20 
of spray would gb up 10 to 12 feet In the air. The sky was overcast, 
the weather thick and somevshat chilly, or so it felt. One wished 
for clearer weather and some sunlight in order to get a good 
photograph of that skyward leap of the sea. We coasted along the 
southwest edge of the reef for some time before making Teavanui 
l^ass on the island’s western front. 
It ?;as a relief to get into the calmer wraters of the lagoon. 
en 
Y/ 
e v/ere reluctant to leave behind the spectacular 
sight outside. We did not stop at Vaitape, the principal settle- 
ment, to deliver the sack of mail that the postal authorities in 
Papeete had asked us to bring over to Bora Bora— -just drew close 
enough 
to toss it 
i-C t QC' f 
It v/as our intention to seek a\landing 
less subject to/^distractions occasioned by too many^ or too frequent 
visitors. Prom what Captain Temarii had told us, adjacent Paanui 
Bay held promise of being t he ideal place. Left over from World 
War II ’s operations was the^stout but deteriorating Farepiti Point 
dock or wharf, which, together with the water line serving it had 
been installed by the Navy, v^hen the island was an important half- 
v/ay base between Honolulu and Australia and Ne?^ Zealand j with the 
cessation of hostilities the istallations were abandoned. It goes 
without saying that the villagers at the island’s principal port, 
site of the cinema palace on Bora Bora, were disappointed by 
our choice of operating base, but never was the old saw of "jumping 
from the frying pan into the fire" more truthfully applicable to 
any situation than into the one we had unwittingly maneuvered 
