One concern we had about this season in the South Pacific was how rushed we would be from the large number of mileage and countries to travel before hurricane season. For the most part, we’ve chosen to visit fewer places in French Polynesia and stay in each place longer than we have stayed in places in the past. This is working out well so far. Even though our time here is so short, we don’t feel like we are rushing. Moorea was an exception to this plan.
We spent only a few days at one anchorage in Moorea. It was beautiful, and we thought about staying longer but a frontal system was coming through, followed by no wind, and we knew we could either make some more miles under sail or stay in Moorea for another week or more. With Moorea getting crowded, and scheduled to get more crowded with the PPJ Tahiti-Moorea Rendezvous incoming, we decided to take an overnight sail to Bora Bora and spend some time there.
The sting rays have been fed for decades in the same location and come to your dinghy as soon as they hear your propeller and/or the sound of your dinghy anchor dropping. If you have a piece of fish, they mob you, flapping their wings and climbing up your body, begging for the treat. Feeding wild animals is, of course, not usually a great idea for their own health and safety. In this instance, we were not worried about our personal impact. It was hugely fun, they feel like wet mushrooms and act like begging dogs – begging dogs with barbs.
In this land of crystal clear water, we are occasionally setting up our spinnaker pole and spinnaker halyard so that we can swing out and drop into the water off of the boat (see picture of Mark above). Fun, fun times.
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