Chapter 158: We circumnavigated Tahiti! (Sort of)

I know, I know… The post is late. But we were busy! Sorry!

Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, in a Tahitian holding pattern, waiting for our mainsail. We decided to rent a car again for a couple of days to more fully explore Tahiti. And what better way than to drive all the way around it?? So we did. Tahiti is an ancient volcano, so it’s extremely mountainous. As such, all the roads and development is at the water’s edge. There are a few neighborhoods a bit higher up in the foothills, but most everything is within half a mile of the water. And the only main road connecting everything runs along the coast-there are no roads in the middle of the island. So, off we went. It was great fun, actually. On the first day with the car, we actually went hiking up into the mountains. It was a 3 mile hike with 1,000 feet of elevation and about 15 stream crossings, so it was a workout. It was extremely steep and narrow. Kim picked it out, so we went the whole way. Had I picked it, there would have been much cursing and likely we would have bailed early on. But…stubborn. Surprisingly, at altitude, the forest becomes largely coniferous. Who expected pine trees in Tahiti??

The next day was the “circumnavigation”. It also happened to be World Ocean Day, which is apropos considering we’re in the middle of the Pacific! We stopped at a large community event celebrating the day with outrigger races, swimming races, yoga, and Polynesian drumming. From there, we continued clockwise and explored several beautiful waterfalls. We also saw the lighthouse marking the spot where Captain James Cook witnessed the Transit of Venus in 1769-pretty cool! The west coast of Tahiti is a completely different vibe than the east coast. The east coast is where all the development is. The west coast is quite rugged, sparsely populated, and feels very “untamed”.

Eventually, we came to the spur at the southern end of Tahiti. Following this road to its end, we found Teahupoo. This is the site of the 2024 Olympic surfing competition (because it’s FRENCH Polynesia and there’s not a lot of surfing in Paris). Talk about remote. Now we understand why the athletes’ Olympic Village was a cruise ship! While there we also witness a traditional Polynesian wedding-these people KNOW how to celebrate! By late afternoon, we were back at the marina, having gone all the way around!

Then… we waited.

But on Thursday, June 12th, as I was walking to the head, I saw a FedEx truck pull in! WooHoo!! Our sail arrived!

It took 9 pretty intense hours in the South Pacific sun, but we finally got her rigged and she looks amazing!

Two days later, we were off! We set sail for Bora Bora. The new sail makes a huge difference in Meraviglia’s sailing performance. We are 1-1.5 knots faster with this new sail. Just amazing! And the new yellow (Kim’s favorite) sail cover looks better and also works a LOT better than the old one.

The deets on Bora Bora coming up in a few days…