Cleone - En Route to Tahiti

We are nearly half-way to Tahiti.

The sun is up, and if there were any about, no doubt the birds would be singing.  And on this subject, we did notice that the Tuamotus and, especially, the Marquesian cocks start crowing at mid-night and go on till daylight.  Has no one told them to wait until dawn?  But I digress.  Harmonie is in sight; she has her sails up, but she'll also be motoring; there is precious little wind at the moment.

We left Fakarava via the South Pass.  There was a big tide running out through it, and the waters were turbulent.  The channel is deep but narrow, and well marked.  At one point we were in as little as four metres of water, but there was no time to wonder whether we had got it right - we were quickly swept into the centre of the current, the leading marks swung into line and in no time we were outside the lagoon.  All settled down and we hoisted the sails to try and catch what wind there was.  As we toiled away at the anchor (we have no windlass at the moment, and the chain had inevitably wound itself round a couple of coral heads during the night) we had noticed that swells were breaking on the west side of the reef.  When we got outside, we found out why.  There was a huge swell coming in from the south-west, against the wind.  Although it has died down now, it will be interesting to find out what has generated it; there must be some big winds down there, where we hope they will stay.  The only other item of note was the area of phospherescent bombs that we went through in the middle of the night.  Better on the Starboard side because of the green navigation light, wether they were a shoal of jellyfish or what, we will never know.  But the sight of them was spectacular - except for the strobes flashing above us and the deafening music, it was a bit like being on one of those weird dance-floors.

We should reach Papeete sometime tomorrow morning according to Norfy's Time Chart.  We are expecting to find most of the rest of the fleet already ensconced, though we know there are 3 other boats with us.  I will let you know when we arrive.

Meanwhile, we have survived another Will Meal - he's getting better all the time*.  All well, and best wishes to everyone.

James, Chris and Will