Category Archives: Locations

Places around the world

Me and Kimberly

Museum de Tahiti

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Troy, Kimberly, Cole and Cameron (my family) return to French Polynesia.  We took it easy on their first day since they flew all night long.  We unpacked the two 50lb bags full of boat parts that they brought us, frolicked in the water, and hit the large Carrefour for a few last-minute provisions.  The next day, we rented a car to tour around the island of Tahiti.  Our first stop was the Museum de Tahiti.

Museum de Tahiti

The best laid plans still can go awry.  I emailed and or called each of our desired stops to ensure they were open.  We are still after all still in the middle of a pandemic.  The museum responded that “yes, we are indeed open.”  However, when we arrived, we learned that the actual museum is under massive renovations and they only have an exhibit up.  Well, shoot.

The exhibit showcases many costumes worn during heiva (their annual festival) which are super fun to look at, along with art, and a few sculptures.

We take advantage of all the fun photo opportunities.  Troy, Cameron, and Cole imitating the tiki behind them.

Troy, Cameron, Cole

Troy, Cameron, Cole

Kimberly and I in front of the exhibit photo.

Kimberly and I

Kimberly and I

Museum de Tahiti had lots of life size beautiful posters.

Cameron and Cole posing like the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) tiki

Cameron and Cole

Cameron and Cole

Troy and Kimberly poised as the Tahitian bride and groom (see costumes behind them)

Troy and Kimberly

Troy and Kimberly

Lots of beautiful heiva costumes were on display.

Heiva Costumes

Heiva Costumes

Cole and Cameron with an authentic Tahitian pirogue.

This was an amazing piece of art painted on metal.  Can you see the dancer’s in the swirl of feathers?  It took us awhile, but there are 2 women facing each other dancing.  The one on the left is smiling and shows teeth in her mouth and the one on the right has her mouth open.

Can you find the two dancers?

Can you find the two dancers?

Museum de Tahiti Gardens

We venture outside to see the grounds.  They have lots of statues scattered around the property.  Kimberly and I both have to “go.”

Museum de Tahiti Tiki Garden

Museum de Tahiti Tiki Garden

Troy looking out toward Mo’orea

A large area with hand painted graphics depicting unique illustrations from each heiva (festival)

Stay tuned for the next blog when the Konis Family visits the natural grottos of Tahiti.

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

Papeete Anchorage

Tahiti Anchorage

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We are anchored in Tahiti at the anchorage called Marina Taina, on 11 June 2021.  It is extremely unusual for us to be in this particular anchorage for an extended period of time.  But, it is what it is.  We arrived a few weeks before my trip back to the States, then I was in the U.S. for 3 weeks and then we waited 2 weeks for my family to arrive.  Sure, we could have moved the boat during the last two weeks, but we were busy doing boat projects and visiting friends.

Technically, there are two anchorages in the Tahiti area. One is called the “airport anchorage” and the other is called “Marina Taina anchorage.”  The airport anchorage is right across from the airport and can be a bit calmer than the other location.  It is equidistant between downtown Papeete and Marina Taina (about 2.5-3nm miles each way).  Sugar Shack has only anchored here once, for one night and found it to be very crowded, but decent.  We typically, anchor directly across from the Intercontinental Hotel swimming pool and over the water huts on the reef side.  We drop the hook in 3 meters of crystal clear, turquoise water and face Mo’orea.  It is much prettier, a bit quieter, and closer to Marina Taina (1nm) but a lot further to downtown Papeete (4.5-5nm).

We do get lovely sunsets behind Mo’orea.

Sunset of Mo'orea from our anchorage

Sunset of Mo’orea from our anchorage

Waiting for a Change

So, here is where Sugar Shack has sat at anchor for the past 6 weeks.  She will be more than ready to make a move soon.  While Sugar Shack has been patiently waiting for us to head to our next destination, we have been busy finishing up boat projects, making repairs, cleaning, and running to town.  

View towards Mo’orea from the stern.

Mo'orea view

Mo’orea view

And a beautiful sunset behind Mo’orea

View of the dilapidated boats abandoned by their owners. Several boats were left in the marina and or in their anchorage.  The marina moved them to the shallow reef side to simply rot away.  So sad.

Dilapidated Boats left to rot

Dilapidated Boats left to rot

View of the Intercontinental Hotel over the water huts (the swimming pool is too far to see in the photo).

Intercontinental Hotel Tahiti

Intercontinental Hotel Tahiti

View in front of the boat toward the airport anchorage

Looking out toward Airport Anchorage

Looking out toward Airport Anchorage

Why We Don’t Like this Anchorage

Anchoring here is a necessary evil.  We have to come to Tahiti to provision, stock up on boat parts, and do general errands.  The outer islands do not have the resources that Tahiti has so we come here.

Even though the water is crystal clear where we are anchored, it is dirty.  The sides of our boat become filthy from the pollution in the water.  You can’t see it, but it is there.  This is on top of the trash that is actually in the water as well.  The dirt on the waterline (between the black bottom paint and the red stripe) is from a little over a week of being in the water.

Dirty waterline from the water

Dirty waterline from the water

After several hours of scrubbing and elbow grease she looks wonderful. Of course, it will be dirty in a day or two, but for now she looks gorgeous.

In addition to the water quality, there is a lot of traffic that comes by us. We are after all located near the channel.  Big boats, small boats, fast boats, jet skis, and party boats all pass by us creating huge wakes and noise.

We are surrounded by dilapidated boats (see above) which make a racket because nobody is tending to them.  The airport is extremely close so we hear every airplane, jet, helicopter that lands and takes off.  The town is close so we hear traffic.

So, not our favorite place to be.  We prefer the isolated motus in Gambier or the Tuamotus.  But, we are here and making the best and most of it.

Heading to Town via Marina Taina

We hop in Sweetie and drive the 1+nm to Marina Taina where we tie up to the dinghy Dock.  On the way, we pass by all the beautiful super yachts.

Marina Taina Super Yacht Dock

Marina Taina Super Yacht Dock

Even Mother Nature favors these beautiful beasts of the sea

Marina Taina Super Yacht Dock

Marina Taina Super Yacht Dock

Once we secure our dinghy, we walk 1/4 mile to the bus stop, then wait for the bus to take us to downtown Papeete which is about 30 minute ride.

Beautiful Artwork 

All around Papeete you will find beautiful artwork on and around the buildings.  Tikis are scattered throughout downtown as well as creative artwork on the side of buildings.  Here are just a few that I have found.

Tahiti Wall Art

Tahiti Wall Art

Tahiti Wall Art

Tahiti Wall Art

Check out our previous posts in Tahiti.

Events from this blog took place around the last two weeks of July.  The blog posts 6-8 weeks behind our actual adventures.

Tahiti Marina Taina

Tahiti: The Land of Plenty

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Toau was so beautiful that we did not want to leave.  However, I needed to get to Tahiti to prepare for my visit back to the States and we had a laundry list of chores to do before I left.  So, we head to Tahiti – the land of the plenty.  Tahiti is a necessary evil.  We go here to provision (with real grocery stores), obtain boat parts, bulk items (TP, paper towels, trash bags), hardware stores, and run errands (oh so many errands).  But first we have to get there.

Passage to Tahiti

The passage from Toau to Tahiti is about 250nm from pass to pass.  We estimated it to take 2 days to get there based on light winds from the NW.  Originally, we had hoped to fly the spinnaker for the first day and then switch to the working sails when the wind shifted to SE.  Unfortunately, the weather gods were playing tricks on us again.  We had winds directly on the nose at 2-4kts.  Not good for sailing so we ended up motoring for the first 20+ hours.  Finally, the wind filled in a smidge which allowed us to sail at 5-6kts.

We arrived into Point Venus, Tahiti in the middle of the night.  We know this anchorage and have been here several times before.  So, we felt comfortable coming into this very large, well-marked anchorage at night.  We dropped the hook, went to sleep and moved the boat to Papeete in the morning.

Things to do:

  • Pick up Matt’s new passport from U.S. Consulate
  • Pick up both of our new carte de sejure (long stay visas) from Tahiti Crew
  • Pick up 50L of rum from Airiki Noa Noa (Tahitian Rum)
  • Obtain a duty -free fuel certificate (saves us 40% on diesel)
  • Provisioning (Carrefor, Super U, Champion)
  • Big Box Stores (Maxi’s, Polynesian Trading, Tahiti Pas Cher, etc…)
  • Boat Parts (Sing Tung Hing, Ocean 2000)
  • (3) Hardware stores
  • Bank ($, $, $, $)
  • Shell Gas station to buy 20L of oil (for both diesel engines)
  • Errands: Electrosav, Auto Parts, Wing Chang (25kilo flour)

 

  • Fix outboard at Yamaha (not shifting properly)
  • Inspect and fill Dive Tanks and repair regulator
  • Get fuel (both diesel and gasoline)
  • Provision for fresh goods (fruit and veggie), frozen and cold goods

Normally, Matt and I have to make a bazillion trips to each of the stores because we don’t have a car and can only carry so much.  Typically, it is a 2+ mile walk, a bus ride, and another 0.5 mile walk to the dinghy, load the dinghy and then transfer onto Sugar Shack. 

However, we had to go to the U.S. Consulate which is well over 10 miles away with no direct bus route, and a $30+ cab ride one way.  So, we decided to rent a car last minute to get there and  then get all our heavy lifting out of the way (rental $55).  We were able to complete the top 10 items above in one day! It was one hell of a long day, but it got done!  We had to make 2 trips back to the boat to unload the car, but we got it all done. 

Fuel the hubby and the boat.  40L of beer, 50L of rum (blue drums) and 20L of oil.

Tahitian Beer and Rum

Tahitian Beer and Rum

Picked up boat and cleaning supplies.  The items in the photo came from about 8 different stores.  No such thing as a one stop shop.

Bulk stores provided great buys on American brand snacks and treats. This batch of stuff will last us 8-9 months.

My 25kilo bag of flour – yes, we do a lot of baking.  We make our own bread, pizza, dough, English muffins, focaccia, muffins, cakes, cookies, etc…

Big Bag o Flour from Tahiti

Big Bag o Flour from Tahiti

Beautiful rainbow over Marina Taina which is in Papeete, Tahiti.  We anchored outside of the marina.

Tahiti Marina Taina

Tahiti Marina Taina

Errands and Chores

We continue to work on boat chores when we are not running around.  Slowly knocking the projects off the list.  Stay tuned for the major redo of all of our exterior teak that took me well over 4 days to complete.

It is a necessary evil to be in Tahiti, the land of the plenty.  We love it because we can get a lot done and reprovision the boat.  But hate it because it is a huge city, filled with lots of people, we spend tons of money, and that boat get’s dirty from the busy anchorages.

But we got a lot done.  Matt will continue to check things off our list as I make my way back to the states.  In the meantime, life is good and we feel blessed.

Va’a Race Mo’orea to Tahiti

Shell sponsored a va’a race from Mo’orea to Tahiti with 6-man teams in each va’a.  A va’a is like a canoe with an arm out to one side, which is called an alma.  The teams of 6 members would race from Mo’orea to Marina Taina.  It as a flood of speeds boats in the channel causing all sorts of rocus.

Va'a Race Mo'orea to Tahiti

Va’a Race Mo’orea to Tahiti

As the va’a teams approached our boat, they entered a marked off area called the “transition area”.  Right in front of Sugar Shack, they changed teams in the va’a.  It was so amazing to see the hordes of boats around the transition area.  A boat would drop off 6 men/women in the water. Then their team would bring the va’a up to them.  The team in the va’a would jump in the water as the team in the water jumped in the va’a.  It took only a few seconds for the transition and then they were off again.

Va'a Teams

Va’a Teams

The 6 teams spent well over 6 hours paddling and trying to win the prize money. The top transition time was 4 seconds and the worse was when one team capsized and had to regain their loss time.

Pretty amazing event.  It takes a lot of skill and expertise to paddle these va’a’s.  Especially today as the weather was not cooperating and it was rainy and windy. They had to cross 15nm from Mo’orea to Tahiti!

Just for Fun

A few Tahiti happy hours to end the busy days.  Some of our cruiser friends.

Events from this blog post occurred during mid-June, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.