Bora Bora's Bloody Mary, weather setbacks etc.

                                10/9/2013

Not too much of a hardship having to spend another week here….. In fact the weather gods are now making it look like yet another week before we can hit the road! The first weeks delay caused by too little wind, and the next weeks, caused by too much! A squash zone has developed in a wide band between Tahiti and Tonga, bringing winds between 25 and 35 knots, and seas of 3 + metres. Nor do we feel like riding the bull, and reaching Suwarrow in those conditions, and trying to go through an unknown pass into the atoll!

Looks like we will just have to suffer yet another week here!!

Bloody Mary's private jetty with Sheer Tenacity in the background

                                                        See how many names you recognise?

“Bloody Mary’s” is not an irreverent reference to my darling wife, but is a “must do” restaurant on Bora Bora, established in 1974, and made famous by all the big “names” and film stars who have visited over the years. It certainly has a décor and style all of its own!

After our return from the SE corner of the island, we picked up a complimentary mooring ball, off the BM jetty, and headed in for Sunday lunch……. Only to find it closed!  So instead we did an exploratory walk towards Matira point, and decided to do the lunch thing on Monday.

At the entrance

Had to have one of these!!

Fresh flowers decorate the seafood display

 It has a lovely ambiance, with unusual furnishings, solid wooden tables and stools, on a beach sand floor, amid palm fronds and floral arrangements, under an attractive palm roof.

Prices were nothing like as horrific as we had anticipated, and Mary and I each had a lightly seared Yellowfin Tuna sashimi dish which was superb ( R150 ea). Steve and Chris had a Mahi Mahi burger, and cheeseburger each ( R90), with beers and wine at R50 each.

The bathroom décor was VERY interesting…. The obvious clue being that all patrons visiting the loo’s took their cameras with them!  The ladies was guarded by an extremely well “hung” TIKI, and the hand wash basin was without doubt  female genitalia inspired too!

The chain pull to flush the urinal in the gents was even less subtle!! I mean what man wants to grab hold of a great wooden schlong to flush the loo!

What a waste of dollars!

Another unusual bit of décor was the wall of defaced dollars, all signed by patrons eager to throw even more money around! There must have been $1000 of defaced notes pinned to the wall!

Mai Kai Marina from our deck

Intricate  interior roof of the restaurant at the marina

On Tuesday we motored back to the MAI KAI marina, and picked up a mooring buoy, ready to stock up, check out, and depart for Suwarrow.  We did the boat work and stock up, but the closer we got to the weekend, the worse the weather window seemed to become. We enjoyed a couple of Happy hours at the marina, and discussed the weather…….over and over…

A glimpse of the famous landmark from the Hilton Hotel

Some of the Hilton's suites, very empty like most of the island hotels

Grand suite!

Huge moray eel................then camera died, maybe of fright!

 With the heavier squash zone winds promised for the next week, we decided to take our dinghies, and circumnavigate the motu Toopua, while the weather was still calm. We did about 7-8 miles around past the Hilton Hotel, and did a dive at the southern tip of the motu, where we saw some of the biggest Moray eels I’ve ever seen. Sadly, that seems to have been the end of our new Canon D20 camera, as well!

Our picnic beach

We then headed down to a lovely beach on Matira point, where we had our French style picnic lunch, and headed back to Mai Kai, before the wind got up too much. 

Beautiful beaches close to Matira Point

Bora Bora security

Marry going local with a frangipani behind her ear

By the time we returned, it was showing signs of filling in again.

As I write this on the Tuesday, we have had winds of a steady 20-25knots, with gusts of 33-34kn, and “Sheer” is bucking around like a pitbull on a leash! It looks like we are going to have to sit this out, and wait for the next decent window! 

Bora Bora

31/8/2013

                                                                 

For years Bora Bora has held a special fascination for me….the very epitome of an exotic Pacific island, incorporating a distinctive mountain peak in the middle, surrounded by calm turquoise waters protected by a fringing reef, with palm tree lined white beaches, dotted with luxury hotels with bedrooms overhanging the water on stilts….a place frequented only by the rich and famous!!!!

For me, it became a fusion of James Michener’s books, South Pacific musicals, Polynesian culture, and I just longed to drop the hook there!

Approaching Bora Bora from Raiatea

Rounding the south west corner

The Bora Bora Yacht Club anchorage

The closer we got to Bora Bora, however, the more negative comments we heard…tourist trap.... terribly expensive…..cheek by jowl hotels…polluted lagoon….dead coral…spoilt etc etc.

While some of this is true, the cruising yachtie can pick and choose between some really super, calm and protected anchorages, from which one can view the majestic,  and ever changing profile of the mountain, Ote-Manu, FREE, as one circuits the island within the protecting reef!

A couple of tricky passes and cuts through the inner reef, and some shallow “heart in mouth” patches also cuts down on the number of bare boat charter boats venturing to  the more remote spots.

And yes, prices are expensive, so it pays to arrive well provisioned, and avoid the temptation of eating out too often! At the Bora Bora Yacht club, one is offered the first night on a mooring ball (normally R200) free, if one eats at the restaurant. As one has to check in at the Gendarme, and anchoring around the town is very deep, this has a definite appeal! When one has to pay R80 for a beer, or glass of wine, and R210 for a prawn pasta, and R220 for Poisson Cru , one begins to understand why they offer you one night free! Nevertheless, the meal was superb, and the setting is lovely!

Mary and Chris posing as Tikis

Have we enough money for a beer??

Yes, we did!

Scott-Free and Sheer Tenacity left their mark on their flags

BBYC dinghy dock

 After visiting the gendarme, and researching the local supermarket for our final replenishment before Samoa/Tonga, we moved on round to the east of the island, ahead of Scott Free, whose batteries had died.They had arranged for a new set to be delivered from Papeete on the ferry.  We waited for them near the Four Season hotel, where had our first real taste of calm, clear anchoring, watching the sun set behind the mountain peak.

Anchored off the Four Seasons hotel

We then headed down to the SE corner of the island, where we anchored behind a protecting motu, in white sand in 3mts of turquoise water. There are a few coral heads dotted around the wide open anchorage, some of which support their own little ecosystem of brightly colored fish.

The tricky pass through the inner reef as shown on the chartplotter

A channel marker on the way

Scott-Free at anchor in beautiful turquoise water

Sirena of Oare

Steve, Eric & Dee( Sirena of Oare), and I explored an area out towards the outer reef, where we found ourselves swimming with 4 or 5 Blacktips, a couple of stingrays, and a variety of brightly colored reef fish ,…… but very dead coral! Sadly I had left the camera behind, but then we’d already done Black tips and stingrays!

Today we have made our way back around the island, and have picked up a mooring buoy at the legendary “Bloody Mary’s”. Being a Sunday, sadly we found it closed. So we are spending the night on their buoys and will have lunch there tomorrow.

We had originally hoped to check out with the gendarme on Monday, stock up, and set sail for Suwarrow (Suvarov), 680 miles away in the Northern Cook Islands on Tuesday…. no go! Our weather Guru , Bob McDavitt says we would be better off waiting for some fronts to pass, and to leave next Sunday. Who are we to argue? We’ll just have to suffer through a few more days in paradise!