Raiatea, French Polynesia

 Raiatea

Second in territory only to Tahiti, this green island has towering mountains the tops of some we didn’t see.  Clouds lazily hovered over them and sometimes provided cloud cover for us.  Today we took a tour offered through the cruise ship, so we were with 28 others, this time on a giant motorized outrigger canoe.  At the bottom of the gangway we were met by musicians as we have been at every island so far and another costumed native handing out the national flower of French Polynesia the Tiare flower or Tahitian Gardenia.  This group had a youngster too cute to not take a picture of.  Our tour guide was barefoot, clothed only in a wrap to his thigh, tattooed everywhere except half of his face, had his hair pulled back and gathered with a leafy tie.  He welcomed us as we disembarked the boat with a horn and a conch shell—both instruments he blew into and whose sound resonated for miles.  The huge conch shell turns out to be a family heirloom, used by his family to call family in for lunch and communicate with others and is 150 years old.  This was the beginning of his teaching about ancient customs—this time for communication.  As the oversize canoe roared the 20-minute trip to the Apooma’u River, the only navigable river in Polynesia and the customary point from which all canoes left the island to populate other islands including Hawaii and New Zealand, our guide perched on the outside of the boat, sometimes quietly chanting and sometimes raising his hands in praise.  We could see the confluence of river and ocean when the bright turquoise blue changed to swirling silt-laden freshwater.  The motor immediately quieted as we gently navigated the much more shallow water.  The quieter engine allowed our guide to pace the boat at our feet, teach, and chide.  He gestured to all the greenery and taught that all that is needed to survive is right here:  coconut trees whose wood provided siding for houses, whose leaves provided the roof, and whose fruits gave nourishment; the freshwater to drink and all waters to fish in; leaves, roots, and fruits that provided medicine for any type of ailment or disease; all is comprised within the harmony of nature.  “Here, we don’t know the word stress”, he said.  Suddenly he grabbed a cell phone out of a passenger’s hand, saying loudly, “You don’t need this today.  Life is all around you.  Look at it.  Study it.  It will tell you all you need to know about life itself.”  Then he brought out a simple bamboo nose flute (plug one nostril and blow through the other) and made it sing like the birds and sound like the wind.  Part way up the peaceful river we were stopped by downed trees across our narrow strait.  More damage from the heavy rains we ran into on the last two islands.  Had to make a 25-point turn in a big canoe on a narrow river, then sped back and found a remote motu or very small island of our own with changing huts and showers to get the salt water off.  We had about 45 minutes to snorkel in bathwater-warm reefs.  Jerry and I initiated our snorkeling gear, spotting some spikey sea urchins and tiny black fish with bright blue spots.  Then we motored back to the boat and kicked back for the rest of the afternoon with light reading.

We hope your Monday was enjoyable.

Hard to believe that tomorrow is already February 1, and the first of two days in legendary Bora Bora.