Makemo Atoll 5/14/07 (Ginger)

It looks just like the tour bureau pictures here. From Marcy's deck, we can see incredible blue water going from deep blue to electric blue to aquamarine. We're anchored off the town of Pouheva and have spent a couple of days exploring, working on boat things and swimming. One of our boat projects has been dealing with the aftermath of a couple of explosions. They were small, even unnoticed at the time. Two cans of mandarin oranges exploded and sprayed all over the other cans in their storage
area. There is a fine line between bringing enough cans for an emergency and bringing so many that they can't be eaten before they get weak. Every bin plus some were packed full when we left San Diego and more food was added in Mexico. French Polynesia is expensive for canned and fresh food but we'd rather eat fresh food when possible, so we haven't consumed as many as expected. As we cruise the South Pacific we'll be working hard to get through all the old cans before they give up the ghost.
Today we rode our pixie bikes out the road to the airport where the pavement ended and about a mile beyond. We finally stopped when a squall dumped so much rain on us it was hard to see. We took "shelter" under a tiare flower bush but after a snack we decided we might as well be out in the rain heading back and staying a little warmer with our effort. The snorkeling has been good here and we're looking forward to swimming at our next anchorage farther from town. Just behind where we anchored
is an abandoned operation with rebar structures scattered across the bottom looking like a series of buildings 50' under water. It was a surprise when we swam that way and saw them, and we were happy we had anchored well away from them.
Tomorrow we'll haul up the anchor and head toward the west end of the island. We're hoping to have some luck fishing, hunting varo and enjoying a quiet motu.