Shake down sail to Bora Bora

 

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 greens, golden yellows, tiger stripes, crimsons I cannot do them justice - absolutely beautiful.  Less beautiful were my attempts getting back into the dinghy.  Lumbering whale springs to mind as I tried to hook my leg over the top sides and haul myself in.  And all this while being solemnly observed by a group of kids in outrigger canoes waiting to start a race back to the shore!  What were the chances? They definitely weren't there when I got in! We will have to work out a more elegant solution in the future, but the snorkelling was worth the ignominy!  

The start line

And they're off!

This morning we took the dinghy in the other direction to an area of the reef where eagle rays are reported.  Earlier in the week while moored in Tahaa I thought I saw an eagle ray swimming by the boat, but it was dusk, the light was poor, we'd had a glass of wine and I couldn’t be sure!  Today however, was a definite sighting.  I had scarcely dipped beneath the surface when I had 3 swimming around me their large fins wafting gently like wings in the water and their long, long tails extending behind, poised to stun any suitable prey with an electric shock.  Eagle Rays are distinctive for the unique pattern of white dots each has on its back but under water it was actually their white bellies flashing in the reflected sunlight that initially caught my eye – an amazing sight.

Off to see the Eagle rays

Eagle Ray

A more unexpected sighting was the sudden appearance of multiple black tipped sharks around our Uturoa mooring a few days ago, after I'd casually tossed some lunchtime veg peelings over the side. It all happened so quickly:  one minute uninterrupted views of turquoise blue water and the next as if from nowhere 8 sharks circling around Papillon hoovering up those tasty peelings - the largest about 2m long (the shark not the peelings!). They obviously liked what they tasted as the show continued for the next half hour or so– plenty long enough for a video to be snapped.  We are assured that they aren’t aggressive unless really hungry but I won’t pretend – it was a little disconcerting particularly as I had only recently left the water after my daily swim around the boat! The trick is not to look scared apparently and not to swim after 5pm when they are hungry for real.  All good tips for the wrinklies.

So, as I mentioned, we are currently in Bora Bora.  From our home base in the West of Scotland a shake down sail is normally Crinan to Tobermory.  Here in French Polynesia it turned out to be Raiatea to Bora Bora - not the original plan I hasten to add! The winds had been kind to us during the week and after a few test sails in the lagoon and some practice manoeuvres in Uturoa harbour we had decided to circumnavigate Tahaa but as we sailed past “Pass Paipai” on the west side of the island conditions were too perfect to miss: virtually no swell, light winds, a flat(-ish) Pacific Ocean beyond and the distinctive enticing shape of Bora Bora in the distance...  

Testing the sails round Tahaa

Coast of Tahaa

Decision made we turned sharply to port and started to motor between the red and green buoys marking the safe channel – our first ever Pass.  On either side waves continued to crash onto the reef, but our passage was smooth except for a gentle outward current helping our progress.  The ever-present waves breaking into the lagoon have to drain somewhere so an outward current is normal in the passes – the strength governed by the wind conditions and the width of the pass.  There were no strong currents for us that day and we navigated the wide Pass Paipai with no difficulties. 

Decision made

Sailing through Pass Paipai

Looking back from the ocean side waves were breaking, for the first time since we have arrived here, away from the boat rather than towards it.  Normality had returned!  The mainsail was raised and in gentle easterlies we started to motorsail  across the Pacific Ocean to Bora Bora. The swell was obvious when you looked out of the saloon but the period so long that you barely noticed the motion.  3 hours later we reached the lighthouse marking the south west tip of Bora Bora reef.  There we turned North sailing parallel to the reef for another 3 nautical miles until finally dropping the mainsail just short of Passe Teavanui, the only pass in Bora Bora.  Another gentle passage through the channel marked our entry into the lagoon and  a few minutes later Papillon was moored up in the bay outside Bora Bora yacht club- an uneventful but extremely satisfying first ocean passage. 

Yacht Club from Papillon

Papillon from the Yacht Club

Bora Bora, we have discovered, is a very different beast from Raiatea.  The dramatic volcanic plug dominating the central island is fringed by a turquoise lagoon peppered with sandy forested Motus.  Not surprisingly, tourists and yachties flock here for the sunshine and the water sports. Unlike sleepy Raiatea it is a tightly run operation.  Within an hour of our mooring up a boat appeared alongside Papillon to take our mooring fees.  No anchoring is permitted in Bora Bora now we were told.  There are 4 official mooring spots all owned by the same company. You pay up front depending on how many nights you intend to stay and the fee includes a daily rubbish pick up.  Apart from the latter which has sadly still not happened it’s all very impressive if a little sterile.  Judging by the sheer number of visiting boats in the bay, however, it is necessary. The island is simply too small and the environment too fragile to survive the influx otherwise.  Unlike the neighbouring island of Maupiti,  Bora Bora has chosen to develop its tourism and has devised ways  to manage that development to retain the beauty of the place.

Boats in slings at the shoreline	Fishing Buoys
Hotel chalets on the Motu	Flowers everywhere

From what we have seen I think this has largely been achieved and in a weird way we have enjoyed the faster pace of life here; the plumes of water announcing the jet skiers in the lagoon, the twinkly lights from all the thatched roofed resorts on the motus and the endless tour boats going this way and that with visitors excited to experience the delights of snorkelling, diving and fishing in the Bora Bora lagoon.  It is indeed an impressive operation. 

Where Bora Bora still (fortunately) resembles Raiatea is the quietness of the evenings. On our first night we motored the dinghy across a glassy lagoon to the yacht club and enjoyed a pint and a glorious sunset with a lovely couple from Sweden.  Their story was uncannily similar to ours: recent retirees, buying a boat unseen, exploring French Polynesia the wrong way against the Trade Winds.  It was reassuring to think perhaps we’re not so crazy after all!  

Heading home to papillon