Bora Bora Continued

Bora Bora is a gorgeous island.  The lagoon waters are lovely and the islanders friendly and kind.  CoVid, and the aftermath of the havoc that it's wrecked on the local population, has prohibited our visits to shore other than grocery purchasing, so we've done what we could.  Still, there's no denying that we're in a beautiful place!

Yes it rains here!  That's an older sailboat behind us and it's apparent how hard it's raining.

This is our guest, Ian, at the helm.  We're offshore since he's wearing a life jacket, mandatory for everyone when we're offshore.

We've just entered Hurepiti Pass, as the surf shows, and we're heading for the Taha'a lagoon.  That's Bora Bora in the background, with its unique silhouette. 

Lovely Conni and Ian contemplate.  We're inside the Taha'a lagoon, heading for Tapuamu.  Conni and Ian are still in their life jackets.

As we motored up the Taha'a lagoon, I snapped this photo of a local and his small boat with Bora Bora in the background.

A Tapuamu sunset seen from our cockpit. 

As sun continued to set, I snapped this photo as we enjoyed a cooler evening in the cockpit. What incredible colors!

Before departing Tapuamu, Ian and I were on the foredeck to slip our mooring. Ian has taken extraordinary measures to reduce his sun exposure.

We departed Tapuamu and motored across the lagoon to investigate the posh resort on this motu.  These are the classic, "over-water bungalows" that are the hallmark of Polynesian resorts. Bora Bora is in sight.

As we moved north, then east over the top of Taha'a, we negotiated a series of very narrow and complex passes through coral and sand bars.  This red channel marker shows the location of very shallow water, as its green color at the right of the marker shows.

Ian at the helm.  He learned quickly how to manage the boat and instruments.  "Ian the autopilot", we called him.

 

We're in Haamene, Taha'a.  Ian got the snorkeling bug!  He's been swimming around the boat and is resting on our Hydrovane while investigating the water below.

Here, Lovely Conni contemplates the cocktails that she'll prepare for us.

As we depart the mouth of Haamene Bay I snapped this photo of some homes there.  It's too hot in summer, but they're beautiful.

Lovely Conni tries, in vain, to capture a cell signal.  With no mobile phone access and no access to land-based Wifi sites, we've been able to post few blogs or photo pages.

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