Bora-Bora Monday July 24.

Hello Lisanne friends !

Three weeks have passed since you heard from us on the Blog. Those three weeks have been very relaxing and comfortable. We have slowly cruised the Society Islands over to Bora-Bora “the Pearl of Polynesia”.

Fredrik and the Skipper left Tahiti and went over to Moorea again to do some snorkling and take part in the Oyster Party there. We also went on an ATV trip on the mountain. Great fun !

It was a great Oyster event with an evening and a whole day full of activities.  Lots of games, dance shows and a delicious Polynesian Barbecue.  We did not do so well in the canoe race though. Maybe we didn´t have the right technique.

After the event we went back to Papeete on Tahiti where Lisanne was hauled out of the water and got a well deserved coat of antifouling and polish. Fredrik started his long journey home and Eric moved into a hotel for a few days.

A new crew member, Samantha,  arrived from London. We met her on Bonaire while diving and as she is on a “gap year” from work she wanted to find a place on a sailboat in Polynesia and we could offer an opportunity to join for a few weeks.

We left Papeete and sailed overnight the 95 Nm to Huahine, another beautiful island with a protected lagoon. This month is a festival month in French Polynesia and they arrange HEIWA all over the islands with dance competitions and canoe racing etc. We went to the Huahine town and saw the final of the dance competition. Great show !

We then went over to Raiatea, a somewhat larger island only two hours away which is the island from which the Polynesians migrated all over the region. We visited the archeological site Tupotupoatea where we learnt a lot about the Polynesian history. We also took the dinghy and went into a winding river which took us to the interior of the island. We met Andre who supplied us with fresh grapefruit, bananas and papaya. Payment was a sixpack of beer !

We moved the boat to Raiatea town where we anchored just outside the marina. There was a dive operator there so in the morning we went for a dive on the reef and then crossed over to the smaller island Tahaa which is an hours trip within the same lagoon.

The snorkling in the “Coral Garden” was absolutely amazing. We anchored the dinghy and walked across the island and went into the water on the opposite side. We could then slowly drift through the beautiful corals back to the dinghy and watch hundreds of bright reef fish. A large octopus caught our attention although it is almost impossible to spot them as they change shape and colour according to the bottom conditions.

Finally we sailed over to Bora-Bora where we are right now, anchored just outside the famous bar “Bloody Mary” where a lot of celebrities have had their sundowners and excellent dinners. We ate there yesterday night and it lived well up to its reputation.

Mike came back from his trip home to Ireland and we are just now three persons on board.

This morning we went diving again. Great diving but after having dived the Tuamotos nothing is really so exciting any more. Sharks, Tunas, Barracudas, Napoleonfish, Eagle Rays are now part of our normal diving friends and we are really looking for something more spectacular as Manta Rays, Whales, Tiger sharks or Hammerheads.

Bora-Bora is a real Honeymoon island. Many luxury resorts full of young couples and two large cruise ships anchored in the lagoon close to us.

Yesterday we went out with our dinghies on a diving/snorkling expedition. We were a group who went diving and looked for Manta Rays without success. But when we came up the snorklers said that they were close by. And after a while we saw some of these amazing animals swimming towards us. They are impressive with a wing-span of 3m and large “antennas” on their foreheads.

The “winter” weather here is very comfortable, around 27-28 during daytime and cooler during the night. But the water temperature is still around 28-29 so we can dive in 3 mm shorties without getting cold.

We will now check out of French Polynesia and tomorrow we start our crossing over to the Tonga archipelago which is about 1200 Nm westwards. We plan to stop at rarotonga one of the Cook Islands if weather permits. The anchorages there are not so well protected so we need favourable winds from S or SW to be able to stop there.

Best regards from the Lisanne crew, Eric, Mike and Samantha.

  Midsummer celebrations with “Miss Tiggy”                             ATV-tour on Moorea.

  Canoe race                                                                                      Freddie in the banana race

   Cooks bay, Moorea                                                                      Game leaders

   Hula-Hula                                                                                        Do we look different ?

   Freddies’ last night in the sun                                                       Samantha arrives

   Our tour guide plays Ukulele                                                       Up the river

   Tight djungle                                                       Crocodiles ?

   Andre cuts the fruit                                                                       Family trip

   Taputapuatea grave chamber                                                    Bora-Bora