Aloha All,

We left our slip at Marina de Papeete at 1030 hours this morning and headed out the channel and northeast to Arue for fuel. All other preparations and provisioning were completed by early this a.m. We took on 339.28 liters of "duty free" diesel at the fuel dock next to Yacht Club Tahiti. Made a big difference in the price paid. Less than 100 French Polynesian Francs per liter. It's usually over 130 francs per liter.

We anchored in Matavai Bay, up on the northwestern tip of Tahiti, for the night. Watched another amazing sunset over Moorea. Zane is cooking up one of his fantastic dishes for dinner. Tonight, spaghetti and a nice salad, perhaps with a bottle of French Bordeaux. Smells amazing already.

Tomorrow afternoon we will depart for Rangiroa in the "Archipel des Tuamotu" (Tuamotu Archipelago). The Tuamotu is made up, almost entirely of low lying coral atolls. Rangiroa is, if I'm not mistaken, the second largest such atoll in the world. Over 30 nautical miles across.

Rangiroa is approximately 130 Nm NNE of us so we estimate about a day and a half sail to the reef pass (channel) located on its northern side. So, depending on tide, we should be anchored inside Rangiroa's protective fringing reef by roughly noon on Tuesday.

We are very excited to get underway and this jaunt to Rangiroa will make an excellent shakedown cruise for the crew and Puanani.

Everyone take care and stay well. All our love.

mark zane rob