We had a light 2-day sail from Tahiti Iti to the East side of Huahine. The wind was, of course, coming from the direction to which we wanted to sail so we were beating. We were pushing to get into the pass and get anchored by dark on a somewhat squally day. As we got near the pass a squall passed overhead and obscured our visibility; we waited, although we had little time to spare, and were able to spot the channel markers to guide ourselves in. As we reached the deep bay inside the reef pass, we spotted something in the water ahead. As we got within 20 yards, we realized they were 2 humpback whales! The whales were completely unconcerned about our close proximity. We wanted to stay and check them out further but had to hurry to navigate past the coral and drop anchor before nightfall.
The next day dawned with torrential downpours and we hunkered down for a quiet day of reading. After a few days of this, we had cabin fever and wanted to get out and see the island. So we decided to hitchhike into the town of Fare about 8 miles away since we wanted to check and send email once more before leaving French Polynesia and we’d heard on the radio net that Internet access was $20 per hour in Bora Bora, nearly 3 times the price we would pay in Fare. Even though it was still raining, we were glad to get moving and we hitched a ride with some French tourists most of the way into town. Along the road we saw many casualties – crabs that had tried to cross the road but didn’t make it across before a car came along and crushed them. Next to the road and all along the shore we saw 3-5” diameter holes where these crabs live normally. We haven’t tried to catch any, but they might be good eating. We enjoyed a day in the “big city” of Fare, population 3,000. We left town about 2pm, for the walk home and barely made it (some material was garbled here) making for the Cook Islands, Nuie and Tonga.
(Boy that British Union Jack that graces so many flags around the world sure is a pain to make!).
We revisited the calendar and the mileage between our proposed stops between here and New Zealand. We knew that we needed to skip a few places so we could enjoy a few special ones more thoroughly. Even though the weather had been nasty while we were in Huahine (and while we were in various other places), the clock was still ticking and we needed to keep making progress west towards our ultimate goal, much as we’d like to have lingered longer. Raiatea and Tahaa are the next islands west of Huahine. They share the same lagoon and are equally spaced about 25 miles between Huahine and Bora Bora, a convenient day sail from each. But we decided to skip Raiatea and Tahaa so we could spend more time in Bora Bora and opted to sail overnight directly to Bora Bora.
As we departed Huahine just before nightfall, a cruise ship passed us. Little did we know that since they were killing time before they could enter the pass at first light, we’d see them 4 more times during the night! This floating city would be coming at us, pass us and then slowly disappear over the horizon, only to reappear once we’d finally forgotten about it. At dawn as we neared Bora Bora, we started seeing some widely oscillating winds. One minute we had little to no wind and the next we had 25 knots from another direction. We’ve been joking about the steady trade winds, since it seems as though the only thing steady about them has been that they’ve been blowing from whatever direction we’re headed. We entered the pass at 10 am and tied to a Mooring ball in front of the Bora Bora Yacht Club, where we promptly took a nap. It is often tough to sleep during the first night of a passage, so often the single or double overnights are the most exhausting. Yet after 2 days, we get into a rhythm in which napping in short stretches becomes easier. We didn’t need to begin exploring Bora Bora as a couple of zombies.
Bora Bora (actually pronounced Pora Pora, since the B sound does not exist in Tahitian.) means first born since it was thought that it was the first island to evolve after the mother island of Raiatea. Bora Bora is an incredibly beautiful island. While all of these islands are beautiful, the shallow lagoon that surrounds Bora Bora makes for miles of gorgeous turquoise water and numerous pretty beaches. The various shades of turquoise water indicate the depth and type of bottom, and we’ve grown to recognize the information the different colors provide. The island and the lagoon and motus (little islets) that surround it offer an endless combination of lovely places to anchor and snorkel. We could easily stay here for a month alone.
Since it is a tourist favorite, there are many attractive resorts that stretch out over the water. Bora Bora served as an American military base in World War II and the close ties with the U.S. are evident from the numbers of American visitors. Nearly everyone speaks excellent English here. It was much busier than anywhere we’d seen since Papeete, and we needed a little time to readjust to all the activity. We also needed to adjust to the prices since they are about double.
With a southwest wind, the Bora Bora Yacht Club isn’t the best anchorage, so we hurried about our business and departed after only a day. We explored a little bit of town, topped off our water tanks, picked up our mail and enjoyed the facilities of the club along with a cold beer. We spotted the Sequoia Yacht Club burgee that Garth’s family left in 1974 still hanging on the wall. Unfortunately, the club is for sale and how a change in ownership will affect the club and the yachting community is unclear. Bloody Mary’s is a restaurant that appears to welcome cruisers and may pick up any slack. Since Bora Bora has no major rivers, water is sometimes in short supply and these two locations are rumored to be the only places where yachts can obtain water.
Under bright sunshine, we made our way around the north and east of the island inside the blue lagoon to meet friends who had anchored near the southeast tip of the island. We needed to weave our way through coral heads, following a virtual slalom course of buoys marking a channel. The buoys marked a course that crossed over an area of coral that we had a hard time believing was passable.
We were excited to be reunited with a group of friends that had been scattered throughout the islands. We planned a big Mediterranean feast with 5 Pacific Northwest boats represented: Velella, Green Ghost, Layla, Felicity, and Altair. We organized a huge spread of Moroccan chicken, Tahini Sauce, Hummos, Pita Bread, Felafel, Tabouleh, couscous, a greek bean salad, greek potatoes, Tzatziki, and Baclava. We all tested our cooking talents, ate a lot and then talked until 3 in the morning. We are extremely lucky to have such a great group of friends. We get together whenever we can for potlucks, snorkeling, outings, games and movies and we talk via radio and keep track of where each boat is while we are apart. [Visit the following websites and you may spot some photos of us and the lovely places we are visiting: www.rainsong.net, www.svlayla.com, and www.felicity.com. (I’ll get around to creating a website of our own once I get a computer that is fully operational again.)]
One of our gang was waylaid by Dengue Fever, a nasty flu and rash spread by infected mosquitoes. Fortunately, it lasted only a week and Rainsong was able to meet up with all of us.
We rented bicycles and toured the entire island (16 miles), stopping for a picnic lunch on the pier and visiting various shops and landmarks along the way. We spent a day sitting on the beach and treating ourselves to a lunch out, another steak frites (steak and fries) and visiting the various resorts that were way out of our price range. We enjoyed watching a couple working in harmony to purse sein a school of fish off of the beach. We spent most of our time snorkeling in the amazing coral gardens at the south end of the island. We went every day for and each time saw fish we’d never seen before. Many of the fish were accustomed to being fed and would gather in a swarm regardless of whether we had anything to feed them. We were nipped a few times by the hungry critters. Stale baguettes and rice crispies worked well. We snorkeled with manta rays that had a 8 foot wing span and when they opened their mouths, they could have easily swallowed our heads. Fortunately they had little interest in us, since they eat plankton.
While we were snorkeling, we met a couple on their honeymoon and they invited us to join them for a dance show at their resort. We planned to do so, but a squall blew in and we had heavy rains and winds for the rest of the night and following few days. We were disappointed that we were forced to miss another opportunity to see Tahitian dancing and snorkel with the manta rays, but the weather wasn’t cooperating and we needed to return to the other side of the island and begin getting prepared to depart French Polynesia for an extended voyage. We needed to check the rig, grease the winches, refill our water tanks, pull out charts and storm sails, handle official paperwork and provision.
We took some time to have one last taste of delicious French pastries and to visit the fruit vendors. We stopped at one fruit stand and were debating whether we could really justify spending about $3US on a pomplemousse (grapefruit), when the vendor must have taken pity on us. She asked us whether we were on a yacht and began filling bags of fruit, insisting that she did not want payment. We decided that we could afford a $3 pomplemousse after all. We walked away with a new friend as well as several bundles of bananas and papaya, which might have cost us nearly $30. Despite the fact that generally prices are high, we have found French Polynesians to be very generous people and genuinely welcoming towards visitors.
We would love to have stayed in Bora Bora as well as the rest of French Polynesia much longer, and I was sad to leave this lovely paradise. But Garth assures me that more great stops lie ahead. Another reason I was anxious to stay was that the weather reports for the next passage to the Cooks, Niue and Tonga had been grim for weeks. Several boats lost their rudders on the way to Suvarov (nicknamed “Rudder off”) in the Cook Islands, and we’ve heard reports of two abandoned yachts adrift. Friends who left before us on their way to the Cook Islands described the conditions as ‘boisterous’. They sounded pretty miserable and encouraged us to make sure things were well stowed on the boat and to prep ready-to-eat meals in advance. Ahead of us, we have a series of passages to locations where we may not be able to stop, so we need to be prepared to sail up to 1,500 miles to Tonga. First, we have a 550-mile passage to Raratonga, where a single small harbor offers insufficient room for all the boats that plan to visit and is hazardous when supply vessels stop or if the wind is blowing from the north. Niue, another 600 miles west, has no harbor and therefore offers no protection in westerlies or stormy weather. Tonga is another 280 miles west and offers excellent cruising grounds where we could easily meander for months.
P.S. We have safely arrived in Raratonga shortly after the news broke about the terrorist activity.
Cheers,
Wendy Hinman and Garth Wilcox
S/V Velella (Wylie 31)