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Raiatea Coast Road Drive

Posted on April 05, 2009 by: Traveler

Closest City: Uturoa, Raiatea
State:
Country: French Polynesia

Raiatea Island Coast Road Drive

Shortly after checking into the Hawaiki Nui Pearl Beach Resort on the island of Raiatea, Danielle and I were picked up by an employee of EuropeCar. We were taken to the far side of Uturoa to pick out our outstanding specimen of a rental car; a blue Fiat. Just like our rental car on the island of Tahiti, this Fiat was a stick-shift (which I can drive… grind, grind, after some refresher shifting). And just like Tahiti’s coast road, Danielle and I planned to circumnavigate Raiatea using our Lonely Planet guide; “Tahiti & French Polynesia”. After signing the bottom line, we were told our rental had to be returned in eight hours otherwise we would have to pay a two-day charge (I believe around 6500 CFP per day). Let the exploring begin!

The island of Raiatea is roughly triangular in shape with Uturoa being at the northern point. We planned to drive due south along the eastern side of the island passing the Hawaiki Nui and Pension Manava where we had originally planned to stay. South of Manava and we were driving uncharted territory. Just as we had seen in the previous day, there are a ton of rivers draining down from the high peaks of Raiatea. The water is brown with sediment and is testament to how much rain this area receives during the wintertime (well, the northern hemisphere’s winter which actually was French Polynesia’s summer months). NOTE: The highest point of Raiatea’s 170 square kilometers of land mass is Mt. Tefatua at 1071 meters above sea level. The Faaroa River (beginning along the flank of Mt. Tefatua) is the only navigable river in French Polynesia and lets out at the bay of the same name (unknown if there are river rafting possibilities or outfitters).

Raiatea’s coast road is approximately 98 kilometers and virtually hugs the coast the entire trip around with a few minor digressions above sea-level. An inland road at the southern half of the island connects Faaroa Bay on the eastern side with Faatemu Bay on the southern portion of Raiatea. For those drivers wanting to cover every inch of asphalt / crushed coral road you could make a figure eight maneuver (going over this inland road twice) which would stretch the total driving distance to approximately 111 kilometers.

Soon after passing Pension Manava I found my first point of interest to stop and take pictures. Danielle knew this would be a recurring theme with me at the helm. Once we reached Faaroa Bay and drove to the beginning of the inland road, we decided to go up the middle to a belvedere or lookout point at the top. The view down to the bay was amazing and the interior of the island was lush and many shades of green. Danielle and I took this opportunity to make lunch consisting of PB&J sandwiches. We read there would not be many choices to stop and eat along this day’s drive as Raiatea is one of the quieter of the Society Group’s Leeward isles. Surprisingly, it is also one of the largest islands in French Polynesia. Up at the belvedere, I looked out at all the vegetation surrounding us and made a joke to Danielle that the LARGE tropical specimens we were looking at are sold in little two-inch pots at The Home Depot. She didn’t see the humor in my statements.

From the top, we continued to the opposite side and reached the coast road at Faatemu Bay. We turned left and headed east in an attempt to find Marae Taputapuatea. This marae is one of the largest and most important in all of French Polynesia. Speaking of its importance, the Lonely Planet guide stated, “It’s said that any new marae on another island had to incorporate a stone from Marae Taputapuatea”. So we drove along the southeast coast looking for this large marae but could not find it (no clear signs like we’re used to in the U.S.). I drove west along the southern portion of the road and then north along the western side of Raiatea but still no luck. Finally giving up we doubled back and continued on up the west coast. We saw lots of waterfalls coming down from sheer walls whose summits were hidden in Raiatea’s ever-present storm clouds. The road crossed over many small streams. Before making the stream crossing, the two-way road converged down to a narrow track and I had to navigate on top of wooden trusses to the far side where the road then re-expanded back out to the regular width. We taped ourselves crossing over one in the YouTube video link below.

In the town of Tevaitoa we stopped at Marae Tainuu. The description of this sacred Polynesian site couldn’t be laid out in a more concise fashion than what the authors of our Lonely Planet guide wrote so I am going to plagiarize them again! The Lonely Planet guide reads as follows: “In the middle of the village of Tevaitoa stands the island’s oldest Protestant church, an architecturally curious-looking creation but not of great interest were it not built, in one of those examples of Christian respect for other beliefs that warms the heart (my bold highlight), smack on top of a magnificent marae. Behind the church the walls of the marae stretch for just over 50m, some of the massive upright stones standing over 4m high. Unusually, there’s an explanation panel at the site entrance.” Danielle and I admired the work of the ancients and the ignorance of others for a while before continuing on to the Apooiti Marina and yacht club.

The year was 1769… that is when the legendary Captain James Cook, the greatest Euopean Pacific navigator, discovered French Polynesia anchoring his ship, “The Endeavour”, near Opoa. Hopefully, he got to see Marae Taputapuatea because it is nearby. He visited other Polynesian isles. Cook later returned to Raiatea in 1774 while on his second important exploratory sail from Europe. Long after Cook, a pioneering missionary named John Williams sailed amongst the islands in the South Pacific and set up shop on Raiatea. It is from this island that the missionaries spread “the good word” to the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands (1823) and further on the Samoan Islands (1830). Presumably after building a church on top of Marae Tainuu. Then the French invaded suppressing all disenters and exiling the Chief of Raiatea named Teraupoo.

History lesson’s almost over… long before Captain Cook and the Missionaries ever dared to sail this uncharted territory, ancient Polynesians were plying the waters of the South Pacific settling on Raiatea first (out of the islands of French Polynesia) from the island of Samoa. Sailing / yachting still remains and important part of this island’s culture. The three-kilometer wide channel separating Raiatea from her smaller sister island Tahaa and the reef system circling around both islands form a deep hourglass shaped lagoon. All I’m simply getting at here is these two islands are a natural draw for Yachties and their ilk. And that is one of the last sights Danielle and I saw before coming back full circle to the town of Uturoa was the Apooiti Marina with it’s gorgeous boats.

We actually made it back to the EuropeCar three hours early and didn’t feel the need to keep the car for the full eight hours. I attempted to get a partial refund for driving only two-thirds of our allotted time but was told I couldn’t. I paid with my credit card and the employee couldn’t give back credit. Oh well!

Danielle and I thoroughly enjoyed Raiatea’s relaxed atmosphere and the lush island interior. We noticed an absence of beaches compared with the neighboring Society Islands. Our Lonely Planet guide warned us of this saying most good beaches on Raiatea were out on the motu. You can see from the pictures that we did find some nice open areas with inviting water, we just didn’t expect to, so we didn’t have swim suits. We could have gone au natural but did not want to get banned from ever coming back, and anyway, we knew tomorrow’s adventure circling the island of Tahaa would be filled with motu swims and lazy beach lounging.

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