Nearly TIME2 leave French Polynesia

Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Sun 7 Jul 2013 22:34
Nearly TIME2 leave French Polynesia
 
We have been in French Polynesia for almost 3 months now ..and our 90 day visa is coming to an end.  Our next stop will be Sawarrow - an atoll of the northern Cook islands,  a four day trip from here. The weather has been quite unstable out at sea and it looks like our best weather window is next week.  We do however have to wait for the Tuesday freight ship,  that is bringing 4 new house batteries.  Our current batteries are loosing power and we are having to run the generator more and more each day.  After many emails, great difficulty in payment and some drama around taxes, we believe that the batteries will be loaded tomorrow in Tahiti and arrive on Tuesday.   Getting those batteries aboard Time2, and getting the old ones off (they each weight over 70kgs!) is going to be tricky - particularly as Mike has hurt his back.  Lets hope our trusty crane can do most of the lifting.
 
We had a near disaster here on Tuesday morning. A strong southerly wind came up, and the long  fetch across the lagoon created some waves in the anchorage.  We were on a mooring ball at the MaiKai marina, which we had been assured could handle a boat of up to 150tons (we are only 55t). While we were enjoying our morning coffee a few stronger gusts came through and I then noticed that our neighbour Jerry on s/v Player was very close and getting closer. We sprang into action, Mike started the engines and moved ahead so I could untie the mooring ball and get the hell out.  We headed around the corner to another anchorage, which although was very deep (about 25m), was more protected.  This was a very narrow escape - had we dragged during the night, we would have crashed into the little yacht Player and caused untold damage.  I go cold at the thought!  
 
Mike has continued to help boats with all kinds of mechanical problems and last night went to the rescue again. People on a charter boat had not tied up their dinghy properly and it was blowing off across the anchorage, with one of the guests swimming after it frantically in 20knots of wind in the dark!
 
We have continued to enjoy the Bora-Bora Heiva festival - watching more singing and dancing shows; a fishing competition; a craft exhibition; a coconut "peeling" competition and a spectacular float procession.  Each of the 5 towns built a huge float by dressing a flatbed truck in the most beautiful array of flowers, plants and fruits.  The floats are then accompanied by various musicians and people dressed in traditional gear. Here are some more pictures from the recent events.