw me a lovely birthday celebration, serving my favorites;  a pan of lasagna, an apple tart, and a gorgeous keshi pearl.  A few pictures of our fun with friends below.

Giovanni and Gabriel of Pa Pa Ya Ga

Bow of Pitufa

Ivy and John of Ruby Slippers

Me With John of Ruby Slippers – Image Courtesy Ivy Kudo

The Captain with Valentine, Natalie, and Tor of Yum Yum – Image Courtesy Ivy Kudo

We are now back in Raiatea after sailing here via Moorea.  We have just hauled out Amandla for bottom painting and repair. But that is for another post.

Cheers!