Bora Bora

We are now at anchor in the lagoon of Bora Bora ( or Pora Pora as it is known locally as there is no B in the Polynesian language). Bora Bora is the 'jewel of the Pacific' as it so pretty! We are surrounded by a high mountain and lush green vegetation. The World ARC fleet are guests of the Bora Bora Yacht Club at the Mai Kai Marina. Marina is rather a posh word for the facilities which are several mooring buoys and a small dock big enough for only 3 boats! There is a bar ( essential) and a restaurant plus showers and garbage disposal.

The sail from Raiatea was fast and smooth with strong winds gusting 30 knots so we had a fully reefed main and jib. We actually lifted anchor at around 6.30am after a very windy night with Peter up and down all night to check our bearings and make sure we were not dragging as the boat was sitting in 33 metres of water with 96 metres of chain out( you would normally have 4/5 times the depth out in anchor chain) but as we only have 100 metres of chain it would have meant fastening some warp onto the end of the chain. We took the view as we were only staying 1 night we would risk it and we were indeed OK unlike the catamaran in front of us which dragged anchor and slid past us!!

Raiatea was pretty and a welcome sight after our passage from Tahiti which was very uncomfortable with rolling seas from all directions. Peter's words were ' it was a bit boisterous'!

So now we are in Bora Bora and we waved the first group of boats off at 12 noon local time to start the leg to Tonga via Suwarrow and Nuie. Our group leaves on Wednesday so we have some time to enjoy the island before we have to leave. Last night we had a nice dinner at St James restaurant with Jonathan and Heather( Matilda) David and Caroline ( Peat Smoke) and Phil and Andrea ( Anastasia) and some of us were suffering a bit this morning after a bit too much vino!! Anastasia and Matilda left today with group 1 and we waved them off and took pictures of the Parasailors flying brightly. We cannot wait to get our new Parasailor in Australia!

Tomorrow we are hiring bicycles to tour around the island which is not very big and should take around 3 hours to circumnavigate. It is mostly flat with just one hill so should not be too strenuous for us!