Fai Tira Blog Saturday 5th June

Fai Tira in Bora Bora 16:31.98S 151:42.44W

 

Happy Birthday today to Laurien, Monica, and David!

 

 

Tuesday the first of June saw us heading around the Island of Tahaa after spending a night back on the town quay.  The reason for this was a need to visit the hospital as John’s hand had  inadvertently made contact with a Sea Urchin while out snorkelling with J.  The sea urchin won, spearing John with lots of black needles that pieced his skin then snapped off.  Some of the barbs went straight through his fingers and out the other side.  John was in great pain and J suggested peeing on his hand.  I didn’t agree and sought information from the Ships Medical Book (SMB).  This was also backed up by Steve from Aspen who had been listening to our VHF conversation.  The SMB suggested surgery to remove them hence the need for hospitalization.  When John returned they had treated the wounds with ammonia and suggested we should have peed on them!

 

 

John and J hiding behind a rock.

Wednesday saw us heading for and anchoring at a very tranquil site know as the Hurricane Hole.  This peaceful spot had a small village which we strolled around in the evening before we found a restaurant willing to sell us beer.  The ambiance was great and we stayed there for quite a while before Fai Tira disappeared into the darkness.  We strolled back to the boat to the sounds of Polynesian drumming and as we got close to the dock we smelt the unmistakable aroma of Chinese food.  This was being prepared in a massive wok on the street at the side of a van by a local.  J and I had chow mein whilst John had chips.  We returned to the boat with this and thoroughly enjoyed it.   

The following morning I did some work on the boat whilst John and J went exploring.

 

 

    

It was great to wake up in such tranquil surroundings. Many of our previous locations had been exposed and lumpy.

It had always been our intention to relax and make a slow start to the day, so we had a few choices.

Although the village was small and we’d seen some of it in fading light the previous evening, there was still more to see; and daylight always provides another perspective and level of activity. So J and I decided to use the time for another stroll. This time it was to be in the opposite direction. So we took the dinghy ashore and once more tied up at the very basic swaying timber jetty. There was never going to be loads to see, but the pair of us never seem to get enough just being there and experiencing the simple natural charm that makes these places so special. The previous evening we’d walked past a quite large and imposing building. It was closed, but a glance through a window revealed that part of it was used to display an attractive craft collection. It was adjacent to the jetty and had to be worth a look. It turned out to be a superb range of professionally presented, mostly local handmade items that were desirable and inexpensive. While we were perusing the scene, a car turned up. The occupants turned out to be English, another chance meeting in a remote part of the world that once more proved to be the source of an entertaining interlude. I bought a straw hat and J some jewellery and off we strolled past the other impressive building that had imposed its presence when looking on from the anchorage. It turned out to be the Island’s college for 11 to 16 year olds. The place was almost as big as the village itself and alive with youngsters giving the whole surroundings a vibrant edge. It was still quite early, but ferociously hot (new hat was working well) and once more it had the feel of strolling through a park. The village is very small and lots of things seemed out of place in these surroundings. Yesterday we visited a local store that sold everything from split pins to split peas and today we came across another, this time bigger, selling a whole range of ships’ chandlery and, just in case you tired of sailing, there was a whole range of pin striped suits to choose from....Strange!!!

 We walked for about half an hour, just wallowing in the surroundings, past beautiful houses and views across the bay that just had to be captured on camera. Back in the village, there was just time for a quick beer in the local cafe and for J to turn on his French linguistic charm to compliment the more elderly of a couple of woman who were sitting opposite, on the expressiveness of her delightful eyes. It was a great pleasure to see her smile as they lit up and they turned and walked off giggling like a couple of school girls.

 

A great end to the morning!!!!

 

 

Above are views of the Hurricane hole and us heading down to the Tavavana Yacht club.

 

 

On the way we were chased by the local canoe club.  We were doing over 5 knots and they still overtook us.  The sunset that evening was OK ish for this part of the world.  We were looking forward to having a beer at the Yacht Club and got tarted up ready for a night out.  Unfortunately we had arrived on the only night it was closed. After a long chat with an American called Khyber!!!!!  His mum and dad must have passed him on!!!!  Get it, Khyber Pass, tee hee..

 

 

The next morning Thursday saw us leaving the spectacular islands of Raiatea and Tahaa for another even more spectacular island Bora Bora.  Since I can remember I have always wanted to visit this place.  The twenty five mile journey across was uneventful except for a close encounter with a local freighter who just kept heading straight for us on a reciprocal heading.  They waved as they went by so we waved back.  We caught up with Bali Blue with Peter and Carol on board and followed them into the Bora Bora yacht club moorings via the only pass through the coral reef that completely surrounds the island.  VHF transmissions indicated that Peregrina had engine problems and needed a tow into the pass and anchorage.  Jaime from Bionic volunteered to do the tow and I transferred to their boat to give assistance.  Luckily Peter had sorted the problem on his boat so we just stood off whilst he motored in.  J and I visited Bora Bora yacht club that evening and had quite an interesting conversation with a couple of American ladies off of a big gin palace they had chartered.  Enough said. 

 

 

Friday saw us leave the mooring relatively early to negotiate the very narrow, shallow channels that allow us to get to the south east side of the island. Navigation was a bit tricky at times and as I studied the charts John steered the boat through the coral which in some places had been blasted to create a way through.  Once on the other side of the island we motored past lots of resorts that looked like they were closed down.  The tourist industry here is having problems with only 50% of the usual visitor numbers holidaying in very expensive French Polynesia.

 

 

We had J on the front of Fai Tira coral spotting whilst John and I enjoyed the spectacular views.

 

 

We anchored up not far from Enchantress in the most beautiful anchorage spot on the island and possibly in the Society Islands.  The sea here is the colour of aqua marine turquoise, yes the same colour as Fai Tira’s hull. After anchoring we headed off to go snorkelling.  We had heard of this little restaurant called the Motu Cafe from Hans and Monica on Natibou, so we nipped in on the way to book for an evening meal for us, Enchantress and Lucy Alice.  The owner and his wife were from Mexico and made us very welcome.  Their children were delightful with the youngest one carrying a kitten around in her handbag. We arranged to be back at 6.30 for Tuna and Vegetarian meals. 

 

 

When snorkelling we encountered lots of Sea Urchins the same as John had his encounter with.  John didn’t venture out of the dinghy, you can’t blame him. We eventually moved to another spot sussed out by David and Susan  which was excellent and we all enjoyed it immensely. The fish were in abundance with so many varied species all swimming in crystal clear water.

 

 

Susan spotted a very large Moray Eel and pointed it out to me.  It seemed quite aggressive and I kept my distance.  After the brilliant experience we all headed back to Enchantress for some light refreshment before getting ready for the evening meal.

 

 

The evening meal was really nice.  A jolly good time was had by all as you can see.  We all headed back to Fai Tira so that the party could carry on.

 

 

Here is John with Micha and all of his family.  Best of luck to them with their new venture.

 

Bye for now Pete, John and J.