Moorea and Raiatea

Time flew by really fast while in Tahiti. All the friends in the anchorage, the big grocery store, and the downtown encouraged us to stay for 16 days. Once we finally broke our bond with Tahiti we sailed less than 20 miles over to Moorea to spend a few days and then off to Raiatea. Moorea was really beautiful in contrast to the developed Tahiti. It has excellent snorkeling, spectacular views of its mountains (unspoiled by buildings) and crystal clear water.

After a few days we did a short 100 nautical mile sail over to Raiatea. Raiatea has archeological sites, lush mountains, lots of deep water anchorages, a navigable protected lagoon circling the island, and many sailboat charter companies. The deep anchorages pose quite a challenge We dropped our anchor in about 50 feet of water, by the time it hit bottom, we think we were in about 70 feet. Once we drifted back onto the chain our boat sat in about 100 feet water. Not great if it blows hard given the amount of chain we carry.

While in Raiatea we took the opportunity to take a dingy ride up a river. We also visited the remains of the archeological site: the Taputapuatea Marae. In Raiatea we will confirm we have completed our Australia Tourist Visa Application conditions while we still have convenient access to the internet.
We also will arrange for the return of our bonds from French Polynesia. (Non-EU tourists that do not have a plane ticket to depart French Polynesia are required to post a $1150 bond each upon arrival.) We originally thought we had arranged for our bond to be returned to us in Bora Bora any time before September. We now find out the return date is not until September and the return date is not very flexible. We need to change the return date so we can get it back mid-August when we are ready to leave the country so we can keep our schedule.

In Raiatea we buddied around the island with our friends Judit and Graham from Nomad Life.