Happy Birthday to my nieces Carmen and Kelsey this week, July 26 and July 30th,respectively!
We spent the last week in Rangiroa. A very relaxing place. As I mentioned, crystal clear water. Mike and I got in the water to clean the hull. Lot’s of laying in the sun too. Just as I was about to step back into the water one day to cool off there was a black tip reef shark in my spot by the back step of the boat, just hangin’ out. I must say we have certainly seen our share of sharks during our journey in the Pacific Ocean.
Mike and Gary is a few drift dives here. The current in the channels is quite strong so this brings with it many fish. They say over 100 shark on their first dive and several larger sharks and many rays on their second dive. Mike did a third dive but did not see all the sharks as before. Mike has a video of both their dives and it is astounding. Mike and I spent the night at the Kia Oa Hotel on the island that has the huts over the water. What a nice place. We even had our own private infinity pool at our hut. I was actually land sick since it’s been so long since I was on land…..just a little dizzy. Gary found a nice little local restaurant where we had dinner one night. The French Chef has worked all over the world and the food was delicious. A nice treat on a small island.
We left Rangiroa on Wednesday morning for Tahiti. We had a 30 hour sail that started out quite calm but turned rather rough during the night. It’s one of those times that I watch the storm clouds form like monsters all around us and the seas kick up, the wind picks up and we are just getting beat up. Shellette is quite the boat and she handles quite well in those conditions. It’s that crazy little song that automatically comes together in my head in such conditions….”The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for he courage of the fierless crew…….blah, blah..You know how it goes. It’s just always there in my head during a storm.
Anyway, here we sit in a quiet little lagoon on the southern side of Tahiti. We are the only boat here right now. There are a few houses on the shore but no roads to town, only accessible by boat. We took the 30 minute dinghy ride to the closest village and was several beautiful waterfalls. Tahiti is a larger island than we have been before so we will make our way around it over the next few weeks. We had planned to stay in the Tuamoto (atolls) Island longer but needed to get to Tahiti to get the sail drive repaired. Mike and are will be back in Denver next week for business. I am going to take a trip back to Philly/NJ for the weekend too…..hoping to catch up with some friends and family. Hopefully I will be able to download and update our picture gallery while I’m back in the states too.
All for now. Life is Good! Love to all….