We set sail for the south anchorage, a little over 6 hrs away. For once Roger had a good sail and we didn’t have to motor too much. We were also blessed with a decent squall which topped up the tanks nicely, thanks to Roger’s ‘quick fit’ system we are able to deploy the rain catcher while underway, quickly and efficiently.

It appeared that we were not the only people heading for the south anchorage, with 3 more yachts approaching from outside the lagoon.

By the time we settled (got the anchor to hold first time, woo hoo!) there were 20 yachts anchored. Apparently only the day before there were just 3!

Many of our old friends were here, some that we hadn’t seen since Isabela. Avante told us there was a pot luck ashore at 17.30, as Manahi, the owner of the little pension (the only pension) here had said we could use his garden.

So Roger and I dinghied ashore for a spot of beachcombing, once again it was what I am now terming a ‘fake beach’, not the white sand that it appears to be from a distance.

But as we waded through the crystal clear shallows, we saw plenty of fish, brittle star fish, cushion star fish and a peacock flounder, who was so well camouflaged we thought it had been fossilised, until Roger went to poke it (gently) with a stick and it shot away giving us quite a scare.

Back on board it was time to get the thinking cap on. Whilst Roger and I are happy with just rice and beans, it was not up to scratch for a pot luck. Now bear in mind we have no fresh fish (the lagoon had ciguatera, fish poisoning which can be fatal and we didn’t know which fish were safe, so we hadn’t been fishing.) and no fresh meat. The shops in the village were waiting for the supply boat which was due today.

So after much head scratching I came up with Taboule, falafel and hummous, with crackers and home made crisps.

When we arrived at Mahani’s place it was quite elaborate, a huge open sided wooden hut, with long tables and benches. But what was even better was that it was alongside his own little lagoon. He had lights illuminating the crystal clear water so we could watch the shoals of fish and sharks swimming by.

The turn out for the pot luck was amazing. Normally you have about a dozen or so people turn up, but there were about 50 adults and lots of children. The food table was splendid, such a wide range of dishes and plenty of it. As I had expected it to be on a beach and thus unlit, I hadn’t taken my camera, which was such a shame, because it really was a special occasion.

When you think about it, we women at pretty amazing. We are given a couple of hours notice to put together a dish or two, from a very limited pantry, with few, if any vegetables, little or no fresh meat and fish, yet can put together a spread like that.

We all ate well and there were still leftovers. The children had the run of the island and Mahini had put on music and given us the run of the place.

At the end of the evening, there were perhaps 8 or 9 people left, Mahini asked if any of us would like to dine there tomorrow.

We had only been saying earlier that he should have done a bbq or something and made some money, so we signed up, not only to have a nice meal, but to repay his generosity.

He could only accommodate 18, so it was going to be by invitation only, rather than an announcement on the net in the morning. Mahini was going out to catch the fish in the morning and told us to radio him with the numbers so he knew how much to catch!! How cool is that?

Now, the reason so many people are anchored here is for the diving and snorkelling. The southern passage has a drift dive that has as many sharks etc as the northern passage, but it is an easier dive. The snorkelling is also drift snorkelling. You wait until just after slack water and drift in (or out) with the tide, towing your dinghy behind you.

Getting our dive tanks filled was not a problem either, with so many boats having their own compressors. Whilst I was not going to dive, Roger wanted to, and there were plenty of people to dive with.

We only have a day or so here, because we have to get to Papeete in time to fly out.

It’s a shame, because this is lovely and the water has much better visibility and there are more opportunities for snorkelling than in the north of the lagoon.

In fact, I am hoping we might make a brief trip back to the Tuamotos when we get back from Europe, as there are a couple of islands that we would have liked to visit, but because of one delay or another (the fuel in Nuku Hiva for example) we didn’t get as long as we had planned here.

As I write this, Roger is about to attack the outboard on the dinghy as it is not running properly, yep, just another day in paradise.

Well Roger got his dive. Jamie & Lucy came over and asked if he wanted to dive with them, duh, silly question! They were diving with Eric from Osso Blanco, but as they had no surface support (it is a serious drift dive) Lucy didn’t dive, but stayed on the surface.

They had the luxury of Osso Blanco’s dinghy, which is a Whaler and very substantial.

When they came back to the boat, everyone was big smiles. The dive had gone well, led by reluctant Dive guide, Jamie, who had done the dive with the dive outfit. We all arranged that we would do the drift snorkel in the afternoon, on the incoming tide.

Jamie & Lucy picked us up for the snorkel and we went through the pass and quite far out to sea. There were several dinghies in the pass, which were seemingly floating, abandoned, when in actual fact there were several divers nearby towing them. There were also 3 yachts coming into the pass and someone very thoughtfully radioed them and advised them to be aware that there were snorkellers in the pass. As Jamie later observed, that was like telling drivers on the M6 to be aware there are people playing in the outside lane!!!

Now it’s nerve wracking enough coming into the lagoon, dodging shallows and coral heads, without having to look for and avoid snorkellers and dinghies.

The snorkel was amazing, as good, if not better than the drift dives we had done. The visibility was exceptional, allowing us to see the sharks, sleeping on the bottom.

There were dozens of them and it wasn’t long before they weren’t sleeping but swimming around us.

At one point there was a school of pretty blue ballyhoo type fish swimming between Lucy and I in an endless stream, we floated like pedestrians waiting for the traffic to finish before crossing the road and I was pointing them out to Lucy.

She then pointed to something over my shoulder, behind me. When I turned I was almost face to face with a black tipped reef shark!!!

As we got through the pass, then the current picks you up and sweeps you into the lagoon and it is so strong you hardly have chance to get a second look at anything, but it is great fun.

I wished we could have done the drift again, but we were leaving the next morning, and the visibility on the outgoing tide is not as good.