Bastille Day and Birthday Parties

The boating people are really a little floating community. They just travel from one island to the next, just socializing in a different setting all the time. So Bastille Day is a big thing here in French Polynesia, and the boat people are all excited about heading in to the parade (big event) and seeing all of the goings on. But there is a bit of a delema as to what time the parade should be as the President is supposed to attend the parade and he also has to attend the parade in Papeete, Tahiti. So will it be 8:00 am or 2:00 pm and this does not get ironed out until the morning of the parade. We heard the VHF radio sounding off at 6:30 am, but just rolled over and covered our ears (oops this was the general announcement of the parade time - 8:00 am),so we missed the parade! But from one of our friends, whose opinion we trust, we just missed standing in the sun, hearing one speech and then another speech. (so in other words - not much!) That's O.K. because we wanted more time for snorkeling and diving anyway. That evening there was a big pot luck deal at the yacht club (small lean-too on the beach with a dingy dock. Cyclone in Feb. nearly wiped it off the island.) and another general announcement over the VHF that it was Eric's birthday (Oso Blanco) and we already knew this, so were there for the whole thing. Georgia had a lot of fun as this event brought all of the people in from the surrounding boats and she was happy to find that there was a lot of young people her age to hang out with. It is lucky for us that she only discovered this on her last night here as we may have had to be party chauffers in her efforts to keep herself occupied on the boat. We did do a spa day at the Hilton - Georgia and I, it is not Glen's idea of a good time - and it was very nice to be pampered for a little while. Mind you the ride back to the big boat on the whaler and being splashed by the waves and sprayed by the wind pretty much negated all of the benifits. Our favorite sail boat - Dream Catcher is in the anchorage here at Bora Bora now so we had refreshments on their deck one night and took them diving another day. It is a lovely 82 foot "Swan", pure sailing elegance. The owners and crew are equally nice and very interesting people. Georgia flew home from Bora Bora yesterday and should be arriving in Calgary as I type this. The weather surrounding the island is going to keep us here at least until Monday or Tuesday so we have 4 or so days left to entertain ourselves here. It is time to move on though and Moorea will be our next stop on our way back to Tahiti.

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