ilse | SV Sanuk | Pagina 18

We are already 2 months later…time really flies ! We have already left Sanuk in Apataki and are now spending 3 days in a hotel in Papeete. We are flying to New York on November 16th. It seems they are preparing us for bad weather in Belgium because it has been raining here for 2 days ! So ideal to update the blog, only the internet is still not fantastic. We will have to upload all our little movies when we are in Boston.

Emma and Sebastien arrived at 5 AM in the morning after being on the plane for 30 hours! After emptying the suitcases with lots of goodies for Sanuk and some for us, Stefan asked Sebastien to help with installing new solar panels and off they went. Emma and myself went to the little supermarket so we could fix lunch later.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Going to the supermarket Tahitian style. Foodshopping is fun :-))

ilseb-3 — Near the market in Papeete we passed the many stalls where they sold flower garlands and wreaths. Especially on sunday people wear these to mass or parties.

ilseb-16 — Beautiful girls and dances…We will post a video once we get better internet.

ilseb-2 — Visiting marae Arahurahu. A marae is a sacred religious site where Tahitians offered animals and sometimes humans to the gods.

ilseb-1 — Sebastien next to one of the Tikis at the site. A Tiki is a large or small wooden or stone carved human like form. They were often used to mark the boundaries of a sacred site.

We sailed to Moorea on September 11th.

440px-karta_fp_societe_isl — We sailed with Emma and Sebastien from Tahiti to Moorea, then to Raiatea and Tahaa, to Bora Bora and back to Raiatea where they took the plane to Papeete.

ilseb-4 — Sailing to Moorea, we could not wish for better conditions !

ilseb-6

ilseb-7 — Pineapple fields in Moorea. We did a wonderful hike in the Opunohu valley of Moorea.

ilseb-5 — Stefan and myself at Belvedere point on Moorea. In the back you see Opunohu Bay.

ilseb-8 — A Moorean girl having fun on sunday after mass !!

We sailed to Raiatea at night since we could not make it during daylight hours.

ilseb-9 — Sailing to Raiatea, leaving with the evening sun.

ilseb-12 — We booked a tour with Vanilla Tours around the island of Tahaa.

The vanilla flower is a type of orchid. The orchids bloom and die within a few hours unless they are pollinated. The pollination has to be done manualy because the bee that would do this does not live in Polynesia.

ilseb-11 — The vanilla pods after pollination of the vanilla orchid. The pods need 9 months to ripen on the vine. The beans then go through a curing, drying and resting period for several months, all of the work done manualy ! No wonder vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron.

At the end of the tour we drank fresh coconut juice (no alcohol added).

ilseb-10 — One of the motus in Raiatea where we dropped our anchor.

We were lucky to finally spot three whales in the lagoon of Raiatea.

It was great to watch them fairly close to the boat.

they were enormous and you could clearly hear and see the air escaping the blowhole

And yes !!! the long awaited catch of tuna !!!

Sebastien with the yellow-fin tuna ! We had sushi and tuna on the barbecue for 2 days!

The famous over-the-water huts in Bora Bora. They cost on average 800-1000USD per night. Luckily we have Sanuk !

On our way to Wi-Fi and a drink at the St.Regis hotel. A place for the rich and famous 🙂

Maybe another fish wil bite…life of a fisherman in Bora Bora 🙂

ilseb-13 — All good things come to an end…Leaving at the airport from Raiatea, I was happy we would see them again only 2 months later. Saying goodbye is not one of my strong points !

Today, October 24th 2016, we are in Bora Bora, our last night with our friends Katie and Karel. They are flying back to a cold and rainy Belgium tomorrow. We will be sailing back to Tahiti for a stop of 4-5 days and then on to Apataki to leave the boat for the cyclone season.

Flashback

I cannot believe the months of september and october went by so fast! We left Apataki (Tuamotus) in august to meet with our friends, Marine and Simon-Pierre (Jambote) on the atoll Ahe. We only stayed there 4 days but it was gorgeous! We decided to go back next year when we pick up the boat and we will follow a course to get our diving certificate.

ilsea-1 — Manta ray looking for plankton around our boat in Apataki.

ilsea-2 — A lemon shark in the clear waters of Apataki.

ilsea-5 — Walking around Ahe, can it get more tropical…?

While in Ahe we found a place where they produced monoi oil the artisanal way. No chemicals or machines involved. I bought 2 bottles of 0,5l for 10USD each where in the stores you pay easily 8USD for half the quantity. It was nice to support the local economy this way.