Get Lost On Purpose

Category: French Polynesia

  • Bloody Marys in Bora Bora

    Yesterday Drew and I drug up Dosia’s anchor from the depths of the Yacht Club and relocated her over to Bloody Mary’s. We’d heard rumors that in exchange for a little business in the restaurant that we could fill our water tanks at their docks. Well I had promised a great friend back home a hat from there, and we knew they had Hinano on tap, so case was closed. We were there!
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    Today after waking up and turning six “almost gone” bananas into two loaves of yummy banana nut bread, we headed to Bloody’s for lunch. Shocked to see a reuben on the menu, Drew’s mind was instantly made and I decided on a fresh tuna salad sandwich. We were pleasantly surprised by how good our meals were and highly recommend their lunch menu if you are in the area. Their lunch items range from 900 to 1500 CFP (some of the cheapest we’ve seen for lunch other than roadside roulottes) and it was good, quality food. I got completely schmoozed by a beautiful cat who has obviously made itself a staple at the restaurant. She so casually wandered up and gave me that “I’m so hungry” look so I shared my tuna. She’d no more cleaned her paws when she saw lunch delivered to another table and before I knew it I was face to face with her backside. Worked. Oh well…

    Full bellies, a hat, key to the water dock, and we were on our way, eager to get over to the east side of the island. Drew had dinghy explored the other day and said it looks absolutely gorgeous. Oh, btw, for any fellow cruisers who are in the area or will be here at some point and plan to stay at the Yacht Club…they offer laundry services. They have three washers, a dryer, and it is 700 CFP a wash, same for a dry. At 1400 a load, it too, is some of the cheapest we’ve come across. And we hang dry on the boat so 700 a wash seemed like a complete steal to us. Just wanted to pass the info along!

  • Back to Bora Bora

    It seems Bora Bora either delights or disappoints sailors.  I’ve heard it called “Boring Boring” by some while others proclaim it their favorite spot in Polynesia.  I admit I was shocked by the beauty of Huahine and if we hadn’t been so excited to meet up with everyone of Friday night we’d probably still be there exploring all the anchorages and small private beaches.  But Bora Bora is what it is; a unique island surrounded by a beautiful lagoon that attracts honeymooners and wealthy vacationers from around the globe.  This is now my third time visiting the island and Margie’s second so we arrived with a good sense of the layout and what to do.  For instance, we already know that renting a car here is a waste of money.  We know Bloody Mary’s has Hinano on tap and is a fine place for a beer but not diner.  And we know that to really experience what made this place famous we need to crash visit the resorts on the islands in the lagoon (the motus).  So that’s our plan.  In the next couple of days we’ll move over to the east side of the main island and spend a couple of days checking out the posh St Regis, the brand new Four Seasons, and several others I’m sure.  It’s the less popular side of the island because of the eight foot depth limit that restricts larger boats from making the trip.  It’s also the more beautiful side of Bora Bora with several square miles of white sand bottom backed up to palm fringed beaches.  Sounds like a great place to finish up our time in French Polynesia!

    Here’s a couple of shots from the Bora Bora Yacht Club.

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    I think Margie mentioned it in an earlier post but I updated our About the Journey page to reflect our plans for the next couple of months.  Check it out!

  • An extra day in Huahine…

    While we had every intention to head to Tahaa on Thursday, better plans came up and we stuck around Huahine for another night. Thursday morning we traded Drew’s outboard engine expertise for breakfast burritos aboard Honeymoon. After a couple of hours, Seth and Drew had the engine up and running again so we decided to stick around for the day and all rent bikes to get some exercise and to take a trip around the island. For 1000 CFP you could rent a bike for half the day and 1500 CFP got you the whole day. We were closer to noonish getting there to pick them up so the guy cut us a deal and let us have four bikes until six o’clock for roughly ten bucks each. Not too shabby!
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    Shabby was me trying to get around Huahine on this bicycle! First two hours the roads were flat and there were no problems. Second half of the trip turned into huge hills, one of which had to be at a 45 degree angle that went up for at least two miles. That bike gut checked me really quickly and made me realize what horrible shape I am in!

    So what do the four of us do to reward ourselves for our hard days work….margaritas, mexican food, and monopoly! Okay, doesn’t exactly make a lot of sense but hey, it was fun and that’s what is most important, right?
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    Friday morning we were up and out of the anchorage by 8:30. Drew pulled up the mileage to Bora Bora and realized it was a little farther than we had originally thought and we had plans to do dinner at the yacht club that evening with other cruisers. We ended up motoring the whole way over and got into the anchorage around 4:30 and were back in the presence of our buddies on Obsession, Zen, and Flashback. We all went to dinner that night and it was fabulous! Drew and I had been saving up our “dining out” cash for Bora Bora because Drew said the food at the yacht club looked and smelled so amazing. It didn’t disappoint and we ended up sitting on the porch talking to Jeff and Julie until one in the morning. It’s been a long time since we’ve stayed up that late and it was well worth the sacrifices that came with Saturday : )

  • Happy Birthday to Drew!

    We’ve had a great day today in celebration of Drew’s birthday. This morning he strapped me in to the scuba gear and tossed me overboard for the first time! Not literally…but it was my first time scuba diving. We stayed in shallow waters, allowing me to get used to the whole concept of not needing to come up for air, and did some reef diving. The snorkel and scuba over here is turning out to be much better than that we found in Papeete, or anywhere else thus far, for that matter. This anchorage is also one of the prettiest we’ve been in. Looking around there are at least seven different shades of blue surrounding Dosia and her neighboring cruisers right now!

    The cake came out fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed our first sweets/dessert in over a month and a half! Drew wanted a spaghetti dinner so that’s what i’ve made and we’re settled in for a night with Harry Potter : )
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    The winds are whipping upwards of 30 to 35 knots here in this anchorage right now so as much as we don’t want to we’re probably going to head back towards town tomorrow. It will put us about an hour and a half closer to town and that much closer to the pass when we are ready to head to Tahaa on Thursday. Again, Happy, Happy Birthday Drew!