May 10, Taha’a and Motu Mahea

I woke up at 6 and went to the upper deck to watch the boat’s entrance to the Raiatea lagoon. Yes, the entrance is wider than the one into Rangiroa, and the channels well marked, but it was a piece of bravado that the captain decided to make his entry with sails unfurled. Pretty cool. And exquisitely beautiful, as the sun was just below the horizon, creating all kinds of colors in the sky.

Our ship anchors between Taha’a and the little Motu Mahea. They share a giant lagoon with Raiatea, our next stop. 

Motu Mahea is a sort of party island, rented out by cruisers such as Windstar (I think it is actually owned by the Gauguin line.) The crew set up a beach party in the morning, and we were allowed to go ashore whenever we wanted to. There were beach chairs and umbrellas, and so on, and the floats and kayaks were brought over from the ship’s water sports platform. 

While some passengers took the ship’s excursions to the island of Taha’a, we boarded a Zodiak to Mahea.

The island is covered with trees, mostly coconut palms. We were warned to mind our heads. It is truly tiny, surrounded by soft sand and very shallow water that reaches far out from the island (therefore the need to use Zodiaks instead of the ship’s tenders to approach it). Mary and I enjoyed a nice stroll in the knee-deep water around the island, all of 15 minutes long, but it was actually too shallow to swim.

After a barbecue lunch on the island we returned to the ship. Neither of us really cared to lounge away the afternoon on the beach. In the evening the captain unfurled the sails again and headed for the island of Rangiroa.