THE TUAMOTUS DIARIES #4: DAY 9
Yesterday (Monday) started windy but sunny, promising a good day. The kids did homeschooling while I spent most of the morning in and out of the water improving our anchoring system.
We are sharing this beautiful anchorage with sv Nogal, a fun american family who we met back in the Marquesas. They have two daughters of the age of Raquel, and they play along really well. Also here is sv Tigre, a beautiful custom-made aluminum yacht belonging to a full-time cruising french couple. Since the afternoon was gearing up to a beautiful one, we decided to do a bonfire.
Accordingly, at 4pm we all headed to the beach, the adults procuring wood while the kids made the life of the hermit crabs miserable. The rum and beer were just starting to come out of our coolers when someone noted a (very) black cloudy formation just upwind of us. We stayed in denial for a while, in hopes that our ignoring it would make the squall steer away from us. It didn’t. Quite the opposite.
We undid the camp and the fire as quickly as we could, rushed back to our dinghies, and charged in haste toward our homes. But the decision-making may have taken a bit too long, and the squall caught us underway. The seas built up instantly to the 40kt+ gusts and torrential rain, and the dinghy felt more like a submarine.
I was afraid Paulo and Raquel might get in panic, or even traumatized but, to the contrary, they were having a great time, cheering to each new wave that drenched us inside the dinghy. And, that way, they helped take the fear and panic out of me as well.
Raquel wrote the following in her diary, which pretty much summarizes the plot:
“Tuesday 2016 09:35 June
Yesterday we had a bonfire. First we collected wood and then I made a little house with Sofia and Julia. We got three hermit crabs: Mossy, marshmallows and Chocolate. But when we started the fire it was going to rain, like, REALLY strong. On the way back it was a rush. We got soaked wet with sea water and rain. I thought it was quite an adventure“.
Another day in paradise !
So I guess the morale of this story is you also need a good weather window for roasting marshmallows. Sorry your bonfire got rained out but love that the kids know that even though a little rain may fall, there’s always a silver lining behind that big black cloud. Hugs
Meu filho, vc realmente consegue fazer 1 baita omelete c 1 so ovo!!! Parabens!! E os pequenos estao se saindo muito bem !! bj mae
This place is more or less like the Sea of Cortez – fantastic anchorages, but most of them highly exposed to the weather oner way or another. Perhaps the only difference is that Forecasting here is many degrees of magnitude worse than there.
OI Mae – pois eh, fizemos os ovos renderem um montão. O mesmo valendo para as bananas, laranjas, queijo – quase tudo que eh fresco. Mas faz tudo parte da experiência e aprendizado. Um beijo desde Fakarava !!!