In Bora Bora

We had a really fabulous sail (spinnaker all the way) across to Bora Bora yesterday. It was good to meet up lots of boats we know and we're looking forward to exploring the island.

Meanwhile here's a last video from Raiatea:

Another underwater video

Here's a quick snorkel for you!

Introducing Colin

We mentioned on the last blog that we'd been adopted by a large fish. We're not sure what make he is but, judging by his impressive bulk (he's about 40cm long), we aren't the first boat to feed him!

A cheeky view of Maunie's bottom

Here's a different view of our boat - we did say that the anchorage was shallow! Sorry, if you're viewing this on an iPad, it won't play, for reasons beyond us.

Blue Sky Thinking

Our wonderful, wild anchorage near Isle Naonao was bathed in sunshine yesterday so we enjoyed some great snorkelling. We've also made friends with some of the wildlife and have been adopted by a large fish who is particularly fond of Ritz crackers (other brands are available) and swims with us when we go snorkelling - we've called him Colin. We've taken some photos and videos which we'll post on the blog when we next get wifi access to the internet but in the meantime the photo above will give you a taster of the place.

 

Unfortunately the weather has deteriorated overnight – we had heavy rain last night and the wind has steadily marched around the compass from easterly to northerly and now around to south westerly, with strong gusts ahead of the rain squalls. A big rain cloud prompted Graham to dash up on deck at 7.30 this morning to rig the rain catcher – it was already pelting down so he did it naked (no photos exist and if they had been taken he would point out that the rain was really quite cold) and of course, the moment the job was completed, the rain stopped.

 

We've used the time here reasonably productively so, apart from the swimming, we've baked a cake and some bread rolls, caught up on some reading and spent some time looking at the charts for the Pacific crossing ahead of us. We're about a month behind our original 'plan' (more of a guideline really), mainly because of the poor weather a couple of weeks back and waiting for the watermaker repair, but we're not too concerned as we'd built in plenty of slack and we are really enjoying the beautiful Society Islands. We'll move up to Bora Bora tomorrow for our last French supermarkets and to await the arrival of the rebuilt watermaker. Most of the other boats on the Sothern Cross radio net are still around here but we're all beginning to start looking at the long-range weather forecasts to plan the next leg.

 

Once we leave Bora Bora the next island chain is the Cook Islands which, though independent, have a historical tie with, and continuing financial support from, New Zealand. Raratonga, to the south, is the biggest island and we will probably go there first as long as the forecast looks ok as its main harbour is not a good place if the wind swings to the north east. After the Cook Islands it's Tonga and, if we have time, Fiji before we head to New Zealand in November.

Celebrating our Wedding Anniversary somewhere special

Our plan to explore the river yesterday was abandoned as a nasty drizzle set in and the anchorage became oppressively humid; yearning for fresher air and clearer water we motored along the channel inside the reef to the southernmost tip of Raiatea to anchor off a tiny, privately-owned island called Naonao.

 

With Graham keeping a sharp lookout at the bow, Dianne neatly steered us through a very narrow gap into a beautiful turquoise pool for our anchorage. The bottom is flat sand with a big ring of colourful coral, teaming with fish, surrounding us but it's disconcertingly shallow – we have less than a metre below our keel and the clear water makes it look disconcertingly like a shallow swimming pool from the deck! We're anchored at 16 degrees, 55.13 minutes south, 151 degrees 25. 91 minutes west.

 

The weather didn't really improve, with heavy rain and a 25 knot breeze through the night (so a rather noisy and disturbed sleep), but the anchor is buried deep into the white sand and the main reef is protecting us from the waves so we're very sheltered and secure.  What we have noticed is that the strong winds have brought big surf crashing onto the outer reef and this is filling up the lagoon so we now have a permanent current of about a knot flowing past us which makes snorkelling a rather strenuous exercise! We had a brief hint of blue sky this morning but it looks as though it'll be a couple of days before this weather system sorts itself out and the normal sunshine returns; the wind is forecast to reduce and swing to the north, then the west and south before returning  to the normal south-east on Tuesday.

 

It's a wonderful spot and a truly away-from-it-all place to celebrate our wedding anniversary (our 11th, which is probably something unprepossessing like Linoleum in the list of anniversaries). Cheers!

 

PS and Happy 50th to Steve Gamman – hope you received the email

 

 

Next island - Raiatea

Current position, Baie Faaroa: 15 degrees, 49.4 minutes south, 151 degrees, 24.5 minutes west

 

We left Huahine yesterday morning, after filling the tanks with fresh water at the town quay (the slowest hosepipe in the world, we can't wait to get our watermaker back). It's just a 20 mile hop across to Raiatea and, once we'd cleared the reef pass, with surfers and body-boarders enjoying the surf break, we had a perfect Force 3 broad reach with the gentlest of swells so hoisted the 'Irish Flag' spinnaker and really enjoyed the crossing; Di prepared some fruit salad en route with some juicy, sweet pineapples bought on Moorea.

 

We're anchored at the head of the long Baie Faaroa which has a river, navigable for two or three miles by dinghy, so we plan to go and explore later this morning. Once again, there's a fair amount of wind blowing (the northern tail of a big anticyclone that's passing a few hundred miles south of us) but this anchorage is perfectly sheltered and we can just hear the dogs and cockerels ashore in an otherwise silent place. Dogs and cockerels are indeed the soundtrack of the Society Islands – the chickens here are actually classed as wild birds and so are everywhere (and it's almost impossible to buy eggs here as there can't be many domesticated flocks) and every household seems to have a couple of scruffy-looking dogs, usually asleep in the sunshine.

 

The other boats of our radio net have been moving west when the weather allows so there are quite a few of us in Raiatea and its sister island Tahaa (the two islands share a common encircling reef) whilst one or two have already made the three-day passage across to Suwarrow atoll in the northern Cook Islands. We'll spend a few more days exploring Raiatea before crossing to Bora Bora which will be our last chance to buy French Brie, baguettes and excellent tinned Cassoulet before we head to the less-developed, but cheaper, Cook Islands.