7/25/10 0:00 (local time - UTC-10 hours)
13-14S X 163-06W
This picture is us in one the hammocks spread around the island.
Left Bora Bora (with Puppy) for Suwarrow, also known as Suvorov, in the Northern Cook Islands. It is a "National Park". We have heard a lot about the atoll and reading about it in "Charlie's Charts".
We have planned to stay here for a couple of days and then continue on to American Samoa.
The next 24 hour sail was the best we have had 134 NM (average speed of 5.6 Knots), all downwind with only the jib up. At this rate we will be in Suwarrow within 4 days.
Things slowed a bit for us and as we approached the atoll we figured that we would get there about 3AM, so we decided to try and slow down. Took the jib in and we were still doing 4 to 6 Knots under bare poles. Well, we "passed" the entrance and had to motor back after daylight. We got into the atoll and finally (after 3 tries) got anchored at about noon. After we had anchored the first time, the rangers had radioed us and told us that we should move in closer to the motu. After trying to reset the anchor a couple of more times, we finally got it to drop in some sand instead of on a coral head. Puppy came in just as we were getting set and anchored right next to us.
If I haven't told you about S/V Puppy, I think it's about time. The couple aboard Puppy, were both born in Russia. Anatolli grew up in Germany and then came to the USA later. Natasha came to the US in the mid 90's. They met 4 years ago and became a pair. Anatolli bought the boat a couple of years ago and started to re-finish it for crusing. They left CA about the same time we did and we met them in La Cruz just before we left for the Marquesas'. We met up again in Hiva Oa and have been around each other since then. They are a great couple and we enjoy being with them. They are in their early 40's and are just like our kids.
While we were in Huahine, we all decide to "buddy boat" together. Anyway, more about them later.
After we got set at anchor, the rangers came to our boats and did the check-ins for us. The 2 guys that live on the motu (island) do so for 6 months of the year. James, the head ranger is from New Zealand and Apii (pronounced like Happy, with out the h) is his assistant. They are really nice guys and will do anything they can to make your stay enjoyable.
The atoll became "famous" when a guy by the name of Tom Neale lived on the island, for a number of years, by himself. He wrote a book about it and (if I remember right) there was a movie made about him also. He built a couple of the "original" structures on the island and other "rangers" have expanded them upon. A couple of families have been rangers over the years.
James and Apii helped everyone, by having them onshore for potlucks. They furnished the fish (fresh caught or speared in the atoll) practically every night we were there. Apii would take the boaters out to the other motus for sightseeing or take us out for spear fishing (for dinner). Apii also took a group of us (16 boaters) to one of the more distant motu's for coconut crab hunting. These crabs are huge and they are very tasteful, they taste better than lobster (in our opinion). We got a total of 17 crabs and then took them back to the main "camp" for cooking (Apii took care of it) and we all had a huge "crab fest" that night. They are even good cold (we had some the next morning for breakfast).
Suwarrow is our most favorite spot in our travels. We plan on going back there next year, if things work out right. The guys get their supplies from supply boats that are supposed to come about once a month, but while we were there, they had not been supplied for about 2 months. The boaters all gave them some of their "extra" supplies (like gasoline and some canned goods) that they needed.
I can't say enough about the guys or the atoll. They are what we had expected to see in the "native" population and the atoll was as primitive as possible, you couldn't spend any money while there, as there were no stores whatsoever.
We spent 9 days there and would have spent more, but we were running out of our supplies and needed to get to American Samoa to re-provision for our future travels. Puppy spent an additional week there, due to the weather.

Picture is from Judy's "Diving mask camera". We were on one of the Motu's with in the Bora Bora lagoon.
After leaving Raiatea we came to Bora Bora (another 4 hour sail). We got here on the 10th and have been here since. We have seen only a little of Bora Bora (again about a 45 minute walk to town. We are here for the "heiva", their national dance, chanting and other events. We were also here for the eclipse and Bastille Day. We are planning on spending a few more days and then possibly going back to Tahaa (we didn't see any of it).
Svein is leaving us here in Bora Bora, he doesn't leave until the 4th of August, but we will probably be out of here sooner. We have to be out of French Polynesia by the 7th of August (officially), our 90 days is up then. We (& Puppy) have made up our minds and will be leaving here for Samoa (with maybe a stop in the Cook's) this Sunday (the 25th). This sail will be about a week (with stop over) or 2 weeks straight to Samoa.
Svein has been a great help to us and we will miss him. We are looking forward to our continuing adventures with only the 2 of us, as e will not have to "share" the boat with others.
This will end our "current" travels. I will try to keep our blog up to date from now on, but I make no promises.
We didn't make it back to Tahaa, but we did "petal our butts" around Bora Bora. It is a lovely island, but too many "tourist's' here.

After leaving Huahine we went to Tahaa and spent the night on a mooring ball in 110 feet of water. The basic problem being that we were in line with the main entrance into the lagoon (Tahaa and Raiatea are in the same lagoon). During our crossing (it's only about 20 miles) we noticed that our UV cover for the jib was coming loose (tired threads) so we had to get it fixed. I called a sail maker on Raiatea to see if it could be done rather quickly, she said bring it to me and we'll see. We went to Raiatea and pulled into the Apooiti Marina (1 hour trip by motor). It's a very nice marina and we picked up another mooring ball. The only problem with this place is that it was about a 45-minute walk into town, we hitched-hiked first and took a cab later.

After Moorea we went to Huahine, it's about a 16-hour sail. Huahine has been our favorite place so far. It was like a botanical garden, everything was green and lush. We stayed there 5 days and toured the entire island. Svein is returning here after we leave Bora Bora until he leaves on the 4th of August for home.

After Papeete we went to Moorea, it's only about 8 miles away, but a world away from the big city. We used 3 anchorages there. All are on the leeward side of the island, so a little windy and rolly.
Judy had ordered some things from Penny's and had them sent to Kelly's. We had been waiting for the package (very expensive shipping thru DHL) on Moorea, but when it arrived, we took the ferry back to papeete and picked it up (another 5000 francs for the ferry ride). We did do some walking around on Moorea, but very little. The 2 bays weren't very populated.

We motored all the way to Tahiti (at a blistering 3 knots), as we had to time our arrival into Papeete for daybreak. I don't like going into a strange place in the dark (all of our arrivals were planned this way). We tied up to the quay in Papeete; it is in the middle of town. We were next to the main street in town, while noisy during the day; it usually quieted down at night. It was very convenient being this close to town, but the main "super market" was out by the marina Northwesterly of town. We spent about 2 weeks in Papeete. We had new bateries installed and hooked up. We went from 3 large AGM's to 7 smaller ones and gained 100 apmhours. The batteries have been working great since. The picture is of 1 of the 3 waterfalls on the main island of Tahiti Nui.
Papeete was just like LA with more colorful plants. Lots of cars and scooters (we saw the "go to work" traffic jam every mrning we were there.
Anyway, on to Moores.