we are in the Tuomotus at the atoll called Kauehi

Hi all,
well it is absolutely beautiful here!! we arrived Sunday June 1, at dawn breaker with Malachi. O'vive got here on the Saturday. we slowed down as we were going to end up coming in in the dark, not a good idea! Its a pass and has a good current, just like going through Poiler Pass or Active pass. Being th etrue BCers, Jay ( Malachi) and Steve decided to try to "buck" our way through instead of waiting 3 hrs for slack tide. Malachi went through first and made it , the current was running 5 knots
- ended up pushing our way through at 1.5 knots , actually had to put our Genoa up for extra push. This place reminds me of Gilligans Island!.

I was also amazed at how wide the inside of the atoll is . it took us and hour and half to get across to the other side to anchor. I had been up since 11 pm the night before, pulling a double watch as Steve ended up having sever stomach craps. He thought maybe it was a kidney stone, but no back pain. it subsided enough to bring the boat through the pass that morning. needless to say I was a bit giddy, having gotten my second wind. ( Jay also was up the same as me) once we anchored and cleaned the
boat after the passage - that by the way is a chore......... all the kids were dying to get together as well as us seeing our buddies. so I took the kids to O'Vive's boat ( left Steve on Orca III trying to "ease his pain"- (that lines from a great movie - prize for the name of it)
the whole crew of Malachi came too and we had quite the pow wow. Steve showed up later with the crew from Warm Rain ( all you BCA ers thats Tom and Dawn Baker and boy have they had quite the trip, lots of things breaking. )

After going for a quick dip in the gorgeous green water, Steve and I went back to Orca the kids all went to Malachi and swam off the boat. Then it was an early night and boy did I crash . had been up for 21 hours and I was tired!

Up we got the next morning to go ashore -= all the boats .had a nice walk across the atoll to the ocean side to gather coral and shells. on the way I spotted an old rusted out car for Steve. It was a 1929 Essex. Steve had fun picking through the ruins. and grabbed the only remaining hubcap. One of you lucky old car buffs will get that I'm sure. got lots of pictures. ( if you want any more of the parts though you will have to come and get them yourself, we already have too much wait on this boat-
tee hee )
You would not believe all the plastic garbage on the ocean side beach!! all this comes from the boaters and freighters. pass on the word to NOT dump those things in the ocean . This is where it ends up!! not a pretty site and yes I took pictures of that too. We even found one huge fridge - clearly from a freighter. anyway, I had the idea of a beach clean up..... we will seee.......................

after the hike we came back for lunch then all got together in our dingys to go snorkling- lots of cool fish, coral,and sharks! can't swim at dusk and dark cause the sharks will get ya. Emma and I didn't end up snorkling as she has had a headache for the last couple of days and the pounding in the dingy made it worse. so I took her back to the boat , where she also said her eyes were sore and blurry. Question for Annette, can I give her the silver cordial? anyway, I am a little concerned cause
the headache has been a few days and Emma can ignore it , she also has to shake her head to unblurr her eyes. ( eyes were tested before we left vancouver and she as 20/20 vision) course it doesn't help that I just finished reading " Voyage of the Tryste " and the youngest daughter died of a brain tumor .... I'll just ditch that thought....
Everyone came back to Orca and we had an inprompt and late potluck. Us adults had gone to shore for bread ,cause here the baquettes are flown in once a week on Mondays, so you come to the store for 5pm, food shopping is so different in French Polynesia ( I mean 4:30am for veggies in Nuka HIva and 5pm for bread in Atoll Kauehi) The adults walked around the "town" while the kids stayed on Orca III playing Risk. neat place here, there are only 150 people living here. we organized a tour for the Pearl
farms for the next day.

Pearl farm day: way cool, never seen black pearls before. real neat to see the farm. here was a bunch of us cruisers going. they took all of us ( 20) in the back of a pick up truck. but first we had to see the airport!! they are so proud of it. no planes there mind you. have pictures will post when I can. better to see it then have me try to type. next of to the pearl farm, which by the way is owned by the only store owner who also happens to be the mayor of this town. he was away so his wife
took us to their place. ( closed up the shop first for the day) the tour was really neat , will send pictures again as easiler then explaining. They also fed us , raw oysters done in salt and lime - boy that was good , even Steve liked them!! we had coconut bread, and I got the receipe , you need a green coconut though ,so we will get one. and we drank the milk from the green coconuts and it is good!!! Out came the black pearls and purchases made. we didn't yet , want to see more before we buy. we
returned back to the store for 4:30 and then had O'vive stay for a visit and then Malachi came over after dinner.
we have been so busy , I finally have the time this morning to fill you all in. actually , I got a bunch of movies from Malachi and I am burning them as I type this.... also just finished hanging up a whole pile more laundry............ oh I look so forward to a laundry mat!! Hey mom, remember that old washing machine with the ringer on it. sure could use the ringer part!! my wrists are tired and sore! and thats with everyone taking turns to wring out the clothes.
We are off this morning for a lesson on catching the little fish with a huge net thing. one of the local fishermen is showing us how they do it. it should be fun.
signing off for now.

love ya
Dionne