Bora Bora IS our Backyard!

Today we decided to burn some fuel, drag some bait AND catch a fish when we left Taha'a headed to Bora Bora. We left the motu and sand bar near the coral garden of Tautau on Taha'a after a few days and nights there. We were boat bound for a few days when the wind was hooting – but we did manage to enjoy some social time with our friends on Ladybug and Charisma. Chris from Ladybug delivered chocolate chip cookies one afternoon and then we did a tasty potluck aboard Astarte on Saturday night. At that point, the sailboat Buena Vista had also joined the pack. So that turned into a very fun evening.

Earlier on Saturday we did get to snorkel an area called the "Coral Garden" and we can understand why it has that name. It is a beautiful nonstop garden of coral of many varieties. It's like a maze to snorkel through the shallow channels and see the amazing amount of colorful tropical fish. We saw lots of new fish varieties that we had to try to remember so we could identify. Unfortunately our underwater camera flooded...we'll see how Panasonic is with customer service! Barbara saw a lively red octopus and watched that for some time. It was very cool – so it was a coral garden and "Octopus Garden." Later in the afternoon we did a second swim and snorkel around a different area – that was filled with black urchins but fewer fish than the morning's adventure.

After a great water day and fun potluck evening, we left early for Bora Bora. We had to backtrack a bit to get to the cut in the reef to exit Taha'a. Then you have to go all the way around Bora Bora to get to its one and only north west entrance in the reef. Unfortunately it was a motoring day with not enough wind to keep a sail full. So we rationalized by calling it a fishing day...burning fuel and dragging bait! First, Michael got a barracuda on his line – a big one. We let that toothy guy go. Then a few hours later, Barbara snagged a very large bull Mahi Mahi. Yummy. After almost falling off the boat trying to get him in (and learning a lesson about the hand line wrapped around her fingers,ouch!), we got him aboard. Photoed, and filleted for dinner tonight and more dinners in the future. He was a nice size and will be enjoyed.

We entered the pass into Bora Bora and came around to the Mai Kai (not Mai Tai like the drink) yacht club where we grabbed a mooring ball. We have lots to get done here – so we thought this would be the safest and easiest place to leave the boat while in town on errands (propane, fuel, some groceries, gendarmes etc).

The afternoon turned a bit squally and rainy – but has settled down a bit. We are glad to be here.

We actually made it to Bora Bora- how cool is that??