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The Tuamotus Diaries #22, Day 45 – July 12^th 2016

The kids were on fire today.

I woke up to the noise of someone walking at the main salon. Still confused, I checked on the watch: 6:15AM. There was still some time until the sun would come up from behind the palm trees. Oh well.

It was Paulo, and he was already working on his school’s assignments for the day! Soon came Raquel from her bed, and she also joined the early-bird school session in earnest.

By 9:15AM we were done with school and I started to wonder what we would do with all those hours left. Indeed, it didn’t take long for the kids to start feeling bored. A chess match between Paulo and Raquel quickly deteriorated into a petty argument about who played better. I knew something had to be done.

If there is one thing that is guaranteed to raise their spirits ALWAYS, it is our dinghy’s strong engine (we carry two, and 95% of the time we use the small one, 2.5HP. The powerful one, 15HP, is kept for special occasions). Besides, it was a truly glorious day. And the forecast was suggesting it might be the last in times to come.

I rigged the big outboard to the dinghy and invited the kids to come with me to explore a more remote area of the atoll – to which they accepted cheeringly immediately.

We zapped to the North, away from Pesto, exploring the Atoll’s rim. We found a beautiful little cove some 1.5 miles up, and stopped the dinghy there to explore the area. It was an indentation on the atoll’s rim, similar to the one I had visited with Raquel earlier, but much larger, and surrounded by a more complex environment.

From here on, the pictures will do the job in completing this story. Enjoy:

On the way back, we stopped at our “regular” beach, and the kids spent another hour playing at their “headquarters” there. Along the way, we shot this video, which hopefully adds to the representation of the splendor of that place:

While the kids played at their “headquarters”, I used the opportunity to take more pictures, in hopes to save at least a few fragments of the fantastic experience which has been to be here:

Back to Pesto, and reflecting on the hours behind, we all agreed it was one special day. Personally, I think it was one of the best we’ve had here in the Tuamotus. And one of the top of our Journey as a whole. Had Adriana been with us, it would have been The Perfect Day !