In actuality the 2 islands of Raiatea and Tahaa are both surrounded by the same lagoon with only 3km separating them. Raiatea is the largest of the Leeward Islands and Uturoa, the principal town, is the administrative center of French Polynesia. The population of Raiatea is a little over 10,000 with most of them living around the Uturoa area. The rest of the island is wild and lightly populated.
Raiatea, known as Havai’i in ancient times was the religious center of the Society Islands and it was from here that the great Polynesian navigators are said to have continued the voyages to colonize other islands in the Pacific. These Polynesians would remember their homeland and often name new islands in its honor. This explains how Hawaii got its name.
The week before Clay left our time in Raiatea was spent hiking, with the help of our guide Patrick up to a beautiful waterfall, taking the dinghy to out of the way snorkel spots, shopping in Utuora and eating out at fabulous restaurants. Once Clay had left us we pulled up anchor and took “Grace” around the South end of the island and along the East side. Alfred on “Waterhoen” joined us in buddy-boat fashion and together we continued to cruise around Raiatea and Tahaa all within the same lagoon. Before getting over to Tahaa we anchored in mostly deep bays with breathtaking views of the island as we traveled. One rainy afternoon we took a dinghy excursion up a river, which emptied out into our bay and had a delightful adventure climbing up a muddy river bank to discover beautiful gardens carefully cultivated by 3 young people. They spoke no English but were exceptionally friendly and gracious. They took us on a tour of their land, sending us on our way with gifts of freshly picked fruit and armfuls of tropical flowers.
Tahaa is a very quiet island with a population of only 4,470. It has fewer tourists than Raiatea, but what sets it apart and makes it special is the series of motus (small islets) that sit like a string of pearls on the reef side of the lagoon along the North end of the main island. Most of these motus are uninhabited, although we discovered a sweet little resort on one and a bigger resort on the last motu we came to more towards the west side. It was off the little motu to the North of the big resort that we discovered a terrific snorkel spot and sweet, little beach to picnic on.
After 2 weeks of cruising Raiatea and Tahaa, we said goodbye to Alfred on “Waterhoen” who put his boat up on the hard in Raiatea, and returned to his home in Colorado. We set sail the next day for Bora Bora for more fun and adventure.
