Tahaa

As I sat on a beach chair looking across the lagoon at Raiatea, Jerry inquired about where to get some bread. Richard told him that if he hurried to the bakery down the street, there may be some bread left and that if we wanted we could order some pastry for the following day. Jerry and Jock took off to explore the neighborhood and get some bread. I remained motionless and finally relaxed. When they returned I heard the bad news…the bread was gone for the day as someone had just bought the last two loaves, but if we returned tomorrow morning at 6:30am, we could pick up baguettes, fresh out of the oven AND the pastry. We returned to the boat to a simple dinner of pesto pasta and salad for the guys and plain pasta for me.

That night the wind howled and blew north of 30 knots at the anchorage in the bay. It rained off and on throughout the night. Although we rocked and rolled the entire night, I seemed to be okay. The next morning we jumped up and put the motor back on the dinghy (we have to take it off each night for fear the dinghy might blow over and dump the motor) and Jerry took off for the bakery. I felt much better and in fact, I was hungry! So I decided to make bacon, scrambled eggs, coffee, fresh pineapple, and pamplemousse juice. Jerry soon returned with a big bag of baguette, pain de chocolate, croissants, and a huge pain de coconut. This is coconut bread made in the shape of a humongous cinnamon roll. Jock was roused from his berth with the delicious smells of food. It was a little rough for all of us the previous day and we were ready to eat…and we did! YUMMM!

The wind continued to blow throughout the day, so we did not go out on the water. We decided to just hang around and take care of boat chores and catch up on the blog. Jerry made reservations for us to go to dinner that night on the leeward side of the island and to get picked up and driven there at 6:15. I started reading Mutiny on the Bounty.

That evening went took the dingy to the Yacht Club and walked back to the street where the TRUCK was waiting for us. We climbed in the back of the truck and took off. Although it was only about 4 miles away as the crow flies, we had to follow the shoreline in and out and around three bays. We arrived at Chez Louise at 6:50. The sun had already gone down, but if it were still shining we would have been able to see Bora Bora from the deck. We were greeted by Louise herself. She is a perfect knock-off of Bloody Mary. The guys both started out by telling her that I speak French and that I would order, blah, blah, blah. Louise would have nothing of it! She said that she “want to practice English. We speak English!” Okay. She pulled up a chair and began to ask us about our trip. She remembered Jock and Yuriko from last year when they brought Yuriko’s sister there. She then told us about some French culinary award she received in 2005. She was flown to France to receive it. Then a few years later she received it again and was to go to Geneva, but her husband was in an accident, so she stayed home. Because of this, Louise is a bit of a celebrity. She told us that Bill Gates has been there three times! This is a little surprising because the restaurant is a small beach house with a little pier attached to a big porch. The tables are of the white plastic variety. Oil cloth table cloths are on the six small tables under the lanai. Jerry asked for the wine list. “You want red or white?” asked Louise. Jerry and Jock looked at each other and said “Red” at the same time. Off she went returning with a screw top of merlot. Hummm.

Was Jock just telling us a story about this place? And now we find out there is no menu. You just get to eat what Louise and her son are cooking. It all seemed a little suspicious to Jerry and me. And then here came the server (Louise’s daughter-in-law) with two large bamboo bowls/trays of fabulous looking food. The server had to balance the bamboo with Hinano beer caps underneath so the food would not tip over in the tray. There was shrimp, lobster, poison cru, rice, mahi mahi, and French bread. It truly was delicious. Now I see why the French decided to award her for her skills. Louise came over to see if we were happy with the food when she noticed the wine had not been opened. “What, you no like wine??” “Oh no, we love the wine,” Jerry replied as he quickly unscrewed the cap. And we did.

As we looked around we saw there were no other patrons to this fine establishment. All this was for us. We were sitting at the edge of the deck and could hear fish swimming nearby. Then all of a sudden Jock took his empty lobster tail and tossed it over the rail. I couldn’t believe he did this. The fish were making such a commotion gobbling it up. Next thing I know Jerry is throwing shrimp tails and lobster tails over. These guys are cracking up, sucking the fish out of their tails and tossing it over the rail and listening to the fish below. They just seem to make themselves at home wherever they are. The dinner soon ended, we said good-bye to Louise and her family and climbed back into the truck for our trip back to the dinghy at the Yacht Club and motored back to the boat.

Monday, August 9, was just an easy day. It began with a walk down the road (there is only one) along the coast. The neighborhood is well maintained, much better than the ones in Tahiti or Moorea. The whole island is much less inhabited and there are virtually no commercial establishments, except the yacht club and the bakery. We did see a man working copra (drying coconut to sell to coconut processors). We also saw the site of the landing of the first Christian Missionaries in Polynesia. The original church is long gone due to the weather, but there is a church built on the site now as well as an elementary school next door. One thing I have noticed on all of the islands I have visited so far is the number of churches that populate the landscape. They are as common as Starbucks in the states. This just seems unusual to me given the low population of people on the islands. Another curious thing is that no alcohol is sold in stores after 10:00am on Sundays; something the Polynesians take into account given the amount of Hinano’s they drink!

The wind continued to blow, but after lunch we all began to get a little cabin fever and decided it was time to explore the bay. We took to dinghy out to a motu nearby and looked for a place to dive. As we approached the motu we saw signs that said “Private” and so we looked for a place to anchor off the island. This was a pretty difficult task because the island just drops off ninety feet straight from the shore. We were able to talk to a man who came to a dock off the motu and he gave us permission to tie up there. It was a disappointing dive because there was hardly any fish and the water was very cloudy. I suppose this was because of the wind that has been stirring things up so much lately. Eventually, we went back to the boat and just relaxed.

That evening we went in to the yacht club for a warm shower and a beverage and met some California cruisers. Cruisers are people that get on a boat and go cruising for years at a time. First we met Rosalind and Russ Worrell. They are from the Bay Area and retired last year to go on a two to five year cruise. She worked in Sacramento in the Department of Education and he was an optometrist that had a part time practice and taught at UC Berkeley. Then another couple joined us, Dave and Susie from Laguna Beach. Dave was in construction and I’m not sure what Susie did. They had been cruising for about a year and a half and have plans to continue throughout the South Seas and on to New Zealand. Eventually, another couple joined us. I can’t remember their names, but they sold everything, bought a boat, retired from their jobs and hit the open sea. I was fascinated to hear their stories of how they all ended up here all the while Jerry and Jock were telling them their story.

The next thing I know the conversation turns to tattoos. Every one of them had tattoos they had acquired recently in the islands. Some tattoos came from the Marquesas and some from Tahiti. The tattoos were symbolic and all had a story in the Polynesian style. None of them were small or indiscrete. These people are all in their late 50’s early 60’s and were probably fairly conservative in their lives back home, but now they are just like kids again and have no one to answer to, except maybe their own kids! I asked Jerry and Jock if they were thinking about getting a tattoo to commemorate their journey, but they both said no.

One the morning of August 10^th we went on a snorkel dive trip with all the Cali Cruisers we met the night before. Later that day Jerry and I walked to a pearl farm and took a tour. That particular day the workers were opening oysters ever so carefully and looking to see if the nucleus they had implanted three months before were taking hold. If not, the oysters were destroyed. If they were, the oysters were tied shut with plastic strips and placed back in a net to return to the ocean for another two to three years. One interesting thing we learned is that a black pearl from Polynesia begins with a clam shell from the Mississippi River! These shells are then shipped to Japan where perfect round balls are precision cut into three sizes. These are called the nucleus. The nucleus is then implanted in the oysters, dropped off the shores of Polynesia in specific areas and if everything goes according to plan, a beautiful pearl develops over the next few years. The whole process is very labor intensive.

That night we went to the Yacht Club for an authentic Polynesian dinner and entertainment. It was our last night in Tahaa, and we sat at a big table with our new California Cruiser friends. Jerry and I got to the club a little early so we could take a shower. Soon people started showing up…all cleaned up! Richard was running around trying to make sure everything was ready to go. I think this was a big night for him as he had 50 people who had signed up for dinner. The entertainment consisted of the local high school kids performing, beginning with four young men singing and playing the drums. They were so good and they looked like they were having so much fun. This went on for about a half an hour when the woman who cooks for Richard and her sister (the lady next door that did our laundry for $15) began to bring out the food they had been preparing all day. Most of it was similar to what we had eaten before: poison cru, banana, taro, breadfruit, sashimi, but something we hadn’t had before was the chicken with some kind of green veggie cooked with it. As you might imagine, I am losing weight, but the guys seem to love this kind of food. The rum punch was flowing and the conversation was mostly about where everyone was taking off for tomorrow. After dinner we moved to the beach and the dancing soon began. Once again these were the local high school students with their teachers nearby playing drums and singing. Many of their parents came to watch them perform. They were absolutely fabulous, fire dancing and all! At the end of their performance, as typical at these types of events, the performers go to the audience and get people to come up and dance with them. Who do you think they went directly to? Jerry and Jock!! For anyone interested, I have it all on video. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Jock was totally into it moving his legs and arms like a pro. Jerry, on the other hand, was totally out of his comfort zone. He was trying to move, but somehow looked like a deer in the headlights just waiting for the music to end. What a way to end the evening and our time in Tahaa.

As the native dancing ended the rock and roll cranked up. The drunks hit the dance floor and that was pretty entertaining, as well. There was a French man there that was quite a good dancer and got the party started. Soon the place was packed with French, English, Americans, and Polynesians dancing to the Rolling Stones. Jock could hardly contain himself so finally he went out and started dancing in the middle of the ladies. That was it; Jerry decided it was time to find our dinghy and motor back to the boat before Jock hurt himself. Getting into the dinghy was pretty tricky that night, but we made it home and in the morning we took off for Raiatea.