Tabu Motu

Day 11 (August 2, 2011):

I slept through another night!! I was so glad we found another quiet anchoring spot and was looking forward to our last full day on the boat. Curt wanted to sleep in until 8AM, but I forced him out of bed at 7:30M so that we could head into the village & search for his wallet. I decided it was absolutely necessary to get the wallet before we had breakfast just in case the hotel owner had morning excursions she planned to take her guests on. I would have been so upset if we got there and she wasn't around.

We headed out to the quay at about 8AM & walked over to Hotel Atiapiti. Curt spoke very broken French/English with Marie trying to get her to understand what he was looking for. After a little back and forth & using my wallet as an example, Marie understood what we were looking for. She had someone from her staff show Curt to the bungalow & I waited out front.

Curt returned empty handed and my heart sank. What were we going to do? We didn't even have internet to get in touch with the banks & credit card companies. I was so irritated and upset on our walk back to the dinghy. Curt insisted that everything would be fine, but I began to resent any man that puts their wallet in their back pocket. I kept this to myself, as I knew it wasn't Curtis' fault. It was a complete accident, but I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs anyway. We searched the area around the quay just in case the wallet was at the bottom (it was only a few meters deep so we could swim down if need be). No luck!

I feared that we'd need Francs at some point during the next day and a half and would be nowhere near a bank or ATM (since they are only in the capital city which was about 30 miles from us). When we got back on the boat Curt asked if I was about ready to start making dinner & I quietly lost it (I didn't scream...I just silently walked to the trampoline to sulk). Was he kidding? We were in the midst of our own financial crisis, on a boat, in the middle of nowhere & he was wondering if I could start breakfast!! I sat on the trampoline & soaked in the sun's rays, as if they were giving me the strength to head back into the kitchen and figure out our game plan. Half an hour later, Curt joined me on the trampoline & told me that he'd used our emergency phone to cancel all his cards.

While I sulked, Curt took out all my credit cards (we have 1 joint card & the others are with the same companies – Chase & Bank of America) to figure out the 1800 numbers and then successful cancelled his Chase cards, Schwab bank card & was in the midst of canceling with Bank of America when the phone ran out of prepaid minutes. I was really glad that he cancelled the cards but still worried about not having any Francs. Curt assured me that we didn't need the Francs, since the rest of our trip would consist of anchoring in locations that were so remote we wouldn't even be able to find a store. Feeling much better about the situation and letting go of any resentment towards all male that keep their wallets in their back pockets, I headed in to start breakfast.

Breakfast was delicious!! I whipped up a chorizo & swiss scramble, with grilled papaya & cooked the remainder of our bacon. Curt brewed a pot of coffee & we finished off our coconut milk. Breakfast was just what I needed to get out of this early morning funk, so that we could continue on our adventure with positive attitudes. Curt did the dishes & we were ready to leave Baia Opoa.

We pulled up our anchor, let out the sails & went downwind towards our next anchor location. We took our time sailing down to Motu Nao Nao. I snapped some pictures, tanned on the trampoline, helped trim our sails & enjoyed the rest of the morning. We got to Motu Nao Nao at 1:30PM, surveyed our anchor options & decided on 3m spot near shore. My guidebook told us that we'd be able to picnic on this motu. I noticed instantly that there was a house on the motu with about 7 people outside working away & near there house was a white sign with red lettering (we assumed it was – NO TRESPASSING). I was now skeptical about being able to picnic or explore this motu, but hoped that maybe on the east side of the island there would be open land.

Once we were certain that our anchor was not dragging, Curt prepared lunch. For himself, he poured a bowl of muselix cereal & for me he put together a nutella & banana sandwich. We drank wine & finished our lunch on the trampoline. The afternoon was beautiful, so we decided to tan/read our books for about 45 minutes before taking our dinghy out to explore the motu.

Once we were nice & toasty from the heat, we loaded up the dinghy with all our snorkel gear & the underwater camera. I was really hoped that we'd find a location to explore on the motu, but as we rounded the southern tip of the motu the beach was lined with signs that read: TABU (No Trespassing). We explored the coast line in our dinghy – dodging coral all the way down. We made it to the northern tip of the motu & couldn't go any farther. There was a ton of coral & the water was really shallow in parts, so we decided to watch the waves crash a bit before heading back to find a great snorkel location.

On our way back down the east coast of the motu, I was our lookout. The sun was hidden behind big, billowy clouds, which made it nearly impossible to see the coral until you were right up on it. Eventually we made our to the southern tip, dropped our anchor & swam out in search of colorful fish. We were fortunate enough to find a wide range of fish: a large rainbow colored fish, many schools of tiny electric blue fish, aggressive black fish, tiny irridescent fish & many others. The sun kept hiding behind the clouds, which made it very difficult to see certain types of fish.

We headed back to our boat as the sun began to duck behind the mountains. Curt read a bit, while I did my Core Kettle Worx DVD. After sunset, we prepared an early dinner & settled in for an early night. Since this motu was far away from villages, it got really dark when the sun set – very relaxing for our last night on the boat. The waves were calm, the boat was really still all night & the temperature was perfect!

I wanted to use up our provisions without having pasta, rice or bread (I was carb'd out!), so I sauteed our remaining veggies (peas, carrots, corn, onion & garlic) in a large pot. Curt prepped our tuna salad – using the last can of tuna in oil, curry powder, mayo & onions. We settled on our deck with our very last bottle of wine & our nosh of leftover provisions. Dinner was actually very tasty & filling (Curt fed his leftover veggies to the fish).

I wondered what we were going to do with ourselves now that dinner was finished. It was 8PM, pitch black & we'd watch the both movies that Curt downloaded for our sailing trip. We decided to veg out under the stars & chat about what it will be like when we're back to reality in the USA, where we'd like to charter a sailboat next & what life will be like after we're married. I don't think either of us was ready to leave paradise at the end of the week, but we both agreed the following week's wedding festivities would fill the void. We headed in for an early night, since we planned to pull up our anchor by 7AM to head back up the coast.

5 days on a boat were about to end...just when I was getting accustomed to living on a boat. I'm definitely going to miss the Mahana (although next time I'd like a larger kitchen to cook in).