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19. day - 16/09/2007 - , The Northwestern Part of the IslandIn the morning we sailed towards Uturoa which is the administrative centre of the island. It is possible to drop the anchor on the way next to the small islands in the lagoon. We saw SV Hafskip on the way but they were surrounded with buoys and nets so we did not sail close to them. In Uturoa it is possible to tie up to the marine of the town completely free and get water and good provisioning from the Champion supermarket but there is not wifi. So we sailed to the Raiatea Marina and dropped the anchor before the Marina. On the way we tried to call the trafic control of the air port but nobody replied to us so we just sailed and crossed the airport runaway. We could not see any landing airplane. Raiatea is a big charter centre of French Polynesia so it was easy to find some wifi place.
The wind brought some rain clouds and we saw a nice rainbow over the island.
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20. day - 17/09/2007 - , UturoaA front crossed the sky above in the morning. It brought lots of rain and 30-35 knots of wind. Our anchor kept holding. When it was over it finished with a nice rainbow again.
We went to a trip to the town of Uturoa. It was 5 km long way so we were hitchhiking which is very easy on the island. The people are very nice and take you no matter where you go.
The town is small but very friendly with its 2 main roads. Huge ferries arrive to the town marina from other islands. There is a small park and the St Andrew Chatolic Church what we could visit. We met again with SV Hafskip at the marina and Ilse and Joost invited us for a lunch.
Interesting: We saw couple of times that the local children play sometimes cock-fighting on the streets or houses.
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22. day - 19/09/2007 - , View from Uturoa BelvedereIn the morning we found an anchor chain under the boat. We raised partly the chain but we could not see the anchor on it. We will see whether we can raise it entirely when we leave.
Next to the local police in the town there is a path to the hills (around one hour to the view point). We went to a trip to see the lagoon from the hill. The view from the top was really nice (like on the postcards) and we could also see the protecting corals around the lagoon and the island. We had luck because the the sky was mainly clear.
Walking down from the hill we faced with a nice cow then a pick-up truck came which picked us up although we were not hitchhiking this time.
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23. day - 20/09/2007 - , MotuWe went to an excursion on a small island with the dinghy which was not too far from the Raiatea Marina. We found a house on it but there was not anybody there who we could inquire about the house. It was a small island (a Motu) you could only make a few footsteps on it.
So we left and went drift snorkeling in the pass behind the island. The incoming water was perfect and we saw many small colourful fish.
When we returned the boat we had to fix our navigation chair which had been broken earlier.
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24. day - 21/09/2007 - , TahaaEnglish translation is missing, sorry...
Daily position:
18:00 16-36.30S 151-33.40W log= 22802.9
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25. day - 22/09/2007 - We could see three motus before us and the middle hides a pass into the lagoon. The pass is not deeper then 1 meter where we could drift snorkel with the incoming water. The underwater world was full with corals and it looked like a marine aquarium with smaller and bigger fish. We also saw many urchins and some type of fish we have never seen before. At the end we asked for some pictures from Hafskip that they make with their underwater camera.
In the evening we tought Ilse and Joost (Hafskip) to play canasta (card game). During the game we heard some live music from th shore that we wanted to check out. We went to shore on a private island with the dinghy in the night but when we arrived the show which was played for the guests of the hotel was over. So we decided to continue our game instead. |
26. day - 23/09/2007 - | | Rotor with Background Bora Bora (from SV Hafskip) |
Although we did not think about leaving this day still we woke up for a breeze. There was not any wind in the previous days so it seemed clear we had to leave. So we packed up as quickly as we could and the wind was stronger and stronger. By the time we had around 10 knots of wind we were heading towards Bora Bora. Hafskip also raised the anchor so they had the same conclusion as we had. We also were not suprised that other sailing boats were also on their way with us. A big boat passed us with its
genakker which was evidently not a good idea to use it in the squalls we had. We saw the clouds moved strange against us although the wind was with us and we knew the wind direction would suddenly change so we reefed the sails. We saw the boat with the genakker having problems, but they could solve it by loosing their gains.
There were no waves despite the wind so we had a really good sailing also in the weakening wind after the squalls had gone. When we arrived next to the Island of Bora Bora Yagoona called us on VHF as they could see us from their anchoring place. Giving us their position we anchord next to them at 6 pm in a nice sunset in around 4 meters deep water. In the evening Hafskip invited us with the 4 crews of Yagoona to their boat.
Daily position:
18:00 16-32.00S 151-45.00W log= 22814.8
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27. day - 24/09/2007 - The island of Bora Bora is very touristic with nice restaurants and hotels with its many tourist activities such as motorboat tours, jet-ski, submarine tour, helicopter tour, jeep tour etc. Also a bit change for us since our last experiences. But also the water is crystal clear in the lagoon and in the moonlight it looks like a swimming pool. There is not any river on the island which would flow into the sea.
Bora Bora is a good example of how the atolls are created. It has a big lagoon which shows that part of the island had already sunk. The original name of the island was Pora Pora (there is not B in the Tahitien language) and the First Born after Raiatea.
We went to a trip up on the hills to the cannons from the second world war. We had a nice view from here to the lagoon. |
28. day - 25/09/2007 - In the moorning we tied our dinghy to Bloody Mary Restaurant and Yacht Club. It is allowed to tie here despite we did not use their moorings. This restaurant said to be famous here and it also notes its famous guests on a wall.
We looked around on the island a little bit. We found the only perl farm here of Bora Bora called The Farm. We were welcommed here to look around however it looked the same like on the Tuamotus. We specially liked the Tikis in the garden.
In the afternoon we went to see the ocean swells in the lagoon. We went very close to the coral ring where the swells break on the reefs.
In the evening we invited Yagoona and Hafskip for a fruit coctail on board. After sunset the air cooled down so our guests accepted a blanket. We talked about again the tropical sailing which can be quite cold sometimes. But the temperature is very good to sleep at least. |
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