Chasing Summer –

December 25-26

Uturoa

Bah Humbug! Arriving in any Christian country on Christmas Day is a guarantee to find everything closed. Several unfortunate souls found themselves working the tourist information center and booking tours for Boxing Day. We even got live welcome music.

Most residents chose to stay on board and participate in a variety of Christmas activities organized by the entertainment team and other residents. There were white elephant gift exchanges, trivia, movies, a Santa visit, and a Pajama breakfast. I did almost none of these, and instead went out for a walk around town and got caught up on my blogging since we have several port days in a row.

This is the second-largest island in FP, but don’t let that fool you. Its capital Uturoa, is small. The main town/village has the airport and the Carrefour Supermarché. Think of a French department store. The prices here are still high, but slightly better.

One of its claims to fame is the street murals that decorate most of the buildings. They are great, and several have been done by international artists, but they are aging and look like they passed their prime a few years ago.

We are here during the rainy season, so several times during our visit, we needed to wait out heavy showers.

To save money, 4 of us rented a car for 7,000XPF for a day and drove around the south end of the island. The entire island is only 100km of road, so it is easy to do in a day.

Taputapuatea

Our main stop was for Taputapuatea or Opoa-Ra’iatea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This area is the heart of Ma’ohi civilization and the center of the “Polynesian Triangle”, the maritime area between Hawai’i, Easter Island, and New Zealand. The symbol is an octopus, with the head being in Taputaputea and its tentacles spreading out to the other islands in the triangle.

The site itself has 10 main areas that are marked.

Numbers one and two are together forming the council house, where chiefs, priests, and other specialists gathered or slept. There is also an archery platform. Archery was only for great warriors and contenders for the title of ari’i. They needed to stand on the platform and shoot as far as possible towards the Matarepeta Hill.

Number 3 is the marae of the Tau-‘aitu or Hititai, where priests consecrated the rites of the rahui, watched over the image of the god to’o, and fed the two guardian sharks of the sovereigns. Human sacrifices would happen on the stone placed in front of the courtyard.

Four is the marae Hauviri, a temple for the main chiefs of the Tamatoas’ great lineage. In the center is the Investiture Rock, where new leaders, ari’i, chosen by his people were invested.

The Taura’a-tapu Beach is number five. This is where the large canoes drew up.

Number six is next to the beach, the Opu-teina’marae. This is for the younger lineages, who left for the great ocean during the expansion period, following the maritime routes plotted out by the mythical octopus Tumu-Ra’i-Fenua.

Number 7 is out at sea, and is the Te’Ava-Mo’a Pass. A sea gate that allowed them to come and go in their double canoes.

The motu Atara is number eight. This small island foretold the arrival of friends or foes, depending on the type of cloud that covered it. It was also a place of exile, the death place of the chief’s illegitimate newborns -harsh.

Number ten is the great marae Taputapuatea. Erected by the creator god Ta’aroa, it was dedicated to the god of peace and war, ‘Oro.

Number 9 is the Matarepeta Hill, which can also be hiked to a viewpoint overlooking the rest of the sites. It is classified as an easy walk with 2500m return and an elevation gain of 130m. It has a well-marked trail with stairs. It does get slippery and, in humid weather, requires some caution.

The lookout at the top has a great view, but the first lookout of the ruins is overgrown and needs trimming.

There was a brochure that had some important cultural spots listed, but I was more focused on my footing and didn’t spot them. Except the Whale Rock- I’m pretty sure I got that one.

From here, we made our way further south to Raiatea Pearl, where a local pearl farm has pearls on display and for purchase. I was a little sad that his “farm” is 100 meters out at sea, so we couldn’t see the oysters, but he did have a few cute dogs, so that was nice.

Further down the road, we arrived at Mataio Vanille for what we thought would be a look at a vanilla farm. Sadly, it too was just an opportunity to buy vanilla pods.

Slightly sad, we began our way to the Belvedere lookout in pouring rain. Driving up the mountain made the rain come down harder as if we were closer to the clouds. I was the only one who popped out with my umbrella to see if I could get any pictures. While we were up there, a truck arrived with a couple in the truck bed who had hitched a ride in the rain.

Slightly further down is another lookout, but it requires a short hike. With the downpour not letting up, none of us braved the elements.

As we descended the other side the rains did seem to let up a little and we made our way to the botanical gardens.

The gardens, just like everything else we did today, are free of charge. There was still a light rain, so umbrellas in hand, we walked around the well-maintained grounds.

There isn’t a lot of variety in ornamental flowers. There are many of the same type planted throughout the grounds, but with paths and picnic tables scattered throughout the gardens, it is a lovely spot on a sunny afternoon. Even with the rain, the flowers that I saw were beautiful.

It was a short visit over Christmas, but I did as much as I wanted on the island. If we were here longer than I would have taken a boat out to Tahaa for snorkelling or a real vanilla tour.