I'll spare you the Barry Manilow impersonation! The passage went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Despite the benign local text forecast and flat calm projected by the GRIB files, we hit a "squall" at 0421 Monday 17th that lasted 15 hours. Winds were 15-20, but from the south, which means we were beating the whole day, and by day's end we were still being headed. Despite altering our intended landfall from the South of Kauehi to the North, we needed to tack away for an hour to get a few degrees of breathing room (don't want to bump into an atoll in the dead of night). Dawn saw flat seas again, and after much searching with binoculars, we spotted a palm tree at 0715 - we new there were atolls around from staring at the chart plotter, but you can't see them until you are within 8 miles. Despite the motoring and arduous beating for 5 days, we arrived at the entrance to the pass into Kauehi 2 hours early. It's really just a bigger version of crossing the Straight of Georgia and timing it to go through Gabriola Pass at slack tide! The ideal time to enter an atoll is at low water slack tide, as the flow is minimal or none at all, and you can see the coral heads once you through the pass. We idled the spare time by shutting down and drifting (we didn't go far as the token breeze was offset by the tidal flow). Kauehi is on of the easier passes (duh, that's why we chose it), but it was still an interesting ride. We went through about 30 minutes early, and there was about 3 knots of opposing current and lots of gnarly white water and eddies. Jack was up the mast as spotter, and was reporting on the bottom, a mere 45 feet below. Kind of redefines clear water. Just to reassure readers that not all traditions are being forgotten, a French Naval vessel exited the pass while we were floating around, so we saluted them by lowering our ensign. After some squawking on their intercom, a crew member climbed up and returned the salute by dipping their tricolour. So we are now anchored in the millpond of Kauehi - calmer that some docks we've tied up to! Kauehi is approx 8x10 miles in size, and has a small town ("Kauehi City") with about 200 residents. Our friends on Oso Blanco are also here, and together with another boat, Bamboozle, we had dinner at a local pension last night. Not really in the budget, but an opportunity not to be missed - a 10km ride on the back of a landrover along the only road on the atoll to a secluded spot, where a retiree from Tahiti has build a beautiful pension overlooking the lagoon. Only has two rooms, and dinners must be pre-arranged! What a spot for getting away from it all! So, now we are in paradise, we are looking forward to a few days R&R, lots of snorkeling (underneath the boat is pretty good!) and some boat maintenance. We were taking on water on the port tack, so therein lies a project! Cheers, Team Mulan