|
2C Update #127 - Bora Bora
Encore - June 2005
Much like last year, Bora Bora for us
was a two part experience: The view of the twin- peaked
island from our favorite anchorage at the NW reef edge
of Taha’a now seems to us like a required prerequisite.
Even the fancy bungalows of the Taha’a Pearl Resort
don’t have that view. So, from the boatyard, we
trundled on up there and plopped our hook down in our
favorite spot (here’s a gift to future cruisers:
16*36.164’S 151*33.428’W) where we had seventeen
feet of water and a swing radius clear of coral bommies.
I can’t stress enough what a treasure it is to find an
anchoring spot that isn’t sixty feet deep …or more!
This visit we had many more boats
coming and going, mostly bareboats, especially the first
two days before the wind kicked up. Kindly retired
charter captains that we are, we adopted one nice group
from Hawaii and guided them to the Coral Garden
snorkeling site tucked so well out of the way between
the two motu. Don had blown it off last year, but this
year we gave it an hour’s visit and were delighted to
find it just as special as before. In barely six feet of
water, the garden is a bright nursery of many coral
types and various tropical fish. Don’s favorite was the
huge mat anemone with the four clownfish (aka Nemo
fish!) At the end of the coral corridor, snorkelers can
drift out to a sand bar and loll in six inches of water
surrounded by palm trees. I do honestly think that of
all the resorts we’ve passed in French Polynesia, the
Taha’a Pearl might be the one where you’d get your
money’s worth.
When the wind kicked up, most of the
charter boats fled for more encircled waters, but we
stuck it out, confident of our bite in the sand, and we
relished having the reef edge and sunset view to
ourselves. It was not kayaking conditions, however.
Four days out from CNI, we finally
raised the anchor and set our course for Bora Bora. The
wind was forecast to be fifteen knots, but it was
non-existent as we set out and sadly stayed light the
whole twenty-six miles to Bora Bora, making the
motorsail rather rolly. As usual, the wind came up for
the last little bit and we reached nicely in to the pass
before rounding down to our favorite Bora Bora anchorage
in the lee of the northern end of Toopua Island. Here
again (16*30.5S 151*46.1W) you have an anchorage
in reasonable depths (40’) protected from the gusty
drafts Bora Bora is prone to. Here you have fabulous
sunsets, calm water for swimming, snorkeling and
kayaking, and with just two or three small houses
ashore, as atmospheric a South Pacific ambience as you
could ask for.
During the next eight days we moved
back and forth between the peaceful calm of Toopua and
the more cosmopolitan moorage of the Bora Bora Yacht
Club which, since our last visit, has been bought out by
two local property owners and given new life. It is a
handsome spot, a picture perfect place to enjoy a Mai
Tai and watch the sunset and mingle with other
cruisers…if there were any other cruisers there. The
BBYC moorings are a convenient alternative for those who
want access to town but don’t like anchoring in 70’.
The problem is they cost $20 a night unless you eat a
dinner ashore. Believe us, the $20 a night is the
better value, because we indulged in the dinner ashore,
and as scrumptious and elegant as it was, it did painful
damage to the pocket book!
Our first trip to town was to lay the
groundwork for departure. We caught the gendarmes in a
very good mood, but learned we’d have to return at the
end of the week just before we wanted to leave. Next we
visited the bank to give them notice so that they would
be able to return our bond in dollars (Pacific Francs
not being much good on your way out!) And lastly we
checked out the fuel dock where we hoped we would be
able to finagle duty free fuel on our expired import
certificate. Fuel at the pump in FP is about $1.28 a
liter ($4.92/gallon); the diesel is $.99/liter
($3.81/gallon.) Duty free, available on diesel only,
would save us about 35%.
While ashore, we discovered that the
Heiva festival was about to get underway and that Bora
Bora had a full two-week schedule of events, including
dance troupes in the evening. So, after several days
back in Toopua, we bounced back to the Yacht Club to
position ourselves for the evening festivities. This
time we hooked up with the English crew of a Hallberg
Rassey named Halo on one of the other moorings
and in tandem dinghied around to town for the first
night performance.
Much as you might see in the
Caribbean, Heiva produced a festival village of
makeshift eateries. In the Caribbean these would be
plywood booths with such West Indian dishes as roti,
pates and callaloo that you carry away. Here, the
eateries were full-fledged restaurants built of
traditional stick and thatch, with tables, glassware and
varied menu options. Most impressive was the stunning
decoration. The one we chose had walls covered in
tropical flowers and foliage, so well misted to stay
fresh that they dripped. Here we had a very nice meal –
poisson cru and chow men with beer for about $12 apiece,
very reasonable for FP. We must have been in the right
place because as we were leaving, we noticed the Heiva
Queens dining at the table next to us. I was trying to
finagle a casual shot of beautiful Miss Bora Bora in her
orange gown against the flowers, but she jumped at the
chance to pose with Don, by chance in matching colors!
We got tickets in the grandstand to
watch the performance. Most of the locals were drawn up
to the sidelines with folding chairs and blankets. Like
Tahiti last year, this was a competition between troupes
from different villages on the island, first in
traditional choral groups and then in Tahitian-style
ballet (See Update #117 – Tahiti & Heiva: second half).
Unlike Tahiti, the announcers here explained each
presentation in Tahitian, French and ENGLISH (bless
their souls), so we had a much better understanding of
the themes and storylines.
Since Bora Bora is a smaller island,
there were only five troupes competing in each category,
one of each per night, so each troupe would perform
three times during the festival. The traditional
chants, done in acapella harmonies and in rounds, are an
acquired taste to the Western ear. We enjoyed it more
this time than in Tahiti, but we noticed many tourists
bailing out in the first half hour. Such a shame
because the dance troupe that followed – 36 young men
and women from the village of Faanui, just around the
bend from the Yacht Club – was fantastic. The theme was
essentially “a call to the Youth of Faanui to remember
and revere your ancestors and great leaders of the
past.” The dancers were dressed in outfits and
headdresses of white feathers and they danced on and
around eighteen two-level platforms bedecked with
greenery and flowers. We learned later that each of
the performers not only must learn all their steps but
must make his or her own costume as well as any props,
reminiscent of the Carnival troupes of Trinidad. The
dance is so vigorous and sensuous it is incredible they
can keep it up for the hour. Far more faint-hearted,
the cruise-ship and resort-based tourists in the
grandstand thinned even further when a rain shower came
through. What wimps!
The next day was the day of our
scheduled check-out. Filled with the enthusiasm of the
night before, leaving actually came hard! Who ever
would have imagined that French Polynesia had finally
wormed its way into our souls?! Our Heiva mood
continued to influence our departure because it prompted
all sorts of spontaneous conversations with the
gendarmes, their cleaning lady, the bankers and the
young fellow who kindly drove me back from the grocery
store to the dinghy when I over-shopped, all of whom
were full of holiday spirit. It was more casual chit
chat in one day with FP locals, than we’d had at any
other occasion in the country.
Against all Don’s dire expectations we
got the check-out paperwork complete, we got the money
that we’d posted for our bond fifteen months earlier in
the Marquesas back from Bank Socredo without a hitch and
at a good exchange rate, and we got our fuel duty free,
even if we did have to wait ‘til late afternoon for the
station to refill its tanks! We slipped back before
sunset to our spot at Toopua for a good night’s sleep,
before setting sail the next morning out of French
Polynesia in a fair breeze under a sunshiny sky. We
said to each other, as we always do when the sailing is
fine, “We could go around the world like this.” |
