Saturday, July 12, 2008

Au Revoir French Polynesia!

We have not actually left yet but since we are down to 7 francs we think maybe it's time to move on! That is about 10 cents in real money and won't buy you anything here. Even the beggars would turn their noses up at it....of course there are no beggars, even the locals drive new SUVs!!
But we treated ourselves to dinner at the famous Bloody Mary's and though we did not get to sit at the same table Johnny Depp sat at, we did get the lowdown from the waitress on which of the many famous people who graced the place were born without personalities! More on that over drinks some day....
We also took in another night of the dance festival. The last night was a performance by solo male and female dancers. They were truly spectacular! And the accompanying percussion was outstanding! If you are planning a trip to French Polynesia, be sure to be in Bora Bora in July. The dancing, singing and drumming is well worth it!
We also found Ben's Tex Mex burger joint and had a great fish burger! He ripped us off for the beers though!
Having done the visit to the gendarme to have our exit papers stamped and lined up at the bank to get our bond money back in NZ currency, we are now ready to depart! We anchored on the reef overnight hoping to do some last minute snorkelling but the weather turned cloudy so we opted to hitch a ride into the village and spend our last 2,242 francs on two decent bottles of wine!
So now all we need is the wind! Boats ahead in Samoa reported 45 knots, which is a bit much, but we are not going that far N so may be able to avoid it. Weather patterns here are different and we have to study the high and low pressure systems and convergence zones, keeping an eye on the South Pacific Convergence Zone which can be very active this time of year. Bottom line though, we pick our weather window and once we leave we are committed for about two weeks to cover the 1400nm to Tonga.
Once we start moving, we will be posting position reports on Yotreps and Winlink sites for those who have been following that little dot on the ocean....just look up VA7DXF and you can see our progress!

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