PuddleJump parties and Mo'orea

We started 3 days of PuddleJump parties on Friday night in downtown Papeete. Emily had a sail on an outrigger canoe and we picked up our free tee shirts and other information about the Society islands. About 70 boat crews were paraded through town behind several muscle-bound Tahitian drummers and we made our way to city hall. On the steps of this mansion, we had our group picture taken for Lattitude 38 magazine and we were led into a large meeting hall. We all received fragrant flower leis and were welcomed by the local officials. They had a wonderful buffet set up with breaded shrimp, chicken, fresh fruits, local salads and treats, crackers with caviar and beer, wine and sodas to drink. We were entertained by several troupes of dancers showcasing the dances we would see throughout the Society Islands. It was a memorable day.

The next day we all “raced” from Papeete to Mo’orea and anchored off a white sand beach. Some say that Mo'orea, which means 'yellow lizard', was the name of one of the island's ruling families, while others attribute this name to an image seen by a high priest while visiting the island.

Mo'orea was heavily populated before the Europeans arrived on its idyllic doorstep. Samuel Wallis was the first European to sight the island (1767), and he was soon followed by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1768) and James Cook (1769). The missionaries arrived on the scene in the early 1800s and made themselves at home, soon establishing their headquarters on the island. As elsewhere, European diseases and the introduction of weapons and alcohol had a disastrous effect on the population of Mo'orea, which continued to decline during the 19th century.

Copra and vanilla were crops important in the past but these days Mo'orea is the pineapple-growing centre of French Polynesia. Tourism is the other major industry.

For the next two days we enjoyed presentations, cook-outs and several Tahitian games. Emily won in the tug-of-war and did well in the banana carrying race and coconut opening contest. Daddy was winning the outrigger canoe race when 20 feet from the finish line, we flipped our six-man canoe! Apparently, those Tahitians are more careful than us Gringos. There was no damage other than to our dignity! We enjoyed more singing and dancers and saw our first fire dance which we all had been waiting for.

We stayed in Mo’orea for several more days relaxing with our friends on Whiskers. We strolled the beach and did some snorkeling before looking for some calm weather to make an overnight passage to Huahine. It sure does feel good to have most systems working good again.

Tom