WR at Bora Bora

In our last e-mail we neglected to mention that as we approached Huahine and were about a mile away we noticed a wonderful tropical fragrance in the air. We later figured out that it was vanilla, which is an important product of the Leeward Islands.

From Huahine we were able to sail, at last, to Raiatea. It was a bit rainy, so visibility was not good. It became clear that we were on the direct line when I noticed a white shape looming behind us. It quickly turned out to be the Aremiti, a high speed passenger catamaran. He actually veered to pass around us and then veered back to resume following the same line.

The wharf at Uturoa has room for about eight boats and we tied up there for three nights. This was the first proper tying to a dock since Puerto Vallarta. One evening we were there chatting with Tom and Jane from Promise, a boat also from Port Orchard that we first met in Monterey, and Jack, a Dutch fellow single handing from Gig Harbor, which is just a stone's throw from Port Orchard. Small world. While here a fellow helped me clean the carburetor of gummy fuel, and now our outboard engine works again.

We next spent two nights anchored in an inlet on the east side of Raiatea at the head of which is the only navigable river in French Polynesia. We took our dinghy up the river for a couple of km. The trees from both sides joined overhead and there were occasional dwellings sitting on patches carved out of the jungle. On shore we visited a garden of native plants and when we returned to the boat Susan had an armload of flowers our guide had given her.

We then went north to the island of Tahaa, which is enclosed in the same reef as Raiatea. We tied to a mooring ball at a restaurant. The owners operate a foundation that rescues sea turtles by buying them from fishermen, tagging them, then releasing them. Some of the tagged ones have been found as far away as New Guinea. After another couple of nights back at Raiatea we sailed west on to Bora Bora, an island at least as beautiful as any of the others. Before arriving we'd long heard of the Bora Bora Yacht Club, and expected to find a cruiser's watering hole. Instead we found a small restaurant with a little dock, that does offer showers, water and a washing machine at a price. (We hung our clean clothes and sheets from the safety lines and shrouds, and it was dry in an hour.) And we had hot showers for the first time since April. Mostly, we bathe in salt water and sometimes take the dinghy to a reef with snorkel masks and salt-water soap.

Now we are tied to a mooring near Bloody Mary's, a well known restaurant that lists many famous people among its clientele. For much of this time we have had winds that go from zero to the mid thirties and back. So we, like many others have been waiting for a proper chance to leave.

Which seems to have come. Tomorrow morning Susan will go ashore to her airplanes, I will drop our mooring, and we will both head for Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. We have been in French Polynesia for twenty weeks, we have visited thirteen islands, and we have negotiated thirteen passes through coral reefs. In a way it is difficult to leave, but the word is that the islands to the west are even more wonderful. We need to see for ourselves.

Kit and Susan

WR is at Huahine

While we were at Tahiti our oars and windlass arrived. It is good to have a fully functioning windlass again, and the oars arrived in the nick of time since our outboard motor has quit. After Dan joined us we rented a Suzuki Samurai 4WD to drive around and over the island. We drove to the one lake on the island, which is high in the mtns. The track was rough dirt, but we didn't need 4WD for that but instead for the narrow paved part, which we read was inclined at 37 degrees. We needed the low range for that.

From Tahiti we motored to Cook's Bay on Moorea. From there Dan and I hitched a ride to the ferry dock on the east side of the island and hiked back over a ridge that gave us great views of the interior of the island. The next day we tried to hike to the summit of Mt. Rotui, ca 3000 ft. elev. This was along a narrow steep track with the sun beating down. When we were about 4/5 of the way up the appeal of a cold gin and tonic overcame that of the summit and we turned back as clouds smothered the summit. (Susan: they joined me - filthy and bleeding from scratches from the brush - for lunch by the pool at the Sheraton, where I spent the morning at the spa. Best massage I ever had.) After about five days at Cook's we moved on to Opunohu Bay, which has one of the classic views of Polynesia. From here Dan left to fly on to Huahine to stay in campgrounds. We followed a few days later, again motoring overnight in no wind. Once through the pass we anchored off of Fare, the main town of the island. The town looks like it must have looked years ago with trees over hanging the main street, which is dirt.

While we were here Dan caught a freighter for Papeete, from where he flew home. The next day, which was yesterday, we raised anchor and motored south down the west side of the island inside the reef to Avea Bay. From here we walked around the southern tip of the island on the beach, past groves of coconuts and stands of banana trees. We saw an ancient marae, a stone structure where human sacrifices were held.

As we walk along the roads leaving our tracks in the dust we notice no other tracks. This is because the dirt has been raked by the locals. The roadsides are often beautifully planted and tended. In places there are holes in the ground under the trees and as we approach we notice some movement there. The shy coconut crabs are scurrying into their holes. These are chunky little critters, said to be good eating.

Kit and Susan