WR is on the way to Tahiti

At the end of our last email we were on the way to Apataki. In the middle of the night we hove to off the NW corner for several hours, then continued S between Apataki and Arutua to arrive at Pakaka Pass at dawn. Sailing between these low atolls in the dark with no moon is like driving down a street and not being able to see the curbs.

We tied to the wharf at Pakaka and met Susan who was staying in a bungalow hosted by Marilyn and Tyrone. We spent several days there. Marilyn cooked excellent dinners and the porch of the bungalow was directly over the water of the lagoon. All those tropical fish you've seen in the aquarium were there in their natural habitat.

It was while here that the number on board went from 3 to 4 as we were joined by Fred the first night. He was little trouble, eating little and generally keeping out of the way. However, some of what he ate was the boat itself. Yes, Fred was a wharf rat. Someone gave us a regular trap which he twice tripped without being caught. Someone else loaned us a cage trap made in Turkey. He wasn't interested. Finally yesterday I bought a steel trap, and last night after he spent 10 nights aboard I was able to send his little corpse to the deep. His departure met with mixed feelings.

From Pakaka we motored across the lagoon to a pearl farm on the east side. There were two other boats there. One was Danish, sailed by someone who had sailed in Olympic competition. The other was German, sailed by someone who had competed in the ill fated 1979 Fastnet race where so many people lost their lives. We were later joined by 3 more boats from Aust. and NZ. One boat from NZ was just completing a 5 year circumnavigation. The fellow had been an engineer for NZ railways and had operated steam locomotives.

We learned a lot about black pearls. The oysters are big flat ugly things looking nothing like those of the Pac. NW. A technician inserts a nucleus made from the shells of a mussel from the Mississippi R. into the oyster. 20 months later the oyster is opened and the completed pearl is removed. The oyster is either given a new nucleus or tossed in a box. Those from the box are eaten, that is, their adductor muscles are taken; the rest is discarded. The oyster can be kept open only 14 seconds. While we were there they found a pearl whose diam. was 15 mm. and we were told it was worth $3000. The farm fed us several dinners: adductor muscles, fish, and roast pig. They also plied us with "juice", a strawberry flavored fermented drink they make there.

We finally left Apataki through Pakaka Pass and headed for Rangiroa, an overnight passage. These passes can be difficult due to strong currents and we ordinarily need to transit them at slack tide. This was especially true as we approached Tiputa Pass on Rangiroa. We noticed a cruise ship in the distance, but it passed the axis of the pass and didn't seem to be coming in. So we didn't wait for it and forged ahead into big waves due to tide rips. Next thing we know the ship is on our tail. It passed us when we were in the narrowest part of the pass. Its rails were lined with passengers looking down on us flailing away in the rough water. We met some of the passengers later.

After a few days in Rangiroa, the largest lagoon in the S hemisphere and the second largest in the world, we left this morning, exiting via Avatoru Pass, which was much less hairy. We (Dayle and I, Susan is flying again) hope to get to Papeete the morning after tomorrow.

Kit (and Susan)