TRICKY NAVIGATING

Bora Bora is a fairly round island with a lagoon all the way around. The enclosing reef cirlces around with only one opening to the ocean. It makes for good anchoring because of the abundance of calm shallow water inside the protected lagoon. Coral grows freely though, encroaching on anchorages and making navigable channels narrow. We came in the pass and turned right, to anchor off a motu where the snorkeling was recommended. The next morning a cruise ship encroached on our territory and Pete decided to move out and try again on another day. The lagoon has navigable waters most of the way around, except one section on the south which is too shallow for all but dinghies. In order to get to a good beach, we went all the way around the long way, and ended up just miles from where we started. The buoy system here is European and differs slightly from the North American system. For one thing, in North America, red markers are on the right when entering a smaller body of water, green on the left. Here it is the reverse. Also, they have a system of yellow markers called cardinals that have triangles on the top indicating which direction there is an obstruction. We had to verify with some European friends how to read the triangles. Two pointing up means the rock/reef is to the north, pointing down, to the south, pointing towards each other west, and pointing away from each other, east. With that sorted out, we prepared to navigate a short channel that resembled a slalom course. Just as we approached the narrow pass, it started to rain. Visibility went to almost nothing as the sun disappeared and the water surface got sprinkled with drops. Also, I didn't know about the tricky pass ahead of time and was in the middle of baking cookies. So we waited out the rain and then had a short tense few minutes of right turn, hard left, around the green, not too close to the yellow, hang on the cookies are ready, Kell come back, a little to the right, not too far, how deep is it, 9.5, OK now which side of the yellow do we go, right, and just around the green and we're out! The area where we wanted to be is sandy and shallow, which is perfect for anchoring, except there are coral heads dotted all over, just to make it a challenge. Pete stands on the bow, looking for a clear patch big enough to swing around in and I drive. I hate this part, as communication is difficult when the motor is on and we can't hear each other. We did find a clear area, but were about a half mile from the beach. All the mono hulls anchor that far away, but the catamarans, which draw so much less, anchored half way closer. Walt, on Now a Days, indicated that a 6.5 foot channel existed, leading right up to the shallow anchorage and emptied into a basin about 8 feet deep. We draw 6 feet, so with hopes of 6 inches to spare, Pete decided to go for it. We don't always see eye to eye on these kind of decisions, but I figure that if we get stuck, it's his responsibility to get us off. He sounded it out in the dinghy and got a GPS track in and we gave it a shot. Sure enough, no problem. With just inches under the keel, we glided all the way into the deep water of 8 feet and are now anchored near all the other kid boat catamarans much closer to the beach. Hopefully we can get back out following the same track.

This afternoon there is yet another birthday party to attend. We've all been hanging together these last two weeks and have had 4 birthdays. NOw that the parties are over, we're thinking seriously about the next destination. Tomorrow we plan to have one last trip to the store for fresh produce and then when some good weather presents itself, we head west. There are several possible stops on the way to Tonga, so we'll see how the weather goes and stop when we can.

We're off to try snorkeling with turtles and manta rays this morning, after everyone gets a haircut. Hopefully they will be where we think they are.

Kellie