We were happy to finally arrive at the Gambier Islands. Not exactly by Christmas as originally intended, but nevertheless we achieved our goal of sailing to this remote archipelago! Better late than never!
The Gambier islands lie about 1700km SE of Tahiti and consist of a single lagoon of 30km2 within which there are 5 high islands covered in lush tropical vegetation and a surrounding reef dotted with 18 motus. I worked out that they are on roughly the same latitude as the Keppel islands in Australia, so they have a much more temperate climate than most of French Polynesia. Current population is 1535, the majority of whom live in the island of Mangareva, where the administrative capital of Rikitea is situated. They have a unique language & culture – more akin to the Marquesas, despite the catholic missionaries’ attempts to destroy it in the early 19th century. The islands are full of churches & the Gambiers are ‘credited’ as the cradle of Polynesian Catholicism. The missionaries managed to convert the whole population, but sadly proceeded to destroy all cultural artefacts & idols. The population significantly declined after the arrival of the Europeans, mainly from a variety of diseases against which they had no immunity. To add insult to injury, a century & a half later, the French armed forces decided to use Moruroa, which lies approximately 400km NW of the Gambiers as a nuclear testing site from 1966 to 1974. If the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, the population were herded into fallout shelters.
So we arrived early morning & anchored off Rikitea. We counted 24 boats – it was busy because a supply ship, Taporo 8, was arriving the following day. That worked out well for us however, as we were able not only to replenish our diesel supplies, but also acquire some fresh produce from the supermarkets, whose shelves were fully laden! We also enjoyed the pleasure of freshly baked baguettes again! We didn’t venture far in the first few days as we needed to hunker down for a deep low weather pattern, travelling from east to west which is very unusual. It certainly packed a punch, at one stage we had 46knots over the deck. We also had to re-anchor a couple of times – we found holding pretty dodgy & needed to put out a load of chain to hold us secure in the slippery mud.
Rikitea was a very pretty place and the people we met really friendly & welcoming. The houses were well maintained with lush gardens full of trees bearing passionfruit, breadfruit, lemons & pamplemousse. The mango season had just finished – but there were mango trees everywhere – shame we arrived a bit late for that treat. You can’t actually buy fruit in the stores – we were told by many that you literally just asked the locals. Kerry & I were a little timid following this advice, but we politely asked to buy some fruit – a request that was declined as fruit was handed over with a big smile.
A short walk from the centre was the imposing Cathedral of St Michael, which could house 2000 people. It had a lovely decorative interior & a spotless churchyard swept meticulously each day.
Past the church was the other obligatory destination of the Gambier Islands – Tiana’s pearl & keishi collection! The Gambier islands are known for producing the finest & most colourful pearls in French Polynesia – attributed to the relatively cool water. There are in fact 129 pearl farms in the archipelago, with pearl floats marking the nets, scattered like confetti on the surface of the lagoon. We were later to discover this hazard when navigating between the islands & motus, when we would have to run the gauntlet through a minefield of floats with their precious cargo dangling below. Anyway, back to Taina’s Pearl & Keishi – keishi being made of 100% nacre, (mother of pearl), when the oyster shell expels the nucleus around which the usual spherical pearls develop. Taina made all her own jewellery which were of great quality, artistically crafted & a very reasonable price. Needless to say, after much deliberation, the requisite purchases were made and we were both very happy to have an incredibly special keepsake from this remote & unique place.
After the weather settled we headed to Onemea Bay situated on the western side of the island of Taravai. It was well protected from the easterly breeze, so a very calm & peaceful spot, which together with Kelani we had to ourselves. There was a small accessible beach, with baby black tip sharks swimming around your feet! The beach was surrounded by dense tropical vegetation, so impossible to explore inland, but the bay had some quite nice snorkeling around the edge, (a little cloudy compared to the reef anchorages). Despite that, there were massive plate corals amongst which humpheaded maori wrasse, unicorn fish & banded tangs glided in large numbers. Ciguatera is a recognised problem in these islands, so several species thrive as they are not hunted for food.
The days were set to be sunny with light breezes, so we took the opportunity to visit Tauna motu on the eastern edge of the archipelago. It was on this trip that we discovered navigating the interior of the pearl float filled lagoon was not for the faint hearted! Despite following a recognised boat track, we found that we had to be incredibly cautious, move really slowly with Bill on the lookout at the front & with me being ready to change course or change to neutral at a moment’s notice. Still we came through unscathed and Tauna was truly a fabulous spot with easy anchoring in deep coral sand, a pretty palm fringed motu & lovely snorkeling right in front of the boat.
We would have stayed longer, except we wanted to attend one of the well known highlights of the Gambier Islands – the fortnightly BBQ on Taravai, hosted by Hervé & Valerie, whose reputation for true Polynesian hospitality is a cruiser’s legend in these islands. (to be continued…)