Onemea Bay, Taravai, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia – Introduction and our first day in the Gambiers

WELCOME TO THE GAMBIER ISLANDS

We made it, after a gentle 8 day sail, to the Gambier Archipelago. A cluster of four islands, and many motus, grouped around the much larger island of Mangareva. A maze of reefs creates pleasant protected lagoon anchorages at many of these islands and the whole archipelago is surround by an extensive barrier reef. With a pleura of anchorages to chose from, cruisers can find total isolation, be a guest of one of the family island ‘homesteads’ or find companionship at the most popular anchorage, Rikitea, on the main island.

Like most of the outer lying islands in French Polynesia, basic supplies are brought in by ship, but speciality orders can be made through Tahiti suppliers. Guests and ‘rush’ orders can be brought in by the bi-weekly flight from the capital that lands on an airstrip out on the barrier reef and is shuttle by boat to the main village of Rikitea.

You want a description of the area? Here is an excerpt from a tourist pamphlet.

“More than 1000 miles (1600 Kilometers) southeast of Tahiti are the remote Gambier Islands. Polynesian mythology says Mangareva was lifted from the ocean floor by the demi-god Maui. The mountains of Mangareva rise over the surrounding islands and the luminous lagoon like a great cathedral. Although once the centre for Catholicism in Polynesia, the people of Mangareva have returned to a more traditional Polynesian lifestyle and the island has become an important supply source for the Tahitian Cultured Pearl industry. Besides the pearl farms and tours of the island by road or boat, travelers can also explore the surprising number of surviving churches, convents, watchtowers, and schools from the 1800s. Some structures are still in use such as St.Michel of Rikitea Church where the altar is inlaid with iridescent mother-of-pearl shell.”

THE ISLAND OF TARAVAI

The towering mountains of the Gambier islands were visible well out to sea. Looking so tiny and lost at sea on the charts we were surprised how large and majestic the islands were in real life. We made landfall at Gambiers second largest island, Taravai. Just a sliver of an island compared to the much larger island of Mangareva. Taravai is still very substantial island with a spine of tall volcanic mountains settling into rolling hills and undulating valleys and bays.

We were told by a fellow cruiser who visited here (thanks Edd and Judi on s/v Clair de Lune) that a lovely family lived on this island and were very welcoming to cruisers. We could not find any information on the island in our cruising books, but were given a description of where their homestead was, but warned, we would need to give them a call on the VHF so they could lead us in through the reef passage to their personal protected lagoon anchorage.

It sounded like just the kind of adventure my humans love, but perhaps not the best landfall after a journey. I was really fancying stretching my legs after a passage, and they were likely to be unappreciative of me running about chasing their live stock. So for that reason we decided to pick an uninhabited beach anchorage not far away to start with. We found an unpublished description of a couple of protected anchorages on the uninhabited west coast of the island and decided to tuck into one of the bays on the south end called Onemea.

SO WHAT IS IT LIKE?

The zig zag of sunken reef outside the bay, and the archipelagoes barrier reef, make the anchorage very settled. The edges of the bay are ringed by reef and backed by a golden sandy beach and palm trees. But that is where the tropics end?!?! As the hills rise up from the shore the scene becomes one you would associate with an alpine meadow rather than the tropics?!? Pine trees grow in clusters interspersed by tall meadow grasses.

The bay offers great protection from the trade winds, but the surrounding hills do mean the boat seems to turn at the whim of the breeze that descends down their slopes. I am happy. I have a big long beach to run on all to myself. The humans are happy to have calm anchorage to sort the boat out and get some snorkeling in.

OK, ENOUGH NOW
This blog entry is long enough! Fill you in on what we get up to and what else we discover later.