En Route for Tuamotus, French Polynesia 3 Nov 2011 1:00 a.m. 17S30 145W56

We are underway again, we’ve been underway quite a bit the last month, and anchored quite a bit, but actually leaving Tahiti “for real” this time is different than the many “sorties” to the leeward islands we’ve been doing. We’re officially continuing our backwards path through the Pacific. We’d waited long enough for a weather window that would bring us to the Tuamotus without beating into the wind. The first low of the season arrived on time first of November, just like the captain said. “We’ll want to be underway heading north and east by the first of November,” he said. Unfortunately, that means we missed getting to hold his new grandbaby #3 – Marama arrived the day after my bday Congrats T.!). It’s a strange life living by the weather window, a short hop west can seem a continent away, as the low pressure systems push our own psychological pressure points to the limits. We need to be east of here by hurricane season, and the system we’re riding now is the first indication that we’ve moved from the long season of the short rains to the short season of the long rains (the two seasons in FP).

Some of you may have seen a blip in the news regarding the first recorded cannibalistic event in the Marqueses in 70 years. Well officials are not saying it was cannibalism, but trying to eliminate body parts in a campfire in a land known for cannibalism, was too juicy for the journalists to pass up. Though a local reporter, doubting those reports, did say that hamburgers were a more attractive feast to most modern Polynesians. The victims were a German cruising couple, she escaped, he did not. My heart goes out to them and their families. The perpetrator, a local hunting guide, has not been found. And we are planning on stopping there for awhile – the same island where Melville was held captive in Typee. We’ve studiously avoided much adventure the past 2 years, and we hope to continue to avoid adventure. So we’ve added a new rule to Scurvy’s list of onboard rules – never go hunting with cannibals. I don’t mean to make light of the horror of the incident. But what is Halloween if not a moment to laugh in the face of death.

To add to this Halloween edition, we’ll be sailing past Faaite in the morning, possibly anchoring at an adjacent atoll Tahanea. You may be able to Google “butchers of Faaite” and get gruesome details of an event there back in the 1980s where a village was split by religious zealotry, and one half of the village ganged up on the other half to rid themselves of the “evil” some well meaning visiting missionary sisters had preached to them about shortly before the horrendous event. They’d built a big bonfire, to burn the scourge from their midst, one young man even tossed his mom onto the fire. The local priest and mayor were off atoll at the time, and the only contact to the atoll was via a shortwave radio. There’s a scary story for you. Am I worried? I’ve served jury duty in downtown L.A. (double homicide) I didn’t need to sail across the pacific to get a taste of fear and horror. So no I’m not too worried, maybe I’m in denial, or maybe the fact that I’m writing this is proof that I am worried. So to put myself at ease at this late night/early morning hour, forgive me while I review our tenets to a “stay safe yet live life” approach – Weigh the odds and tilt them in our favor when possible, avoid certain situations when possible, treat the locals with respect, but keep a healthy distance, avoid large crowds, be wary when alone, and maybe most important, expect the worst, but always look for the best in others – in nature – in the world – in yourself. Just looking for the best sometimes makes it so, but if you don’t look for it, you may not find it at all and then you’re left with only your worst expectations being fulfilled.

Happy belated Halloween (Good news, Thanksgiving is next), xoxomo

And I thought I had nothing left to say, months of silence, but give me an ornery keypad and a four hour midnight watch and the fingers are a-flyin’.