August 12, 2007 - Rangiroa

Continuing the Mata'irea Dinghy Outreach Program, which provides assistance to HP-challenged cruisers seeking to achieve their drift snorkeling dreams, we took a single-hander from Seattle with us on our pass runs today. We had been disappointed with the pass last week, so we were pleasantly surprised to see a whole family of manta rays lined up to feed on the incoming tide. We also spotted a big morey eel, several sharks, a small spotted eagle ray and a whole passel of fish. It was awfully cooperative of the pass to redeem itself before we took off for Tahiti.

The passage to Tahiti is about 200 miles. We haven't done a run that long since the trip from the Marquesas last month. Luckily, we'll have a month in the Societies to recover from this overnight before we start logging serious offshore miles to reach New Zealand in time to fly home to the States for the holidays. If anyone is interested in doing the run from Tonga to New Zealand with us during the first two weeks of November, drop us a line.