LOST IN TRANSLATION

Noeluna en route pour Singapour
Matthieu Vermersch
Thu 6 May 2010 08:51

Dear David,

It’s been a long time since I haven’t sent a message in English. I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your efforts to understand our long French postings. I want to thank you to use this wonderful American translation software which helps you to follow us all over the world… Nevertheless I’m a bit worried by the quality of what you call the thinking process of the software… Actually, I can’t remember when I said  : “Undoubtedly they are grateful long distance which you have of traversing to reach their islands”…

So, just for you and our dear English speaking friends, here is a quick recap of our Pacific  adventures…

 

After a delicious, wonderful stay in Marquesas where, basically, you just want to stay there until the end of your life – landscapes are exceptional and people are the nicest in the world, we accepted on board our new crew, our friend Nicolas from Paris. We spent 3 nights and 3 days of  wonderful navigation, with a lot of nice winds which allowed us not to use the engine at all (8 knots, average speed.).

We arrived in the Tuamotu  Islands, a huge archipelago with around 80 atolls ; the best definition of an atoll is a collapsed mountains in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean : only remains the crown around the former mountain, made of sand and coral, and decorated with palm trees… yes you can imagine the paradise… But in the middle of those crowns, there is the turquoise water, the most beautiful fish on earth, and, and… that’s where it starts to be a tiny problem for the sailor, you find hundreds of “patates” (potatoes), dead coral covered with multicolored living coral. So you have to deserve your trip in the Tuamotus, and avoid the “patates” with your boat... (no comment…)

We spent our first night in Kauehi, in a completely unspoiled bay. The day after we went to the main village of Kauehi where we were welcomed by the mayor and the “gendarme” (how could I say…? The sheriff maybe) of the city. But anyway, everybody we met on the main street greeted us with a big smile and a nice heartwarming sentence. I thought Marquesians were the most wonderful people in the world, but they have close competitors in this category with the Tuamotu people.

I can’t describe the landscapes we saw, it just paradise as you can imagine it with the help of magazines for travelers. And again, like in the Marquesas, there’s   nobody there, just locals, no tourists of any kind except us.

Then we went to Fakarava – Ferdinand already talked about it and the dozens of hundreds sharks of several types – Matthieu and him dived there, in the South pass. Nicolas, Marguerite and I just snorkeled, but what a unique adventure…!

After a last and not the best experience in the archipelago, in Toaho, we finally headed to Tahiti. Two nights and one day of sailing in a totally, perfectly oily water, so flat, we could have been on a lake. The arrival, early in the morning, was spectacular ; the island is really beautiful.

We had to say good bye to Nicolas who flew back to Paris after 3 days in Papeete. We miss him and his charming and delicate “whouaaouhhh”…

 

After Papeete, we are in Raiatea and the Society Islands where we are spending a few days on land in a quite luxurious hotel, while Noeluna is having a small scrubbing, manicure- pedicure at the Shipyard….

And now, guess who is the nicest people in the world…?

 

Ciao,

 

Marie-Anne