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7/6/2006 7:00:00 PM
Toau
An island in the Tuamotus

Tuamotus Atolls - The next 3 weeks

The continuation of the 6 week stay in Toau ... we just couldn't leave.

Ok, the new pictures all the way to our stay in Tahiti are out - hopefully they'll give you a better inside to all my babbling. So let's continue on our adventure on Matariva Motu on Toau atoll in the Tuamotus - do you remember what is what?

WEEK 4, June 17th -24th, 2006

New Dawn and the rest decided to skip some of the northern atolls in the Tuamotus and stay for another week in Toau - well with that we didn't want to leave them behind and stayed as well.... Robert and the boys watched the soccer world cup as often as possible thanks to the satellite dish they got to see it live - they even didn't mind getting up at 6am for that! The week started with a great pancake breakfast for my birthday on June 19th with Valo and Gaston. It was so nice to celebrate it on this exotic island and having made friends with the locals, it will be one to remember for life that's for sure. In the evening we had another restaurant night but since the guests were mostly our friends anyways we stayed as well. Valo even made a special cake for me with a beautiful fruit and pearl flower (to keep!) - that was a surprise! The days were flying by with shelling, fishing, repairing our main sail (we had two small rips after our passage from the Marquesas and Robert was able to fix them on land with our sowing machine and Laura's help). We also all went on a little excursion to another motu, the one were Valo and Gaston usually do their pearling and keep their oysters.  Friends from Kabuki arrived within those days as well, a nice couple (Toya and Steve) from Namibia on their catamaran Cheers. It was a really nice crowd of boats and we had a few evenings of potluck, one night Ross from Kabuki and Laura from New Dawn even made pizza (10!) for this crowd of 20 some people.  We all had a close eye on the weather and it looked like that the following Wednesday was a good day to leave. We gave it a lot of thought to tack along with them but then decided to stay for a few more days and wait for fish trap day since there would have been nobody around to help Gaston. Even Sebastian was allowed to come along for that one and he was mighty proud to have seen the big supply ship.

WEEK 5, June 24th - July 1st, 2006

Well, you know how that went... Thursday came and the winds came down dramatically, also France and Brazil had their match that Saturday and Gaston was able to convince Robert to stay. Again we had a few days with just us in the anchorage before we thought we will finally leave....It was our routine to come on to land for breakfast already, only went back after dinner and usually a round of Domino game. We had made it our home for the time and all the newcomers could hardly believe that we had been there for 5 weeks, which is rather uncommon within the cruising community.  On the weekend a total new fleet came in, boats that we had never heard or seen of. It was mostly boats who had come later in the season from the Galapagos and are now at the end of the group. There were two boats in particular that we made an instant connection and hung out with a lot. Gem and Rob from Orinoco Flow and Peter and Janet from Seeker are all divers and Robert enjoyed going out with a crowd and have a few dives. Even I gave it a try with the help and guidance of Gem who has been a diver forever and has a real love for it. I have to admit that I am not a big water rat and that it is plenty for me to go on a 15-20 minute snorkel trip. Nevertheless I thought I ought to give it a try, specially since Gem is a dive assistant and I felt really safe with her. She was very patient and wonderful taking care of me and my equipment, so that all I had to do was enjoy the "ride". I got a bit chilly after 40 minutes, which was not enough time for me to see it all. I am so happy that I did it and overcame my apprehension for going under water, yet I did not get the dive fever and won't rush off to a course right away. Who knows maybe I'll do one with the boys when they are old enough.

WEEK 6, July 1st -8th, 2006

We had heard our friends Drude and Josie on Van Diemen (we were in the same marina in San Diego and last had seen them in PV/ Mexico!) on the VHF radio on the next atoll over. The winds were too strong for them to come out the pass but on Sunday they finally managed and came to Toau. They also stayed for July 4th, which we planned a little party for. We had a fun potluck night and many of us brought their old flares for fireworks. Robert also build a big bonfire, Rob brought his custom made little canon and shot off a few good, loud bangs, I had some sparkling candles and poppers for the kids - small and big - 4th of July in the middle of nowhere...! Van Diemen and Seeker left early in the week, Orinoco Flow and us stayed. Rob and Gem have a small monkey  named Leona or "Her majesty the queen" on board and Sebastian was totally fascinated by it. Valo had chosen one of the puppies the week before, since their dog Baloo is the father, they wanted to have one of his kids. So our kids where in heaven with "Niki" (yep, Valo named it after me - she wanted to call it Lawur but we decided that wasn't a dog name - and she wanted to keep one Niki on Matariva motu...)  Very important for all of my three boy, was the pre-finale of the soccer world cup, specially once France got to be in the end round, there was no way of leaving! Unfortunately the outcome wasn't quite what we all had hoped for, it would have been quite special if France would have won. I have to admit even I watched the last game. In the evening we burned the 15 year old fishing boat of Liza's family, since the next morning the new one was going to be put in the water. Jean, Tamatea and Gabi had built a new boat the last 4 weeks, which we followed closely and since it was a big event for them we did not want to miss it. Sunday there was another big restaurant night and Valo asked us if we could stay one more day and help her out... There had to be a time to tie off the buoy. It was hard to leave, we had integrated to well, enjoyed the experience to live with the locals so much, the visits of friends boats and new ones to befriend was a lot of fun (we saw 35 boats come through the anchorage in these 6 weeks!) and live so easy and remote... Monday July 10th we finally did. We had brought all our belongings back to the boat that had been accumulation during all this time, tied everything down and had hoped for a last day with Valo and Gaston. Unfortunately they were busy with other cruisers taking them on a motu trip and gone most of the day. Originally we had wanted to leave before sunset but with all the good byes, last presents and doubts if we really should leave it almost was 7pm when Lawur was off. It was a full moon night and the whole motu was lit up, also the torches in front of Liza's pension bungalows gave it a warm look. Valo and Gaston accompanied us in their fishing boat all the way out the pass to the ocean and their silhouette in the moon light was our last view - I still get tears when I think about it. We all cried, even men and kids - who were literally sobbing. Valo kept saying "I know you are coming back one day!"

And that is what I hope we will, the time there will always be unforgettable for us. It wasn't all just peachy keen (like my friend Bonnie would say), even on a little island with 10 people you get some disagreements and quarrels, that's universal and part of life, right?! I do think though that the opportunity to be with the locals so close and spending their daily lives with them won't come around that often. The opportunity and experience was very special for us. We often thought whether we should have seen some other atolls in the Tuamotus while being there but in the end don't regret to have stayed only there and that long. We would have not met so many other boats and made friends, hoping to see them along the route again.

I hope that I didn't bore you too much with this immense long report, but hope that the pictures will give you a better idea and explain one or the other thing. With that said, enjoy looking at the photos.

Nana (By in Tahitian) and bisou (kisses in French) to you all

Yours the 4 Schmids on Lawur

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