Taking it slow

Saturday, August 21

Nothing very exciting to report for the last week and a half, but here are some of the highlights.

From our favorite anchorage on the mostly sandy reef opposite Pt. Tenape in Uturoa, Raiatea we made a return trip to our other favorite anchorage in Baie Tapuamu on Tahaa. Only this time it took three tries before the hook finally found some sandy mud. John was trying to get us positioned a little farther away from our previous spot next to the coral reef on the north side of the bay in anticipation of some forecasted southerlies. In the end we were fine in the same old place, and we spent two nights there while we topped our water tanks from the gas station, did several loads of laundry, and filled up on both diesel and gasoline. This would be an ideal location if only the people in the store were a little friendlier and the dogs on shore a little quieter. Otherwise it's nice and peaceful and has everything we need with easy access to shore in the small boat harbor. Norbert even stopped by to sell us some more bananas and play us a song on his ukulele.

Our laundry chores have been greatly eased with the gift of a spinner machine from Quixotic. They thought theirs was broken and arranged to have a new one delivered by a friend visiting from the States. In the meantime Ed managed to fix the old one, and they insisted we give it a whirl. We still do the washing and rinsing in buckets, but the spinner really cuts down on the amount of wringing we have to do. It also does such a good job of spinning out the soapy water that we're able to reduce the amount of fresh water needed for rinsing. We're able to run it on our inverter and we use it on the side deck where it can drain right out the scupper. We were concerned about taking on "one more thing" but for now it fits nicely in our (unused) shower (along with a couple of water jugs). We are so glad Ed and Nila talked us into taking such a wonderful gift!

The weather was settled so we decided to continue a circumnavigation of Tahaa. First we explored Baie Apu where the Taravana Yacht Club is located. Although we had heard wonderful things about Richard and the YC dinners we were reluctant to spend the money for a mooring. There were a few boats anchored near the mooring field but we weren't comfortable anchoring in 90+' of water. We even nosed all the way in behind Ile Toapuhi - which would have been a long dinghy ride from the YC - but never found anything less than 90'. Several of our friends recommended the Tuesday YC buffet and show, but we'll save the $60 per person for something else.

We continued on to Ile Mahaea near Passe Toahotu to anchor in about 8' of water over a sandy shelf near a few catamarans. We had an uninteresting snorkel out near the reef. Our second day there we drift snorkeled the pass where there was mostly dead coral and no big fish, but we did see a nice variety of colorful eels. John took the dinghy back to Nakia so I could swim the rest of the way by myself over a shallow sandy bottom. I stopped to watch a pretty little nudibranch and eventually counted six of them in the general vicinity. I had passed over an old conch shell, but when I turned back to look at it again there was a tiny octopus crawling out from under it. It came most of the way out of its home, holding onto the outside of the shell with three tentacles. It's always amazing to me that there's so much to see in an otherwise barren looking area.

{GMST}16|38.380|S|151|25.670|W|Ile Mahaea|Tahaa{GEND}

On Tuesday we got an early start back down to Tautau with a brief stop in Patio for groceries. This was our third time to Patio but we were disappointed that we never saw again the lovely French bread of that first visit with Gloria Maris. On to Tautau where, instead of anchoring off the reef in front of the coral garden, we opted for the sandy shallow area to the south of the motu. We think this is the nicest spot for watching Bora Bora's impressive profile in the sunset, but it can get very choppy if the wind is up. Sidewinder and Freedom joined us for their first visit to the coral garden and they agreed that it isn't anything all that special. But when everyone else was out of the water and John and I were bringing up the rear, he motioned for me to swim back to him against the current. I was thinking "this better be worth it" because I was already cold. Well boy, when I looked where he was pointing I saw something the size of a small sea lion and realized it was about two feet of moray eel sticking out from its hidey hole. Then John told me to look carefully because the eel's mouth was wide open and a tiny cleaner fish was actually disappearing into the black void to take care of some eel dental work! I'm not sure novice snorkeling tourists would really enjoy seeing a huge eel, but our guess it that it's gotten so big from being fed by the tour guides.

{GMST}17|32.420|S|149|34.228|W|Ile Tautau South|Tahaa{GEND}

We were anxious to catch up with Quixotic again so we left the next day for Bora Bora where we are again anchored in about 8' over sand. This time John got curious about the exact difference between what our depth sounder reads and how much water is really under our keel, so he got out the metal yard stick and dove down to the bottom. We now know that we have 18" between us and the sand here. We are a bit of a novelty as most monohulls stick to deeper water, and we've even had a couple of dinghies stop by to ask us how much water we're anchored in. We don't mind shallow as long as the bottom is sand or mud, and there's nothing like the feeling of being anchored in a swimming pool. On one clear night John woke up and went out on deck to check on things, and to his amazement he watched a spotted eagle ray swim by Nakia in the moonlight.

We were excited to see John and Kara on Orca underway just after we came in the pass. They followed us over to drop the hook for a couple of hours to prepare for their passage to the Cook Islands. After they stowed the last of their gear and gave Orca a final scrub, John sent them off with a blast of his horn, and they sailed out of the lagoon with their drifter up in the light breeze. We hope to keep track of them (along with Gloria Maris, now at Penrhyn) by HF radio until they get out of range.

Our first night here we were invited to dinner on Quixotic to say farewell to Joe and Adrienne on Blue Bottle before they left for Tonga on Thursday. This is just one of several dinner and happy hour exchanges that we've shared with our friends from various boats recently. Most boats are heading off in one of two directions to the Cooks and Tonga, but there are a few that may be headed in our, third, more unusual direction. In the meantime we're taking life slow and enjoying the scenery and the company of interesting people.

{GMST}16|30.654|S|151|46.368|W|Ile Topua|Bora Bora{GEND}

propane

Wednesday, August 11

We're back in the general vicinity of Uturoa, Raiatea to fill our propane tanks before we go to Bora Bora. This time we're sharing our special transfer hose with Quixotic. The hose has one end that connects to the local tank's fitting and another end which connects to our U.S. style fitting. The idea is that you hang the local tank up high somewhere (like in your rigging) and drain the gas out of that tank into your tank which is down on deck. It usually works pretty well although sometimes you can't get all the gas out of the local tank. Then you return the (mostly empty) local tank to the store where you bought it to get your deposit back on the bottle.

Gas wasn't available at the village in Tapuamu so the guys had to dinghy up to the next bay to the village of Murifenua to get a full bottle. The Chinese people running the store there were much friendlier than the people in Tapuamu so we were happy to give them the business. Apparently as of August 1 the price of propane/butane has risen a whopping 130 CFP per 13 kilo bottle and the locals bought up all the full bottles at the old price. So until they use up the gas and return the empties, full bottles are in short supply. We managed to get the one for Blue Bottle right after a supply ship arrived, and when the guys returned the empty, all the full ones were sold out again (I guess by the people who aren't hoarding the cheaper bottles!).

The tank for Blue Bottle was slow to drain so we ended up spending an extra night at quiet little Tapuamu before heading north to meet up with Gloria Maris on Sunday. We talked about meeting them at the main town of Patio at the north end of Tahaa, but the wind had cranked up and we back-tracked a little to Baie Pueheru for much better protection.

{GMST}16|35.220|S|151|31.605|W|Baie Pueheru|Tahaa{GEND}

Kim and I went ashore in the afternoon and ended up walking to the store at Murifenua without realizing that it was the same place John had gone for propane. The Chinese woman said they had lived there for 20 years and their children also had houses in the village. It is a very nice store but their baguettes come from an in-house bakery and are probably the toughest we've had even when fresh.

On our way to the store we were walking on the lagoon side of the road which had about 10 feet of landscaping with low grass and tiare bushes (the local gardenia flower). It would be just our luck that an adorable kitten came out from under a bush at our approach, crying vehemently for help. It had blue eyes and was small enough to hold in the palm of your hand - too young to be away from its mother without human aid. We foolishly carried it to the two nearest houses thinking it might have strayed from its "owner" since it seemed to be so people oriented. But no one wanted to claim it or help us find where it belonged, so we reluctantly returned it to where we'd found it. Other than the distress at being left on its own it seemed clean (well, Kim found at least one flea) and not underweight, so we're comforting ourselves with the thought that its mother was simply off hunting for the afternoon and would return to care for it later. :-(

The next morning the four of us walked about four kilometers to Patio where there is a post office, a computer store, several small restaurants, and at least two stores. We were excited to find that the second store had nice big loaves of French bread. They were really nothing more than an overgrown baguette, but they were nice and crusty on the outside and wonderfully soft on the inside. And when you see nothing but baguettes for months on end any variation in the form is a novelty.

Gloria Maris was trying to complete their final checkout with the gendarmerie which is somewhat complicated by the fact that they had to post a bond (we took care of everything through our agent in Papeete and were exempted from the bond requirement). They had been told in Uturoa that they had to do this in Bora Bora, probably because the officials figure that everyone will leave French Polynesia from there since it's typically the last stop for cruisers. But Don and Kim visited BB last year and weren't stopping there again this year. In Patio they were told that they should be able to do it in Uturoa as long as they weren't going to BB. So back we all went to Raiatea in very gusty winds with some sailing and some motor-sailing. It was so bad we even took some salt spray over the decks. ;-)

Don and Kim were able to complete their check-out on Tuesday and got their bond returned from the bank so they're continuing west today or tomorrow. We filled Quixotic's propane tank yesterday and today it's our turn. As soon as we have more moderate weather we'll cross over to Bora Bora to see what that's all about. We've been hearing good reports about Maupiti and Mopelia which are the two atolls beyond BB, and we especially want to stop at the former to swim with manta rays which gather there to feed.

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Tahaa, the Vanilla Island

We managed to stock up on eggs and baguettes at the little store in Baie Ereea from which I last wrote. We took the dinghy over to a ramp-like opening in the wall at the covered football (soccer) court and it was easy enough for John to land me while he waited in the dinghy. I walked to the road, took a right and the store was only a block away on the left. They apparently have two baguette deliveries so if you don't feel like getting up at 0600, you can go in at 2:30 PM for fresh bread.

After another night of >30 kt gusts we decided we'd had enough. Our anchor held without any problem, but it was nerve wracking being in such a tight, shallow area, filled with coral heads. If anything went wrong, it would have been difficult to maneuver in the middle of the night. Of course since we left, our friends have had nothing but nice calm nights.

So on Saturday we departed for Tahaa in wind and rain. By the time we were inside the lagoon again at the north end of Raiatea, and could see Quixotic anchored just north of Passe Rautoanui, John had had enough of standing out in the rain. We nosed along the edge of the sand on the reef side until we found a spot with few coral heads, and dropped anchor in 40' of water on the sandy slope. We figured the anchor couldn't drag uphill and so we didn't mind ending up on top of the sandy shelf with 9-12' under our keel. Ed and Nila invited us over for happy hour on Quixotic and we enjoyed a slide show of their six months of travel by caravan in New Zealand. It's a spectacular country and we would love to do the same thing some day.

{GMST}16|44.681|S|151|29.662|W|Opposite Pte Tenape near Baie Faafau|Raiatea{GEND}

It rained again the next morning but there was a long enough break for us to finally sail to Tahaa. We stayed inside the lagoon all the way and enjoyed the flat water and well marked channel. Our Bonnette guide book highly recommends the Vanilla Tour offered by Alain Plantier in Baie Hurepiti. This is a very deep bay with four mooring buoys at its head. We weren't certain of where the Plantier home was and we picked up a mooring in front of the clearly signed dock for "Sophie Boutique" thinking that perhaps that was the place (our guide book is over 10 years old). There were no other boats in the bay. We ate lunch and made a circuit of the shore by dinghy hoping someone would come out to greet us at one of the docks. We found the Vanilla Tour dock just next door, but didn't land the dinghy at either place in case there were dogs on guard. We verified that two of the moorings are clearly marked as being reserved for the Boutique and two are less clearly marked for the Vanilla Tour. Since no one had come out to chase us off we weren't too concerned about being on a mooring without a reservation until late in the day when three charter boats arrived one after another. The first boat took its passengers to the boutique dock and John zipped in to speak to Sophie and a charter crew member who were now on the dock. We could stay on our mooring for the night even though it had been reserved for their boat and we could wait until morning to pay a visit ashore. So it finally became clear to us that no cruising boats would have reason to stop at what is essentially a tourist place. The charter boats come in to shop for souvenirs or to take a tour, with the bonus of having an overnight mooring.

The next morning we made a brief visit to the boutique (which had a lovely variety of expensive gifts) where we found a brochure for the Vanilla Tour company. The 2009 rate sheet listed a four hour island tour at 5500 CFP per person. We walked down the road a bit and decided not to stop in at the Plantier place to inquire about 2010 prices since we felt it was already higher than we wanted to pay. On our way back through the boutique property we met Sophie who was just leaving to visit her husband in the hospital. She explained she was late and her children were also arriving from Papeete. She apologized for being so rushed and told us she would be back later. We hadn't planned to stay longer and felt that since she'd never made any mention of payment for the mooring, we were clear to depart.

It was a gorgeously landscaped home below a lightly traveled road with friendly and well-cared for dogs and cats. Until we realized how much she had going on in her life, we had planned to approach Sophie about the possibility of adopting Ziggy. We're coming to the realization that as interesting as he can be, we would far prefer a cat with a loud purr who enjoys being petted and loved. We love Ziggy very much and he seems to enjoy our company but only on his terms. He's recently bitten me twice without much provocation (once on my arm when he demanded his breakfast and I was still laying in bed, and once on the bridge of my nose when I made the mistake of trying to touch noses in friendship). We would also like to return to cruising unencumbered by the limitations imposed by having an animal aboard. So we'll be on the lookout for a new home for him along our way.

{GMST}16|38.634|S|151|30.980|W|Baie Hurepiti|Tahaa{GEND}

On Monday we checked out Ile Tautau but it was too windy to anchor there so we motored across to Baie Tapuamu instead where we anchored in 75' next to the road on the north side of the bay. This is the main port of Tahaa where the supply ships load/unload cargo. But you wouldn't know it by the sleepy little village. Behind the ship quay there is an enclosed small boat basin, a gas station, and a small store with groceries, fresh baguettes, and sundries. There is also a public phone booth but neither the store nor the gas station sold OPT phone cards. The next day we went back in to ask about filling our water jugs and were directed to a small tap on the side of gas station wall which we had missed in our search for water the day before. John went back to Nakia for a longer length of hose and we were then able to fill all our jugs without taking them out of the dinghy (which is always a good thing). We topped our tanks and started a load of laundry soaking before raising anchor and motoring all of one mile back across to the motu Tautau.

{GMST}16|36.850|S|151|32.700|W|Baie Tapuamu|Tahaa{GEND}

JW's guide to French Polynesia is the only source we have that talks in specific terms about the coral garden at this motu, most of which is a private resort complete with thatched huts out over the water. We snorkeled it twice and found it to be best at the end nearest the reef where the water is clearer and it's somewhat less trafficked. We were appalled to see tourists being led by local guides over the top of the very shallow, but very alive, coral. Everyone wore shoes - from crocs, to jellies, to flip flops - and I saw broken coral in the deeper channel through which they swim out. Oh well, it's their coral garden. Both times we snorkeled I found a crown of thorns sea star busily eating the coral. John knocked it off the coral and then got it to attach to a big piece of rock that he could hold without touching the poisonous animal. We were close enough to the rocky shore that he could take it high above the waterline to die. We found the first one melted into a slimy mass overrun by hermit crabs and flies the next day. So that was our good deed for the coral garden.

{GMST}16|36.302|S|151|33.488|W|Ile Tautau|Tahaa{GEND}

It was calm enough for us to spend a couple of nights at Tautau. During the day it was overrun by charter and tour boats, but by evening we usually had the anchorage all to ourselves. A few boats moved to the southern end for a better view of Bora Bora at sunset. Each afternoon "Norbert" came by in his skiff wearing a straw hat to offer us the limes, coconuts, papayas, and pamplemousse he had for sale. We enjoyed the settled weather there but today we returned to Tapuamu to meet up with Blue Bottle for an evening. John is going to help Joe fill his propane tanks using the drain-one-tank-into-another method with the special fitting that we have on Nakia. In the meantime John is equalizing our batteries which means running the generator most of the day, which is why I have so much time on the computer!

Dawdling in Raiatea

July 30, 2010

Note: We posted some more pictures to our Societies album on Picasa when we had internet outside the marina at Uturoa. That link is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/Societies

I forgot to write that last Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a show of kite boarders, one of whom launched from the marina breakwater steps right in front of Nakia. There were up to four of them out sailing at a time and "our" guy was quite good. He would go airborne and hang suspended before dropping down again, and also did 360's in the air. Obviously it was very windy and I was cold after my shower, but I braved it out in the cockpit until the sun went down and he finally quit.

Monday afternoon we were about to depart in the dinghy for one last look in town for eggs (which all three big stores were completely out of that morning!) when we noticed a catamaran idling slowly off the approach to our mooring. It didn't look like a charter cat (the owner of the mooring) but we turned the VHF back on to give them a call. It turned out they had a reservation for the use of the mooring for one night. We had asked marina residents if it was okay to pick it up for a night or two, but we had never officially checked in with anyone in the marina office. So we quickly got the engine running and went off to look for another place to spend the night.

Thank goodness it was 4 PM and we had plenty of time to motor around the corner to a spot in between Marina Apooiti and the mooring field in front of the Raiatea carenage. I won't bother to give coordinates for this 80' deep spot as there were plenty to choose from. We watched another late arrival anchor all by themselves off of the airport, but it was also deep water and we couldn't see any advantage to being in that (possibly restricted) location.

When we checked our email that night we had a message from our friends Ed and Nila on S/V Quixotic saying that they were anchored at Ile Naonao all the way at the southern tip of Raiatea. This was the only anchorage on my list that we had missed, and we hadn't seen these guys since the Marquesas last year, so how could we not take the time to make a surprise visit to them. We had everything from gusty to light sailing breezes as we exited Passe Rautoanui on the NW side and reentered the lagoon at Passe Punaeroa on the SW end of Raiatea. From there we motored upwind through the moderately challenging channel where the coral extended out from both sides in some places. The wind was up to 20-25 by now, but there was an oasis of calm in the lee of Naonao on the SW tip (the guidebooks more conservatively recommend the northern side in deeper water). The motu is private so we couldn't go ashore but there was some nice snorkeling and a very protected anchorage if you don't mind having only a couple of feet under your keel. Having gotten there first, Quixotic had the best protection from the motu, but the holding in sand was good where we were even if it was a bit breezy. I think this might be the first place we've anchored which was rooster free!

{GMST}16|55.174|S|151|25.910|W|Ile Naonao|Raiatea{GEND}

With high winds in the forecast for the next few days we thought it would be prudent to find a less exposed anchorage to wait out the fronts. We called Gloria Maris to see if they were still where we'd left them and they gave thumbs up to an anchorage inside Passe Tetuatiare back up the west side of the island. So we had a great downwind sail and even sailed out of Passe Punaeroa (look Ma, no hands!). Kim warned us that someone in a skiff might come out to chase us off from anchoring so we weren't surprised when we were met by first a woman in a skiff from Ile Tiano, followed shortly after by a man in a bright purple boat from Baie Ereea. They were very worried that we might drop our anchor over cables carrying electricity and water out to the privately owned motu. They wanted us to anchor in deep water NE of the the northern motu (Ile Horea), but we explained that the other two boats were our friends and we wanted to go talk to them. When we got to very shallow water south of Gloria Maris we asked Gaston (the man; both the locals were wearing Motu Tiano "staff" shirts) if this spot would be okay with him, and he was fine with it. We assume they never dreamed we'd come so far into the shallows of the small boat channel, far from where the cables are laid. We think they were also worried about how many more boats might be coming in after us!

In the process of dropping our anchor we went aground on a raised area of the sandy bottom. But some reverse thrust broke us loose and John reset the anchor in a better position. After lunch I baked a wacky (no eggs) chocolate cake and we tried to deliver it to Gaston as a peace offering. It was easy to find his house (the one with the purple boat in front), but no one was home except for a friendly, blue-eyed kitten. So we went back and invited Gloria Maris and Orca over for happy hour (and cake) on Nakia later. The wind came up at sunset and John and Kara got soaked rowing over in their little dinghy, Coconut, but we had a good evening and everyone seemed to enjoy Gaston's cake.

We are anchored in even shallower water here than we were at Naonao and the depth sounder alarm went off while we were watching a movie after dinner. We sort of ignored it until finally we both looked up at the unmistakable feel of the keel bumping the bottom. John let me finish the movie while he went out into the windy night to set a kedge anchor off the bow to keep us off the shallow spot. It wasn't a very peaceful night as we were hit by big gusts of wind in between the lulls, but we didn't hit bottom again.

{GMST}16|50.014|S|151|29.105|W|Baie Ereea|Raiatea{GEND}

This morning John reset the second bow anchor in a better spot and we are having a quiet rainy day with a few big gusts now and then. The sheer mountainside backing the bay is spectacular with over two dozen waterfall scars. Only one of them is actively running even though our friends have yet to see the top of the mountain which has been hidden by cloud cover since they got here. If we get a long enough break between showers we need to make a dinghy run into the local store to buy some eggs and baguettes. Most cruisers in the Societies are also taking shelter from the bad weather, and we've decided to stay here for the time being.

Raiatea

So before we got halfway to Raiatea from Huahine last Tuesday John hooked a mahi mahi (dorado) on one of the hand lines. Most people would assume this was a "good thing" but it ended up causing all kinds of trials and tribulations. We were sailing wing and wing which is downwind with the jib poled out to one side and the main on a preventer (tied down) on the opposite side. It's very hard to stop or even slow the boat in this configuration. John pulled the fish in to the boat, gaffed it, and tried to put it head first into a 5-gallon bucket to subdue it. The fish was unusually calm until the bucket part, when it became very upset and thrashed out of the bucket into the cockpit well where we had all kinds of junk stowed. There was immediately blood everywhere: splattered on the teak combings, the helm seat, the wheel, the cockpit sole, the cockpit well and all its contents - sun shower, swimming trunks, snorkeling T-shirt, snorkel gear, dinghy lock, water siphon hose, oh, and don't forget the main sheet (a very long rope).

Meanwhile another mahi mahi hooked up on the fly John had tied to a fishing pole on the stern pushpit. He rarely bothers to use the fishing pole anymore, let alone with a fly on it, but he thought maybe he could get a small bonito type fish with it. After struggling with the first fish in the cockpit John finally managed to get it head down into the bucket in the cockpit well. I gripped the base of its tail with both hands to keep it from thrashing out of the bucket while John started reeling in the second fish. Eventually the colors faded from the fish I held, and after a few more gentle pumps from its muscles it expired and I could let go. John had me pull in the second hand line before anything had a chance to hook up there, while he kept reeling in the second fish on the pole. The pole he was using is not sufficient for the size fish that was hooked because it's only 20 lb test line. So it was quite a fight. In the end, after 20 minutes, John was able to get the fish near the boat three times but never close enough to gaff it. The third time the line broke and the fish swam away.

Then the excitement was over and we had a chance to really survey the damage. John went to work on the side deck cleaning the 15 lb fish and, after putting all the blood soaked clothing in the galley sinks to rinse in fresh water, I went to work with a bucket of salt water cleaning everything else. We weren't happy cruisers from all this messy activity, and it was very good to finally put the anchor down in Baie Hotopuu.

After lunch our spirits were raised when some kids on a paddle boat came out to give us some little fingerling fish they had caught in a net. They shared some of their fried fish patties, bananas, and a perfumey local apple with us and delighted in feeding Ziggy pieces of their fish cakes. The two pre-schoolers eventually couldn't resist climbing aboard while their older brothers and sister kept an eye on them from the paddle boat. Finally it was time for them to leave and I dug out a ball to give to the youngest boy who was in tears when he realized the fun was over.

Except for dogs barking overnight and the ever present roosters crowing at dawn, we spent a quiet night all by ourselves in the anchorage. While I did my exercises up on deck the next morning I watched a woman in a small skiff setting traps with her young son; a man working a small fishing net from chest high in the water at the head of the bay; a scooter stop at one of the houses to give someone else a ride to work; a kid riding a bicycle in circles behind his house; and I could hear the clinking of dishes and cutlery as breakfast was prepared. All this activity and it wasn't even 7 AM!

{GMST}16|50.715|S|151|22.052|W|Baie Hotopuu|Raiatea{GEND}

From Hotopuu we sailed to Baie Opoa to visit Marae Taputapuatea, one of the most important of the traditional temples in French Polynesia. We had a lovely ending to the day when the canoe replica we'd seen in Huahine sailed through the pass blowing their conch shell to announce their arrival. I convinced John to blow his horn in reply, and a small group of people gathered on shore to welcome them.

{GMST}16|50.105|S|151|22.080|W|Baie Opoa|Raiatea{GEND}

We spent another day at Opoa to meet up with Don and Kim of S/V Gloria Maris for another visit to the marae before enjoying a celebratory birthday lunch for Kim at the Hotel Atiapiti. After a round of rum punches, we ordered lobster for Kim, poisson crue for Don, crab salad with lots of leafy green lettuce for me, and chicken in soy/cola sauce for John. We shamelessly topped it all off with two pieces of coconut cake topped with coconut ice cream and garnished with star fruit and tea roses for dessert. It was a lovely meal but we have to chuckle when we realize that we are so well trained to French Polynesia prices by now that we think nothing of taking the equivalent of $90 to shore with us - and hoping it will be enough to pay for lunch.

We hustled back to the boats for a short sail to Faaroa where we enjoyed a home brewed beer happy hour with Don and Kim. They can brew 23 liters for very little money and John is considering giving up one of our water jerry jugs to do the same! Don whipped up a batch of plum duff right out of Patrick O'Brien for a surprise birthday dessert later. But I think the biggest surprise was in how well it came out when this was the first time he'd ever made it. Delish!

Friday morning we took the dinghies to explore the Apoomau river. On our way past a wooden dock we got a pitch from a man in a kayak for a plantation tour. We continued up river until we had to turn around at a house in front of a shallow little rapids. We met back up with James at the dock to take what we suspect was a completely unofficial tour of someone's farm. But he knew the names of most of the plants and flowers in French, Tahitian, and English and treated us to contraband bananas, coconut, sticky purple fruit, and fern "tattoos" made by placing a fern against your skin and smacking it to leave the pattern behind in white pollen. We got a kick out of his style of teaching (he usually asked us for the name of plants before telling us what they were) and his unusual patter about many of the flowers and fruits - "Is good for you?" "Is no good for me." - which we've now incorporated into our daily routine.

On a sad note we feel it's important to report that a dinghy and outboard left trailing behind an anchored boat overnight was most likely stolen in this bay after we left. Always raise or lock those dinghies and motors!

{GMST}16|49.052|S|151|24.870|W|Baie Faaroa|Raiatea{GEND}

On Friday Nakia and Gloria Maris were happy to find a calm, protected bay for a change at Vairahi. It's been very windy and we're on the windward side of the island so this was a welcome respite. Saturday morning we invited John and Kara of Orca to join us for a hike to the three waterfalls. Per the 2006 edition of Lonely Planet we walked up the road just north of the 6km mark (at a telephone booth and big sign for L'Excursion Bleue) to start the trail at a small parking lot where two cars which had passed us were parked. Unfortunately after crossing one small stream we were thwarted by a brand new chain strung across the opposite side of a bigger stream with no less than three hand drawn signs on it saying things like Piste Privee (private path), Propriete Privee (private property), and Something Interdit (forbidden). Now normally we might ignore something old and faded, but this was so obviously "in your face" that we elected to respect the signs. Since we knew people were already on the trail, my feeling is that it's been put off limits to do-it-yourselfers like us in favor of squeezing more tourist dollars out of shoreside sightseeing opportunities. Even though they weren't marked the cars passing us held one or two locals with one or more tourist types as passengers. We'd like to know if Lonely Planet has a more current version of this hike in print yet.

{GMST}16|46.554|S|151|25.174|W|Baie Vairahi|Raiatea{GEND}

Tired of what I've begun calling "dark water" where we can't see the bottom, we hopped across the lagoon to motu Taoru where Dilan and Gloria Maris were already anchored and Orca was right behind us. Ideally it's a one or two boat anchorage so we stern tied Nakia and Orca to trees on shore. As I swam along the shore I was dissuaded from sitting on one of the tiny strips of sand by two big black barking dogs who came out to greet me. The motu is the private reserve of Pension Manava, but even in so remote and uninhabited a place we woke to roosters crowing the next morning. We only found one live coral head complete with three big anemones, anemonefish and lionfish close to shore and it was too rough to snorkel either side of the pass (the motu actually sits in the middle of the pass). Plus the mosquitoes ensured we wouldn't spend another night there.

{GMST}16|44.728|S|151|25.506|W|Ile Taoru|Raiatea{GEND}

We're currently on a mooring outside the entrance to Marina Uturoa enjoying Hotspot's Wi-Fi to the boat, water from the docks to top our tanks, and grocery stores nearby for provisioning. We plan to spend a second night on the mooring before crossing to Tahaa tomorrow (Tuesday).

{GMST}16|43.404|S|151|26.834|W|Marina Uturoa|Raiatea{GEND}

Huahine

We left Moorea before sunset last Tuesday and had to motor until 8 PM when the wind finally filled in for a fast sail to Huahine. The island was in sight before dawn and we entered Passe Avapehi without any problems. There were 10 boats anchored off of Fare, the largest city on Huahine, so we decided to drop the hook in shallow water halfway to the village. It turned out that this was where all the surfer cruising boats were anchored for easy access out of either pass (Avapehi or Avamoa) depending on what the surf was doing each day.

We scrambled to launch the dinghy when we heard drums on shore after the anchor was set. We arrived in town just in time to catch a parade of local dancers as part of the Bastille Day festivities. Each group performed a short piece in the town square before standing aside for the next group in line on the road. Three songs were played for the raising of the French, French Polynesian, and Tahitian (or Society Islands) flags and of course we only recognized the Marseilles (if that's how you spell the name of the French national anthem...). When the speeches started we hit the grocery store which was packed with people. We were surprised to find it open on a holiday, and it closed very shortly after our visit.

Both of the snorkels we did on the reef next to the boat were disappointing, although perhaps better than Moorea. We saw a few crown of thorns and lots of dead coral, but some of it was okay. So once again we focused on hiking. In Fare we walked 7 km to the village of Maeva where there are several marae (historic) sites. There's a big reconstructed one right off the side of the road which received all of the tourist attention. But we followed a hiking trail through the woods to see several more, which we had all to ourselves except for a few locals doing maintenance work at one. It was a beautiful walk and it felt great to get off the road for awhile. But we were dead tired by the time we finished the trail so we hitched a ride back to Fare with a Marquesan woman and her 10 month old baby. She's married to a New Zealander and they've done quite a bit of travel themselves.

On Friday we moved south to Baie Teapaa but it was windy so I didn't feel like getting off the boat. John went in for a walk and reported nothing much going on in the very small village there, although we heard drums for a little while just before sunset. The next morning we moved to Baie Avea at the southernmost end of Huahine. This is as far as you can take a big boat on the western side of the island because the lagoon is choked with coral at the southern point. It continued windy with a few rain showers over the weekend, but we were able to get off the boat for a walk on Sunday. We visited a small marae around the point and walked through the village of Parea before returning to a trail head across the street from the entrance to the marae. The trail climbed up a pine covered ridge for great views of Baie Parea and Baie Avea, but it looped back to Parea so we turned around at the top of the ridge and went back down the way we had come.

This morning we snorkeled inside Passe Araara where the current was too strong but I got to see two anemones each with a pair of colorful anemonefish (not actual clown fish like Nemo though!). Then we tried the east side of Motu Araara where I was amazed by the number of sea urchins. John went as far as he could out to the reef and said it was live coral all the way there instead of having a big dead ditch inside the reef like we saw at Fare.

After lunch we motored the eight miles back to Fare and anchored off the village this time. John is at the bar next to the dinghy dock enjoying the 5:30-6:30 PM happy hour with S/V Dignity while I catch up on internet chores. Big Hinano draft beers are only 250 CFP and maitais are half price at 450 CFP!

After popping in for fresh baguettes in the morning, Tuesday we'll sail across the channel to visit Raiatea, the second largest island in the Societies.

Linda

{GMST}16|43.222|S|151|02.378|W|Fare surfers anchorage|Huanine{GEND}

{GMST}16|47.487|S|151|00.387|W|Teapaa|Huanine{GEND}

{GMST}16|48.712|S|150|59.475|W|Avea|Huanine{GEND}

{GMST}16|42.756|S|151|02.346|W|Fare Village|Huanine{GEND}

Mo'orea

Before we left Tahiti for Moorea we paid a last visit to the roulottes and to the final night of rehearsals for Heiva in the outdoor stadium at the end of the waterfront promenade. I highly recommend trying to catch the free rehearsals two or three nights before the official start of Heiva. Some of the younger dancers didn't appear to have their act together yet, but an older troupe was very good. We arrived before sunset which was too early. We should have eaten first and then walked down to the stadium. As it was we watched a couple of numbers and when there was a break in the action we walked to the roulottes for a crepe and a hamburger. We returned to the stadium after 8 PM and stayed until 11 PM for the grande finale (in full costume).

We paid our bill at the quay and officially checked out of French Polynesia. Papeete is the center of all things official in FP, and we need do nothing more than check in and out with local gendarmes at each subsequent island (we're even stamped out in our passports). We then made the five mile trip to Marina Taina past the Papeete airport where we filled up with gasoline and duty free diesel. We exited a nearby pass for the 20 mile sail to Moorea. It was a terribly uncomfortable motor sail with confused seas in the channel between the islands. But as we rounded a point on Moorea John looked out over the distance just in time to see a lot of wind coming our way. He reefed the sails before we got hit with 25-30 knots of wind, and it was a quick sail to the well marked and easy pass at Opunohu Bay (past Cook's Bay). We anchored in 12' of water next to the coral extending out from the reef inside the pass. In most of these bays you can also anchor at the head of the bay where the water is much deeper and you are more shaded by the high mountains. If we were to do it again we would anchor closer to the beach side because all the tour/dive boats speed between Nakia and the reef on their way back and forth between Cook's Bay and our pass and beyond.

We made a brief visit to Stingray City where the tour boats don't mind if cruisers join in the melee of feeding rays and black-tip reef sharks (there were easily over two dozen of the latter darting in between people standing in the shallow water). We had done something similar in the Bahamas with a smaller group and fewer sharks and this was a bit too chaotic for me. We took the dinghy farther down the bay to try to find some snorkeling but the wind suddenly kicked up and we needed to go upwind back to Nakia. We managed to get in the wake of a small speedboat who "broke trail" for us. Then we passed a smaller dinghy with four people going very slowly. They were having trouble with their motor and motioned us over. We offered to take their two Belgian guests aboard our dinghy, which improved their situation, and we led the way back to their boat. Of course not much later, the wind calmed down and it was a beautiful afternoon.

In fact every day has been absolutely gorgeous and it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that we had any clouds. After our trip to Stingray City we went for a snorkel on the shallow reef next to Nakia, but most of the coral was dead and covered with some kind of strange weed. I counted five crown of thorns sea stars so that is part of the reason for the poor condition of the coral.

Since the snorkeling isn't very interesting we've concentrated on land exploration. On Saturday we made a five hour round trip hike to Belvedere (lookout) and Three Pines for stunning views of the two bays and the pineapple fields in Paopao valley. Sunday we took a walk after the solar eclipse to Jus de Fruit in Cook's Bay, but alas it was closed. And yesterday we caught an early morning bus to the ferry terminal in Vaiare. I was under the mistaken belief that it would be the biggest city on the island, but there wasn't even a bank. Instead the main city appears to be Maharepa where the post office and a few banks are located. Without much to see in Vaiare we walked to the Super Champion grocery store and then back to the terminal to wait for the next bus. The bus schedule is tied to ferry arrival/departure times so we waited for over an hour just people watching. We caught the bus going to the south and west sides of the island even though we were fully aware that it only went as far as Hauru at the northwestern tip. Hauru was a little tourist town where we bought a couple of fresh baguettes and started walking towards Papetoai with our thumbs stuck out for every passing car. Finally a pickup truck slowed for us and we hopped in the bed. But the driver motioned for us to get in the cab with him because it's illegal for people to ride in the back. Our driver turned out to be a city councilman who spoke excellent English. We told him how much we were enjoying Moorea and he told us that there's been a big campaign to get the garbage off the road sides and beaches. He said the next big job will be to build some new schools.

It's nice to be out of the big city, but this is also a busy place probably because it may be a holiday week for many people with Bastille Day coming up tomorrow (Wednesday). Saturday night a place on shore right next to the anchorage blared awful music literally all night long. The volume went down a bit some time in the wee hours of the morning when we think someone might have complained. We suspect it could have been a solar eclipse party since it was still going strong later in the morning. The eclipse was fun. We had our commemorative glasses and a clear morning for viewing it. As the shadows lengthened the air became significantly cooler. While we weren't in a zone of totality, it got pretty close but not close enough for an actual solar corona.

Tonight we leave for Huahine which is reputed to be a quieter, more laid back place where we hope to find better snorkeling.

Linda

{GMST}17|29.346|S|149|51.082|W|Opunohu Bay|Moorea{GEND}

Papeete, Tahiti

It's been another busy week! We ended up spending a few more days at Apataki waiting for a front to blow through. This gave us a chance to do some more reef walking and snorkeling, and chores like defrosting the freezer and baking bread. But it was quite windy and rainy so we also had a bit of down time.

The most interesting event was seeing Tutatis hauled out at the carenage (boat yard). The operation is similar to the one at Marina San Carlos but with even less water and no dock at the ramp. Tutatis draws only 6' but Tony (Alfred's son) was in the water during the entire operation, first to dig a ditch in the sand using pressure water, and then to make sure the boat was positioned on the trailer correctly. After hours of work the trailer raised the boat out of the water, but it was just slightly crooked. Everyone took a break to wait for the tide to come up a little, lower the boat back in the water, and reposition it on the trailer. They finally dragged it all into the yard before sunset with a combo back ho/front loader. There are absolutely no supplies available other than what can be delivered by plane so you'd have to have everything you needed for repairs or maintenance before you hauled out.

The next day we left for a two night sail to Papeete in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. It was a rolly downwind sail with a wicked half hour squall the first night. The wind gusted to 45 knots and it poured rain. But we left Apataki with two reefs in the main and only a little bit of the jib out because we knew we were likely to go through some heavy rain clouds. John hand steered through two more squalls that night but nothing as bad as the first one. Rather than get bulky foul weather gear soaked John prefers to wear swim trunks and his wet suit jacket to stay warm out in the rain. Fortunately there were only a couple of light showers during my watches, and nothing requiring hand steering.

We arrived after sunrise on Friday as planned and called Port Control for permission to enter the busy harbor. We stood off for a few minutes to let one of the Moorea ferries go ahead of us. We then turned left into the harbor only to be met by a wall of canoes in the distance. As part of the Heiva festivities in July canoe races were being held last weekend and Friday was a practice day. At first we tried to stay to the left side of the harbor, but after the canoes started it was apparent that was the favored side, and we dodged right to stay out of their way. After they had passed we needed to go left again to get around and behind the buoyed start line, and into the ferry terminal and yacht quay area to our right.

The yacht quay now has three docks floating perpendicular to the wall complete with mooring lines, electricity, water, and locked gates. I imagine some of the flavor of the old days of tying directly to the wall has been lost, but this cuts out the hassles of crossing anchors with other boats and jockeying for position on the wall. I can't imagine what being on the wall must have been like when the ferry wakes went through rocking all the boats. We are the odd boat in that we're tied a good 12' from the dock to keep Ziggy from jumping off. We also chose a spot at the very end of the dock to keep us far from the gate which leads right out to a boardwalk along the main waterfront street where Ziggy would be toast in no time flat. Just like we did in Hawaii we get from the boat to the dock in our dinghy which is on a pulley system for going back and forth.

Rather than waste our first day here sleeping we charged out into the city to find Cost and Company which turned out to be a mini version of Costco at almost twice the price. But they had Kirkland coffee and just about everything else you could want if you hadn't seen it in years. Since we were still well stocked from Hawaii we drooled but didn't buy much. We didn't quite make it to the Champion grocery store at the other end of town before a huge downpour so we took shelter across the street from a Protestant church and watched the Tahitians in their finery (the ladies hats are something to behold) going to Friday evening services. The store had very French things like brie and truffles, and we tried to buy only what we needed.

Back to the boat to drop our purchases, shower, and head out to the roulottes in the town plaza for dinner. There must be close to a dozen vans to choose from, most of which feature Chinese food which is usually cooked to order on woks and grills right outside the roulotte. We ate at another chow mein roulotte last night, but next time I'd like to try one of the crepes.

On Saturday we got a late start out to the industrial area of town to investigate the local version of West Marine, and a real Ace hardware. Unfortunately because things open at 7 AM, they close by Noon on Saturday (and anywhere from 4-6 during the week!), but that made walking around a little easier. The sidewalks here are almost as uneven as in Latin America and cars use most of what would be sidewalks for parking. On the way back to the boat we stopped at Les 3 Brasseurs (a waterfront brew pub) for some refreshment, and after lunch I did some laundry in the rain and we filled our tanks.

Our Fourth of July was a non event. There was a party on the dock in front of us, but they all looked under 40 and the babes in bikinis and the beer bong reminded us of the annual bash on the Delta back home! We started our day early by visiting the big Sunday city market for veggies, finished our shopping at the Champion, and did some more laundry. No fireworks, and early to bed for us.

The last couple of days were spent doing a lot of walking trying to get our paperwork sorted out and ordering duty free liquor. Since we didn't understand that we had to do the former before we could do the latter, we made a lot of wasted trips which fortunately helped work off the pan du chocolate and other wonderful pastries we bought at the market. We hope to take delivery of a case of very questionable (but cheap!) Martinique rum this afternoon. We've decided to stay one more night in hopes of watching an evening of practice dancing and music before the Heiva festivities officially get under way. In the morning we'll get fuel and be on our way to Moorea.

Linda

{GMST}17|32.420|S|149|34.228|W|The yacht quay Papeete|Papeete{GEND}

Pictures of the Tuamotus

We finally have some internet, so we've posted our pics of the Tuamotus:

http://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/Tuamotus

John

Apataki

Except for the hour or so it took to run the HF radio net on Wednesday we motored in light wind all the way to Apataki. Interestingly enough, at one point we could see Apataki ahead of us with Toau still in view behind us. We departed Toau at 0510 and were in the lagoon at Apataki by 1000. With light winds and a two meter swell, we had an easy entrance through the well marked pass.

We anchored in the lee of a small reef just inside the lagoon to make a quick trip to the grocery store in the village for a few supplies. Then we motored into a light wind the nine miles to the SE end of the atoll where there is a carenage (boat yard) run by Valentine's cousin, Alfred:

http://www.apatakicarenage.com

We were tired of motoring all day so we headed straight for the W end of the first big motu rather than continuing E to where four other boats were anchored/moored in front of the carenage ramp. It was very weird to see a mast and foresail in amongst the palm trees on shore. We anchored in 24', clear sand, and ended up in 40':

{GMST}15|33.780|S|146|15.343|W|South East motu in Apataki|Apataki 1{GEND}

Thursday morning we took the dinghy over to visit the carenage. This is a new business for Alfred, adding to their income from his father's pearl farm (Assam's). Of course it's a bare bones yard but the few boats there look well secured for cyclone season. We met with Alfred and his wife Pauline and their son, Tony, who has studied at jeweler's school for two years in Papeete (to carry on the pearl tradition), and they encouraged us to move to their anchorage to be closer. So in the afternoon we dropped anchor at:

{GMST}15|33.534|S|146|14.628|W|In front of the Carenage in Apataki|Apataki{GEND}

On our next visit ashore I made the mistake of asking Alfred about the availability of tomatoes (from the write-up in one of the guides which says vegetables are available) and he immediately took me out to the tiny garden behind their kitchen/dining building. Before I could stop him he plucked the only three Roma style tomatoes that were barely beginning to blush red and gave them to me. I felt terrible about it. Right now he's still in the "test garden" phase to see how things grow here, and they really don't have enough extra to sell to cruisers. His mother keeps chickens and sells their eggs, and they use the droppings for fertilizer in the garden.

This morning (Saturday) I had just finished adding brown sugar and milk to our oatmeal when Alfred pulled up in their work boat with his son, Tony, another worker guy, and Carolina, Tony's latest girl friend from Nice. They asked us if we wanted to ride out to their pearl farm right that minute. We were already dressed in our bathing suits, so I turned off the stove, we grabbed our snorkels and swim ladder, and jumped in their big panga style boat. It turned out that they were only pulling up pearl buoys and not any actual oysters so we didn't see anything we hadn't already seen at Toau. But it was nice of them to include us. Tony speared a grouper which they offered to us when they dropped us back at Nakia, but we told them we already had some fish we needed to eat. There isn't supposed to be any ciguatera here but why take a chance...

After two days of calm, sunny weather the weekend is forecast to be wet and windy. Last night the lagoon was so still it was breathtaking, and today we've already had a little rain. Assuming the rough weather passes by Monday, we'll leave for Papeete this coming week.

Saying goodbye

Leaving Gaston and Valentine and Anse Amyot was one of the most difficult things we've had do to in our cruising life. It ranks right up there with leaving Bahia de los Angeles after spending three summers there, and leaving our good friends in Mexico behind as we continued south and west. Anse Amyot is a little piece of paradise in amongst the rest of the jewels of the Tuamotus, and if it weren't for the 90 day limit to our visas we would seriously consider staying in French Polynesia through cyclone season just to spend more time here. We are having a terrible time leaving for the Societies. What if we get there and find that we wish we were back here!

We are so grateful to G&V for doing all they can to accommodate cruisers, and for being so warm and welcoming. For all the pressure we put on their peaceful lifestyle they honestly enjoy our company. In turn we have a responsibility not to overwhelm them with our presence. It's obvious that they sometimes have a hard time saying no and we need to be sensitive to their work load and the supplies they have on hand to feed and service the constant stream of boats coming through. As much as they appreciate what we do for them in return, they must heave a small sigh of relief when the last boat leaves in September!

We enjoyed a last happy hour and musical jam session on shore Tuesday night with all the boats, and it was impossible for me to say goodbye without tears. This is not a place like Mexico to which we could easily return some day. The next morning we dropped our mooring at the first glimmer of dawn and, as we headed straight away from Toau bound for Apataki, it was even harder to watch the atoll fade away on our stern. As John was comforting me up on deck we both saw a bright shooting star in the morning sky. I'm not sure what that means, but it was a lovely farewell gift.

We will carry fond memories of Valentine's happy laughter (which could be heard all the way out to our boat); Gaston's endless energy and nonstop activity; Valentine's enjoyment in playing S/V Freedom's Marquesan ukulele during our happy hour jam sessions; Gaston's love of pancakes with peanut butter; listening to the B.B. King CDs we gave them while Valentine and I worked on making my necklace; the friendly dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens; Philippe's Tahitian songs on the guitar; and many more sights and sounds of Anse Amyot.

Saving Pursuit

Good grief, time sure does fly when you're basically doing nothing. Since our last blog: John made final (hopefully) repairs to our wind vane; he cooked another pancake breakfast for Gaston and Valentine with Soggy Paws and Jack, a 24 year old American who's been traveling since he was 17 (mostly by hopping freight trains until he ran out of railroad tracks in Costa Rica), as invited guests; and we did some more snorkeling and reef walking. Last Friday the weather turned wet again and we spent all morning catching water and doing laundry (which I threw into the shower wet since it was still too rainy to dry). John made bread and we spent the afternoon watching some of the Horatio Hornblower series for a second time.

Saturday morning I put the laundry out on clotheslines to dry and we went in to shore to see G&V. But they made a last minute decision to take the yellow bomber (their go fast boat) to Apataki to get gasoline, a propane bottle for us, and misc groceries. It was a nice day so we burned our paper garbage. I gathered coconuts into large groups under various trees and dragged palm fronds onto piles for burning later. John had brought tools in to fix Valentine's washing machine which wouldn't spin. After he fixed that he helped another cruiser figure out the problem with a broken portable generator. While he was busy with that I borrowed an axe from Philippe to open some coconuts to feed the pigs and then I let Bula (a rotweiler mix) and Lulu take me for a walk out on the point. By that time we were hungry and the laundry was dry.

John spent most of Sunday transferring propane from the big Apataki bottle to two small bottles for us and Soggy Paws. While he was on shore he attended the Father's Day church service which this time was mostly translated to English since there weren't as many French speakers in attendance. I stayed on the boat to bake brownies for the Father's Day potluck that afternoon. Gaston grilled chicken for those who hadn't brought their own meat in for the BBQ, and Valentine made donut sized "rolls" by flattening dough into thick pancakes which were then nested in between two special leaves and put on the grill to cook. The weather looked threatening so we set chairs for 20 people inside the restaurant and by the time we managed to tear ourselves away from the fun, it was just beginning to rain hard. I'm always surprised at how cold it can feel here when rain is pelting down and the wind begins to pick up.

We woke to more rain Monday morning but John and I went to shore to have G&V take a look at my 40 Kauehi pearls to see what could be done with them. I had arranged them all in a row, attempting to place the ones I thought were best in the center of the necklace. Gaston got his special machine out (not a Dremel tool) to drill holes in all of them for me. But I soon realized that it was hardly worth putting holes in the worst of them, and I asked Valentine if she would use her judgment for how best to use them. She knew how much I admired the necklace she always wears, and so she began designing something similar for me. While her necklace is mostly kaishi (natural pearls) mixed in with various decorative beads, she used 15 of my cultured pearls and from her own supply added kaishi, beads, and small Japanese cream pearls, plus two of her own pearls since she couldn't find enough of mine to match up well enough. She directed me in helping her find what she needed from her stores and we had a great time working together on it. I gave her my unused pearls to use in decorative projects but before we left they asked John if he wanted a "surfer" necklace. John picked out one of our pearls for Gaston to drill and then put it on a black cord to wear tied up close on his neck with a slip knot. Valentine said that's what all the Tahitian surfers wear. So now we have the most treasured souvenirs we could ever hope to receive from two of the nicest people we've ever met.

That night we went to bed early since it was too rainy and windy for a happy hour ashore. Which was a good thing because we woke at 10:30 to a call for help on the VHF radio. Pursuit had broken the line to their mooring and was aground! John immediately put his wet suit jacket on and lowered our dinghy in the pouring rain and howling wind to go to their aid. More cruisers in dinghies soon joined him and the rest of us stood by the radio waiting for updates and watching with binoculars as they struggled to free Pursuit from the coral. We learned later that boats with anenometers (wind indicators) recorded gusts up to 50 knots, but at 11:10 the wind suddenly died down enough to make better progress kedging the boat off with a stern anchor. The dinghies finally managed to push the boat into deep water. After the wind died Gaston was able to launch his big boat to come out with Jack to tow the disabled boat back to its mooring where it was resecured. By this time it was 11:40 and John was amazed to hear later that the whole ordeal hadn't taken longer. Pursuit's prop had lost a blade, but the next day another boat was able to loan a spare which will get them to Papeete for final repairs.

This is one of those events that truly brings cruisers together and we all met the next night for happy hour, relieved that no one was hurt and no serious damage had been done.

Still in Anse Amyot

I'm surprised to see that my last blog was written a week and a half ago, but life in Paradise has been keeping us busy.

We have been enjoying daily snorkels and/or reef walks and occasionally both in one day. I still can't get over the variety of fish we're seeing here and I continue to struggle with identifying as many of them as I can in our Reef Fish book. My new game is counting eels and yesterday I had a personal best of 11 morays including two little ones. During our reef walks John found several unoccupied cowrie shells to add to our collection. After one walk on a motu in the eastern section of the lagoon we dinghied out to a small motu with some pearl farming attached to it. We did a snorkel circumnavigation of the little island and it was very nice with tons of clams and live coral including a bit of brain coral which we don't see often.

One afternoon Gaston and Valentine took a French couple out in their work boat and returned with pearl oysters. The rest of us gathered on shore as Gaston split open the oysters to pop the pearls out into a small bowl filled with wet salt to clean them. We could see how labor intensive it was, but they ended up with nicer pearls than we'd seen in Kauehi. They cleaned each animal to harvest a nugget of meat for their meal later. They had also brought back a dozen purple pencil urchins. We didn't see what they did with the insides and they are now out drying in the sun.

The weather has been particularly calm and John ended up putting the rocker stopper out for a few nights. But the swell has been low enough recently that he pulled it back out of the water. We had a few days of lots of clouds and overcast rolling through with no appreciable rain fall. The last few days have been crystal clear and calm enough for several trips to snorkel while our friends dove on the outside of the atoll. I don't find these trips particularly interesting because most of the fish are in deeper water and there's not much nice coral, but the upside is that we've seen fish out there that we don't find in the cove. One day we snorkeled in through the pass on our way back to Nakia and saw a few white-tip reef sharks, a barracuda, and a free swimming octopus.

Our evenings have been busy with various social activities. There was a potluck birthday dinner on shore one night, happy hours on friend's boats, a lobster dinner to pay for our second week of mooring, a happy hour ashore with Philippe on guitar and Valentine on ukelele, and the big dinner on Saturday prepared by Gaston and Valentine to celebrate their wedding anniversary. That morning we heard the final squealings of a small pig which was turned into blood sausage and pork stew for dinner. This was accompanied by more parrotfish poisson cru and baked parrotfish in tin foil packets on the BBQ. The cruisers all pitched in with canned fruit, juices, and various bottles of alcoholic beverages to make a potent fruit punch, and we didn't get home until 11 PM.

John helped install a few new moorings with Soggy Paws and Gaston to bring the total to 13, with three additional spots sussed out for anchoring. Yesterday we had a high count of 15 boats in the cove, but I don't know if that's a new record or not. Gaston and Valentine have been hard pressed to keep up with the increase in visitors and the quality of two of the meals has suffered as a result. There have also been problems recently with getting gasoline, which is always a scarce commodity in the these remote atolls, and Gaston hasn't been able to do any game fishing this past week. About a week ago Valentine's sister, Liza, and her family returned from Fakarava to run the pension a few doors down from G&V's place. The next day four men came out to build a fish trap not far from Nakia's mooring and the area we snorkel. They come out multiple times throughout the day to harvest mostly parrotfish and grouper, and today someone saw them take a Napoleon wrasse. They throw back butterflyfish and others, and morays eels are speared and thrown out of the trap. This morning John was so upset to see them spear seven morays that he went in to talk to Valentine about building a fish trap the eels can get out of, but he couldn't bring himself to broach the subject with her. It's hard to watch, but it would also be presumptuous of us to suggest they change what they've been doing for generations.

Last Thursday John cooked a promised pancake breakfast for G&V. At the last minute their three French friends showed up as well. Soggy Paws was invited, and John was kept busy in Valentine's kitchen flipping flapjacks and cooking eggs to order for everyone. We brought all the supplies including syrup, but G&V preferred their pancakes topped with peanut butter and I got raised eyebrows from the French when I buried mine in syrup! Sherry and I did the cleanup while the guys went off with Gaston to fix another cruiser's outboard.

Yesterday, as a courtesy for all of their hospitality, a number of us sat through a two hour church service conducted by Valentine. Gaston and Philippe were the only other locals in attendance, while there were 13 adults and four children representing seven cruising boats. Six adults spoke English and everyone else spoke French so the service was conducted in French. There was lots of singing accompanied by Philippe or Valentine on ukelele, and Valentine read passages from the bible for discussion. Of course this was the morning after the big anniversary party so everyone's head was a little thick and it was hard to keep from nodding off!

You probably haven't heard that there is a general strike in Papeete where the international airport and the commercial shipping ports have been closed for a few days. We still need to get gasoline and are hoping that the Thursday supply barge into Fakarava with carry some. We will probably leave Anse Amyot on Wednesday for the short hop to civilization.

Linda

Anse Amyot, Toau

We sailed dead downwind (DDW) to get from Kauehi to Toau, and two opposing wave trains made it next to impossible to get any decent sleep but we don't mind so much when it's only a one night passage. We arrived at 0700 Monday morning and Soggy Paws helped tie us to a mooring buoy. The family here has really turned their little cove into a business with up to 10-12 moorings and an informal restaurant. I say "cove" because the entrance is what they call a blind pass where you can't actually cross into the lagoon because of an interior reef blocking the way. Gaston and Valentine charge a fee to stay on a mooring, or you can buy a couple of dinners instead. So this is a bit unusual for the Tuamotus, which are otherwise free of charge, but the family has a very good reputation for their hospitality and friendliness towards cruisers. And I think more boats can be fit into the cove by using a mooring system, which is useful since it's such a popular place. There are no hassles with tides/currents to get in and out, and the entrance is short and easy with both sides of the reef marked and a lighted range on which to line up for your entry.

{GMST}15|48.222|S|146|09.110|W|Anse Amyot Toau|Toau{GEND}

Our first night was crazy with tons of lightning and thunder in the distance and wind gusting to 40 knots. Makes us kind of uneasy to be in severe weather on a mooring we know nothing about (John didn't have a chance to thoroughly check it out our first day here), but all five boats held just fine. And on Tuesday morning's net we learned that a few boats in both the village and the SE Kauehi anchorages dragged, so we feel pretty good about things here. It had rained off and on all night but was too windy to put the rain catcher up. While we were having our coffee on deck in the morning, enjoying a break in the rain, we watched a big black cloud mass coming towards us. John quickly put the rain catcher up, plugged the scuppers on the side decks, and we got out all the jugs and buckets to do some laundry after we filled our tanks. I threw all the wrung out laundry in the shower until the sky lightened enough to hang it out to drip dry. You can't imagine how great it feels to know we have more water than we could probably use before we have to leave the Toots for Papeete!

We are now on two informal HF radio nets, one at 0800 and one at 1800 (6 PM) to talk to other boats. We used to listen only to one for boats in the Tuamotus, but now we're starting to listen to one which was created by the Puddle Jumpers (the boats coming down from Mexico). It's a good way to track how many boats are in each place, and trade info on weather, good anchorages, tide info for pass entry/exit, etc.

Soggy Paws made a reservation for us to join the other boats for dinner Tuesday night at the restaurant. We were a party of nine with people from Argentina, Finland, Italy (Milan), and Australia. Fortunately for us Americans everyone spoke excellent English and had traveled extensively in the U.S. The little restaurant is charmingly decorated with shells and signs of cruiser memorabilia. Valentine and Gaston had been working hard all day preparing the meal. After a short happy hour (BYOB) we sat down to a meal of foccacia topped with garlic and wahoo as a starter, coconut bread, rice, wahoo sashimi on a bed of shredded cabbage accompanied by a delicious sauce, breaded and fried mahi mahi, parrot fish poisson cru (raw fish in coconut milk), lobster au gratin, topped off with a rich slice of coconut cake for dessert. Our arteries are probably choking to death, but it was all delicious and there was plenty of it. We'll just have to spend lots of time snorkeling to pay for it!

Except for an absence of colorful clams the snorkeling here is some of the best we've seen because there are many different kinds of fish, an occasional small black-tip shark, coral, and huge green moray eels. And this is all right from the boat - we don't even have to get in our dinghy. We did do one outer reef snorkel after the weather had calmed down on Wednesday. This was interesting from the standpoint of being able to see the steep drop off that our friends were diving, but there are loads more fish to see (and at a closer vantage point) right here in the cove. Visibility is best on an incoming tide so we did a morning snorkel today, but we were in the water after high tide and the visibility dropped significantly by the time we got out again. The only negative we can find is that the boat rolls in the small amount of swell that makes its way into the cove, but not enough for John to get out the rocker stopper yet. Usually there's enough breeze to keep us pointed into the wind which lessons the effect.

We are enjoying our stay here and are in no hurry to leave yet!

Linda

Kauehi

Somehow we've managed to spend an entire week at Kauehi, which is about 3-4 days too many. Several boats coming from the Marquesas have made this their first landfall in the Tuamotus, and I feel a little sorry for them. Yes, it's an easy pass for first timers, but there is nothing special about this atoll to warrant a visit. The water clarity in this lagoon is the worst we've seen anywhere else and the coral is mostly dead. We've managed to find a few nice, unoccupied shells, but the snorkeling has been mostly uninteresting. We haven't seen a single shark, but we've had remoras attached to our hull so maybe that makes us the shark.

We reanchored in the SE anchorage to position ourselves in front of what looks like an abandoned pension:

{GMST}15|56.668|S|145|03.572|W|South East Road Anchorage Kauehi|Kauehi Road{GEND}

There is a "road" leading from the pension seven miles to the village, which makes for nice walking or jogging should you feel the need. There's also a branch of road leading out to the berm on the ocean side for a good look at what the wind and waves are doing on the outside of the reef.

The deep, dark water in the lagoon makes conning less stressful for me since I can only see hazards that come to the surface. I'm more nervous in 50' of clear water where I can see every little rock and coral bommie, because it's much harder to judge their depth. On Friday we sailed directly to the village anchorage and there were many more hazards on that route than from the pass to the SE corner. The coral reefs were clearly visible well in advance, but a submerged pearl farm buoy and line caught me by surprise and we went over it without any problem. We skirted the rest of the buoys and crossed the navigable channel to anchor close in to shore:

{GMST}15|49.245|S|145|07.023|W|Kauehi Town Anchorage|Kauehi Village{GEND}

Before departing for Fakarava, friends told us that the mayor would return home at 5 PM for pearl sales and that he was particularly interested in getting a heavy jacket to wear in the cold weather (?!). So we looked in every compartment until we found John's beautiful, heavy, wind proof, North Face fleece jacket and an old Helly Hanson jacket both of which were basically brand new and unworn. I threw in a nice heavy sweatshirt as well, and hoped the mayor was a big man. We went in for a look around, hoping that the little store would be open. The posted hours at Magasin Tiaihau are 0600-1100 and 1300-1900, but I got the impression it's best to catch them open in the morning. Mayor Julien Tiaihau and his wife Nicole returned a bit after 5:00. Nicole opened the store and John went to do our shopping while I followed the mayor and three people from another boat to Residence Tiaihau which appeared to be the only home completely surrounded by fencing and a gate. In what we would call the car port the mayor opened a suitcase and spread a bag of pearls out on a cloth covered table. What a let down. These were mostly small (earring sized), rough, dull, and completely mismatched in color. One man found a nice pearl that he liked, but it was impossible for him to find a mate and he let it go to me. When we asked if he had better quality pearls for us to choose from the mayor told us that all the best pearls go to Japan (not Papeete). We asked to see larger sized pearls and these were in even worse shape.

I had been pulling aside anything that was even remotely round, blemish free, and with decent color on at least one side, until I had a pile of pearls with the nicest one (given to me by the man who couldn't find a match) set off from my pile. The other boat decided not to make a purchase, making a good point that it would cost more to mount them than they were worth. (I later learned from John that the woman had been told the pearls would cost $8 apiece!) I waited for the others to leave before beginning my horse trading, and the mayor's eyes lit up when I pulled out the jackets for him to try on. He is a tall, muscular man and he took everything I offered, even though I'd really meant for him to choose one of the three! The zipper was jammed by corrosion on the Helly Hanson (oops, forgot to double check everything before bringing it to shore) and we agreed to fix it and bring it on Saturday when we came in to get baguettes. Then the mayor took the good pearl away from my pile, put it in a little jewelry ziploc bag and put it in his suitcase. When I protested that I'd wanted to keep it for the man who didn't buy it, the mayor counted out my 35 pearls, scooped a few more from the reject pile, put them all in a little bag, and gave them to me. Obviously there was something special about that particular one which made me determined to have it, so I pulled a nice hat from my backpack to exchange for the pearl. Finally I understood that the mayor's biggest concern was that I should keep the pearl for myself and not give it to the "monsieur." We agreed to this stipulation with handshakes and smiles all around.

The next morning John discovered that the zipper on the jacket was beyond repair and he spent the entire morning ripping out the old zipper and replacing it with a new one. I'm not sure it was worth all the effort because he then discovered that the white plastic waterproof lining was flaking off and coming out of the mesh lining of the jacket. I just hope the mayor doesn't wear a lot of black... So now we've lightened the boat but not our wallets, and I have a small pile of black pearls which may never see the light of day, but we had fun doing it and I know the North Face jacket will serve the mayor well.

We've reprovisioned and taken care of chores like defrosting the freezer, vacuuming, cleaning the stove, and other cleaning chores. We took a list of supplies for Gaston and Valentine from Soggy Paws and we will be delivering those to Anse Amyot at Toau which is where we're headed tonight. We'll leave at 3 PM and sail overnight. So I'm off to get a swim before we depart!

Linda

Fakarava to Kauehi

Saturday night we made a typical last minute decision to move to another atoll to take advantage of this period of fairly settled weather. We would leave on the late morning flood at Fakarava's south pass, have a slow overnight sail, and enter on the early morning ebb at Kauehi's wide, deep, and straightforward (no obstacles) pass. We arrived at both passes well before slack but experienced only up to two knots of flood current at the former and a max of about four knots of ebb current (with more bouncy chop and whirlpools) at the latter. We could have waited longer to enter Kauehi, but after drifting around on a flat lake all night, we were antsy to get in for a pancake breakfast. John had made our usual Sunday pancake breakfast before departing Fakarava, but for some mysterious reason the pancakes never bubbled or browned, and we threw the pale, doughy pancakes to the fish. It wasn't until hours later that I hit on the fact that I'd recently swapped storage places with the white flour and the pancake mix (stored in identical containers). Oops!

As we sailed away from Fakarava I was struck by how clearly Motu Aito Paradise stands out from all other motus. When they built their pension Manihi and Tila planted fast growing fir trees and no palms which makes it very shady and gives it a unique skyline. I forgot to mention that when we asked Manihi where most of his guests come from he told us he gets very few Americans as 80% of them go to Bora Bora. As Fakarava grew smaller I also noticed a few clouds above the motus which were colored green by the intense reflection from the shallow waters.

So we had a quiet, uneventful, slow night on completely flat seas. We covered the last five miles at dawn to enter the pass at 0630. Since this is very poor light for conning we decided to drop anchor just inside the pass in 50' of water on short scope long enough to eat breakfast and wait for the sun to get a little higher for better visibility.

http://www.sailsarana.com/maps/map.htm?15,57.354,S,145,10.250,W,Kauehi%20Pass%20Anchorage

We were underway again at 0900 in spite of the building rain clouds around us. Somehow they all managed to dump their precious fresh water everywhere but on us. The overcast skies actually helped keep direct sun out of my eyes and I only saw a couple of reefs we needed to avoid. The water was otherwise deep for the entire five mile trip. We picked a spot well to the south of five other boats and, on the second try, we anchored in 44' off a motu with an abandoned shack on it. We haven't anchored overnight in water this deep in ages, but it doesn't look like we'll run into any coral here.

http://www.sailsarana.com/maps/map.htm?15,57.423,S,145,04.423,W,Kauehi%20SE%20Anchorage

This atoll already looks a little different to us in that there are very few breaks, or areas of reef, between motus. It's more like a few long continuous motus surrounding this end of the atoll. And the deep water almost to shore means we'll have a shorter dinghy ride, and we may even be able to swim to the beach from Nakia. We'll let you know after we've done some exploring.

Linda

Fakarava 2nd anchorage

At Noon on Friday we carefully motored Nakia over to the west side of the south pass to anchor in the shallow water (10-15') off an area of white sandy beaches where the pensions bring their guests by small boat for day trips.

http://www.sailsarana.com/maps/map.htm?16,31.078,S,145,28.232,W,Fakarava%20Second%20Anchorage

We brought Mike and Sue of Infini along with us so they could keep a navigation track on their hand held GPS in case they decide to move here later. We towed their dinghy and when our anchor was set we all piled in for a ride to explore the closest motu. The water shallowed up to where we had to anchor the dinghy and walk the rest of the way through ankle deep water to the beach. Evidently there is no market for the small black sea cucumbers which littered the sandy bottom. We didn't find too many unoccupied shells but John followed the tell tale signs in the sand to unearth two pretty white and orange miters which our shell book says are Episcopal miters. He carefully reburied them and I'll have to remember to bring my camera next time.

This morning we were off the boat before 10 AM to try a reef walk on an incoming tide. The theory was that we'd be able to bring the dinghy in closer to shore and have a shorter walk out to the reef but the result was that we were wading in ankle deep water on the reef. This made it next to impossible to see the shells deposited in the nooks and crannies of the reef and we came up empty handed. We had thought to bring our snorkel gear with us so, after a walk around another small motu, we got in the water to do a shallow drift snorkel back towards Nakia. This was very nice for shelling, though I had to put several pretty ones back when hermit crabs tickled my hand holding the shells. We finally made a positive ID on the money cowrie when we found a few with the distinctive yellow ring. And John pointed out a live one tucked in a hole with some of the animal's mantle peeking out over four corners of the shell, which was very exciting to see. He was also the first to spot a two foot lemon shark lying motionless in a hole under a small rock. It's tail stuck out one end and we had to go around to the other side to make out its head. It never budged the whole time we explored the area.

We were in the water so long that I was getting a headache from wearing my mask, and John said my lips were blue. But John noticed some black clouds potentially headed our way and we decided to wrap it up and get back to the boat. By this time it was almost 2 PM! We ate lunch, and John's taking a nap as I write this. We will most likely spend one more day here before moving on somewhere else.

Linda

Bliss Day 4

When Manihi called us on the VHF yesterday morning to confirm our dinner reservation at Motu Aito Paradise (www.fakarava.org) he explained that he had to go out and catch a big fish in order to feed the nine of us plus his four guests, and he invited any of us to join him. Bill, Dave and John jumped at the chance to do some ocean fishing since we haven't been fishing inside the lagoons due to the high likelihood of catching something with ciguatera. The grouper we see snorkeling are fearless because no one's interested in eating them, but pelagic fish are okay to eat. After a couple of hours they came back with a wahoo that Dave caught on a hand line, while Bill lost one on a rod and reel, and John did all the boat handling. Dinner for that night was on!

Some of us then went out for a quick snorkel of the coral between the anchorage and the pass. We first did a drift snorkel towards the pass but the current was ripping and we quickly got back into the dinghies and headed for calmer waters. We saw an eel and some colorful clams but the coral in general isn't in very good shape here. We all went for another pass drift dive/snorkel on the late afternoon change of tide and this time it was much better. The surf has come down over the past few days so the water clarity was high enough for John and me to see all the way to the bottom of a shallower part of the pass where the gray sharks were congregating. Not in the numbers that the divers get to see, but still fascinating. Along the reef side of the pass the fish were numerous and we spotted a large eel, the biggest barracuda I've seen, my first white tip shark, and three huge Napoleon wrasse. It was the best snorkel yet, and I stayed in long after my fingers went numb with cold.

We were back on the big boats by sunset to get cleaned up for a "night on the town." We took our own drinks in with us at 6 PM and Manihi made us all feel very welcome. He invited us to see the interior of his residence and explained how they catch rain water and store it in a cistern beneath the floor. He was born on Fakarava and raised his four children there (a daughter lives in Kauai with her husband and child, but the others are still living in French Polynesia). The motu was completely bare when he started building, and the trees he planted 20 years ago now provide plenty of shade and climbing adventures for his four cats (with a friendly dog looking on). We returned to the dining area where the table was set with tiare blossoms at every place setting, and the shallow water at the edge of the open air room was lit for viewing fish and small black tip sharks cruising in circles.

When dinner was served we were joined by a Japanese couple who had arrived two days earlier, and an Italian couple (from Pescara, Abruzzi) who had arrived just the day before. None of them would admit to speaking much English, but the Italians were game to try while the Japanese politely kept their own company. We sat down to a table laden with platters of cabbage and carrot salad, oven baked wahoo steaks, and beef bourguignon to ladle over the mounds of rice already on our plates. It looked like far too much food for all of us, but after seconds and thirds most of it disappeared. Our clean plates were cleared away and Tila brought out dessert plates with two squares of pastry on each. One was chocolate and one had maybe a coconut base, and both were tasty. Taken in all of its individual parts there was nothing particularly gourmet about the meal, but the unique setting and convivial company made it an experience none of us will soon forget. (And at 2,000 CFP per person we considered it a good night off for the cooks on each boat!)

After an early morning dive Soggy Paws and Visions of Johanna are headed towards the north end of the atoll today. Nakia is going to explore an area to the west of the pass in hopes of finding a new spot to anchor for a couple of days during this period of settled weather.

Linda

Welcome Home!

We did a snorkel alongside the entrance pass day before yesterday, but it was actually a little disappointing after the beautiful clarity and colors of the one we did on Tahanea. John went again yesterday and said the clarity was better. There are lots of fish and a huge "pet" Napolean wrasse, but I prefer seeing colorful clams and coral. Our diver friends said yesterday they could see more than 100 gray sharks on the bottom of the pass which was pretty exciting!

Yesterday John spent the entire morning tightening the motor mount bolts and realigning the engine after discovering that one bolt had worked it's way loose under a small drip of oil/grease. That was a major job requiring removing the entire contents on top of and underneath the quarter berth, plus lots of contortions in small spaces. Once he finished that unexpected project I could begin cleaning the boat in preparation for happy hour that evening on Nakia.

When John and the divers returned from their mid-afternoon expedition we all got cleaned up to pay a visit to the pension, Motu Aito Paradise, run by Manihi and his wife, Tila. Wow, Paradise is right! This is a charming, intimate pension with artistic details, nice bathroom fixtures, and a warm, welcoming feel from its owners. It's a sharp contrast to the larger, slightly run down operation at Tetamanu Village located at the pass, where we felt our CFPs were more welcome than our company.

A fourth American boat, Infini, with Mike and Sue aboard, just arrived this morning. They have been in company with Soggy Paws and Visions of Johanna coming up through the Gambiers and we are looking forward to meeting them in person. They will be sailing to Hawaii with Soggy Paws for cyclone season later in the year so we'll be exchanging information with them before we part ways.

Linda

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Tahanea to Fakarava

We enjoyed another beach walk with Soggy Paws on Sunday. We landed our dinghies one more motu down from the one we had circumnavigated on foot the day before. This time the group foraged for coconuts while I scoped out the beach for shells. Interestingly, there were fewer shells to be found on this much sandier beach. Our shell book doesn't have the exact coloring, but what we're finding in abundance most closely resembles the "money" cowrie in shape. Rather than circumnavigating another motu again we donned our snorkel gear to explore a shallow "pass" to an even shallower lagoon on this motu. There wasn't a whole lot to see (and not a single shark) but I never tire of looking at the colorful baby-sized giant clams and it's always nice to putter around in the water.

Monday morning looked like Bliss, Day 1 of 3. According to a very smart weather guy, in the Tuamotus you get 1-3 days of bliss followed by stronger winds. So both boats decided to take advantage of the calmer weather to make a slow overnight trip to Fakarava. This allowed us to exit the Tahanea pass at nearly slack early in the afternoon, and enter the south pass of Fakarava at nearly slack just after dawn the next morning (today). Of course we had a nice breeze most of the night and it was hard to go slow for the relatively short (50 some miles) passage, but it was otherwise very pleasant. We were in the lee of Tahanea, and then Faaite (I mangled the spelling of this atoll in a previous post) for most of the trip which made for exceptionally smooth sailing with no swell whatsoever. What a difference that makes!

We arrived at the entrance to Fakarava just before dawn and waited for the sun to peek over the horizon before following Soggy Paws in through the pass. This was a bit trickier than the pass at Tahanea, requiring use of a range and then two buoys to navigate the channel. Once past the range markers we were a bit panicked by 14' of water and found we needed to move closer to the buoys on the right hand side, but that was the only scare we had. We couldn't have asked for calmer winds, but better light would have helped. We dropped anchor in 45' with short scope, enough to hold us while we had a pancake breakfast. John explored the anchorage in the dinghy and we reanchored in 35' for the night.

http://www.sailsarana.com/maps/map.htm?16,30.376,S,145,27.342,W,Fakarava%20South%20Pass%20Anchorage

We are meeting up with SP and VofJ soon to snorkel a pass where they'll be doing a drift dive today. This is supposed to be one of the most beautiful dive areas in the Toots so we're looking forward to lots of fish (and hopefully only baby sharks). Bliss, Day 2 of (hopefully) 3!

Linda