SIMMER'S BLUE WATER VOYAGE

7-2-99  We left Papeete, Tahiti this morning and sailed 15 miles to Moorea, and anchored in Opunohu Bay.  Moorea is a heart shaped island, covering 53 sq. mi, and surrounded by a fringe reef with several channels for boats through the reef. The center of Moorea is a volcanic crater rimmed by craggy peaks and the lower slopes are covered with pineapple and vanilla plantations.  The small, golden pineapples are about 2/3rds the size of Hawaiian pineapples, and are extra sweet and juicy.  The spectacular view of the peaks is one of the reasons that Moorea is known as one of the most scenic islands in the world.  Our view from the boat includes the massive bulk of Mont Tohieva and Mont Mouaroa, famous back drops in the film "South Pacific".  The Bali Hai Hotel is just around the corner in Cook's Bay and Colleen keeps humming the tunes from the film.   "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" seems to be her favorite! We'll have to rent the video and watch it again when we're back in the States to see if we recognize some of the peaks.  We'll spend a few days here hiking and swimming and then it will be time to move on.  Moorea is beautiful,  but tourism certainly is thriving.  There is a cruise ship in Cook's Bay and water skiers, para-sailors, jet skiers, mopeds and lots of boat traffic.

7-4-99  Happy 4th of July!  We are celebrating by "dressing ship", which means decorating SIMMER with signal flags from the bow to mast top and back to the stern.  Not too much celebrating though, one of our crew - Pat - is sick and running a fever of 102°.  He caught some Papeete germs in the big city and started feeling bad last night.  Colleen is nursing him back to health with lots of fluids, ice packs and aspirin, hopefully he'll be back on his feet shortly.  Yesterday (before Pat was sick) we hiked up to Belvedere Lookout to view the two famous bays - Cook's Bay and Opunohu Bay, where we're anchored.  It was a long, hot, 3 mile hike almost straight up the side of Mt. Tohieva.  But the breathtaking view was worth it, and the trip down was much easier.  We also visited a marae site during our land excursion.  A marae is a traditional Polynesian open-air stone temple where ancient religious and cultural ceremonies were performed.  It was interesting, but hot and buggy in the lush valley - luckily we had our bug repellent with us. *NOTE:  A few pictures didn't load on our webpage update from Papeete - black pearls, pearl farm, and "Atoll Ale".  We've since added them in, so check them out!

7-9-99  Pat is feeling a little better and we sailed 100 miles to another Society Island - Tahaa, position Lat 16°39'S/Lon 151°24'W.  We're making our way to Bora Bora, a 25 mile sail from here.   We've learned more about the celebrations going on in the islands and it's not all tied to the French holiday, Bastille Day, as we thought.  From June 25th to July 25th the Polynesians celebrate their annual  "Heiva i Tahiti", also called Tahiti Festival or July Festival.  It's the most important cultural event of the year.  They have various competitions and cultural events:  Polynesian dancing and singing, historic re-enactments, carnivals, arts and crafts shows, beauty pageants, parades, and traditional Maohi sports such as outrigger canoe races, fruit carrier race, javelin throwing, stone lifting, and copra preparation (husking coconuts).   It's a great time of the year to be here, with the party atmosphere.  We've seen some events in Papeete, Tahiti and now we hope to see others in Bora Bora.

7-10-99  Arrived Bora Bora - position Lat 16°30'S/Lon 151°46'W.  It is one of the most stunning islands in the Society Island chain, due to it's lagoon.  Our first glimpse of it from offshore was memorable.   The dramatic volcanic peak - Mt Oteman and the exotic lagoon colors - aquamarine, cobalt, teal, indigo, lapis lazuli, sapphire, emerald, jade, and turquoise.  The lagoon looks like an artist's palette of blues and greens.  Beautiful.  Bora Bora is termed an "almost atoll", meaning it has a volcanic mountain and a surrounding lagoon, enclosed by a fringing reef.  It is a brilliant combination of the Tuamotus (atolls) and Marquesas (volcanic islands).  One inconvenience is the depth of the lagoon for anchoring.  We are now anchored in 80 feet of water and have 300 feet of chain out to hold us.  It went down fast, but will come up slowly when Pat cranks it up manually in our windlass (chain winch).  We're going ashore tonight to see some of the Heiva festivities - traditional Polynesian dancing and singing.   So we'll worry about the chain another day.

7-16-99  We've seen some wonderful sights in Bora Bora.  The Polynesian dancing and singing was fabulous.  I don't know how they move their lower bodies like that, very impressive.  We went ashore three nights to watch different dance groups from  5 villages compete.  What a sight!  And the locals really get into it, cheering for their favorites.  The female dancers are very sensuous, wearing coconuts and grass skirts, swaying their hips seductively to the slow beat of the drums.  And when the drum beat quickens, shaking it at a break-neck speed that would put Elvis to shame!  The male dancers are very talented too, but the females are the main attraction.  Another event we watched was the copra harvesting race.  Copra is the term for the dried meat of the coconut.  It's used to make perfumes, oils, lotions, etc.  Two-men teams had to split about 100 coconuts, scrape out the meat, and gather the copra into a large burlap bag.  Axes and coconut husks were flying .... the first team finished in about 10 minutes.  They were really fast.   Just as a comparison - it took us about 30 minutes to open ONE coconut when we collected a few in the Tuamotus.  It's hard work, they are one tough nut to crack.   We also watched the javelin competition, outrigger canoe race, and 10K run.   Many of the locals ran barefoot.  Our British friend, Vicky from SUNSTONE, competed in the 10K race and finished 4th in the women's division.  The Heiva festival has been fun, we're glad we were here during this timeframe.  Yesterday we rented bikes and toured the island.  It's about 16 miles around the perimeter road, the only road on the island.  Biking was a good way to see it all.  We got our French Polynesian (FP) bond money back today, since we are leaving FP in the next couple days.  It's sad to leave such a beautiful, but expensive place, but we suppose there's more beautiful Pacific islands to come.  Onto the Kingdom of Tonga from here (1,300 miles).  This is a change from our original itinerary.  We've decided to skip American Samoa in order to spend more time in Tonga and Fiji. (See updated itinerary page).

7-22-99  We left Bora Bora 2 days ago and we're sailing westward to the kingdom of Tonga in light winds.  Our position is Lat 17°15'S/Lon 154°30'W.  The rhumb line to Tonga takes us through the Cook Island chain and Nieu.  The Cook Islands and Nieu are self-governing, but the inhabitants are New Zealand citizens.  A rhumb line is a nautical term for a straight line course from point A to point B.  We may stop at Aitutaki and/or Palmerston atolls in the central Cooks, and Nieu - depending on the weather conditions.  Approximately 300 miles to go to Aitutaki, if we decide to stop there.  Today was a beautiful day, with sunny skies and light winds (8-10 knots).  We caught a 3 ft. barracuda while trolling, but let it go.  Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful, relaxing day.  We're back into our watch system, since we are sailing round the clock again.  It's now 1:45 AM and Colleen is on watch for another hour and 15 minutes.  Lots of stars out tonight and the moon is just setting.  Talk to you later, time for a few hands of computer solitaire.  Helps to stay  awake during these dark, quiet watches.