More Magical Moments

LTY UPDATE:
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Arrived in Bora Bora after sailing from Huahine

Location:        inside the reef, anchored in Baie de Povai, on the SW coast of Bora Bora
Position:        16 31.405S 151 44.336W (cut & paste into Google Earth to see for yourself)

Wind:             gusting to 20 knots at times inside the lagoon
Sea temp:       79.7F            26.5C
Air temp:        79.3F            26.3C
Humidity:        63%
Barometer:     1017
Weather:        mostly cloudy & overcast, threatening to rain but never quite does.

Today was very special for me with one of those magical memorable moments in life.  But before I get to that, let’s start by bringing you up to date with the most recent sail and Learnativity Update:

After a very rolly, fast and blustery overnight sail from our anchorage at Huahine (shown in the four photos here), Learnativity arrived in Bora Bora at first light this morning.  Julia, (my sister Wendy’s daughter from Comox) successfully completed her 2nd night watch and did great.  She’s very observant and a quick learner and it is a nice treat for me to have someone else on board to take over for a few hours while I catch a few more winks than usual on night sails.  Didn’t get too much sleep last night though as the wind was up quite high and shifting directions and we were sailing with just the jib as the main sail is still in being repaired back in Papeete. 

 

We had spent the past 2 days on the North side of Huahine, a small island to the NW of Tahiti and Moorea, anchored near the only village of Fave.  We were joined by our good friends Philip and Moni on their Outreemer catamaran Blue Bie and though the weather was overcast with a few bouts of rain, we enjoyed some time ashore and snorkeling inside the lagoon. 

With Julia’s time starting to run out (she flies out on Sunday August 6th) and wanting to have her see Bora Bora, we pulled up the anchor last night (Sat) just after sundown last night figuring that would put us at the pass into Bora Bora at about first light, which is around 6am local time.  However in spite of having only the one smaller jib to sail with,we made very good time, too good in fact, as the wind was quite strong for the beginning and end of the approximately 50nm trip. and we were at the pass just after 5am this morning.

Julia had made up supper just before we weighed anchor and so we enjoyed her tasty stir fry with “fragrance de poulet” as soon as we had cleared the easy exit out of the pass at Huahine.  The “fragrance” comment comes from a pretty funny story.  Near the marina Tahina where we were last week in Papeete there is a fabulous French grocery store I recall from France called Carrefour where the food selection is unbelievable and the prices are about as low as they get for French Polynesia, meaning not quite as expensive.  We stocked up on food supplies for the next two weeks and Julia purchased a package of what appeared to be the better part of a whole chicken and put it in our freezer onboard.  Last night, just as I was about to bring in the anchor, she called me down to the galley where the delectable smells of roasted chicken had been wafting out and across the harbor, and asked me what was wrong with the chicken as she couldn’t seem to get any of the meat off?  This was a bit puzzling and upon closer inspection it turned out that this was a stewing chicken!  Would have been great for soup but not much meat on those bones for the ginger stir fry Julia had planned!  However, we scraped off what meat we could and the stir fry was delicious, plus we had yet another story to tell!

Back to sailing, the wind continued to build as we sailed northwest toward NE corner of the island of Tahaa and by the time rounded that corner we were doing over 6 knots in the 20+ knots of wind coming out of the SE.  We turned westward headed for the SE corner of Bora Bora and the wind died down considerably as we got into the lee of Tahaa.  With less wind and sail adjustment to worry about, I got Julia up for a few hours watch from about 1 to 3am during this lull and she completed her 2nd night watch with no problems while I got a bit of sleep as we sailed through a rainy night.   As we left the protection of Tahaa and worked our way west to Bora Bora the wind picked returned and was back into the mid 20’s for the rest of the trip. 

The wind continued to build and by the time I rounded the SW corner of Bora Bora and headed north towards the only pass in, Passe Teavanui, I had the jib furled all the way in and we were still doing 4 knots with just the bare poles (no sail up).  All these islands are surrounded by coral reefs and there are also many coral heads scattered within their inner lagoons, so goo visibility is critical, especially when navigating into a new location.  Not wanting to head into this unfamiliar pass in the dark I kept our speed down as low as possible up the west side and waited just off shore of the pass until the sun was up enough to light the way in.  The wind was on our nose and up into the 20’s all the way in but the pass was very well marked and presented no problems.  I found a nice protected spot in Baie de Povai down on the SW corner of the mainland of Bora Bora and easily anchored in about 70’ of water with a sandy bottom.  This put the stern right up against where the bottom rises up very quickly to a coral reef along the shore but we held well and this location makes for a very beautiful anchorage.  

We are sitting right at the base of the famously changing Mt. Otemanu with its set of very different shaped peaks you can see in some of these photos here.  Mount Otemanu is what you see in all the postcards and movies which has made Bora Bora such a well known location for so many years.  In addition to be quite spectacular, these varying peaks give Mt. Otemanu the fascinating characteristic of appearing to be a completely different mountain as you make your way around the island and your vantage point changes.  And I know this from my first visit here almost 15 years ago when Diana, Lia and Skyler and I were here on one of our many sabbatical holiday adventures (thanks Autodesk!).  Diana had done here typically spectacular job of planning yet another fun 2 month travel vacation and had chartered a sailboat (with captain) for a week, followed by a week here on Bora Bora where we stayed in one of those pretty Polynesian round palm roof huts.  Which brings me to the magical memorable moment I mentioned at the outset.

Not that I realized it at the time, but as best I can trace it, this is where the sailing bug first bit me and hence the title of today’s posting.  The infection remained latent for a long time, but as I’ve looked back and tried to answer the question for others as well as myself as to why I’m out sailing the world, I can see the symptoms gradually emerged after this family vacation and our time aboard that chartered sailboat inside the lagoon of Bora Bora, gazing up through the cabin hatch at the peaks of Mount Otemanu and watching Lia and Skyler jumping off the boat into the almost bath temperature azure lagoon waters. 

Try to imagine how very special this morning was for me as I sat off shore of Passe Teavanui and watched as the rising sun lit up this special set of peaks as if I was watching the beginning of a classic movie where the opening scene slowly fades into view.  For this is a grand adventure movie and it is just beginning and it is now so very real!  It therefore struck me that in a figurative sense this morning marked my completion of what could be called a “cognitive circumnavigation”.  Here I was about to enter the same Bora Bora lagoon where we had anchored as a family lo so many years ago.  But this time I was not sailing as a passenger on a chartered boat from nearby (40nm) Raiatea but as captain of my very own sailboat, having sailed over ten thousand nautical miles from Victoria where Learnativity was built!  How special is that??

Now you can see just how true it is when I say that I jumped into the deep end of the pool of ignorance!  I did not grow up around boats, sailing or the sea.  I can find no trace of mariners in any of my ancestry.  In one sense I’m completely unprepared and in another I’ve been preparing for this all my life.  As with all my previous milestones in life, I truly don’t know what led me here and this has taught me to trust in and use serendipity and synchronicity as my strategic guides.  What I do know is that this grand new aquatic adventure just seems to fit me better every day.  The complete independence and freedom coupled with equally complete self dependence and reliance upon equal parts head, hand and heart.  The human kindness and generosity.  The bonding with other cruisers you’ve only just met.  The teachings of local people who speak, think and live so differently and yet with whom you discover so much in common if you open up, listen and learn.  The learning that seems to increase exponentially as I’m humbled every day by the teachings of my new mothers; Nature and Ocean.  How truly paradoxical it is that the more you learn the better you understand how much you don’t know what you don’t know! 

All of this merely reinforces what I’ve long believed; that life is for living, loving and learning and I’m trying to do each of these a little bit better every day. I remain as excited, as humbled and as awestruck by this grand adventure movie I’m in, whether its the one which began here in Bora Bora over 15 years ago or the one which began just this morning.  It is GREAT to have you for an audience.  Stay tuned for the next act!

Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog,
Wandering and pondering the planet, one nautical mile at a time.

Comments

[Terri Potts]

Hi, Wayne!

This is Terri from sans cles. We met in Barillas, El Salvador last year. Just happened to find your website and took a look. Wanted to drop you a line to say "hi" and "wow!" Look where you are now!. We're in the Dominican Republic...or I should say our boat is there. We're physically in Oregon visiting family and friends during the hurricane season, but expect to be back underway in November. Heading south down the Eastern Caribbean.

Good to see everything is going well for you. I'll put the site in my favorites to keep following.

Our best wishes,

Terri & Lyman
sans cles