4/7/09 - 14.27.9S 146.02.2W as at 18.00 UTC
Flying Cloud
Julian Nichols
Sat 4 Jul 2009 07:47
Almost every Motu is inhabited, sometimes with pearl farms but mostly with peoples houses. The toilet below seemed to be leaning...
The pearl farms can also be found in the middle of the lagoon, planted on stilts on the larger coral heads / inner reefs.
The island hotel.
And of course an end of the day scrub (the boat, not me). I have to say i can't wait to get rid of this stupid beard, but i made a deal with Matt not to shave till Tahiti.
Captain's corner:
We had a fun day today, mostly spent at leisure, touring the inside of Manihi's massive atoll. It's amazing how big the space is inside, along the way we had a few swims, and walked out to the end of the world: We went on the ocean side, and literally walked to within a meter of the breaking surf, where immediately after the depth drops down into the very depths of the ocean! A bit later we played a bit of Tillee frisbee, and then had lunch ashore in the village: Jules had the poisson crue, and I had the maanitana (the word was something like that, maybe a few more vowels), which was pork, beans and rice and absolutely delicious! Afterwards, we got back to the boat and scrubbed off the algae that grew back since Nuku Hiva (soon I may lose my environmentalist tendencies and find some chemical to try and kill it off once and for all!). Shortly after, we headed out the pass in the direction of Rangiroa. This time, the pass was in full ebb, and with me going nervously at about half a knot through the water, the boat was doing about 6.5 over ground! It meant that with fading light, and Jules up the mast saying he couldn't pick out any depth contours, we had a bit of an exciting departure! Once pulled out of the pass, up when the pink Asy,, and smooth sailing!
Mattman