ORIGINALLY POSTED ON JOHN'S BLOG:
http://travel.reservationkey.com/?a=6&p=69

After more than a week of hanging out in Makemo we are moving on today. Makemo turned out to be a great stop, better than any of us expected. Having the wharf to tie to was a huge plus. We also met lots of locals, especially the kids who were off from school the first week we were here. Another part of what made this a fun stop was the other four boats that we knew from other stops and had lots of fun with here. Had we been the only boat here I am sure it would not have been quite the same.
Reminiscing about life in California.
I joined the crew from Evergreen and Moondance for a dinghy trip across the pass two days ago. I had really been wanting to get over there as the area looked great with a nice white beach and reefs for snorkeling, but the current in the pass was too strong to kayak through (I had tried twice). We had a nice time hanging out on the beach for an hour or so, reminiscing about our sailing experiences in California and other adventures we had all had at home. I also found a few more shells to add to my collection.
Playing at movie night.
Friday night last week was movie night for the village. They project films onto the wall of a building near the harbor. The movies are free but they sell a delicious barbeque dinner to go with it. Between the two movies I entertained the rambunctious and noisy crowd with some Mozart, fiddle music, and Yankee Doodle. They were very appreciative and cheered madly (all the time) so not sure how much they actually heard, but they seemed to enjoy it. It definitely was something different, since I doubt they get violinists here very often.
Me playing violin after dinner.
The parties on Charade have continued nicely. Our last one included a few locals that Carol and Arno met by way of having some sculptures made. They brought some delicious plates of food and we and Charade also made some food. Carol specializes in deserts and made two great pies as well.
Bruce entertaining Victor and Arno.
After dinner Bruce played accordion and Pascale sang a few songs. I also played a few violin pieces. Having the musical entertainment at our parties really adds a nice dimension that normally does not happen at most cruiser get-togethers.
Carol and Thoma in Charade’s galley.
At one of our earlier dinner parties.
The day after our big blow out on Charade with the local’s, they invited all of us to their house for Sunday lunch. It was a huge affair, with tons of food. Victor barbeques the fish that he catches and it was great. He goes fishing daily and usually comes back with tons of fish. He drives his boat like a cowboy trying to lasso a cow, but with a harpoon in his hand. He herds the fish onto a shallow area and then hurls the harpoon at them while speeding along next to the fish in the boat.
Victor grilling the fish and beef.
Getting ready for lunch at Victor’s house.
In between the parties and violin playing I have had time for three scuba dives. Yesterday, my third dive, we went outside the atoll into the open ocean and dove off the front of the atoll. We were down for almost an hour and dove to almost 80 feet. The coral there was amazing. It was the most coral I have ever seen. It stretched all over the place, like huge fields. Two dolphins swam quickly by us, plus we saw a big variety of fish.
Coral growing like a tree.
Ludo, the instructor, floating along.
More coral.