Graptolite - Manihi Shaken Not Stirred
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Thu 3 Apr 2008 10:52
the forces of nature....gripping....compelling....a story as spellbinding
and harrowing as any novel."
So reads the blurb on the back of the book I'm reading, called 'Rescue in
the Pacific' about the 1994 "Queen's Birthday" storm. It's nothing like that
here and now. In fact it's very pleasant indeed. The depth sounder and
radar/chart-plotter problems seem to be sorted although the GPS is still
down. It should stop us getting complacent in the Tuamotus which are almost
entirely made up of coral atolls and reefs.
The idea now (according to my in-house tour guide) is to go first to the
atolls of Manhini and Ahe. A lot of pearls come from these areas apparently.
Then we are going to Rangiroa, maybe for some diving. It says in the 'Lonely
Planet' guidebook that in one of the main villages on Rangiroa, around the
middle of the day you could safely fire a gun and not hit anyone. We'll see.
There might be a few 'popaa' about in the midday sun. 'Popaa' are westerners
like us.
11:20.13S 140:49.60W Happy Hour, Wednesday 2 April, 330 miles from landfall
at Manhini
M