Rapa, Les Australes 27 April 2011, 8:30 a.m. Tahiti Time 27S36 144W19
Last night we passed by some impressive rocks in the ocean. Marotiri is a collection of basalt peaks forming the rim of a volcano just starting to come out of the water. It’s a plentiful lobster spot, we were hoping to float there for the night, and set a trap in the morning (and see these majestic rocks by day), but the weather was just rough enough to make it uncomfortable. So we ooed and awed at the looming shapes in the darkness (first hard shapes we’ve seen at sea in weeks), and continued on slowly. Timing and wind were perfect for a crack of dawn arrival. Rapa is more beautiful than I expected. Lots of steep rocky spikey cliffs surrounding a large deep bay. The bay is the center of this old volcano. We’re hoping our anchor does not tickle it into an active state.
It’s blowing 20-30 knots in the anchorage, with squalls passing through regularly, yet we have this odd sensation of amazement at how calm and quiet it is – everything is relative. Fog and rain are rolling up and down the peaks. Logan said it looks like an island lava lamp.
Plan for the day – recover, maybe go ashore and sea if these rubber sea legs still work. Now let’s see if the radio email will work through all these basalt peaks.
xoxomo