POST

Thursday August 2, 2007

It’s a bright sunny day that starts out feeling like it will be hot later; the winds are forecast to be light with no rain showers today. The VHF radio, channel 16, bursts out with the voice of a 6 year old girl on one cruising boat calling another young girl on another cruising boat. They have learned to use the radio as professionally as an adult and the VHF is our boat to boat telephone equivalent. “Ariel Areil this is Silver Girl do you copy”. “Silver Girl this is Ariel copy; go to 68”. “68”. They move to another channel to discuss what is planned after their home school session which is a mainstay of the daily cruising family routine.

 

We stop at the Bora Bora yacht club for dinghy fuel, a few groceries and a trash dump. We need to get prepared for today’s adventure which is to navigate our way around to the other side of the island which requires picking your own way through the sand banks and coral heads, not all of which are on our charts. We are doing it at high noon so the dangerous stuff is easy to see in the clear lagoon water.

 

Underway after the airport there is one resort after another on the outer motus that have beautiful sandy white beaches with interiors covered by palm trees. The Four Seasons is building a huge new resort with private houses mixed right in. A sign reads buy your little piece of Bora Bora. We prefer the cruising mode. We can always visit a resort for the spa, pool, beach, bar and restaurant.

 

We anchor between the St. Regis Resort and the Meridian Resort which is next to the Intercontinental Resort. The colors of the water are beautiful. The depth is 9 feet; we like to have at least 7 feet of water over sand else we run the risk of bumping our keel on coral. The color of the water is very light turquoise that transitions to dark blue in deeper water.

 

John and I go out and take pictures of Bella Donna in the dinghy. We want to remember what a beautiful blue catamaran in a place like this looks like. Everyone else is in the water to cool off; the day has turned out to be warm. After pictures we explore to the end of the lagoon. We zip along at 50 MPH when we have the depth and putt putt along with the engine raised in shallow water. We pass a Club Med with all the toys in the water and more activity, people having a really good time, which is not noticed at the other fancier resorts.

 

We head back to Bella Donna; we can see her mast sticking high above the thatched roofs and palm trees of the resorts. We are doing our 50 MPH pace in deeper water when we hear something break the surface of the water off the port bow. Suddenly a large sting ray appears suspended in mid air. His momentum plus ours are coming at each other; I see his powerful grey body struggling to swim in the air. His eyes and my eyes are locked onto each other. I see the same fear and confusion in the stingrays face as I am sure there is in mine. In an instant we miss each other and he disappears into the clear lagoon waters. John and I look at each other not sure how to describe how we almost had a face full of stingray.

 

Back to Bella Donna the swimmers have been busy cleaning the waterline which needed it; the sea growth accumulates quickly in this warm sunny clear lagoon water. Bella Donna looks sharp. Resort guests come out in kayaks and other small boats the rest of the day to circle and admire the beautiful blue catamaran that has entered their resort world. A Polynesian craft full of resort guests on an excursion is piloted by a big brown muscular Polynesian man dressed in a loin cloth. He stops his boat, does a little dance then lifts his loin cloth, bends over and moons us with his almost nude rear in a tong. Everyone is laughing and having a good time. Bella Donna is a happy boat.

 

God Bless Bella Donna.