We arrived in Bora Bora on Father’s Day after a nice overnight sail from Tahiti. The pass into Bora Bora was calm and we easily navigated to the mooring field at the Bora Bora Yacht Club. In Bora Bora, there is very little anchoring allowed. There are two spots where you can anchor but only for two days at a time so most people choose to pick up a mooring ball like we did. Our location is perhaps less pretty than the more shallow mooring fields out by the reef and on the other side of the island, but this location is most convenient to going ashore. The bonus is that in Bora Bora, it is all accessible by dinghy since it is not that large so we can still visit the beautiful water locations fairly easily.
On Monday, we took the dinghy to the town dock in Vaitape to explore a bit. The dock is great, easy to tie up to and very secure. We started with getting some lunch at Bobcat Wine and Coffee House which was a great first meal on the island. Paninis, great wine, and a pretty patio were a nice start to the day. We decided to walk off lunch and walk towards the markets and shops. They have some nice boutiques and pearl jewelry stores along with a few restaurants in the main area around the town dock. Walking a little further we found a hardware store, home store, and two different grocery stores that were pretty well stocked. We even found tahini and kielbasa which have been difficult to find! Before we went back to the dinghy, we stopped at the local gelato shop, Iorana Gelato. While it was not the best gelato we have ever had, it was definitely pretty good and had some fun flavors!
Tuesday morning brought sunshine and calm weather so a good day for a dinghy exploration! We decided to circumnavigate the island counter clockwise and stop for a snorkel along the way. We saw some local dive boats and snorkelers so we put the dinghy anchor down and hopped out to explore. On the map the snorkeling spot is called “I love Bora Bora” and we quickly realized why. On the bottom, someone has spelled out I love Bora Bora and created a heart with rocks, so fun. The site was pretty nice, we did see quite a few fish and some live coral plus more big, colorful clams. The water however was definitely the coldest we have had in a while so definitely should have worn our shorty wet suits! We got back in the dinghy to warm up and continue our circle around the island. Next, we came to some of the resorts that Bora Bora is known for. We found the Intercontinental where Nick and Gabby had stayed when they visited here a couple of years ago, the Conrad Hilton, the Westin, and the Four Seasons. The resorts all have these gorgeous overwater bungalows and the water is the clearest blue you can imagine. Definitely some of the clearest water we have ever seen.
On Wednesday, we decided to try a few other snorkel spots that were noted on the map. The first two were okay but not a lot of fish or live coral. We did however see a ray circling below the dinghy in the super clear water. The final stop was much better with a big coral garden and more fish but the current was running super strong so we didn’t stay too long as it was very tiring fighting the current back to the boat! We went back to the boat and started to look at the weather apps to see when we might have a weather window to continue west. It can take up to 3 days to get the paperwork completed in Bora Bora to check out and you need to avoid weekends so it takes a bit of planning to figure out when to file the paperwork and go to the Gendarmerie because once you are approved, you must leave that day by midnight. To head west from Bora Bora, there are a few different options depending on the weather. You can take a more directly west route and stop in Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, Niue and then Tonga or you can take a more northern arc and head to American Samoa then down to Tonga or Fiji. Our friends on Fortuna have been in Niue for a bit now and have loved it so we were hoping to take the route through Niue but so far the weather window is not looking good for that. There is a pretty strong front in this area this weekend so it made leaving on Sunday or Monday as not optional due to potentially strong winds and big seas. It looks like we will be more likely to leave on Wednesday or Thursday of this week (going right up to the end of our approved time in French Polynesia!). As we get within a day or two, we will make the decision with advice from Jamie at Sailing Totem on whether we can head for Niue or instead need to stay more north and go to American Samoa. Either way, it will be a longer passage, 8 or 9 days most likely – so we will use the downtime this week to prep and do a thorough rig check as well as for Bob to recover from another cold!
The delay this week has been a bit challenging for me. This was one of those weeks when I really was missing having the opportunity to be close to family and friends. Katharine started a new job that we would have loved to be close by to celebrate her first day with her in person. Nick was having some knee issues again and it would have been great to be able to just go give him a hug. Our friends, Krista, Ben and Caleb opened their new bar, the Wayside in Seguin (Texas friends, check it out!) and we would have loved to be there for the opening to celebrate their awesome new place! These are definitely the trade-offs that come with this lifestyle. While I absolutely love all the cool places and things we have experienced, I do miss the day to day life events with friends and family. So we are hoping during the upcoming cyclone season (November to April), we will be able to be back in the States for a bit to catch up with our family and friends. Meraviglia will be docked in Whangarei for the duration of the cyclone season to keep her safe while we hopefully make our return visit to the states. Up until now, the longest visit we have made back since we left in 2024 was over the 2025 holidays and that was for a total of two weeks. We are not sure yet what this upcoming time will look like, where we will be, or for how long it will be but it is important to us to take some time to connect with those we love and to have some time off of Meraviglia to think about what our next destination will be after New Zealand and cyclone season!
P.S. If any of our health care friends know of any good 4-5 month locum tenens opportunities in pediatrics for Bob, January through April or May 2026, let us know!!
June 23, 2025 at 12:51 pm
You two write great updates that I really enjoy! How have the health of the reefs been so far on your passage?