Anchorage· Tahiti Iti (Taiarapu peninsula)· French Polynesia — Society Islands

Tautira – Cook's Anchorage (Vaitepiha Bay, Tahiti Iti)

17° 45.0′ S · 149° 10.2′ W

The historic anchorage behind Tautira Point at the north-east tip of Tahiti Iti, where Boenechea's Aguila and Cook's ships lay in the 1770s and Robert Louis Stevenson's Casco called in 1888: wild, rainy and rarely visited by yachts.

Society IslandsTahiti & Moorea

Practical

Coordinates: 'Mouillage de Cook' as mapped on OpenStreetMap. Sailing-directions description (English Wikipedia): the reef breaks off just west of Tautira Point, leaving a very deep gap about 730 m wide; from Vaionifa Pass a channel 370–550 m wide runs about 4 km north inside the reef to a cul-de-sac off the village, with mud almost everywhere in 19–37 fathoms, shoaling to 16 and 8 fathoms at the north end. No cruising-guide report or anchoring regulation for Taiarapu-Est was found in this research (the DPAM lists only Taiarapu-Ouest and Faa'a/Punaauia plans), so check with DPAM before staying. Expect deep anchoring, heavy rain (the wettest coast of Tahiti) and swell when the trades blow hard from the east. Marina de Tautira (-17.7526, -149.15811) is a small local boat harbour; Plage de Tatatua park is ashore.

Best for

Adventurous, off-the-beaten-track stop on Tahiti Iti's east coast

Season

Settled light trades only; exposed and very wet in strong easterlies

Nearby