Maupihaa

We left Bora Bora yesterday morning to go to Maupiti. However the wind predictions were not quite correct, so that we had 30kn wind with gusts of 40kn instead of 18kn. This included a stupid wave making it impossible for us to enter Maupiti. So we continued over night with a fast bu mostly uncomfortable ride (rocking and rolling all the way) and are now at anchor in Maupihaa, the last island of French Polynesia that we visit. There are only a handful of people living here, so there is no internet or other communication possible. That means, no pictures at the moment, but I don't have new ones anyway, there is nothing new to see here. Maupihaa is like the Tuamotus, blue water and a long island on the outer reef. The only difference is, that you can take a long walk along the beach on both sides, there is no cut prohibiting that. And there ia actually a litte bit of sand so I can go to the beach and lay down. Also we found many beautiful complete shells today in all colours, mostly with purple.
That's it for now. I will be without internet for the next almost two weeks and will most probably not blog during this time.

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Blue Bora Bora

It's been almost a week here in Bora Bora, an island known to most people in the world as one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Unfortunately we were not so lucky with the weather, so we did not see just beauty, which mostly comes out at sunshine. Bora Bora is an archipel (atoll) with the main island being Bora Bora, surrounded by the outer reef and islands (motus) on the reef, all the way from the north west to the south east. Bora Bora itself is a green island like the others, you can bike around it in 2,5hrs and you can hike up the peak almost up to 600m with a tour guide. If you want to see differentiating beauty of Bora Bora, you have to take a boat out to the water, be faszinated from the changing view to the two peaks of the island and the largest area of turquoise water I have ever seen. Yes, here you can se the most blue from all French Polynesia. Also you can snorkel with mantas here early in the morning, when they come to their "cleaning station". That is, they go there and litte fish come and swim in and out their mouth and clean it. Those manta rays can be huge. We saw little ones, about 2m long and wide. They can be up to 6m! Also, in the south east of the blue area they do feed stingrays (and sharks), but the "stingies", as I call them, are not as pet-like as in Moorea. If you don't have anything to offer, they do not swim up to you. But, I got some more nice shots.
What do you see the most in Bora Bora? Newly married couples. It's all for them. Happy, smiling people, who pay almost anything to make some special experiences. Like for example a tour where pictures of them are taken in blue water. ??? A boattakes them to a motu, they stand in the water, the guy takes some shots, theys pay probably at least 100$ - if the pix are taken with their camera. I don't know. But this is the only way to get to those places - unless, of course, you travel with us. We can get into shallow water, and we did ;-)
Tomorrow we're leaving for Maupiti, the last inhabited atoll here in the area.
Here are some pictures as a memory of beautiful Bora Bora. Follow the link: http://sailing.smichah.de/#!album-70
Enjoy! Here are some pictures as well.

Me and my yellow kajak, Wikie

 Bora Bora, how we saw it most of the time

 Ahhh, what a nice anchorage. Alita loved it

 See Alita in the background?

 "Stingie" feeding

 See the many stingrays?

 Manta ray

 See the litte fish in his mouth?