July 30 - Departure plans

Position: S16deg30.64min/W151deg46.08min We anchored on the west side of Motu Toopua to escape the strong SE winds that came thru. We had some gusts in the 20's but the anchorage was secure, and we got sketchy internet (very slow) as well. Yesterday the weather had moderated enough for us to dinghy the 1.5 miles to Bloody Mary's with Slip Away. Bloody Mary's is a Bora Bora iconic restaurant/bar. We had a wonderful lunch there, served, of course, with bloody mary's, and met up with friends who got out of their taxi at the exact moment we had walked up the dock. Talk about timing! We're making plans to depart Monday for Suwarrow Atoll, an isolated island about 700 nm from here where the Kiwi hermit Tom Neale used to live. Much more about that later. Many other boats are either underway, or are in active departure mode, so I expect a crowd there. We've cleaned the bottom, gone over systems, and S is cooking up a bunch of stuff for passage. We'll be off the internet until Tonga (at least we expect to find it there!). All's well aboard; we're having fun, and as our 90 day visa for French Polynesia is coming to a close, it's time to head west. Hope all's well with all of you reading this; we'd love to hear from you via SailMail. Cheers!

July 25 - Piti Aau Motu - Bora Bora

Position: S16deg31.93min/W151deg42.35min. We've really enjoyed our anchorage here in the 'swimming pool' - 10' of crystal clear water, but will slowly start to move back toward town, as our time in French Polynesia is coming to a close. Today we enjoyed the clarity of the water when snorkeling nearby. Many rays were sleeping under a thin layer of sand, and others were slowly circling the coral heads. We've cleaned the boat bottom and prop, lubricated a few winches, got a hair cut (M, in the dinghy this time!), and as usual have been doing a lot of reading. We've also enjoyed our friends company on Yolo (You Only Live Once), and Slip Away, both anchored nearby. Overhead, the stars are amazing; the Southern Cross is visible and there's no moon. We've found faster internet connection here than in town, and Sue's uploaded some new picture albums - enjoy!

July 23 - Bora Bora anchoring and mooring information

Mooring buoys here are like gold. At the old Bora Bora Yacht Club, the new Mai Kai Yacht Club and at Bloody Mary's they're traded, reserved, paid for, and coveted by some, and many cruisers stay on them for a week or two at a time. Some are free; others are 2000 cfp's a night (figure about 80 cfp per one USD). We, on the other hand, don't particularly like to be on a buoy, as one never knows the quality of the materials used to construct the mooring buoy or the maintenance history of it. Unfortunately, anchoring around here is frequently in water 60'-80' deep; you pray you don't wrap a coral head or, in some cases, catch a submarine mooring cable! Infini is like a boat magnet; when other boats see us anchored, they come on over and anchor (it seems) right on top of us! We used to think leaving 100 meters between boats was a courtesy, but don't you believe it; we feel fortunate when a newcomer leaves a boat length between us. Last night was a good example. We had gone into town to see the final Heiva dance performance in the town square. Upon returning to the boat at 10:30pm (yes, I really can, on occasion, stay up past 8pm!), we discovered a 115' megayacht schooner anchored about 25 meters away from us! I called the boat on VHF 16 (he showed up on our AIS unit) and he didn't answer! Hmmm…needless to say I didn't sleep well and had visions of imminent collision, although the winds were calm and there were no problems. This morning we pulled anchor and moved to Taurere Motu on the southeastern side of Bora Bora and are anchored in 10' of sand with several miles of sandy beach in front of us. What a change from being in town for a few days!
Just a reminder, when you check our position, change it to satellite view to see the beautiful lagoon and motus around the island.

July 20 - Bora Bora

We sailed the 25 miles to Bora Bora in 16-20 knots of NE wind, going 6-7 knots (highest speed was 7.5 kn surfing down the face of a wave). The wind headed us coming into Teavanui Pass, which is the only pass into Bora Bora, and is located on the west side. Current coming against us in the pass was about 2 knots and reminded me, once again, that I had better clean the prop. We at first took a mooring at the MaiKai Yacht Club, but moved over to 80' of mud and dropped the anchor; the moorings had been placed way too close together, and the noise from construction of the new YC was something we didn't care to put up with. So, as a consequence of the squirrelly winds here, we're doing circles every few minutes, and I can't imagine how many twists our chain has! We'll go exploring tomorrow.

July 18 - Taha'a activities

We anchored in Hurepiti Bay and met Alain & Christine of Vanilla Tours. They provide 4 hour botanical tours of the island and were kind enough to allow us to use their dock to park our dinghies. Knowing we were hikers, they volunteered to drive the four of us (Rich, Jan, Sue & myself) to the town of Haamene, as we were off on a long excursion yesterday. We walked to the entrance of Haamene Bay, and met Tamahere and Virginie of the Tiare Breeze, a private residence and guest house. These folks were so gracious, showing us their unique home and suggesting we walk up a steep incline to their guest quarters on the hill, which provided stunning vistas of the barrier reef and bay entrance. What a grand place; we really didn't want to leave! Their daughter, Tiheni, was our delightful tour guide, spoke excellent English, and answered our many questions. The weather cooperated, and we had sunshine all day, quite a change from the rainy day before. On the way back we stopped at the MaiTai restaurant and had an expresso and profiterolles. This morning we motored to Tapuamau Bay, anchored in 78' (that's not a misprint) of mud, and declared it a boat project day. I changed the engine oil and filter, added battery water, and did a few odds and ends. Tomorrow we're planning on going snorkeling between two motus by the barrier reef, then it's off to Bora Bora the day after.
Pic- Tiheni with us up at the guest quarters...what a view!

July 15 - Uturoa activities

We returned to town in the early morning and went to the Bastille Day parade. It was a two hour affair, with floats, dancing, the judges booth, sports teams (with soccer, rugby, volleyball, basketball, tennis, and even step aerobics (!) ), a Chinese dragon doing its dance down the street, and then an odd ending - a series of off road Jeep vehicles with souped up engines, all sporting American flags! It seemed like most of the town participated in the parade and everybody was having a grand old time. After the parade we did a bit of provisioning and then went to Happy Hour aboard sv Lardo. The next morning we hiked up to Mount Tapioi with Rich & Jan (Slip Away) and Jason (Yolo). In the evening we went to a Heiva dance and drum competition, where solo male and female dancers from 4 different villages performed, and 10-12 member percussion groups performed all the background music. The audience got involved with cheering and clapping, and Sue took (as usual) many photos of the event. At 0500 a squall with 35 knot gusts rolled thru and we dragged anchor. We were awake, but I hadn't had my cup of coffee yet. Not good. We jigged around about 45 min in the dark, reanchored off the reef in the dawn, and departed for Hurepiti Bay in Tahaa about 0730. We had a wonderful sail over, squalls (again, 35 knots) not withstanding. We're anchored in 35-40' of mud, and the wind is howling. Gusts are 25, but we're holding fine, so we're planning a walking hike later, after lunch.

July 12 - Taha'a

I don't really know why Tahaa was calling me over there so strongly. There's plenty to do and see in Raiatea, but the smaller island of Tahaa, encircled by the same fringing reef as its larger sister, beckoned me as surely as getting an email invitation. We had a delightful sail over there in about 18 knots of SE breeze and took a mooring at the Taravana Yacht Club in Apu Bay. Unfortunately, the YC is closed indefinitely, but the moorings are maintained by an American expat named Richard, who also collects the daily charges to stay there. We actually ended up on a brand new mooring (purely by happenstance) and invited Richard aboard when he came out to the boat. He's quite the raconteur, and we enjoyed hearing about the way things were in the old days; he'd been in Bora Bora over 30 years and at Tahaa for the last 6 years, so knows the local stuff going on, the people, and speaks Tahitian, French, English and Spanish. He finally had to get going and we settled down to a quiet evening of perfect temperature and no worries. In the morning we slipped the mooring for the Hibiscus Hotel and YC to see the turtle sanctuary there. The building is amazing; colorful flags from yachts of many countries hang from the ceiling beams, and the furniture reminded me of an old European inn. Meals and happy hours daily are served there but we took pictures and departed for the motor sail back to Utoroa. We filled up with duty-free diesel at the Total station (96 cfp/liter, or about $4.56/G at present exchange rates) and then anchored at the reef just across from town where our friends Dennis & MaryLee of sv Lardo were. We took two dinghies into town to provision at the Champion supermarket, and had an ice cream as well. Never shop on an empty stomach, right? The last few days have been busy, and tomorrow is the Bastille Day parade here in Utoroa. Lots of places to go, things to do, and never enough time!

July 11 - Raiatea

We've had great fun seeing some of the sights here along with our friends Rich & Jan of sv Slip Away. Saturday evening we went into town for the Heiva celebration and enjoyed the dancing and costumes. Sunday morning we departed early to motor down to the south end of the island and anchored in 10' of sand at Naonao Island. The water was crystal clear, and we snorkeled an area called "The Aquarium" to see the coral and fish life. I found the shells interesting too: we saw many conch and augers. Today, we left early and motored to Faaroa Bay to take a dinghy ride up the Apomau River. Afterwards, we motored the five miles or so to Taoru Island, a small motu just off Teavapiti Pass. With all the motoring we're doing we'll need to refill with diesel soon; at least we can purchase it duty free.