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Approaching the
island of Tahiti
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Yacht Club de Tahiti,
Arue French Polynesia, where we stayed while we visited Tahiti. The
Larabeck is the sailboat in the center of the photo.
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Sailing race one
Sunday at Yacht Club de Tahiti
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Oops! One
of the sailboats in the race broke a mast. They actually sailed the
boat back to the club, holding part of it up by hand.
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There are
pirogue clubs nearby as well, and they regularly paddled by the Larabeck.
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This sailor has
a Polynesian style outrigger, which whizzed back and forth near the Larabeck
one Sunday.
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This style of pirogue
requires six people. Here a team of women execute synchronized paddling
strokes.
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A group of young
schoolchildren learn to sail. Here they are being towed back to the
club after a morning on the water.
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The line of schoolboats
approaches the Yacht Club de Tahiti as a Hobie Cat (yellow and orange sail)
departs the harbor. There were often Hobie Cat classes on the water
for the older kids as well.
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Good that the kids
learned how to right their boats before setting sail. It's a good
thing to know, and the student in the foreground demonstrates his knowledge
as the others look on.
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This pirogue or
"outrigger" is beached while its owner takes a rest on Venus Point beach.
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View from the upper
level of the Pape'ete Marche.'
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Here is a view of
a section of the walkway along the waterfront harbor in downtown Pape'ete.
Pape'ete City Harbor used to be full of yachts like ours, but now most
stay at the big Taina Marina.
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We visited several
times with John Pedron, who owns a music store near the Marche' in Pape'ete.
Oh, yes, we purchased some things there too, including some really nice
dvd recordings of the national Tahitian festival "Heiva."
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Another day we took
the violin back and played one of John's ukulele/vocal compositions together
(Sharon learned it off a recording he had given us).
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We had a front row
seat at Captain Bligh's restaurant for the spectacular music and dance
entertainment.
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The dancers changed regalia
several times, the men performing while the women took a break and vice
versa.
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The musicians were constantly
switching too--one minute they were playing ukuleles and guitars as they
are here, and the next minute....
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...the musicians
played wooden drums called "Toere," as the three on the right are doing
in this photo.
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This is the lighthouse
at Venus Point that guided us in from the sea. We could see it in
the dark from a long way away. We continued to watch it at night
just east of us while staying at the Yacht Club de Tahiti.
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Look closely at
the center of the photo, where the cliff meets the highway pavement--this
is the "Trou du Souffleur" or "Blow Hole" where water sprays out after
an incoming wave crashes into a hole in the rock below the street!
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Here is where the
water splashes in below the street seen above. There is another blow
hole to the left of the wave splash.
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This is the beach
at the parking area for the blow hole. This is how much of the eastern
shore of Tahiti looks.
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Sharon and one of
"Les 3 Cascades" or "the 3 waterfalls." We only saw one, but there
were day trails to the other two.
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Mystery person and
one of "Les 3 Cascades" one day later. It was raining the second
day we went and one can see the difference the rain made in the size of
the waterfall.
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Now we can see who
the mystery person is--Michael!
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We went to the scenic
view point on Tahiti Iti (Little Tahiti) and looked back at Tahiti Nui
(Big Tahiti). It was stunning.
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Grotte de Maraa
(Maraa Cave).
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Marae de Arahurahu
-- an archaeological site.
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Marae de Arahurahu
-- this ceremonial plaza was smaller than what we saw on Hiva Oa, but this
one in Tahiti has been more meticulously reconstructed.
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This map shows all
the places Gauguin traveled while working on merchant ships. The
map was part of the biographical exhibit at Muse'e Gauguin on the south
shore of Tahiti.
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One of Gauguin's
sketches (think this one may have been done in Martinique).
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We learned that
Gauguin was friends with Van Gogh, and a reproduction of this famous self
portrait was included in the exhibit.
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Gauguin incorporated
a Marquesan tapas (upper left), one of his studio furnishings, into this
painting of a cellist.
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An outside view
of one wing of the Muse'e de Gauguin.
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This young man enjoys
body surfing on a big wave on an eastern Tahiti beach.
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This lady surfer
paddled out a good distance and rode her long board on a wave back to shore
many times. She was fun to watch, and she was still surfing when
we left.
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A trio of surfers
and some pretty good waves.
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This surfer rode
his short board up and down the wave...
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... and then back
up and down again.
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