OPUNOHU BAY..

Cook's bay, was once the center of a giant volcano, now surrounded my
Mount Tohiea, (Moorea's tallest mountain rises to 1,207 meters) & the
more "spectacular" is Mount Rotui, which separates Cook's from
Opunohu bay.. So after a small enticement of some freshly cooked
Banana Cake from our close friend's Judith & Ewout from the sloop
"Bravado" (Ewout the principal driving force behind that forced I-com
to express return my SSB), we happily joined their family, amazing
little adults Jet, Hein & Eltjo for the breath taking hike into the
clouds (which fortunately started in a pineapple plantation) ... most
evening just before cocktail, we played football with an eclectic
group of yachties..

Finally after ...?, we pulled anchor & headed out of Cook's bay with
full intension to head for "Opunohu Bay".. ,Then something very
strange happened!! Well... Just within 10 minutes of leaving the
bay.. . Apple (yacht) was strangely over take with some "super natural
force" that automatically guided her, toward a strip of electric
turquoise water, illuminated by the crystal white sand beneath, whilst
refraction's of light danced thought translucent images of sirens,
hypnotically pulling Us/apple off course!! .. & before we knew it!
Apple (yacht) had attached herself to this big orange floating ball...
perfect!! & ahhhhhhhh.. What a stress full day!..

So this new anchorage "IS" between the atoll that guards Moorea & main
land Moorea itself.. It's definitely a channel but between what....?
Well over the following 6 day's we found out... it's the channel
between the $1'500 per night Over water Hilton hotel & it's more
expensive partner " Beach Combers over water bungalow.". What a
perfect position.. Except for the occasional Jet Ski.. Ummm? so
after a couple of days of diving the inner reef's, combined with the
fact that the buoy was two comfortable to leave... I decided to start
requesting the Jet ski's to leave 7 use an alternative passage... & it
worked for 3-4 days.. they simply stopped or slowed down & kept a
respectful distance.... until finally we had a visit from the local
police man on a local fishing boat... he was very polite, put felt
that the speeding ticket I'd been writing Might infringe the
polynesian law... So i agreed to allow the tourist to pass & also
agreed to continue our journey to Opunohu the following day...

Other news, Hilton charge's $10 per scuba tank, but the Beachcomber's
is only $5.
I registered "Apple" to take part in an epic journey, from
Darwin( OZ) up to Singapore via Bali, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Micronesia.. starting in 1st July 2010.. so we have a year to get to
Darwin... So for now we're still enjoying FP.. Pompamouse is my
favorite fruit ( mix between great-fruit & a giant grape)

TODAY: Opunohu Bay... look's like we just got here in time,. As there
going to be a massive party for all the yachts... Spit roast pig &
bread fruit on the beach.. All our friends we've met from our passage
to date (Blue Dawn, Hipnotical, Whisper, Carinthia, Lucie, Baghdera,
Day Dream, Brick House, Zen, amongst others) ..will be arriving over
the following days for this 2 day party.. Beat's
"burningman".burningman".