Bora Bora or Bust!

With our business completed (sort of) at the Carenage, we set sail for Bora Bora, about 30 miles east of Raiatea. While this would normally be a rousing downwind passage, we ended up with light winds on a reach. With our Code Zero and full main we were able to maintain a nice steady 4 to 5 knots. I am sometimes amazed how we manage to move our heavy cruising boat in winds as light at 6-8 knots. That light weight Code Zero has helped us out so many times.

On a mooring buoy near Bloody Mary's Restaurant.

Seeing the romantic peaks of Bora Bora in the distance is certainly the quintessential experience for any bluewater sailor. The feeling is we’ve reached nirvana; where in the world is anything more exotic than Bora Bora?  In reality Bora Bora is somewhat of an anachronism, some cruisers love it and some hate it.  After reading many of the cruiser reports we had somewhat mixed feelings about visiting the fabled island, but we had to experience it for ourselves.

We entered the extensive lagoon through the only pass, Passe Teavanui, and headed south along the west side of Moto Topua to a bommie-free anchorage in about 30 feet of water. The area where you can anchor is huge given the large “flats” areas of sandy bottom that are immediately behind the reef until they hit the deeper blue water of the lagoon. Many of the charter cats anchor in the shallower areas leaving ample space for the deeper keeled monohulls such as Flying Cloud.

These over-the-water bungalows are everywhere in Bora Bora.

We basically hung out on the boat and did a couple of snorkeling trips and some exploring in the dingy. Just to the east of us in the flats were a small flotilla of tourist boats observing the sting rays who feed in the shallow waters. This brings up the main issue with Bora Bora, hoards of tourists pursing every activity under the sun.  Bora Bora is literally lined with very high end hotels (Four Seasons, St. Regis, Intercontinental, Sofitel, Meridien, Pearl, etc.). All of these hotels feature hundreds of “over the water” bungalows, many of them built up over primo snorkeling areas. The bungalows are priced from $400/night up to $15,000, not exactly in our budget range. 

All of the thousands of guests in these hotels pursue “the Bora Bora experience” with a plethora of waterborne activities, including shark and manta ray watching, snorkeling, parasailing, jet skis, water skiing, SCUBA diving, and so on. We are awoken in the morning by a buzzing herd of jet skis racing one after another to who knows where. They seem to love coming close to the anchored sailboats and waving at us. Some cruisers defense is to stand naked and wave back. At the primo snorkeling sites there will be two to five resort boats chock-a-block with white-skinned tourists to whom no one has mentioned the dangers of the tropic sun and the need for rash guards.

On top of all this many of the hotels maintain their exclusivity by banning cruisers from the grounds and restaurants. One cruiser couple we met did sweet talk their way into the restaurant at the St. Regis where they dropped a cool $384 on dinner. A little out of our league. 

Hanging of the mooring buoy just off Bloody Mary's.

There are two full walls of names of the "rich and famous" who have visited Bloody Mary's. We're not on it.

Stapling a dollar bill to the wall is one way of saying "We've been here."

There is no menu per se:  The chief comes out and explains what he has that night and asks how you would like it cooked.

 

On Oct. 14th we did a pre-birthday dinner for Meryl and Andrew (off Eye Candy) at the iconic Bora Bora restaurant, Bloody Mary’s. The Bloody Mary’s at Happy Hour were actually quite good and we enjoyed chatting with Andrew and Clare about our various experiences. It wasn’t the cheapest meal I’d ever eaten, but we don’t get out much so it was a wonderful treat and a good way to celebrate the birthdays.

Raiatea -- Our New Home Away from Home

On October 7th we sailed for Taha’a, which normally would be a nice downwind sail, but we ended up motoring the whole way given the prevailing light wind conditions. As was the case with Huahine, we decided to come in an east side pass (that would normally have high surf in a strong easterly wind) and explore some of that side of Taha’a we missed during our first visit. We entered through Toahotu Pass and anchored just north or Moto Mahaea in about 20 feet of water. 

Anchoring out on the flats is like anchoring in the middle of the ocean.

Anchoring in the Leeward Islands can be a challenge, since the water inside the reefs can be up to 100 ft. deep, and within a few feet can transition to 5-feet deep on the shelves of the reef.  We typically try to find someplace 20 to 30 feet deep which reduces the problems of shallow bommies (coral heads) around the boat. I always snorkel over the anchor chain and anchor to see how well it’s set, and at times we buoy the anchor chain to “float” it over a bommie or two.  When anchored out on the shelf, or flats as I like to call them, it’s rather disconcerting since it seems you are anchored in the middle of the ocean with only the surf break from the reef separating the two. Once you get used to it, however, it’s very cathartic just floating out in the middle of nowhere on crystal clear water.

The hidden bonus of this anchorage was a very strong WiFi signal. When we tried to log in for some reason the system didn’t ask for our password. We normally pay about $150 for 100 hours of Internet, and when it’s slow the time goes quickly without us accomplishing anything online.  For a techie it was Internet heaven.  We typically have about 50 to 100 iPhone apps waiting to be updated at any given time, along with updates to all our Mac apps, so we had a downloading field day.

As usual, we did some snorkeling, boat projects, SUP’ing, and explored the two large bays in the dingy. We did get a short walk in but we need to make a more concerted effort to get more aerobic exercise when ashore.

I love this little island located between Raiatea and Taha'a.

Since both Eye Candy and Flying Cloud will be hauling out at the same yard on Raiatea this cyclone season, we needed to talk with the yard manager to figure out the details. On Oct. 10th we motored the short 5-mile distance through the inner lagoon (Raiatea and Taha’a are inside the same barrier reef) to the Carenage on the west side of Raiatea. We luckily got a mooring ball (it’s very deep to anchor here) and dingied into the yard to get things figured out. We are still uncertain as to how they are going to haul us out (whether the Travel Lift will fit our boat without us having to take down the forestay) and where they are going to put us, but Dominique the manager says don’t worry, we’ll figure it out when we haul you out.  We did decide to rent an AirBnb for a week after we return to the boat in March 2017 since we’ll be sanding and putting on new bottom paint and the showers/bathrooms are terrible in the yard. 

The Raiatea Carenage Boatyard:  This will be our new home for the next five months when the boat is hauled out for cyclone season.

We ended up walking up to the airport with Eye Candy to both buy our tickets from Raiatea to Papeete for when we leave on Nov. 17th. Ironically we’ll be then flying back to San Francisco to catch a flight to Hong Kong; it’s actually a lot cheaper for us to fly that direction. I’m one of those rare people who actually look forward to a long international flight since I can sit back, watch movies, and have people feed me without having to do the dishes. Perfect.

Huahine -- Out and About

We sailed around the north side of Huahine to Fare, one of our favorite places in five years of cruising.  Most of the charter sailboats based out of Raiatea tend to cruise around Raiatea, Taha’a, and Bora Bora, so Huahine remains a somewhat authentic Polynesian island without the hoards of tourists, jet skis, and snorkeling tours.

Fare has a great grocery store with easy access from the dingy, and an even better cruiser’s bar called the Huahine Yacht Club (not really a yacht club, however). We met with the crews from Ednabal, Eye Candy, and French Curve for great Happy Hour Hinano’s and rum punches.  They certainly know how to make a strong drink down here.  Cruisers are fun to hang out with since typically everyone has so many weird stories of people they’ve met, things that broke on the boat, and sharks that  chased them. A fun night with great friends!

I love the simplicity of design here, the bold geometric shapes and the bright colors that mimic the island itself.

We spent the next couple of days just hanging out, SUP’ing and reading books. We even took a walk down the beach to a fancy hotel just to see how the other half lives. Most of the hotels seem half empty to us so we’re not sure how anyone is making money down here. Coupled with the expensive airfares to get here (about $1800 RT from Los Angeles) we’re amazed there are tourists here in the first place. Thank God for Japanese honeymooners.

Views like this are around every corner when you walk on the shoreside roads.

With the winds still unusually light, we decided to follow the fleet down to the southeastern tip of Huahine to Avea Bay, a large bay protected by a large barrier reef to the south. When we were here this past June we had steady 25-knot winds rocking the boat; today there was just a gentle swell.

We did some more hiking on shore to find a magasin that sold fresh baguettes and to get a little exercise after being on the boat for several days. We found a marae (sacred site) called Marae Anini that we didn’t know about so exploring that was interesting. 

Looks like an ad for Red Paddle. Seriously, these inflatable SUPs are great for exploring the bays and shallows.

It's not often that you see these huge slab-sided rocks in the construction of a marea.

We also got to borrow a SUP from French Curve so Meryl and I could explore the bay together. It’s very shallow with a sandy bottom here in Avea Bay and it’s weird to paddle up to a big rock on the bottom only to see it quickly scoot off, that’s how many sting rays are here.

This small resort in Avea Bay epitomizes the old South Pacific, in comparison to the ultra expensive and massive over-the-water bungalow developments you see in Bora Bora.

We typically have sundowners on one boat or another so our social life stays very active, but many nights we just have a drink in the cockpit, watch the sun go down (still no green flashes), and read our books. Life is good. Not sure how we are going to adapt to going back to the States and living in a house (although I am looking forward to long, hot showers again).

Huahine -- Fishing Like the Ancients

On September 20th, with our major errands finished and our fridge kind of working, we set sail for Moorea which lies about 10 miles north of Tahiti. We anchored in our favorite spot just off the northeast entrance to Opunohu Bay on the north side of Moorea. As usual, the wind was ripping around the northeast point of Moorea and coming right along the shoreline. It’s like living in a wind tunnel but we did have lots of ventilation in the cabin.

The view south into Opunohu Bay.

Anchored just to the south of us was Eye Candy, with Andrew and Clare and their Australian guests, Patrick and Cheryl.  We all ended up renting motor scooters the next day, but we got a later start and ended up going the opposite way around the island from Eye Candy. Despite our motor scooter not being able to go up a modest hill with the two of us aboard (we got a replacement), we had a great time seeing the island. We stopped at a nice seaside resort called Les Tipaniers where we splurged on cheeseburgers and Cokes and watched the sunburned tourists frolic in the surf.  Meryl finally found a jeweler who mounted her large teardrop black pearl on a silver necklace, so everyone was happy during the excursion.

When the wind dropped down a bit on the 23rd, we dinghied east along the shoreline to see the underwater tikis and to snorkel in the large lagoon just opposite of the old Club Med. It’s amazing to see how many resorts and large hotel chains go bust down here; I guess it’s tough to compete with the cheap flights to Hawaii. When the typical “over the water bungalow” rents out from $600 to $1500 per night, it’s amazing there are as many people here as there are. 

On Sept. 24th we left Moorea in the late afternoon for the 90-mile downwind sail to Huahine. We were fortunate to have a nice 5- to 10-knot easterly and sailed through the night, interrupted only by the large sailing cruise ship S/V Windspirit that was lit up like a Christmas tree as she passed on our starboard side.

A little disconcerting to have this light show come by you in the middle of the night.

The view approaching Moto Murimahora on the east side of Huahine.

Given the generally light wind conditions we decided to follow Eye Candy to the more remote eastern side of Huahine to a secluded anchorage in the lee of Moto Murimahora.  Normally the typical strong easterly winds kick up the surf making the east-facing pass too dangerous to enter, but this day the conditions were perfect. We were delighted to see our old friends Roger and Sasha on Ednabal anchored nearby. They had planned to sail the opposite direction to the Tuamotus, but at the last minute changed their minds and came to Huahine. Our other friends, Mark and Cheryl on French Curve were also there, just north of us, so it was like old home week.

The usual cast of characters: L to R Roger and Sasha, Clare and Andrew, and Walter.

Whenever the Australian contingent (Eye Candy and Ednbal) get together you know it’s going to be interesting. We had a raucous beach bonfire with them that night and they proposed a long trip up the inside of the motu to the village of Maeva to see the fish traps the next day. 

Mark and Cheryl in the turquoise bomber.

Meryl and Cheryl from Australia.

A semi aerial view of the fish traps (from the bridge).

Cheryl communicating with the locals on the best route through the fish traps.

On the 26th our little flotilla, consisting of the crews of Eye Candy, Ednbal, and French Curve, slowly made our way north through the very shallow waters of the lagoon up to the village of Maeva, where the lagoon enlarges to the size of a small lake. Just to the south — where the lake narrows — are a series of ancient fish traps, fashioned in a V-shape to force the fish into a trap at the point of the V.  The design is remarkably effective and the traps are still in use today. Making our way around the various fish traps was a challenge, however, given the very shallow water. Locals would lean out the windows of their lagoon-side homes shouting and pointing us this way and that to avoid the shallowest areas.

Interior of the museum at Maeva Village.

A replica of the Polynesian sailing canoes that crossed thousands of miles of ocean.

Mark, Sasha, Cheryl and Meryl walking up the path to the upper village.

Map of the upper village called Mata'Ire'A.

We toured the beautiful thatched-sided museum to learn more about the fish traps and the ancient Tahitians, and explored the large marae that served as ceremonial grounds for the Chiefs and their tribe. Steve on LiWard had raved about a hike just behind the marae, and after a little futzing around we found the surprising wide trail up the side of the hill. In the olden days an extensive village extended along the ridge line (Chiefs were always wary of attacks so they kept the main housing areas up in the hills). Called Matra’Ire’a, the area was full of old stone paepae and other structures, including the Chief’s residence with a great view out across the ocean.

View of the oceanside from the lookout near the Chief's house.

We carefully navigated this shallow river from our anchorage way in the background.

On the way back we detoured up a bay to the village of Faie, where after a short walk up the road we came to a bridge (with lots of vendors selling things) where we saw the famous Sacred Blue Eels of Faie.  They congregated in the very shallow water of the river, presumably waiting for tourists to throw them scraps of food.  Patrick went down to the river with his underwater camera and got some great shots of the eels, and they do have piercing blue eyes. I have no idea why they are scared, except for the fact they pull a lot of tourist dollars into the small village.

Walking to see the sacred eels L to R:  Meryl, Sasha, Clare, Patrick, and Cheryl.

Patrick getting "up close and personal" with the sacred eels.

They really do have blue eyes. (Photo by Patrick)

Roger and Sasha are very good at negotiating with local landowners for great prices on mangoes and other fruits.

Steve's Birthday Party -- Polynesian Style

One of the most enjoyable aspects of cruising (or just being retired) is not having to adhere to a strict schedule. I remember when I had to account for every six minutes of my day for billable hours. Never again. Now, as cruisers say, “Our plans are written in the sand.”  

Wandering through Marina Tiana, we ran into Steve from LiWard. It was his 64th birthday and his wife LiLi had scheduled a big party for him that night on the dock. We had first met Steve and LiLi in Huahine when he was singing at the Huahine Yacht Club and knew that any party he had was going to be a wingding. 

The beautiful LiWard, a Hans Christian 48.

One of the curious things about cruising is we first meet each other wearing t-shirts and flip-flops and have no inkling about each other’s professional backgrounds (sometimes for years). Turns our Steve was a chemical engineer with Shell and LiLi was a dyed-in-the-wool rocket scientist (specializing in propulsion systems) for NASA. Steve quipped that LiLi was the only women he knew who could spell and pronounce monomethylhydrazine (a component of rocket fuel) correctly.

Steve plays professional gigs in various venues throughout French Polynesia, and for the birthday party he set up his speakers, mics, and amp on the dock near their boat. He performs everything from Jimmy Buffet to the Stones and really gets the crowd rocking. 

As the night lingered, more and more people showed up for the party.

Steve and the incredible Kemo, with his Dad holding his iPhone with the lyrics to the song.

Beauties on the dock:  Meryl, Brigette from Pitfa, and LiLi from Liward.

The party started off with three or four couples, then more and more cruisers — mostly French — started showing up. Lots of beer and pizza followed as the crowd grew. Steve had just met a 17-year-old Tahitian named Kemo earlier that day and asked him if he’d like to perform with him. Kemo showed up with his guitar and his entourage:  his father and his sister. He played several sets by himself and several with Steve and mesmerized the crowd with his melodic voice, a cross between Cat Stevens and Stevie Wonder.   He absolutely killed Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven." The crowd was spellbound. Listening to he and Steve harmonizing together was a real treat. As I said, Steve always throws a great party.

The rest of our week at Marina Tiana was a combination of taking the bus up to Papeete for shopping trips and getting boat projects completed. Meryl had gotten some nice black pearls from a lady in the Tuamotus and finally found a jeweler in Papeete to set them as earrings. She’s still looking for a silver necklace for a beautiful large teardrop black pearl she got from the same lady.

The freon goes in, the freon goes out.

We also decided to get our refrigerator looked at while we were at Marina Tiana, since that’s where all the marine techs hang out. To make a very long and complicated story short, the French refrigeration guy we’d worked with before was busy working on a super yacht, so he recommended another guy. Unfortunately, this guy spoke very little English and had never worked on our type of refrigeration. He ended up overfilling the unit with refrigeration gas which caused the thermostats to quit working (since the over pressure sensor showed too much pressure in the system).

Over the next week I slowly bled gas out of the system to try and get it back into equilibrium, but with little success. Ironically the fridge got the coldest we’d ever seen it, but with no working thermostat we had to shut it off by hand. We later had another fridge guy work on it, but this time some wires to the thermostat got loose and I’m not sure he got them back in the right order. He thinks it may be a relay so a third tech (who naturally is leaving for Canada for the next month) will pick up some relays back home and we’ll see if that was the problem.

Now we have a fridge and freezer at essentially the same temps so Meryl is having to be creative as to where she stores her veggies so they don’t freeze.  If I ever go on an extended sailboat trip again I want to get my mechanical/electrical/structural engineering degrees ahead of time so I can fix all this stuff. At least now I know a little more about how refrigeration units work, but not enough to get it fixed correctly.

Cruising would be the absolutely perfect lifestyle if you didn’t have to spend so much time keeping the boat alive. If you are an engineer who loves fixing things, it’s nirvana. 

Festival des Arts -- Polynesia

With the wind still howling on the north side of Moorea we decided to relocate to Papeete on Sunday, June 11th. It was the usual boisterous ride up wind around the corner of the island and then a reach across to Marina Tiana, about 10 miles south of Papeete. Amazingly there was only a light wind in the Marina area (sheltered around the corner from the easterly winds) and we enjoyed a celebratory drink while tied to a ball in the marina’s huge mooring field.

The next day we took a bus up into Papeete to retrieve our repaired Yamaha 15 outboard motor, a mainstay in our ability to get around in the dingy. A design flaw in an otherwise incredibly reliable motor allows salt water to splash on the upper shaft bearing. If you use the motor everyday it’s no issue, but if you store the motor that corrosive salt literally welds the bearing shut so the motor won’t turn. This is the third time it’s happened to us following storage and it’s getting old. We’ve hired a lady to watch over our boat this November and one of her jobs will be to crank the outboard a couple times a week.

While in town, Meryl bought a new pad (it was even on sale!) for our aging mattress. She’ll have a sewing project getting it cut down to shape, but it should be a good improvement. We also stopped by the Maison de la Culture to get Wednesday tickets for the upcoming Festival de Arts, Polynesia, a new dance series that runs all week featuring dance teams from all over Polynesia. We have no idea how good it will be but if past festivals are an indicator, it should be fantastic.

Steve and LiLi from LiWard.

Back at the marina we ran into old friend’s Steve and LiLi from LiWard and they mentioned they were going to the Festival tonight and asked if we’d like to join them. They had a rental car which made transportation so much easier. We left a little early since none of us had tickets and were soon in the back of a very long, and very slow moving ticket line. Steve and LiLi got the last pair of tickets together so Meryl and I had to split up. The good thing is we were both very close to the stage in what turned out to be great seats.

The Chief gives an incantation in Tahitian describing the dance.

The dance troupe was so large it filled the aisles and mezzanine.

Next came in the female dancers, dressed with flowered crowns, floral tops, and white waist length pareu’s. This is the part everyone was waiting for as 40 pairs of hips slowly rotated in synchronization as only Tahitians can dance. As the tempo and pulsating beat of the drums increased so did the hips, first in a mesmerizing rotation that had the rapt attention of everyone in the audience, then in a syncopated frenzy that is truly hard to describe. I remember someone saying you are supposed to follow their hand movements — yea, right!  Added to the dancing, the sheer tropical beauty of the Tahitian women made for a performance to be remembered by all.

Given the size of the troupe, I had male dancers leading up the side stairs (where my aisle seat was) and dancing about two feet away. When they thrust their arms out, I had to quickly duck. These guys paddle their canoes all day and dance at night and to say they are ripped (most of them) is an understatement.

The next troupe, the Hinana Kapahaka dancers from New Zealand, was a complete counterpoint to the Tahitians. A much smaller troupe of about 10 dancers, they made up for size in humor and creativity. It was a treat for us since they spoke in English and we could finally understand what was going on. They started with the requisite Haka, the Maori warrior’s “confrontation dance.” They then went through a repertoire of dances with swinging balls on strings, long sticks that were thrown to each other in syncopation, and other dances. A wry comment from the lead male performer would bring a laugh from the crowd.

I have to say it’s exhausting watching these type of dances, especially the Tahitians where your body is pulsating to the thunderous beat of the drums, your feet are tapping on the floor, and your eyes are trying to follow that rhythmic rotation of hips that are in perfect sync with the drums. But fun.

Best thing to say: It was a fantastic evening for everyone.

We also attended the next night where we had super seats in the center of the 10th row. The show started with a group representing all the Marquesan Islands (I’lle de Paques et Taki Toa). Marquesan dancing is much more male-oriented with most dances focused on preparations for warfare. The dancing is so powerful, with lots of leaping and feet crashing to the floor that it almost wears you out. It was nice when it was the women’s turn to sing a melodic supportive chorus to the male dancers.

While it's difficult to see, this scene was of a Marquesan being tattooed using the traditional method of a small hammer, ink, and combs made out of mother-of-pearl.

The second dance troupe of the evening was from Easter Island, the Rapa Nui. At the Marquesan Dance Festival last year the Rapa Nui brought the house down. This group performed a different style of dancing backed by a rock-type band with an accordion. The women, taller and more European in nature since Spanish Ecuador populated the island, are always fun to watch in their white feather headdresses and white boa skirts. Amazingly some female dancers had a white “modesty dress” underneath the boa skirts while others had, well, not much. Remember, you need to watch the hand movements to learn the story they are telling. Watch the hands. OK.

The male Rapa Nui dancers were certainly favorites of the women in the audience.

 

 

The Fertility Dance was greatly toned down from the one we saw in the Marquesas.

The male Rapa Nui dancers were pure eye candy for the females in the audience. Dressed in mostly what I would describe as a frontal “cod piece” and only a thong in the back, their finely honed and oiled bodies made “Dancing with the Stars” look like a Sunday School recital. Thank God they toned down their fertility dance that we saw in the Marquesas since that would have most likely caused heart attacks in the audience.

Once again, a fantastic evening of dance and pure enjoyment of the Polynesian culture. It was fun to talk with Steve and LiLi about everyone’s impressions of the evening to share such a great event with friends.