Bora Bora Bound with a stow-a-way aboard

A typical Society Island anchorage



Note....have uploaded some photos today from last weeks blog entry below - have a good connection this morning.

Hard to believe another week has gone by so quickly. Most of it was spent sailing throughout the lagoon of Tahaa. We had some wonderful snorkeling and anchored off some motu's all by ourselves. We returned to Raiatea for a couple of nights…one spent at the town dock so that we could do all our provisioning, refuel and go for the famous hike.



We ascended the mountain, which is right downtown, to take in the sunset over Bora Bora. It was a lovely hike, with off and on rain showers, so once we made it to the top, the view was somewhat limited – but truly amazing as we had a 360 degree view and could see the coral reefs very distinctly. Enroute through this Pacific style jungle, we passed all kinds of animals at large…cows, bulls, horses, pigs, piglets, etc.

VIew from the top



Before we left Raiatea, we had one small injury. For those of you who know how much Peter prizes his sandwiches at lunch, you’ll get a kick out of this. Each day when we are in a village we buy a fresh baguette (for only 50 cents – the one true bargain in the South Pacific). Anyway, as he was eating his lunch and going on and on as he does about how much he loves his sandwiches, he somehow managed to dislocate his jaw on the baguette. I thought this was quite funny, but Peter wasn’t too fond of having to eat “soft old people” food for the next two days. All is well now – so steak for dinner tonight!



We motor-sailed the 20 miles over to Bora Bora, with a nice calm sea. We have anchored outside of the Bora Bora Yacht Club where we have spent the last two nights. The first day we walked in to the main town (about 40 minutes each way). We were surprised at how busy the streets were, but even more surprised at how friendly and welcoming the locals were to us. We had some business to take care of, including picking up our boat papers from the Air Tahiti office (thanks Doug we got them!) and doing some scanning. Next year for sure we’ll upgrade our printer to include a scanner as we have had many occasions that we’ve needed one.



The town is beautiful with the mountain as its backdrop. There does tend to be a fair amount of garbage everywhere, as in Tahiti, they do not have garbage containers most places – plus, it reminds me of our culture only 40 years ago where it was quite common and acceptable to just toss garbage from a car, or leave garbage in parks, etc. It would be shocking in Canada to do that now, but it is still very prevalent here.



The Bora Bora Yacht Club is billed as “your home away from home” because almost all sailors who come this way stop in. Unfortunately, the young American couple who own it lost their home this past January in the cyclone, so they are currently living in a little shed on the property, plus the restaurant isn’t open, due to the extensive damage. They have done a wonderful job rebuilding the docks that were also wiped out and the bar is open for business! It is expected to be “the” place to be tomorrow for the World Cup.

The welcoming yacht club



While we are here, Peter and I are getting certified to dive with Nitrox. That is just a different type of air than the more conventional air that is used in scuba diving. It does involve reading a book, doing exercises and writing a test, which we will complete tomorrow. It also requires two Nitrox dives, the first of which we did this morning.

Swimming with the sharks...photo courtesy of Scott Stolinz



The dive was fantastic – we saw lots of large lemon sharks (6 – 8 feet) including some pregnant ones. They are not shy and swim within touching distance. A little freaky the first time one came right for me, with a mouth full of sharp teeth, and then just passed me on the right. We also saw a few different kinds of moray eels, lots of black tipped sharks, jelly fish, and many, many different kinds of fish. After completing the dive, we both remarked that we did, indeed, feel less tired (one of the selling features of Nitrox) than we normally would. (I would like to give special thanks to our sailing buddy – Dr. Scott Stoinitz of sv Beachhouse for these amazing underwater shots – really appreciate you letting me use them).

Medusa Jelly Fish - photo courtesy of Scott Stoilinz



Our next door neighbour in this anchorage is a classic yacht, Erica XII, well over 130 feet. Peter thinks it is an amazing yacht, so he took lots and lots of pictures of it.



We also have a stow-a-way. We have a little gecko that somehow managed to get aboard. We keep seeing it, but have been unsuccessful in catching it and returning it to land. We hope he manages to find enough to eat (I’ve been leaving out a few things, but really not sure what a gecko eats other than bugs, which I’m not catching for him).



We are hopeful that we will be diving with Manta Rays on Sunday, or on one of our dives next week. They are quite famous here, although have been elusive, due to the ongoing construction of new 5 star hotels that are built over the lagoon. So now, I must return to studying. Please feel free to drop us an email and say hello. We love to hear from family and friends. svquickstar@shaw.ca

Until next Friday…..laugh often…..