2 September - Alone in Paradise

0600 position 23-53S 147-37W. At anchor off the "Swimming Pool Motu",
Raivavae Lagoon

This morning we dinghied ashore and went to the post office to mail our
customs clearance form to Papeete. We were required to do that within 24
hours of checking in. Then we went to the store to get some provisions.
We got some eggs, steak, and beer (the essentials). They only sell Hinano
here by the 16 oz. Bottle, no cans, so we bought a 20 bottle crate. Don't
want to run out. The plastic crate is too heavy for one guy to carry so
we each carried half as we walked the half mile back to the dinghy. We
were very popular with the younger guys that biked past us on the road.
Most gave us the thumbs up and some offered to help. We're pretty sure
they meant help drink it.

Once back aboard we got underway and headed for the other side of the
island. Raivavae's lagoon is nearly identical to Bora Bora's with a high
island in the middle surrounded by a motu fringed lagoon. It seems to be
about the same size too. The lagoon has far more scattered coral heads
though, and is poorly charted, so we had some sketchy moments with Matt
calling out shallow spots on the bow and me alternately diving below to
check the chart plotter and driving. At one point we found ourselves in
a dead end maze of coral and had to back out the way we came in. After a
couple of hours we found our way up into the lee of Motu Viamanu, also
called the swimming pool motu for its shallow water over sand that heats
up to bath temperature in the sun. The anchor went down at 2PM, and we
went ashore to explore. We walked the length of the mile long motu and
saw no sign of recent human activity. No footprints in the sand, nothing.
In fact it looked like we had this entire half of the Raivavae lagoon all
to ourselves. Since we came around the northern most point of Raivavae
we've not seen another human.

It is hard to believe that there is nobody here. This place is at least
as beautiful as Bora Bora, but there is no tourism. There's also far
fewer permanent residents. The guidebooks say less than 1000. I don't
get it, but it suits me fine. I like having stunningly beautiful tropical
islands all to myself.