'Sea'-nile

Perry with our Dreamsicle-colored spinnaker.
Photo courtesy of Marie-Claude Osterrath.

The other day, one of the 'kid' boats that we hang around with celebrated their son's birthday on the wrong day (they thought Saturday was Sunday) . Although that's an extreme example, we are often forgetting the day of the week. It's one of the things about cruising that makes it seem like we mostly sit around drinking cocktails in exotic locations, watching the sunset. We do a lot of that, along with diving/snorkeling with hundreds of sharks, having beach bonfires, and exploring remote islands.

Flotilla for birthday relay races.

Of course, we have lots of inconveniences that 'normal' people don't. During one relatively calm crossing when we should have gotten a lot of rest, the freezer decided to stop working in the middle of the night, requiring Matt to replace yet another black box controller. On the same night, the generator stopped working and Matt had to troubleshoot it and replace the impeller.

A pearl farm in Raroia (Tuamotos).

And we can have very limited fresh vegetables for long stretches. The kids got really excited about the broccoli and cauliflower (weirdos!) that Matt brought back to the boat after arriving to Moorea, which is near Tahiti. 

That's Mark in the yellow circle. Baie Hatiheu (Marquesas).

We'll hang out in Tahiti for a bit to see if we can get our mainsail restitched and restock on some boat parts. Then we'll head through the rest of French Polynesia until we have to leave by the end of July.

Our anchorage in Baie D'Anaho (Marquesas).

Mark adding a memento to the Thor Heyerdahl memorial (Tuamotos).

A lot of the towns are energy independent with solar panels
and rainwater collection systems.

Giant clams

Copra collection hut on Taotaona (Tuamotos)

Mark with a black tip reef shark in Fakarava (Tuamotos)

Baiting sharks. Anyone for a swim?

A Napolean fish so big that it has 2 remoras. Not that they're picky.
One tried to attach itself repeatedly to Matt's leg while diving.