HUGH & DEBRA BEARD – A TAHITI JOURNAL

 

This past fall Debra and I experienced a truly remarkable South Pacific trip to Tahiti, a group of volcanic atolls off the coast of Australia. It was organized by my daughter Janice, as a trip of a lifetime celebration for her husband Wade for his 60th birthday. We were thrilled when they asked us to join them.

Our accommodations were booked through the Vrbo site. Each property was special in its own way, and much less expensive than staying in hotels. It also allowed us to cook all of our meals. We never ate in a restaurant during the entire trip.

BORA BORA

Our first destination was Bora Bora, forever on our bucket list and the sight of the atoll took our breath away.
 

Hugh, Debra, Wade & Janice

Hugh, Jan

We never tired of the ever-changing views from our villa’s high advantage point.

   

RAIATEA
 

Our next destination was to Raiatea Island. We stayed overnight, in a coconut plantation. The next morning we picked up our catamaran sailboat. 

It was a bareboat charter. Wade and I sailed the boat, while Debra and Jan were the galley slaves.
 A successful first day, arriving at our overnight anchorage.
 On day two, Wade was the captain.
 Cruising brought a smile to my face
 

After travelling for a couple of days and anchoring each evening. We became confident in our boat handling skills and decided to undertake a deep open ocean voyage back to Bora Bora. We originally were not planning on returning to Bora Bora with the sailboat. It was a five-hour challenging trip with heavy following seas, and the anchoring was very deep, with a lot of restricted areas. But during our map orientation briefing, we discovered a protected anchorage in a shallow Bora Bora lagoon, that became our destination.


                                                            We had arrived at our Bora Bora anchorage

For the next four days, it was swimming, snorkeling, eating delicious meals, playing cards and board games and resting in the afternoon sun. 

Wade often enjoyed an afternoon nap

I was cooking steaks on our rinky-dink barbeque when I noticed that some fat was dripping into the water. Every day we would swim with sharks, but they were juveniles. The dripping fat attracted six very large black-tipped sharks that raced in a feeding frenzy around the stern of our boat, one with its snout resting on the bottom of our swim ladder, begging us to share our steak.

 

The sharks really wanted our dinner!

The next day we completed the five-hour return journey. We anchored over-night in a peaceful lagoon before returning our charter boat. The following morning, we flew to Papeete, where we caught a ferry to the island of Moorea.

MOOREA

 Moorea Virbo

Our ocean front accommodation was a fenced private villa, with our own pool, kayaks and sandy beach. Great snorkeling was just out front. This was time to relax, enjoying the privacy, swimming, kayaking, and napping in the afternoon.
 

The evening meals were a gastronomic treat, with far too much wine and Tahitian rum consumed.
 

 

At the airport, we were content to begin our long journey home. There was a quiet feeling of elation that we had completed an incredible trip, a family bond that would last a lifetime.

Hugh Beard –  hugh.beard@forcefourfilms.com

        

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