Logbook: NE Apataki & Buddy Boating

After leaving the haul out facility we needed some serious RnR. We needed to play in the water, watch a lot of sunsets and slowly finish the odds and ends that needed to be stowed or fixed on the boat. We got that time by spending a week in the NE corner of Apataki.

We met up with two boats that we had met last year in the Tuamotus. Both boats have kiters aboard and we had a fantastic time kiting and hanging with them last year. They were our Tuamotu tutors; both boats had much more experience with French Polynesia and the Tuamotus in particular and we had a great time learning how to milk the fun out of the region from them. Since we all splashed at the haul out facility, we have been traveling in loose formation, playing in concert, and it’s been a great time. Who would have thought that three independent, free thinking cruising couples would have so much fun joined at the hip?

Carol has continued his schooling this year with an introduction to spear fishing which he has taken to with gusto. We are eating a lot more delicious fish and we need to buy a good gun for him at the next opportunity. You have to be quite careful of what fish you shoot in the Tuamotus as there is a particular type of poisoning you can get and the fish that carry it vary from atoll to atoll and even within atolls.

We rigged our aerial silks for the first time on deck, from the main halyard (google aerial silk if you haven’t seen these before). We were too excited to take any pictures but we’ll make sure to bust out the camera next time. We successfully climbed two different ways and tried some of the rest positions. You need relatively no wind so it is the perfect complement to kiteboarding in which you need wind.