Weather Helmed

Hello!!  We just arrived in Fakarava, in the Tuamotus, yesterday after a few weeks of delicious anchorage hopping.  After being out of contact with people for so long and truly as far away from the real world as we could be, it’s quite WONDERFUL to have internet again, no matter how painfully slow, and see what all my friends and family have been up to.  I love Matt of course, but I am feeling embarrassingly desperate for other human contact.  As we were heading out to dinner last night (at a little van selling hamburgers), I was *this close* to getting on the VHF and begging other cruisers in the anchorage to come with us.  Instead, we went to dinner alone and I made a complete fool of myself joking around with the vendor’s little boy who came and sat at our table.  He just watched my ridiculous antics with enormous brown eyes, responding only with vigorous nods or shakes of his head anytime I asked one of my silly questions – “What’s your name? Is it Mr. Potato Head?”

I have about six blog posts with photos all ready to go, but internet here is very slow, so not sure how quickly I’ll be able to get them up.  Let me just say, though, that the Tuamotus are unbelievable.  The water in the lagoons is so clear and flat (sometimes) that it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.  I mean, the water is clearer than the cleanest swimming pool I’ve ever been in.  We were able to see maybe 100 feet down? in some spots.  It was unreal…  And anchorage-hopping is sooooooooooooooooo much better than making passages.  Oh my goodness! Between the Marquesas and the Tuamotus, we were out for 5 days and I honestly don’t know how we ever crossed the ocean.  Those 5 days were miserable. ha!  But, the reward at the end were these spectacular little atolls and I quickly forgot how horrible the sailing was.  Anyway, I’ll try to post the images soon.   Try not to be too jealous… they’re beautiful places, but remember we’ve had to go through a lot of suckiness (and money!) to get here  😉