Tahiti-Taha’a and a birthday

2026-6 | FALKEN | Tahiti-Bora Bora Cruising
Mary Vaughan-Jones
Mary Vaughan-Jones
Passage Blog
Wednesday, May 20, 2026

1626| 17 32.38’N 149 34.20’W

In-Port

Leg 6 crew are on board and ready to go see some islands! With new regulations in French Polynesia that require booking anchorages (I’m all for this idea as it protects the reef, but it would be nice if it was on a website that works more than 12% of the time), we’re having to be slightly more regimented than the ideal of moseying around and popping in wherever looks nice. That being said we have quite an exciting itinerary ahead of us. 

As the intrepid crew we are, we’ve decided to forgo the well know Bora Bora in favour of exploring some of the other less famous islands- namely Taha’a and Huanine. Today we’ll set off for Taha’a once we’ve finished safety briefings. I was initially nervous of the crews reaction for the incinerate proposed- this is after all the Tahiti- Bora Bora cruising trip. However the allures of a drift coral snorkel, manta ray feeding station and vanilla farms available from the anchorage at Tapuamu bay was met with very positive reactions. 

The wind, as seems the usual on my passages, isn’t playing ball with us. It’s looking like those lovely east trade winds and deciding they’d like to come from the NW today, i.e. exactly where we want to go. It’s a chance to dig our upwind sail out of the locker though and give it some fresh air. A first for all of us on board! The trade winds do immediately plan on switching back to their normal direction once we’ve arrived, so lucky us get even more upwind sailing when we make our way back in a couple of days! 

Happy birthday to Maddie today! 

Mary 

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