Bora-Bora

On Thursday we sailed and motored up to Tapuamu Bay on the west side of Tahaa. We got there mid morning and decided to go snorkelling across on the reef. There were three Mmotus and you beached your dinghy on the middle one, walk along shore towards the outer reef, mask and fins in hand then drift back through the pass between the Motu's with the current. It was fantastic. Lots of life, anemones, fish, coral and shellfish. We spent about an hour there before heading back. The rest of the day was spent on fuel and cleanup. Friday we upped anchor early and headed for Bora-Bora, about 25 miles away. We pulled up sails in just after we got the anchor up and sailed about 2/3 of the way. Light winds but good seas. When we got the south end of Bora-Bora, we got great wind rounding the island and had Tarun up to 8 knots surfing the swells, very cool. The fun really began though as we got ready to tack into the entrance and we got hit by a big squall with 35 knots and a ship was coming out of the pass at the same time. Always nice to hit squalls with all your sail up. Got a bit wet but it passed within 10 minutes and we got in OK. We anchored north of the main township of Vaipae. The reason for the early departure was to get to the bank before they closed. We had to order/reserve New Zealand Dollars for the refund of our Bond when we leave. If we didn't, they would refund us in French Polynesian Francs which are pretty useless outside of here. The lady at the bank couldn't have been more pleasant, and the appropriate reservations were done. On the walk back to the dinghy, we saw then setting up for a big spectacle that night so we went and asked and found out that there was a choral group and a dance group performing. We bought tickets at 1500 CFP each (a total of around 40 dollars) and were treated to 2 ½ hours of performance. It was great. The costumes and choreography were stunning. The dance troupe had 40 plus dancers, 10 or so musicians, and 8 people singing, quite a troupe.

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