Bareboat Charter Tahiti (Society Is)

[Gypsy23]

Looking for information about bareboat chartering and sailing in the Society Is.

I am a 72yo cruiser who has owned and cruised a 44' Bavaria for 17yrs now own a 37' Hanse. Cruised in open ocean and reef waters of Nth Queensland Aus. I expect I will handle the sailing/cruising part of it OK.


The info I am looking for is:
1) Charter company experiences. There are 3 which come to the surface with my first research. Moorings, Sunsail and Dreamyacht. Any others? Comments for/against?

2) Each of these charter companies have 20+ boats cruising from the same general base area around the 4 islands. Most are cats 40'+. Is it crowded there? Can we find anchorages without having to worry about others complaining we are using up 'their space'?



3) Do the charter companies put restrictions on where the boat can go and/or what hours it can be off a mooring/anchor.


I have read blogs by private cruisers and they don't mention crowding nor do their photos show crowded bays or lagoons but maybe they have the time to search out the better places.



I hope the infinite collective knowledge of the forum can help.
Tks

[barnakiel]

It is not crowded in the Caribbean sense, but not empty either.


Good news most boaties tend to congregate in few popular spots with beach bars.


I have no experience with charter companies there but sailing is outstanding there and ashore explorations are awesome.



b.

[fxykty]

We chartered a 40’ cat from Sunsail Raiatea off-season in early December a few years ago. It wasn’t very busy anywhere except at Le Ficus for their weekly show - all moorings in the bay were taken by charter boats - everywhere else including Bora Bora we were usually on our own or with one or two others. I expect it is much busier during high season in the winter.

Sunsail were great and supported us well with two boat issues we experienced during the charter. They provide detailed paper charts if you ask for them. We had our pick of dinghy and motor and snorkeling gear - probably not so good when all the boats are booked.

Sunsail has a comprehensive itinerary charts for the four islands and you can easily find additional places to go online. Our two favourite places were the Coral River at Motu Tautau (west side of Taha’a) and Motu Nao Nao (south coast of Raiatea). Sailing on the shallow water of the lagoon on the east side of Bora Bora was a highlight.

No sailing at night and several closed areas and passes. Navigation is easy and no issues with any of the restrictions.

Booze is very expensive, so max out your duty free allowance. Consider packing a chiller full of frozen meat and dairy to save on provisioning, though baguettes and raw cheese are all you really need and available everywhere.

[Gypsy23]

Thanks for the responses. Useful info as this forum serves the community well again.

[pathlesschosen]

I chartered shoulder season with Sunsail out of Raiatea a few years ago. First class company. No complaints.

Anchorages were not crowded. Moorings were kind of sketchy. At one location a mooring allowed us to swing into rocks. We moved out and anchored. At another location the mooring came loose when we gave a tug. Recently the Seth Hines from the YouTube channel Sailing Family almost lost their boat due to a bad mooring at Bora.

My preference was usually anchoring.

Cheers.