It was another blustery day. This bay makes windy days gusty days. The wind will die, get caught up in the hills, and then come down in a torrent from various directions. It makes it hard for folks to reliably anchor here in the 75 foot bottom without a good 300 feet of rode, though the bottom does hold well.

Bora Bora has its fair share of gorgeous days in the Austral winter (June through August) but many days are mixed. It looks like it's going to rain often but rarely does outside of the high eastern slopes. You can pretty much ignore the weather unless you have a highly confident rain prediction. Even so it usually passes quickly.

The lagoon is rather large, much like some of the Tuamotus. This means that winds steady over 15 knots get the opportunity to build up quite a chop in the larger bays. Taking the dink upwind can be a rough, and sometimes wet, affair.

Shooting Star, our AB VS12, is dry in almost all conditions, though you may get some spray. Now that we are used to getting places fast the ride can be rough sometimes. The Saint Croix helm seat makes a big difference here. Sitting on the tubes can bounce you around, and sitting on the fiberglass locker lid can bruise your backside. The console seat is in the back of the boat, which moves the least and has the most inertia, and it is also padded nicely. We also have Adjust-Once Saint Croix trim tabs to help the boat get up on a plane quickly. I believe these make a material difference though I have yet to remove them to make a comparison. I plan to cut down the transom a few inches so that the prop is fully clear of the hull. Perhaps I'll do a test without the trim tabs then. The boat gets up on a plane without too much problem now but it always cavitates a bit initially as you work it over the hump.

We caught up with our friends on Rahula over the VHF today. They were preparing to leave for Tonga but we talked them into staying an extra day to go scuba diving with us. Should be fun.