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American Spirit II - Day 121; Checking out Bora Bora and Snorkeling on a Coral Reef; Sunday, May 4, 2014



I was awakened at 1:37 AM due to horizontal rain blowing thru my 8 inch x 4 inch porthole, getting me wet 3 feet from the opening. Got up and made sure all other hatches were closed. Went back to bed until 3:47 AM when my phone, on vibrate only, vibrated me awake. The call was from my friend Oscar W. (I've not included his last name to protect him from prank calls in my defense. Right Westerfield? Oops). It was 9:47 AM where Oscar is in Tampa; and I'm sure he wouldn't call me that early on purpose. Probably a 'pocket call.' Back to sleep. I'll call Oscar later in the day. FYI: first 'pocket call' I've had in 4 months since leaving Florida.

Up at 7:00 AM. After breakfast went to explore the ferry dock, Top Dive scuba center at the yacht club, where we could buy bread, Church, etc. The Wifi at the MaiKai Yacht club was OK, and the price was OK as it was free. The yacht club, being Sunday, was closed. I walked thru an open door and set off a motion sensor alarm. Sorry. No alarm sticker on the door. At the ferry dock we found out the time that the ferry operates, as the only way to the airport on Bora Bora was on the free ferry that left the town of Vaitape about once every 30 minutes. Almost every business in the town was closed. The only exception was a grocery owned by, you guessed it, a Chinese businessman; that was open. I found a doctor's clinic and coiffure, a hair cut salon, that I would go back to Monday.

From 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM we snorkeled off a Top Dive boat at Toopua Iti, a small island to our west and south. There we saw a lot of strange and colorful fish, giant Pacific clams, a large moray eel, a barracuda and a handful of Leopard rays. Paul had a Go Pro that he'd borrowed from a friend, and we're hoping he got some great videos. Concerning the giant clams, we saw two more colors, making the number eight: gray and mustard color were added to our list of: black, white, brown, purple, turquoise and blue. As before, these clams are up to 6 inches wide and imbedded in the coral. How does a small 1 inch clam expand into 6 inches in coral that it's imbedded in? Good question.

At 5:00 PM I walked into town to buy two loaves of French bread at the Chinese grocery.

Dinner at 7:00 PM was spaghetti with New Zealand butter and garlic powder. Everyone loved it and ate all of it, so it must have been good. I wonder who the great cook is?

After dinner we watched two more episodes of The Americans, set during the 1980's during the Cold War. Especially if you're young or European, you may want to watch this series. I think it portrays the FBI in an aggressive but good light. Thank you Oscar! My friend Oscar, the 'pocket caller' I identified above, was an ASAC, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Tampa, Florida. For information purposes, that level is equivalent to the rank of Colonel in the US military. Oscar, if you're not reading the logs like you say you are, I'll know it if you don't email me about 'blowing' your cover.

363 Days until home.

Brian Fox

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