May The Force be with all of us.
Overseas shipping costs and foreign import taxes are doing their best to break our stride, but for now, they can’t distract us from heeding the call of the next horizon—a horizon that has been out of reach for the past 10 days. The Pacific was acting up, as the Pacific is wont to do.
After a week of COVID convalescence, hunkered down in Huahine to wait out a crazy patch of gusty weather, we ventured another 27 nautical miles west to Taha’a, only to shelter once again from howling winds and waves rushing beneath our hulls, as if we were cruising along at high speed while in reality we were firmly anchored down with 48 meter of chain for a depth of a mere 3 meter. The anchor didn’t budge one centimetre. As soon as the weather cleared, we set off on a rented scooter, getting high on the scents of vanilla and rum. The next day, we went drift snorkeling in the famous Coral Garden next to motu (coral island) Tau Tau on Taha’a.
Now we have reached mysterious Raiatea where the Polynesian “mana” is fortifying our body and soul. “Mana” is the name of the supernatural Force, the spiritual power that is present in all things and beings. It is a concept that has intrigued us ever since we first set foot on Polynesian soil five months ago. It truly is a crazily beautiful part of the world we are in, which bubbled up smack in the middle of a vast ocean. We can’t stop wondering about those first settlers in their powerful voyager canoes who laid eyes upon this natural wonder for the very first time. It must have felt so satisfying and so surreal. “Fenua,” they call it, or Home Sweet Home, and it is all about their connection to the land, nature, and the environment—all of which emanates “mana”.
Raiatea—believed to be the ancient isle of Havai’iki, the mythical ancestral homeland of all Polynesians—remains the spiritual heart of the Polynesian Triangle to this day. The Triangle is the vast oceanic territory that stretches from Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, which we sadly skipped, to Hawai’i, which we visited in a quite spectacular way, and down to Aotearoa, (New Zealand), which we are slowly heading to this sailing season.
Perhaps it’s because my Captain has finally stopped with the nasty cough, the truth is, we felt invigorated enough to do a bit of inland tramping. To the UNESCO World Heritage site of Taputapuatea for instance. Or to the overlooks to get immersed once more in the immense vastness of it all with its dazzling palette of blues.
May the Force be with all of us.
Part of the Taputapuatea marae complex to the bottom left as seen from above. Marae were places of religious and political gatherings…. and of human sacrifice. If total control of the masses is what you desire, there’s nothing like inventing a fierce God who demands human flesh on a regular basis. And that’s exactly what the chiefs and priests on Raiatea did at some point in time: they started the cult of Oro, the God of War and Raiatea turned into a central pilgrimage site for the Society Islands.
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Straks verlaten we Frans Polynesië. Maar eerst nog een korte stop in Bora Bora. Onze Kroatische gids op de Markiezen noemde het denigrerend “boring, boring”. We moeten dus zelf es gaan kijken, hé.