Friday, September 2, 2011

Rewind, Baby!

This line always makes me laugh. It was from a surfing couple on a sailboat we met in Oxnard, CA. Instead of "Reverse" it was "Rewind, Baby" and that's what we are doing now!

Moondance anchored in Bora Bora
We finally left Bora Bora after almost a month (hard to believe).

After sailing over 4100 miles, it is time to start our trip East back through the Society islands and then Tuamotus and maybe the Marquesas. Our plans are to leave either the Tuamotus or the Marquesas around the 1st of November - depending on the weather - heading to Hawaii.

Enjoying a day at the beach
Bora Bora was a wonderful place to hang out, relax, explore, and shop. It is a beautiful island surrounded by an amazing lagoon and reef and we got to see some amazing sites, plus the locals were very warm and friendly.

Love watching the canoes
One of our favorite past times is sitting in the cockpit at sunset watching the canoer's paddle past us. The canoes are much more high-tech now, but it makes you think about island transportation long ago. Plus, it keeps these canoer's in shape - Buff!

Nina arrives in Bora Bora
We were fortunate that our friends on Nina caught up to us. Nina is a classic wooden boat built in the 1920's and is famous for winning races along the East coast and she is beautiful. Rosemary, Daniel, and crew had us over for dinner and it was fun catching up.

More snorkeling
Of course, we had to take them snorkeling with the Stingrays - more squealing! Nina is on her way to New Zealand. Hopefully, we will see them again somewhere in the South Pacific next year.

Bananas anyone?
It is amazing the amount of fruit along the roads - mangos, breadfruit, pamplemousse, and lots and lots of bananas. Wish we could just help ourselves, but the trees usually have an owner. But we don't mind asking!

Looking at Mt Otemanu
We are now island hopping between Raiatea and Tahaa. You know you are surrounded by nice people when you don't even have to hitchhike to get a ride and we appreciated it - we were sweaty and they had A/C. The ladies were very sweet and their English was much better than our French (of course).

Anchored in Tahaa looking over at Raiatea
Free moorings in Apu Bay on Tahaa - you just have to visit the Pearl Farm, go diving, or rent a buggy. We chose the Peal Farm and it was very interesting to learn how the famous black pearls are cultured. We couldn't afford to buy any pearls, but it was worth the visit. I will have to write a separate blog about that.

Just watch out for the crazy fish around the boat. We are surrounded by millions of little tiny fish. The bigger fish wait underneath Moondance and suddenly jump out (splashing alot) and gobble up the little guys. Fun to watch!

Taking inventory
We plan to sail to Huahine in the next couple of days and then on to Tahiti, where we will do some major provisioning, round up some boat parts, and visit our favorite Chinese restaurant - yum!

So, I decided to inventory our pantries. I was amazed at how much food we still have on board from Mexico! French Polynesia has so much wonderful fresh food, our canned and dried goods haven't been needed. Oh well, maybe we will eat them on the way to Hawaii. Chili anyone?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Papa said to tell you he will be there tomorrow for sure the pictures are wonderful and I know you two are making the most out of the new found friends that will last a lifetime Be safe Mom

Sarah and Darrell said...

YUM! Spam Sushi! We have it in El Tiburon's stores too.

Fern said...

I'm sorry you have a plethora of beans, Carla....I'm afraid that was my fault as i'm the idiota who thought you needed more. duh. I'll send you a good bean salad receep to your non-boat email in penance.