The Magic Carpet Ride – Sailing Taha’a
Nobody ever truly knows what the day ahead holds for them. So, it’s silly to go about life any other way than wide eyed and ready for anything.
Add a new destination and a sailboat into the mix and it’s a surprise pie to be served up one slice at time. Today was one of those days filled with surprises, served up one by one.
It all starts with a beautiful sail to the tiny island of Taha’a and ends with filling water buckets in a dark alley behind a gas station. And that’s not even the exciting bits!
Most days we grumble on about how much longer everything takes when living on a boat. But, this day blows that whole argument out of the water.
We sailed to a new island, toured a rum factory, picked up groceries, took a few rides on the magic carpet through the coral gardens, had a date night dinner out and managed to fill our water buckets.
And, only one small thing broke on the boat (note to self: replace trampoline lines). T’was a damned fine day I say, damned fine.
The Magic Carpet Ride
It seems almost every island has an area dubbed the Coral Garden. But, this one has certainly earned the name! I would go so far as to say it’s my favorite snorkeling spot so far in French Polynesia.
Look for Le Taha’a Island Resort & Spa on the map or the three motu’s across from Baie Tapuamu on your sailing charts. While it’s good fun anytime, high tide is best because some of the areas are super shallow.
Pro tip: bring your water shoes or scuba booties for the walk back to the entrance.
Taha’a Fun Facts
- Lovely speck of rock located in the Society Islands Archipelago.
- 33 square miles funded by tourism, pearl farming, fishing and vanilla plantations (and now rum).
- Taha’a is home to around 5,000 people.
- Neighboring Raiatea and Taha’a are enclosed by the same coral reef and are speculated to have been one island…way, way, way back in the day.
🙏 THANK YOU!
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RESOURCES & GEAR IN THIS VIDEO
🎥 OUR CAMERA GEAR 📷
- Sony rx10: https://amzn.to/2QAHxwx
- Sony rx100: gonewiththewynns.com/product/productsony-dsc-rx100m-iii-cyber-shot-digital-still-camera
- Drone: https://amzn.to/2VQ2pzi
🌊SNORKLE / FREEDIVE GEAR
Nikki
- Mask With Camera Mount: http://amzn.to/2d5C6SB
- Snorkel: http://amzn.to/2cjh3dV
- Fins: Too old to list
Jason
- Mask: http://amzn.to/2uuqsZf
- Snorkel: http://amzn.to/2uxCjEb
- Fins: Too old to list
🎶AWESOME tunes:
- Source: http://bit.ly/artlist-gwtw
- Artists: Giants and Pilgrims (Intro Music)
- Main Music: Dyalla
- https://soundcloud.com/dyallas/albums
SAILING REPORT
To see our full map with interactive pins, click here: gonewiththewynns.com/map
Bora Bora to Taha’a, French Polynesia
- Nautical Miles Sailed: 27.8
- Anchorage/Mooring: Baie Tapuamu
- Date: December 2018
Michael
What a great lagoon! How much easier can nature be? Wow!
And, no, that’s not vegetarian. That’s pescatarian. Nice try though. 😉
I’ll bet you wished you had bought bug spray and extra water filter pumps. Let’s see, ah, air = number one, drinking water = number two, reasonable temperature = number three, protection from bugs and other animals = number four? Maybe that’s in the wrong order? Oh, yeah, and then there’s food. Oh, well, I’m pretty sure of the first two. (Snicker and chortle.)
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. Love you guys. Keep up the good work.
By the way, would Dyneema rope solve problems of rope rot on the trampoline?
Michael
What’s the current plan/timeline on resolving the watermaker issue?
Nikki Wynn
You will see the plan on that in the next video. 😉
Debbie Rhode
Love the coral garden. The water is so clear and beautiful and the sea life is fantastic. Nice to see this area was is not crowded with hotels and tourists. Your videos are really first class.
Jeffrey Stenberg
I’m with David ” “
Jeff & Lorrie Forgey
Jason, liked the rum comment ” did not taste like rocket fuel” nice tasting notes. Gotta love that Hinano. How long is the delay on the videos? I see you left Bora Bora a while ago Am I confused or did I just drink some Rocket Fuel? Loved the peaceful Magic Carpet Ride. What island was the last one filmed in Tahaa? Happy Anniversary and Birthday. Nikki, great meal of eggs and avocado and tomatoes…my daughter makes that all the time. Get that water situation fixed or you will have to go on a Hinano and Rum diet…..that may not be a bad idea.
Curious Minion
Haha! Yes, high praise indeed for the rum!
You may have been drinking rocket fuel, but you’re not all that confused. The dates of filming (along with nautical miles sailed & other stats) are listed at the end of each blog post. In this case, filmed in December of last year. The videos will always be behind real time, as life gets in the way and long passages or lots of repairs can cut into editing time.
Hope that helps. The Wynns will see your good wishes when they’re back online.
Curious Minion
Jeff & lorrie Forgey
Thats what I thought. Did not realize it was a 6 month delay.
Roy Hardcastle
Good pictures. Jason happy birthday Jason & Nikki happy anniversary. RoyH
Mark of SJC
Breathtaking video – as usual! Thanks for sharing the special things (awesome food) as well as the realities (bugs!)
On the issue of water and dishes – can’t you use seawater to rinse, if not clean them?
Curious Minion
Seawater is full of all sorts of microscopic critters, including bacteria, and close to land it will also contain a bunch of human “pollutants” so it’s best not to without purifying it at least. And then you’d have salt all over everything when it dried so that would affect the taste I think.
Curious Minion
rj
hey, what happened to my original comment? it’s gone! 🙁
Curious Minion
Hi RJ. It may have contained something that got it placed into the spam folder, and that gets emptied automatically. That’s just a guess though. Feel free to comment again.
Curious Minion
Alan L Solomon
Cool video.
Peaceful town. I like the houses 4 minutes in, on the beach from the drone. Peaceful waters. I like the coral gardens, there was some color to the coral, lots of life and lots of fish. Peaceful Curiosity. No schedules, no phones, no traffic, no concrete, no crowds. Just happy cats and the two of you in paradise.
Safe travels,
rj
loved this one! i like the freedom of snorkeling over the constraints of diving ( even though i do both.) i follow about 8 sailing vlogs, but i have to say yours are the most polished and entertaining. also you two are such an awesome pair.
biting bugs are the worst. they can ruin a great evening. did you guys forget your bug spray? or were these the kind of bugs that think your bug spay is an aphrodisiac?
Curious Minion
Ah, now I see. If it’s your first comment ever on the blog it’s automatically held in pending for approval. Now that you’ve had comments approved they should pop right up unless they contain questionable content.
Curious Minion
rj
thank you 🙂
Bill23799
Thank you both for another great video. I was wondering what was wrong with the water maker.
Jason didn’t you make a repair to it not too long ago?
Curious Minion
That was a water pump for an engine. Too many moving parts to keep straight and to fix haha!
Curious Minion
Dave
Hey Jason and Nikki. What video editing program do you use.
Thanks, Dave
Curious Minion
For video editing, primarily Adobe Premier Pro. For still photos, primarily Adobe Lightroom. Hope that helps!
Curious Minion
Mary
I’m so glad y’all finally found water! Hopefully you had a supply for drinking water.
Loved the magic carpet ride! I think that was a great description!
Dorrie
Nikki and Jason, I can’t tell you how much my husband and I have enjoyed watching your videos and living vicariously through your sailing and rv adventures. We found your videos and website via a youtube search as we too are looking to check out of the standard 9 to 5 grind and start living the dream (life really is just too short). The quality of your videos are amazing and very professional. They make us feel like we are right there, experiencing your adventures as well as the setbacks with you. Thank you for all the time you put into capturing and editing your amazing travels and allowing us a window, if only for a little while, to experience your great adventure.
Roger B
Does it rain very much to enable you to make a funnel for directing water to your fresh water tanks? I always love your drone videos that give us an overall perspective of your locations and terrain. The fish are so colorful. Some of them appear as if they were hand painted.
David Burnett
The coral garden was the best!
As for water, was there not a jetty you could tie up at, to get a hose into your tanks?
A bucket at a time is hard work!
Hampel Rutledge
I’m like Jason, Rum tour first! Looked really interesting. Love the snorkeling shots, so many fish. Do you know what the long thin ones are? Hope you get the parts you need to fix your water maker.
Sallie McKenna
You make my Sundays happy!!!
Dinah
Breathtaking, adventurous, industrious, hilarious. I love that you show (and always have) all the sides of adventure travel. Keep it real. Safe passage.
Norman Frenk
Love it! Sunday Smiles back at ya!
Cathy
Look forward to this post every Sunday! Is it scary at all piloting at night? On Minion? In open water on Curiosity? Haha…maybe that back alley was scarier!
Thank you
John DiToro
In this video you refer to a guide book that helps you fins some of these places. I will be sailing there in August/September and have yet to find a good cruising guide. Can you post a reference or link you your book?
THanks
Gramp David
Nikki spoke of “cute” boats. I don’t think of many boats as ‘cute’, but this one on Youtube qualifies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VomIoikyQI . I built it for my grandson about ten years ago.
James
You guys do a great job with your camera work and editing. The subjects are interesting and Niki I never see you in the same outfit twice. Your clothes must take up a lot of space.
Keep up the good work. Your next gig will be a travel show on cable tv.
Sandra Behler
The coral garden was so beautiful- great shots btw. How come no one else was there?
Mark Holowasko
My wife and I love watching your adventures 🙂 thank you for doing all you do. You are both amazing in everything you do.
David Anthoney
Great post, beautiful pictures, as always thank you for sharing.