Tahiti - Bora Bora
Tahiti - Bora Bora in Google Maps (Webbrowser) and in Google Earth (separate application)
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Having finished all work on Blue Bie, we are looking forward to get away from the hustle of the city and sail to the neighboring island Moorea. There we are snorkeling, diving, take the bike to a viewpoint high above the bays and hanging out with fellow cruisers at the beach for a beer or an impromptu barbecue. While we enjoy Cook Bay, we soon migrate to the Opunohu Bay, which is as beautiful but has an internet hotspot, too…
After a week in Moorea we are sailing to Huahine, which has like all Society Islands a big barrier reef around the island. We are motoring through a narrow dark blue channel between the turquoise green water over the reef and the lush green island to the Southern end of Huahine to go kitesurfing. The anchorage is very exposed to the howling winds and it is raining quite hard for some days. I try to go kitesurfing, but the conditions are less than perfect. Where the wind is good, there is no beach to launch the kite and where there is a nice beach, the wind is very gusty. Slightly frustrated, we lift anchor and by-pass Raiatea and Tahaa to sail overnight directly to Bora Bora, which is reputed to have a good kite spot, because I want to exploit the good winds for kitesurfing.
Bora Bora is stunning with a more beautiful lagoon and a more impressive mountain looming above than the other islands. And the kitesurfing at Matira Point is fantastic indeed. While the passage to the Matira Beach is a bit tricky, the anchorage behind is deep, protected and close to a dive center and the kite spot. We enjoy ourselves in and out of the water and I am celebrating my birthday with a kitesurf session in the morning and dinner onboard with Shauna and Dave from Dragon, with whom we have had such good times in the last few months. We are also catching up with my good friend Wayne and we spend many meals together. Even amongst like-minded sailors it is rare to find someone with whom one connects so well and I am looking forward to stay connected with him. We like Matira Beach so much that we do not visit any other anchorages in Bora Bora. Here we find everything we need and the main settlement is only a 20 bike ride away. Would our visa not expire, we would stay longer…
But we are clearing out and sail ‘back’ to the sister islands Raiatea and Tahaa, which sit behind a common barrier reef. We are planning to stay only a few days, but we like it so much that we conveniently forget that our visa has expired. We are staying a few days at the town pier of Uturoa and enjoy the comfort of walking on and off the boat. When the wind picks up and pushes us with a fetch of 2 miles on the dock, it becomes decidedly uncomfortable and I would like to leave. But it is blowing so hard, that we can’t get of the pier under engine. A yacht which tries is swept back and crashes onto Blue Bie – luckily we only have minor cosmetic damage:(
But enough is enough, I lay two lines to a windward pier and winch Blue Bie off the pier, put the engines in gear, haul in the lines and leave port. Moni decides to celebrate her birthday on land, too, and so we have even more time, which we spend on a mooring buoy at the Taravana Yacht Club and anchored of the Motu Mahea. Both places feel like paradise: The Yacht Club offers a restaurant with a great atmosphere, a good crowd and book swap and we meet again with Yuriko and Jock. Motu Mahea feels like Robinson Crusoe island, which we share with day tourists from Tahaa for a few hours, but have it to us most of the time. There are no buildings on this private island and most evenings the owner of Taravana Yacht Club comes over for a kitesurf session.
We return once again to Matira Beach on Bora Bora to celebrate Moni’s birthday. In earlier times, we would have invited some friends over shortwave radio. But these days everyone has e-mail access on land and mostly on passage, too – either via satellite or shortwave radio. We spend a few great days with John & Nicole from Taraipo, Mike, Devala & Linda from Sea Rover and Axel & Brit from Hello World. I am decorating Blue Bie with palm fronds; Moni goes diving and gets a tattoo. In the evening we celebrate with all our friends in the cabin of Blue Bie, since it is once again raining. It’s cozy, but I am surprised how easily we all fit around the table! We spend a wonderful evening and Moni celebrates a very memorable birthday.
The next morning we leave with a heavy head for our passage to Hawaii. I think back a few years how much I prepared to leave for the Atlantic crossing and here we are leaving with a hang-over for an equally demanding passage. We have come a way… I like the islands of Tahaa, Bora Bora and Raiatea so much that I could well imagine to come back again next year!