Bora Bora to Hawai'i! Only 2300 nm to go

Ahhh, paradise!

After a short stop in Bora for supplies and a last supper by the pool, we are off today to continue towards Hawai'i.

We've stocked up on mangos, cabbage, celery and even splurged on a few pears. We've devoured our last tuna casse croute and pearl and taken our last swim in the freshwater pool. We've dug out the crossing peanuts, cashews and peanut butter we've been saving since the Americas and all of the pate we can't bring into the States and so must eat on the way (poor us - methinks this will be a very protein rich crossing!). And last night we put the dinghy on deck to prevent another 'last' last run to the grocery and roulotte! So this is it, all we have to do is tear ourselves away from the net and this beautiful home we've enjoyed for the last 6 months, cast off the mooring and we're on our way! We'll miss you French Polynesia!

We'll be thinking of you and looking forward to being back in touch on the other end.

Love, Jodi and Darren

HAPPY BIRTHDAY E.R.!!!!!!

E koika hanau (Happy birthday to you in Marquesan)! We hope you are having a great one and wish we could celebrate with you in person. It’s too bad you couldn’t have come to French Polynesia for your birthday, you would love it here, it has sooo much music, singing and dancing!

A colorful high school choir on Ua Pou

Technical note – There were a bunch of music videos to go with this post, but it turns out that the internet here is not good enough to load them without taking days and days of buying internet cards and rowing back out to the boat to keep recharging the computer. In the meantime, we have inserted some photos and will try again to post the videos when we have better internet.

 

Our first introduction to the musical culture of French Polynesia was a benefit evening for a family with cancer that we went to in Atuona on Hiva Oa, our first stop in the islands. Musicians, including lots of drummers, singers and dancers ranging in age from about 8 to 65 came from 3 different islands – Hiva Oa, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva. We were definitely spoiled as the performances set the bar pretty high and we couldn’t help comparing what we saw on later islands to that night in Hiva Oa. We were so inspired we spent a day in the cockpit inventing songs on Uncle Darren’s ukulele!

A detail of one of the drums at the benefit...art is everywhere in the Marquesas.

One Sunday we did as all of the cruising guides recommend and got up early so we could hitchhike into town to hear a local church service. The service was in Marquesan with some French but the reason everybody recommends it is to hear the congregation sing. And boy, can they sing! There wasn’t a hymnal or organ anywhere but the harmonies and power were enough to bring tears to your eyes. I don’t know if it is genetic or they just learn to sing from the gut to compete with the drums and ukuleles in their traditional songs, but the power in their singing is phenomenal. Unfortunately, Uncle Darrens nice sound recorder died just before we arrived in the Marquesas so all we had to record them was the video mode on our camera, which doesn’t do justice to the sound and has a hard time focusing, but will give you a small taste of the beauty.

Can you imagine the acoustics in this gorgeous Tahuata church?

On Hiva Oa we also took a tour and were lucky enough to get Pifa as our guide. He was a fabulous guide and when we were at the I’ipona me’ae (a pre-European religious sanctuary) site in Pau Mau he taught all of the guys in the group a little bit of a Marquesan haka (a dance by men that tells a story).

In addition to being a top notch tour guide, pompier (fireman and rescue), like many Polynesians, Pifa is a great musician and we were fortunate to have him invite us to join him with his family and friends for their weekly Saturday night jam session at the roulette (food truck) on the quay. We had lots of fun joining them for the next couple of weeks we were in Hiva Oa. Uncle Darren sat in with his ukulele and I videoed so we could replay the songs and practice on the boat. Here is one that doesn’t show any faces since we didn’t think to ask if we could share the videos with you on the blog. There are lots more, but you’ll have to wait to hear them when we see you next!

An evening with the O’Conners is great fun and a truly multicultural event, as in a single evening we heard (and began to learn) songs in Marquesan, Tahitian, French, English, Portuguese, Philippino and Hawaiian. You would have loved it!

Another day in Atuona we were walking along and stumbled on a rehearsal for the local Heiva. Afterwards, we chatted for a bit with Hina, one of the instructors, and asked if she would teach us a little. You can see the video of Aunt Jodi learning a few moves when we see you next. We would have loved to stay in Hiva Oa longer and learn more of the southern Marquesan music culture, but our visa was ticking away so we moved on.

We were in Ua Pou when the Aranui 3 cruise/supply ship came in to Hakahau. We had already toured the ship when it was in Atuona so we were free to enjoy all of the performances that the town put on for the tourists, from a casual group of guys singing and playing uke to a group of dancers, drummers, musicians and singers that performed a series of traditional stories on an old marae.

A Polynesian 8 string ukulele

We chatted with some of the guys playing ukulele after the Aranui tourists left and asked where we could find a songbook of the Marquesan songs to help us learn. They said there isn’t one, the songs are all passed down orally and you just have to hang out for a month or two and learn them from someone who knows them! Yet another reason we should have gotten long-stay visas.

Polynesian ukes have the sound hole in the back

We were also in Ua Pou for the annual parents’ day at the local college (high school) and we had fun participating in the fund raisers while we waited for the musical presentation to begin.

What did we win?

In Papeete, Tahiti, we got to see a night of one of the big Heiva performances. We were lucky to get tickets to one of the final nights with some of the top winning groups and individuals of the competition. However, they don’t allow photos or video of the performances so all we have is our memories and a picture of one of the dancers that we took outside the stadium.

The local marche (market with produce, fish, art, flowers, etc.) in Papeete had a stage set up for Heiva with free performances by groups from all over Polynesia. The rain made it hard to get good photos or video but we did get a couple of shots of this group of ladies from Hawai’i, dressed in velvet (!) during a break in the showers.

 

In Maupiti, we were fortunate to anchor near enough to town that on a calm day we could hear the singing of one of the churches from our cockpit. We also lucked out and were there when they were scheduled to have a cruise ship from France visit – a new experiment they were doing to bring more tourist dollars into the small island - and got to see some of the rehearsals of song and dance for that event. As usual, they didn’t have songbooks or sheet music, but there were well-used pages with the words taped to a wall.

Unfortunately for the island, the ship turned around at the last minute after being spooked by the pass (the break in the reef surrounding the lagoon that you go through to get in – it’s small and tricky in Maupiti), so the 260 tourists they had set up tents and a special day of arts and music for never arrived. We were glad we had gone to the rehearsal and not waited for the actual performance.

You would have loved the adorable toddler at the last rehearsal. She kept herself busy trying on everyone's shoes and adding her own flair to the dance portion of the rehearsal, which didn’t bother anyone. It was a great opportunity to see the Polynesian sense of family at work as there were so many people loving her up as she made her rounds, it took a while to  figure out which one was her mother.

Hmmm, is Uncle Darren adding the flute to his musical repertoire?

Nope, he is just attacking some sugar cane from Tahuata!

Should you crave some activity beyond music, there are some great places to play and even land sports often have a view of the gorgeous water as at this basketball court in Maupiti…

Or beautiful decoration, as in this stadium that was hosting a soccer tournament one day when we were exploring Hakehau on Ua Pou…

We hope you are having a very Happy Birthday and have enjoyed this musical tour of French Polynesia! We love and miss you lots.

Love and hugs,

Aunt Jodi and Uncle Darren

PS. – I love the scarf you helped me pick out, I wear it all the time, like in Raiatea to keep the sun off my shoulders without melting while I enjoyed a crepe with Nutella and chantilly (isn’t that a pretty way to say whipped cream?)!  Love you! Aunt J.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!!!!

Remember when? It's warmer here!

E koika hanau! That’s “happy birthday to you” in Marquesan! We hope you are having a GREAT birthday on this, one of the really big ones! We wish we could be there with you (or you here with us!) to celebrate.  We have been having wind the last two days so we could all be kiting together! There is also a small mountain you could hike with a great view over the lagoon, motus and to the neighboring islands.

We really wish we could be there tomorrow to help honor all of your hard work in your Eagle Scout accomplishments too. Congratulations and well done! We will be thinking of you at noon our time.

I think you would enjoy life in the Society Islands. Most of the islands have an old volcano at their centers, forming the main island, with a lagoon around it and several motus ringing the lagoon. So living on the island means that you have a small mountain to climb in your backyard and the lagoon just a block or two away. 

On the small islands like Maupiti, there is only one road around the island and it's less than 100 yards from your house to either the water or the base of the hill.

The small bit of flat land at the base of the hill is where the houses and businesses are.

On larger islands like Bora Bora, Taha’a or Tahiti, there is more landmass to the islands but the hills are so steep that most of the homes are still nestled in a relatively small strip between the base of the hills and the waterfront. Like in this photo of Bora Bora where the mountain is nearly literally in your backyard…

…and you are still only two houses back from the lagoon. 

So you can climb the mountain and then come down and launch your va’a (Polynesian outrigger canoe) for either a peaceful sunset session…

…or a race with your buddies!

On Tahiti there is more mountain area for climbing as it is actually two volcanic masses, Tahiti Nui (Tahitian for big) and Tahiti Iti (small) joined at the hip by a small piece of land, like Maui. The highest of the spectacularly sharp peaks on Tahiti Nui is Orohena at 2,238 meters (7,340 feet).

Approaching Point Venus, Tahiti Nui

We didn’t hike it but we did go down to Tahiti Iti so we could see Teahupo'o the day after one of the big swells!

Teahupo'o on a "small" day!

But that’s a whole other story for another day.  We hope you are having a fabulous birthday and can’t wait to see you!

Love and hugs,

Aunt Jodi and Uncle Darren

Happy Birthday Sonya!!! Taha’a Vanilla Tour

Happy Birthday Sonya! We hope you are having a great one! 

We thought you might like to see a bit of a vanilla farm for your birthday so we’ve been saving this one from when we visited Taha’a. Darren had to stay with the boat as the anchorage was a bit sketch, but Jodi and our friends from s/v Wairua went in to shore and walked over the mountain a couple of valleys on a “Quest For Vanilla”. It was a hot day and we probably only walked about five miles to get there, though with the heat and steep switchbacks it felt more like ten! Fortunately, we got a ride a good bit of the way back (the steepest bit! Yahoo!).

 

These Lobster Claw Flowers (heliconia rostrata) have nothing to do with vanilla, we just thought they were fun and wanted to share them with you!

We found the Maison de la Vanille just as we were wondering if we had taken a wrong turn and about a half hour or so after they had closed for the day. They were relaxing on the porch of their home out front and after seeing that we had walked to get there, offered to open up and give us the tour anyhow, thank goodness! If you go, the best time to be there is in the morning as that is when the beans are out in the sun to dry and the flowers are open. The flowers are closed in the afternoon so we didn’t get to see them even though it is bloom season.

The vast majority of “Tahitian Vanilla” (Vanilla tahitensis - different in size and flavor from the Mexican vanilla we are used to) is actually raised on Taha’a and some comes from as far away as Hiva Oa, but of course, Tahiti is a much more recognizable name so it is all labeled “Tahitian”. Can you imagine Hood River pears being called "Seattle Pears"?!

We have seen Tahitian vanilla raised two ways in our travels, either under shade cloth to protect it from birds, wind, sun, etc. or out in the open. Our wonderful tour guide (whose name I unfortunately have lost) explained that her father trained her to only use vanilla that is grown in the open. It is more challenging to get a higher yield that way but he believes that it makes a stronger, more robust bean. Makes sense.

Vanilla vines trained on Tia Iri trees

 

Maison de la Vanille has a small plot for show next to their processing shed where we were able to see the vines up close. They are planted in one meter long pieces with several around each tree. The trees they use are the Tia Iri tree, chosen for the balance of shade and sunlight they allow through their leaves to the vanilla vines below.  The vines can begin to be pollinated in their second year but again, her dad prefers to wait till the third year to cultivate a stronger vine.  Each individual flower is hand pollinated – we never could get a straight answer as to why, “it’s always been done that way”, though I imagine the vines must have been imported and the bees that are the natural pollinators for these particular orchids don’t live here. (For a fascinating look at pollination, check out the BBC “Private Life of Plants” series, especially the bit on orchids in Part 3  “Flowering”). After pollination it takes 9 months for the beans to develop. Just like a baby!

These beans were actually in Tahuata at a house we called the Garden of Eden!

The beans are picked green and brought to the processing shed where they age in a shaded room till they turn brown. They are then given a bath (water only) and placed in bags made of a special cloth that is never washed with soap so that no odor is transferred to the beans.

Next they are laid out on these racks every day to age in the sun. Each day at about 2pm, depending on the weather, they are brought back into the ‘spa’ part of the shed and the bags of beans are placed in wooden boxes called ‘saunas’! They rest in the saunas overnight to keep them warm from the cooler nights so they can continue their curing and fermentation. 

Vanilla bean tanning beds

After 4 months of going back and forth between the sun and the sauna, they are evaluated. When they are deemed ready, they are massaged and air dried on racks in the shed for 4 days. Hmmm, deep tub bath, sunning, sauna, massage, rest…where do I sign up?! After their massage and rest they are sorted by size and shipped out for sale. The majority of beans from Maison de la Vanille go to European chefs since Americans mostly use extract.

The beans are measured in centimeters

A note on cooking with vanilla beans - our guide confirmed that like most recipe instructions that instruct you to use something once then ‘discard’ it (a waste that is a pet peeve of Jodi’s!), this is also a load of bunk in the case of vanilla. A good vanilla bean can be used multiple times if you are making simple things like yogurt. Just rinse it and dry it between uses, or cut off a small piece to throw in your batch of ginger ale. Even if you are infusing rum (alcohol extracts the essence more efficiently than a water or fat based substance), you can use the bean for two infusions of two weeks each. Use the bean whole for the first infusion and split it for the second. Our guide claims vanilla beans can be kept in a glass jar (plastic can flavor the bean) for 7 years or more!

Only the bottom one is ready for use

As means of justifying the prices these little gems command, our guide is careful to emphasize throughout the tour that all of the work is done by hand and that each vine is only good for about 7-10 years before needing to be replanted. And that argument would seem to hold water, though some of our group does a little quick math and figures working for a few hours a day, four months a year - even if it is seven days a week - doesn’t seem like such a bad gig when you are making about $400 per kilo!

We hope you have enjoyed your Tahitian vanilla tour, though it would have been better if you were here to take it with us! Then again, you might not agree given the hiking involved to get there! Happy Birthday and we’ll leave you with a couple of shots of the waterfronts we’ve been seeing lately (a slightly different view than where you normally celebrate your birthday) and the sunset shot that should have gone with the last post.

The magic hour for light

Church in Maupiti

Sunset in Bora Bora

Lots of love and hugs,

Jodi and Darren