Saturday, April 30, 2011

Renova: supply ship!

John waits with the locals for his turn at the water tap.
Another fabulous day on the beautiful Maupiti. We've now left the land of
plentiful internet, and are relying our on sat phone, so photos will be more
selective. We wish we could show you the enticing scenery that surrounds us.

In any case, John had an interesting encounter this morning. Of course, this
island of 1000 are all very familiar with who we are already! We are the
only non-charter boat here, and we're proudly flying our Canadian flag. But,
I suspect the main reason that the locals may recognize us is our dinghy. We
come to shore in a rarely seen hard dinghy (not the inflatable that most
cruisers have - smartly so, I might add). And then we go to some lengths to
tie it to the concrete dock, but so that it will not touch the dock. And
maybe the ancient outboard is also somewhat noteworthy. In any case. They
know who we are when we walk through town. So....that is a long way of
getting to this story. As John did an early morning run to the store to grab
a fresh baguette for our breakfast, a lady stopped him and said that she had
heard we may be going to Mopelia, and would we be willing to take some
supplies with us for her family member that was living there.
Hmmm...What to do. We've heard Mopelia has the trickiest entrance into the
lagoon in all of French Polynesia. We were willing to go and check it out.
But we didn't want to be committed, if the conditions didn't look
appropriate. And they rarely are. We think about it, and talk about it,
while we enjoy our day...
In the early evening, we returned to the kind lady's house, and told her son
we would take the supplies, but they must understand that we may not be able
to enter the atoll. That was fine, and we arranged to pick up the goods the
next morning.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Paradise Found

We are now at Maupiti. It is a small island to the west of Bora Bora, and
tourism hasn't quite reached here yet! Although the narrow pass into the
lagoon looked shocking at first (big surfable breakers on each side of the
entrance), it was very well marked, and an easy trip into the lagoon.
And...what a paradise we found inside!!

We dropped our hook between numerous bommies (coral heads) in about 25 feet
of water, and quickly jumped in to explore the coral surrounding us. We
first took the dinghy to the beach to find a beautiful sand and coral beach.
Then, we explored the coral surrounding the boat, and found more fish than
we'd seen in all the Society Islands. My ID skills are weak, but even I
could identify several butterflyfish, the moorish idol, trumpet fish,
triggerfish, surgeonfish, wrasse, parrotfish, angelfish, and forceps fish
(one of my favs). But the big treat was a HUMONGOUS moray eel. I don't know
which species. All I can tell you is that it was big enough to make me gasp
into my snorkel and quickly rise to the surface!

Today we went to town, where a lady rented us two bicycles, and we toured
around the island. We found it to be a peaceful, idyllic paradise. School
children playing soccer were barefoot, or wearing flip flops. Tahitian was
the language we heard most often, instead of the french we're so used to
hearing. Everyone was so friendly, shouting 'Ia orana' (hello) from their
front porches as we rode past.

Tomorrow...we'll hike to the top of the mountain.

Our current position: 016 27.15 S, 152 14.84 W

[labels: french polynesia, sightseeing, Maupiti, fish]

Casse Croute

I can't recall if we've discussed this Polynesian specialty before. I
thought my foodie friends may enjoy this. So...this is the ubiquitous burger
of the south seas. It is simply a half baguette with yummy fillings. You
remember... A baguette is a meter long. So a half baguette is no subway foot
long, I'll tell you! Anyway, I digress. You have many options for fillings.
Poulet frites is a favorite. Also fried fish with fries - yum. Tuna with
fries. Even steak or pork with fries. As a matter of fact, I've yet to meet
a casse-croute that I don't like.

I have to admit that receiving the fries IN my sandwich, instead of BESIDE
my sandwich took me by surprise. But it is yummy. No complaints here.
And...if I say so myself...I consider myself a bit of an aficionado of
French fries. I mean, let's be realistic. It's not like it came from FRITZ
on Robson Street, but these are pretty good. And cheap too. $2 or $3 for a
half baguette. And EVERYONE around here eats them.

Paradise Found

We are now at Maupiti. It is a small island to the west of Bora Bora, and
tourism hasn't quite reached here yet! Although the narrow pass into the
lagoon looked shocking at first (big surfable breakers on each side of the
entrance), it was very well marked, and an easy trip into the lagoon.
And...what a paradise we found inside!!

We dropped our hook between numerous bommies (coral heads) in about 25 feet
of water, and quickly jumped in to explore the coral surrounding us. We
first took the dinghy to the beach to find a beautiful sand and coral beach.
Then, we explored the coral surrounding the boat, and found more fish than
we'd seen in all the Society Islands. My ID skills are weak, but even I
could identify several butterflyfish, the moorish idol, trumpet fish,
triggerfish, surgeonfish, wrasse, parrotfish, angelfish, and forceps fish
(one of my favs). But the big treat was a HUMONGOUS moray eel. I don't know
which species. All I can tell you is that it was big enough to make me gasp
into my snorkel and quickly rise to the surface!

Today we went to town, where a lady rented us two bicycles, and we toured
around the island. We found it to be a peaceful, idyllic paradise. School
children playing soccer were barefoot, or wearing flip flops. Tahitian was
the language we heard most often, instead of the french we're so used to
hearing. Everyone was so friendly, shouting 'Ia orana' (hello) from their
front porches as we rode past.

Tomorrow...we'll hike to the top of the mountain.

Our current position: 016 27.15 S, 152 14.84 W

[labels: french polynesia, sightseeing, Maupiti, fish]

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

For Your Screensaver

Well, not really useful for your office screensaver, since these images have
to be reduced to mini-pics, but at least you get a glimpse into our
surroundings here.

Leaving Bora

April 26 - Well, the time has finally come to move on. We've been here for
almost two weeks, and we're ready. Although we checked out of the country
today, we may stop in at Maupiti, if weather permits. It is only 40 miles
away, and supposed to be a beautiful atoll, off the beaten path. Wonderful.

A recent lack of blog posts could indicate we've been too busy having fun,
or we've been too mellow to have anything interesting to write about. Well,
both is true. We've been pretty slow-moving these days. But we have managed
to explore some of the island and lagoon.

Here's a quick summary:

Lots of time at the west lagoon: swimming with rays and sharks, several
trips into town to shop and organize officialdom, visiting the well-stocked
marine chandelry, exploring local beaches, hiking, eating casse-croutes, and
enjoying many sundowners with Lady Meg and Australia 31.

A few days on the east lagoon: exploring coral reefs (requiring a new prop
shear pin for the impeller - oops), snorkelling, bird watching (kinda),
shell-collecting, beach-combing, hair cutting, and so on.

We also had a crazy rain storm last night, filling our water tanks, and
keeping us awake for most of the night! But the sand bottom of the lagoon
provides great holding for our anchor, so we didn't budge.

And of course, lots of boat projects. After we leave Maupiti, we're heading
for the Cook Islands, where we expect to make landfall at a deserted island
700 miles away. We'll be at sea for a week, so we've been preparing Renova
and her crew for her first passage in quite some time!

Labels: BoraBora, French Polynesia, cruisers, sightseeing, departure