You know your a cruiser when....its fun playing in the deeper waters and chasing sharks...

Hello Everyone,

This is just a little picture update.  We had a great time playing today.  We took our boat out through the channel today with our friends from Shine and Lorien and we are on the search for the lemon sharks.

There is a well known dive spot just outside of the channel that everyone goes to swim with the lemon sharks.  The winds have died down and the water is crystal clear today... it is so amazing to swim in the beautiful purplish blue waters when the clarity is 50 feet or more... it is really amazing and so relaxing to be out there suspended on top watching all the fish below.

You can see the bottom of the ocean and we are anchored in 75 feet of water

Lemon Shark not to impressive... to deep to get closer

Mykeala working on her free diving looking for lemon sharks... she was pretty hard to see 50 feet down... it's like Where's Waldo except underwater.

Then a little wake boarding through the lagoon.... and amongst a few of our friends boats... It is really nice to have such generous friends on Shine who constantly use their dinghy for all the fun adventures... Thanks Guys... You complete us! (hee hee)

Chris

Tristan

When we got back to the boat they wanted to do an afternoon dive in the canyons outside of the hilton... Looking for the manta rays... but ended up just playing instead... found a giant moray eel that made the trip worth it.

Alexia

George, Archie (From Shine) and Tristan

Alexia and Xesca (from Shine) are dancing underwater ... Alexia is doing ballet in the back

While the big kids are out scuba diving and wake boarding the little girls are having their own party on the boat jumping off and posing competitions.... Amaia is getting pretty good at diving down deeper already.

Ready together now 1.2.3 JUMP!

Posing just like big sister.....

We will be leaving Bora Bora tomorrow so I am not sure how great our wifi will be so I wanted to get some of these amazing pictures loaded today... not that the pictures are amazing but the clarity of the water.  It looks like a giant swimming pool today with the suns rays reflecting through the water and making their prisms on the sea floor below.

Have a great day and hugs and love to everyone.

Heath

Bora Bora in on a squall... now nothing but sunshine

Hello Everyone,

We have been here in Bora Bora since Wednesday now... Our ride over from Raiatea was miserable... the seas were fine but we were stuck in a squall the entire time that stayed with us until Friday.  We were competely drowned rats.  I was so tired of the rain and unappreciative of our surroundings... why, because I couldn't even see the mountain Bora Bora is known for right in front of us.  We had less than 1/2 a mile visibility through the rain.  Now I am from Oregon and I can take the rain... but this is to much...

Once the squalls went away and the skies have cleared we have been out adventuring and discovering why this is such an amazing destination.  We started at the Mai Kai Marina on one of their mooring balls.  We found everyone there so completely friendly and welcoming that we ended up staying a few days.  It was quite the refresher from the other islands we have been at lately.  They had a little swimming pool that the kids loved playing in... it is funny that they want to swim in this tiny little pool when they have the entire Bay to swim in.  The Bay is warmer, clearer and has fun little friends swimming with you.   Speaking of which we went snorkeling here at the end of the bay and found the fish to be so curious that they came up and swam with you and often tried to take little nibbles from you.  Fortunately not all the fish we saw had the same idea.  Chris and I had a 4 - 5 foot Barracuda watching us and circling us the entire time we were playing with the littler fish.  It was quite daunting to look up and see this thing sneaking up behind you.  The first time I saw it I thought it was a lemon shark and almost climbed inside Chris's swim trunks.

Bora Bora is filled with all inclusive resorts and resorts that have shut down and have been abandoned.  Most of the beaches that we anchor next to are private or guarded if the place has been abandoned and you are not allowed on.  These hotels are in prime locations that are amazing... It's really a shame to see them deserted and falling apart.  We are closish to one of the only public beaches here and decided to go.  The beach is really nice and clean and next to an area of water that remains shallow for several hundred feet.  On our way over to the beach in our dinghy we saw eagle rays and sting rays gliding bellow the surface in the shallow waters... we never seem to get tired of watching them... they are the new dolphin for us...sort of.

 Abandoned Hotel right in front of us

We have had a wonderful time here, even trying to see what we can of the Heiva Celebration.  It is so wonderful to see how the entire community comes together to put this program together and I love how it keeps the spirit and traditions alive in all of the French Polynesian Islands.  It is really beautiful to be able to see everyone coming together and participating and dressing up with all of the head dresses, leis and floral attire...  I think my favorite are the group drum competitions that you can hear almost nightly at any anchorage on any island we are on.  Everyone is either practicing or the competitions are happening.  The nightly steady beating of drums echoing throughout the lagoons is a sound I will miss for a long time to come. 

Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying their summer... I love seeing all the pictures in Facebook of all of your summer travels... It is really fun for us to see pictures of everyone at home.  We miss you guys a ton.

Hugs and love to all.

Heath

Raiatea and Tahaa, 4th of July and all that....

Hello Everyone,

I know it has been awhile since I last posted.  We are tied up to a mooring ball outside of Uturoa, Raiatea.  I hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July weekend.  We have left Huahine after enjoying an amazing week of sunny skies, clear waters, amazing sea life, and wonderful beaches...... and now we have been puttering around Raiatea and Tahaa for the last week.  Our first week here we went to Raiatea.  We have been organizing a boat haul out with the boat yard, visa extensions in order to stay and also trying to get all of the school work finalized and turned in.  To say the least we have been crazy busy and everything always seems to take longer with more frustrations than expected to get anything done.  Not to mention the weather system that has been hanging over us for a week now and is suppose to stay with us for at least another week.  

The kids from Shine and the Circus Tent in Huahine

Alina paddle boarding to shore on her own.. in a shirt and skirt mind you...

Raiatea hasn’t not been our favorite spot.  Granted it is amazingly beautiful just like the Marquesas with its deep lagoons, majestic mountains and an added bonus of a few motus that surround the serene lagoon.  With the squally weather hanging over us and all the issues that we have been having to deal with (especially the visa extensions) it has been a little bit of a downer... I think it is more of the mood we are in than anything else.  The weather to start with has been very limiting for us to be able to truly enjoy what the island has to offer.  There are quite a few things that you can do here but with the shear numbers we are and then you add 25 knot winds and rain on top of it... you don’t feel much like venturing to far from the boat.  When we first got here we did have a few amazing days of hanging out.... Blue skies, deep turquoise waters and tall shear rock walls lining the lagoons.  We haven’t seen much for seal life around Raiatea as of yet... but maybe we haven’t hit the right spots...  We have been able to go visit the sacred religious site, Motu Noa Noa beautiful waters but...(lots of mosquitos for us this time so we didn’t stay long), so we have filled our time finding things to do like, knot tying lessons for the little girls... Chris was having them race to tie knots behind their backs and now Amaia knows how to tie bowlane... We went all around Raiatea and then  decided to head up to Tahaa to go and see the sites on this island.  Raiatea and Tahaa are two islands connected inside the same reef... so you are able to sail around both of these islands without going outside the reef.  It is wonderful being inside the reef and having the waters still like a lake.  We have been grabbing the mooring balls as much as we can because most of the anchorages are either in deep lagoons (70 feet or more) or very shallow waters (we anchored with 1 and 1/2 feet under our keel) with coral bombs somewhat around us....  

Amaia Knot Tying

Motu Noa Noa

Sacred religious site

Alina's Selfie

We had a really great 4th of July in Tahaa.  There was an advertisement for a party on a deserted Motu in Tahaa.  We had passed by this motu and we know that it is on the Southeast side and with the miserable weather (coming from the south) that we have been having here we were surprised to know that they were still going to have it.  The party people had paid to fly in 4 DJays from Tahiti, fully stocked bar, and more sand was even brought in to make the motu pretty.  It is a beautiful motu with a wonderful reef all around, nice beach, great area for swimming, volleyball net was up... dance floor, stocked bar, security guard, and food flaming on the BBQ... (literally it caught fire and we thought for a sec that maybe the trees were going to go).   Our friends from Shine came over from Huahine that morning for the party and we all attended.  I think the only thing the people needed were more people.  There were probably 10 others on the island besides us and the people working the party.  It could have been an amazing set up... if the weather would have cooperated... we were literally in 25 knot winds with rain squalls coming down... I wasn’t sure how they kept power going but they managed.  After an hour or so the squall finally disappeared the sun came out, it was such a nice break to get out of the wet.  We sat on the beach chairs they had out... enjoyed our beer for an hour and then it was time to head back to the boat for a potluck dinner.  (and the squalls started up again)... Overall I am very thankful that we have our friends from Shine to help us keep our sanity and laughter through all this rain and wind, what they say about cruisers developing friendships for a lifetime is truly felt... I look forward to a life time of catching up with the Pelagics and the Shines and many more of our cruising families... 

Tahaa has some very special places... I especially loved the snorkel spot off of a some motus that has a shallow pass that runs through them.  This was a drift dive filled with so many fish you can’t even imagine.  I felt like I was in Finding Nemo.  All the fish were so friendly and curious about who was swimming in their pool.  A few of them even came up and nibbled on my swim shoes... (thanks Oma for leaving them).  It has been by far my favorite snorkel dive so far... minus the sharks, which I miss, but just spectacular. 

Thinking of you Kristie Darin.....

We have just received word this afternoon that we were granted a two week visa extension to get the boat maintenance done that needs doing before we leave.  So as of right now our check out day of French Polynesia is 7/22/15.  We are heading to Bora Bora for the weekend... I LOVE SAYING THAT BY THE WAY..... We will be there and then come back on Tuesday the 14th for our appointment with the boat yard on Wednesday.  

I hope everyone is doing well, staying healthy, hope you had a great 4th of July and hugs and love to everyone.

Heather