Blue sea and flying yachtsmen

We've moved back to the west side of the island so have wifi access to upload a few photos. The anchorages on the east side were very remote but stunning. With only 2 or 3 metres of water over white sand the turquoise was dazzling and the view of Bora Bora's mountain was much more dramatic:

Yesterday we had a walk ashore on the motu (island) sheltering us from the wind. A couple of yachties that we met the other night, Lionel on Kiapa and Patrick from Living were kite-surfing so Graham set the SLR to high-speed photo-drive and took hundreds of photos - here are a few of the more dramatic ones:

They make it look very easy but, of course, there were the odd spills:

Graham was thinking that this might be the next faintly dangerous sport for him (many years ago he gained his P1 Hang-Gliding License but never too the sport up) but for two reasons: (a) the full kit costs about $15,000 Aus and (b) he thinks he's about 20 years too old to start.

We're now in serious weather-watching mode as the forecast is incredibly unsettled. At the morning SSB net, Graham (today's  net controller) issued a novel weather forecast which ran:

"There is a slight depression centred over the yachts in Bora Bora who are realising that they've probably missed the weather window. Meanwhile the boats who have made it to Swarrow and other ports west are experiencing a high. The outlook for the next 24 hours is more troughs and furrows on brows as weather files are examined - expect more confused conditions."

So we'll see - it looks as though there might be a little opportunity on Friday to leave, though it looks as though the wind will be a bit lighter than we'd like. Meanwhile the delights of Vaitape (the town) await - a laundrette and the Chinese supermarket.