Greetings and Happy Easter from Ensemble.
Today we begin our sail from Ua Pou to the Tomatoes (Tuamotu) Archipelago. The Tomatoes are famous for being where the Kon Tiki finished - and where the French tested the A-bomb until the mid 1990s. It is sometimes known as the 'Dangerous Archipelago' - because the most of the 70 odd islands are coral cays and very hard to see.
We spent yesterday at Hakahau Bay on Ua Pou with the crews from Gunvor and Seaquest and went to a local church service. Very musical - but didn't understand a word.
We then finished up with a lovely dinner on Gunvor. Too much wine and too many beers later - we made it back to Ensemble for a quick sleep before getting up early (8am) for a last attempt and using the internet and getting the boat ready for the trip.
We motored around the north tip of the island - had a light lunch - before Magali went off to sleep. I decided to set the sails (only 9.5knots of wind - but why not). I had half got the genakker up - when one of the fishing lines went off. The rod was nearly taken from the rod holder - so I grabbed it with one hand - while with the other I tried to tighten the genakker sheet. I couldn't let go of the rod or it would have gone overboard - couldn't reach the winch handle - and I couldn't get back to the helm station to kill the engine - and Magali didn't respond to my calls (she is a very sound sleeper). The fish must have died laughing. I eventually managed to tighten the genakker sheet - but after 45 minutes the fish was still not tiring (while I certainly was). Inch by inch I brought it closer to the stern of the boat. I finally saw it - a beautiful yellow fin tuna - and got him to within a meter of the boat before he spat out the lure and with a flick of his tail was away. No sushi for now - and I need a rest!
Cheers
Dave & Magali