We had a great time with Gaston and Valentine at Anse Amyot and their family on the atoll of Toau in the Tuamotos for the past several days. Theirs is the only family on the atoll and they were lovely guests. We enjoyed a scrumptious dinner of lobster, octopus, fish, rice, coconut bread and coconut rice one evening at their restaurant, while last night we had a potluck at their restaurant with the cruisers bringing various dishes while Gaston and Valentine provided fish and octopus. (More about the octopus in a minute.)

The winds, which had been gusting up to 30 knots and maintaining a steady 20-22 knots, finally let up a bit and we decided to take Gaston up on his offer to take us to swim with the manta rays in the lagoon of the atoll. First, everyone on board was, I believe, glad that it was Gaston and not ourselves navigating the run-about boat through the minefield of coral heads. Anse Amyot, situated on the northwest side of Toau, is technically a cul de sac since it does not (technically) have a pass into the atoll. But, Gaston took his run-about through some very shallow water next to his parc d' poissons (fish traps) and then through a scattering of VERY closely lodged coral heads that rise straight up to the surface of the water. Local knowledge a must! While the waves were still a bit rough for snorkeling, we knew that yesterday would be our only chance to snorkel with the mantas. As we geared up and prepared to jump off into the lagoon waters, I hoped to see a couple of manta rays in the four foot wing span range. Boy, was I surprised when I jumped in and saw four or five very large mantas gliding in the waters right beneath me. Their wing spans probably ranged from 8 to 12 feet. Very impressive! Mantas are filter feeders and are not aggressive animals. It was amazing to see them swim up from about 20 feet to only 5 feet below us and then see them arch over backwards (so their undersides showed), and then circle back down in a loop pattern into a school of small fish. Their movements were so fluid and graceful it was as if we were watching an underwater ballet. I was so glad to to have my camera with me to capture a few special shots.

When we arrived back into the anchorage, Sam went octopus hunting with Gaston. Gaston knew where the octopi like to hide out, and he quickly found a hole and stuck his wooden spear down into it. A couple of jabs had the octopus entangling the spear (and Gaston's arms) with his tentacles. Quickly, Gaston grabbed its head and turned it inside out and twisted its neck. A few slams on the rocks and a bit of cleaning out of the intestines and Mr. Octopus was ready for dinner. Valentine makes an out-of-this-world curried coconut cream sauce and then simmers the octopus in it. Really, really delicious! And very tender, too. Gaston did mention that when hunting octopus you have to be very careful not to allow its tentacles to enter your ears or your nose as the suction cups are a real danger and ear drums can be popped and nasal passages . . . (well, not real sure what happens there, but I believe we'd all agree that octopus tentacles up the nose is something to be avoided at all costs).

We are now en route to Papeete, Tahiti and should arrive Thursday morning. When we left out of Toau this morning (Tues.) we were flying along at 8.5 knots for the entire morning. Our hopes were high for an arrival tomorrow morning into Papeete! But, after lunch the wind died down to 8 knots and our SOG (speed over ground) was reduced to 4.5 knots for a bit, but now we are back up to 6 knots.

I will post some additional photos of the mantas over the next couple of days since our slow connection over the SSB radio severely limits my ability to send attachments. We are lucky, though, that Winlink (unlike SailMail) does offer us the ability to send attachments. Using Photoshop, I try to reduce the photo size to somewhere in the 10-20 kb size, and then I generally do not have any problems. But, trying to send more than one photo at a time can be problematic. So, check back in a day or so for more photos! When we get to Tahiti (where a fast internet connection will be possible), I will upload new photos into the Photo Gallery.