Leaving Bora Bora

Nickanddenisesailing
Tue 5 Sep 2017 23:11
16.36.3 S 152.58.9 W

Just a quick one this week as it has been unusually uneventful and very wet. After having spent far too long cooped up aboard the farm we decided to get some fresh air and take a walk to find a pair of U.S. cannons left after the second world war. We locked the dingo to a coconut tree and made our up a small hill and were met by an excited local guy and several ladies who insisted that we see their "American Cannon", only 5$ each. Denise bartered, we got the two-for-one deal and found ourselves looking over a pair of 16 inch guns and a small concrete bunker perched on a ridgeline looking out to sea. I couldn't help but wonder how many man-hours were spent in that little box looking out over the sparkiling lagoon, desperately wanting to fire one of those guns. I would have loved to hear the conversations and banter between the soldiers as they spent months in that little box.

It was a long dingy ride back to the boat upwind in 20 knots and salt water was driven into every concievable orifice but the promise of a good cup of tea at end maintained our spirits. It was time to move back to western side of the island and make preparations for our departure.

We reluctantly pulled up our anchor at the Southeast anchorage which was well dug in after 4 days of high winds and headed for shelter once again behind Motu Toopa. We found it (the motu and the shelter) and spent the rest of the day removing that pesky green beard that seems to growing with increasing rapidity and vigor. The still-howling winds made it difficult to get anywhere from this anchorage in our dingy unless we wanted a thourough soaking so the decision was made to take a mooring at the Bora Bora Yacht Club. The decision proved to be a sound one and we found shelter and close proximity to civilization (and steak-and-chip baguettes) so that we could easily leave the confines of our little home and touch base with the world. I made the mistake of catching up on the world news while Denise sensibly used her time on the internet to find new videos and pictures of the family and we were both able to have long awaited chats with the ones we love.

After completing a mountain of check-out paperwork and getting provisions and fuel we decided on one final baguette sandwich. We left the shop salivating over the smells coming from our chow-mein noodle sandwich and looking for a romantic seat down at the wharf when the heavens opened. Every effort went to preventing soggy baguettes as we darted from shelter to shelter gaining an increasing accompaniment of hungry baguette-loving French dogs. The sandwiches were worth it (the dogs thought so as well).

The finality of having check out date shoved into a frenzy of activity and we once again got the boat ready for her next passage, 670 NM to Palmerston atoll. It was decided that the remainder of our FP Francs should go towards a nice meal so we booked a table at the fairly fancy (because of the white table cloths) marina restaurant. We donned our finest garb and set out in the dingy to make our reservation and again the heavens opened. We made to the restaurant marinated but in high spirits as there was a local band set to play and lots of people were pouring in. Unfortunately the food wasn't much to write about but the band, called Pepena, was fantastic and we enjoyed ourselves until Denise got locked in the toilet. A mechanical malfunction led to a long line of desperate ladies all shouting instructions to Denise in French. She calmly tried to work the latch as hysterical people insisted that she keep calm and didn't panic. A key was eventually produced and we took it as a
que to
turn in for the night.

So that takes us to today. We are once again pointing to west and trying to remember our sailing routine. The weather forecast is good if a little light, the moon is full and the seas are a bit lumpy. We hooked two fish already and they both decided that they didn't want to come aboard so they shook their hooks out just before we landed them. The first was a beautiful bull-mahi, about 1.5 meters of shimmering silver and blue and the second was a big tuna that took nearly an hour of hard work (mostly by Denise) to get to the stern. We were happy to see them swim free as they were both far to big for us and I was really happy to get my lure back both times!

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