S/V Halley

15 33.442 S 146 14.415 W Not. Gaugin, Herman Melville and Jacques Brel were onto something and we’re catching up. What a lovely place French Polynesia is. We just arrived at the Apataki atoll in the Tuamotus archipelago. A nice overnight sail from the Tahanea atoll. Now we are buckling down for another blow. A low pressure from the south will bring strong winds tomorrow, gusts up to 35 kt or 18 m/s. We have the anchor well set in sand and are floating the anchor chain with fenders and pearl buoys over the coral heads. We should be all good. But today was lovely, the pictures don’t do the colors justice. The vibrant blues and greens are unbelievable. Then throw in the shades of green from the palm trees and other tropical vegetation, then the shades of taupe, white and gray of the coral beaches, then the bright white of the Polynesian terns flying above. If I could paint, I would! 

16 57.379 S 144 34.881 W It feels like we are getting the hang of this lifestyle after three years of living at sea and the Tuamotus are definitely our favorite type of cruising grounds - vast, gorgeous and sparsely populated.  We spent almost three weeks on Makemo, which ranks as a top ten anchorage for us.  Just so beautiful and isolated.  Beach after beach, lots of healthy coral, tons of fish and more black tip reef sharks than mosquitos on a summer night.  There were a few other boats nearby and we made friends with a lovely Danish family and a German couple.  Snorkeling the reefs, hiking the beaches and coral flats, drift diving the pass into the lagoon, playing volleyball, sitting around a bonfire, cooking delicious meals, repairing this or that, reading, napping, and playing games in the evening with a cocktail in hand and an eye on the sunset.    I should probably add that Beata continues to work full time, warrior that she is, so she gets up at 3:30am weekdays to be on Cincinn