Bora Bora. Or more accurately, Pora Pora, because there is no "b" in the Tahitian language. My Moon guide says Pora Pora means "first born" since this was the first island created after Raiatea. By my reckoning, that would make Raiatea the firstborn and Pora Pora second, but who am I to mess with Polynesian history and lore?

Said by some to be the most beautiful place on Earth, it is, indeed, striking. The water is magnificent, especially where the lagoon shoals quickly from 70 feet deep to 15 and the color turns abruptly from deep azure to brilliant pale turquoise. To see a boat floating at anchor over the pale turquoise part, waves crashing on the fringing reef in the distance, and the sky a soft lavender, is a little slice of tropical heaven. Mount Pahia in the center of the island is one of the most recognizable sights in the South Pacific, one that inspires poems and songs and romance and second honeymoons. At night in the moonlight it looks powerful and steady, presiding over the lagoon and it's people.

Our passage from Papeete was perfect. Exactly 24 hours of ideal sailing, good seas, and a full moon. We even saw a moonbow -- perhaps that's not it's real name -- but it was a regular rainbow, starting at the horizon and arcing up, created by the light of the moon. A first for both of us, a rainbow in the twilight. We were grateful for the moon, which illuminated the clouds ahead, helping us keep an eye on the weather since our radar is still down. (We're waiting for the radar mount to arrive here in Bora Bora, rather than hanging in Papeete for 10 days.)

It's been windy since our arrival Saturday morning, and rainy at times. The wind is good for Allan, who's had fun with the windsurfer. He even windsurfed over to Paikea Mist to join Michael and Gloria and Gordon and Sherry from Serenity for sundowners, then windsurfed back to Fly Aweigh in the dark a few hours later. Now that's a stylish way to get to a cocktail party!

The snorkeling has been nice, although nothing to go wild over. We're planning a dive tomorrow in the pass, and later in the week we'll do our own dive in an area that is occasionally populated with giant manta rays. We joined Paikea Mist on a jeep tour, which provided some history and interesting facts about Bora Bora, as well as a fun ride up the steep, lumpy dirt road to a hill overlooking the entire island. We learned that there are 14 resorts on the island, 3 of them closed now due to the downturn in the world economy. The water is being depleted on the small island from the demand imposed by the resorts, so a large portion of the water is made now by desalination. The American's were here in WWII and left behind a few big c: 1910 cannons, and a number of bunkers, now rusting in the tropical moisture. We also learned that a lot of famous people come here, and many have had their names painted on a big sign in front of Bloody Mary's Restaurant, where there is just enough room at the bottom of the far right corner for a few more names. After that, I don't know what they'll do. Stop having famous people? Get another sign?

Yesterday we moved from our anchorage on the south end of the bay to the middle, near Vaitape, the main town on Bora Bora, and are moored in front of the Bora Bora Yacht Club. Owned by a young couple and their 2 kids, the yacht club is in the midst of a rebuild after it was hit by a cyclone in February. They had owned it for 2 years and had done a lot of work to renovate the property when the cyclone hit, destroying their home, the kitchen, and portions of the dock, among other things, and there is no insurance for such events. They're living off the sales from the bar, income from doing cruisers' laundry, and sales of t-shirts and hats, and saving money to rebuild the yacht club. Even as it is, with just the bar, it's a welcoming spot, a nice place to hang out and relax.

Today after our walk with Gordon and Sherry to Top Dive to arrange our dive tomorrow, we ended up at the yacht club with phony tortilla chips and fresh baguettes from the store across the street. Michael and Gloria joined us, and 2 hours and 15 Hinanos' later, having ignored the long list of things we'd intended to get at today, we're back on board. The yacht club was an entertaining place to while away a few afternoon hours while the kids of the owners and of the cook ran around sans clothing and fished for shoes, played games, shared our chips with us, and generally had fun being carefree tropical kids in paradise. As we were deep in discussions about the northern route to Suvarov and Samoa vs. the southern route to the Southern Cook Islands and Beverage Reef, and what the ramifications of bad weather on each route might be, and what the weather patterns have been, and whether trying to get into the Zone of Totality for the upcoming solar eclipse made any sense, and other big decisions we are facing -- Gordon wondered how many cruisers had sat at our table and had the same discussion in previous years.

Tomorrow night we're looking forward to seeing the Heiva competition, the annual Tahitian dance and music competition throughout French Polynesia. The finals this year are in the Marquesas, in Atuona. In the meantime, competition continues toward the finals, and we are lucky to be here for a week of events here on Bora Bora. A temporary stadium and restaurants have been set up near the water in the main part of town. The restaurants are all built from palm fronds, local wood, and flowers -- a massive amount of detailed work for a very short period of time.

More on the Heiva later. For now, we have a pressing date for 3:30 Cafe Mocha's on Serenity. Never a dull moment.