We have had a wonderful couple of days in Manihi and this afternoon we are exiting the pass for an overnight sail to Rangiroa so that we will arrive in daylight and slack water for the entrance to this next atoll.

Bev and Martin are flying into Rangiroa tomorrow morning and we are hoping that our arrivals coincide so that we can pick them up in the dinghy from the airport, which is around 2 miles from our anchorage.

We had a fabulous day yesterday, Fernando took us diving for pearls and then onto his small workshop where we opened the oyster shells we had selected to see if we had any pearls – great suspense !

He then showed us the process used to make the pearls, which can take in total over four years.

To the great delight of Mark & Paul the girls then spent an hour or more sifting and looking through pearls around the table in Fernando’s home before selecting some to buy.

Tahitan black pearls are very expensive at home (£150 - £500 each) so a bargain was agreed at £70 for four pearls, plus one free out of Marks oyster shell that was a nice colour and quite round.

We took the dinghy to explore the tiny village and to hunt for shells on the reef and we also visited Xavier who had kindly guided us in through the pass.

Xavier is a retired French Naval Officer – we found out later that he was Commander in Chief of the French Naval forces in the Pacific.

He was offered an Admiralty but decided instead to retire, buy his own island and build a house there for himself and his wife.

Xavier was very proud to show us his island and the house that he is currently constructing, he also has a sail mail station on the island where he can help transmit e-mails for yachts using long range radio.

Lots of photos to show you all and we will hopefully be able to send these from Rangiroa.