Bora Bora - Suwarrow - Niue.   

15/7/12 - 22/7/12 Still in Bora Bora

We sail around Bora Bora to the Blue Lagoon, a fantastic southeast anchorage overlooking the peaks of Bora Bora. The blue lagoon is also a great place to relax and enjoy all the different shades of blue water. With too much clear water to tempt us, we took the opportunity for a dive and snorkel with Manta Rays!

The Water maker - 

Life in paradise is a lot of fun but boats can be somewhat frustrating at times. Until recently, most sailors have not had water makers. Even now only half the boats currently crossing the South Pacific have one. Without a water maker, you need to have strict water restrictions to conserve your tank water and your fingers crossed for frequent rain until you are next at port with a clean water supply. So it's not the end of the world when our 6 month old water maker packs it in again, but it does spell the end to our daily fresh water showers. The high pressure water pump has leaked salt water into the mechanism and now it's all corroded.  Unfortunately we have a lot of spare parts but not for brand new equipment and there is nowhere in the South Pacific to get a replacement part. We are in luck, after a good clean and a careful rebuild of the pump, we have water again! Anyone in a betting mood - how long will the water maker last before it dies again? hopefully we'll be back in Australia and we will be drinking beer instead!

Sunset at Bora Bora

23/7/12 - 26/7/12 A day sail to Maupiti....... 

We head out to our last French Polynesian island, Maupiti, 25 Nm away. The weather man is wrong again, he predicted 15-20 knots and we get 30 knots of wind. No big issue, we just go faster and arrive in good time (2.5 hours). With wind, however, comes swell and waves. By the time we get to Maupiti, we have 3-4m swell with waves crashing on the bar. The pass is not safe to enter (or leave - the boats inside will be stuck for another week). 

So now what do we do? We decide to continue onwards 700 Nm to the Cook Islands. A day sail has now turned into a 5 day passage. Very disappointing not to see Maupiti, and our plan to use it as a stalling tactic to pass bad weather has been thwarted.  This crossing has a reputation for bad weather and unpleasant seas, hence the hope to put it off until next week! 

Our crossing was terrible. Strong winds for 2 days. Followed by reducing winds for the next three days. Unfortunately swell builds quickly but subsides slowly. We rolled constantly back and forth for the entire trip. The seasickness was pretty bad! We did manage to read a good book each towards the end of our crossing. Nikki was looking for inspiration and read Serge Testa 500 Days Around the World on a 12 Foot Yacht. Serge, a fellow Brisbanite, is in the Guiness Book of Records 1989 for sailing around the world in the smallest yacht, a boat only half a meter bigger than our dingy. Dennis better behave or he may be forced into doing his own world record! You can see his tiny boat at the Brisbane maritime museum where it is now stored.  Dennis chose to read a thriller, Steven Callahan Adrift Seventy Six Days Lost at Sea - a real story of what can happens when it all goes wrong. 

Fishing tips

1) Go fast - The stronger the winds, the faster you go, the quicker and bigger your catch. Within 2 hours of strong winds, we caught 2 skip jacks, which had to be returned as the weather wouldn't allow filleting, and a Mahi Mahi, which wasn't so fortunate but made a number of tasty dinners. 

2) Always have a line out when you go through a pass - passes are always full of life and the fish love current. Within 30 seconds of putting the line out at Suwarrow island pass, we catch this decent black Trevally!  All is good/ in the world, now that our fishing drought is over and fish is back on the menu!

27/7/12- 6/8/12 Suwarrow, Cook islands

Awesome! We love this place! It would almost be worth buying a boat (and doing the crossing), with the sole intention to come visit this island. 2600 Nm from Brisbane, 3700 Nm from California.  Suwarrow is a National Park. The only residents are the two friendly Cook islander wardens, Anton and Harry, who have the unusual work combination of being caretakers of the island most of the time and immigration officials when a new boat comes in.

Tropical paradise at a bargain - $50 dollars entrance fee allows one yacht, 2 people to stay for two weeks. This deals includes unlimited excellent snorkeling  diving, fishing and beach barbecues  Put your wallet away, there is nowhere to idle your pennies here.

Friendly Manta Rays - only a few hundred metres from the boat. 

Fun days snorkeling in the underwater Japanese bonsai garden.

Wandering around the stunning motus (coral islands).

Trap monitoring with the warden - We were meant to be assessing the local rat population but the crabs are way too quick and get the bait every time.  

Beach-combing - it's really amazing what gets washed up on shore. 

 Dennis picking up some nice fishing gear.

Japanese fishing Buoy - traditional glass buoy. We are chuffed with this now rare find. We plan to make it into a light fixture for the boat at some point in the future

Fish attracting device - with its own GPS unit.

A few fresh coconuts! 

Coconut crabs  galore! Made for easy hunting and tasty BBQ.

One afternoon, Dennis goes fishing in the dingy to get some dinner. In no time he catches a rainbow runner. He tries his luck again and............. 

......yes he catches a 6ft oceanic black tip shark

Unfortunately he does not have a knife to cut the line so he has to tow the shark 2 Nm back to the boat before we are able to safely release the shark.

Dennis is pleased to have retained his tiny lure! on such a small lure who would have thought

7/8/12-10/8/12 520 Nm sail to Niue Another passage - more seasickness!

We were hoping to swim with the humpback whales who are abundant at this time of the year and are known to sometimes spend time in the harbour. Awesome limetone formations - arches, caves, pools.  All is going well so far.

11/8/12-13/8/12 Niue! 

Niue is a tiny independent nation, in free association with New Zealand. Niue  "the rock", is entirely comprised of limestone and is a result of a raised reef.  It's a beautiful island with friendly locals.