Bora Bora!

One full day on the yacht, an all is well. When everyone was up, we prepared breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon and coffee or hot chocolate enhanced with Baileys.

We prepared the yacht for the ocean stowing stuff away, went through all the rigging to make sure we knew what controlled what and before long, we motored away from our neighbors, (surprisingly the first to leave), north west to the pass out of Taha'a lagoon by jib sail only.

Scary waves crashed against the reef surrounding the lagoon but gave wave to an easy pass just as marked on the charts.

We sailed with a doubled reefed main and partially furled jib north west towards Bora Bora. Passing by Taha'a, we saw our hotel in the distance, the island accompanying us abeam starboard for longer than I would have expected. But eventually, Taha'a stepped back as Bora Bora loomed ahead.

Our speed over ground according to GPS averaged probably around 6 knots, winds at twenty knots and oceans swelled up to three meters.

Our heading for the first leg put the swells directly sideways to the boat so I actually got seasick. The seas started looking rougher as we saw rain drenching the east side of Bora Bora. I sat in the middle, did some driving, tried ginger Gravol, but to no avail. After our first gype which put us heading west along the southern lagoon, I immediately threw up the pastrami and cheese bagel I had for lunch.

Half of the crew was feeling unwell by the half way mark across the passage, and it took us the full five hours to get to Bora Bora. The best part of the boat to sit was actually the back pontoons on the steps.

Ben took over at the helm and we did one more gybe once we reached the south west lagoon navigational mark.

This was the turning point for the passage. As we sailed beside waves crashing along the lagoon, the dark clouds gave way to clear sunshine. Everyone's seasickness went away, mine probably because the Zofran was kicking in, and the mood changed from "are we still not there yet?" to excitement at the beauty of Bora Bora. We ran around the boat taking pictures, setting up the GoPro, saw flying fish and fishermen walking along the lagoon. We marveled at how fortunate we all were to be out here, healthy, sailing in Bora Bora, and with great friends.

Sails came down as we went through the pass, as Shannon called it, "The Gates to Heaven," indicated by two red marks to the left and green to the right. We motored to and anchored at Tehou Bay.

The water was so inviting we all jumped in right away into the turquoise swimming pool like water. It was perfect. Oh the life. The water hammocks came out, snorkeling over some of the coral. We check the anchor several times, me and Ben being paranoid, but it seemed ok. Ben and Chantelle went out and explored a nearby motu by kayak.

We ate salmon and Whitefish with rice and bag salad for dinner. Before we realized, it was late, but only 8:30!

I slept much better last night. All of the things rattling before were better secured and double checking the GPS, the yacht didn't drift much from the mark I set earlier. Ben and Chantelle slept out on the trampoline so I left it to them if the catamaran happened to drift ashore.

This morning, I got up again at ten to six, it was a little cloudy around Bora Bora, the sun peeking through in between and a fresh and brief rain shower to wake you up.