Looking to do a bareboat charter in Feb 2018 in Tahiti/Bora Bora. Recommendations?

[Cool Hand Luke]

I'm looking to do a 10 day bareboat charter in Tahiti / Bora Bora in February 2018. Any recommendations on where to go, what to see, what to avoid, etc.?



The above is a recommended 10 day charter.

Any input will be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

[Cool Hand Luke]

Also, is there a good cruising guide I can buy online? I'd like a real book rather than a Kindle edition.

[fxykty]

We did an 11 day charter last December on a Sunsail catamaran based at Raiatea. Originally I planned similar to you, but in the end decided to skip Huahine - this allowed us some down time and the ability to stay over if we really liked a place.

Our favourite spots were Motu Nao Nao (south Raiatea), the coral river at Motu Tautau (NW reef of Tahaa), and Motu Piti Uu Tai (S Bora Bora). We spent two nights at each to have a full day to explore and relax at these extra special (to us) locations.

At Bora Bora, the Lagoonarium was very cool and a chance to get in amongst sharks and rays. Tahaa has some great family pearl farms around Apu Bay. The river at the head of Fa’aroa Bay is very interesting.

There are a number of cruising guides on the net that you can print out - it doesn’t matter about their age as you will get fully up to date information from your charter base. They will also give you paper charts if you ask for them and can mark all the moorings and other special places on them.

Do visit the outer reef where you can, consider snorkelling a pass (the first pass SW of the Sunsail charter base has a little island named Tahu Naoe - anchor to the N of the island and head to the pass side to snorkel - almost no current so safe, and awesome drop off), take in a Tahitian show (not at a resort if possible) - the show on Friday nights at Le Ficus restaurant at Apu Bay was great. Fresh baguettes are available everywhere and well worth a morning trip ashore to a local store. Your charter base should be able to tell you about any special events.

We had 7 of us on a Sunsail 404 - 3 teenagers, 2 parents and 2 grandparents. The condomaran didn’t sail very well in the off season light trades, but was a perfect platform for a multi-generation charter. The dinghy, SUPs and sit in tops were fully used everyday by everyone.

Booze is really expensive so bring as much as you can with you. Hinano beer is OK, there is lots of French wine and even the house quality (ie cheapest) is pretty good, but the spirits are crazy expensive. We went with a partial provisioning from Sunsail and did one shop on the first day in Uturoa for meat and pasta - otherwise everything we needed was on the boat with the provisioning pack. We still have a couple of jars of olives and pate left over from the provisioning.

I’m sure you will love it just as we did. It was my second time to Polynesia and the combination of beautiful place and French is awesome. A little conversational French helps with shopping in non tourist locations.

Have fun!

[Cool Hand Luke]

Thank you sooooo much for your input!!! Flights still looking expensive at about $1800+ from EWR (Newark, NJ). But the sailing grounds look phenomenal!!!

[AB808]

Wow! Just returned form 13 days on Mooring 4800 on 8 Oct. Wow!

Water is gorgeous, 3 & 4 shades of blue. We began in Raiatea, took on stores in Uturoa, the Tahitian rum makes a great boat drink. We went down the east coast for overnight, then out the southern pass for a reach to Huahine, two nights there then back to Tahaa, on a run, spent two days here. Then on to Bora Bora, another run, stayed here the longest, 5 nights. Then it's back to Raiatea, close hauled, only a took about 5 hours.

Use your credit card (make sure you tell them you are traveling, I was able to do this online by entering the dates and location) you will get a better exchange with your CC - they don't particularly care for USDs. The airport is a safe place to withdraw CFP$ if you feel you must.

The French breads are subsidized, cheap and delicious, & available in all the grocery stores.

We ate most meals on the boat. Everything is flown in, they have put any sustainment agriculture out of business long ago. The fresh tuna, mahi and marlin are sometime available in the grocery stores, it goes quick. Take some favorite spices for preparing fresh fish, capers, curry, tarragon - rice or pasta are readily available.

In restaurants (during happy hour) try their Poisson Cru (Tahitian Salad). Each has their own rendition, by the third day you'll be making you own. The secret is the fresh local coconut milk.

Next time I'll take my own snorkel gear & some lures, hopefully on my own boat and stay a lot longer. I'm ready to go back!

Manuia (mah-nwee-ah) - Cheers!

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by AB808

Wow! Just returned form 13 days on Mooring 4800 on 8 Oct. Wow!

Water is gorgeous, 3 & 4 shades of blue. We began in Raiatea, took on stores in Uturoa, the Tahitian rum makes a great boat drink. We went down the east coast for overnight, then out the southern pass for a reach to Huahine, two nights there then back to Tahaa, on a run, spent two days here. Then on to Bora Bora, another run, stayed here the longest, 5 nights. Then it's back to Raiatea, close hauled, only a took about 5 hours.

Sounds like a stellar fortnight!

On the back side of Moorea are two little islands, there is a fairly deep channel between the main island and the two islands with white sand on either side. It is a beautiful, quiet place with little boat traffic.

I'm not very familiar with the weather patterns in the country, but can say when I was there (Tahiti/ Moorea) in April 2016 it rained almost non-stop.