Incredible Cruise: Day 3- Tahaa (Motu Mahana)

Day 3 found us in Tahaa (Motu Mohana).
We decided to do another excursion since its been so long since my husband scuba dived and we've been snorkeling.  We have done both before and know what great shape you have to be in to do it for hours, at our ages we just don't fit that billet any more and know our limits.   It's better for us to stick to the excursions and enjoy the islands that way.
    Even though we did the excursion the day before we could tell we were in a different  place and knew it would be different.  Just like no two kids are the same we could already tell Tahiti was totally different from Huanine and expected Tahaa to be the same way.

  Some how we ended up being the last ones on the bus.  My spouse and I had to sit on the middle wooden bench - not the most comfortable spot especially if you have hemorrhoids which we do.  I couldn't complain too much since I did get to look out the open back window and I was able to get some good shots that the other people didn't get to see.  

  Again we took a tender to get to the island and there's not much there when the tender pulls up to the dock.  There were people with signs that would take you where you needed to go.  Our group was the last to leave the area as you can see.

   There are not a lot of people living on Tahaa, in fact in one reference I saw had it under 5,000 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahaa Tahaa is the smaller island that is part of  Raiatea  coral reef system.

 

They had the same system of catching fish as we saw in Huahine.

We were driving along and I was enjoying the view.

 I was surprised when a truck pulled up behind us and ended up tailgating trying to pass by.  It made it hard to get nice pictures but I still enjoyed the experience of being there.

This island is known for its Vanilla and black pearls.  So they took us to a vanilla plantation.  I must admit this was more what I expected a plantation to look like.  We had to take an off the road beaten path that soon the buss couldn't navigate and we had to disembark from it and walk about a half mile to the place. 

      Some vegetation we were seeing as we where walking to the plants. 

The guide didn't try to explain things but let the owner of the place speak instead.  She was so much more knowledgeable.   She explained how the vanilla plants like the cooler mountain sides and so the better plants are found higher up.  She talked about how the flowers just bloom for one day and they have to be hand pollinated. If the flower does get pollinated then it wont grow a bean.

 She showed us these beans, and said each bean was a flower and that they usually come out in clumps that look like hands.

Once they dry to a brown color then they have to message the bean to get the full flavor of the vanilla throught the bean.   Then they store them after they've been sorted.  Only a certain size bean can be sold.  The ones that can't be sold are used to make vanilla extract.  It was all very interesting to hear.  

Then we were back onto the road to the pearl farm.  Here you can see some Motu's in the distance and the Island to the right is Raiatea.

This is the store where they sold the black pearls.

And this is the lecture hall where they talked about them.  They say they basically hang the osters very similar to the way these are hanging from the ceiling in the water.

He showed us what the typical shell looks like.

 An experience person takes a piece of this shell and inserts it into the oster.  There it excretes a nacreous layer that is similar in color to the piece of shell inserted.

Then a seed pearl is placed in.  This seed is made from other ostershells.

He showed us how the shell is pried open and how it has to go in just the right spot.

If they are lucky it comes out round but frequently if other contaminates get in or if other things happen the pearl doesn't turn out right.  Normally it takes between 2-4 years to grow.

This was a necklace that is with highly valued pearls.  He said you want to look for ones that have a lot of peacock colors to them.

They actually opened up an oyster for us so we could see a pearl that was inside of one that was developing.

Here's an even closer view of it.

I know I didn't do a very good job explaining it.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultured_pearl
Here's more on pearls in general http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl

This the actual area of the farm.

 We caught the tender there.  Instead of taking us back to the cruise ship it to us to a Motu where we were able to spend the afternoon eating BBQ and drinking beer.

The cruise ship Paul Gauguin

Going to the motu we could see this island in the distance - I think this was Bora Bora but I could be wrong on that.

This was looking back at the pearl farm.

Just look at how blue the water was.  The deep blue was the deeper water where the ship could traverse in while the aqua color water is very shallow.

They said it would be a wet landing and they weren't joking.  We had to get out in about 1- 3 feet of water and wade into the beach.  I was glad they had warned us and I had appropriate clothing on that didn't matter if it got wet.
See how light blue the water was.  You knew it was very shallow here.
A motu is a coral rubble islet.
At first I thought it was an atoll but was quickly corrected saying that these were not atolls.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoll_reef

Motu Mahana -Tahaa 

We had a great time sitting and relaxing.  Where we were there was a nice breeze that made it very comfortable.  They ran out of beer - I wonder why? They normally don't have that problem.  Since I couldn't drink beers I did switch to bloody Mary's which were just as good as the beers.

We had to leave so we could be cruising before daylight gave out.  These are the parting shots I got of Tahaa as we headed towards Bora Bora.

Tahaa at sunset

It was so peaceful to watch the sunset as we pulled out to sea.  We were suppose to go for coctails but it was more fun just to sit and watch the changing scenery as we were seaward bound.

The one thing that I was so surprised to see was how far away the coral reefs/ barrier islands were.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringing_reef

The lagoon and reef around Tahaa

You could actually see  some land here and because of that they had to put up a light to warn ships.

Barrier reef around Tahaa

As we were watching things we noticed the moon was coming out and it was a full moon.  We thought it was so different since it had such a hallow around it making it apear even bigger and brighter than what we were used to seeing.

I know I took a lot of these and you are just see a few but it was so pretty and the pictures just don't do justice but I still want to share them anyway.

It got darker and I used a different camera but it was still some kind of moon to see.  One I will never forget. 

Fullmoon over Tahaa, Society Islands.

It was some day.
Once again I want to thank the people who made this day possible and especially to my spouse who also made it so much fun to be with.