[password] pilot25041
[position] 16 27.74s 151 43.5w
[status] Thursday ..... and after a quiet night at anchor in Tahaa, we moved just after breakfast on Wednesday across the channel to the top side of the Tahaa Hotel & Spa and dropped anchor, so we could go ashore in the dinghy and explore the Coral Gardens. The idea is to anchor the dinghy or beach it and then walk to the far end of the little Motu (200m or so) get into the water and then drift back down to the dinghy on the current ........ well what a treat we had, literally thousands of fish and multitudes of different types of coral .... it certainly made the drift through the pass at Rangiroa pale into insignificance!! Back to the boat we then had a little trouble (1st time since we set off) in lifting the anchor the chain had wrapped around a rock and the anchor become wedged in, fortunately we were only in 6m so Allan was able to duck dive down and shake it free.
We then went on the look out for a pearl farm, Allan and Lyn had visited one when they did a cruise of the area a few years ago, memories were a little jaded as we motored around Baie Apu without success, eventually spotting it as we rounded the point on our way back to Raiatea ........ where we were heading to see the youth dancers 'live' show at 7pm. After looking at anchorages we found an alongside berth behind the town petrol station, but were warned about possible thefts overnight! So after the show we moved to a free berth alongside the main quay, where we were previously and now directly behind Ross & Jo Blackman, who were still awaiting (4days) for their customs clearance to leave.
After a quiet night alongside we left to go down to the SE side of the island and do a bit of 'culture' by visiting Marae Taputapuatea, as we were leaving Ross found out that his 'agent' in Papeete had now obtained the necessary clearance, so it was a quick visit to the Gendarmerie before they set off for a quick overnight stop in Bora Bora and then head to Suwarrow, Samoa and on to Fiji! The Marae is now a world heritage site, so there are plenty of signs and explanations translated into various languages including english, which made the visit so much more worthwhile. We'd picked up a buoy and had another extremely quiet night, although by morning it was obvious we'd been spinning in circles!
Friday morning dawned and there was only a little wind, so we decided to take Mitch across to Bora Bora, initially motor sailing gradually the wind filled in and we had a fabulous sail back across to Bora Bora, certainly a lot easier than our transit a week ago! Once through the reef we headed down to the SW side of the island and managed to get another buoy just off Bloody Mary';, for 'yachties' a world famous bar & restaurant. After a quick swim, Barry went ashore and managed to book a table for us, a quick shower and sundowner on board we were off for 'happy hour'. This was followed by a fabulous meal in a quite exotic setting ........ a very pleasant evening was had by all and although the wind picked up overnight a very quiet night onboard!
This morning we ventured around to the bottom of the island in the dinghy to go to the big white beach, loads of fish, but not much else exciting, a rather wet dinghy ride into the wind and waves back to Surreal. We then dropped off the buoy and headed up to the town quay in Vaitape, for much needed supplies ...... beer, wine, bread etc etc and fuel for the outboard. We then departed to the NE side of the island, where we currently are, anchored just off a Motu in 2m of water. We can see the airport a couple of miles away on our left and in the other direction a big hotel, but again miles away, apart from that we have the place to ourselves, with a wonderful view of the sun bathed Bora Bora hills and rocks behind us.
Tomorrow we're heading back towards Tahaa, for the pearl farms and distillery visit, before the winds go to the SE and make life difficult for us. After that next stop will be Huahine!
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