Vaitape

After a breakfast of pancakes and sausage that was colored with too much artificial red dye, we anchored just north of Vaitape followed by a drenching dinghy ride into the city.

On the way in, we passed by a Brazilian monohull that waved us over. Turned out two brothers and their mother were on a sailing trip from Brazil. They had a huge stalk of bananas that they picked from Raiatea and were trying to give some away because they couldn't eat it fast enough. So we got some delicious bananas and Ben and Chantelle got some info on where to stay during Carnival.

We docked our dinghy on the northern pier. I guess being the way in and out of Bora Bora, it was well equipped. There were washrooms where I rinsed my shirt off with fresh water, a visitors center, and garbage bins where we disposed of our trash. A couple other shuttles from hotels were also docked here.

Vaitape was not very big and not as well developed as Shannon thought it might be. I guess non of these hot weather Pacific countries are. We bought a 15 minute local SIM card from the post office for emergencies. That cost 1000 CFP. Mailed some post cards, found the Avis that rented bicycles ($25 for the day). There were several pearl shops which all looked high end and other souvenir stores with various gifts like vanilla, wood carving, scents and dresses.

We bought some water and baguettes from Chin Lee grocery store there. Ben and Mike walked down to the Total to find it closed until 1:30pm.

The town overall was pretty uneventful, but the spectacular thing about it is the towering Bora Bora mountains in the background that is actually easily missed. We found the road leading up the mountain with a sign highly suggesting taking a guide.

Ben also got obsessed with renting a moped but the locals weren't willing to rent us one and Avis, which bought up Eurocar didn't rent them either.

We took the dinghy back to the yacht, and had a nice lunch of instant noodles and left over sausage from breakfast. Despite its red appearance, the sausages weren't that bad.

One thirty rolled around and Ben and Mike went to get ice from the Total gas station, tried to get a syringe from the pharmacy because my left ear was plugged up - always on vacation this happens! - but they didn't have any.

Next stop was the Bora Bora Yacht Club for some water refilling at 500 CFP per 100 liters. My first time docking and it didn't go too badly. Somehow the bow line came undone but eventually all the fenders were in place and we were securely ties to the dock.

Ben and I asked the guy at the Club which boat points higher, a catamaran or monohull. Ben's so wrong about the catamaran, but yet he insists. The guy thought it was the monohull like me, but wasn't completely sure. We made a bet for ice cream.

The yacht club wasn't as swanky as I expected. There were three or four boats moored and two girl friends of the employee hanging out, but otherwise deserted. They only accepted cash. They have four rays fenced in for our viewing pleasure which kept us entertained while the boat filled.

Total cost of the water was 2400 CFP, which I thought was a lot of water consumption for two days. Water is relatively cheap and we can enjoy ourselves a little more. It's just not what I was used to when during my five day course with five guys, we didn't have to refill water once.

It was already starting to get a bit late into the day. I wanted to get to the south eastern bay around motus Piti uu Uta and Tai where there's supposedly great snorkeling, but because the sun was going down, we anchored east of the St. Regis at off Motu Tofari.

Starved of swimming, we jumped in to the water, floated on the hammocks a bit and kayaked around.

Chantelle really wanted to stay at an over the water bungalow, understandably enough I guess, hearing about our stay and with Mike and Jennie ending their trip there. She and Ben checked out the hotel and got a fabulous rate of around $400 for their upgraded crazy assed suite, that Ben later said was ridiculous and bigger than his apartment. Chantelle pulled her travel agent site visit card and swung the deal. She was obliged to do a 40 minute site visit the next day.

We ate a quick hamburger dinner and I took Ben and Chantelle in to the St. Regis dock by dinghy. It was so cool. When I turned the head lamp off, we were like Navy SEALs infiltrating a secured location.

I thought about how cool this trip was already and how many different things we've done. Most of them all new too. Like bareboat chartering and sailing is a whole new experience. Snorkeling down a current, working a 40' catamaran, provisioning, dinghy in wet winds and at night... all so cool.

Of course, you can't turn your back on Mike for a second. While doing dishes in the dark, he disassembled the BBQ and dropped the grill over board. Well, could be worse like leaving a scuba knife randomly on the deck of the yacht while trying to lift outboard motors. Geez. We'll have to try and find the grill in the morning.

I quite enjoy the socializing right before bed. Even though it felt like it was 10 or 11 pm, it'd end up being only 8. We chatted a couple hours before going to bed, me satisfied that we weren't dragging our anchor according to the GPS.

Now that I know the battery level plateaus out at around 12.5V (it was 13.5 leaving the Raiatea marina on shore poert), I'm more comfortable that we're not going to exhaust the whole system over night. I keep the GPS on at night now so at a glance, I can tell if we're still around our mark or not.

I feel a little badly not being able to give all my attention to Shannon because I'm overseeing ship activities. It seems like being at Bora Bora we should have more romantic time but when we're under way, but my neuroticism being the responsible skipper is taking over.

Ben wants to push for some unnecessary risks like towing the kayak when we were crossing the ocean, or taking a short cut despite explicitly marked routes around the northern lagoon of Bora Bora. I told him if he wanted to do these things, he'd have to be the charter skipper next time.

Getting started was a learning experience, like telling some crew that the automatic lifesaver flashlight shouldn't be used for attracting fish or not to take the life jackets out for swimming. The water conservation as I mentioned isn't going well, but I suppose is not a huge deal. But trying to keep the boat and decks clean so we're not tracking mud and sea water all over the place takes some reminding.

But these things aside, it's been a fairly fantastic trip, and we're only three days into our sail! Weather continues to hold the same with winds shifting to the north. 

This morning, Mike found the BBQ grill after just five minutes of snorkeling around, and being just 4 meters deep, retrieved with only temporary ear pain. Ben wind surfed over and we're looking forward to sailing south a few minutes to some nice snorkeling sites!