April 15, 2012

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Last night’s restaurant looked like it has good snorkeling all around, so we dinghy over and snorkel for over an hour. The water is clear and there is a vertical reef with caves and literally thousands of fish. I spot a sea turtle, one of the few we see in French Polynesia. This is some of the best diving we’ve done (have I said something like before???). After our dive, we head to the Bali Hai resort and have rum punches and talk to guests at the hotel, swim in the pool, shower. . . .ummm, it is very nice here. Ashleigh sees a man she knows. It turns out he was the captain on a boat in which she was the chef recently. They talk and we get invited out to the 105’ super yacht on which he is currently captain. Nice boat.

We depart for Tahiti at around 2 pm and have an uneventful crossing to Marina Tiana. Arrival is difficult to describe. After months of seeing few other boats and small numbers of people, we enter the passage through the reef and are faced with water skiers, kayakers, paddle boarders, boats that are floating bars, people and boats everywhere and nearly everything in motion. It is dizzying. We have arrived back to civilization including traffic, super markets (real ones!) , people, internet that usually works (but is still expensive), bars and restaurants, buses into town, a real fuel dock, unlimited potable water at the dock (no hauling it in jugs!!!), unlimited shore power, dockside showers!!!

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