Well we are on the move again. We enjoyed out time in Hao, but it was more utilitarian than exploration. Hao had decent internet a big pass into the atoll and supposedly some great snorkeling / diving at the pass. Well we took advantage of the internet, and since we followed the supply ships in when we arrived loaded up on some fresh fruits and veggies.

The utilitarian part was ordering some parts for Christine’s trip back to the US, to make sure they arrive on time. As well as a few trips to the local hospital. A bite or scratch on Christine’s leg wasn’t healing so we sought the advice of the professionals, and they got her well on the mend. We stayed a few days longer to make sure it was going to mend, letting the doctor/nurse follow up. Its looking good, so we decided to move on to Tahiti.

Moving on is not without its challenges. Saying good-bye yet again to new friends, and the biggie this time was raising the anchor. The anchor alarm/watch had a really tight circle pattern, much too tight for the amount of chain we had out in the deep water, so we planned on a lengthy process. Really weren’t sure what to expect. We knew the wind had shifted us 360 degrees more than once during our stay, and we had anchor floats on the chain since we really couldn’t see the bottom in 17M of water. Turns out we snagged some old rebar forms some 8×8 feet square, and 2 of them at that. With that on the chain and anchor we didn’t stand a chance of moving. Cutting the ropes that held them together and we were able to pull the rest of the chain up, course the whole process took over an hour.

These atolls have entrances or passes, that is how the water gets in to them as well as the boats. So you have to time your passages to coincide with ‘slack tide’. The anchor fiasco, even tho we allotted extra time we were late for what we thought was the definition of slack tide. Wrong, but at least it was an outgoing current. We entered the pass with 6 knots of boat speed, with the current our speed topped 12.5 knots. What a crazy ride, over the shallows and current pushing every direction. We made it, the boat that was coming out behind us decided to wait and try tomorrow. There were some pretty big waves as the current gushed over the shallow spots, we continued till we were well clear of the currents and raised the sails on our way to Tahiti.

The forecast is for light winds for the first 2 days then filling in some. That being said we have 9 knots of wind and we are cruising along at 7 knots of boat speed. We started out heading south around the 2 closet atolls in our path, but then the wind came more out of the north so we are now going north around Marokau and Ravahere.

Planning on 4 or 5 days till we arrive in Tahiti, lets see if I can remember to send a ‘we arrived’ update as I tend to forget when the hook is actually down.

470 of 498 miles left to go.
[realtime]

At 5/30/2019 @ 5:52 AM UTC
Our position: 18°03.06’S, 141°23.07’W
Traveling 5.6 heading 283T

Google says we are here
www.google.com/maps/place/-18.05100,-141.38450

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