It was really hard to leave Maupiti, but we needed to start making our way toward Raitea. We had a great weather window toward Taha’a (Ilot Tautau) which is in the same lagoon as Raiatea. The day before, we moved to the Maupiti pass anchorage to swim with the manta rays one more time and position ourselves for a quick exit. On the day of our departure, we had North Easterly winds which were perfect for our short trip. Up at dawn gave us a beautiful sunrise.
It is only 42nm from Maupiti to Taha’a/Raiatea which is about 8.5 hours. We left at 0600 to exit the pass in “good conditions.” We had 2.5 kts of outgoing current which helped us along. Nice for us as we were exiting, but would be challenging for someone wanting to come into the lagoon. You can see the large waves breaking on the reef on either side of the red and green markers.
We had a consistent breeze, small swell and pretty skies. It was an ideal trip that took us 6.5 hours with an average of 6kts. We arrived at one of our favorite anchorages and dropped the hook in 2 meters of stunning water. You can see to the bottom and all the way across to the Bora Bora caldera.
Ilot TauTau (Taha’a Resort Island)
We anchored in our favorite spot which is near the Ilot Tautau where the Taha’a Resort is located. We drop the hook in 2 meters of sandy water and get a beautiful view of the sunset behind Bora Bora.
A few calm days allowed Matt to explore on the SUP. He left at sunrise and tried to go all the way around Ilot Tautau but the waters got to shallow (2-3”)
Day Run to Raiatea
We made a day trip to Raiatea Carenage. We will be hauling the boat out to do some work soon and the owner needed to evaluate some fiberglass work. So, we motored 2 hours from Taha’a to Raiatea. The owner Dominique said he needed a few hours before we meet so we went to find lunch. There is nothing around Raitea Carenage except another yard called CNI. Neither place had a magasin or restaurant. So, we went to Marina Apooiti where they have several charter companies (Sunsail, Moorings, and Tahiti Charter). Surely they will have an eatery.
Lucky for us, they had one restaurant called La Voile d’Or. There were no customers when we arrived at 1200. We sat down ordered drinks and perused the menu. Matt’s beer arrived luke warm and he was not pleased. At 780xpf per bottle it should be ice cold, but nope. The lunch prices were extremely expensive and they were out of Mahi. So, we finished our drinks and left. Too bad as it is a really cute place with pretty ambiance.
On the way back we were able to motor sail part of the way and made it back in 1:45. All in all not a bad day trip and we received confirmation that the yard can do the fiberglass repair.
Back to Ilot Tautau to enjoy another gorgeous sunset.
The events on this post occurred in early September 2020. Blog posts run about 6-8 weeks behind our adventures.