The Cleaver of Damocles (Toau, Tuamotos)

15 48.213 S
146 09.141 W

Another unpronounceable Atoll. I can't get my tongue around all those vowels strung together. Toe A Ooooo?

This is a "false Pass" the difference here is that it is like a pass, but then it doesn't go all the way through. There is almost a pool after the reef break, but not quite in the lagoon. Its pretty cool. We got met by a couple in a speedboat who wanted to show us where they had put some anchoring buoys out (this anchorage is a really tight space and there were 6 other boats there, so it is prob a good thing that they put them in, otherwise we may have not been able to stay. I get my neck up in situations like these, where my spidey sense immediately asks why people are being helpful. In this case, they were being helpful because they wanted us to come to their restaurant outside of their home. Not in the smarmy I did you a favour sort of way, but in a nice exchange of pleasantries sort of way. Not that they needed to worry, there is no other place to go. Period. They are the only game in the one family "town". The cynic in me is starting to resurface from time to time. I am torn about it when I am wrong, but it has served me well in dodgy situations in the past. Mixed feelings about it.

Dinner was AWESOME. Valentine and Garstone (sp?) put on quite a spread. Parrot fish breaded in coconut and fried, poisson cru (my new favourite food), BBQ'd lobster, rice, clams, chicken in a coconut milk sauce, varo (a very tasty and strange lobster like thing that I don't think you can get outside of here) and topped off with a coconut cream pie. These guys are a little bit of an institution among yachties apparently and the anchorage is quite famous in these parts. They have quite a niche, a beautiful location and welcoming personalities. Garstone agreed to pick me up the next day to go snorkeling off of a coral head that was nearby with a 10 FOOT manta that liked to glide around it. It wasn't to be however, as the wind picked up
quite a bit in the morning and by the 3 o'clock arranged time it was either a) too rough (which it likely was in any event) or b) he didn't make it back in time from his trip across the lagoon to do some copra something or other. I was disappointed, especially in light of my self imposed moratorium on Scuba diving. Hey - life's full of disappointments, you just have to pick up the pieces and move on ;).

I know why I didn't take many pictures of this place - I left my camera on the boat when I went ashore. It was too bad and nice at the same time. Had a walk among the coconut groves with a rottweiler as a guide. He liked to run about 50 yards up the path and wait for me. If I took too long then he would come back and nudge me along. I turned around at one point and he was there in a flash to suggest that I keep going. We ended up in a shallow bay and the dog went nuts - leaping and thrashing and pounding around the ocean after what I assume were some very fast fish. Laughed out loud by myself again, which is happening more frequently than it used to (never). It was low tide, so I walked back in the the ocean with the freaking out dog coming in and out of the picture from time to time. Lots to see in the foot of water.

Whats a family of piglets called? A snout of pigs? Anyways, 3 massive pigs tied to trees who could barely stand up to greet me with a dozen or so piglets infused with the vigour of tasty youth. They pressed their wet noses to my legs and sniffed like only a pig could do then proceeded to rut around in the mud. The centre of their piggly dance was a well used chopping block with a massive cleaver stuck in it. Disturbing, but I kind of envied them for being so unaware. Then I thought that maybe they wouldn't notice a missing hunk or two if I was quick with the cleaver and really, I should do them all a favour and teach them to fear their deaths properly. Right... time to move on.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Rangiroa at 6 or 7am to be at the pass hopefully at 6:30am on Sunday, but we probably won't make it until later in the day, prob 12pm or some such thing.