en route again

We have spent the last couple of days on the other side of the lagoon from the village - the wind came up and the coral heads right behind us looked a bit close for comfort. It was about 6 miles across, mostly deep water but with large coral heads that come up from 30m to just a few inches from the surface. Luckily very visible as long as the sun is well up and behind you. G stood at the bow the whole time. We anchored off some pretty little 'motus' or islets which were actually nicer to look at than to walk on as they are made of very rough coral, and even the sandy beaches are too sharp for bare feet.

A short dinghy ride away they were building a new pearl farm. We went to have a look, and as it was Sunday afternoon, were welcomed warmly by the construction crew. They took us to their main building, and invited us to share their lunch - shark curry, rice, fried fish, rice, and dumplings made from flour and coconut milk. All quite tasty. We were shown around with great enthusiasm. The whole of the very small motu has been cleared, and various buildings are under construction - a Japanese project, and most of the lads are from Tahiti, with just 4 local boys from Raroia village. They insisted on giving us half a dozen little birds eggs when we left - very sad that they are collecting them to eat, 20 people there for 12 months could do a lot of damage to the bird population.

Snorkelling was good, with quite a lot of clams nestled among the coral growths. Some have brilliant blue edges to the wavy closing edge. They snap shut as you get close, certainly wouldn't want a finger anywhere near, and G. had a diving knife strapped to his leg just in case. Also picked up a couple of pearl oysters which we opened on board, but no pearls of course.

This morning we headed out, miscalculating the tides a bit so found ourselves zooming out with the outgoing tide at a very hairy speed. I was keeping an eye on the range poles behind us while G. steered, a bit too exciting. We're not quite sure which island we are going to next, it depends on our speed and tide times. Will keep going through the night anyway, so will let you know where we are tomorrow.