Stunning

0800 Position 16-36S 151-34W. At anchor off of Taotao Motu, Tahaa

It is always nice here in the Leeward Islands, even when the weather isn't perfect. Yesterday was one of those post card days though. The air temperature was ideal. The wind was about six knots, just enough to keep us cool but not enough to chill us when we got out of the water. The sky had enough puffy cumulus clouds to be interesting but not enough to create shade when we were snorkeling.

After a morning swim at Naonao we pulled the hook and powered up through the lee of Raiatea until the trades filled in where they funneled between Raiatea and Tahaa. We killed the engine and sailed under jib alone at six knots with the awning up. The wind lifted as we approached Tahaa which allowed us to sail into Tahaa's lagoon through Paipai Pass and then along the coast to the Coral River where we anchored at 1PM.

I have probably snorkeled the Coral River a dozen times over the years, and yesterday was the best so far. The surf was as small as I've ever seen it here, and since surf coming in over the reef creates the flow in the Coral River, there was no current. The bright sunshine had warmed the stagnant water to nearly bathtub temperature, but the river was clean and full of fish. With little current we could take our time meandering downstream and some of the guys took almost an hour to complete the ¼ mile drift. Our timing was perfect for both sunlight, which was almost directly overhead, and crowds. There was only one other pair of snorkelers in the water. I got more than five minutes of video of a school of striped fish that numbered in the hundreds. It was hypnotic to watch the school change direction and feed as they migrated along the reef.

Last night was just as magical. The trade winds died off completely and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The moon didn't rise until midnight, and there isn't any light pollution here, so the Milky Way was brilliant above us for the first half of the night. It was completely quiet in the glassy calm except for the gentle sound of surf breaking on the outer reef and fish feeding on the surface around us.

This morning Rob tossed some mango peals over the transom and a pair of remora came out from under the boat to check them out. These suckers were nearly three feet long and apparently are not vegetarian.

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