Tahiti and the Society Islands
The Society Islands are mountainous, of volcanic origin, surrounded by reefs, and covered in thick forests. Tahiti is the largest, most populous with a cosmopolitan city of Papeete. Within sight and to the west is Moorea, a smaller less populated island, but in our opinion, also more scenic. To the northwest, about 80 miles away is Huahine with Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora Bora closeby. We stayed in the Societies for almost 3 months visiting these six islands.
Papeete is a large city with all the conveniences and problems of a large urban area: noise, pollution, tourist traps, traffic jams, shopping malls, supermarkets, etc. Our itinerary included clearing with Immigration, Customs and Port Captain, getting cash and mail at the American Express office, buying bread, fresh vegetables and meat, checking email, filling up water tanks, getting parts and making repairs.		 Society Islands map (8179 bytes)
At the Maeva Beach anchorage, we finally caught up with friends aboard ASTROLABE, GRAY HAWK, TRIUMPH, KOOKABURRA, LOAFER, TUCUMCARI, ARAGON, ION, TO SKOULIKI, ITCHY FEET, AMALTHEA, and MANU OTE MITI, To name a few.

We did not do much sightseeing in Papeete with the exception of a couple of free music concerts at the cruise ship pier. These concerts are part of an introduction to the annual Fete de Juillet beginning with Autonomy Day (June 29) and continuing until Bastille Day July 14. This year, being 2000, is more elaborate than usual with artisans, dancers, musicians, and visitors from all the French Polynesian archipelagoes congregating in Tahiti for the festivities. We attended two evening performances of Polynesian dance and singing, and several performances at the Artisans and Agricultural fairs.
At the Heiva des Artisans, we admired the many displays of very intricately woven hats, wood carvings, many shell necklaces, and colourful quilts. We just looked without buying as prices are very high for even the simplest hat (C$25 to C$150) or necklace (C$15 to C$50). We saw the Dance Group from the Southern Marquesas which did a very martial dance with much knee slapping and brandishing of staves by the men.
At the Heiva de l'Agriculture, which bears a striking resemblance to any Canadian county fair (except for the tractor pull), we bought some of the local produce and admired the cows, goats, pigs and chickens. A highlight at the Agricultural Fair one day was a performance by O Tahiti E dance troup. These artist are superb.

O Tahiti E Dancer (50611 bytes)
Hats, hats, and more Tahiti hats (22018 bytes) Tahiti Agrifair display booth (26329 bytes)
A collection of hand-woven hats at the Artisans Fair.

All the agriculatural fair displays had fresh decorations adorning the columns and walls.
From Tahiti we sailed to Moorea for a week or so to rest after the hustle and bustle of Papeete before returning once again to see more dancing. We were also waiting for an extension of our visa so that we could stay longer in French Polynesia. Finally sometime in June and almost a month late we received the visa extension and sailed for a two week stay in Huahine, then another week in Raiatea and Tahaa, before finally arriving in Bora Bora. We only spent a few days in Bora Bora before sailing off for Suvarov Island of the Northern Cooks.
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