Leaving Sunday

The crowd gathers on National Day!

For the girls!!
For the boys!! ;)

Okay here's the real one for the boys!!

Well, the time has come to say farewell to Bora Bora and French Polynesia. There is a sense of departure around Vaitape this morning.... “Mr John VI” sailed off back to Huahine this morning to catch up with friends and we will really miss them. We have spent a lot of time hanging out with them since we have been here and cruising is always more fun in the company of others. A mass exodus of yachts left bound for ports to the west by lunchtime. It was amazing to see so many white sails in a line out to the horizon. I think we will have plenty of company when we head off tomorrow. Geoff has been in and cleared out with the Gendarme, we have got a full load of fuel on board, done all our washing (by hand as they don't seem to have self serve laundromats in the Pacific- trust me – appreciate your washing machines!!!!!) got some provisions, now we just need to top up with water tomorrow morning, grab a couple of fresh baguettes and we will head off.

Monday was 'National Day' or the old Bastille Day holiday. And Bora Bora was a hive of activity and people. A big sanded arena was prepared and a stadium to seat the officials so they could watch the parade. We and just about every other yachtie in Bora Bora were ashore to check it out. It was a load of fun, colour and flowers. Everyone in Bora Bora seemed to have a float or group of people in the parade. The soccer team, the boxing team, the local model agency, the fishing club, the artisans group (wonderful older ladies in traditional dress with floral hats) and every hotel on the island, plus the two supermarkets!! It also was a good chance to chat to all the other yachties. You can't miss us with our wrinkled clothes, waterproof footwear, floppy hats and obligatory backpack and camera! We met another Aussie at the parade 'Simon' who also bought a boat in San Francisco earlier this year and is sailing it home! Seems like Aussies are all going over to the US buying cheap boats!

Monday night we got invited on board 'Airwego' Mike and Cindy on a 47' American yacht that we met in Moorea. It was sundowners on deck with another couple of Americans from a 53' yacht 'Charisma' Alan and Kristen. Yes it is always nice to hang out with those on bigger yachts, when you are from a small yacht! And here we were thinking that if we bought a 37' yacht, much bigger than Timana's 33' that we would be in the average size of cruising boats. But nope, it seems in those 13 years the average length of cruising yachts has grown to about 42'!!! So bugger, we are still considered a small yacht this time too. Anyway, it was a great evening and overall a great day.

The only problem we have now is the rudder. Why you ask? Well one of the maintenance things Geoff did while we were anchored in that lovely 8' of calm water, was to check the steering cables, dis attach them and grease them. But what is very odd and a bit unfair...is that since he did that we have a constant squeak when we turn the helm! Geoff has rechecked the cables and the quadrant and all looks okay. But where is that squeak coming from in the rudder shaft and why????? So, we got onto our good friend Charles back in Brisbane (he who owns a Mottle 33 at about the same time we had Timana) and asked him to research the problem in Oz for us with Jeanneau, he did and got us all the info we needed within the hour! Thanks Charles, it has eased our minds a bit.....but I am sure it will just be another worry for Geoff to carry along to Tonga. :(

Otherwise we are keen to move on and get to Tonga and very keen to try and see if we can stop at Aitutaki in the Cook Islands? Aitutaki is a very tricky place as the pass into the lagoon through the reef is narrow and quite shallow – 6'!! It has a bar to cross and not a lot of space inside for anchoring....so we will only go in if it is perfect weather and conditions. However once in, it is supposed to be a beautiful place. If the weather is not suitable for going in we will continue on and sail close past Niue. A very small volcanic island, with no lagoon. You just pick up a mooring (if there is one free) off the reef that is close in to the shore. The depth just drops off into the abyss very quickly after the reef. It doesn't have a lot of protection from the swell either as there is no bay, it is a circular shaped island. You may wonder why are we thinking of these two anchorages? Well, the passage to Vava'u is 1285 nm about 8 or 9 days sailing. These two spots would allow us to break the passage into small bites, trust me a lot easier on the body and soul. Aitutaki is 482 nm from here about 3 days sailing and another 568 nm or 4 days to Niue. That would only leave 235 nm to go to Vava'u about 2 days sailing. Much more civilized!
So.... until we get to Vava'u we will just update the Blog with text messages from the Iridium Satellite phone to let you know how were going.

Oh yeah..Happy Birthday to my big brother Keith on the 19th too!! Miss you heaps big bro.

Blog you in Tonga!!!