💛💙Last sail💙💛

And MIXED EMOTIONS…. I thought I was ready to hit land and to be off the boat. Today, I am not so sure. As I untie the mooring line and look back at some folks’ sail boats, S/Y Sovmorgon (Sweden/Finland) and S/Y Apnea (Germany) and wish I wasn’t done for the season.

Before untying Sarantium, I jumped into the dinghy and headed towards the house on the beach, that belonged to Valentine and Gusto, to say hello and thank them for letting me to squat in their bay for the night. I had read on NOForeignLand that to use their mooring buoy one could either pay $5 or eat at their restaurant for $60. I would have liked the meal, however, I wanted to make slack at Apataki pass this afternoon, so $5 it is! As I pulled up the Valentine welcomes me and we chat. Turns out Valentine is the sister of the two women who had cooked for us on previous two atolls. AND when I told her I was heading to Apataki to haul out she said, “Oh, Toni is my cousin, who owns the boat yard. We have a package for him if you could bring it, that would be lovely”. Small world! She invited me in and showed me their outdoor kitchen and restaurant. Turns out her Swedish flag was in rough shape. Everyone brings their flags to these family restaurants for decoration. And I just happened to have one in my back-pocket. I wrote “S/Y Sarantium and todays date. Gusto fetched the package, which was a water parachute, that is used to bring up something heavy from the ocean floor. We chatted some more and then it was time for me to head back to get ready for my last sail of the season. I told them, I would be back next April/May to eat at their restaurant. What a great start of my last sail of the season!

The sail to Apataki was the typical prevailing Eastern Wind. Again, since I was in no rush to make the 15.00 slack and only had 18 nmiles to go, I raised 3/4 of the main sail and unfurled the Staysail. Sarantium glided through the water at 4-4.5 kn. My best crew member (HydroVane) at the helm.

Four hours later we pulled into Apataki, where children are jumping off the docks, swimming, laughing and all playing together in the water, all ages… like if they have have no social media. They all wave to us! Every atoll is like this!