5^th June – I made it to Ahe on the South East side in a little town called Tenukupara 14:32.20S 146:21.44W

The trip here was good my first long passage and believe me 5 Days is quite some time to be at sea especially alone. It was a fantastic time for me as all I really did was kick back and read while I watched the waves push there way past.  All went well except for a couple of lost fishing lures and a bad nights sleep that was until I saw the pass getting into this place.

Each one of these atolls or logons has a single pass to enter and they are very treacherous with rapids that literally form in the entrance and currents that can get up to 8 Knots well beyond the hull speed of pore little Silky. Anyhow as I finally made it to the out skirts of Ahe I just said to myself go for it and I pushed the throttle cable down to almost give Silky every thing she had and off I went. When I say off I went I mean my heart beat as it was racing along with Silkys little engine while being shunted left and right bucking like a flighty horse. I was doing about 5.5 Knots through the water but only 1.8 Knots over the ground but all was well. I made it through and gave myself a pat on the back. Next the sails came straight back out and off I went headed for the anchorage.

I had taken some time to ensure I had a safe route planned out and I followed it to the enth degree however as I made it into the lagoon I run aground up a huge coral bomby, it just came out of know where, I mean I was cruising thought 10 meters of clear water when Silky just bucked me right off and everything went everywhere. After once again going through an episode of fifty cent, five cent if you know what I mean I dropped the anchor and dived over to check Silky’s damage. Well I could not believe it all there was, was a hunk of lime stone deposited from the coral on the keel, not a scratch in silky so I did a little backsult or two and swam over to the Kiwi Yacht next to me. I said high and after sculling in the water for way to long I snorkeled my way back to the boat to check out what I was going to have for dinner.

As I passed by this trechard rock of beautiful coral I saw 2 beautiful octopus hanging out together, they never cease to amaze me with there freaking big eyes and the way the can change shape to immitate the rock or coral they are on at the time. Similar to sheep as they believe if they can not see you then you can not see them and they are safe but the minute you make eye contact with one of them it will move a little way off and re-camouflage themselves changing color, I kid you not if you did not watch them do it you would never of known. Anyhow after debating whether to get my spear of not I went back to the boat and just chilled out for  awhile, I drank beer and read my new book.

I can hardly believe that I read another book on this passage, this time it was one for real grown ups with hundreds of pages in small print. It was about William Dampier the renown Pirate / Naturalist from the 17^th Century, it was his account of sailing 3 times around the world including being the first Englishman to discover and document Australia, not Captain James Cook as it is so widely beloved.  Well anyhow it was a great read and I have now moved onto a Novel ‘The Kite Runner’ which is a book Fiona tried to get me to read while we were cruising together however I always managed to find something else to do when it was the two for us. I now know what I was missing out on kicking back reading a book.

Next after being very lazy all day not even doing the dished, I went to my battered Fizzy Bubbeler Lure and gave it the once over so it could fight another day, this actually inspired me to fish and I pulled out the rod and a bag of frozen bait and dropped in a line. The first fish was one of those fish things you see sucking onto sharks while they swim, no idea what they are called but it went back in because I did not like the look of its sucker thing, it was not long until I pulled in a few red snapper and just by chance a had a mackerel strike the silver hook as I lifted the line from the depths.

It was to small to eat however instead of throwing it back I had this stupid song haunt me once again as it has done ever since my friend mate Myles left me in the Caribbean, it is the words to the Spider man theme song however instead of singing Spider man you insert Corky Back, Cory Back, similar to Spider pig they way Homer Simpson sings it to his pet pig in the Simsons Movie. I know you have all seen it. Well I just had to through him in as I promised Myles I would at every opportunity and it was not lone before a result. I put him on a float with about 2 meters of 80 pound trace, he was a very fit k corky back and swam all over the place like a good little fishy. The sky went that twilight color not dark but not light, you know the time of day all the accidents seem to happen anyhow my real went, it was all very exciting once again as I had never used my main real for a corky back before, it went like it meant business also and I dived to hit the drag before what ever it was could cut my line on the jiggered lagoon. After a fair fight however not to long, almost way to short to be honest I reeled in a 6foot black tip reef shark, an absolute beautiful image of a fish, a perfect specimen, the sort of fish you dream of having in a little home made aquarium in you living room. Carefully I pulled the shark closer and closer to the back of the boat which was once again a first being stationary and not having to balance while crashing along at 6Knots, all I needed was to have this thing close enough for me to gaff it in the head and then hand on but it was not to be, it made another lunge for the deep this time braking the mono filament trace. Well next time it will be steel brade that it will have to eat though cause I want fish and chips.

It did not stop me fishing though as the moment I dropped the line I was onto another fish landing several for the evening.

Day 316

Destination – Marquises - Tuamotu Passage  Day 5

Traveling Direction – South West

Average Speed – 5.6

Total distance – 53.5 Nautical Miles

Travel Time – 10h16’