September 2009

Hello everyone,

Hello from the Tuamotus !

We have reached just in time our favorite small bay, in the lee of an islet whose name we don't even know. Here are for you, in disorder, a few pictures of this trip through the Tuamotu archipelago
Just before leaving the Leeward islands, an encounter with French sailing champion Laurent Bourgnon, who doesn't presently sail a sailboat, but a big motoryacht that carries 20 000 liters of fuel ; finally, he's rather clever, as with a range of close to 15000 miles, he buys his fuel once a year only, in countries where it costs one quarter to one tenth of the price one pays in Europe, so his journey doesn't cost him more than the whole rigging of a sailboat. He has settled down for a year in Polynesia, and his children go to school in a pretty island.

- Rangiroa, Apataki, Aratika, Kauehi, Fakarava, these are the names of the atolls I have visited during the past month; I had never visited before half of them. In Kauehi, for instance, I have filmed a picturesque procession in honour of the Virgin Mary, on August 15 : Kauehi's whole population is catholic.

In the Tuamotus, one really feels at the end of the World, but a few islands have small airports where you can have stores sent : so you do not lack anything

In Apataki, an enterprising Paumotu has recently created in a small dreal island... a shipyard where on can haul our and store one's boat : it's good to know if you want to paint your hull or store your boat while you fly back home.

And finally one of the often beautiful sunsets over the Tuamotus

I was telling you we reached just in time our favorite small anchoring spot, just before a bout of maraamu, the strong local easterly wind, came to upset the surrounding ocean for a few days (so the weather forecast says)... we are perfectly sheltered, with a line to a coconut tree... and we send you our thoughts
See you soon
Antoine