Tales from the South Pacific, Part 1

There is no Bali Ha’i or Honey Bun, but plenty of enchanted evenings during a week on a boat in French Polynesia’s Society Islands, sailing around Ra’iatea, Taha’a, Huahine, and Bora Bora. 

Day 1

We settle into our en suite cabins and enjoy a lunch of delicious raw fish salad with jasmine rice. Our crew is the cockeyed optimist Captain Apira, two mates Miti and Melanie, and ten new friends from Switzerland, France, and Italy. We sail to our first snorkle off Taha’a, a drift in swift current down a coral canyon crammed with colorful creatures. After dinner, the mates catch red fish for breakfast while we lay on the bridge gasping at millions of stars.

Day 2

We hoist the mainsail for a morning’s broad reach to Bora Bora’s electric teal lagoon. The first outing is a swim with schools of sharks, both lemon and black-tipped reef. Apres lunch, we dinghy out to snorkel with sting rays, and I opt for the ¾ mile open water swim back to the catamaran. A short sail and it is back in the water, this time for giant moray eels and schools of gorgeous fish. It is like swimming in a busy fish tank. Chill winds shorten the stargazing, but with an app we excitedly identify Jupiter, Saturn, and our very first view of the Southern Cross. Poofy and tangled, I wash that salt right outa my hair.

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Day 3

Though most of the logistics and happy talk is in French, we understand enough to know we must be ready for a 0700 swim to look for manta rays that did not materialize. Undaunted, we sail to a private motu (low islet) for snorkeling, kayaking, and beach time. There is nothing like a day surrounded by that amazing blue water. At evening’s anchor I swim a mile or so across the lagoon, earning the hearty dinner that is being prepared.