agility @ sea

Jer:
Tomorrow we leave French Polynesia after 88 days here. It all began May 3 in Gambier where we arrived 3 hours before our good friends, Greg and Jo-Ann Beserra, arrived by plane. Leaving feels like a major event to me. I can’t believe that we spent nearly 3 months in such a beautiful area and were able to share some of that with family and friends, both old and new. Goodbye FP!
The last couple of weeks have been very busy with the kids and their partners on board. We had an incredible evening in Faha’a after Alex proposed to Elizabeth on a semi-deserted island. We helped orchestrate the proposal (I packed champagne and hid the ring) and celebrated that night with more pink champagne and popcorn on the tramp under a near full moon and starlit sky. Tim and I feel very fortunate to share in that event with Sydney and Jesse here too.
We had considered minimizing our time in Bora Bora due to negative reviews in the French Polynesia sailing compendium, but am glad that we didn’t. All of us enjoyed it here a lot. The water is incredibly gorgeous and the island stunning as well. Sure, it’s not a great place to do a lot of shopping due to tons of tourists and crazy prices, but we’re not really into that anyway. It’s been wonderful to have some great meals out. Our first night was spent at Bloody Mary’s and we will go back there tonight for our last night. Great restaurant and tons of fun. We’re on a mooring ball right outside the restaurant so will take the dinghy straight into the dock. It’s always a plus to be able to dine somewhere without arriving completely soaked in salt water. Tim dropped Syd and Jesse off at a well known tattoo parlor on Thursday with their luggage. We stopped by around noon to see Jesse’s completed tattoo (a pineapple with traditional Polynesian symbols of strength, love, and family) and Syd’s partially completed octopus. We then had to move anchorages in order to get picked up by a dive boat and have a peaceful calm night. We all went scuba diving Thursday afternoon and Friday. I went on 3 dives, but Tim, Elizabeth and Alex went on four. Alex is now open water certified. We saw a Manta Ray, spotted rays, a Moray eel, the usual sharks and plenty of other things. I spent an hour awake in bed last night pondering whether the Manta Ray has supplanted the sea turtle as my favorite sea creature. I don’t think I can bail on the turtle just yet.
During the other’s fourth dive, I cleaned like a maniac and now feel organized and ready for a couple more passages. It will take us about 4.5 days to get to Suwarrow, an island in the Cook’s with only 2 rangers in residence. Our friends on Speakeasy were already there and there have been a total of 17 boats visiting so far this year. I bought some flour, sugar, black tea, and some cleaning supplies to give to the rangers who are completely self sufficient on the island for 9 months at a pop. We will also drop off as much fresh fruit and vegetables that we still have and can handle sharing when we arrive. Then it will be another 4-5 days to Tonga where we’ll drop off Elizabeth and Alex on the 19th of August. Tim and I will probably spend about a month there prior to heading to Fiji. So many hellos and goodbyes.
Until the Cook’s….