We met the Graham's (my elder sister Tina, her husband Ed and their four children; Georgia, Anna, Sarah and Harry) on their catamaran "Ohiti" at Apooiti marina in Raiatea. It was great to see them all again, it had been 14 months since we'd all seen one another and the kids have grown! 

We left the marina together and headed to the north end of Tahaa for our first night. Our plan was to stay one night there, then straight to Bora Bora for four nights after which Mike and I would stay in Bora Bora and Ohiti would head back to spend one night on Tahaa again then back to the charter base in Raiatea. The passage to Bora Bora was only around 4 hours but it's open ocean and we heard from Tina and Ed that Georgia, Anna, Sarah and Harry all threw up multiple times and spent most of the trip lying on the cockpit floor! Sounds like perfect family fun once safely inside the Bora Bora lagoon though they perked up and by the time we were moored they were all smiles again. 

The conditions were perfect for a few days of lazy sailing, snorkelling and relaxing. We spent our first night moored off the famous Bloody Mary's restaurant where we had a nice dinner. The next few days we hoped to explore the eastern side of Bora Bora, there are some very shallow passes to get around the east side and our cruising guide recommends no yachts with a draft greater than 2.1M, well Whippersnapper is 2.05M so we had at least 5cm up our sleeve. Ohiti only has a 1M draft so we sent them first and asked Tina and Ed to radio back their depth readings 2.5M was the shallowest but it's very unnerving because when the water is so clear 2.5M looks like 1M and there were frequently coral heads we had to navigate around.

We found some beautiful anchorages, clear water over white sand. Bora Bora is overrun with bungalow over the water type hotels but the views looking back at the jagged peaks are breathtaking. The kids especially loved the Lagoonarium, a fenced area of lagoon stocked with sting rays, reef sharks and fish. The coral in Bora Bora is not brilliant but the amount of fish certainly is, snorkelling with hundreds of thousands of fish in the coral gardens made us feel a little like we were swimming in an aquarium. We also found a special spot where manta rays swim in a small pass to be "cleaned" by other little fish, we enjoyed snorkelling with them so much we went twice.

It was a sad goodbye but Mike and I remind ourselves we're only four short months from Sydney now!