Commodore
May 4, 2023

Thursday 4 May – Off to Harifa for Wing Foiling lessons

We departed after our very unsatisfactory granola breakfast now that we are out of eggs! A big Catamaran arrived and was looking for a good place to anchor so we called him up and asked if he wanted our mooring ball, which he did, so that meant we moved off pretty promptly. Nice and easy getting off the mooring ball, no coral to snag.

It is an hour’s motor up to Harifa, about 6 miles away. We hugged the edge of the atoll, which changes all the time, from sand beaches and no trees, to densely green areas, all in beautiful coloured water.

My godparents in New Zealand follow the blog, Jane messaged me and mentioned they had struggled to find a good map of French Polynesia. I found this and have highlighted in red the islands in the Marquesas we went to, and then the atolls in the Tuamotos. No scale on it but it was about 30 miles from the south pass of Fakarava to the middle pass of Tahanea. Tahiti is in the Society islands and we will head there beginning of June. The Gambier and Austral islands we may do when we come back later in the year, but they are definitely more off the beaten track.

The edges of the atoll, with breaking waves from the sea beyond

Areas with no trees, rising sea levels will have a huge impact here

Dense bit of vegetation

Harifa, and the boat belonging to Rowan’s instructor

A whole lot of Cats in a row, a very fancy Gun Boat in the far distance which we were anchored near to in Nuku Hiva, we are all doing a similar path

Rowan had managed to sign up for some lessons with Adrian the instructor after lunch, and enjoyed his first attempt at Wing Foiling. Looked bloody exhausting to me, sploshing off the board every few seconds! But Adrian was very complimentary when he returned Rowan. Much harder than it looks, although easier than kite surfing.

Sadly the little beach bar isn’t open so there is nothing here other than foiling fanatics, but it is a gorgeous spot and I guess we will spend a few days here. Another big blow is due next week sometime and we need to re-provision in North Fakarava.