I stayed at the Hinano Hotel, which is located in a nice building right in the center of Uturoa, a block from the wharf.  Hinano is the name of the national beer, which is terrific, so I thought chances were that the hotel would be good too.  It was very nice and quite reasonably priced.  They even have hot water showers!  Being "down town" made it quite easy to get out to different places for meals and do some shopping.
Raiatea is an internationally renowned yachting center, and is home to three yacht clubs, spaced evenly around the island.  The largest of these, The Moorings, is just down the road from Uturoa.  When I visited, there were about a dozen touring yachts moored, and another dozen that were for rent.  I spent the better part of a few afternoons there talking to the Yachties. 

I was told that the boats tend to travel together,  separating from time to time and then meeting up in different parts of the Pacific.  Some of them have been travelling together for over two years.  They often have crews from different boats over for drinks or dinner, and meet once a month in different harbors for a book swap.  The boats can go 2500-3000 miles under engine power, but almost never do.  They are at anchorage most of the time, and  typically sail several days a month. 

The biggest surprise for me was finding out that many of the yachties aren't particularly well off.  I had always thought people that travel the South Pacific on Yachts were all at least wealthy, but that isn't the case.  Several were technicians or journeyman laborers.  They would go to a country, work for a year or two to save money, and then sail until their money ran out.  They would then work for a while and repeat the process, travelling around the world over the span of a few years.  I was told that the cost of operating a boat can be as little as $5,000 per year, or considerably less than I pay for rent alone. 

I dove a total of four times in the five days I spent on Raiatea.  The dives tended to be fairly shallow, with a maximum depth of 70 ft. or so, and there was rarely much in the way of current.  Visibility was terrific on some dives and poor on others. Two of the dives were on the same reef.  Once again, the coral was not in great shape. While it was better than that in Rangiroa, it still wasn't very healthy. 

Fish life was fairly good, with great variety but modest density.  There were large numbers of surgeonfish, butterflys, and angelfish.  On one dive we even saw an octopus.  One time the dive guide brought down a fish carcass, which soon attracted a few good sized (4-5 ft.) Black Tip reef sharks.  They weren't particularly interested in us, and didn't stick around long after the food was gone.

My friend at the right was a very curious and courageous individual.  It was very tame, approaching within inches of us.  It had been fed by divers many times and would quickly swim over on most of the dives.   He was about three ft. long and must have weighed at least twenty lbs.. 

I also did a wreck dive, penetrating into the hull of  the Bali Hai, a schooner that sank around the turn of the century.  The dive guide gave us a thorough preview of what we were going to do, walking us through the schematic of the wreck while we were still at the dive shop.

The hull is on it's side in sixty five ft. of water, not far from some overwater bungalows.  It's wooden deck and masts rotted away many years ago, but the hull is perfectly intact. The deck consists of a series of iron beams connected to both sides of the hull. Wooden planks were once fitted between the beams.  You enter the hull by swimming through the beams. Inside is a rather large air bubble left by divers over the years.  You can actually "surface" in it and talk to other divers.  The lighting is poor, and the auto-focus on my camera had a tough time in those conditions.  This wasn't a great loss, since there wasn't much to take photographs of inside the hull anyway.

Unfortunately,  the visibility for the whole area was very poor, at 15-20 ft.  I tend to think that this is the usual condition, since much of the area was covered in a thick layer of mud, and it was mud particles that were limiting the visibility.  As a consequence, we didn't see too many fish.  I did see two of the largest Regal Angelfish I've ever seen.  They were at least ten inches long, and absolutely gorgeous.  They are appropriately named. 

We also saw some nice corals.  They were a purple color, were quite thin, and were shaped like the branches of a tree in winter.  This was the only place in French Polynesia that I saw them.  All of the other corals were of the conventional hard variety, and were a combination of greys and whites in color. 

I saw almost a dozen Moray Eels in French Polynesia, most of them in Raiatea. I encountered a few in Rangiroa as well.  They tended to be fairly shy initially, staying in their little nook as we swam up. They did seem somewhat curious about divers, and would poke their heads out to see what we were doing. 

I saw one swimming once, which was very interesting.  They glide from side to side through the water in a manner similar to the way snakes move on land.  One actually started to come after us, though it didn't get very far.

The Morays were about five to six inches across, so they were probably about four feet in length.  I never saw small ones, though they were probably around.  Morays breathe through their mouths, which makes them look much more menacing than they really are. 

Nonetheless, they certainly should be treated with respect.  If one were to bite you, you're in for a very rough day.  They tend to hang on tight.  Their teeth curve backwards, into the mouth, so it's difficult for them to let go even if they wanted to.  When they are lodged in a crevice, they are very difficult to dislodge.  Morays make good photo subjects, since they don't seem to be intimidated by divers or cameras, and tend to stay in the same place.

The Peacock Grouper  below is much more attractive than the picture indicates.  It is a deep brown color (similar to the Moray Eel above) and has the most beautiful deep blue dots all over it, with deep blue shading on the fins.  This one was about 10 inches long.  Unfortunately they tended to be fairly shy, so getting close enough to get the shot was a challenge.

I dove with Hemisphere Scuba, which is based at the Marina Apooiti.  Their boat is a conventional mono-hull design, with a ladder for re-entry.  It has space for ten divers, but there were rarely more than six on any dive, so there was plenty of room.  The dive guides were friendly and knowledgeable.  They did an excellent job of pre-briefing.

They also allowed more flexibility in terms of staying with the group.  The guides didn't mind as long as you stayed within 15-20 ft. of the group.  This made taking pictures considerably easier. They will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel.

On my last day on Raiatea, I rented a car and drove around the island.  The car was expensive ($50 for 8 hrs.) and pretty lousy.  I've never driven a Yugo, but now I have a feel for what I've been missing. In making the drive I did get to see quite a bit of the coast, including some nice inlets.  I stopped for a bit at the French Yacht Club, which wasn't too impressive.

Late in the day, I climbed Mt.Taiopi, which is over three hundred yards tall, at sunset.  It's more of a hike than a climb, and takes about half an hour.  The view  from the top is absolutely spectacular.  You can see all of the Leeward islands (Tahaa, Bora Bora and Huahine) on a clear day.  I was expecting to find the top deserted, but instead found two couples who worked on a cruise ship, the Windsong ,enjoying  the view.  We watched the sunset together.  The first picture on my home page and the top picture on the Bora Bora page were taken there. 

After hiking down, I got back in the rental car and drove down this road.  As I was driving I saw a large (200+ lb.) pig trotting down the road.  I guess it decided it would make other dinner plans and had escaped.  Dogs run freely everywhere, but this was the first time I had seen a pig out for a stroll.  French Polynesia is full of surprises.