Coral Gardens

The weather appeared to break yesterday morning so we hauled anchor and set off for the east side of the island. Getting out of the bay was a trial as we were facing over 30 knots of wind at times. The high cabin makes this slow going but we made it out without too much trouble. As soon as we could we had the headsail out. At first just a pinch to improve boat speed and as soon as we’d turned sufficiently it was off with the motors.

We sailed around the north side of the island despite it being the longer passage principally for the sightseeing. Bora Bora emerged majestically from behind Taha’a offering us promise of great hiking to the summit and relaxing times ahead behind the reef.

We found a spot near where Kamaya and others were anchored by yet another of those hotels with rooms out over the reef. The main attraction at this spot was a passage between a couple of the islands/motus called the Coral Gardens.

Once we’d settled in and felt secure on the anchor we dinghied over to the pass north of the island with the main section of the hotel. We tied the dinghy to a tree on the north side of the eastern end of this passage then made our way along a vague path to the west end of the pass. With our snorkel gear on we entered the pass and drifted through in the knot or two of current. Most of the pass was just a few inches deep with living coral below. The current had forced a passage to be created down which we weaved in the current along with many fish along for the ride too. It was so much fun we did the trip three times.

The dinghy ride back to the boat was a trial as we were now pushing into the 20 knots winds that had yet to subside. With a long fetch the waves were up so we had to pound through and over them with each wave bringing more water into the dinghy. We kept the drain plug open so that we could lose the water as it came in. If was at all possible we felt wetter on arrival than when we’d been swimming the gardens.

Back aboard we dried off and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Dinner was curry which never fails to be good when Helen makes it so Ben and I were stuffed and happy.

This morning we made the decision to head for Bora Bora. We left our anchorage about 9:30am and are now outside the pass and on our way. Chances are we’ll anchor outside of the main town this evening and head out to the east reef in the morning.