Bora Bora Recap - Late

Thurday July 27th - 7 days out from Bora Bora. We are now about half way to the Vava'U Group in Tonga, and, unfortunately, motoring as the wind has left us about an hour ago. We were having one of our longest sails ever so we are disappointed - but you really don't want to be bobbing around out here without steerage - the swells would roll you to death.

BTW - before I get back to BB - we had the absolute worst night of any time on the boat three nights ago. It started out pretty benign with low wind and easy seas sailing with the Monitor windvane pilot. Then the wind picked up dramatically, so much that the wind pilot was overpowered with the following seas and high winds. I put on the electric/hydraulic autopilot next and it too was overpowered and could not keep us on course. I kept getting an error "Rudder Response Failure" which we get all the time with this Simrad unit, even with low wind, and usually we just turn it off of "auto" to "standby" and back to "auto" and it will "usually" keep going for a while but not then. So, in 30-35 knot winds on our tail I had to hand steer in pitch dark with big swells that wanted to push us all over the place. It was way too violent to sleep down below so Cindy just laid there in the salon bunk and held on. I held on to the steering wheel and hated life (at that moment). It was so bad that for the very first time I had serious thoughts about turning around and calling it quits on the high seas. Fortunately, it only lasted about 4 hours but it seemed a lifetime. I just stayed up all night and steered and we were both zombies the next day and after. That morning we were to be radio net control again and Cindy did that below while I watched up in the cockpit.

Back to BB - what a spectacular island. The scenery is everything you have ever imagined about a Polynesian island with the very dramatic double peak jaggedly reaching up to the sky from a relatively small island land mass with lovely fringing motus (islets around an atoll reef system) and waters of every blue imaginable over the reefs. There are lots of rays - sting, manta, leopard - and many, many reef fishes. The highlight of our visit without a doubt was the festivities for the Heiva Festival which is a celebration of some kind of Polynesian independence and the French Bastille Day. The events go on for about two weeks but we only caught a few days of it. The best was a hula dance competition one night with 80 dancers, about 40 each male/female, in elaborate costumes performing a variety of dances. Several of the dances depicted legends or historical events which we did not have the background to understand but they were beautiful any way.

We went ahead and sprung for the $15 seats in the small seating sections rather than stand on the fringes of the large dirt dance area - about half the size of an American football field. I tried to get pictures with our digital camera but it was too far for a flash to do good and while the camera tried, many of the shots were a little blurry. We are trying to get a DVD that we heard was made by Tahitian TV who were there filming it all. It was a big deal. The drumming, like what we have heard almost every place we have been in the islands, really gets under your skin. The girls doing the hula dances are amazing and you wonder just how they make their hips do that. They dance the really fast hula steps with their hips going and going and going, then they slow way down and do this beckoning thing with their hands and eyes and the guys watching want to jump up and grab them. The guy dancers were as energetic as the women but rather than a hula-hip thing, they made their knees go in and out really fast over and over from side to side. They were physically exhausted afterwards and it made you thing that the orthopedic ward would be very busy after each performance. And these guys were hunka-hunka so the women in the audience were all drooling over the handsome faces and rock hard bodies. Without a doubt these groups were professional quality even though I am sure they were just well-rehearsed amateurs.

The next day after the big dance there was a parade and ceremonies for the actual Bastille Day. They had gendermes (French police) in full regalia with the mayor (or whatever he is called) and other officials doing their flag ceremonies followed by a parade to the dancing ground where all the dignitaries were seated in their suits and ties in the hot sun. Every "official" group on the island was represented - soccer teams, karate schools, hotels, restaurants, schools, old lady groups, you name it. They had so many that one guy with a megaphone was trying to get them to hurry up. I was still suffering from my island fever so I walked around and missed the banana races which was described to me as some guys carrying large bunches of bananas on poles on their shoulders. Sounded like fun.

The island is really developed for tourism with many large hotels scattered around. The local village has tourist type shops, ATM's, grocery stores and a few other shops but is nothing special. The beautiful, beautiful hotels are really scattered with several of them on the motus in the lagoon. The tourists are shuttled around on boats. The airport was originally built by the US during World War II and was the first one and only one in French Polynesian until the 70's and it is on a motu as well, so all passengers take a ferry in to town or on a private hotel ferry. There aren't very many anchorages suitable for us yachties around the town and if you do anchor it is deep water - over 75' mostly. The famous Bloody Mary's restaurant and the equally famous Bora Bora Yacht Club have mooring balls for yachts if you spend money at their places. There are some shallow water anchorages out around the motus next to the reefs but not near town. We tried to go around the main island one day in Maggie Drum but chickened out at one spot in the "channel" after it got to 10' or less and we could not see the next channel marker. Others did make it though but the water is so clear it looks like it isn't deeper than a bathtub and after grounding in Cook's Bay on Moorea we aren't ready to be too adventurous with our home.

The morning of the day we left BB, Cindy and I joined White Swan for a snorkel over the sand and coral where the local tour boats take their customers and feed the fish. We took some bread to feed them. When you take out the bread in your fingers you are immediately surrounded, completely, by voracious small reef fish - parrotfish, sergeant-majors, butterflies and others - who want a piece of the action. They fill every cubic inch of the water around you. Quite amazing and almost claustrophobic. One of the local tour guides snorkeled down to the coral about 15' down and enticed out, then pulled up, an enormous tame moray eel, about 12" in diameter and 5' in length. He wasn't too happy but did not bite and then swam down and hid again in the coral. Very entertaining.

Bora Bora was pretty and we had fun there, especially as we got to know some other cruisers from other countries better. Part of the adventure out here is meeting other like-minded people, some of whom have circled the world one or more times already. I am over the bad passage night now but the long passages are still Long and we enjoy the calm anchorages best. This passage has had very little sunshine, many squalls and fluky winds which makes it harder to like. Tonga will be another adventure though and we look forward to it.

Other notes - On the radio we heard a boat going to Atuitaki had a mishap. The skipper lost his balance and fell in to the lazarette, hit his head really hard and drove his front teeth through his lips so he will be visiting the hospital there when he arrives. Our friends on Sarabi just reported a few minutes ago that one of their catamaran's rudders hit a rock or something in the Rarotonga harbor so they are not having a good day. Their boat was also damaged by high winds and waves on the wharf in Raiatea that we had trouble on. They have decided to sell the brand-new custom boat in NZ and go back to Canada and buy a horse ranch. One last note - don't ever, ever underestimate the importance of a working autopilot on the passages. Hand steering is almost impossible for hours at a time. We are glad we have the windvane pilot plus two working electric pilots just in case. I just wish they would all work better in following seas which is all we have had this passage. Several, several boats have had major problems with their autopilots which always become a priority item to fix, so that having spares for the mechanical and computer bits may be a good idea.

One last note: Cindy has been asked to come back to Denver and work on contract for her old company and she will be leaving me with Maggie Drum in Tonga for about 3 months. I will try to visit the US for a few days if we can find a safe place to keep MD otherwise I will have to stay which will not be the best situation. The money Cindy can make will go towards many more months of cruising though so we will take advantage while we can. I may even be able to pick up some electrical work in Tonga on other boats or at least work on some MD projects.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com