Yesterday we managed to visit the northern motu, this time in even rougher conditions but with sun and blue skies. The small, shallow lagoon was gleaming light mint, the motus were gleaming in white and fresh green–Maria is stunningly beautiful… A group of young brown boobies circled us while we were taking the dinghy across the lagoon, sometimes almost touching us with their wings – they are incredibly curious and playful.
Today there’s a shift in the wind to the NE predicted, so we have to leave. On the one hand we’d love to visit the motus a few more times, on the other hand the rough conditions in the anchorage have been grinding us down (it seems we haven’t had a good night’s sleep since we left Penrhyn…). Our next stop will be Rurutu 200 nm further east, or if we run out of wind we’ll try to sit out the calm weather in Rimatara (120 nm).
