Saturday, July 14, 2012

Front moves in

Strong winds have been blowing with clouds rolling in. Not very nice out. What should we do today? Jordan decided to paint a picture that is very indicative of this area. I think, as usual, that it turned out very beautiful.

Jordan's talent

Our friend Fernand (village baker and pearl farmer) popped by with more freshly baked baguettes and asked if we wanted to see all the local fish that was to be delivered to Tahiti by the Navy. So off we went with him and our friends Bruce and Jeannie of SV Jabula.

One of several tubs of local fish

Then he delivered us to the nearby Manihi Pearl Beach Resort as we had been previously invited by the manager. We would never have made it in a dinghy as the water was too rough in the strong wind. As it was, the guys got completely soaked in the panga ride but beneath heavy rain gear thoughtfully provided by Fernand, Jeannie and I stayed dry.

The Resort folks treated us very graciously and allowed us to use their facilities. We of course returned the hospitality by purchasing a couple of very expensive cocktails. We lounged by and swam in their infinity swimming pool, swam in the ocean, and played a fun round of mini golf and a couple games of snooker.

Manihi Pearl Beach Resort

Fernand returned later in the day (with several loaves of his special coconut bread) and took us back to our respective boats where Jabula later joined us for a joint supper and games. The coconut bread was so yummy as the aroma tantalized our senses!

Another great day even with lousy weather! The weather forecast predicted this system with high winds to stay around for a couple more days.

Friday the 13th. A quiet day on board. Windy most of the day but for a time it settled down so we went for a fantastic snorkel. The interior waters were experiencing an algae bloom making for poor visibility. However in the gaps between the islets, the open ocean surged its crystal clear waters through to the lagoon so that's where we headed.

We had 22+ metre (75-foot) visibility and saw an amazing motley array of sea life including octopus, moray eels, spectacularly coloured schools of reef fish, and even a couple of black tipped sharks.

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