Rangiroa

Two nights ago we shared a Polynesian feast with our neighboring boats. The local family Valentine and Gaston served up Lobster, Wahoo, and one of their pigs to 12 boaters anchored off of their beach. Outstanding meal and great socializing with sailors from San Fran, New Zealand, Anacortes, WA, Littleton, CO, and of course Bozeman, MT.

We are in a period of high winds, so we decided to give up on Toau and do some sailing.
We left our suspicious mooring ball and headed out yesterday afternoon at 1530. We sailed straight downwind in 25 knots, threading between Apataki and Kaukura to arrive at Rangiroa at 0930 this morning.
Yesterday I called a local dive operator to ask about currents in the pass. "No Problem" he said. "It should be slack around 1115. We motored up to the pass to have a look, and ended up motoring into what was like driving up a whitewater river. The ocean swell is filling up the atoll such that the water drains out these passes constantly.
We chose a clean line on the windward side and the old Volvo chugged on in against 3-4 knot outgoing current.
Large melonhead whales leapt and played around our boat as we navigated the tumult.
Crazy.
We are now anchored safely inside the lagoon and it is still blowing hard and raining about 70% of the time.
We're resting up after the overnight passage and enjoying the rain water. The boat and deck gear are very salty so the rinse is much needed.
S 14*58'
W 147*38'

Martin

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