Photos of Toau and Tahiti
Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Sat 24 Jul 2010 00:32
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17:35.169S 149:36.932W
Our wonderful hosts on the atoll of Toau....Gaston and
Valentine visiting us on Bamboozle.
They have been providing a warm welcome to cruising
yachts for many years, and are
widely
renowned, not only for sharing their island
and safe anchorage, but also for giving
a interesting
insight into their lives and the skills
needed to survive on a tiny outcrop of reef so far from
the
rest of the world.
 Out on an early morning fishing trip with Gaston....a
hunter gatherer par excellence
 Dealing with the catch.....a very fresh "tuna blanc"
is soon ready for the barbeque
 The same morning in under two hours
we caught 43 lobsters all by hand picked
from holes on the top of the reef....to be
fair Gaston collected the vast majority of this
bumper haul but you can probably tell I was pretty
chuffed with the morning's work!
 Despite all the sea salt and the tens of thosands of
ocean miles Lucy hasn't changed much
over the years. Here she
is introducing the locals to
"two-handed-drinking" with a
traditional
Polynesian G&T!
 After our final dinner (including a large number
of the lobsters we had collected) Gaston presented
me with this shell necklace as a memento of our stay
with them at Anse Amyot.
 Philippe....Valentine's step father. A great character
with a face to match!
 We arrived in Tahiti just in time for the solar
eclipse....here is Lucy struggling to get to grips with some of the
more technical equipment involved in solar observation.
 The sun's track taking it directly behind the new
moon.....considerably more impressive
than this photo would suggest!
 Whilst the northern side of Tahiti is pretty developed
and covered with big resort hotels the southern
side remains peaceful and undeveloped. The few yachts
that make the effort to come down here are
rewarded a
very different image of Tahiti. We discovered some outstanding hiking and
here is Bamboozle
tucked safely inside the lagoon with with yet another spectacular
anchorage to herself.
 The Admiral on the helm navigating up inside the
lagoon near Teahupoo. There are
plenty of uncharted
reefs and coral
heads to keep us on or toes. In the background you can see the thunderous
ocean
swell breaking on
the outer reef whilst we criuse the flat water inside.
 Wash-day on Bamboozle....looking more like a Chinese
laundry than an ocean going yacht.
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