We left Takaroa expecting about 10 knots of wind on a beam reach and for the first few hours it was even less so we flew our spinnaker. By 8 pm the wind departed and we powered slowly all night long with the ocean as calm as glass and the stars and half moon reflecting in the water. It was beautiful and uneventful. We slowed down not to reach our destination at dark and by sunrise we were about 15 miles from the pass at Kauehi. Out of nowhere the wind piped up to 30 knots and we were screaming on a beat triple reefed. All was well until I put the engine on to assist us up wind. It quit! Not good when you have to go through a dangerous pass at slack tide upwind. Despite fuel filter changes and bleeding I still couldn't get it to run. We hove to off of the pass and fortunately for us had arrived early. After some more patience and work the engine finally coughed and started to run. In the process I discovered that the spare fuel filters I bought from NAPA as drop in replacements for the Perkins engine were mismatched! Luckily I still had an unused Perkins fuel filter to install. We hit the pass at slack and easily powered into the adverse current which was minimal. We entered a large lagoon of perhaps 8 miles long and 7 miles wide and had to motor about an hour up to the town where we discovered an idyllic anchorage. The boat hasn't been this quiet at anchor for 3 months! The water is turquoise and warm. After eating some breakfast and meeting friends who saw us arrive we rested some and then I went swimming. Takaroa, the last island we visited had water so clear we could see 75 feet down. Here the viability is only maybe 15 feet. We understand in other areas of this lagoon the water is much clearer...near the entrance and we'll move there in a few days.

These towns are very small and quiet. There is no internet and the supply ship comes in maybe once to twice per month to resupply the town. There are perhaps a dozen cruisers anchored here many we recognize from out stay in the Marquessa Islands. There are a few black pearl farms here but no one speaks of any tours. The locals sell low quality small pearls and the large gems are sent to Tahiti and other cities for sale.

This is the first place that we have reached now where the boat is behaving and we are not overwhelmed with maintenance issues. We hope to swim more here, walk through the town and probably move to a quiet and private anchorage behind the reef on the east side of the atoll. It is amazing to me to thing that this whole atoll used to be a large volcanic island with mountains that have now eroded away leaving only the living reef and it's detritus with this large lagoon in the middle. Still no internet to post photos. We are taking as many as we can.

from the crew of Always Saturday