Safe Arrival of Sabbatical III in Toau<\/p>\n
We pulled into Anse Amyot, Toau just after dawn this
\nmorning. We are now tied up to a mooring owned by Valentina and
\nGaston, the Tuamotan family that lives on the north side of this
\nsmall indent (“false lagoon”) on the northwest side of Toau.
\nThe wind and seas never did abate as forecast. On the contrary,
\nwinds were 25-30 knots all day yesterday and last night, and
\nseas rose to 9-12 feet with the occasional 15 footers. Some of
\nthese bigger waves brought significant amounts of spray towards
\nthe cockpit. The rain flaps that we installed kept us mostly
\ndry if we sat in the front half of the cockpit. The night was
\nsqually with some downpours and wind gusts in excess of 30
\nknots. Nonetheless, Sabbatical III handled it all very well,
\nalthough it was tough to sleep with all of the waves knocking
\nthe boat around. We had to slow the boat down for some hours
\nyesterday and last night in order to not arrive before sunrise.
\n We sailed without the mainsail, and with double reefs (and
\noccasionally triple reefs) in the genoa and mizzen. We never
\nsaw another boat visually or on radar. I hooked two fish but
\ncould not land either one of them. It is still fun to hear the
\nline unspool off of the reel after the fish bites and to fight
\nthem for a while.<\/p>\n
Michael and Britta of “Vera” came out in their dinghy to help
\nus tie up to the mooring, and then came aboard for coffee,
\ncereal, and fruit. They said that it has been blowing 25-35
\nknots continuously for the past two days. Nonetheless, Anse
\nAmyot is fully protected from the waves (but not the wind) by a
\nset of coral reefs and motus that extend in every direction
\nexcept for a small opening to the west. We are looking forward
\nto showers and sleep.<\/p>\n
Our position is South 15 degrees 48.212 minutes, West 146
\ndegrees 09.114 minutes.<\/p>\n
M.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … <\/p>\n