Week 97: Huahine to Moorea (95nm)

After a wild ride back to the Windward Islands from Huahine in the Leeward islands, we revisited some favourite Moorea haunts. Oh yeah, and swam with Humpback whales!

First Mate’s Log

Monday, 13th July: After a quick farewell to our neighbours, we drove Serenity back up to Huahine’s main town of Fare, where we found two free mooring balls. This was ideal as Alec had made a bet with David on Taipan that there would be a spare mooring for them – which would win him a happy hour cocktail! Everyone was happy actually because its a tricky place to anchor, so getting a mooring is a big win. To cap off a lovely day, we all headed into the yacht club for said happy hour drinks and some yummy spring rolls, alongside a couple of friends of Taipan’s off SV Hannah.

Tuesday, 14th July: We’d heard Bastille Day was normally occasion for a big festival in the Soc islands, but unfortunately they’d decided to cancel everything but the va’a (outrigger canoe) races today due to Covid. It ended up being a wet and nasty day anyway, so we weren’t too upset there was no parade! We had a good view of the racing from Serenity, and particularly enjoyed the 12-man competition (two 6-man canoes tied together). The weather broke in the afternoon so we went for a swim to finish scrubbing the hull, then settled in for a planning session to work out our next move. We need to get back to the Windward Islands to collect our replacement solar panels, but finding a weather window at this time of year (when the SE Mara’amu wind blows most of the time exactly from the direction we want to go) is really hard.

Wednesday, 15th July: A surprising alignment of forecasts suggested if we left this evening we’d get a narrow window to make Moorea, albeit in wet, squally conditions. Not knowing when we might get another shot (possibly not be for weeks), we decided to go for it. So, in anticipation of a tricky night, we had a very quiet day preparing for passage. It drizzled relentlessly all day but we still managed a nice cup of tea to say goodbye to Taipan and a wave to our friends on Two Drifters. As the sun set, we dropped our mooring and headed out the pass. The rain continued, but as we rounded Huahine’s N coast we were delighted to discover the forecasts had called the wind direction correctly (NE, perfect for our angle), if not the strength (stronger than predicted and rather spicy under the large squalls). We motor-sailed with the main, making great speed and angle. I took my usual first watch, which turned out to be “soggy watch,” with an hour long torrential rain storm. Alec had to get up several times to help me reef or adjust the sail, so we were both feeling pretty exhausted by the middle of the night – but, thoughts of pizza in Moorea and egregious napping on arrival kept us going!

Thursday, 16th July: Constant changes to wind speed and direction kept us on our toes all night. Alec and I each managed to catch about three hours of Zzzs (and when we did we were OUT) but the rest of the time was pretty active. It finally calmed down as the sun rose to give us a couple of hours of respite as we closed in on Moorea. We had a tiny burst of late energy so put out the lines, and low and behold another Mahi grabbed the lure! This one was a more manageable size, and we got it in without incident. That cedar plug we bought in Panama has been such a winner! And how perfect to get a fish when we were just about out of our previous stocks. The rest of the day involved the aforementioned copious napping and an early evening sojourn to our favourite Polynesian pizza parlour. We were in bed by 7:30 and it felt so good!

Friday, 17th July: Got a solid 11 hours of some of the deepest sleep in recent memory. The wind was still so it really felt like being on land, and so quiet! We are much rejuvenated. Had a relatively slow day altogether, which I think we deserved. I went to shore to check out the small chandlery and pick up a few bits at the grocery store, but otherwise we just pottered about with small jobs on the boat. Caught enough rain in the dreary weather to set off a load of laundry, then the wind settled in for the evening so we hunkered below for my new favourite Asian noodles recipe and a few episodes of “The Blacklist.”

Saturday, 18th July: It was still windy through the day, but slowly improving. And it had calmed enough that I could dinghy to shore to fill our water jerry can to rinse out our laundry. There is a public tap not far from the dinghy dock, where I queued with the locals. A friendly cyclist then helped me carry my now very heavy can back to the dinghy. The whole experience made me extra grateful for our watermaker, so we don’t have to do this all the time to get drinking water for the boat! We’ve got a bit of time to kill as our panels don’t actually arrive until the 27th (and even then will probably be stuck in customs a few days), so we decided to get started on our pre-passage boat checks and the lingering (ever present) boat jobs list. Towards evening, a Russian billionaire’s yacht showed up (worth a cool $250m!!), which I guess is as sure a sign as any that tourists are back (commercial flights resumed on the 15th). I think we’ll need to start wearing masks – I guess the real world had to catch up with us at some point!

Sunday, 19th July: Another easy going day gave us the energy for an epic evening barbecue. Alec had cut a special fillet of Mahi tail on the bone (“rack of ribs”) according to a recipe in The Whole Fish cook book that we got from Liv and Elliott. It spent the day marinating before going on the hot bbq. Alongside it we grilled delicious local aubergine and hasselback potatoes. It was exceptionally good! We decided to bbq early as it was nice to still have the light, meaning we ate dinner around 5:30. We will definitely repeat that in the future as it’s so nice to watch the sun set while grilling! And it means you don’t have to clean up in the dark :).

Monday, 20th July: We were up early ready to be picked up for our (hoped for) whale encounter! See Story of the Week below.

Story of the Week: Swimming with Humpbacks

Unbeknownst to us until very recently, humpback whales visit Polynesian waters (concentrated around Moorea) from mid-July through October every year to give birth or find a mate. Tonga is the country most famous for its vast quantities of visiting humpbacks, but clearly that isn’t the only spot they like! As we won’t have a chance to stop in Tonga due to Covid, we were overjoyed to discover we might still get an opportunity to see these amazing creatures up close.

Another boat, Jacaranda, who is much esteemed in the cruising community, recommended a guide named Heifara on Moorea as being the best to take you to see (and, if you’re very lucky, swim with) the visiting whales. It is actually illegal to approach the whales without a guide (not to mention they aren’t always easy to spot if you’re not good at it). We think that’s great because it means the guide can check the whales are ok with our presence and help us to keep a safe distance and/or respond to cues from the animals. That then ensures we don’t stress them or overstay our welcome – everyone wins :).

Of course the first step is to actually FIND the whales, which is easier said than done. But our guide and the boat driver were confident when they nosed up to Serenity to collect us. The whales can be anywhere around Moorea, so the plan was to skirt along the coast (all the way around if need be) until a group were spotted. We made it halfway around the island before the guide got a call from a friend – two groups of whales were right back where we started! Luckily the tour boat was crazy fast, so in no time we were back on the N coast and soon saw our first spout!

The first whale we saw was alone, which the guide said meant it was probably a male. The whale seemed chill, so the guide got in the water to see if he would be okay with visitors. But, he wasn’t interested and slowly moved off. So, we pottered a bit further W along the N side of Moorea, and within minutes caught sight of a pair – a mother and calf! They seemed extremely relaxed, so the guide got us all in the water to cautiously swim over to them (for obvious reasons you don’t want the boat anywhere nearby!).

A few minutes of swimming later they suddenly appeared out of the gloom ahead of us, just chilling a few meters under water. Even with my mask on I couldn’t help from grinning like crazy – to be in the water with a whale?? How did I get so lucky?? Once the initial shock wore off, I began to appreciate them in more detail. First of all they are HUGE; even from our respectful distance of c.10m they were intimidatingly large. Of course you know they will be big, but when you’re in the water next to them, it really sinks in!! I’ve certainly never been in the water with anything remotely their size. Their proportions were also slightly different than I expected; I guess from the surface its hard to appreciate their shape. Their pectoral fins were surprisingly long, and their bodies surprisingly round. But they were just as graceful as I imagined :).

The calf was a bit more active, rising a few times to the surface to breathe, then back down to mum. Eventually, though, she came up too and we had a few magical minutes of them both on the surface just in front of us. They are so incredibly beautiful! I was in complete awe – it is a moment I will never forget. To have the privilege to share the water for a few minutes with these amazing animals was a true honour. It seemed all too soon when our time was up, and the pair slowly disappeared down into the depths. But our short time in their company was more than enough – pure magic!

The day could have ended there and it would still have been perfect, but on the way back our guide took us to a stingray and shark hot spot. We’d visited it before, actually, on our last time in Moorea, but not with a guide – which it turns out makes all the difference. The animals clearly know the sound of the tour boats, as 3-4 stingrays sprinted up to us when we parked. The guide had little snacks to offer the rays, and they could scarcely contain their excitement – in fact, as I got in the water, one tried to climb up my back! It was fun to watch them up so close. Of course the commotion drew in others – several reef sharks circled while a school of huge jacks darted around attempting to steal the snacks. We didn’t last too long before we started to get really cold, so hopped back into the boat, where a huge platter of fruit awaited us. Just what we needed! A truly amazing day on all counts :).

Parting Thoughts: Go Slow through The Society Islands

Our months in the Society islands have been spectacular; this is some of the most fun we’ve had in our time cruising and some of the most beautiful and diverse of the places we’ve visited. Though the Marquesas and Tuamotu islands are more famous in the cruising world, I suspect the Societies are underrated, particularly because most people don’t leave enough time to see them properly.

In many ways, I feel rather lucky in the way that fate dealt our cards this year. Because of the COVID crisis, we’ve missed the Marquesas and Tuamotus but ended up with a rare opportunity to go really slowly around the Societies. That has given us the luxury to wait for good weather to hop around, we’ve had time to see everything we wanted (how rare to check literally everything off the list?) plus discover many incredible things we wouldn’t have found had we just been breezing through, and we’ve had the flexibility to meet up with many friends, old and new, in a variety of special spots. Throw in the fact that these islands are exceptional in their own right, and you have a pretty unbeatable combination.

I suppose this is no surprise, as we have learned time and again that taking the “Serenity First” approach and going slowly is a winning strategy. But, it feels like this time, we really nailed it – and given this is our last year on the boat, making the most of our time is more important than ever!