Tag Archives: point venus

Point Venus Lighthouse

Point Venus, Black Sand Beach

One of my favorite anchorages on Tahiti is Point Venus.  It is a large bay with few boats and a beautiful black sand beach. Also, there is loads of history and historical markers around.

Captain James Cook set up his observatory at Point Venus, on a small corner of the northern part of Tahiti.  It is here that he watched the transit of Venus which only occurs once a century.  The beautiful and still functioning lighthouse was built nearly 100 years after Cook’s visit, in 1868.

Point Venus Lighthouse

Point Venus Lighthouse

There are several monuments celebrating Captain Cook and his men, including this large rock.

On the edge of the water you can find several pirogue’s also known as Va’as.  These were used for daily transport in the 19th century.  Today, they are still used to just “get around” and or to race with your fellow local Tahitian.

Unfortunately, we did not get any great photos on the black sand beach during our beach day.  But here are a few that I grabbed from the boat.  Just squint a little and trust me that it is black sand 🙂 Here are some black sand beach photos online.

Black sand beach, Point Venus

Black sand beach, Point Venus

Another beautiful sunset

The Konis family settles in for movie night

Passage to Mo’orea

The next day we make the short 10-mile passage to Mo’orea.  Despite it being a light wind day, we have enough to put up the sails.  Everyone enjoys the sun, the soft breeze and the ocean lapping against Sugar Shack.

Sugar Shack Passage

Sugar Shack Passage

The boys at the helm:

The Konis family under way….

Some more leisure time on Sugar Shack

In our next blog we visit to the beautiful island of Mo’orea.  Did you miss our last adventure with the Konis family?  If so, check out the world’s most challenging surf site: Teahupoo.

Events from this blog post occurred during the first week of August, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Lemberger's Visit Sugar Shack

Texas is in the House: Lembergers

John, Missy, and Carl joined us on board Sugar Shack in Tahiti.  We’ve known this cast of characters from Texas for over 2 decades.  They visited us in Costa Rica when Sugar Shack was on the hard.  And now we get to show off our home on the water. It’s so much fun to show them the beauty of our life in French Polynesia.

They arrived Papeete, Tahiti at 0600 after 24 hours of travel from Texas.  We shuttled them to the boat where we unpacked and got settled. They brought all sorts of tasty treats from Texas.  Those included a variety of Texas beers, Diplomatico, and Rose.

Texas Liquor Distributors

Texas Liquor Distributors

We made a plan shortly after unpacking and snorkeling.  Our goal was to make it to Bora Bora during their stay. Which means lots of moving.  First, we made a quick stop to the Papeete fresh fruit and veggie market.  We stocked up on fresh goods and a few Tahitian trinkets.

Snorkeling in Tahiti

A popular snorkel and free dive site was just off our port side.  A Cessna and two barges were sunk next to each other to create a unique opportunity.  At 8-10 meters deep and are just starting to see some growth.

Cessna Snorkel Site in Tahiti

Cessna Snorkel Site in Tahiti

We all enjoyed swimming with the sea life and posing for silly underwater photos.

Snorkeling in Tahiti

Snorkeling in Tahiti

We did not linger in Tahiti.  We quickly finished up provisioning and left Papeete for Point Venus.

Point Venus, Tahiti

This is a truly beautiful anchorage.  Very few boats, small village, beautiful views, and a black sand beach.  Missy, Carl and I went exploring on shore.

We found this enormous whale made of cans.  The outside (lower right photo) shows the cans painted white. The middle photo shows the interior with the multiple colors of cans.

Point Venus Adventures

Point Venus Adventures

We got photo ops near the memorials of Captain Cook, The Bounty, and the Missionaries.

Memorials of Point Venus

Memorials of Point Venus

After a short rain shower, we were blessed with a double rainbow.

Double Rainbow over Point Venus

Double Rainbow over Point Venus

MO’OREA

The next day we hustled over to Opunohu Bay at Mo’orea. This has become another favorite spot for us.  We anchored in 2 meters of clear, turquoise water.  The best part of this anchorage is the easy access to Sting Ray City.  It was hard to contain our excitement.  These majestic creatures did not disappoint. They let you get up close and personal.

Sting Rays at Sting Ray City

Sting Rays at Sting Ray City

It did not take long for our Texas friends to get comfortable with these creatures.

Touching and Playing with Sting Rays

Touching and Playing with Sting Raysity

They love to burrow and “hide” themselves in the sand.

Sting Ray Burrowing

Sting Ray Burrowing

Carl got this great shot of Sugar Shack.

Sugar Shack at Opunohu Bay, Mo'orea

Sugar Shack at Opunohu Bay, Mo’orea

John, Missy and Carl went on the Safari Mario Tour the next morning.  It seemed like they enjoyed exploring Mo’orea and the pineapple plantations.

John, Missy and Carl on Mo'orea'orea

John, Missy and Carl on Mo’orea’orea

While waiting for our friends to finish up with their tour, we visited the Hilton for some cold beverages and a little R&R.

Hilton Hotel Mo'orea

The next day we moved to Cooks Bay to show them the town of PaoPao.  And, to of course visit Allo’s Pizza.  A local teenager graced us with a beautiful gift of a flora lei.

Allo Pizza with a free lei

Allo Pizza with a free lei

Coming Up Next:

We do an overnight passage to Huahine.

Sunset at Point Venus

Tahiti Tour with Wayne

Wayne met me in LA and we flew back to Tahiti together.  We arrived with 5 large bags and 2 backpacks weighing in at almost 300lbs.  Yep, we brought back a lot of boat parts, spares, replacements, and other necessities.  You see, it is far cheaper to purchase items in the States and bring them over then it is to purchase locally at 3x the price.  Or purchase in the U.S. and have it shipped to Tahiti.  So, as visitors come in to visit us they will be our “pack mules.”  After spending a full day unpacking the bags and putting items away we decided it was time to tour the island.

Tour of Tahiti

We grabbed a rental car at the airport and spent half the day provisioning.  I’m sure it was loads of fun for Wayne, but it is a necessity.  And really he wasn’t about to complain as we purchased 10 cases of Hinano beer.  The next day we took Wayne to see our favorite Grotto where we enjoyed a tasty French breakfast.  See Tahiti Excursion for details on the Grotto.

We circled back past Marina Taina, through downtown Papeete, to the other side of the island where Tres Cascades is located.  You can read about these beautiful falls in the “Tahiti Excursion” blog and at Tahiti Heritage.  This beautiful site never disappoints – with its raging falls, running rivers, green foliage and colorful rainbows.

Tres Cascades in Tahiti

Tres Cascades in Tahiti

Fun little MOAI located downtown Papeete and in front of the Papette Marina.

MOAI in downtown Papeete Tahiti

MOAI in downtown Papeete Tahiti

We returned the rental car, hopped back on Sugar Shack and headed the 5 miles to Point Venus. See our blog “Point Venus” for historical details and lots of fabulous photos.  We took a water tour around the point, showed Wayne the striking lighthouse and walked the black sand beach.

Point Venus Lighthouse

Point Venus Lighthouse

We were gifted with an glorious and unobstructed view of the sunset.

Sunset at Point Venus

Sunset at Point Venus

Since we only have Wayne on-board for a short stint, we wanted to get a move on.  Matt checked the weather and to our disappointment, there was a “maramu” heading our way.  A maramu is a very strong southerly wind which only occurs in this area in the winter.  It can cause some serious havoc while underway.  So, we decided it was best to make our way to Moorea to wait out the maramu.