Raiatea, French Polynesia

We're on Raiatea, the sacred island.

Raiatea is about 200 km from Tahiti. It's the second largest island in the Society Islands, after Tahiti. Raiatea and Tahaa are two separate islands sharing the same lagoon.

Raiatea is called the sacred island because it's the place of origin for eastern Polynesia — the centre, from where people set out to settle other islands.

Bear with me, this is interesting. About five and a half thousand years ago, around 3000 BC, people set off from Taiwan (yep, Taiwan) to explore the Pacific. Along the way they settled in the Philippines, Fiji and so on. Reaching the central Pacific, they settled in (what's now called) Raiatea.

Then another thousand or so years later, people set off from Raiatea to travel even further around the Pacific. The Polynesians have always been superb sailors, using the waves and the stars to navigate at night. Those journeys created what's known as the Polynesian triangle. It extends to Hawaii in the north, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the east, and New Zealand in the south-west. This is a jolly good map.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-very-schematic-illustration-of-the-colonization-of-the-Polynesian-triangle-of-islands_fig1_309164763

So New Zealand was colonised from Raiatea, as was Hawaii. They even popped in to the Americas long before Christopher Columbus, taking back useful stuff like the the sweet potato (kumara).

We heard about the Polynesian triangle from multiple guides on our trip, but our Raiatea guide Tama talked about the Polynesian octopus. The head is in Raiatea and the tentacles extend to NZ, Easter Island and Hawaii. Raiatea was originally called Havaii, not to be confused with Hawaii. There are a lot of linguistic similarities around the Polynesian triangle/octopus!

https://kaiwakiloumoku.ksbe.edu/pacific-maps

This is our guide Tama. He told us that if Polynesians wanted to set up a marae (temple/gathering place) anywhere in Polynesia, from Hawaii to NZ, you had to take a stone from Raiatea to create the base.

Raiatea is another pretty island (or islands): volcanic mountains, lush rainforests, waterfalls and coral reefs. It's also the home of the Faaroa River, the only navigable river in French Polynesia. We set out in a canoe to go up the river. Okay, a very large canoe.

The trip up river reminded me a lot of a river trip we did in northern Queensland, near Port Douglas. It's a similar rainforest environment ... without crocodiles. In fact one of the loveliest things about French Polynesia is that there are very, very few critters waiting to kill you. Take note, Australia.

The yacht in the first photo below is for hire. You can hire it for a week and be sailed around the local islands. All boat-hands are included in the hire. Spare $, anyone?

The further upriver we went, the denser the vegetation. We were having a lovely chat with some English tourists, who were telling us enthusiastically about their three trips to India (our next destination later this year). A few drops of rain — it wouldn't be a rainforest without rain, would it? — and then it was time for fresh coconut water.

Heading out of the river mouth, back into the lagoon ...

... and to a small motu for a swim, some fruit snacks and some music from one of Tama's many sons. Ed Sheeran travels well, yes?

Two dogs live on this island. Their owner visits every three days or so, but they manage largely on crabs that they catch for themselves and a dripping tap for fresh water. This little chap was very friendly and pleased to see visitors ... I considered taking him home to Australia with us but then I thought, how would he like suburbia after living the dream on a tropical island? Would kibble ever replace the crunch of fresh crustaceans? Anyway, his friend (a less enthusiastic older dog) would miss him.

An excellent swim. What more can I say?

Back on land, we wandered around the town for a bit, before boarding the ship for our last night aboard.

And then it was time to sail away, with a lovely view of Tahaa — Raiatea's sister island — as the sun was setting. The video shows how close we are to Tahaa, in the channel between the two islands.

The best part of cruising, for me, has always been the views from the sea.

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