Peak relaxation - Dream Yacht Charter€¦ · Shamballa Jewels BRACELETS from $3,250 TF Est. 1968 CUFFLINKS from $485 Deakin & Francis CUFFLINKS from $395 De. L10 Life&Leisure 13-15

L10 Life&Leisure 13-15 December, 2013TheAustralianFinancialReview | www.afr.com

13-15 December, 2013www.afr.com| TheAustralianFinancialReview Life&Leisure L11

“Twenty years from now, you will be moredisappointed by the things you didn’t dothan those you did. So throw off thebowlines. Sail away from safe harbour.Catch the wind in your sails. Explore.Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

A curious contentment comes fromshrinking your entire world down to a 47-foot piece of fibreglass adrift on a calmblue sea. Some seek this kind of peace onan island, but then a catamaran is muchsmaller, and with far fewer intruders.Though, truth be told, I feel morecockiness then contentment as I take myfirst step aboard my skippered catamaran.But who wouldn’t feel at least a smidgeonof smugness bobbing on top of all this blueSouth Pacific, with a meal of just-reeled-inWahoo sashimi – and a bottle of chilledFrench chenin blanc – waiting on the sterndeck.

I’m aboard the good ship Chappe – aluxury catamaran offering hot showersand queen-sized beds, which feels ashomely as a lagoon-side villa – for asailing charter through French Polynesia’sSociety Islands.

This trip will take me through one of theworld’s prettiest sailing regions, from thelesser-known (but no less picturesque)islands of Huahine, Ra’iatea and Taha’a tothe fabled lagoon of the world’s mostromanticised island, Bora Bora.

No sailing experience is necessary,though you’re more than welcome to lenda hand; cooking and dishes duties are thedomain of your host, Mahlai.

The advantage of a catamaran for thosewith questionable sea legs is that catsnever lean – so apart from the rhythmicheave-ho of the sea that you’ll soon getused to, living aboard Chappe is hardly likestowing away on Cook’s Endeavour.

It’s the freedom granted to the sailorthat differentiates any boat charter from astandard holiday: think of Chappe as ahotel room that moves with you across thesea. From the moment we leave Huahine’stiny port town of Fale, we’re free to roamwhere the wind takes us.

With lunch barely digested, I leap fromthe back deck, then float in the warm,turquoise lagoon; every stop at anchor willbring with it unlimited floating time.

We set sail round Huahine’smountainous west coast, anchoring intime to catch a sunset of burning orangethat fades quickly to mauve, revealing thescratchy, ghostly outlines of Ra’iatea andTaha’a on the horizon. When the lightdims entirely, beaming planets shine ondown, auroras of tiny stars sparkle andstars catapult across the entire sky –

nowhere offers the view of the Pacific’snight skies like the deck of a darkened cat.

And I doubt a holidaymaker could findthe kind of peaceful silence that arriveswith dawn anywhere but at anchor in astill lagoon. I wake with the sunrise, barelyopening my eyes before I ease myself intothe warm sea and swim to shore. Earlymornings are always my favourite time inPolynesia; long before the sun starts tosting, and I can walk along desertedbeaches and into tiny villages that smell ofall those things Polynesian: the musk ofoverripe coconuts, the sweet fragranceof pawpaw and the lingering odourfrom backyard burn-offs (Polynesianshave a penchant for cleanliness thatborders on obsessive).

There are land excursions to choosefrom on these islands, should you wish;locals will take you in small, personalisedgroups to their favourite places. But each

time I leave Chappe, I find myself longingto return; to swim off her back deck, toread, or just to sit and stare from the aftdeck at the sheer magnitude of themountains in these tiny islands, and howdrastically they career down into lagoons.

When the breeze suits best, we sailwestward to Ra’iatea and Taha’a, the windbehind us, our sails luffing, and the sea thecolour and consistency of ink. As I take thewheel, a humpback breaches to port andflying fish skim across our path.

“There is nothing like lying flat on yourback on the deck alone except for thehelmsman at the wheel, silence except forthe lapping of the sea ... at that time youcan be equal to Ulysses,” Errol Flynntheorised. We enter Ra’iatea and Taha’a’sgigantic shared lagoon through a narrowpass in the reef. We reach the safety of oneof the Pacific’s largest, and most stunning,lagoons – but while 80 per cent of visitorsto French Polynesia will see Bora Bora’sfamous lagoon, only a few thousand of themore adventurous travellers venture hereeach year.

On each side of Chappe, Ra’iatea andTaha’a’s towering billiard-table-greenmountains – some more than a kilometrehigh – are shrouded in the only clouds I’ll

see all voyage, before they drop away tohundreds of hidden, uninhabited valleys.

Taha’a is a quiet place, there are nocities, nor sprawling resorts. In fact, thereare barely any supermarkets; locals tie redribbons outside their houses when theyneed the grocery truck to stop. Few ofTaha’a’s residents work in tourism as theydo 40 kilometres away in Bora Bora. Herethey’re mostly subsistence farmers or tendto Taha’a’s world’s-finest vanilla beans.

We sail to a motu (tiny islet) a kilometrenorth of Taha’a. I swim off the kind ofperfect white, sandy beach you can onlyfind in Polynesia, then use the swiftcurrent to snorkel through an intricate

coral corridor where hundreds of yellow,green, purple, blue and orange reef fishdrift with me. Moray eels fix me with steelystares from within coral heads.

At sunset, we take Chappe’s tender toMotu Tau Tau’s isolated Le Taha’a IslandResort, and dine under a billion stars on anoutdoor verandah built around the trunkof a giant banyan tree.

But it’s Bora Bora that’s the star of theseSociety Islands: I can feel its magnetic pullfrom the moment I first see it across theocean off Taha’a. As we set sail and itlooms closer, I will the breeze to fill oursails and push us faster. There’s nothinglike seeing Bora Bora from the deck of

TRAVEL FRENCH POLYNESIA

PeakrelaxationCruisingonyourownskipperedcatamaranisthebestwaytoexplorethebeautifulSouthPacific,writesCraigTansley.

iNeed to knowSail-only packageSeven nights sharedboat charter with askipper and host.$1525 pp twin share.dreamyachtcharter.comGetting thereAir Tahiti Nui offerthree weekly one-stop flights to Tahiti.airtahitinui.com.au

Complete your FrenchPolynesian adventure bystretching out at one of theworld’s most exotic resorts,St Regis Bora Bora.

Come back to earth thegentlest way possible with astay at this 18-hectareproperty, built right onBora Bora’s lagoon withuninterrupted views ofMount Otemanu.

You can still jumpstraight into the lagoon atdawn, but with all the spaceyou need inside a 145-

square-metre deluxe over-water villa, with privateterrace and gazebo.

Or stay where NicoleKidman and Keith Urbanhoneymooned in the 1200-square-metre Royal Estate,which comes with its veryown white sand beach.Smooth out any sailingaches and pains at theClarins Day Spa built on itsown private island.stregisborabora.com

Tahiti TravelConnection is offering a

seven-night package from$6420 a person, includingthree nights on a privateyacht charter, returneconomy airfares fromSydney, Melbourne orBrisbane, one night pre-and post-tripaccommodation in Tahiti,two nights at the St RegisBora Bora in an over-waterbungalow and all inter-island flights and transfers.

Call 1300 858 305 or visittahititravel.com.au ortahitinow.com.au

Theperfectending

Main and aboveright, at anchor onBora Bora lagoon.Above left, life onboard. Far right,kayaking off thecat. PHOTOS: CRAIGTANSLEY

your own boat – it’s the very same view thefirst explorers through French Polynesiahad centuries ago: what must Cook andBligh have made of this unearthly paradiseafter so many months at sea?(Understandably, Cook notes in his log: “weleft these islands with the greatest regret.”)

We sail beside Bora Bora’s southerncoast and enter through its safe passage,where local surfers ride head-high wavesacross a sharp, shallow reef. We anchorhere by the pass, and take the tender backout to sea to snorkel with reef and lemonsharks. On the ride back to Chappe, ahumpback whale breaches behind us. Weturn the runabout for a closer look. Withinminutes the whale changes course andsurfaces a few metres from the boat,sucking air into its lungs before

descending back down to the depths ofthe Pacific.

We travel deep inside Bora Bora’slagoon; surely, there can be no greaterplace to be at anchor anywhere on thisearth. At sunset, in the shadow of oldvolcanoes Mount Pahia and MountOtemanu, the lagoon’s famous turquoisehue melts to a soft purple; then a near-fullmoon rises and reflects off the water’s stillsurface. From across the water, I smell thatfamiliar waft of smoke, mixed withfrangipani, and hear the time-confused cryof the ever present Polynesian rooster.Close by, rock stars and movie stars bunkdown for the night in fancy over-waterbungalows, but there’s no place I’d soonerbe than here at anchor, watching my ownstars shoot across the evening sky.

Each time I leaveChappe, I find myselflonging to return; toswim off her back ...or just to sit and starefrom the aft deck.

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