We're back where we started !!

May 7

We're off!! We weighed anchor and set sail. We were only headed 2 hours west around the island a short distance but it felt great to be sailing. It is a very peaceful feeling when you get the sails, shut off the engines and all you hear is the water rushing under your hull.

It was stunnings as we sailed into the narrow entrance to Daniel's Bay, the bay next door and a Jurassic Park world away. Steep volcanic cliffs 1,500 feet high and clothed in green plunged dramaticaly down to the palm tree lined beach. We came here for 2 reasons. One, we heard you could buy fruit from a local guy, not Daniel, he died a few years ago. Two, we planned to trek to the base of the 3rd tallest waterfall in the world. 

May 8

We set off early for the 2 hour trek to the Vaipo Waterfall after making a very tricky landing on the rocks with the dinghy. There are only a few families living in the bay, one of which is this tattooed Marquesan character, Taechei and his wife.
We placed an order for bananas, limes and palmellos (giant sweet grapefruit) with them before setting down the "road" to Vaipo.

The first half mile was an ancient road, lined with the ruins of the old village and many old carved stone tiki. After the first river crossing the "road" turned into a rugged trail with no "road signs" but we managed to follow it through this steep Jurassic Park valley watching for dinosaurs and cannibels until it dead-ended in a pool at the foot of the waterfall. The water was cool, refreshing and full of fresh water shrimp that nibbled your feet if you stayed still too long.

May 9-12
We set sail this morning at 7am bound for the Tuamotu islands of French Polynesia some 530 miles to the southwest.
We put out 4 fishing lines with high hopes and hooked a few fish along the way but sailing at 10 knots with no way to stop
or slow down very easily makes it hard to land any fish and many escaped with our lures. I did manage to land this yellowfin tuna
and another one a day later. The first night out we were treated to a sunset escort of over 100 dolphins riding the bow,
and jumping all around Dragonfly.
Lori and I have 2 shifts at the helm everyday we are under sail; noon to 6pm and then 1am to 4am. With the tradewinds blowing
steady from the SE at 15-25 knots, once the sails are set we can put on the auto-pilot to steer us which leaves little to do but

watch for other boats (we saw only one) and admire all the stars including the Milky Way and the Southern Cross.

May 13-14
We entered our first atoll, the island of Kauehi, at first light after 4 nights at sea. These atolls are amazing! A ring of coral reef, in places with sand and vegatation scarcley 6' above sea level, surrounding a lagoon that has only one or two natural openings that allow boats, fish and the ocean to enter and exit. They can be very dangerous to enter and timing with the  tides is critical. As the tide rises and falls, the lagoon fills and empties through these passes and the currents can become very strong. We entered without too much problem and anchored in front of the village of Tearavero and we all promptly took a nap as sleeping
while underway with Dragonfly bucking in 8' seas is not the most restfull. The village is home to about 200 people and quite nice with a concrete street, block houses, a store and a Catholic church built in 1867. Most of the people work for the "mayor" who owns one of the few black pearl farms left in the lagoon which once had as many as 50. We arranged to tour the farm along with the 8 other cruising boats anchored here.

The mayor picked us up in a flat bed truck with wooden church pews in back where all 19 of us sat for the 15 minute drive to "Paradise"...which was the name of the farm. We then split into 2 groups to take turns for a boat ride into the lagoon to snorkel through "Paradise". There were floats strung together with rope that had net sacks hanging from them full of oysters all covered in sea growth...really not much to see but still interesting. Back on shore we had lunch of chicken in broth and rice. Al was sure the chicken had been hacked to pieces with a machette and tossed into the pot, bones and all. Afterward we all piled back onto the truck and went to the mayor's house where he poured bags of black pearls onto the table for us to buy with prices that ranged from $5 to $600 each.

May 15-16
Kauehi atoll's lagoon is about 10 miles long and 8 miles wide and today we sailed down to the southwest corner. Nobody lives down  here but we heard the snorkeling was good and the scenery postcard perfect shades of blue, pink sand and palm trees...which is exactly what we found.

We spent the next couple of days here snorkeling, getting a sunburn and exploring the beaches which were pink sand covered in inches of tiny shells and broken coral bits. Lori and I also donned our snorkel gear to scrape and clean Dragonfly's bottom of the sea grass and barnacles which I'm sure grow faster than the black pearls on the farm. The shallow reef pass Lori is standing in had about 8 black tip reef sharks from 2-4 feet long cruising around that would swim quite close to your feet. If you want to come down here and check it out, put this Lat/Long into your Google Earth S15-57-32 W145-04-45

May 17-19

We exited Kauehi's lagoon through the south pass and sailed about 8 hours to the second largest atoll of French Polynesia. Fakarava is x miles and we entered again through the north pass and anchored in front of the only village, Rotoava which is very similar to the one on Kauehi only slighty bigger with 2 stores (one of which sold ice cream bars). The next day we sailed through the lagoon to the south end dodging quite a few pearl farms along the way. As soon as we anchored we were greeted with 6-8 reef sharks who circled Dragonfly almost constantly and stayed until we pulled anchor and sailed away days later.

 There is a mostly abandoned village here that used to be the capitol of the Tuamotu's in the 1850's but now has only about 20 people living here among the ruins. More important, it has a scuba dive company and Lori and I were dying to blow some bubbles. Our first dive was to be at the lagoon entrance but got changed to inside the lagoon to see a couple of BIG...no...HUGE 15-17' Tiger sharks that had been attracted to the area by a dead Sperm whale that had washed up just behind the dive shop. Our dive guide towed some whale guts down, stuffed them into the rocks at 40' and we waited. We did see them cruise by but they were not at all interested in guts or us and didn't come very close, which might have been good because they were HUGE!! Our second dive was riding the current through the pass to see what the shop called "the Wall of Sharks". Sharks need to swim constantly to have water flowing over their gills or else they drown. They like the current in the passes because they can almost hover with no effort in the flowing water, resting and looking for food that might float by...not divers...fish. As we drifted through at about 70 feet deep we floated right by them...100's of them...I guess you could say a "wall of them". This place is DEFINATELY the "sharkiest" place we have ever been. And yes, that's a word "sharkiest" (it's probably Tahitian). And yes, I'm using all 10 fingers to type this.

May 20-22

It was sad to be leaving the beautiful atolls of the Tuamotu archipeligo but we need to keep moving west. The 160 miles to Tahiti was only going to take 24 hours until the trade winds decided to quit blowing. The trip ended up taking twice that long and we spent 2 nights sloshing along at 3-5 knots. I could have almost walked that fast except for the water thing would have made it difficult. Anyway, we are anchored just below the apartment we rented for 3 nights...right back where we started about 3 weeks ago. All yachts traveling through French  Polynesia have to register and check out here. Next stop, Moorea and Bora Bora. Bon Voyage!