Mai Kai Marina (Bora Bora)

At Mai Kai Marina, Bora Bora, Domino looks small compared to Megayacht Salperton

June 25, 2014
Huntington Beach, California

We're off the boat for the summer.  It's the first time we're "abandoning" DOMINO in the five years we've been cruising, and I admit that it's rather traumatic.  Finding a suitable place to leave your yacht in French Polynesia is not as easy as it should be.  It took us two months of searching before we found the right spot: Mai Kai Marina and Yacht Club in Bora Bora.

Mai Kai Marina is much closer to the village than the previous Bora Bora yacht club

Teiva and Jessica used to run the Bora Bora Yacht Club, but Cyclone Oli in 2010 and legal considerations prompted the energetic couple to relocate the yacht club.  They selected the best possible location on the atoll, the former Top Dive complex.

Mai Kai Marina and Yacht Club:  Top Dive, Mai Kai restaurant & pool.

Located across the pass and close to the village of Vaitape, the new location is much more convenient than the old BBYC.  The deep waters (30m) allow for megayachts to anchor in front of the marina.  The moorings are the strongest in all of French Polynesia and had no problem holding our 26 tons.

Megayacht parade... "Hemisphere" at anchor, TS50 "Baie du Monde" on a mooring

 Teiva, Mai Kai's co-owner, is a marvelously dynamic and resourceful host.  No sooner had we entered the lagoon that he was greeting us on the VHF and inviting us to stop by and check out the marina.  Yes, there was room for DOMINO; yes, the dock and mooring lines were super-sized; yes, there was surveillance; yes, our yacht would be safely docked and looked after; yes, the price was reasonable.  At last, DOMINO had found a home.

Teiva managed all docking maneuvers and made sure DOMINO was securely parked.

HOW HARD is it to find a suitable long-term stay anchorage or marina in the Society Islands?  For any yacht over 50 feet and 15 tons, not that easy.

- Tahiti: Marina Taina didn't have a mooring strong enough, and no dock for a catamaran our size.  The Yacht Club is full.  Port Phaeton only has room and moorings for smaller yachts, and it rains all the time, exposed to the Ma'aramu, but it's possible to leave the boat at anchor.  There is no out-of-the water storage facility.

- Moorea: no room at the small marina.

DOMINO at the dock in Uturoa

- Raiatea: none of the marinas have room enough or moorings strong enough to accommodate larger yachts. None had enough storage on the hard for our boat.

 The public dock in Uturoa is a good option for a few nights, free on a 1st come-1st serve, but not secure at all and definitely not long-term.

Hahamene Bay in Tahaa is a good hurricane hole

- Tahaa: there are 2 hurricane holes where one can leave a boat safely at anchor:
    * Baie Apu and
    * Baie Haamene.

We had made arrangements to leave DOMINO in Haamene village, at the bottom of the bay, looked after by a local friend, but we were nervous about it.  Of the 2 bays, Apu is deepest (30 meter) but experiences less wind gusts than Haamene.




- Huahine: The deep (30m) Port Bourayne, on the west coast, is also a good place to leave a yacht.  We contacted the captains who live in the bay and could have watched over DOMINO.













It was with relief, then, that we finally docked our beloved DOMINO at Mai Kai marina, and left her in Teiva's expert care.

The reef... visible, yet treacherous

But our last run of the season wasn't without a heartbreak.  With barely one mile to go, we put DOMINO on the reef.  It only took a second of inattention.  I was cleaning the foredeck from the bridle and getting the mooring lines ready, when I heard a nauseating crunch and felt DOMINO come to a full stop.  We were on the reef, on the wrong side of the red mark, stuck.  It took JP several attempts of backing out and wiggling this way and that before the 600 HP wrenched us out of the reef.  Fifteen minutes later, we were on a mooring at Mai Kai Marina and diving to inspect the hull.  The inside aspect of our starboard hull showed a 6'-long gash, 2" wide, and had pierced the lamination all the way to the foam in some places.  Nothing terrible, still not good.


  JP patched it all with underwater epoxy and it will hold till we haul out in September.  DOMINO is incredibly strong, the closed-cell Corecell with epoxy lamination saved us from disaster.  Even though the outer skin was scratched, the inner shell is absolutely intact.







                             Thank you, Anthony Stanton, for your flawless engineering.

Perhaps distracted by Megayacht "HEMISPHERE" , we missed the turn and ended up on the wrong side of the red mark.  The reef comes up very quickly!

So we're off for the summer, enjoying family in California, making plans for the upcoming season... where next?

For the Bond fans.... "Disco Volante": shouldn't this be DOMINO's tender?

Until then...

Bora Bora...

dominomarie