After leaving our primary autopilot for repair with a local electrician in Raiatea, we sailed back to Taha’a for a few days of snorkeling in the magnificent Coral Gardens off Ile Tautau.
Along the way, a local in an Outrigger Canoe paddled up behind Amandla and was able to keep pace with us for 1/2 hour at over 5 knots. I was able to capture the moment with Google Glass and surprisingly had sufficient bandwidth to upload the video to Amandla’s YouTube Channel
We dropped anchor off the Tautau motu amid spectacular views.
The next morning, we were up early (for me) and off for our first snorkel of the year. The Gardens were breathtaking. The Captain was able to capture some excellent footage with his new GoPro (which we will publish on Amandla’s YouTube channel as soon as we have sufficient internet connectivity) and let me take some snaps with his underwater camera. The first image in the set is courtesy of The Captain.
[doptg id=”14″]
On our second evening anchored off the motu, we invited our new friend Gus from Spirit of Alcides for dinner. Gus is headed back to Australia after starting his circumnavigation from there in 2013 as part of the World ARC. Always a great pleasure to hear the adventures of fellow sailors that we meet along our journey.
We left Tahaa the late the next morning to share a few days in Bora Bora with our guest Steve and Margot before they head back to reality via Moorea on May 24th.
The Captain and I will remain in Bora Bora until mid June when we will head back to Raiatea to haul the boat out for bottom painting and, hopefully, to reinstall our repaired autopilot.
We are very much looking forward to the arrival of our next guests, Jean and Dan (Cago) Thompson in Bora Bora on June 7th.
Thanks for reading!
***Two Updates 18 June 2014*** 1) The Captain has posted great footage from our snorkle in the Taha’a’s Coral Garden on Amandla’s YouTube Channel 2) Our visitors Steve and Margo recently authored a wonderful post about their time with us in Taha’a. I love their blog.
Gorgeous images! You’ve traded connectivity for paradise, I’ve gotten nothing in return for our lack of connectivity apart from more pollen than I’ve ever seen in my whole life 🙂
Thank you so much Karen. Means a great deal coming from someone with your photography skills.
Even with the pollen, my guess is that you and Mick are still enjoying yourselves and taking lovely photos! Looking forward to your next post. Cheers!
[…] April, we set sail to return to French Polynesia in the Southern Hemisphere, visiting Huahine and Taha’a in the autumn, and welcoming the warm winter in Bora […]