Safe Arrival of Sabbatical III in Toau

We pulled into Anse Amyot, Toau just after dawn this
morning. We are now tied up to a mooring owned by Valentina and
Gaston, the Tuamotan family that lives on the north side of this
small indent (“false lagoon”) on the northwest side of Toau.
The wind and seas never did abate as forecast. On the contrary,
winds were 25-30 knots all day yesterday and last night, and
seas rose to 9-12 feet with the occasional 15 footers. Some of
these bigger waves brought significant amounts of spray towards
the cockpit. The rain flaps that we installed kept us mostly
dry if we sat in the front half of the cockpit. The night was
squally with some downpours and wind gusts in excess of 30
knots. Nonetheless, Sabbatical III handled it all very well,
although it was tough to sleep with all of the waves knocking
the boat around. We had to slow the boat down for some hours
yesterday and last night in order to not arrive before sunrise.
We sailed without the mainsail, and with double reefs (and
occasionally triple reefs) in the genoa and mizzen. We never
saw another boat visually or on radar. I hooked two fish but
could not land either one of them. It is still fun to hear the
line unspool off of the reel after the fish bites and to fight
them for a while.

Michael and Britta of “Vera” came out in their dinghy to help
us tie up to the mooring, and then came aboard for coffee,
cereal, and fruit. They said that it has been blowing 25-35
knots continuously for the past two days. Nonetheless, Anse
Amyot is fully protected from the waves (but not the wind) by a
set of coral reefs and motus that extend in every direction
except for a small opening to the west. We are looking forward
to showers and sleep.

Our position is South 15 degrees 48.212 minutes, West 146
degrees 09.114 minutes.