can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

American Spirit II - Day 120; Departed Tahaa Enroute to Bora Bora, at MaiKai Yacht Club and a Brewing Medical Problem; Saturday, May 3, 2014



12:17 AM. Just finished typing 3 logs. Very hot down below because of intermittent light rain that is keeping hatches closed.

Paul up at 6:30 AM; followed by David and myself at 7:30 AM. Light rain falling.

8:40 AM breakfast. Eggs and French bread.

Weighted anchor at 9:20 AM and headed to the west side of Tahaa, within the same reef system that we'd been in for a day. Island north of Raiatea but connected to it like a figure eight. At about 11:00 AM anchored off a pass and island and after backing down on anchor I hopped into the water because it looked kind of shallow. Surprise! The rudder was above a coral wall with 6 inches of clearance. Any further back and we'd have damaged the rudder and rudder post, perhaps fatally. I advised Joel and we pulled the anchor chain in until we were out of danger. The water depth had gone from 15 feet to less than 5 feet very quickly. We weighed anchor and motored to a different spot a mile away, anchoring in 30 feet. No problem.

We then hopped in the dingy and motored toward a small pass between two islands. We anchored the dingy in 3 feet of water and hopped into the water to snorkel. We proceeded against a 1 knot current to the head of the pass, where we encountered a 2 knot current and water so shallow we couldn't swim against it and couldn't swim up to and over the shallow coral if we wanted to. The fish viewing was excellent. Though its hard to believe, I'm still seeing 'new' fish that I haven't seen before. Amazing. This time, I 'hovered' a lot over coral heads and other types of coral and watched and waited for small fish to swim out from sea urchins, with their 12 inch poisonous spines. How can they 'hide' in there and not be killed by the sea urchin? And other small fish, turquoise in color, bright orange in color, with stripes horizontal or vertical, that you get dizzy just looking at them. And some sort of 'lizard' fish. Laying on a dark piece of coral, 14 inches long, and build like a torpedo. When I got too close, it shot forward and then made a 90 degree left turn and was gone. It was so well camouflaged that I almost missed it. Same color as the coral. Dark brown with spots. We saw one barracuda. David and Paul like seeing them but they are non issues for me and Joel. Lots of them in Florida.

Back on the boat at 1:00 PM, we had steak burgers for lunch, then weighed anchor at 1:34 PM and headed for Bora Bora. It was rocky and rolling all the way over there, about 20 miles. Hebe was entering the same pass we were leaving, and after inquiring about where we were at and where they should go, they entered into the lagoon and turned left, heading for the spot we had just vacated. One of many benefits of joining a rally.


We grabbed onto a mooring ball at the MaiKai Yacht Club at 5:15 PM. Later before dinner, I theft proofed the boat, taking the fishing poles apart and putting them in their storage bags in an aft cockpit locker, among other things. I got out 3 padlocks for our three storage lockers, and a long steel cable and 4 digital brass lock for the dingy. We also had to lock all hatches when leaving the boat. Not just secure with the interior handles, but hit the red buttons on the handles that make it impossible to open a hatch from the outside. We were told before heading for Bora Bora that a theft problem from boats was an ongoing problem, and a few days ago we heard a report on the VHF radio that a rally boat had had two fishing poles stolen. The typical 'fishing pole' rig in the rally may cost $100 to $300. Bora Bora is also the first place in our circumnavigation where we actually lock the main cabin when departing the boat, and take the key out of the ignition when leaving the boat. Always before now we've left our ignition key in the ignition when away from the boat in the event we pull or drag anchor when we're away from the boat, say, for a full day of sight seeing in a tour bus.

Dinner at 7:20 PM was blackened steak, baked potatoes, chilled fruit cocktail and, French bread.

After dinner we watched two episodes on DVD of The Americans; and at 10:30 PM Paul, David and I went to the cockpit to talk and read while Joel went to bed in the main cabin.

Lightning was visible to the west, silhouetted by the main mountain on Bora Bora; the one that you always see on TV or in the magazines. A rare occurrence on this trip where we see any lightning.

As I got ready for bed, I raised up my left arm in the head, the bathroom and shower area of the boat, to look at my left arm pit. There were 9 locations that were swelled up and actually looked like giant pimples. Some of the area was black and blue; and my lymph nodes were swollen and painful. I assumed that a spider or some other bug had bit me, repeatedly. But how could such a thing happen and I not be aware of it? In a book I have, titled Dangers Naturels a Tahiti, one chapter is titled The Stings of Nonos. Nonos is a type of small flying bug that bites you like a mosquito, but its sting is painless. Later the site of the sting swells and the lymph nodes swell. The book goes on to say: "On rare occasions, the intensity of the reaction necessitates medical evacuation." That doesn't sound good. I'll have to keep an eye on it and see what develops. Getting a bad infection in the third world is dangerous.

Lights out at...I forget.

Day 364 until home.

Brian Fox

Previous | Next