Raivavae

A beautiful mountain massif surrounded by a road/track without vertical drop and a navigable lagoon, will be for us the island of rides to bike and walk...

17 November 2018: The weather is back

We take the opportunity to explore the Traverso, which, as its name suggests, crosses the island through the mountains. The departure is from the small village of Vaiuru, by a path lined with houses , coffee trees, banana,

and of a Marae buried in the forest.

Hundreds of hibiscus are waiting to be picked up to make crowns or traditional necklaces,

but we prefer picking wild raspberries to make jam.. .the ones we do not eat on the spot.


We turn off the trail and arrive in a field of culture of tarot and bananas. The tarodieres (main richness of the island) well irrigated looming on the horizon.

At the foot of young banana land is fine and will be great to start a few small plantations of Basil and Arugula on the boat... See you in a few weeks to see if it grows!

We are the little shady path that never ends up leaving the lagoon behind us.

A horse tied in full sun begging a little water in his seal... we still deprived of all our water!

Finished the climb now downhill with two panels one prohibiting access by bicycle,

and the other indicating a slope to 45%. We can understand why if few cars use this highway.

Once up there you take full eyes in discovering the northern part of the lagoon and its turquoise funds.

To disembark at the village of Vaiaru it was necessary to cross a large coral flat in which a channel was dug. Returning at low tide is a bit more complicated!

The good weather continues and we take out the bikes. The tour of the island is about 20 kilometres, the road is flat and paved the force up to the airport (to impress tourists who visit the island!). The rest is either cement bashed by places or in the ground.
Interesting where they do ripen bananas... that's only rats and other animals do not eat.

and even if the wild life is never very far the birds are not interested in bananas!

The North of the island is lined with sandy beaches and in front of each House, a canoe is ready to go fishing,

and to "capture" these wonderful colors a picture is needed!

We cannot go to Raivavae without going to see the tourist place which everyone speaks: The motu pool. It's not bad....

to relax in a water at 27degres toes in range!

The owners of the motu made a few adjustments to welcome tourists and provide meals by the lagoon.

Barbecue "party" with Reva Tua Te sailboats, Uproar, and OFF2C who joined us in Raivavae. Since each motu belongs to someone, it is necessary to ask permission.

Friday 14 December: Departure for Rapa

A short weather window is provided with a favourable wind to attend Rapa. As soon as we got back on board, we got ready to leave the next day. Scraping propellers and hull, securing the annex and its engine, storage... because we are in danger of us to shake off the first day of navigation...