Cruising notes – French Polynesia Leeward Society islands

 Weather:

I have been downloading from Winlink (ham radio email service) the daily weather bulletin for French Polynesia. It is in French, then I translate it using my high school French and a dictionary.

The main consideration in the Societies is not so much the wind as it is the swell. High pressure systems moving far to the south cause a large ocean swell to build up and it reaches all the way up here. This makes any of the passes on the south west of the islands possibly hazardous, and the anchorages inside the reefs there a little rolly.

The distances between the islands are not great, so a short term forecast works fine.  

For preparing for the next leg, west to the Cooks, I have started checking with Des – “the Herb of the South Pacific”. He is a very very nice man who takes down your lat/long and your conditions (wind, seas etc) then will give you a forecast good for a couple of days. All free, like Herb, but will accept a small donation (40.00 NZ dollars, about 20.00 US) which you can give to him personally in Auckland, or mail to him. He transmits at 2000Z, and 0400Z on 13137 USB. But check around, this may change.

 Charts & Guides:

We used Charlie’s Charts of Polynesia for Moorea, and The Moorings Guide, called A Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands of Tahiti in French Polynesia, for the Leewards.  It has good detailed charts included.

Still using Vector maps for computer navigation – we adjusted the GPS datum and customized it so our boat position compares properly with our actual position.  

A very useful website is Jimmy Cornell’s “Noonsite” – www.noonsite.com

It contains lots of info about customs, immigration, ports etc for lots of countries, also news about the cruising world.

 Anchorages:

 Moorea:

We had heard that Cook’s Bay was crowded and not very nice because of that. It was true, but, I mean, this is one of the famous places you HAVE to go, right?

The bay next to it – Opunohu – was much nicer in the fact that it is less crowded and prettier, but nothing is developed on land there so not for those people who like a lot of ‘action’. We snorkeled with the Stingrays and it was really worth the dinghy ride. Just take the dinghy west, inside the reef, the channel is well marked with black&white stakes (stay close to them – very shoaly!) and when you see a little island on the right, stop and put your hook down in 4 ft of water.

 Raiatea:

We came in Passe Irihu  on the east side of the island – straightforward, just identify it with your binoculars as you approach. Went straight into Baie Faaroa where the cruising guide says to anchor in 70-90 feet of water. But we kept going in closer to the head of the bay and found 50 ft and stuck just fine.

Motoring around inside the reef is very easy – the channel is well marked and the water deep.

We stayed a couple of nights at Raiatea Careenage – they have mooring balls for rent at a nominal fee (about 8.00 US per night) and nice to leave your boat safely, especially as we had very howly winds.  

Bora Bora:

There is only 1 pass into Bora Bora, which fortunately can be used in almost all weather and is very easy and well marked. We got there before the pack, which was lucky because there are only 11 moorings right now, and they filled up the very next day. (We have stayed ahead of the crowd – we have heard that there are now 150 boats in Papeete!) Failing picking up a mooring, the other option would be to anchor nearby in 85 feet!

The Bora Bora Yacht Club is really mostly a restaurant right now, and the manager, Peter, is a very good Austrian chef. The mooring balls are 1000 francs a night (8.00 US approx) and if you pay for 5 nights he gives you an additional 2 nights free. Water is free if you stay a couple of nights, otherwise if you just pull up and fill up it costs 1000 francs, any quantity. There is a washing machine here but expensive at 1000 francs a load (no dryer).  Nice clean showers, nice clean 7 new restrooms.

Actually, there are lots of other places to anchor in Bora Bora so not to worry. The reef got damaged last season by high waves, and silted over, killing much of thte coral. So the island is asking cruisers not to anchor on the east side and hopefully the coral can recover a bit. We took the dinghy all around the island inside the reef, though, and the lagoon is still very pretty over that side.

You can also pick up a mooring free at the south end of the main island, at Bloody Mary’s restaurant.

 Goods & Services:

 Moorea – there are a couple of grocery stores, a great little open air restaurant by the dinghy dock with reasonable priced lunches. An internet café and several swank restaurants and bars associated with the hotels there.

Raiatea –

Raiatea Careenage -  This yard can haul you out, redo bottom paint, all the usual boatyard services. There is also a chandlery there with some basics but still pretty expensive.

Uturoa – is the main town in Raiatea, with several grocery stores, gas stations, post office, hospital, restaurants and stores etc, all with only 3000 people! You can tie your boat up to the town dock near the Champion Grocery store for free and do your  business.

Bora Bora – Provisioning is not that good here, better to stock up for anything at Raiatea. There are 2 grocery stores, we found the Chinese one, but apparently there is another better one.

Fuel is available duty free at the Total station, and there is a dock that would fit one boat at a time. The guy who runs it has specific requirements for paperwork to get you the duty free price so go see him first – we had to make copies of our clearance in and out, boat documents and permit for duty free diesel

There is not much else here for goods & services.