We just love this atoll. It has everything we imagined in our wildest dreams. Clear water, rich sea life, isolation. We swim every day in pristine clear water watching trigger fish, sharks, coral heads and peeping our head above water the rare Tahanea sand Piper. Every morning we go free diving at a reef or with the manta rays in the pass. It is just like a dream. And no bugs! (Deputy dawg). As well as few other sailboats. This time of year people tend to disappear, put their boat somewhere safe for the hurricane season and go home. The weather is calm and the water very still and we have had some fantastic encounters with numerous manta rays feeding on krill in the pass. We stay connected to the dingy by ropes and float down stream as the Mantas swim gracefully by us three by three in a never ending parade with their mouths wide open to feed on the krill and their gills wide open to let the water pass through. We do not even have to dive down just stay on the surface breathing through our snorkels. We have also seen some interesting fish behavior. A Gray shark (6-7ft long) attacking a Napoleon wrasse (husky 4ft) and the wrasse turning around and chasing the shark away. Then a white- tip reef-shark attacking a parrot fish. I'm hoping to post some movies on You-tube when we have wifi. Tonight we are going lobster hunting with Robert a Danish cruiser and a local guy, Alfons. Robert came by and offered us some fish had spearfished this morning and told us about the lobster hunt. The best time to hunt for lobster is at low tide, during a full moon and calm seas, because you are going to the pacific side of the motu where the waves break. You wade knee deep in water over coral flats with a flashlight, rubber gloves and a bucket. Off course if you are Alfons you catch the lobsters with your bare hands and put them in your plywood back pack the size of a small refrigerator. And if you are me you have a camera, a water bottle, a flash light, a head lamp, gloves but no bucket. Guy and I did not even see a lobster. We saw eels, fish, sea cucumbers, shells and urchins. Robert caught 3 and was ecstatic �- he had gone the day before and like us not seen one. Alfons had 10 in his box. Alfons gave us four and now came the problem of how to kill the and cook them. Without a big pot or a bbq grill it becomes cumbersome with four great lobsters. First we bent a knife trying to get through their hard shell and had to get out the hatchet that we use to open coconuts. Finally Guy killed them and cut off their tails and I fried them in butter. Delicious.