Suwarrow

We had a great time in Suwarrow for 5 days with manta rays, beautiful fish while snorkling, snorkling paradise off the boat for miles if you wanted to (I drift snorkeled along the reef pulling my kajak and then paddled back), beach sundowners with other sailors, a BBQ beach pot luck party with all sailing boats, meeting old friends and making new ones. I'll upload some pictures when I have internet again in Samoa, but nothing new: the same old turquoise waters.
We're on our way to Samoa now and expect to arrive Sept. 10th in the evening.
So long, back with news if I have some...
Michaela

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Bye bye Aitutaki

Our time here is up. We had a great time with beautiful nature and lovely people, as always in Polynesia. I really enjoyed my time here, even though it was raining 2,5 days right after our friends Sven and CHristine arrived. Well, finally they got some sun yesterday and today (we went to honeymoon island today). Tomorrow we set the sails to go to Suwarrov, an atoll which can only be reached by boat. There are only two caretakers living there during sailing season to take care of the national park. Marcus sais there are "pot luck" parties (everybody brings a pot with some food, you're lucky if it's good) on the beach every day, just like we had it in Tahanea. We hope to see our New Zealand friends again there. We expect to be on the open sea for three days, we'll see.

Tonight the net is a bit faster so I was able to upload some pictures. Enjoy.


Lagoon at O'opnou beach

 I Love this tree which they had to cut for the street

Typical for all polynesia: graves are mostly in the front yard of the private houses. Most of these graves have a house construction around them to protect them from rain, some are even lit at night.

Sunrise and moonset 6am with unusually calm waters

 Lagoon of Aitutaki looking towards honeymoon island

 Island Night after dinner dance show in the style of Heiva

 Firedance

Honeymoon Island

 Typical bird on honeymoon island. THe island is named after their mating habit on this island.

 Overview of Aitutaki

 Waitresses in island style

 Sunset dinner at Tamanu Beach Resort

Aitutaki

Aitutaki is just another beautiful place with a hilly green island and a turquoise lagoon around it. The difference to the islands in french polynesia is, that there are some restaurants and bars (about 7 ;-) to go and have a drink and food. So I had a little holiday from from all the cooking ;-)

The internet is too slow for uploading pictures unfortunately, but you have all already seen these beautiful waters in Polynesia. So there is nothing new to show. But, here is a friend who wanted to say "hi"

                                           This guy is cleaning his eye....

Shells found in Maupihaa

Au revoir France, hello New Zealand but still: Iaorana and Maruru

What am I talking about? Well, we left French Polynesia after a wonderful 3.5 months there on August 16 and arrived here at Aitutaki, part of the Cook Islands, which belong to New Zealand, today early in the afternoon. What is common to the islands? The original inhabitants are still Polynesian, so I expect them to still say "Iaorana" for hello and "Maruru" for thank you. So the official language they are forced to speak changes and the imposed culture, but not the original language and original culture- although I have to say, that every island has their own accent in the polynesian language and they do not understand each other 100%. Here close to our anchorage there is a huge white church, almost bigger than all the houses I have seen from the anchorage so far taken together. There was an evening service today and I could hear the singing all the way to the boat, it sounded just like in the places we just came from.

I knew nothing about Polynesia (except for a little bit you see in Hawaii), I have learned a lot on this trip and I have learned to love this place. On the one hand of course we love it for its beauty of a million shades of blue and the little white islands (motus) in the middle of nowhere. But mostly I love it for its lovely people and old culture. Polynesia is a place where people smile, are open hearted, always wanting to help and give and who take an immense pride in keeping their grounds clean - independent of the size of their piece of lot, which very often is immense. I think they don't kill themselves with stress working, but they do work - mostly physically demanding work either in the water (pearl farms) or on land making Coprah from coconuts of their coconut palm tree farms. But the western culture has not completely missed out on the islands. The people LOVE cars, so even for a small island, which is 10 miles once around, people have huge 4wd Ford pick-up trucks etc. The value of the cars they have is mostly at least double the value of their house. Of course most of them have TV, mobile phones, baguette, pizza/pasta and WIFI internet is available in many places against payment (mostly only at the local post office, in more touristy places also different providers) . Do they have cinemas? No, not that I have seen. Theater? If at all then probably only a show they make themselves in the town hall. Alos once a year some islands host a ball, e.g. a mother celebrating ball. Culture? Sunday church, celebration of mother's day and father's day, celebrating in general. The biggest cultural event I know, Heiva, intensively takes the people's times for 3-4months a year. 3 months preparation of dance, percussion and singing shows for competitions (including making all the beautiful traditional costumes) and 1 month of shows and competition, the finals taking place in Tahiti. It was here in Polynesia that I saw people being happy with "simpler" lifestyle. They don't have to worry about the latest electronics, fashion, café ….They sing and dance, spend wonderful time together on land and out on the ocean or in the bay waters. I have never seen so many happy kids before, always smiling and being very polite. They all play outside, all kids together. Of course, the bigger the island and the more tourists that come there, things change. In the Tuamotus we have seen many remote places and thought wow, the people at Amanu are remote. 200 people, no internet or mobile phone connection, nothing can be hidden from anyone. But, our last stop, the beautiful Maupihaa, topped it all. 6 couples, aged between I would say late 20s and 45 live there, each in their own "house" on a big lot. No common place to meet (except for the beach and the water ;-)), no town, no shop, no nothing. Do it yourself. All of it. If you need power, you have to see how you get it. Except for one house the island was dark after sunset. I guess the people just go to bed at sunset and get up at sunrise. Do they have TV? I don't know how. We saw one old Satellite set, out of order though. I would think they have a TV and a DVD player, but who knows? They come from Maupiti or Bora Bora, so they have seen these things and I guess they took some electronics with them. Most interesting is how they get food. A) Eat coconuts from their farms and fish they might catch (Marcus caught only one litte one) B) Eat canned food that came with a ship. Only problem: the ship. One ship comes maybe once a year (if it comes) to pick up Coprah and oysters for the pearl farms. This ship can bring, against extra payment, packages with food and other stuff the people might need. Or the people take a day trip on this ship back to Maupiti or Bora Bora. From there they hitch-hike back home with the next sailor (only possible during sailing season late May - October). Last chance: "call" (radio?) to one of the islands, let a relative make a package and send it with the next sailor. We've seen the last both options. We told our friends, who are still in Bora Bora, about this and they might just buy something and bring it to the people. Had I known, I would have done the same thing. And, again, the people are VERY friendly, give you a warm welcome and SMILE. Always smile. Nothing seems to matter, they do not suffer hunger (at least they don't look like it), they are happy to live in peace in their own place and have work (doing the coprah out of coconuts and cleaning all the many acres is hard physical work). There is no doctor or any other help, the 6 couples have to help each other. And sailors passing by of course should help them. It makes things a lot easier if you speak French though…So, the material possession changes with the size of the island, the friendliness is in all their hearts, but has become less in more touristic places, the tidiness is the same everywhere. Overall: wonderful people in beautiful places distributed over an area as big as Europe. Polynesia has a very old culture, which through the help of japanese-polynesian and American experts is being reinvented and re-taught to the children. On the islands you can find many old, restored temples. Places of praying, cherishing the dead ancestors, celebrating life and family. Of course the history of Polynesians also includes fights of family clans against each other and Christianization by missionaries starting in the middle of the 19th century. A bit a myth til today are the excellent navigations skills of the Polynesian people. In their canoes, they travelled far. And not only once did they reach the same place. If you have been out here sailing, you know what admirable skill that is, to find these small atoll in the middle of nowhere. Of course, nobody knows how many people got lost….
Now I am eager to see what Aitutaki has to offer and how the Polynesians here differ from the ones we've seen so far. There are some Hotels here, bike and car rental, 3 bars, a restaurant and "Island's night", a dinner dance show organized by a hotel (the hotels take turns). Here we cannot anchor in a blue lagoon, we have to take the Dinghy, kajak, bike, scooter or car there. More informations soon.

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Maupihaa

We left Bora Bora yesterday morning to go to Maupiti. However the wind predictions were not quite correct, so that we had 30kn wind with gusts of 40kn instead of 18kn. This included a stupid wave making it impossible for us to enter Maupiti. So we continued over night with a fast bu mostly uncomfortable ride (rocking and rolling all the way) and are now at anchor in Maupihaa, the last island of French Polynesia that we visit. There are only a handful of people living here, so there is no internet or other communication possible. That means, no pictures at the moment, but I don't have new ones anyway, there is nothing new to see here. Maupihaa is like the Tuamotus, blue water and a long island on the outer reef. The only difference is, that you can take a long walk along the beach on both sides, there is no cut prohibiting that. And there ia actually a litte bit of sand so I can go to the beach and lay down. Also we found many beautiful complete shells today in all colours, mostly with purple.
That's it for now. I will be without internet for the next almost two weeks and will most probably not blog during this time.

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Blue Bora Bora

It's been almost a week here in Bora Bora, an island known to most people in the world as one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Unfortunately we were not so lucky with the weather, so we did not see just beauty, which mostly comes out at sunshine. Bora Bora is an archipel (atoll) with the main island being Bora Bora, surrounded by the outer reef and islands (motus) on the reef, all the way from the north west to the south east. Bora Bora itself is a green island like the others, you can bike around it in 2,5hrs and you can hike up the peak almost up to 600m with a tour guide. If you want to see differentiating beauty of Bora Bora, you have to take a boat out to the water, be faszinated from the changing view to the two peaks of the island and the largest area of turquoise water I have ever seen. Yes, here you can se the most blue from all French Polynesia. Also you can snorkel with mantas here early in the morning, when they come to their "cleaning station". That is, they go there and litte fish come and swim in and out their mouth and clean it. Those manta rays can be huge. We saw little ones, about 2m long and wide. They can be up to 6m! Also, in the south east of the blue area they do feed stingrays (and sharks), but the "stingies", as I call them, are not as pet-like as in Moorea. If you don't have anything to offer, they do not swim up to you. But, I got some more nice shots.
What do you see the most in Bora Bora? Newly married couples. It's all for them. Happy, smiling people, who pay almost anything to make some special experiences. Like for example a tour where pictures of them are taken in blue water. ??? A boattakes them to a motu, they stand in the water, the guy takes some shots, theys pay probably at least 100$ - if the pix are taken with their camera. I don't know. But this is the only way to get to those places - unless, of course, you travel with us. We can get into shallow water, and we did ;-)
Tomorrow we're leaving for Maupiti, the last inhabited atoll here in the area.
Here are some pictures as a memory of beautiful Bora Bora. Follow the link: http://sailing.smichah.de/#!album-70
Enjoy! Here are some pictures as well.

Me and my yellow kajak, Wikie

 Bora Bora, how we saw it most of the time

 Ahhh, what a nice anchorage. Alita loved it

 See Alita in the background?

 "Stingie" feeding

 See the many stingrays?

 Manta ray

 See the litte fish in his mouth?

3 months in French Polynesia

3 months have passed since we entered French Polynesia in Mangareva, part of the Gambier Islands. The first Polynesian island we have seen had a mountain (almost 500m high) and was very green and full of flowers and fruits. Gambier is a huge atoll with many green islands (the largest one of them being Mangareva) as well as “motus”, little flat coral islands on the outer reef of atolls with more or less palm trees on it, located in beautiful clear turquoise water.  From the Gambier Islands we sailed to and through the “Tuamotus”, many atolls with motus and no inner island. The Tuamotus are a place to find peace, to relax and to enjoy unspoiled natural beauty while snorkeling. There is no distraction there, hardly any town and if there is one, it is small with an average of 300 people. The only activities in the Tuamotus is fish, swim and snorkel (if you have no fear of sharks) , walk over millions of dead corals on the motu (if the island is big enough), sit and read or sleep. After almost 2 months of solitude it felt a bit weird when we came to Tahiti and went shopping at Carrrefour. People, many people there. But, our anchorage in port Phaeton was not too busy and we enjoyed good food which we did not have in 2 months, and internet. Tahiti is part of the Society group of archipels all surronded by reefs and is very green with mountains up to 2000m high. I have to admit that I am really enjoying our time in this group of paradise archipels; where green mountains and waterfalls meet coral reefs with turquoise water;  where anchorages can be found in bays reminding me of Brasil and in front of motus on the outer reef surrounding all the islands; where you find friendly stingrays who will swim up to you to see if you have food, dolphins and turtles swim by your boat at the anchorage, dolphins jump out of the water, wales surf in the waves, fish enjoy a wonderful coral garden; where fascinating waves constantly break over the rounded reefs; where you can smell the trees and hear birds sing on your boat. I cannot imagine a place to be more diverse than these islands here. The only “negative” is that you can hardly hike by yourself, you have to hire a guide because the trails can hardly be found and are not marked or are too dangerous. People have reported to have gotten lost in the mountains. 

You can see on the pictures that each one of the islands has its charme. Huahine for sure is the most original one, where most of the archeological sites (“marae”, kind of temples originally in their culture used by the Polynesian people for different kinds of meetings and funerals) can be found and the people are super friendly. Tourism has had its effect on all islands. On all islands besides Tahiti you can see empty resorts and hotels being shut down, often already falling apart. Local people have had many negative experiences with tourism and in places with lots of tourism causing exploitation they are not so friendly any more (understandable). We have heard today that two boats have been robbed in the marina in Urutoa (Raitea) at the (free of charge) citiy harbor. Raiatea is a big hub for charter boats and that obviously creates “wantings”. 

The last week we have been mostly cruising with State of Mind and Saliander joined in Raiatea. We met up with State of Mind in Huahine, enjoyed the SW-bay Aavea, the town of Fare with drinks and dinner at the Fare Yacht Club restaurant (we never found the Yacht Club though), rented a car together to see the island. We sailed together to Raiatea where we anchored in the Baie Faaroa and made a Dinghy excursion up the river at the end of the bay,

went to the southern cut to anchor there and have dinner on State of Mind together with Saliander.

 Next day we all sailed to and along the west coast. Saliander and State of Mind anchored at a motu in the SW, between the two cuts and enjoyed a lovely day there at the reef while we sailed up to the town of Uturoa to do the final stock up.

On the way we were able to take wonderful pictures of the breaking reef waves

Here: Bora Bora in the background

 With Bora Bora in the background

  ....and of a wale who enjoyed his time just at the borderline of the surf:

More wave and wale pictures follow the link: http://sailing.smichah.de/#!album-69

Baie Hutuopi on Tahanea gave us shelter for the night before we moved on further up to the NW where there is gorgeous snorkeling at the “Coral Garden” around and behind 4 motus.

 Clown fish on sea anemonie

 Throne starfish

In the afternoon we met up again with our friends to celebrate 2 birthdays.We had a “pot luck” party on Saliander with good food as always. Oh, life can be so good. Today, after we all went snorkeling again this morning, we had to say good-bye. We don’t know if and where we are going to see the two crews again, but latest in New Zealand. Meanwhile we all keep on enjoying the wonders of nature and hope that we all arrive safe and sound in NZ. 

All pictures of Raiatea & Tahaa (same atoll, two islands): http://sailing.smichah.de/#!album-68

Now we're in Bora Bora and it's drizzling rain. Most likely I will rent a bike tomorrow to ride around the island and hopefully be able to post pictures then. We hope the weather gets better to welcome our new guest, Klaus, on August 4th.
Have a great day everyone! Michaela