Taiohae Bay

This is the main town. Even though the Gendarmerie is open morning and afternoon, they will only process yacht clearance in the morning before 11am, Monday to Friday. NB This is different to the Office in Hiva-Oa, although they have the same opening times, Hiva Oa process yacht clearance anytime, even Saturday. Even though we were told in Hiva-Oa that we must show our papers here this is definitely no longer a requirement as we tried to but they really weren’t interested.

The anchorage is huge. We didn’t roll too much at first and we didn’t put out a stern anchor. We anchored near to the shore in 8 metres. On our second visit here after 10 days away it was very rolly. The dinghy dock or the stone wall, can be a bit of a lottery if the swell is bad. Two dinghies suffered damage when their outboards banged against the gendarmerie boat which is moored here but is only used once a month.

Yacht Services on the quay provide laundry service at 1500f and they will refill your (small) gas for 2000f, if you need diesel in cans or petrol they will drive you around to the petrol station for 1000f . Car hire is also available here but Kevin ( the owner) likes you to stick to the main roads. You can pay for WiFi , the password is changed each day. Kevin will also help with delivery of spare parts etc . Yacht services are not open on Saturday or Sunday and it says they close at 3pm during the week but we found they were open later than that.

There is also a book swop here.

A road Island trip for 2 people cost us 15000 F. But that was the lowest the driver would take because they usually charge 6500F each for 4 people. We booked our trip through the Tourist Information office. If you go on the tour then take mosquito repellent. The no no flies are terrible and it took four weeks for my bites to go.

Most cafes have WiFi, all the speeds vary and it doesn’t seem to matter how many people are using it. Passwords are usually changed daily. The Pizza restaurant WiFi is good ( at times) and we sat outside when it was closed and had “super fast” internet, they don’t change the password everyday. There is car hire available here too.

There are 4 supermarkets here, prices are all very similar.

If there is no bread left in the supermarkets then you can walk to the bakery and they always have baguettes. They maybe frozen but there doesn’t seem to be any difference in taste once defrosted.

Recycling bins for glass, plastic, aluminium cans, other plastic , tins , batteries ( big and small , oil . They ask that you wash your recycling. The recycling bins are just past the tourist information office across the road in the large car park.

Everything else ( including paper and cardboard) goes to landfill.

There is a fruit market open nearly all day, although the best produce gets taken very early. If they don’t have something you want then ask and they can get it for you for the next day. E.g Capsicum Peppers, courgettes

The hardware store is past the second supermarket up the main road, keep walking until you come to a bus stop then it’s turn left over the small bridge and walk for a minute or 2 and it’s on your left.

There are toilets at the tourist office -100 francs to use or use the cafe toilets , the same price but free if you buy a drink there.

Bringing alcohol, tobacco etc into French Polynesia , you can bring as much as you like but you must declare it on your clearance form.

There is a cruisers net which runs each day at 8am, start on ch 72 and they usually moves to 68.

Taioa ( known as Daniels Bay)

We anchored here and it was still quite rolly. We anchored in sand.

Part of the beach is rocky so we beached the dinghy near to the mooring buoys used for local boats. A man came over and explained that if we were going to walk to the waterfall then we needed to pull the dinghy right up to the grass because the tide would take the dinghy out later, he then helped us pull it up the beach. We think this may have been Daniels son.

The path to the waterfall is on the left side of the bay ( looking towards the beach ) , if the tide is in you need to walk in the sea over the rocks to reach it. We had to do this when we came back from the walk. From here it took us 2 1/2 hours to get to the waterfall and my husband walks fast. You should wear walking shoes or trainers that you can wear in the water. This is because of the 3 small rivers that you need to cross. At the second river people have left walking sticks to use to help you across the river.

Make sure you wear mosquito repellent as there are many mosquitoes on this trail.

We were stopped by Koa just after the first river crossing. This is the lady who runs a restaurant in her home, she offered lunch on our way back from the waterfall. Telling us that it was a 2 hour walk. She speaks some English and is a lovely lady.

We were stopped again ( just after the telephone box) by a lady who you need pay 1000 francs pp to go on the trail . They did seem to maintain the trail and she also gave us two Pamplemousse to take with us. Take a knife with you to cut them open!

So 4 1/2 hours later we arrived back at her house for our “lunch”. ( around 15.30) .

If you’re not a walker then this seems quite long but definitely worth doing. Although we were told by other cruisers who went after us that there was a dead goat in the waterfall and it had attracted many flies.

No rubbish disposal here.

Controller Bay – Hooumi Bay

There is a small village with a shop that you can walk to from both bays. It’s nearer to the main bay than Hooumi. There is recycling in Hooumi Bay where you will need to beach your dinghy. There are two freshwater pipes. We walked from here to a waterfall, it was a 20k round trip but well worth it and a better waterfall than at Daniel’s Bay.

Maria Wadsworth
SY Lady Jane

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.