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]

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

Catching Up

Well, life catches up to us, even in paradise. Today I decided to sit tight,
and take care of some internet chores - submit my HST return, pay a few
bills, and look into our airline ticket refund. Since we have lighting fast
internet here (weird), I decided that this is as good a time as any. Most
things went well.

Here's my favorite part: While I called the airline (via gmail), and waited
patiently on hold...I took advantage of the down time, and loaded up a heap
of blogs that I don't normally get the pleasure to read, since our internet
time is pay as you go around here. I was thrilled to learn of our cruising
friends who have had a safe passage to the Marquesas, or who are almost
there!! (Ceileih, Adios, Southern Cross) and to get a glimpse into the
awesome blogs of friends [sonseastars.wordpress.com] - congrats! Now...if
only I can convince Mark [52weeks52eats.blogspot.com] to cook up a dish that
is made entirely from canned goods. No fresh ingredients, and a limited
spice cabinet. A challenge to you, my friend!!

Here's my least favorite part: the airline didn't receive the fax I sent two
days ago. The same fax that cost about $42 dollars to send 6 pages. Hmpf.
Since they are holding my $3200 hostage, I didn't feel as though we had a
lot of options. Still - just a bit disappointing.

Camera woes

Well, we have bad news on the camera front. I dropped the camera yesterday,
and broke the lens. It was our work-horse lens. The go-anywhere, wide range,
kind of lens. We now have only our super zoom lens. Oh dear. Needless to
say, the captain has relieved me from camera duty. And, if that wasn't
enough. Our little computer does not seem to want to read our SD cards. So
even though I can still take photos with our little camera, I can't seem to
upload them onto our the computer. Bleh. So...that is a long way of
saying...we have no photos for today's blog.

SO... In your mind's eye. Imagine. Cereleun blue lagoon. Lots of wee
fishies. Locals paddling their va'a (outrigger canoes) through the
anchorage. Oh yeah...about 5 charter boats that have anchored within 100 ft
of us. REALLY? In this HUGE space. Oh well. It normally wouldn't be so bad.
But since some french guy made a joke to John yesterday about Canadians who
only speak one language, our intrepid captain is pretty ticked off by anyone
hailing from the land of wine and cheese. In fact, John tells me that he
responded with a bit of german, with a touch of international sign language
to amp up the classiness factor.

On a side note, my french is getting better. I seem to be able to have a
very basic conversation, and ask for the things we need. Sadly, when the
locals answer me too quickly and I give myself away with that look of *DUH*
on my face, they usually switch to english, foiling any hopes I may have had
to use them as my practice victims. Even though we're almost moving on from
this french-speaking country, I continue to torture John with my daily
morning podcast of coffee break french.

We continue our leisurely circumnavigation of this island. We have noticed
that huge resorts have sprung up here in recent years...since the
publication of our guide books. Sadly, most of them are almost empty, as
tourism numbers are very depressed. The tour boats we see are almost private
cruises, and huge resorts have only a couple people on the beach or lounging
on their lagoon balconies.

Yet, we still revel in our cleverness in being able to anchor in a beautiful
lagoon, shared with a huge resort hotel, and enjoy the same snorkelling and
swimming, yet escape from the $500/night price tag.

We are currently anchored in about 12 feet of water at 016 31.98S, 151
42.32W.

Bora Bora

Here we are...in the land of honeymooners. If you've seen the movie "Couples
Retreat" - you've seen Bora Bora. It really is beatuiful. The lagoon is
clear blue, with small islets surround the main island.

We've been out on the sandbar, and saw many small manta rays, but have not
yet been able to snorkel with them. I think they know that we don't have
tuna to give them (like the tourist boats), so they aren't interested in
sticking around to play with us! I have mixed feelings about feeding the
wildlife to encourage encounters with us, but have to admit that they look
to be having heaps of fun out there.

We're so far ahead of the fleet of cruising boats that there is only one
other cruising boat here - Lady Meg - from Canada! But there are also
several charter boats around, so we're not completely alone. Yesterday, we
anchored with one other boat in 30 feet of clear water, with fish all around
the boat, in an area that would have 50+ boats in July and August!

We've been laying low here. Just hanging on the boat. A swim and snorkel
here and there. Yesterday we snorkeled an area near our anchorage, and while
there weren't many fish, we were pulled with the current so quickly,
swimming.

Today, we're heading to the main town here to check in with officials, and
do a bit of paperwork. Then, around the island. We may not have internet for
a few days over there.

The pics were taken on a small motu, with a great view of the main island,
and where a fisherman was giving some local youth a demo on de-scaling some
small fish they had caught with their net.

Current Position: 016 30.99S, 151 46.37W

Motu Nao Nao

At the south end of Raiatea, we visited a small motu (island) - Nao Nao. We
were looking forward to exploring somewhere less crowded and doing some
snorkeling. We were not disappointed. Although, we weren't the only
sailboat, it was a beautiful spot, with lively coral gardens. We didn't find
any more of the snails that were so delicious the other night, but enjoyed
our snorkel, regardless.

Unfortunately, the shore had TABU signs a frequent intervals. What a
disappointment! John had heard of an abandoned airstrip here, and was
looking forward to poking around the island, looking for signs of the past.

Throughout Polynesia, it is very common to see an empty canoe, and it's
occupant fishing in the waters below...towing his craft.

You can check it out on google earth or google maps with this location: 016
55.19S and 151 25.90W.

Moving On

We're ready. The boat is full of food, fuel and water, and we're ready to go. We went for a test sail yesterday, and Renova was at her finest. We tacked through the lagoon with ease, racing and winning against a much
faster catamaran (s/he may not have been racing...but that hardly matters)! Although, Eric, and his grinding skills were likely a key component of our success.

Tomorrow, we'll set off to explore a bit more around here, and after a day or two we'll head to Bora Bora. Which will likely be our last stop with decent internet.

If you have photos for us...send them now!

Hurray...success

See that grin? That is the grin of a very happy man. I did some internet research today and found the needle jet settings for our 1970's era outboard. John spent about 15 minutes doing a bit of fiddling, and then he was happily doing circles around Renova, with our new outboard speed - IDLE!

He's pretty pleased.

PS - the masts in the background are all boats in the boat yard.