After a fairly easy 10-day refit, we find ourselves transforming into sailing mode again. Perhaps it was the four days off that made refit so relaxing, but the jobs got done and the ship is looking her best!
Sunday morning was happening and it was great to see all the new, (and some old) faces joining us for the next 10 days of cruising the Society Islands. Bobby and I, I suppose are going to have the easiest time remembering names this trip as many of our guest crew this time, were on previous Soren trips, great to see them back! We cast off our lines and left the busy center of Papeete and motored north to Point Venus. This is quite a historical anchorage for this time of year, because some 236 years ago, Captain Cook himself anchored in the very spot we find ourselves today to record the transit of the planet Venus! Unfortunately we are unable to see this reoccurrence, but it is quite special to be aboard a traditional tall ship traveling the same route as Cook did all those years ago!

After a swim, lounge on the beach and introduction to climbing the rigging, we ate lunch and set the main for our sail towards Huahine, the sun setting off our bow! Once anchored, we managed to get boats ashore to see the sights and sounds of Huahine. Voyage Crew managed some snorkeling and then found the tiny bar on the beach, conveniently enough, it was right at the pick up spot for the dinghy. James managed to find three local guys and had himself an intense two on two volleyball game, meanwhile Peter and Nic took turns on the ship’s windsurfer tacking back and for to and from the ship.
On Wednesday we motor sailed towards Tahaa (the vanilla island) and dropped anchor in Opoa Bay, the sight of very important Taputaputea Marae, supposedly many of the Polynesians migrated from this very marae! Voyage crew scattered amongst the remains of the marae and took photos and soaked in as much of the culture as they could. James and I managed yet another volleyball game with ten other locals, very good competition, before our return to the ship for the evening meal. The following morning, we moved the ship to Baie Apu for snorkeling trips and visits to the Pearl Farm and Vanilla Farm on the nearby shore.

We began the morning early with a motor sail, within a few miles from Bora Bora; we managed to shut off the main engine for a sail up to Teauanui, the only entrance into the reef of Bora Bora. Stacey, Elaine and I took the first boat ashore to make an attempt to find a shop to buy some fresh produce, and drinks for the evening meal. With much luck we found the shop, and were treated every so kindly by the owners, they offered to drive us and our supplies down to the jetty where Paul was waiting to pick us up and bring us “home”! June 12th was our second mate, Alan’s birthday, he was up and at’em very early with the energy to climb to the top of Bora Bora’s almost 700m mountain, accompanied by Paul and Holly, the nurse from Auckland!

Back on board we moved the ship down to the southwestern point of the island to spend the morning snorkeling around the coral.

There was an abundance of fish, ranging from trumpet fish, to parrot fish, to a family of three eagle rays, and of course the black tip shark that a few lucky snorkelers managed to catch a glimpse of before it was scared off!