July 14, 2007 - Ahe, Tuamotus, French Polynesia

So, you know how yesterday I said that we were going to arrive at Ahe in time for low tide and then wait to enter the lagoon during slack tide? Yeah, well, I lied. Clearly today was not the day that Sten and I developed patience. We arrived as the tide was still going out. We figured that as long as our engine was stronger than the outflowing current, we'd be fine. We usually run the engine around 2000 rpm. In the pass this morning Sten was running it at 3000 rpm, which should have given us 7 knots of boat speed. We came through the pass at 2 knots, so that means we had about 5 knots of current against us. I was on the bow looking for bommies (coral heads). The water is tremendously clear. I could see the bottom, and the water rushing over it, and the fact that we weren't moving very fast at all. We made it through fine. Sten had such fun that he's looking forward to the next reef pass. Our passage here was really quick - 500 miles in only three days. That isn't quite long enough for our bodies to get used to operating on a few hours of sleep a night. We're both really wiped out and really glad to be here.