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7/23/2006 10:00:00 AM
Papeete, Tahiti
Marina Taina in Papeete, Tahiti

Tathiti - The First Time

We were glad to see that a few of our friend boats were still in Tahiti as well (New Dawn, Nereid, Cheers, Kabuki) so that the first 10 days in Papeete flew practically by us.

Bon soir everybody,

Hard to believe that after 4 months of French Polynesia - 3 were originally planned - we are now on our 7 day passage to Nuie (about 200 miles before Tonga, it is affiliated with New Zealand). Our last 6 weeks at the Society Islands were spent with a lot of boat and computer work but also many fun outings, meeting old and new friends. First of all as always a little intro about the island group:

The Society Islands form the most important archipelago of French Polynesia. They include the largest islands and are home to most of French Polynesia's population. Most of the groups are "high islands", as opposed to the low-lying coral atolls of the Tuamotus. Captain Cook dreamed up the name Society Islands in 1769 because the islands were close to each other, or "in close society". They are subdivided into the Windward Islands - which are made up of two major islands Tahiti and Mo'orea, Tetiaroa, Maiao as well as the unpopulated island Mehetia. The Leeward islands are made up of Huahine, the twin islands of Ra'iatea and Taha'a, Bora Bora, Maupiti and the four smaller islands of Tupai, Mopelia, Scilly and Bellinghausen.  All the islands in the Society group are creations of volcanic eruptions. For instance the larger circle of Tahiti (Nui) came into existence around three million years ago, the smaller circle Tahiti Iti, was created less than a million years ago. The islands are surrounded with corral reefs with passes that make them accessable, it is somewhat a cross between the high rising Marquesas and the reefed atolls of the Tuamotus.  Tahiti was not the first of the Society group to be populated in the great Polynesian migrations. Legends relate that the first settlers came to Tahiti from Ra'iatea, which was the most politically important island despite being much smaller than Tahiti. Tahiti's importance grew as it increasingly became the preferred base for European visitors. The island soon developed into a minor pawn in the European colonial quest. It is the largest island (170.000 people) in French Polynesia, Papeete (26.200 people) is its' vibrant capital with the only international airport connecting to the rest of FP.

TAHITI (July 13-23, 2006)

After our 1 1/2 days trip from the Tuamotus to Papeete (Tahiti) we knew that we had to catch up on some boat work after having lived with Valo and Gaston for 6 weeks in Toau. Our dinghy broke (a seam split open) during our last week in Toau, the main sail got a big tear while on passage to Tahiti, and many more little things were to attend to. Robert also had to do a lot of computer work and since Papeete was one of the few places where we could get wireless connection on the boat he took full advantage of it. Without a dinghy there is not getting ashore so we put Lawur into the marina, which was quite nice for a change.

We were glad to see that a few of our friend boats were still in Tahiti as well (New Dawn, Nereid, Cheers, Kabuki) so that the first 10 days in Papeete flew practically by us. We also spent a lot of time with "Blue Sky", a boat we had not seen since Mexico with Emma, Jim, Phoebe (8) and Drake (6) on board, as well as a new boat "Verena III" - a family from Munich, Germany with Steffi, Alfred, Kilian (8) and Isabell (5). All the 6 kids hung out together every day along the dock having fun scootering, making water color pictures (much better to do off the boat!), fishing, playing soccer, etc. It was nice to see that even though they had a bit of a language barrier they got along really fine and if needed our two boys could translate for them. In the evening we shared many dinners on each others boats or took the "Le truck" the local transportation, to town, where on the main square every night about 30 little food vans called "Roulottes" show up cooking delicious crepes, waffles, pizza, steak with pommes frittes, Chinese dishes, etc. Yummy - definitely one of our favorite activities!

We also were in town in time for the annual "Heiva" Festival - a big gathering of all the French Polynesian Island groups, to show off their dance contests and sport competitions. This festival has been around since 1882 then known as the Tiurai, meaning July to celebrate the Bastille Day on July 14th. It is celebrated from late June to the end of July and makes Papeete even more lively with a big outdoors arts and craft market, the big "under the sky" theater and the sport court (canoeing, javelin throwing, rock lifting, coconut shelling, fire walks and fruit-bearing races). One evening Steffi, Alfred and the two of us attended one of the last dance shows with the performance of the winning groups. The kids were split between "Blue Sky" and "Verena III" where Judith, their au-pair watched three of them. It doesn't happen too often lately that we have an adult evening out and therefore we really enjoyed it even more. The performance was absolutely fantastic. It is fascinating how women and men equally can move their arms and legs constantly, swing their hips (any shape and size) back and forth and keep the rhythm! The costumes were beautifully dressed up with palm leaves, tree bark, tropical flowers, coconut shells, pearls, shells of every kind including mother pearls - just divine to look at! We ended the evening with a night cup at a bar and our own little dancing...

One of our bigger events was probably Sebastian's cut in his left pointing finger... We were not even in Papeete for 24 hours, the "Blue Sky" kids and ours were on Lawur, when Sebastian cut himself with the pocket knife while closing it. One view on the finger - I could see the bone - and I knew this needed more than a bandage... Robert was running errands for the dinghy and sail... luckily Emma helped out right away taking care of Benjamin, while Laura from "New Dawn" accompanied us to the clinic as moral support. We were lucky to come across a very nice French doctor (who we found out later is a sailing buddy of someone we met in Toau... small world) who also spoke very well English. He immediately told us that they will have to put Sebastian out for about half an hour to see if the tenant was cut as well. He was a brave little guy specially since I could not come with him to the operating room, although we both were quite a bit nervous. In overall it took an hour for him to come back out with the news the tenant was cut and had to be stitched up. He was given a drink package and a fresh apple afterwards and said that that was the best thing - I do have to say at that point we haven't had a fresh apple since the Marquesas 7 weeks before! He had a big splint over his two fingers (so that it could grow together again) and the bandages looked almost like a cast. He couldn't go swimming for 3 weeks, but everything healed well and now he has a 1 inch long "souvenir" on the back of his hand.

In those 10 days we were able to temporarily repair our dinghy, get our sail back from the sail maker and were ready to "hop" over to Moorea, the next island only about 15 miles from Tahiti. More about that in our next report, that way they won't get too long.

A toutes a l'heure!

Yours the 4 Schmids

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