South Pacific

June 30 – July 23, 2012

What better way to start off a year in France than by visiting some of the exotic islands and atolls of French Polynesia! We had an absolutely amazing 3 weeks aboard Ruby Soho surrounded by great friends, picture perfect views, world class snorkeling, and friendly french locals. Add in a romantic engagement and an outrageous amount of baguette and cheese, and you have one incredibly memorable trip!

Here are some of the highlights:

Flying into Takaroa, one of the 4 Atolls we visited, to meet up with the Ruby Soho crew. Atolls are ring-shaped coral islands, formed over millions of years as the volcanos which originally formed the islands sink back into the Ocean, leaving behind a picturesque lagoon in the middle.

Our magnificent floating home for three weeks

Sailing between the atolls was fun!

A definite trip highlight - lounging around! Here's one of our many e-reader parties. We both made some serious headway in the Game of Thrones series.

A biking excursion around the atoll of Rangiroa - including a winery tour, some much needed grocery shopping, and serval bike beers to help cool us off!

We celebrated Bastille Day, a National French holiday, by participating in a local festival. In addition to a band and the usual polynesian fare of steak and frites and paninis, we participated in several sporting events including Soccer, Ping Pong, Beach Volleyball and Bocci. After being destroyed in every event, the prizes such as calves, boxes of chicken, and kilos of rice and sugar went to the much deserving locals, instead of the bilges of Ruby Soho as we had hoped.

Arriving in Cook's Bay on Mo'orea island. After all the tiny atolls, lush, solid land never looked so good!

We rented a car and explored Mo'orea, including stopping at Belvedere Lookout.

Snorkelling with stingrays was amazing. If you had fish to feed them they were especially friendly (a little too friendly at times!)

After arriving on Tahiti and mooring in the marina there, it was time for some skurfing off the back of the dingy. Unfortunately the dingy engine died and it had to be towed back to Ruby by the port authorities, so the skurfing fun was short lived.

On our last day in Tahiti we rented a car and explored the island - including several beautiful waterfalls.

We capped off our final day with a sunset surf, before heading back to the boat for one last delicious meal with the crew. Thank you Ruby Soho for the amazing adventure!

For more detailed tall tales visit the latest posts at rubysoho.ca

You can view our Full Album of South Pacific Photos online.

Here’s a snapshot of the route we sailed…

Takaroa - Manihi - Ahe - Rangiroa - Mo'orea - Tahiti

Takaroa

Manihi

Ahe

Rangiroa

Moorea, Tahiti

Moorea and Tahiti