Hehehe its pronounced "Poo" (Hakahau Bay, 'Ou Pou, Marquesas)

09 21.513 S
140 02.851 W

Sailing the way it should be. Close hauled, no reefs, full head sail out, heeled over, sun shining and more than 3.5 knots. Fantastic day on the water.

I like this place quite a bit. Its the kind of place where stray dogs chase a horse down the street and children stay out until they are tired instead of that pesky street light alarm. Tidy and compact (maybe 1000 people in the village), not a lot going on. People just doing their thing.

Had a wonderful, family style meal at one of the pensions. Three different fish dishes (Mahi Mahi steaks, the best poisson cru _ever_ and a fish quiche au gratin), bread fruit au gratin, bananas, rice, baguettes and on and on. SO good.

Boat life is pretty static and I've tried to go for a walk in each destination to move my bulk around a bit. I picked two hills at opposite sides of the bay and ventured out to each of them. Tried to get a photo of me from the boat, but we had some technical difficulties (I turned out to be about 2 pixels high on Walter's camera and he refused to take a picture of me mooning them. weak ;) The one hill turned out to be a bit of a bouldering problem at the top which was more than I was entirely comfortable with, but I was quite pleased with myself for the jam that got me over the one piece.

After it was all said and done, tired and sweaty, I sat down for some cold hydration. A very sinister sounding jeep came down the road with everyone in chemical suits. They stopped and looked at me for about 30 seconds then drove off. I didn't know what to do other than take their picture. I think they were spraying for bugs but in any event I decided to get to the boat.

New million dollar idea: I've been NoNo'd. NoNo's are very bad bugs. Bug spray should have an antiseptic agent (maybe it inherently does?) for bites that you have inadvertently picked bloody, but when you need to re-apply spray. Two birds with one stone.

Sailing destinations as they stand (7 or 800 miles?):

- Vaiehu Bay, 'Ou Pou, Marquesas (tomorrow)
- Kauehi, Tuamotus
- Fakarava, Tuamotus (this is my new "Holy Crap" statement. Like "Faka-rava, did you see that?". I am trying to make it stick. The pause after Faka and slowly drawing out the Rava is very important)
- Toau, Tuamotus
- Rangiroa, Tuomotus
- Tahiti

After that I will tour some of the leeward and windward society islands solo before heading to Thailand to spend some time with the Moore family (because they are good people) and hopefully hit Rangoon on the way to Beijing (then follow the rails to western Europe and fly home - this is the current pipe dream part of the trip. Visas and train ticket availability are the biggest holes in my knowledge). Dates are about as undefined as they could be.

Editors note: Walter took the photo of the kids and I am jealous. Posted with permission :)