The Heiva, Haircuts, and the Society Islands

[hoops name=”break”]July 11, 2013

Yesterday I got a haircut.  In my other life, it would have been a momentary pleasure of a fresh ‘do’ with clean ends and an hour or two of me-time.  Not in this life…Not out here.  Instead, it was an Event….A day of celebration and victory….Yyyesss!!!  Successful parsing of a person who can really cut hair and make you feel lovely as you walk out the door!!  There’s no crying in hair cutting this day!!!!  In fact, I was so excited I came straight home and cut John’s hair, too!

Whoooo….whoo…..Breathe…..Aaahhhh….

I know….I know….You’re all shaking your heads….But honestly, it’s a huge problem out here!  Where the heck do you go for a frickin’ haircut??  What stranger do you trust to cut your hair??  John is so easy.  We have a Peanut (thank you Connie) which is a very manageable clipper that I routinely cut his hair with.  Of course, he needs some extra attention after we land in SFO or Oakland before he greets the public, but hey! it works for the cruisers and islanders we encounter out here.  But me…..I have hair….lots of it….and I have to really work at the beauty thing.  And honestly, the cruising life really works pretty well for me, as not too many of us wear make-up or go foo-foo….Too much time in the water to be constantly dealing with that!   But, you know, sometimes it’s nice to feel, well, cute.  So, on the hair thing, most of the time it’s in the background, kind of like Norman Bates in the beginning of Psycho, but then it gets longer and longer and more out of control until finally, it makes me utterly wild and I hear Norman going Ree-Ree-Ree! in the shower, and I’m threatening to do a Brittney Spears act (who, by the way, I apologize for using because I really felt bad for her, but….) and then ultimately, in a huge huff, twist it up (again) into the hair bob thingy to keep it corralled and off my neck in the heat.  Hummmpphh!!

So, you ask….What the heck does that have to do with cruising the Society Islands of French Polynesia???

Well, perhaps just a bit about our time here, and I think it may make sense…..

The Societies have been a very pleasant surprise to us, as we were sure we would prefer the less populated Tuamotus or even the Marquesas to the Societies, but really, we have liked them all about equally.  After the remoteness of the other islands, it was a nice change to have some infrastructure and socializing.  And really, as beautiful as the Tuamotus were, it was very hard cruising, with much energy devoted to the passes in and out, avoiding the coral with boat and dinghy, and then struggling to free our anchor from the jaws of the coral.  And of course the trade winds howled over the flat atolls….

But in Tahiti, in between boat projects, we tied up in the marina, enjoying our first anchoring respite in over 4 months, complete with air conditioning!  Fresh veges abounded in the Carrefourre just down the road, and the Baguettes and cheese were fresh and marvelous!   We even got our wine and beer stores restocked, although I just haven’t bonded with the (affordable) French white wines.  We did find some drinkable reds, and in a fit of je ne sais quoi, I tried several of the French rose type wines and found them to be much drier, much less fruitier, and imminently more drinkable than the whites.  Et Voila!  LIG again!   🙂

Of course, Tahiti was mostly about the boat work, but with the thought in mind that we might go dull with all work, we made some time to play too, and set out in search of the “real” Tahiti.  What we found was a beautiful island, with stunning views everywhere we turned! The interior was lush and green with many dramatic waterfalls and lots of really great hiking.  The road turned and wove around the entire exterior of the island, affording jaw-dropping views of the lagoons and encircling reef…..Just gorgeous!!

The other mission critical task while in Papeete was to attempt to get our visas extended.  I guess our Guardian Angel is still watching over us, as we ran into some friends at the dock in Marina Taina that had just gotten theirs done. (And they shall remain nameless in the interest of nondisclosure, but you know who you are and we will be forever grateful!)   He gave us a list of the paperwork required and even gave us a ride to the immigration office downtown to meet with the young woman in charge of extensions.  Armed with our completed papers, we pled our case on the basis of mechanical repairs required.  We had to listen to a rather stern lecture from her about how we may NOT stay for pleasure and must leave as soon as our boat repairs are complete…..But then, two days later, we were rewarded with a visa extension for 90 days, no restrictions on it.  Go figure….. But boy!  It really, really took the pressure off!  And now, with the Hynautic reservoir issue, it’s a darn good thing we did it….. From other cruisers’ experiences, no one has been able to get an extension after leaving Papeete, and we have heard that the Gendarmerie here in Bora can be very strict on departure dates….Whew!!

So no longer in fear of becoming illegal aliens, we cruised our way west through the Societies…..Moorea, Huahine, Taha’a, and now Bora Bora.  All of them have been postcard , drop-dead gorgeous, with towering verdant peaks dramatically falling off into sparkling deep blue lagoons which are in turn surrounded by a skirt of turquoise water with a white rim of coral.  Yeah….It is very much like being in the middle of a postcard!!

It’s almost like the Societies are a cross between the Marquesas (towering peaks in deep water) and the Tuamotus (encircling reef), taking the best of both worlds…..Which of course, geologically speaking, they are.  In age, the Societies fall right between the two other island groups, which is to say that given the reef survives and with enough millennia, the Societies will become like the Tuamotus, and the Marquesas will eventually become more like the Societies.

In any event, they are all very special and we have thoroughly enjoyed each of them!  Moorea was one of my favorites….It had a very laid-back feel to it and the anchorages were some of the most beautiful!  There, we had the opportunity to watch the Spinner Dolphins that make Opunohu Bay their home, as they returned each morning from their overnight hunting forays into the deep.  Just amazing and so thrilling to be able to observe these wild creatures as they go about their business and find a place to rest in the lagoon during the day!  We also swam with the stingrays in a little less natural setting, as these guys are fed by the hotel every day, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless. And then there was the dive outside the pass, where we found disappointing (and depressing) coral devastation, but did get to see several sicklefin lemon sharks, up close and personal. They were most impressively bigger than us, and obviously had been fed by the local divemasters, as they circled us several many times, getting uncomfortably close.  Check….Been there, done that….Don’t need to do it again! 🙂 And Moorea, of course, was also the place where we attended the PPJ party in Cooks Bay which was actually quite fun….

Huahine was our next stop, and again, the beauty of the island is indescribable!  We took a tour with Poe, who seemed to me the quintessential Polynesian woman…..Beautiful, graceful, with an incredibly melodic and soothing voice, she drove us all around the island, playing beautiful Polynesian music, often times singing right along.  She was very proud of her heritage and relayed the history of her island and people honestly and proudly.  We visited a vanilla farm and several ceremonial maraes, as well as saw the sacred blue-eyed eels, and could feel through her the very spirit of Huahine.  It was very special indeed!

Taha’a was the next island in our path, and it was there that we attended the wedding of the Italian couple……What an experience…..You just have to smile!   Well, it’s all a part of it, I guess! 🙂 The view of Bora Bora from our cockpit made for some nice sunsets, and we also found some really good snorkeling in the Coral Gardens there between the atolls.  A great variety and many, many tropical fish, great corals vibrantly alive, and an exceptionally beautiful anemone, complete with a large litter (gaggle? pod? cadre? herd?) of juvenile anemone fish.  The poor parents got so incensed when we got too close to them…….I swear they would defend against the largest predator in the ocean that would dare to get too near!  They are so much fun to watch, brave little guys that they are!

And here we are……Bora Bora.  What can you say about Bora Bora that hasn’t been said before?  Just saying it is cool, eh??  Our anchoring was pretty exciting, what with losing our throttle control and all, but we got the anchor down and set, and are hoping not to have to move until our part comes in. (Our Guardian Angel must be exhausted! But, thank you!!)  The new reservoir has arrived in Papeete, and as soon as it gets out of customs jail, our agent is going to forward it to us via Air Tahiti.

In the meantime, we have been enjoying the Heiva.  The Heiva is a song and dance festival that takes place every year during the month of July all over French Polynesia.  Papeete and Bora Bora are known as the best places to experience the Heiva, so we feel fortunate to be here now.  We went to the last 2 nights of the group dances, and tonight is the final night of the Heiva, featuring individual and couples dances, so we plan on attending that, too.  The dancing is really spectacular, although I wouldn’t really call it dancing, as that’s way too tame of a word for it.  It’s so intense, it’s more like an athletic event and these kids are really amazing…….Sensuality aside, they are getting a real workout!  To me, though, it seems that the dancing comes from their very souls and is something that was not quite able to be extinguished by the zeal of the missionaries.  And then there’s the music and drums…..Utterly mesmerizing!!

Tomorrow, we’ve planned to do a dive to visit a Manta Ray cleaning station here inside the lagoon.  The Mantas traditionally gather at this spot to allow little cleaner fish and shrimp to munch parasites off their wings and gill slits, so we have high hopes of a good experience.  Then Sunday is Bastille Day, so we’ll go back into to town to watch the French do their parade thing….

Monday, we hope to have our part reinstalled, so that we can fuel and leave on Tuesday for what could be a good weather window to Suwarrow.  (Sorry Dave and Karen…..We opted for the northern route and so will miss Roaring Bongos! 🙂 ) The passage is nearly 700nm, and the seas through this part of the Pacific can be quite large and sporty, so weather is important!  Many of our friends left yesterday and the day before on a fair forecast, but of course we couldn’t go without our repairs being done.  What a pity…..Stuck (legally, even!) in Bora Bora…. Yeah….sucks, doesn’t it??  🙂

Which brings me around to what a haircut has to do with these islands…

When we arrived here, there were several boats we knew, amongst them Aaron and Nicole on Bella Star.  Well, we were talking with them and Nicole mentioned that she was going to get her hair cut in town, it having been about as long since her hair was cut as was mine.  She asked me if I wanted to go with her, and laughing, I told her I’d let her go first and let me know how it came out.  Sure enough, she loved the guy and even made an appointment for me to see him, giving me just the nudge I needed to finally get it done! (Thanks again, Nicole!)  See, this is the other thing that has been so great about the Societies (and I include all of them as most cruisers follow the same path through them)….. It’s a real crossroads here, much like Panama City, and we’ve run into a lot of other cruisers that we haven’t seen in a long time.  Everyone got very spread out between the Marquesas and the Tuamotus, so there was a fair amount of isolation there.  But, everyone must come through Papeete, to do the officialdom and paperwork thing, so it’s been really fun to catch up with many cruising friends we haven’t seen since the Marquesas, Galapagos, or even Panama, and get to know new ones that we had “met” on the SSB nets.  Fun, fun times with all the comings and goings as folks traverse west across the Societies and beyond…..

And so it is, Pacific Highway, Murar’s Dream, Persephone, Time2, and Real Time left yesterday or the day before, but Bella Star is still here until probably Monday; Tortugita came into the anchorage this morning, Mazu, Cherokee Rose, Double Diamond and Wendy Ellen are here in Bora at other nearby anchorages, but we may see them tonight at the Heiva; and Bravo is on their way from Huahine today and should be in this afternoon.  All of us are waiting for the next weather opportunity to head to our various destinations, and will likely be spread out once again as people take differing routes through the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and ultimately either New Zealand or Australia.  But, along with the beauty of these islands and specialness of the Polynesian people, it has been really wonderful to be with so many others who, like us, have chosen this unique lifestyle and crossed the Pacific Puddle to arrive at this amazing destination…..

And, oh yeah……Wow!  Did it ever feel great to get a haircut!!! 🙂

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Please check out the PHOTO GALLERY to view pictures of Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Taha’a, and Bora Bora.  Enjoy!

Here’s a sample from Bora Bora…

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