Think we'll eat worms. . .
Remember that? No? Well, you are obviously not the same sort of culture freaks as us! Anyway, the situation out here in French Polynesia is changing rapidly, as more cases of corono virus are popping up. We heard of one today - a Swiss person who had flown in to join a yacht. Very bad public relations for yachties! In the age of everyone looking for a boogeyman to blame for their own lack of preparation, poor life choices or just plain bad luck, we do stand out and perhaps be thought of as the bad guys. Never mind the economy here runs on tourism.
Time to keep our heads down and blend into the landscape. Not terribly easy, but we'll arrive at Raroia just at dawn, enter the pass, then as soon as there's enough light to make out the bommies we'll tool slowly across the lagoon to anchor somewhere near where Thor Heyerdahl crash landed the Kon Tiki raft back in the 40's. It's about 5 miles from the small village, and a mile or 2 from a pearl farm. Likely will only be us chickens.
Well, except I wouldn't be surprised if there are already a couple boats there, and darned if there isn't a sailboat off our port beam making for the same atoll. Looks like we might have some company, folks to commiserate with if we get treated like pariahs by the locals.
With an increase in the identified corono virus cases in French Polynesia, the haute commissaire in Tahiti released new guidelines today. No visas will be issued. Don't know exactly what that means for cruisers who are now at sea and on their way from Mexico or Panama to French Polynesia, hopefully someone there will seek clarification for the sailing community. Those of us already here are fine and dandy, but the rulers are advising no movement between islands except for family or work reasons. Don't know how that will impact us either, but our best strategy for the next few weeks will be to remain in remote atolls in basically uninhabited areas, like where we're headed at Raroia.
I stowed the main sail about 1900 this evening when we got within 30 nautical miles of our objective, and since have been playing a game with the jib, furling a bit in or out to keep us around 3.5 knots. That'll get us a dawn arrival outside the pass, a good time to assess the current and standing wave action in the pass. With any luck we'll be able to motor on it around sunup and then we'll have to look for a spot to drop the hook and wait for the sun to get on up and reveal the uncharted bommies. Those coral heads can take the bottom of the boat off and they can be hard to see, so the best course of action is to wait until the sun is high and the sky clear, then post a watch on the bow as we motor carefully the 5 or 6 miles across the lagoon to the East side of the atoll. There we'll have good shelter from the predominately East winds, with no fetch for waves to build thanks to the reef. There are several motus (sandy little islands) scattered along the reef, places we can go ashore and do a bit of yoga, look for a fresh coconut or perhaps launch for a bit of kite boarding. Bet your butt the SUPs are going to see a lot of use too!
We're good until we run out of cooking gas - currently butane. I reckon we've got 6 - 8 weeks of that, but Isabel will be clamoring for fresh leafy greens well before then. Maybe we'll find someone who will be willing to interface with us and sell us some farm goods.
Still, this is better than putting up with idiots making runs on toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Looks like we'll finally eat our way through the provisions Isabel stocked before we left Mexico! Imagine how much waterline we'll get back.
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