Adventures Diving French Polynesia Sailing Society Islands Videos

The Magic Carpet Ride – Sailing Taha’a

Nikki Wynn

Jun 16, 2019 — 3 min read

Nobody ever truly knows what the day ahead holds for them. So, it’s silly to go about life any other way than wide eyed and ready for anything.

Add a new destination and a sailboat into the mix and it’s a surprise pie to be served up one slice at time. Today was one of those days filled with surprises, served up one by one.

It all starts with a beautiful sail to the tiny island of Taha’a and ends with filling water buckets in a dark alley behind a gas station. And that’s not even the exciting bits!

Most days we grumble on about how much longer everything takes when living on a boat. But, this day blows that whole argument out of the water.

We sailed to a new island, toured a rum factory, picked up groceries, took a few rides on the magic carpet through the coral gardens, had a date night dinner out and managed to fill our water buckets.

And, only one small thing broke on the boat (note to self: replace trampoline lines). T’was a damned fine day I say, damned fine.

The Magic Carpet Ride

It seems almost every island has an area dubbed the Coral Garden. But, this one has certainly earned the name! I would go so far as to say it’s my favorite snorkeling spot so far in French Polynesia.

nikki wynn snorkeling tahaa through the coral gardens

snorkeling tahaa magic carpet ride through the coral gardens

Nikki Wynn Snorkeling Taha'a coral garden

Look for Le Taha’a Island Resort & Spa on the map or the three motu’s across from Baie Tapuamu on your sailing charts. While it’s good fun anytime, high tide is best because some of the areas are super shallow.

Pro tip: bring your water shoes or scuba booties for the walk back to the entrance.

Taha'a coral gardens in french polynesia

looking down onto Taha'a coral gardens snorkeling

Taha’a Fun Facts

Lovely speck of rock located in the Society Islands Archipelago.
33 square miles funded by tourism, pearl farming, fishing and vanilla plantations (and now rum).
Taha’a is home to around 5,000 people.
Neighboring Raiatea and Taha’a are enclosed by the same coral reef and are speculated to have been one island…way, way, way back in the day.

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