S/V L'ORIENT

Umbrella in Paradise - Bora Bora After several Covid cancellations, Princess Emily finally made it to L'ORIENT and enjoyed 16 days in Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora. This was actually her second attempt at coming to French Polynesia; the first was derailed in August by the authorities here announcing a total lock-down a mere 6 hours before Emily's wheels-up time in Washington, DC. She was forced to return home (and worse, to work) with her suitcase packed full of swim suits, suntan lotion, and most importantly, desperately needed boat parts. Never has a vacation or guest been so anticipated! While Emily waited in DC for French Polynesia's month long confinement to end, we "enjoyed" the lockdown for five weeks at the Tahiti airport anchorage and spent big money. After seven years of faithful service, our dear dinghy Crabby succumbed to irrepairable floor damage and was replace by "new Crabby". Cha-ching. Four kilo-dollars out the door. Likewise our defecti

View from our hike in Bora Bora- it's winter here so a chilly 85 degrees In our 10 years of being live-aboards, one thing we've learned is how to go slow. This wasn't always the case. Before we purchased L'ORIENT, we rented sailboats from Moorings and Sunsail a staggering 14 times; in Croatia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and all over the Caribbean. Our motto was "every day a new island". This was necessary because in 7-10 days, we had to give the rental boat back and return home to our jobs where we made a REAL difference in the interior design and healthcare finance industries. Look Mom, no hands ! A little emptier than most beaches in August But now we're retired active seniors and we've learned that the slower you move, the more you see. Some of our sailing friends poke fun at us for being on the same mooring ball in Bora Bora for 5 weeks without moving.  We are the white boat on the right - home for five weeks But across 5 weeks, you find the best hikes

The Bora Bora lagoon We had arrived in Bora Bora and taken a mooring ball (which we almost never do) because anchoring is almost universally prohibited here due both to coral preservation and the depth of the water. The mooring ball attendant drove up in his small power boat. The scene is just like you'd imagine it would be... a good looking, tan, French 20-something dude with Raybans, a relaxed super-cool affect, and, of course, a french hottie sitting next to him sporting that disinterested manner that only French women can pull off. He asked us how long we intended to be in Bora Bora and as we answered "at least 4 weeks" I was struck by how preposterous that is and how fortunate we are to have this life. Four weeks in Bora Bora, unless we decide to stay longer...........definitely didn't see this coming when we moved onto the boat in September of 2011 in Annapolis. In those days we were busy being mystified as to why any white garment getting Chesapeake "water

Dropping in on our fish friends It probably challenges the imagination for many of our readers who have jobs, but we are BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. Doing what? First off, living on a boat is more complicated than having a house or condo; for starters, we need to maintain the boat so we don't sink, catch fire, or get blown into the rocks. That's a couple of hours per day. Nice sea turtle- we accidentally disturbed his nap Then there might be some recreation; none better than a visit to see our friends below (the fish). Scuba diving is one of our true pleasures and now with our very own dive compressor, we can dive anywhere. Well, almost anywhere.  We love the small fish Great coral (and a surprise eel) in Teahupoo Christmas trees of coral everywhere you look Diving off the dinghy is so much better than a dive boat Yesterday just before happy hour, about 50 small (and some not so small) sharks visited Cooks Bay and swam around near our boat for about an hour. We had courage enough to kaya