Bora Bora (part 2)

[Kyle]Our anchorages at Motu Piti Aau turned out to be just as uneventful and wakey as the one by the airport. We stayed for only one night and then move on to another anchorage about halfway up the east coast of Bora Bora.

It was another nail-biter as the depth readout went down into the two meter range and stayed there for much longer than we would have cared for. We were headed for a spot just across the reef from what was reputed to be a Manta ray cleaning station - where they go to have the wrasse clean off parasites.

Begonia in Bora Bora - Snorkelling with spotted rays, turtles and of course MANTA Rays

The next morning, we snorkeled over the reef to the spot and found a few of them gliding over the bottom of the pass. The depth there was about forty feet. That was far enough down that I would only have time to take three quick shots before it was time to start heading back to the surface. There would be no lingering conversations about their life stories.

The giant creatures are deceiving like 747s. Their size makes them look slow, but when you get close to them you have to kick like hell to keep from getting left behind too fast by their one flap per minute pace. Kicking hard us not good for oxygen use at depth. We learned from a fellow cruiser that the mantas didn't appear on the next two days - so we were especially lucky.

Bora Bora Yacht Club (Beautiful place, but bring you BIG credit card)

A morning rainbow before moving to
Bora Bora "Yacht Club"

Bora Bora "Yacht Club"

We moved from the ray anchorage to the Bora Bora Yacht Club. Actually, we first moved to a mooring at the Maikai marina, but after going ashore, we found them closed (closed on Sundays) and with no services whatsoever. We were hoping for at least nice, long showers and Internet, so we headed backwards to the BBYC. They were very nice and their location was beautiful. They are a bit pricey, though. I think they're capitalizing on the trade of tourists who are on their once-in-a-lifetime vacation and don't mind spending $90 for their very own BBYC t-shirt.

We set a new record for laundry - $90USD for three loads - ouch! We really needed it after having guests, but geez! If that happens again, I'll do it myself in buckets. It would still be cheaper, even with 4¢/gallon water. We decided to suck it up and not look back (and topped up our tanks with $25 of water).

We both took LOOONG showers.

Bloody Mary's

Since no fuel was available at the fuel dock until the afternoon as they were still waiting for a delivery. Plan B was to return to the mooring field at Bloody Mary's for the night. Since it wasn't Sunday this time, they were open. Their food was excellent and not too expensive. We spent much of the afternoon on their slow wifi, which they were happy to share. One of my favorite moments was when a chicken, who I assume was named Lunchmeat, came in and started pecking the dropped food bits out of the sand floor.

Bloody Mary's

Once we returned home, it was time to get the dinghy back into lifeboat mode for our next offshore leg. The rest of our stops in Bora Bora would be docks and we wouldn't need it anymore. From here we officially leave French Polynesia and head towards the cook Island (the island of Suwarrow) and then Niue. We'll be out of touch for a while.

Hanging out in Viatape to do paperwork and provisioning.