Pitufa.at » Photo Galleries » Raiatea and Tahaa

We spent July and August 2014 on these twin islands. We liked the friendly locals and having turquoise anchorages on the barrier reef right next to deep bays between high mountains. Closer inspection revealed the down sides: mainly dead coral, hardly any fish in the lagoon, cruisers are not welcome on the private motus, lots of rubbish along the road... Being struck down by dengue fever wasn't nice eihter.

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1/50: Passing Huahine at sunrise
2/50: Entering the Lagoon of Tahaa and Raiatea
3/50: Haamene bay on Tahaa
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5/50: Vanilla is an important export good
6/50: Family graves in many front gardens
7/50: The dance group of Haamene prepares the costumes for the Heiva.
8/50: Dress rehearsal in Haamene
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11/50: Heiva in Patio, Tahaa's main town.
12/50: For those who aren't much into dancing...
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16/50: Haul-out at Raiatea Carenage: fixing the shaft seal.
17/50: Back to Tahaa, this time the west coast.
18/50: Tapuamu bay on Tahaa, Bora Bora in the background.
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20/50: Anchored on the western barrier reef
21/50: Visiting the coral garden next to the 'Le Tahaa' Hotel
22/50: The 'coral garden' is one of the rare spots in the Society Islands where the coral is still alive.
23/50: Maybe not much longer...
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30/50: Woke up shivering...
31/50: ...and high fever. We both caught dengue while on the hard at Carenage.
32/50: After one week in bed we managed to move to Uturoa and went to Raiatea's hospital.
33/50: At the town pier of Uturoa.
34/50: Small pearl farm.
35/50: The calm anchorage off Motu Tipaemau was just right to get our strength back after dengue.
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37/50: Practicing paddling straight ahead in our newly bought but elderly inflatable kayak.
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39/50: Floating hermit.
40/50: Dinghy excursion into the Faaroa river.
41/50: (Hitch-)Hiking to the southern coast of Raiatea.
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44/50: Marae (temple site) in Opoa.
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46/50: Avera
47/50: Anchored on the barrier reef (fenders in front keep the chain above coral heads)
48/50: Magically calm Vairahi bay.
49/50: Hike to the 3 Cascades from Vairahi.
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