"The Boozles" are on holiday!

Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Wed 26 May 2010 18:19
15:56.857S 145:03.743W

Just in case this blog should actually have a "regular" reader I am sorry
for the delay since my last post. After covering four and a half thousand
nautical miles in the last six weeks (including 26 nights at sea) we now "on
a break" in the Tuamotus and taking a bit of a rest! I have no doubt I will
receive a few rude emails for saying this but we feel like we deserve couple
of days off.

We arrived safely in Kauehi in the Tuamotus after what was generally a slow
passage from Nuku Hiva.....until of course the last night when the wind
filled right back in to about 25 knots so ironically we spent the last 18
hours trying to slow down so as not to arrive amongst the hard to see reefs
and atolls of the "dangerous archipelago" during the hours of darkness. We
ended up "heaving to" (basically stalling the boat rather than some arcane
naval term for throwing up together) for a couple of hours on the way in
order to arrive at the pass to Kauehi at slack water.

The contrast from the big rolling swells and crashing breakers around the
outside of the reef to the absolute peace and calm on the inside has to be
seen to be believed. Kauehi is an almost circular atoll about 8 miles
across (try zooming in on our position on the Google earth map on the index
page of the blog...we are anchored right down in the SE corner) and whilst
outside the ocean floor drops straight away down to more than a thousand
metres, inside the reef is shallow and dotted with coral heads, some of
which come up to just a few feet beneath the surface. There is plenty of
hard white sand to anchor in and much of the outer ring is crowned with a
thin stand of palms. There is a small and friendly village, a couple of
pearl farms and not much else......that is until you stick your head
underwater to view the true zoological wealth of these islands. Because
there is no soil (just sand, the nearest earth as such is in Tahiti some 200
miles away downwind and down current) the water especially in and around the
passes is crystal clear and teeming with life.

Yesterday we went with our friends off Merlin to dive in the pass. Although
we were pretty close to slack water there was still a healthy current to
provide a stunning drift dive over the astounding corals that thrive on the
almost never ceasing water movement in and out of the atoll. With a rib on
the surface to follow and pick us up we shot through the underwater canyons
as if flying, surrounded by more fish than I could possibly name or list
(big groupers, multi coloured parrot fish, several sorts of trigger fish,
jacks, barracuda and of course ever present in the passes of the pacific
lots and lots of sharks. We shot over a small drop-off racing along on the
current and saw about 10 or 12 good sized sharks just sitting under the
ridge sheltering from the fastest moving water.....breathtaking!)

In the evening we went ashore and built a fire on the beach with guys from a
couple of other boats in the atoll and sat around the fire barbequing
supper, telling tales and watching the stars....anyway in short I have been
having too much fun which is why the blog entry has been so delayed. I
promise not to bang on too much about the diving as we hope to stay amongst
these atolls for about 6 weeks and you would get very bored if I write up
every good dive!

We will probably move across to Fakarava later in the week and believe we
should be able to get some sort of internet connection there so we will try
to upload some pics. Don't look if you are not keen on idyllic anchorages,
gin clear turquoise waters and palm trees as I assure you I plan to use them
in every picture.