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Yesterday we went to Corrine’s mom’s motu (outer reef island) in Bora Bora with our boat, but on the way we forgot our friend Mata. Jaeden had to Zodiac back to get him. As we got closer to the uncharted water around the motu, it soon became apparent that six and a half feet of water was not a safe amount for our boat with a five foot draft. Putting caution aside we dropped our anchor and started our very eventful zodiac ride to shore. As we followed our friend’s boat with our own at a snail’s pace through the gargantuan coral heads, I quickly realized that we would need their expert help out of the multi-coloured death maze. I mean I’ve heard that dolphins have saved people before but I was seriously worried.

After slowly bumping our way to shore we all climbed out to greet the little tropical paradise. As the sun set at our backs, we went back to the sailboat to get blankets so Jaeden and I could sleep on the island (this time we let them drive in the dark).

After a wonderful sleep on the beach, we woke to an equally amazing blue, orange and red sunrise shining through the palm weaved walls. We had a great breakfast while the coconut husk fire smoked to keep all of the mosquitoes away. As we wandered away Jaeden and I found a pile of brambles and peeled away the bark of this mystery plant to make the most unbreakable bracelets. We added brown striped shells and orange spiky shells that were weaved into the coolest bands in the history of all Apache.

As it came around to 11 o’clock, Jaeden and I went clam hunting for an hour or so. Clamming in my experience is harder than playing the tuba (although my tuba playing is zero to nil). We had to stab the “eye” of the neon blue and purple clams with our spikes and pry them out of the coral. After our great swim, guess what we had for lunch! You got it! Raw clams with lemon juice! This is by far better than raw fish. After exploring a little more, we packed up and headed back home once more in a tropical sunset.

July 11, 2013 – Dailin Schafer