The move to Tahaa went smoothly. We ended up anchored off TuaTua (a smallish motu with a fancy hotel on it) in about 20 feet of water. Dennis and I went exploring in the dinghy in the afternoon. We were sort of looking for a way to get to the outer reef as well as scoping out beaches and places to snorkel. Josh and Adam hung out again that evening.
Thursday Dennis worked on the generator in the morning . In the afternoon we went to a snorkel spot called the "coral garden". The area is betweent two motus, it is a shallow snorkel, pretty. There ended up being a good bit of current, so Dennis and I walked to the reef side of the the pass and did a drift snorkel back to the dinghy. Was fun. That evening Moondance had invited us all to their boat for Happy hour. Oh the dilemma of what to bring??? I settled on deviled eggs and made enough to for Josh and Adam to share on Loose Pointer. Carla put on quite a spread with fresh garlic/rosemary bread and yummy gourges (sp?). No need for dinner after that. Dan and Katherine (LoosePointer) said they needed to head to BoraBora the next day, so in the spirit of keeping the boys together we decided to move as well. Doug and Carla thought they would stay a little longer on Tahaa.
Friday we were up pretty early getting ready to go to BoraBora. It is only 12 miles away, but the pass into the lagoon is on the west side so, all told it was about 25 miles. We had a good sail over - uneventful. We were happy when Moondance decided to come as well. They had an exchange with our friendly neighborhood does not give way freighter, who finally did respond to their hails on the radio and did give them some room. Moondance has AIS which is a system that lets you identify boats when using your radar, so they had written down the name of the boat the night coming over from Moorea. Our AIS died in Mexico and we were not able to fix it and replacing it was too costly. We hope to replace it in Hawaii. Can be quite a handy little gadget.
We had our poles out and did hook a couple of bonita, I was not able to bring mine in, but Josh brought his in so we could throw it back. Dennis says mine was probably a dorado, but I don't think so. This was just before we needed to turn towards the pass into Bora Bora. Made it through the pass with no difficulty and decided the mooring balls at Bloody Marys were probably the best bet given the strength of the wind. We were all able to pick up a mooring ball and Voila! home. Adam was finishing up homework, so Josh hung out waiting for him while Dennis and I went to check out Bloody Marys. Pretty cool. It has been there for 30+ years and has seen many famous people through its doors. Now including us. Dennis had their namesake drink, which he said was pretty good. So how to describe it? It has the traditional thatched palm roof, sand floors, polished wooden tables with what I think are palm tree logs for seats. Their lunch menu is reasonable (in FP terms) $12 to $15 for a burger and fries. Dinner starts around $33 US. We decided we would come back the next day for lunch. The mooring balls we were on are theirs, and it is on your honor to come to the restaurant for a meal as payment for using them.
Josh and Adam had a sleepover on our boat friday night. Lots of xbox (Adam's) and computer time - not so much sleeping. But I guess that is the point.
Saturday
We got the boys up pretty early - hard for Adam to sleep once we are up as he was on the setee in the salon. I'm not sure either of them were fully awake before the computers were back on. I made waffles for breakfast. I wanted to make them from scratch, but all my flour had little bugs - eeewwww! So those went directly to the trash and I ended up using the mix. We went to Bloody Mary's for lunch. The burgers were yummy as were the fries. After lunch Dennis and I went exploring in the dinghy again. We went to the southern tip of the island. Found a beach bar on the way back, was nice to sit and watch the water.
Adam stayed again Saturday night. We cut them off of electrons about 11pm, and I think I finally chased them to bed around 2am.
Sunday
We were quiet in the morning so the boys could sleep in a little. After breakfast Dennis and I dinghied into town with Doug and Carla to explore. We missed the grocery store but were surprised to find many of the little shops open. Maybe it was because the "Gaugain" cruise ship was in port? Pretty unusual to find anything open on a Sunday. They are very adamant about keeping their day of rest. Probably something people in the US should think more about. What a concept, to actually spend time with your family interacting with each other at home or the beach. That afternoon we went back to our beach bar (which again was amazingly open). We had brought our own stuff with us, but I did buy an icecream. It was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, watching the beautiful lagoon sitting on sugary white sand. Yep, that is the way it is supposed to be.......
Loose Pointer came by the boat later, we swapped a few books and we adults said our "see you laters". Their plan was to leave in the morning for American Samoa via Suwarrow. The boys spent their last night together on Loose Pointer. What a quiet night for Dennis and I! We enjoyed a movie and had an early night.
Monday
Josh had the dinghy and was back at the boat by 815am! Loose Pointer was on their way. About 30 mintues later Josh realized he had one of Adam's game discs still in his computer. So he and Dennis took the dinghy on a mission of mercy to return the disc. They were able to catch Loose Pointer just outside the pass. Dennis said it was an exciting full throttle dinghy ride.
We were also going to change anchorages, but needed to hit town for groceries first. It is still amusing to me the way we shop here. We look at all the aisles, even if we only have a short list. Yesterday we scored progresso soup in cans - clam chowder (Josh's favorite) and a variety of chicken, and better yet, costco brand tortilla chips. So all in all a very fruitful shopping experience.
By the time we got back to the boat, had lunch and prepared the boat to leave, it was almost 3pm, a little late to be moving, but since it was such a short distance and well marked on the charts we decided to go ahead and move. We went maybe the long way around, but it put the sun behind us, which makes it easier to see the depth of the water - in particular we are still keeping an eye out for coral heads or balmies. We had no troubles though, and dropped the anchor on the west side of the motu south of the pass into the lagoon. Once again we are anchored in our own personal aquarium. Dennis and Josh jumped in immediately and called me to the side to see the spotted rays. I got my mask and went in as well, rays were still there. Dennis spent some time working on the dinghy motor - seems the gas has some sort of sediment in it that clogs up the fuel filter and the carburator (same issue we had in Moorea). We watched for the green flash at sunset - didn't see it, still think it is a myth. The sun sent down a golden ball into the sea, another reminder of why we are here.........
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