July 8, 2013
We left Tapaumau Bay on Tahaa today around 8:00 am heading to Bora Bora. We are both excited about seeing Bora Bora….it just seems to conjure up all the iconic images of the South Pacific. This is supposedly the fictional island Bali Hai in Michner’s South Pacific…..but we have since learned he wrote the book while stationed on Vanuatu before he ever saw Bora Bora…..hmmmm!!
We enjoyed our brief stay on Tahaa. The first day we were walking in the little village by the anchorage when an Italian man comes up…..turns out he is in the boat next to us…..says there is a Polynesian wedding taking place with native festivities on the motu across the channel and we are invited if we want…..interesting. We make it back to our boat and see a small boat all decked out in flowers and palm fromms etc leaving the Italian boat with a wedding couple in native dress and a guy serenading them with a ukulele and they are heading towards the motu. S/V Double Diamond is next to us and we discuss all this and we all decide to go over. It turns out that the Italian is a charterer and has an Italian couple onboard that is indeed getting married and wanted a traditional Polynesian wedding. The Italians and Polynesians make us feel very welcome so we join in and have a grand time of native dancing, food cooked in a traditional stone pit in the ground and drink…..a fun day and very unexpected. However, in the past this would have all been done with Polynesian hospitality/generosity but as the festivities were winding down a lady comes by and says that will be $30/pp…..hmmmm….hustled in Polynesia white man style…..we actually saw this coming (not our first rodeo) and had already decided to stay and we thought this was going to be the price….but still it would have been respectful to mention this before……but all in all it was a unique experience and one we’re glad we did!!!!!
The next day we snorkeled Coral Gardens. This was near where the wedding took place. Mark on Compass Rosy joined us. We have been somewhat disappointed in the condition of the reefs in the Society Islands…..the “crown of thorns” and cyclones have done considerable damage. But, the Coral Gardens were a delight and we very much enjoyed the coral and the great variety of colorful fish. Unfortunately, we saw several “Crown of Thorns” so this reef will not last much longer….ugh!!!!
The run to Bora Bora is about 25nm with 20nm in the open ocean. Conditions were ok…..15-22 kts of wind pretty much behind us and the waves were 6-9′ pretty much on the port beam. We turned up the stabs and the ride was fair!!!!
Well….our luck on the engine controls finally gave out. There are several places to anchor or take moorings and it was a little bit of information overload sight unseen. We had thought about taking a mooring unitil we heard one of the other trawlers actually dragged the mooring…..and they are heavier than us….so maybe not. So we slowly checked out Bora Bora Yacht club as we came in and it looked very calm….but it is a little more of a dinghy ride to the village so we decided to check out Maikai moorings/anchorage…..and there was Time 2, a 57 Nordhavn we had briefly met in Nuka Hiva….kewl…..so we decide to drop the anchor and guess what……we had no reverse…..we could go forward but not reverse and set the anchor……so, I jumped into the ER and operated the tranny manually…..we got a good set but ended up a little closer to Time 2 than we wanted…..60 yards but we both have 300′ of chain out in 85′ of water. We talked w/them and they were very gracious and thought we were ok and if it came to a “situation” they would pick up and move a bit….no one wanted us to try and reset with no gear controls.
So, I guess we are here until our parts arrive…..the UPS tracking says Thursday in Papeete so maybe by Saturday but probably next Monday here in Bora Bora.
The good news is there is a Heiva dance festival tonight that everyone has said should excellent….so, another Polynesian experience coming up!!
Hope all is well!!!!
Stats:
Position: 16 30 086S
151 45 305W
Traveled: 26.2nm today
Course: 283M HDG
Wind: 15-22 kts ESE
Waves: SSW 6-9′ swell; 10 sec period; 3-4′ wind chop…turned the stabs up and had an ok ride
Speed: avg 7.5 kts SOG; 1600 RPM
Weather: 50% cloud cover sea temp 81.3 deg F
Fishing: no:(((((
Sail: not up
Oh dear! Hope the spare parts arrive in a timely fashion and in the meantime you can enjoy more ‘Polynesian experiences’.
Good on ya that you know how to manually operate the transmission. I’d have had to launch Cody on the stern anchor line and toss a few floating dog treats behind us, yelling “get it, get it” to the amusement of fellow cruisers in the anchorage. Your Polynesian wedding reception story was too funny. I too hope your parts arrive soon and you can continue on to more wonderful adventures.
I’d still like the Hynautic folks to explain to me how these hydraulic shift and throttle controls are an improvement over the old straight cables!
YBs,
We had to “google” crown of thorns” to understand what it was. Nasty starfish with no natural enemies?
Just passed Lake Union where it all started. Spent a couple of nights at Oak Harbor.
Interesting to navigate this area by land.
Stay safe!
B & C