Wrapping up in French Polynesia

Friday July 18th, 2006
coordinates 18 00.807S,154 01.842W en route to Raratonga

We ended up spending a great 10 days in Bora Bora before moving on. Known as being very touristy, the island itself has little to offer above some trinket stores, pearl stores, a few restaurants and many, many over the water bungalows. In the recent past, hurricanes had done severe damage to the coral reefs but we can happily report that they are coming back well.

There are a few passes and coral patches that the dive shops take snorkelers out to on a regular basis. The plentitude of fish are trained now to come and eat food right out of your hand. It was hysterically fun to listen to the squeals of adults and children alike streaming up through their snorkels. New colors of parrot fish, every type of butterfly and angel fish we could imagine. Soldier fish, blue spotted groupers to name just a few. In the deeper passes you can watch the spotted eagle rays drift slowly around. Where we had anchored initially was so far removed from the hustle of the town we were able to relax and enjoy every moment of it.

We eventually made our way closer to the mainland and picked up a mooring ball out in front of the infamous bar/restaurant "Bloody Mary's. Though we were more blocked from southerly winds we at the mercy of the winds that decided to race down the front of the peaks of the remaining old volcanos. The wind continued to blow 15 - 25 knots through out the day and night with mighty size gusts while we tried to sleep. It was a whole new feeling again to be on a mooring and not on your own anchor. When you set your own anchor you have the confidence of knowing just how well it is set and that you won't go anywhere. The same is not so with mooring balls as they are tied on to something "heavy" at the bottom and hopefully the lines connecting you to it is substantial with no weak spots. This time the mooring ball held tight but with all the spinning we had done around the line, in just 24 hours time, we had chafed and cut right through our own brand new line. This was brought to our attention when we were all down below and heard a loud crunch. We had drifted right onto the coral reef. It is an amazingly sickening feeling when the reality strikes that potentially we could have been in serious trouble. Luckily the boat sustained absolutely no damage and we returned ourselves to the ball before most of our neighbors even noticed. And yes, you bet we had triple lines of protection running to the mooring ball this time. It is amazing just how fast it all took place as we were on the ball closest to shore with less than another boat length of room between us and this sheer wall of coral. All's well that ends well. If you eat Bloody Mary's restaurant you are allowed to stay on the mooring ball for free. So with all our buddy's together, White Swan, Capaz and Moorea, we enjoyed a wonderful night out before we all prepared to leave French Polynesia.

Bora Bora Yacht Club (it's not what you would picture-they don't even own a boat) coordinates 16 29.440S,151 45.716W
The next day we moved up closer to the pass of the island and picked up another mooring out in front of Bora Bora Yacht Club. A quaint little palapa style building with great food we hear, happy hour, laundry, shower and garbage facilities for a nice price. The kids all had a great time being towed around the anchorage on an inner tube by Chris and his daughter Clair from s/v Sensei We all shared a sunset or two there, provisioned and refueled everyone, and completed our paperwork to check out of the country. One more stamp for the passports. We were able to reunite with our pals Greg and Penny on Long Tall Sally. They made the crossing with us and we hadn't seen them for awhile. Wednesday night we enjoyed a great pot luck dinner on their boat with the usual gang and Thursday we were on our way. We are keeping a close eye on the weather as we hear there are some potential low pressure systems near Raratonga where we are heading and some other weather south of New Zealand that always has potential to cause us some trouble. Presently we are enjoying a wonderful sail with some slow long rolling swells. Very relaxing. It feels amazingly good to get some wind moving through the sails again. French Polynesia was fantastic and there was so much left to see and do. Still we are ready to move on and get back to English speaking countries, a bit more removed from the tourism and hopefully full of adventures.
until next time,
lisa and the boys

Been a while

Monday July 17, 2006
Whew, so much to do, so little time. We have found that the same holds true on land or water. My latest observation also true, the closer you get to civilization the busier and crazier it gets. Island time or not, things still become more hectic the closer you come to a city. I'll give you the quick run down on our last few stops and adventures over the last month.

Fakarava Atoll coordinates 16 03.533S,145 37.332W 6/11/06 - 6/14/06
Last time we wrote we were working our way through Fakarava Atoll. We found a quite little pension (bed & breakfasts of sorts) at the southern pass. We stayed a night and had a great dive there where we swam with a green sea turtle before heading on our way up to the northern pass. The caravan of Capaz, Moorea and ourselves anchored off the village of Rotoava near the northern Garue Pass. A fairly big town considering the size of towns we had seen recently. Highlights were a bit of provisioning, meeting the town mayor, making our way to dinner at a restaurant by dinghy and flashlights to miss the coral heads, another visit to a pearl farm, and a great bike ride on the Kelly's bikes. A bit more murky water there so no snorkeling. Unfortunately that made it a bit more challenging to leave the anchorage when nearly everyone had to don scuba gear and dive their anchors, all of which were stuck on coral heads. Anchors up and we were on our way for an overnight to get us to Tahiti.

Tahiti Nui coordinates
We had great wind sailing to Tahiti which then in turn put us at our destination a little early around 1 am. Along with Capaz we found this relatively easy pass to enter in the dark and anchor for a peaceful night sleep before we moved to our true destination of Marina Taina the next day. We were not expecting what we saw next. So many boats anchored and tied to the docks. So much of everything. People had warned us about the large hustling and bustling city that is Papeete, Tahiti but I guess after not seeing civilization like that in a while we were still surprised. You could smell the island before you could see it. So many cars, buses, and airplanes. The city itself is not well kept as far as garbage goes except the gas station, pristine. Right down to the displays of pineapples that you could buy right there between the gas tanks. Of course we hit McDonalds first day. For shame we know, but they have a beach right there. Most of all we prepared for our company the Elstes, were coming to visit. We had our sail repaired, checked into and out of French Polynesia officially, gathered our friends from the states, enjoyed a marvelous day at their hotel pool and introduced them to the roulettes. The best thing we found in Papeete. Roulettes are trucks that arrive promptly at 5:30 in a square at the middle of town. A circus like show follows as they flip up the truck doors, set out tables and begin preparing the best, and cheapest food around. You have your choice of pizza, hamburgers, etc. By far the most popular is chinese food, topped of with a delicious dessert crepe. Utilizing "Le Truck", a bus system that though efficient enough makes Mexico's buses look snazzy, we were able to negotiate around town rather easily. It is a straight shot up and back. An amazing outdoor market for fresh fish and produce and a great big store similar to a Super Walmart provided some great provisioning and with guests in tow we were off to Mo'orea.

Mo'orea (aka Golden Lizard) coordinates 17 34.348S,129 52.110W 6/27/06
We were able to give the Elste's a great day sail over to Mo'orea and made our way in through the Matauvau Pass to the quiet anchorage of Haapiti on west side. Ed and Bruce got a bit of surfing in there while Amy, the boys and I snorkeled around before moving the boat north the Cook's Bay. That is a misnomer we are told as Captain Cook never actually anchored there but it works for us. We entered Avaroa Pass and anchored down near the town of PaoPao. A Bali Hai resort there lets cruisers utilize the dinghy dock to get to shore. From there it was a lot of walking as there is no form of Le Truck that is reliable. That wouldn't do, so we rented 4 scooters and took the island by storm. One adult and kid per scooter, we must have been quite a site ripping through towns with big fat helmets a blazing by. We spent a few days there getting the feel of the island, playing on the beach or visiting the local Sheraton resort. The weather is still a constant 80 degrees with the occasional afternoon rain storm or wind gusts.

Huahine coordinates 16 43.746S,151 26.602 7/5/06
We spent our 4th of July and did an overnight to the next island of Huahine. We gave the poor Elste gang maybe more of an introduction so offshore sailing than they had bargained for as Ed and Amy felt the effects of the wind and wave all night. Once anchored there we had the unfortunate luck of being one of four boats in a two week period that was robbed. The offenders brazenly climb aboard boats on windy and rainy nights when they know all hatches are shut and stole our three surf boards off the deck. Others boats met a similar fate with dinghy fuel tanks taken out of dinghies hoisted in the air. It certainly put a damper on the feeling towards the island but we enjoyed our time with the Elstes non the less. One more scooter ride around a new island and some more snorkeling to round out the stay. We spent a bit of time on the south end of the island and made haste off to Raiatea and Tahaa.

Raiatea and Tahaa coordinates 1643.746S,151 26 602W 7/12/06
Two small islands nestles close together. We had our first opportunity to be on a DOCK since Mexico. What a change to be tied up to land again for a while in the town of Uturoa. The boys took out the scooters instantly and we all enjoyed a bit of a reunion as Capaz, Moorea, Sarabi, White Swan, Po'oina Roa and some new friends on Sea Kardinal, with 7 year old Abbey on board, were all present and accounted for. We met new travelers Secor, and Windsong. We had a great potluck, enjoyed some chinese food on shore and then realized the winds had come up so strong from the East that we were all pinned to the dock for a day before we could get off. It took a village to move us all as we each lined up to push each other off the dock. We found a great hide away on the south end of Tahaa, Taravana Yacht Club in Apu Bay, an old resort under great new management. Expensive food, but delicious and a quiet safe haven. Not much for the kids to do though so off to Bora Bora.

Bora Bora coordinates 16 32.014S,151 45.984W 7/18/06
We had heard mixed reviews about the island but personally, we have found a beautiful place to play out the last of our days in the French Polynesia. The south end of the island of Toopua is a small paradise. Clear blue waters and nice and shallow sandy bottoms perfect for anchoring!

The biggest news of all is that as of July 11th we have officially been out on the boat for a year! It hardly seems like it is possible with the trip and time flying by. The hardest part of all is still being so far from family and friends. Keep the emails coming and know that we miss and love you all.
lisa and the boys