June 8 - Waiting for weather - Rangiroa

There aren't a whole lot of boats traveling around, anywhere. The reinforced trades have brought 20-25 knot winds, and high seas, for days now; mostly SE, but with a bit of E and ENE thrown in. Exiting the passes here is just way too exciting in these sorts of conditions, and we've even seen several yachts thrown about as they attempt departure. We watched heart in mouth as a large Oyster 60-something took waves over the bow back to the cockpit, pitched so heavily its stern was clear out of the water, then slewed around as the waves battered him as he fought to gain steering control....nosiree...we'll wait a bit longer before we get into anything like that! So, we had an open-house (boat)/cocktail party/meet your new neighbors/birthday party aboard the other day; I counted 19 people from 8 boats aboard; a very nice gathering. Matt's been doing a bit of kiting, but the other two boats that had kiters aboard departed a while back, so he's been on his own. We're doing a lot of reading (always), and go into town for fresh baguettes, croissants, veggies and other stuff when needed. The weather in Tahiti, our next stop, is pretty similar to ours, so when the next decent time frame for departure from here to there occurs, there will be boats moving from there to wherever...it's a constant shuffleboard of boats to and from. We have slow internet here, a real bonus, and are enjoying our prolonged stay here in Rangiroa. Btw, two megayachts are here: the 43m Dubois designed sailing vessel "Drumbeg" and the 78m Feadship motoryacht "TV" (it charters for $185000/week! Infini's rates are somewhat less....) - look them up on the net - we did!