Borabora business

Aloha kakou!  I am writing to you from Haunui as we are tied up in Vaitape, Borabora. It is lush and green, with a beautiful azure lagoon.  Currently, the trade winds have returned, keeping a nice breeze blowing.  We have sailed through Huahine, Ra'iatea and finally to Borabora yesterday. After a rather disappointing reception at both Taputapuatea and Uturoa, we decided to forego a stop on Taha'a.  Instead, we anchored off of a small motu on the north end of Ra'iatea and sailed at sunset for Borabora.  It was a slow sail, with a lot of bobbing and drifting a the end.  Our patience was rewarded with a very interesting welcome: the people of the town put on a routine of group semaphore...spelling out their welcome.  Afterwards, we took a boat out to a motu for an afternoon of relaxation and swimming.  I felt just a tad bit guilty lazing about in the lagoon...

For this part of the voyage, we are at the mercy of schedules, and need to be in certain places at certain times.  In this case, we needed to be in the pass at dawn.  Stemming from our discussions at Fare Hape, It was decided to create an all women's crew to sail to Borabora.  That later changed to loading the women on the waka Hinemoana just outside the pass.  Somewhat anticlimactic.  The women of Haunui decided that we wanted to stay with our family on board Haunui, and so we did.  Some of the other crews are now saying the Haunui women are too macho for the all-wahine crew.  We had discussed the idea of balance on board the canoe previously, both young and old, male and female, and in our case, people from different island groups.  It takes a variety of talents to create a complete crew, and we have rapidly found ourselves to be just that.  Just like in a classroom, a team or a any group activity, we learn to respect each other's strengths and support each other's weaknesses.  The decision of the women to stay on board seemed to solidify the feeling of family.  It is a great opportunity to be on any of the wakas, and our captain, Greg, encourages us to take the chances when they are offered, however, we are quite happy where we are.  We are spending one more night in Borabora before we leave for Aitutaki, which should be a 3 day sail.  Wati (Manihera) and I are planning to share the navigational responsibilities on the way; he'll take the lead, but I'll be doing a lot of the work, too. 

Hanging out on Haunui

ancient fish traps in Huahine

leaving Huahine

Sailing to Rai'atea

Borabora motu

At every stop we are provisioning, finding the food we need and clean water.  We are receiving far more fruit than we need, and as much as we try to eat it, so much of it goes to waste because it rots quickly.  We making a point to try and eat local produce and to support what is grown organically. On Haunui, protecting the health of our reefs is our mission, and we realize that keeping our reefs healthy starts with keeping our land healthy.  It is a mission we plan to share with the next islands we visit.  I'll leave you with some photos...