We raised anchor last night about 18:00 and motored off toward the sunset and Tuamotu. We all felt some sorrow at leaving such a beautiful place and such special people but it's time to move on. We left behind a spare fishing rod/reel, clothing, some beverages and some new friendships. As we are now stocked with fresh banana, pomelo, limes and lemons as well as a large piece of local pork... we are ready to make some trade with the people of Tuamotu who have wonderful coconuts and fish but no fruit.
By the way Carmen prepared some of the yellowfin tuna Andrea caught for our dinner last night and it was easily the best tuna we've had on the trip. We caught a nice little Bonito tuna a few weeks back but the yellowfin has much better flavor and texture. Good thing we have 15 kg of filet/lomo in the freezer!
As there is not much wind, we are motoring with the genoa up to help stabilize us from the rocking but even so, it's a little hard to sleep for some and we all wish for a nice wind to come up. Last night a few small squalls teased us from afar but never came close enough to get us wet. It's 375 nm to Fakarava from here and, in the past 16 hours, we've made 160nm averaging about 8.5 kts.
This is a very remote part of the Pacific yet we find another sailboat, SY Georgia, making its way to the west as well. They are just an AIS target 10 nm away for now but we hope as we get closer we can call them on the VHF to exchange some greetings. Such is life at sea!
Currently we are motoring, the mainsail is down and the genoa is out. The sky is clear, we have good visibility and the sea state is slight. Wind is 14.0 kts from 82°T, the air temperature is 31°C while the sea temperature is 30°C. Our SOG is 8.5 kts with our COG 221°T.
Penso che attraversare la "passe" sia stata una grande emozione, anche per qualcuno che questa emozione l'aveva gia' provata. Complimenti ed ora buon riposo! Welcome to the Lagoon of Fakarava!