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Toau!

We left Fakarava on J’s birthday, certainly a different way to spend your birthday! Once we were outside the pass, it was sails up, and a few hours later, we arrived at Pass Otuigi. Each time we go through a pass, the kids have to stay in the aft cockpit and lifejackets are on. This is a safety precaution, as some of the passes can have quite a bit of current and even standing waves! Thus we time our entry to passes at slack tide, or close to.

Once inside the lagoon, we headed south to find a nice spot to anchor for the night. After a lunch of pancakes (we had left a bit early for J’s birthday brekky), we all had a swim and spent the afternoon relaxing and hanging out together. J practiced his bubble blowing with some bubble gum that he got for his birthday (not many shops in Fakarava, and I wasn't that organised with a present before leaving Aus), so this year he received bubblegum, a hand made satchel from Fakarava and some money. J had a birthday dinner request of burritos, so once this was fulfilled, we watched a movie, enjoying Ice Age!

The next morning we exited the pass with 3.5 knots of incoming current and some pretty decent sized swell, but Be and Be did it easy, plus I was at the helm, so nothing to worry about! ; ) We had a nice sail, and arrived in the beautiful false pass of Anse Amyot by early afternoon.

This bay is generally the spot that cruisers visit in Toau, and we could see why. We picked up a mooring ball, then headed to shore to visit with the only people who live on the motu. Valentine and Gaston, with their dogs Leylou and Rocky, and their pigs, chooks, cats, pet Frigate bird Mumu and several hundred hermit crabs live in Anse Amyot. They are a most charming couple, and Valentine has lived here for 40 years. She is somewhat famous, with lots of boats visiting each season to dine at her restaurant. We asked about a meal, and once she consulted with Gaston, they said we could come for lunch the following day. The kids enjoyed a sunset swim, though you have to be mindful of the current, if its outgoing tide we stay close to the boat, sometimes even holding onto a line out the back, so as not to get washed back out to sea! I liked to call it my own personal swim spa, as I swam against the current, without moving anywhere!

We snorkelled in the morning, seeing lots of fish and a couple of moray eels, then came back to the boat and readied for lunch.

We were greeted by Leyla and Rocky licking the kids faces as they were trying to climb up onto the dinghy dock, and then Valentine came to show us inside. The table was set beautifully in Polynesian style, and we soon sat down together with Valentine and Gaston, for a feast of lobster, poisson cru (a local fish salad made with raw fish and coconut milk), fish cakes, steamed breadfruit, marinated chicken, steamed rice, and the best coconut cake we've ever tasted! J ate almost the whole plate of chicken by himself! We also found out that they were actually closed for the season, but cooked for us especially, I think because we asked so nicely!

They also supplied us with plenty of coconuts

And were kind enough to provide us with breadfruit and advice on how to cook it. Yummy!

We spent the next few days in Anse Amyot drift snorkelling the pass, doing some boat chores and enjoying boat life. H is a keen underwater photography enthusiast and took the opportunity to take many pictures and do a few videos.

S, E and J are getting very good with their free diving, able to outlast me underwater every time. After watching the weather for a few days, we decided to head back to Tahiti, as there was a tropical depression about to hit the Tuamotus and we still had a lot to see in the Society Islands.

So, on Saturday the 11th of Feb, 4 weeks after we’d left, we set sail to return to Papeete. We had 2 days of good winds, and a few squalls on the Sunday evening. As the wind got up to 40 knots (~80km) the rain gave G a pin pricking massage while I stayed pretty calm and inside with the kids, while G handled it like a professional. I was super proud and impressed with his abilities. I made him stay up and sleep next to me on my watch just in case any squalls like that came over us again. But they didn’t, and we sailed into Papeete Harbour at about 6am with a beautiful sunny day ahead.

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