Position: 16 degrees, 37 minutes south; 151 degrees, 26 minutes west

Tahaa is in the foreground. We were anchored off the little island (motu) at the bottom of the picture)

Water doesn't get too much clearer than this

A beautiful day. Hard to leave this spot.

Sailing down the Tahaa coast inside the reef

This morning was one of the most beautiful mornings we have had on the trip. We were anchored in the idyllic spot we have described, flanked by stunning views of Bora Bora, ice-blue water and reefs with incredible fish (and a huge moray eel and octopus). This morning we woke with not a breath of wind. When I came up on deck, I could look down and see our anchor chain and even the anchor itself in 20 or 30 feet of water. Most amazingly though was the dinghy. We left it in the water trailing out behind Charisma and when I look out at the dinghy it seemed to be floating in the air. The water was so clear I could see below it and it just wasn’t clear what was holding it up! Very cool.

It was only very reluctantly that we hoisted anchor on this day, but we had to move on. Our stay in Polynesia is about up and it’s time to provision and check out, so we had to move on. So…up anchor, thread out way through the bommies on the way back into the main channel around the island and off we go. Our goal on this day was to get halfway around Tahaa to a pearl farm where we could pick up a mooring, tour the pearl farm, hopefully stay the night and then back to Raiatea tomorrow to provision and check out with the Gendarmes.

It was a beautiful day. The wind was light and against the direction we needed to go, so we motored. Turned out to be a good thing since we really needed to make water and charge the batteries-both need a little extra “oomph” than just the solar panels can provide in the tropics when the afternoon clouds show up.

So, we found the pearl farm around noon. We tied up to the mooring and made lunch figuring they might be closed during the lunch hour as happens frequently in Polynesia (many stores are actually closed from 12-2:30). After we had lunch, we jumped in the dinghy and headed in. What we found were five ferocious looking dogs barking at us from the dock. Bad marketing I’d say. Anyway, I convinced Ann that she should step up and make friends with the doggies who were snarling and drooling at the prospect of biting us. She bravely stepped on the dock assuming that it would be poor retail etiquette to have dogs that bite customers. She was ultimately proven correct even though there were a couple of tense moments. Anyway, after making a tenuous friendship with the big doggies, we moved (cautiously) toward some of the buildings seeking someone who might be in charge of the pearl farm. It was deserted. We walked around and all the buildings were closed and the “boutique” was locked. Oops, it was Sunday. Just when we assumed we would have to go back to the boat, a nice young woman came out of somewhere and said that they were open. She called into one of the huts and out came a nice young man who said, “We’re open, we’re open!”

To shorten the story, it turns out they are not really open all the time. Only when people show up! As they explained, it keeps their costs down to not have to be open all of the time. We got a tour of the place and a demonstration of how they “make pearls”. During the demo, we also learned that they couldn’t actually make a profit here on Tahaa farming pearls so now they are just a demo place and boutique. Disappointing, but the guy was very nice and we had fun seeing how they “culture” pearls. He then opened the boutique (which was disappointing in lack of selection). I ended up buying a loose pearl for Ann. It was a very nice one, but more as a “thank you” for them opening for a private tour and as it turned out, letting us use their mooring for the night.

So, we’re in this bay with no other boats in sight because the bay is too deep to anchor in (hence the mooring-we’re in over 100 feet) It’s actually very peaceful and nice. It’s also raining as the weather is changing, so kind of nice to be tied to a mooring instead of hanging out on the reef waiting for possible nighttime winds to come that threaten to drive us onto the reef.

Tomorrow we go the last 10 miles around the island of Tahaa and back to Raiatea to provision for our next leg into the Cook Islands. We’re working on our list, but I can tell you beer, wine and rum are at the top of the list. Ahh, the essential commodities!