Bloody Marys

We moved over to the main island of Bora-Bora on Monday and decided to try and get a mooring at a place called Bloody Marys. The restaurant/bar is a well known fixture on the island and they have put in moorings for use of their guests. The three Canadian boats arrived here together (Toketie, Cats Paw IV and Tarun) and there were actually three empty moorings. We went ashore and found Rick (owner or manager, not quite sure) he made us feel entirely welcome. He said the rules are simple; you can stay 4-5 nights on the mooring before moving on and eat, drink and be merry. He then went on to tell us that there was free water at the end of the dinghy dock and to use it as needed. So all they ask, is that you have a drink at the bar, or a meal, and feel welcome. We went in for a drink the first night and shared an appetizer at the bar, talked to a bunch of really great people and had a wonderful time. We decided we weren't going to spring for dinner as it is a bit expensive, but had a beer Tuesday night and lunch there on Wednesday which was quite reasonable. It is a bit awkward getting into town but you can generally get a ride hitchhiking or a longish dinghy ride if it's not too windy. We went for a long walk on Wednesday and found a dive place so Ann (from Cats Paw IV) and I booked to go for a couple of dives on Thursday. Cathy decided that she didn't want to dive with sharks so backed out. We got picked up Thursday morning at the dock at Bloody Marys and off to the dive centre. A very professional operation and we were on the boat by 08:15 and in the water for our first dive by 08:45. We did the first dive inside the reef looking for Manta rays and unfortunately saw only one but did see lots of fish and it was a great dive. We went back to the dive shop for a break and after being out for an hour we went outside the reef to dive with the sharks. They feed the sharks here to keep them around (I wondered if they fed them the odd diver but decided not to inquire too closely). There are Lemon sharks and Black Tip sharks here and they are pretty amazing. There was one pregnant female that was at least 3 meters long and we were told that she will shortly leave the area to give birth before returning. We saw a lot of sharks! They are magnificent underwater. Other highlights of the dive were large schools of fish and great coral. We saw one school of yellow-fin tuna but when I think about the ciguateria poisoning that you can get by eating larger reef fish, you kind of loose your appetite for them. Thursday night we went in to see the best male and female dancers for their month long Heiva festival. The place was packed and the dancers were stunning. Today we will leave the mooring and head over towards the yacht club and anchor for a few more days until we check out next week and head west, likely now for Niue but who knows!

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