Friday June 2nd 2017.

 

Hello Lisanne friends!

We have now been two weeks in the Tuamotos.This is a true paradise on earth. We have visited Makemo, Kauehi, Fakarava and are now on an atoll called Toau. We hope to be able to send pictures soon when we get internet access. On Kauehi we went on an exciting dive with a guy called Gary who lives on his sailboat and has a little dive operation. We went to the inlet pass to the atoll and Gary told us to descend quickly and go down along the reef wall until the current was weaker. But somehow we messed it up and got caught by the current and swept away. We tried to hold on to some corals but had to let go and were swept in through the pass until Gary told us to get up and try again. Our second attempt went better and we swam in a canyon along the bottom where there were so many sharks, tunas and other large fishes. We came to a cavern where there were lots and lots of sharks of different kinds. This was a real exciting day. We also went on a spectacular dive trip on Fakarava and dove on the reef wall as well as drifted along through the pass. The number of large fishes here are enormous. Manta rays, sharks, tunas, napoleon fish etc,etc. Today we went ourselves on an easy dive here on Toau. It is so good to have our own compressor so we can fill our tanks and dive whenever we want.

The anchorages here in the Tuamotos are stunning and we have had beach barbecues a couple of times with some of the other Oyster crews. Tonight we are going to have dinner ashore at Gaston and Valentines little place. They are the only inhabitants on this side of Toao and run a little restaurant and have some bungalows for rent.

Our next stop will be the Rangiroa atoll which has a larger population and hopefully we can buy some fruit and vegetables and get internet access. We will spend another week here in the Tuamotos before we sail to Tahiti and civilisation.

The weather here is slightly cooler, around 29 C, and very pleasant. As the atolls are very low they do not generate rain and it is very sunny and dry here. And not as hot and humid as closer to the equator. The water temperature is “only” 29 C wich feels quite refreshing on the morning swim as opposed to the 34 C we had in the Marquesas.

 

Best regards from the Lisanne crew in the Tuamotos.