Hawaii to Alaska - Week 4 and Arrival

Arrival: Monday, June 9

Kodiak, Alaska

57 47.2N / 152 24.6W

Sailed: 3035 miles (from Honolulu) VMG: 2300

As mentioned in our week 2 post, we knew we were in for a seriously long passage due to the many lengthy calms we were experiencing. In the end, we were at sea 33 days, but, here we are now, in Kodiak Alaska! The nights are very short this far north and the eagles are abundant. These pictures were taken at 9 p.m. The weather is cool, but, sunny and we are enjoying the change from a too-hot (for us) Hawaii.

The winds cooperated in week 4 and we started off making good progress. The next day an autopilot failure soon  put an end to that. All of a sudden, the pump started making some strangled noises and then all went quiet. Before we left, we had purchased a new autopilot motor from England as a spare and had extra brushes custom-made for the old motor. Along with our other spares and the two fully redundant electronic course computers, fluxgate compasses and rudder reference units, we felt we were well-equipped to deal with a failure. We did some diagnostics, replaced a few parts and came to the conclusion that it must be the pump's solenoid valve, a single point of failure that we didn't have a spare for. The motor seemed to be running fine, it just didn't engage the rudder, so, we decided that replacing the motor with its spare was probably wasted effort. At this point, we just wanted to get on with it, so, decided to hand-steer the last 800 miles into Kodiak. This wasn't a trivial effort, but, we knew we'd get there eventually. When we bought this boat, it was, surprisingly, lacking a proper steering compass, so, were very glad that we had installed one.

We did one hour on, one hour off shifts staring at this compass card, trying to keep to our course. It was very cold in the cockpit at night. After some experimentation, we found that actually, if you balance the sails and rudder properly this boat will self-steer very well. Not all the time, mind you, but, at least you can take your hands off the wheel momentarily. We did have a couple of really long runs of self-steering. On one occasion, motor-sailing, it went overnight without us having to touch the wheel once. Such intense concentration is very tiring and we did stop a couple of times to take a rest and warm up. Our course was a little wobbly, the autopilot can steer much more accurately than we can, but, our forward progress was good.

After we got to Kodiak and pulled the pump apart, it was very obvious that the drive coupling was the problem, not the solenoid. It was just worn out. The 'lovejoy' had no teeth left, the motor was running, but, it wasn't engaging the pump. If we'd just taken a few hours to swap out the motor while at sea we wouldn't have had this hand-steering ordeal. But, looking on the bright side, we now know how to balance and sail this boat much more efficiently.

Another event occurred that slowed us down even further. Our Yankee (type of headsail) furler line snapped. We were able to quickly pull the sail down and lash it to the deck, adroitly avoiding dumping it into the water, but, this meant that we couldn't easily use one of the three sails we usually fly for optimum speed. It began to feel like we'd never get there! It was a moot point anyway as the wind soon went very light and we motored the last 130 miles into Kodiak. There was a low approaching and we didn't want to spend even one more night at sea.

Kodiak is a very busy fishing port, a working town. It does the fourth largest catch in the country, mostly salmon, which is now in season. We are in St. Paul Boat Harbor, one of two marinas which hold about 700 fishing boats. We are the only visiting sailboat. Boats are coming and going at all times of the day and night to the many canneries here in town. It's a bustling place. We'll be here for a couple of weeks at least, waiting for some boat parts to arrive. After that we'll either be on a mini-Alaskan cruise (hopefully), or, headed straight for Dixon Entrance and Canada. It all depends on whether we can extend our US visas and/or the Canada/US border opens again on June 21.

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Hawaii to Alaska - Week 3

noon local - Wednesday, May 27, 2020
41 32.5N / 150 05.1W

Week 3 of our passage from Hawaii to Alaska was another disappointing mileage week. We sailed 687 miles which maybe isn't too bad but made only 330 miles good to our destination as the winds just weren't from the right direction. This grand total even included 100 miles of motoring when the wind went to zero for a few days in the middle of the week. At least we are now past the 1/2 way point, but, with 946 miles still to go we are another week to ten days away from arrival.

We started the week hove-to just taking that glancing blow from the low pressure system I wrote about last week and ended it hove-to again, for two days, to deal with a second low which came in right behind it. This time it wasn't just a glancing blow though as, unfortunately, we had F8 (gale) to F9 (strong gale) conditions, gusting up to 50 knots, with 5 metre seas. We hove-to to avoid getting further north nearer the centre of the low which had 60 knot winds. Luckily, we didn't see those.

It looked like it might be ok for a departure this morning, it had dropped to 25-30 knots and the seas were down quite a bit. So, at first light (0400 in these parts) we set off. We're now hard on the wind sailing close-hauled at around 6 knots, almost on course. There's a fair amount of spray over the decks as we are banging into the still high seas. At least the sun is shining and we're moving, mostly in the right direction. It sure beats the past two days spent laying in our sea berths, watching the wind anemometer, wondering how bad will it get, should we have deployed the drogue, should we have done, or, not done this/that etc...

Between the two low pressure systems, we had no wind to speak of. The sea was a flat, oily, mirror calm. We motored for a while and happened upon another small sailboat, just twelve miles away from us. We spoke on the VHF and Richard informed us he was 35 days out from Hawaii. At that point, we were only on day 17, so, that made us feel better. He actually has further to go than us too as he was heading just north of Dixon Entrance, another 300 miles or so further than our due north landfall. We wish him fair winds.

The winds are looking good for the next week, both in direction and velocity. There is one more low pressure system that we may encounter about a week from now, but, that forecast could easily change. Right now it doesn't look as strong as the one we just got through, so, fingers crossed we miss it and/or it won't be anything to worry about.

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Hawaii to Alaska - Week 2

noon local - Wednesday, May 20, 2020
36 20.1N / 156 49.6W

Week 2 of our passage from Hawaii to Alaska was another disappointing mileage week. We only sailed 582 miles making just 408 good to our destination. This total even included a day of motoring when the wind went to zero. We had one good wind day. The rest of the time the wind averaged around five knots. We'd hoped to be 2/3 of the way by today, but, unfortunately we aren't even half-way yet, still 171 miles short. It always feels better once you're past that 1/2 way mark. As it is, unless we can make better time in the days ahead, this will end up a seriously long passage and cut into our cruising time in Alaska.

The "North Pacific High" is known to settle over this area as a huge, slow-moving high with calms and light winds, but, it's not here yet. It probably won't start to move in for another month. There are still lots of low pressure systems, with significant wind, all around us, somehow we've ended up sailing in a high pressure trough between them. Normally, that's a good thing, but, you still need wind to sail and more than five knots would be good!

As mentioned in last week's post we took a glancing blow from one low pressure system, it was only about twelve hours and easy to deal with, just a little uncomfortable. Unfortunately, there's another one heading our way which we'll be in the middle of come Saturday/Sunday. We'll probably be altering course a bit to try and avoid the worst of it, thus, delaying our progress even further. Oh well, we'll get there eventually, we have lots of food/water and fuel. We have about a 1,500 mile range with our fuel capacity of 1,200 litres. As we're only about 1,270 miles from our destination, we could theoretically motor the whole way if we had to, but, where's the fun in that.

The weather has started to get a little cooler now, around 16C and we're enjoying the change. Fleece tops and long pants have made an appearance. Our down duvets, freshly laundered in Hawaii after a long hiatus spent squashed into a cupboard, are on standby.

We've seen no wildlife whatsoever, no whales and only a couple of dolphins way off in the distance. We're seeing quite a bit of plastic pollution in the water, maybe 2-3 pieces a day, doesn't sound like much, but, we're used to not seeing any in other places/oceans. Surprisingly, given our remoteness, there are a lot of ships around. They seem to be on a route between the US west coast and China/Japan. One of them called us up around 4 a.m. (this is very unusual, first time ever actually) to ask us if we were ok as our erratic course and speed of 1.9 knots didn't seem right. Well, yes, we answered this is the best we can do with the light winds. They're usually steaming along at around 16 knots. Nice of them to inquire though! Also good to know they are picking up our AIS signal from a long distance away.

Speaking of remoteness, we have to be in one of the most isolated sea areas of the planet. We are 1270 miles to Alaska, 930 miles to Hawaii, 1618 miles to San Francisco and 3005 miles to Tokyo.

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Hawaii to Alaska - Week 1

noon local - Wednesday, May 13, 2020
30 22.6N / 162 52.1W

It's not that often that you get this close to a pelagic seabird. Usually, they're off in the distance doing flight cartwheels. They're a joy to watch and actually, out here in the big blue desert, they're often the only thing moving. It always lifts your spirits to see them. On day six of our passage from Hawaii to Alaska, it was windless with a totally flat sea to match. Without much wind for flying, the birds were bobbing around the boat instead. Beautiful to see them so close up. We don't have a bird book aboard, so, don't know which kind they were. In flight the wingspan looked to be around two metres!

The first four days of the passage were typical tradewind conditions, around 20 knots from the NE blowing constantly at the same velocity and direction. We didn't touch the sails for four days. We've only had conditions like this once or twice before, so, it was a joy to start the passage this way. The wind soon died. Days 5-6 were spent moving at about 1-2 knots, but, we weren't complaining, at least we weren't stopped dead with the sails slatting. Overnight on day six we decided to stop for a while. There was a large, deep and nasty low-pressure system hovering over us. We had been watching it come towards us since day 1 and knew we would intersect at some point. We didn't want to get in the middle of it. It looks like we'll get the worst of it overnight tonight, but, it should only be a glancing blow along its bottom edge. After that, it's looking good again for getting more northing in.

Due to the calms, it wasn't a great week mileage-wise, but, not too bad, we've had worse. We sailed 680 miles, 516 miles were good to our destination (Kodiak), which started off 2,200 nautical miles away, only 1,684 to go. We'll be leaving the tradewind belt soon and move into an area where westerly winds prevail. In that area we will be able to travel more on the rhumb line, so, will hopefully make up some time.

Due to the light conditions, week 1 was relatively drama-free. There's always something though and this week was no exception. We use our generator a lot on passage and on day 4 (late in the evening of course) it just wouldn't start. It reported a 'fuel supply problem'. We spent three hours changing filters everywhere we could think of, bleeding injectors, manually priming the fuel lines, inspecting fuel pumps and starter motors etc...etc. Nothing worked. Then, G decided to use his 'magic wrench'. This is a tool that everybody should get. It's maybe not as good as a 'sonic screwdriver' (Dr. Who's favourite tool), but, this is the fourth time it has saved the day for us. You operate it by taking a medium-sized wrench and whacking the offending object as hard as you can with a short, sharp blow. One whack to the fuel pump and away it went. It has been running flawlessly ever since. In the past it has worked on our autopilot pump twice and our Yanmar starter once!

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Aloha from Hawaii

I hadn't planned such a long hiatus from writing in this travel journal, but, here we are, a full three months since my last post. Our stay here has to be divided into 'before virus' and 'after virus' parts. 'Before virus' we had very mixed feelings about being here, more on that a bit later, but, 'after virus', we are very happy to be here and very grateful. Things could be a lot worse and are for many cruisers still out there trapped in various places around the globe. We have the good fortune to be sitting this pandemic out on the most remote landmass in the world, thousands of miles from anywhere and well away from the mass devastation, both economic and health-wise, being wrought elsewhere.

Before arriving in Hawaii it seemed very difficult to get any reliable, up-to-date information on marina availability and cruising conditions here. We later learned, from a local, about Noodle's Notes, a fantastic free resource where you can obtain a .pdf copy of the cruising guide we wished we'd had before we got here. Bill "Noodle" Leary, the author, has this to say about sailing in Hawaii:

"Hawaii can be a challenging place to sail. The channels between the islands are wide and rough, small boat harbors are scarce, crowded, dilapidated and good anchorages are over-regulated, seasonally protected, and scarce."

He was correct on all counts, particularly about the small boat harbors. We ended up at the Ala Wai Boat Harbor, in Honolulu, the largest of the state-owned marinas. You can see the masts in the centre of this photo taken from Diamond Head (one of the few hikes we were able to do before the lockdown started).

The location just can't be beat for convenience. We are at the western terminus of Waikiki beach, adjacent to the Hilton Hawaiian Village complex. Every Friday night (before virus) at 1945 we were treated to a spectacular fireworks show viewed right from our cockpit.

We are just a short walk from the Ala Moana Beach Park (where police with loudspeaker-equipped drones are now enforcing stay-at-home rules) and adjacent to that, the Ala Moana Shopping Centre (closed now), the largest mall in the State. We are also within walking distance of all that Waikiki has to offer, from high-end, designer, shopping (not a draw for us) and great restaurants (now offering only take-out), of which we've taken good advantage, to a boardwalk stroll along the beach for evening walks. Many of the hotels have lush, torch-lit gardens.

The Japanese are the biggest tourism visitors here and their influence is everywhere, from Japanese food courts, to bilingual signage. We've been experimenting with Japanese food and very much enjoyed a visit to an Udon noodle house where they make the noodles, from scratch, in full view. Delicious and very reasonably-priced.

The bus service was excellent (much reduced now and only for essential workers) and we settled in to our boat job list. The weather was cool and rainy during January which was a very welcome respite from the oppressive heat we had endured in French Polynesia.

The location was the best part. The marina was the worst part. The rules and regulations were the most onerous we've encountered anywhere and not cruiser-friendly. Before we could get a permit to stay they made us do a 'buoy run' to prove that we were seaworthy (it didn't matter that we'd only just sailed over two thousand miles to get there), we had to have a boat inspection not only by the marina, but, also by the Coast Guard who followed us in from our buoy run. We also were informed that as of a month ago, the rates in the marina had tripled from what we'd been expecting. We were going to be paying more for a berth here than anywhere else we'd ever been. There was nowhere to anchor other than in an industrial area near the airport, so, we just accepted the conditions. It would have been a bit more palatable if the facilities had also been as world-class as the rates, but, they were far from it. The washrooms/showers are filthy, so well-used and broken-down they are beyond cleaning. There are rats and cockroaches scurrying everywhere. The docks are dangerously dilapidated and have no security. The water is full of floating garbage. A boat near us was boarded one night by a very disturbed man who insisted he had to 'leave this island, right now, before 'they' got him'. Five police officers had to come to subdue and remove him, very scary for the people aboard. The numbers of homeless, or 'residentially-challenged'  (as they are called here) people is shocking. There are tent encampments everywhere, in the parks and even right on the sidewalks. Many of the occupants are obviously mentally ill. We've seen open drug-taking and deal-making. When you're here for more than a one-week vacation and venture away from the tourist areas, the glaring social problems make it obvious that Hawaii isn't a paradise for all.

Bad, yes, but, we only planned to be here for four months and just got used to it. The flowers started to bloom and the sun shone most days. Then, the virus arrived. Hawaii was slow to implement restrictions. It seemed obvious to us though that their tourism industry put the islands at a very high risk. There are ten million visitors here every year and 30,000 fly in every day from all over the world. It seemed obvious that the huge visitor influx needed to be stopped. Many locals agreed and just before the lockdown began there were convoys of honking vehicles with signs like 'tourist go home'  and 'if you love us, leave' plastered all over them. They drove up and down the two main tourism streets and it wasn't a good feeling. Anyway, the government soon acted and we have been under a 'stay-at-home' order and curfew for a few weeks now. We only go out once a week to grocery shop. The marina is so quiet it has become much more pleasant. We can even hear birdsong instead of amplified lounge singer music from the hotels. Oahu only has a permanent population of about one million. As of this writing, April 11, there are less than 500 confirmed cases and seven deaths. So, fairly low risk for the moment and we are thankful. We are disappointed that we won't be able to do any touring, but, compared to what others are suffering, we're not complaining.

We did get a few outings in before the lockdown. This is the view from the Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail.

A little out of town, we visited Sandy Beach (before lockdown).

Some of the birds here are very intriguing. This one, which looks a smaller version of a northern cardinal, actually isn't. It isn't a native bird, having been introduced from South America.

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Rangiroa to Oahu - Week 3 and arrival !

Monday, Dec 30
21 17.2N / 157 50.4

Week 3 of our passage from Rangiroa, French Polynesia to Oahu, Hawaii was not a 'fun' week and we were very relieved, after 23 days at sea, to have this iconic view of Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach in front of us. Another passage complete, we had sailed 2465 miles to make 2252 good.

In our last post I mentioned that we had 'left' the doldrums. I now take it back, we hadn't left the doldrums at all, they do move and were just a bit further north. Once we hit 6N we got the full treatment. It started with a lot of yellow blobs (squalls) showing up all over the radar screen. We continued on, dodging where possible and dealing with the gusts when not possible to dodge. The blobs started to reform and eventually merged into one huge blob completely surrounding us. We reduced sail as it was gusting into the 30's. It got quite rough and we eventually hove-to in order to clean up the mess in the galley. At some point, a dish had wedged itself against the usually very sturdy latch on the inside of our china cupboard and opened it, sending most of our china flying across the galley to hit the opposite wall and shatter into pieces. We lost about 1/2 of it. We sat there for about four hours to let the worst of it cross over us. We got underway and it actually got worse the next night (it always happens at night), Christmas Eve, with gusts now into the 40's and steady F8 winds. We have dealt many times with gale-force winds and with squalls, but, we've never really had the combination of the two which was a different animal. It was hard to know what to expect, we'd see a squall coming and maybe there were going to be big gusts and maybe there weren't, the anticipation became very wearing.

We got to about 11N on Christmas Day and got a present as the squalls abated and blue skies returned. The next few days were excellent with great speed and long daily runs. Then, the wind died to nothing after a few hours of going between 13-30 knots every ten minutes. We motored for a while until the wind picked up again. We were on the final stretch into Honolulu and counting down the hours. The wind was supposed to drop away at midnight and we were anticipating a motor in for the final leg and an early morning arrival. Then, when we were about 50 miles out an isolated squall popped up with no notice, lots of rain and winds 35 again, we hove-to and thought we might have to spend a further night at sea, what a disappointment, but, after a few hours, winds dropped into the mid-20's and on we went arriving at 1500 into the Ali Wai Yacht Harbour, just in time for New Year's Eve celebrations the next day. We'll be here until mid-May when we'll head off for Alaska. We'll, of course, be doing boat jobs, but, hope to fit in a few tourist activities as well.

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Rangiroa to Oahu - Week 2

noon, Saturday - December 21
05 30.4N / 157 17.4W

Week 2 of our passage from Rangiroa, French Polynesia to Oahu, Hawaii has been much better than week 1. Conditions have been mostly benign, wind direction and resulting speed have been good. We ended up sailing 880 miles, vmg 855, maybe our best week ever? Due to the easy conditions, boat problems have been few and minor, let's hope that continues. We managed a few milestones as well, we crossed the equator, the 1/2 way mark on the passage and we've now just left the doldrums. The doldrums, or inter-tropical convergence zone, is an area approximately five degrees north and south of the equator. This was the area where we thought we'd have the most weather problems as usually it's plagued by calms interspersed with vicious squalls. We had those conditions in abundance during week 1, but, sailed right through the 600 mile doldrums area with constant wind of 15-25 knots from the east. South of the doldrums the winds are generally SE and north of the doldrums the wind is generally NE. We had the exact opposite of this, but, as long as there was east in it we didn't care. Next week isn't looking too great, lots of gales ahead. Right now it looks like we may just get lucky and miss them, but, at this point it could go either way, we'll see what we get. It would be nice, for once, to complete a passage without having to go to a third reef at some point!

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Rangiroa to Oahu - Week 1

noon, Saturday - December 14
08 20.6S / 150.56.1W

As planned, we left Rangiroa, French Polynesia for Hawaii (Oahu) on December 7. We thought we weren't going to make our tidal gate as our windlass failed and the chain had to be pulled up manually, which, due to complications, took about two hours. Luckily, the water was still mostly slack in Avatoru Pass and we quickly made our way out to the open ocean escorted by a lively pod of dolphins. It was a relief to be away from our busy, action-packed one week stay in Rangiroa. We raised sail and enjoyed perfect sailing for the first three hours in a 13-15 knot northeasterly breeze. Then, the wind died and for the next FIVE days we didn't have any wind greater than FIVE knots. This meant we could only sail at a miserable 1-3 knot speed compared to the usual 5-7. It's not just the slow motion sailing that gets to you, it's the continual effort that needs to be put in to try and keep a steady heading, in any direction. The wind puffs, the wind gusts, the wind stops, the sails backwind, slat and bang, the rigging creaks and groans, the autopilot can't maintain its heading and starts beeping loudly. Without a cooling breeze, it gets very hot baking on the sea's reflective surface and there is no relief anywhere on the boat. Around dusk, biq squalls came through which brought too strong winds for about twenty minutes requiring a quick reefing of sails. It all wears on you including the thought that, at 1 knot, a 2200 mile passage could take as long as 100 days, not something we wanted to contemplate! Logically, of course, we knew things would change, but when? Five days bobbing along was a long time to wait. We ran the motor for about thirty hours to try and get further north to where there seemed to be more wind. Finally, the change did come, the winds increased to 9-10 knots and we started moving once more which allowed us to record an ok result for the week, 578 miles sailed, 429 made good, better than nothing. We expected this kind of weather in the doldrums, still to be crossed, let's hope that maybe we'll get good wind for that crossing, the grib forecast is looking good, so, fingers crossed for a better week 2 result.

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Rangiroa

Our gear cable and throttle problem luckily turned out to just be an adjustment and after stocking up on yet more fresh baguettes, we left Ra'iatea enroute to Rangiroa, about 250 miles to the northeast. We were now leaving the Society Islands and heading east towards the Tuamotus, another of the five island groups in French Polynesia. The Society Islands are 'high', volcanic islands. The Tuamotus are totally different, atolls consisting of strings of motu (small islands) strung together to surround an inner lagoon. They are low and sandy with lots of palm trees. Our visas were quickly coming to an end and we were in a bit of a time crunch to get there in order to check out of the country. We were very disappointed that we were only going to have few days there and we'd have to skip a visit to the Marquesas, another island group about 700 miles NE, altogether. With hindsight, I guess we should have applied for a long-stay visa. It would have required a lot of paperwork and hassle to get. If we hadn't had to spend four weeks in the boatyard in Ra'iatea, it would have been fine. As it is, we are pressing on to Rangiroa as we are trying to get as much easting as possible before heading for Hawaii. From the Marquesas the sailing angle would have been ideal. From Rangiroa, not so much, but better than heading north from the Societies. It is what it is and we're happy we'll at least see something of the Tuamotus.

The three day passage wasn't without the usual weather and mechanical problems, but, we were able to deal with them all and got there with seven days left. We anchored off the Kia Ora resort hotel. The water was incredibly clear and we could see many fish and even dolphins right beside the boat. We swam off the back of the boat almost every day. We're just that little bit closer to the equator here (14S) and the heat, if possible, seemed even more oppressive than it had in the Societies.

We were anchored very near to Tiputa Pass, a legendary dive location where many large species can be seen. Sailboats can pass during times of slack water. It's not a place you can go into at other times as the currents and rips through the pass can be incredibly strong, up to an eight knot flow if you get your tide calculations wrong. It looks like a white water river then, not a place to take a slow-moving sailboat through, or, to be in the water with a snorkel. Local knowledge is a must.

Drift dives and drift snorkel trips through the pass are offered by local operators. We booked with DeDe Excursions. It was reasonably-priced and we had a full two hours at four different locations. Drift snorkeling is fun, no swimming required. Basically, just lay there and steer yourself as the water whisks you along. The water temperature is around 33C. In the pass itself we saw a number of large black-tip reef sharks, a ray and some large grouper. Due to the water rushing through twice a day the pass was scoured clean of coral, but, at the end of it, adjacent to a small island, was 'The Aquarium', a really nice coral garden with big coral. There is a buoyed swim path with underwater signs where you can read about the coral you're looking at! We saw numerous moray eels (a metre long at least) and an incredible variety and quantity of reef fish. It's one thing to see a school of fish at a distance which we've seen many times, it's quite another to become actually part of the school with hundreds of fish swimming all around you only inches away. We were in the middle of a huge bunch of red snapper, it was quite the experience.

We had to visit the local gendarmerie a couple of times to get our outbound clearance done. We are leaving for Hawaii on Saturday, Dec 7. It's about 2200 miles north and slightly west. We expect to be at sea for around three to four weeks, depending on the number of calms we encounter. Looks like a Christmas at sea this year, but, a turkey dinner with all the trimmings is unlikely to be on the menu aboard unfortunately! Christmas is a big thing here it seems. Decorated Christmas trees and tinsel are already up and the grocery store clerks are wearing Santa hats, it seems very incongruous.

So, after a short three months, it's farewell to French Polynesia. You may have noticed that I didn't publish any bird photos while here. There weren't many opportunities and/or subjects, but, I did get this nice shot in Ra'iatea and for fellow bird lovers, enjoy.

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Bora Bora

We were stuck in the boatyard in Ra'iatea for almost four weeks waiting for our new gearbox. We'd

been able to locate one in Australia (we'd highly recommend Minard's Diesel, with whom we've done business before, as a source for Yanmar parts in the South Pacific). It arrived, by air, in just two days to Papeete! We were optimistic we'd soon be back on our way to Bora Bora again. Then, the excruciating waiting began. There was a significant delay caused by the lack of an official stamp on the original Customs declaration we submitted on arrival. Then, there were two public holidays and the fact that it had to come from Tahiti to Ra'aitea on the local supply ship which only runs two days a week. In the end, it did arrive and was installed in just two hours. In the meantime, we'd been looking at this lovely view of Bora Bora, just twenty miles away and tantalisingly close. Finally, we were able to head over.

It was another windless day which was ok as we wanted to exercise the new gearbox anyway and the passage was uneventful. Just before we left we read that anchoring is now illegal in Bora Bora! Glad we found this out as we had a nice little route planned with a number of anchorages on it. Our plans now had to change. Our visitor's visa clock was ticking so we thought we'd just pick up a mooring in front of the Bora Bora Yacht Club for a couple of days and book onto a lagoon/snorkel tour, so, we'd at least be able to see the place. We picked up a mooring, then, there was confusion around who we were supposed to pay. We thought we'd paid already (to the yacht club). Then, the moorings manager showed up and demanded payment. We worked out a satisfactory compromise. The cost per night was about $30 USD, not insignificant as last month it used to be free. They've changed the rules

but haven't stepped up to the plate with infrastructure replacement as there are not enough marina berths, or, moorings to match the number of boats. Also, picking up an unknown mooring is always dicey and not without risk if it's in poor condition. It can lead to losing your boat. It almost happened

to somebody a few months ago in the very mooring field we were now in. The moorings have been

upgraded since then, but, an American family had their large catamaran on a mooring and then went

out for dinner. Upon their return, their boat was gone! It was dark and blowy and a couple of 

yachties went out on dinghies to try and find it. It had gone across the lagoon about five miles and collided with a couple of over-water bungalows in a very luxe resort. The bungalow decks were smashed quite badly. The catamaran was wedged underneath, but, luckily the point of impact was between a chainplate and bulkhead, so, although there was a huge hole in the boat it was repairable. There is some dramatic video online, the boat's name is Archer. It was getting repaired in the same boatyard we were stuck in in Ra'aitea and it looked like they were going to be able make it almost as good as new.

We'd thought we'd absolutely hate Bora Bora as it has a reputation for being overcrowded, commercial and very expensive, but, were very pleasantly surprised by some of its natural qualities. It's a small place, only 5.5 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. The population is about 10,550. Its volcanic past is undeniable.

The island is totally dominated by ten luxury resorts. The resort bungalows were definitely larger here, with prices to match (they start around $800 USD per night and can run well into the thousands).

Most resorts are tastefully done, but, the sheer number is overwhelming. In places it looked like a bungalow city. It felt a bit like being in a theme park. 

Even some of the 'attractions' had a theme-park feel, like Bloody Mary's restaurant, but, of course we had lunch there anyway. The floors are sand and the seating is tree stumps, the food, as to be expected, was ok, not great. 

In spite of our misgivings and some egregious examples of rampant tourism, our two day whirlwind tour was redeemed when went on a four hour lagoon/snorkel tour (we went with Reef Discovery and can highly recommend them). In keeping with the theme park feel, the lagoon almost looks artificial, it is so unreal. It starts off like many of the others, with dark blue, deeper water leading to striations

of lighter colours. Every shade of blue you can imagine was represented: cobalt, indigo, teal, sapphire, turquoise, aquamarine and what I can only describe as 'electric blue'. It was a colour so vivid and intense, that, when the light was right, it practically glowed. We entered the east lagoon and it was incredible. It looked like a gigantic swimming pool, a miles-long pool of shallow, totally clear water. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

And the snorkeling, wow! We've scuba-dived the Caribbean and snorkeled other places, but, have never seen sights like we saw here. We stopped at four locations, one was a fabulous, fully alive coral

garden, another a friendly 'aquarium' of reef fish. In another spot we were able to float along with two very large manta rays who were being cleaned by wrasse, but, the piece de resistance, were the eagle rays. From the surface it just looked like a few black blobs. Mask in the water revealed an incredible sight, at least one hundred of these creatures, all swimming in a tight formation, like a squadron of slow-moving fighter jets. They must have numbered maybe five deep and twenty across. We just swam along with them at a lazy pace, only a few feet above them.Their backs were light brown and spotted, the 'wings' about a metre across. Occasionally, one would break formation to do a leisurely back roll and we could see their white underside.

It was over all too soon and right after our tour, we headed out for Rangiroa, about 250 miles away. We didn't get far before we had some issues with our gear cable and throttle, so, decided to head back, again, to Ra'iatea to have the mechanic check things out.

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