On my way back to the boat

A lot has happened since my last post. We arrived in Tahiti (Papaetee to be exact).  I had been asked to leave Maggie so in checking my options I discovered it was cheaper to purchase a return ticket than a one way ticket. I spoke to all the boats who were continuing with the BPO to determine if any of them might need crew in the future. No one saw such a requirement. I was asked to sail one of the boats back to Seattle area via Hawaii. As I don't have captain's papers I asked them to insure the insurance on the boat would be valid if I was to deliver it back to Seattle. I was told by one of the boats that they were aware of someone who may be looking for crew & they would introduce me in the morning. We had an early BPO meeting to finalize the route the BPO was to take. Following that meeting it was determined that one of the owners of No Regrets would not be returning in Bora Bora as expected. I was asked to join No Regrets in Bora Bora. 

I'm on my way to Bora Bora now. 

In the meantime I flew back to Calgary where I met Barb and visited with my kids & grandkids. After a few days in Calgary we travelled through the mountains on a beautiful clear day with these beautiful sites 

Castle Mountain with some snow on it 

Mount Temple on the right over 11000 feet. 

Lake Loiuse in all it's glory 

Going over kicking Horse Pass

Rogers Pass 

I had lots of work to do while at home & then we were headed back to Calgary for more visiting with kids and grandkids. My mother arrived in Calgary on Tuesday and we had a wonderful visit. 

Papaetee

While in Papetee prior to coming home we had many meetings to gain consensus on the route the BPO would take for the rest of the round the world trip. We also attempted to accommodate those who wanted to spend longer in certain places. It was determined that we would spend longer in Australia to allow those who wanted to spend more time there the opportunity. The BPO will spend 3 months in & around Thailand out of the cyclone zone. This will allow for longer trips inland to Thailand or China or to New Zealand by air. From there the BPO will travel to Sri Lanka and then past Madagascar to South Africa and around the Cape. Then on to St. Helen and on to Brazil where they may do a trip part way up the Amazon. The BPO will then continue to the Caribbean. 

Along with the meetings we enjoyed being docked right in the centre of Papetee. We enjoyed the new park along the waterfront. We also enjoyed the baguettes & the French cheeses and the food and tourist trap open air markets with all their wares.  

The BPO boats had an official welcoming to Papetee  from the Port Authority. This was following a great talk on the Society Islands and dancing by local native dancers. We had a fabulous party afterwards where we were able to mingle with the local dancers and other cruisers who had joined the festivities. 

We also enjoyed the food trucks that were parked about half a kilometre from the marina. I was fortunate enough to visit with a group of 16 to 21 year olds who were part of a government program to help them identify opportunities for employment or entrepreneurial endeavours. Some of them were looking for material for puppet shows they would do for younger kids during their school break. We explained with Luc as interpreter what it was like to make the passages we had already made, how the BPO was helping to make the world aware of climate change and the activities we had done to help facilitate that. They also wanted to know what it's like to live on a boat. We also showed them the route we had take and the places we had seen. I showed them the rest of the planned route. That night I was on a plane back to Calgary.