11:51.43S  144:39.37W

5.-11. June 2013

Tahanea, Tuamotus, French Polynesia

Light blue, dark blue, thunder storm blue, bright crystal clear blue –

 we’ve had a wide range of shades of blue during some wonderful days at this uninhabited atoll.

When we arrived at the SE side of the atoll, there was only one more boat anchored in front of a neighbouring island. They left 2 days later, and we had complete solitude

once again. We’ve seen only three boats since we left Hiva Oa, about 1 month ago, and each encounter having been very brief, too...

They say the about 77 atolls of the Tuamotus stretch over a space as big as Europe – I haven’t consulted the chart if this is correct, however, it is an immense area and one can certainly pass a lot of time in solitude.

The days passed again again quickly with each very different from the other. The guys went camping for 5 days and enjoyed their life au Robinson Crusoe.

Thursday we had wonderful wind and went kiting. As it was supposed to drop the following day, I even went out twice for a total of 2 and a half hours. Nothing for a pro, but though I was quite exhausted afterwards, every session it’s becoming more relaxed and smooth and a little bit more effortless. So much fun!

Friday, we spent again almost the entire day dismounting the electric motor from the windlass and resanding the commutator and the four brushes. We were pretty confident it should work this time – which unfortunately, it didn’t! What a bugger!

Saturday and Sunday it almost rained non stop and our water tanks were full within a couple of hours. Good job we both enjoyed our great books. Not that there’s not enough to do inside, but it’s a great excuse to take it a bit more relaxed.

On Monday, Michael came up with a last idea how we could get the windlass working again, so we dismounted and dismantled it for the fourth time! That’s it, no more, otherwise I’ll threaten with mutany! Unfortunately, it didn’t work, again. But at least this time, we found the root of the problem. Some of those old brushes are so short, that their cable prevents them contacting the commutator. Fortunately, a new set is on its way to Papeete. In the meantime, we’ll have to haul the anchor by hand or invent a provisional setup to be able to use the winch at the mast to help.

Right now, we’re anchored outside the pass of Tahanea, in 33 feet water – great to still have the guys here this time to help pulling up the anchor.

Michael is stocking up our freezer with fish – he’s been shooting grouper and snappers for half an hour now…

I think he’s afraid of not getting any chance for fresh suplies in the more populated places like Fakarava and Tahiti.

Time to set sail for the next atoll, Fakarava!