HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOLLY!

Even a single overnight sail makes the crew tired, so we slept until 0700 and enjoyed cereal, coffee and fresh papaya for breakfast. After some discussion on things, we decided to take a short tour by boat, so we packed some lunch and gear and jumped in the now-proven Mercury-powered dinghy. Off we went to see Bora Bora.

We toured close to shore until we came to Vaitape, the main town on Bora Bora, and home to a nice grocery store, post office, and customs. As usual, the locals have some odd hours of opening, but we did finally make some contact with those whom we needed to contact. We still need to take on about 20 gallons of diesel fuel, of course, but that's not a problem. We got some post cards mailed to family and got a nice walking tour of the town.

Vaitape is a one-road town, the road being right on the coast. It's tiny and has only stores for locals and tourist. Bora Bora is a major tourist destination, of course, and there are several shops that cater to the rich and famous. And I do mean famous and rich: one resort costs US$1200 per day for a bungalow over the water. I'm sure that you've seen photos. At any rate, there's a Four Seasons here that has fetches its customers with a beautiful mahogany motor yacht with about 200 coats of varnish on her hull. Nice boat.

Prices are a bit better that in Tahiti, so the locals profit from that, and probably also because of the jobs that are available in the service industry here. Work is work and it's not cheap here.

When we leave French Polynesia we'll miss all of he baguettes and cheese. We had our usual Conni-produced cocktail hour today: baguette, good stinky cheese, and a cocktail. Its a great way to unwind and welcome the evening.

Tomorrow is work day, each of us having a list of chores to prepare us for the five-day sail to the Cook Island and Raratonga. Alas, Nate leaves us then, too. I've got some engine work to do, of course, and we have some sailing gear repair. We've got to repair our second reef line, replace a broken boom bail, and a few other chores on deck. We've got to get some fuel, too, and that means that we'll probably have to haul five-gallon jugs back and forth from the station to the boat. It's not our favorite but I don't think that we can get to the dock to simply pump it into the tanks.

A jet is arriving at the airport and I can hear it roaring now. The airport is on a motu (one of the tiny islands that make up the reef, like beads on a necklace) and was built during WW2. There is a nice pass through the reef and that was also "built" during the war: built by many tons of dynamite. There are seven gun emplacements that still exist up high on the volcano and six still contain the original weapons, although a bit rusted by now. I've thought so many times about how those middle-American soldiers suddenly transplanted to the South Pacific must have stared around them in amazement. I'm sure that they had never heard of Bora Bora, and they probably weren't even told where they were because of security issues. Can you imagine? Most had never left their home towns and they found themselves in the middle of a big ocean. My hat is off to them. The Greatest Generation indeed.

Holly, we hope that you had a great birthday. Wish that we had been there to help you celebrate. Richard, you were good, right?