Graptolite - Bora Bora. So Good They Named It Twice
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Sat 26 Apr 2008 03:56
The morning after arriving at Raiatea, Iren'aa was dropped off by dinghy at
a small inhabited coral motu called Fano. We were greeted effusively by
family members and we met Iren'aa's sister, Hinano, who is famous for being
the model for the design on the local beer bottles even though she
tragically lost an arm in a shark attack some years earlier. Iren'aa gave me
a very shiny black pearl and the family gave us a basket of fei bananas, and
lychees to take away.
It turned out that Heike had flown to Raiatea the previous day to charter a
yacht from Apooti Marina for a week. We met Heike's boat at the marina and
as we were the ones who were supposed to know what we were doing, we led the
way through the pass in the reef at Taha'a and on to the fabled island of
Bora Bora. We arrived at Bora Bora (as usual) in the dark and entered
through the reef to the sound of drums from the island and found moorings
near the Yacht Club. Night approaches (and exits) to these places can be a
bit scary; to say the least, and I should really stop doing them.
Bora Bora was once described by James Cook as the 'pearl of the Pacific'.
Two centuries later it seems to have become mainly an excuse to charge the
glitterati outrageous prices for everything. It is a pretty place though
with its central jagged mountains, its circling island reefs and its blue
lagoons.
A swim in the lagoon with stingrays and then tying up alongside the quay in
the village of Vaitape was about all we did during the day. We are off now
to an expensive hotel to spoil the privacy of somebody rich and famous and
have dinner.