Bora Bora

There she is: Bora Bora!!

One day towards the end of June, a 28 knot wind blew us from Tahaa to Bora Bora. We were very interested to learn whether reality would match the beautiful pictures we had seen of the island over the years.

Beautiful Bora Bora

Bora Bora is indeed breathtaking. The main island is surrounded by a ring of sand banks with palm trees ( ‘motus’), which have been turned into a string of 5* resorts for rich European, Japanese and American tourists. The kind of resorts with bungalows over turquoise water, where you can watch sea life by looking through the floor. Our budget would not quite stretch to such luxurious accommodation so we anchored our 'bungalow' off the Bora Bora Yacht Club and enjoyed the sea life by snorkeling.

Playing a game at the Bora Bora Yacht Club


Snorkling with Tim and Finn from Whisper and Hailey from Incantation

The road around Bora Bora is only 27 kilometers long, so we decided to hitch hike again. The first person to stop for us was a lady, who used to be married to a 'tres tres mauvais' Dutchman and lived with him in Veendam. The latter is a place in the north of the Netherlands, that not even many Dutch people have visited. Anyway she could still understand Dutch, although she did not remember how to speak it. She had an artisan shop halfway around the island with lovely engraved oyster shells. Jet, Hein and I had a long look around and after carefully choosing a souvenir, she gave us pamplemousses, homemade jam, coconuts, and more souvenirs. The next car that stopped for us.... had Ewout and Eltjo in the back! So we joined and the friendly driver took us all the way back to the BB Yacht Club.

Fourth of July Party on Wayward Wind
with Scott and Mary from Whisper and Lauren from Wayward Wind

On the Fourth of July the yachts Wayward Wind and Carinthia, the two official party boats of the fleet, organized a wonderful party. Everyone brought a dish to share, which made for a great dinner and later on we were all dancing on the aft deck, yes even Ewout!! Apparently, later on, the party really went wild, however all the kids boats had already left.....

Jet having fun at the party with Mike and Veronica from Apple

Later we anchored at Bora Bora's south end in front of what used to be the famous Bora Bora hotel. The hotel had been abandoned for almost a year, due to the economy being down and thus a lack of tourism. It was still a beautiful spot. From there we walked to 'Bloody Mary's', a bar/restaurant that has two big boards outside with all the names of their famous guests listed. The first name that Eltjo recognized was Bill Gates. Ewout and I celebrated our 18th(!) wedding anniversary by having drinks with Apple, Lariekoek, Whisper and Incantation there.

Right at the top of the row Eltjo recognizes Bill and Melinda Gates

Another night we anchored in front of the village of Vaitapu to watch an evening dancing and singing as part of the Heiva Festival.

Eltjo helping out with stocking up

Then it was back to the Bora Bora Yacht Club and time to stock up again as preparation for the crossing to Tonga. It is still 1250 nautical miles from Bora Bora to Tonga (almost half the distance of the Mexico to Marquesas crossing).