Papillon in the Pacific

  La Orana! I have to start with the sea life which has been amazing this week. Some like the pod of dolphins feeding in the pass this morning were unexpected but others we went looking for and I'm going to start with these.  Yesterday we motored Papillon around to the east (quieter) side of Bora Bora (more of that later) and took a dinghy ride over to the “aquarium” between Moto Piti Uu Tai and Moto Piti Uu Uta. (I couldn't resist including the names!)     Skipper with Bora Bora island behind   Inside the lagoon Here you can secure your dinghy to a “mini “mooring and then just jump straight into the water, mask and snorkel at the ready.   Under the surface we were confronted with shoals of black and white striped fish a bit like oversized angel fish, gliding right up to our face masks to take a better look.   Beneath them were literally hundreds of other fish grazing on the corals beneath, luminescent electric blues, bright lime...

La Orana! I write this from the lagoon on a mooring between Raiatea and Tahaa! The ocean is lapping quietly at the hulls and there is a delicious (mosquito free) cooling breeze wafting through the cabin. Further away waves are crashing on the reef and kite-surfers are fizzing over the turquoise blues of the shallow water, their yellow, red and azur kites somehow managing not to collide. When the waves run out they lift off the surface making acrobatic turns in the air before alighting in the other direction and racing off towards the deeper indigo coloured waters nearer Papillon. As they gather speed the boards rise up smoothly onto foils beneath - now they are gliding over the surface, bodies lying virtually parallel to the water, single hands casually holding onto harnesses, spare hands cheerfully waving as the boards whizz by us with less than a boat length to spare. It is quite mesmerising. Our attempts to swim around the boat this afternoon seem uncoordinated and laboured by ...

La Orana! Last week I met our neighbour Claudie in the laundry room.  She speaks no English so up until now our conversations have been restricted to pleasantries but for some reason, we both thought we would put in a bit more effort while we waited for my sheets to stop spinning.    Still days in Uturoa   Laundry room  I asked her how her recent trip to the repair yard had gone.  We had thrown and collected her lines when she had left (and returned) so it only seemed polite to inquire.  It turned out she was really pleased with the work done but was glad to be back.  Then she asked me about our departure plans.  I realise that my French skills have a long way to go but when I told her it was complicated by the fact that if we decide to leave, we are not allowed to come back her response was pretty unambiguous. “Ce n’est pas normal! Ce n’est pas normal” she kept saying and then added that she would go and speak to the ...