Dear friends we are still in Bora Bora on the east side now. We anchored out back about 3 days with squally weather and winds. Grey Hawk came around and we both moved further back in the bay. It was a bit shallower and had to maneuver around the coral to get back there. There is a blasted canal there too but the cardinal buoys are tricky. There are 4 of us boats here now and we went to snorkel in the coral gardens - quite an experience.

One day Dan and I took the dinghy there and I floated by the boat. It was so beautiful and there were mountains of elk horn coral with lots of fish. Some of the coral seemed to come up too near the surface. As I was floating by the boat and manuvering around the dinghy started to run over my head and I quickly got back into the boat.

July 27, 2000
11 of us walked up the beach and left the dinghies beached. We walked out on a reef and jumped off into the coral. It was shallow - my face was so close to these black sea urchins with 8" spines.  Then you had to swim up stream between the heavy coral reefs and then pick your way around. But the current was very swift so it pulled you into the coral. I got so exhausted that I grabbed onto one of the other swimmers and held on to get my breath back. I felt a bit claustrophobic and just wanted to get out of there. I had to get myself out of there but there was nobody to rescue me, Dan was behind me. It was beautiful - but I moved so fast I hardly had time to enjoy it. But a 4yr old girl went in with a 25yr girl and they had a great time. Quite an experience.

Dan and I have been swimming between the boats - good exercise. Dan is doing anchor checks. He is interested in the Bruce and the CQR and how they lay.