# Moorea to Bora Bora.



## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

It was while we were anchored in Cook's Bay that Début became the centre of a tabloid controversy. The owner of the hotel was peeved because we didn't wish to use the over-priced services of his establishment. After rigging the awning and party lights around the boat-deck, we preferred to buy cases of Hinano beer from the small Chinese shop at the head of the bay and hold our own entertainment on board.
When many of the yachties began to join us, he saw red and started a petition complaining about the nudity on board the ship... which was printed in Les Nouvelies. The rival newspaper, La Depeche, backed us up by saying it was voyeurism to stand on a high, overlooking cliff with binoculars to stare down on Début. The battle raged on for a month between the two newspapers, until Les Nouvelies had had enough and decided to quit. There had been some fourteen multi-page publications between the two newspapers about us.
Before we left Moorea for Trahan, in Raiatea, Dave and Andrea joined the ship. They were a young American couple, who were on their way to the Philippines. He was a spotty youth, straight off the farm in the mid-west, while she was half Filipino and half Iroquois Indian. She was absolutely gorgeous... only five feet tall, with long jet-black hair cascading down to the arch of her back. Her father had died back in the Philippines, leaving a large chunk of land outside Manila. She was intent on getting her share of it before her family carved it up between themselves, leaving her with nothing.
Because of all the adverse publicity we'd received since our arrival in Tahiti, and the many crew-changes we'd made during our stay in Moorea, the Gendarmerie gave us 72 hours notice to leave their island and put to sea. At 0530 hours on 12th January, 1981, Début got underway for Trahan, in Raiatea. After leaving Cook's Bay as dawn was breaking, a course of 275° was set into the auto-pilot. It was raining, with poor visibility, and there was a large ground-swell setting in from the east.
I thought we could get inside the reef of Raiatea before dusk, but just as we were approaching the south of the island, a heavy rain storm descended upon us from the north-west. The winds went from strong to gale force in only a few minutes, and before we knew it we had a full cyclone on our hands. I hove-to under the lee of Raiatea until the wind dropped an hour later.
We got underway again, but had missed our chance of entering the lagoon through the passage before dusk. I took Début to a position off the west side of Raiatea to wait until morning. By 2050 hours, the wind had changed to the west, so we stopped the main engine and drifted for the night. Using the radio direction beacons at Bora Bora and Raiatea, I plotted our position at 30 miles west of the island.
The wind got up again from the north-west, gusting at force eight. There was a heavy ground-swell accompanying the wind, but good visibility between rain squalls. We got under way again at 0415 hours, and I set a course for Bora Bora. The passage into Raiatea was narrow and twisting, and the passage into Bora Bora was straight forward and wide enough for the largest of ships.
At 0625 hours, the island of Bora Bora was sighted just on the starboard bow, and an hour later we entered the Passe Teavanui into the lagoon. Début anchored at 0755 hours in Baie Faanui in 15 fathoms of water, with five shackles of chain. When the gendarmes came out to see us in their launch, they were amazed that anyone was moving about at sea because of the cyclone. I explained to them about being ordered out of the harbour at Moorea, and they promised me that we would be made most welcome at their island provided we wore clothes while on a run-ashore. 
It is said that Bora Bora is the most beautiful place on earth, and I'm inclined to agree with them. The central island rises to lofty peaks, with a deep lagoon surrounding it. The Americans used it as a sea-plane refuelling base during The Second World War, because of the spacious harbour being so deep. The outer fringing reef completely encloses the lagoon, save for the deep-water passage on the western side of the island. All the windward side of the outer reef has built up into a palm-covered strip of land, where the main aviation runway is built.
It was at the yacht club that I first met Alex. He set up the club with his wife, Michele, after sailing the Pacific Ocean with his family in their small yacht. It was here that we did most of our serious drinking while staying in Bora Bora. We'd sit up half the night telling yarns of the sea, and cracking barrack-room jokes between us. He'd show us photographs of himself dressed as a G.I. when he was an extra in the feature film, 'Bora Bora', set during The Second World War. His hard-done-by wife would often bang on the bedroom floor with a broom handle to get us to stop our raucous laughter.
While diving in the lagoon for black coral, we came upon a mass of rusting scrap-metal scattered about the sandy bottom. As had happened in other islands of the Pacific Ocean at the end of the war, all the military equipment left over from the fighting was pushed into the harbour when the French Government declined to pay for it. Among it we found a large amount of scrap copper and brass, and two matching galvanised 500 pound patent ships anchors. On searching still further out in the bay, we found one of the main oil-tanker moorings from the American fleet. The Gendarmerie refused to let us commence salvage operations to recover the anchors and chain, so Alex introduced me to Tauto Moano.
He was the grandson of the last king of Bora Bora, before the French did away with the monarchy with their act of dissolution. Everyone called him 'No Problem', as it was his favourite saying to anyone who knew him. Owning most of the land in the island and having his relatives in many of the key government positions, meant he could just about fix anything. And as he had no love for the French Administration anyway, he arranged for his uncle... who was the mayor of Bora Bora... to grant us permission to salvage the mooring. The condition of the deal was that we kept the 25 tons of three inch stud-link chain, and gave him the two 15 ton anchors. 
Tauto was building himself a World War Two museum around his log-built A-frame house. He'd bought himself a D7 Caterpillar bulldozer, and with it had dragged one of the large guns on the summit of the island to his museum. There were eight, 14 inch naval guns from a First World War heavy cruiser, and had been mounted by the Americans to protect their base from Japanese naval attack.
After lifting the massive anchors with our main deck-winch and carrying them underwater to the wharf, Tauto paid the captain of the main inter-island freighter to lift them on to a road trailer. At only a snail's pace, they were each in turn transported along the only tarmac road in the island, accompanied by most of the cheering, singing islanders. He mounted them across the road leading to his museum, forming a ceremonial arched gateway at the entrance.
He was a mountain of a man, going on for 350 pounds of obstreperous Polynesian. I travelled with him on many occasions in his Toyota Land Cruiser on his rounds about the island while collecting rents from his tenants. He would call at his own supermarket in the village and take from the shelves a couple of cases of Hinano beer, then grab three or four cases of chicken legs from the freezer. Siggy would fry him a case of chicken first, and he would eat it as we sat chatting while waiting for the rest.
He once introduced me to his grandmother... the last queen of Bora Bora. She arrived on the wharf in a chauffer-driven limousine, dressed in black from head to foot. She was a chirpy old girl, who'd lost most of her family when part of the mountain collapsed on to their house because of the heavy rain during a cyclone.
We found a very lucrative market for our black coral pendants at the Club Med. After being introduced to the manager by Alex, we were made welcome whenever we wanted to visit. All the crew would spend the day cutting and polishing the black coral into pendants until it glistened like obsidian, then hanging them on lengths of sail-twine around our necks. We'd drink up the profits between us in the evening, after selling the pendants to the guests in the hotel lounge.
It was getting near the end of our stay in the island, when the two ship's pets started causing some tension within the crew. As coatimundis are highly sexually active in the wild, he was using the unwilling ginger tom for his partner. The other mottled kitten was lost overboard in mid-Pacific, after fleeing from the bear's unwelcomed sexual advances.
Many of the more sensitive crew members complained about the bear sexually molesting the cat whenever he felt like it. I refused to be drawn into the argument, saying that they had to sort out their problems between themselves. In the end, I put the cat ashore on one of the palm-covered motos on the fringing outer reef. Alex went over in his dinghy after hearing about it once we'd left the island and brought him back to the yacht club as a pet.
We spent two months at Bora Bora, but had to leave after we'd been in French Polynesia for the permitted six months. After all this time, I was now free to collect the bond I had submitted in Nuka Hiva. Although I was returned the same currency that I'd originally deposited, it was without interest being added. They used the interest on the bonds collected to help with their school's programme on the outlying island archipelagos.
Before we left the island of Bora Bora, two more Americans joined the crew. There was a young boy, who'd been hitch-hiking about French Polynesia on sailing yachts, and Carol. She was short and blonde, with a slim, little figure. Being in her mid-thirties, she was the oldest person on board the ship, but took an immediate shine to Bjorn... at only 19, the youngest man in the crew.
At 1630 hours on 12th March, Debut got under way for Suvorov Atoll... an uninhabited island in the Cook Island Archipelago. We'd waited an extra week for the third cyclone of the season to pass Bora Bora, the previous cyclone pulverizing the island and smashing up the yacht club veranda. We steamed close in among the yachts to salute Alex and his family, sounding the Marseillaise on the ship's horn. It was a bright, sunny day, with a large ground-swell of 16 feet from the north-west. Because of the cyclone, there was a confused sea... waves breaking in all directions. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## Frank P (Mar 13, 2005)

Dick, thanks for another interesting story....I visited Bora Bora and Moorea a few times 1973 - 1976..........

Cheers Frank


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For Frank P.*

Good to hear from you, Frank, and thank you for showing an interest in my stories of true adventure. As you will know, Bora Bora is one of the most beautiful and outstanding places in the world. The places and the people were really friendly, especially Alex at the yacht club and the manager and staff of the Club Med. And meeting Tauto Moano was also a great experience for all of us on board Début. One day I'd love to visit again and see the two 15 ton anchors that I salvaged from the lagoon for his museum.
For more information of my voyage throughout the South Seas, go to the books forum and download the thread for The Black Ship's Odyssey, Books One and Two, regards the Kindle code. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

Hi Dick, thanks for another great anecdote. I also have great memories of Moorea and Bora Bora. My last visit was for a few weeks at Club Med which I hear is sadly, no longer in existence in French Polynesia.

Taff


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For tsell.*

Good to hear from you, Taff, and that you enjoyed the account of my adventure in French Polynesia. Thanks for the information about the Club Med... I have many fond memories of propping up the bar during a run-ashore. I've seen a recent film taken at Bora Bora, when the French cruise ship, Paul Gauguin, visited the island. There were similar rooms set out on stilts into the lagoon each side of a central pier. I was hoping for a shot of my two fifteen ton anchors... but no such luck. If Tauto is still alive, he will be a very old man by now. 
I'm heading down your way at the start of May, so email me your telephone number and I'll look you up. I'm visiting one of my old crew, who lives at Thagoona, west of Brisbane... on my way to visit my old ship on Emily Reef. I recently saw footage of her when David Attenborough flew over her last year in a helicopter, while on a television programme exploring The Great Barrier Reef. She is still upright and in one piece, despite losing her accommodation block. She will remain on Emily Reef as a monument to freedom, liberty and adventure for many years to come... long after I've gone.
All the best, Taff, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## Frank P (Mar 13, 2005)

Dick, a few years ago I posted a photo which I think that I took at either Bora Bora or Moorea where we are anchored in the lagoon. Can you tell from the photo which island it was?....

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/6898/title/m-2fs-royal-viking-star/cat/all

Cheers Frank


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

Hi Dick, I'll send you a PM with my details. Would love to catch up.
I was glad when it was time to leave Club Med as there were too many naked women around. It was most disconcerting when in the crush at the bar, I'd turn to find a large bare breast resting on my elbow. Some women have no manners - it affected me for some time, being hard to forget!

Taff


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For Frank P.*

Thank you for sending me that wonderful collection of photographs... I remember seeing so many of those ships myself throughout the world... especially the Oriana. It was one of her crew who brought me the news of the Falkland Islands War when I was in Niafau, in the Vavau Group, in Tonga. The photograph in question I believe to be from Moorea... the mountain in Bora Bora is not so wooded. I think it is from the anchorage to the west of Cook's Bay, as I can't quite remember the exact layout, and I spent two months anchored in Cook's Bay with Début. I went on many occasions with one of the local farmers up into the foothills to collect pineapples for his customers, and enjoyed eating many myself. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Another good story Dick.
Remember passing Bora Bora about 70 miles off on Sealnes, 76, on our way to Bluff from Panama. It looked impressive from that far. Alas no stop. Have it on the bucket list. Keep em coming.
Cheers
Bill.B


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For Bill B.*

Good to hear from you, Bill. Bora Bora is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I got on real well with the local inhabitants while I was there in 1981. Like you, it's right up on the top of my bucket list, after revisiting Australia and Samoa later on this year.
I'm in the process of publishing my eighth and last book, 'From Beat to Open Deck'. It goes back to when I left secondary school in 1961, and bought my first ship... the 42 foot Whitstable ouster smack, Blue Bell, and rigged as a gaff cutter. It goes on to me spending the next 26 years as captain of my own ships all over the world, including spending six years as a police officer at Ipswich. Getting that book published in the next month is the next item on my bucket list. I will post a thread on the Books forum once this book is published. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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