Enjoying the crystal blue water
15 July 2007 | Makemo, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
Jennifer
Makemo: What a gorgeous place! The Marquesas with their dramatic steep volcanic mountains covered with their dense lush foliage were certainly beautiful, too. But, I so enjoy waking up and enjoying my morning cup of coffee in the cockpit while I gaze upon crystal clear blue water and palm trees waving on shore in the light breeze. The water is so clear within this atoll that you can see clear to the bottom in 35 feet of water. Very nice. We were in Raroria yesterday (another atoll in the Tuamotus), but the wind was kicking up from the SE and we had a lot of coral heads in the anchorage right behind us, so we decided to move on.
Yesterday was Bastille Day here. Raroria had several activities planned: pitonque (aka bocce) tournaments, longboat races and volleyball, along with a BBQ of some sort. So, we thought that Makemo, being even a larger village (relatively speaking) would also have some events planned, but they are in the process of building a new gymnasium and the supply boat was arriving with tons of aggregate to be unloaded, so they decided it was more worthwhile to have the young men working rather than celebrating. Also, although these are French islands, it seems as though the locals think of Bastille Day as a holiday for the French, not necessarily for them. Polynesians have their own festival, Heiva, which runs from the end of June to mid-July, and they seem to place more emphasis on that celebration.
We had a domestic morning: laundry, defrosting the freezer and cooking. (Sorry folks, it's not cocktails with umbrellas all the time when you're cruising.) This afternoon we invited the girls from Encanto to go swimming with us and now Tori and Alison are over at their boat making "milkshakes." (We supplied the ice and sweetened condensed milk and the other boat is supplying their industrial strength VitaMix blender. I think the motor on it is larger than our small dinghy motor. No joke.) So, they are not technically milkshakes like one would get at Dairy Queen, but they are still pretty darned good.
Sam and John from Encanto are over on shore cleaning the coconuts they gathered on their dinghy exploration earlier this afternoon. It takes some time and there's certainly a technique to it all. It's actually pretty difficult work to get the meat out of the shell. If they get them done soon enough, while the girls are still making milkshakes, then there could be some coconut milkshakes to be shared. Speaking from past experience, those are really hard to beat.
And that is life in paradise for today. Ta-ta.