from Hilo
Tony arrived at the Vaitape pier on schedule, and after we got him settled
in aboard we tried to go for a short hike up to the WWII gun emplacement
that protects Bora's entrance channel. Both my Uncle Len Leary and James
Michener, who wrote "Tales of the South Pacific" were stationed in Bora
during WWII and had something to do with the construction of the gun
emplacements around the island. I'd been up to the gun before, but we
bushwacked to get there. While on top we saw a road that led down on the
other side of the hill though, and because it had started raining (of
course) we decided to try to find the road up to the gun instead of
bushwacking. We never did find the road, but got a good long hike, and
rinse, instead. "Not one of your best ideas ever, Dad," was how Kendra
summarized our adventure.
I kissed Kendra goodby as she climbed aboard the airport shuttle ferry at
445PM for her trip home to Hawaii. It was a good visit, and six days
aboard Moku pe'a was "the perfect length of time" for Kendra's liking.
We'd had enough of the rocking and rolling off of Vaitape as every cruise
ship shore boat passed by, so we weighed anchor and headed to our favorite
spot behind Toopua Island where we had a calm and pleasant evening.
On Sunday I took Tony on a drift dive off of the north end of Toopua where
the current rips around the end of the island. This spot has the best
diving in Bora's lagoon. All of that current makes for lots of sea life,
but it is difficult to even hold your position in the water, so we dinghy
up current, jump in, drift past all of the scenery, and then dinghy back
to the anchored Moku pe'a. It was such a lovely day that we decided to
sail around the island to Bora's back side after our snorkel adventure.
The winds were only about 4 knots out of the north, so the sail took all
day, but we anchored at the south end of Motu Roa, about as far as one
can sail in the lagoon, just before 3PM.
Monday morning found us with no wind so we powered back to Vaitape, filled
fuel and water, did laundry, shopped, checked out with the Gendarmes, and
finished the day anchored off of Toopua getting the boat ready to depart
for home early the next morning.
We departed Bora Bora at 730AM after Tony's famous apple cinnamon pancakes
for breakfast. Things looked good at first. We had the engine off after
twenty minutes and sailed out Bora's channel with the wind out of the
north. We short tacked up the western reef of the island until 9AM when
the wind died off and we had to turn the engine on.
We've been motor sailing ever since with just a brief hour long stint
under sail during the afternoon watch. There has been just enough wind to
keep the sails full and they are giving us an extra knot of speed. The
water is flat, as flat as I've ever seen the Pacific Ocean. Like Kaneohe
Bay flat. The day was stunningly beautiful. Just a few puffy cumulus
trade wind clouds over the mountain tops and a few scattered around at
sea. The air was so clear we could see the tops of the clouds as they
fell away over the horizon. Tupai was clearly visible to port with
Tahaa, Raiatea, and Huahine to starboard. They all slowly disappeared as
we moseyed (a Rockyism) to the north and by sunset all that was left was
the tip of Bora's peak above the horizon behind us.
We had the fish lines out all day first hoping to pick up an ono as we
short tacked up Bora's barrier reef, and perhaps a mahi later, but no
luck. We did pass a school of tuna feeding on the surface during the
afternoon but surprisingly there were very few birds about at the time.
It's unusual to see a fish feeding frenzy like that without any birds.
The sky has been perfectly clear all night, great for watching shooting
stars. All the hatches and windows are open so it has been cool below.
It is great weather for sleeping, eating, reading and relaxing. What wind
there is has slowly clocked around allowing us to come up to a heading
just east of north, perfect.
According to the gribs we should have had enough wind to sail today, with
more tomorrow. I hope the more part is correct. I don't like powering
this early in the trip, but it sure has been pleasant and an easy
transition into a voyage.
Steady as she goes (a Mattism) on the Mighty Moku pe'a.
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