May 18 - Keeping busy in Manihi

Manihi has been a good spot. There are a multitude of anchorages available, although we've chosen to anchor nearby a motu called Tatetate, at coordinates S14deg27.893min/W146deg02.120min. When the water clears you can see large coral heads abound, so getting our anchor up may prove to be a challenge. Fernando has dropped off fresh baguettes to all the boats daily, and yesterday fresh coconut bread was available. We dropped our laundry off at his place, and met his daughter Wendy and wife Stella. Getting laundry done here is somewhat expensive at 1500 cfp per load, but we had so much to do from our passage here that we felt it was a good investment. Sue still does some of her stuff aboard, and we've started using a hand roller that fits on top of a 5 gallon bucket to squeeze most of the water out of the fabric, as our hands get so tired of squeezing water from everything before hanging stuff up on the clotheslines strung around the boat. Between the clotheslines lines and the lifelines, we look like a laundry scow with our underwear, shirts, sheets and towels flying in the breeze; quite the site! The small stores here sell basic food stuffs, and when the supply ship comes, fresh veggies are available. Fernando has been most accomodating to all the cruisers, and he can arrange snorkeling excursions, spear fishing, a picnic or pearl farm visit for anyone interested. The anchorage now has nine boats here (1 French, 2 Canadian, 2 Aussie and 5 American) with 3 more expected arrivals in the next day or so, and Fernando told us that there were 30 boats here for the Blue Water Rally last year. We've drift snorkeled the pass a few times and haven't found it as interesting as the pass at Fakarava, but worthwhile none the less. For those cruisers headed this way, a stop in Manihi is highly recommended.