The little sand island off Kentu

The view of the other side of the sand island. That's all there is, and at high tide it's gone!

Wow, what a night. It rained about nonstop and blew 24-25 knots all night. Note I didn’t say 15 gusting to 25. The anemometer hardly budged from 24-25 all night. I can tell the wind speed from the howling sound in the rigging and I can confirm the anemometer was spot on. Even though I knew-rationally-that the anchor dug in well when we set it (I felt the distinct “thunk” of the anchor digging into the sand), the first night in a new anchorage is always a test. You never really know, so you worry. Thus, I didn’t get a great sleep knowing there was a boat downwind of us. But Charisma held well and the boat downwind left so there are only two other boats here and they are not near us. I WILL sleep well tonight.

Besides the wind, the rain continued to be monsoonal. We hardly ever put in the companionway boards (the clear plastic boards that take the place of the louvered doors), but last night it was necessary. The nice thing about putting in the boards is it’s so quiet. The downside usually is it’s hot. But last night it was so windy, the dorades (air vents on the cabin top) kept us cool enough.

So, today we explored Kenutu. (Actually, before we left Charisma, Ann made bread. Rosemary, sea salt, olive bread. Yum. An undeniable treat!) OK, back, to the island exploration stuff: Kenutu is an uninhabited island. It’s pretty overgrown, but there was a trail to the east side where the cliffs meet the sea. Spectacular watching the ocean crash against the island. A lot like Big Sur, but without the traffic. Of course our side of the island is quiet and calm and there’s a nice beach. We also walked down the beach enjoying finding pretty seashells along the way. I found a spider conch, but it was occupied, so I left it.

After our day exploring the island it was getting on to 1600 which was an hour from low tide. There is a sand mound about ½ mile off the island surrounded by the reefs that I noticed yesterday as we were coming in. It’s about 75 yards wide and is only visible at low tide-the rest of the time it is covered by water. I said to Ann, “Let’s try and go there”. She was game, so off we went. The wind was coming up and darkness was not too far away, but we forged ahead in our little dinghy dodging reefs along the way and finally came up on the mini-island. Turning off the outboard as we approached the shallow water, we coasted ashore. “We claim this Island for Berkeley Yacht Club!” The only problem was we couldn’t plant our BYC Burgee as we traded it back in French Polynesia for a Bora Bora Yacht Club burgee. Oh well, details, details…The island is only visible for a couple hours a day anyway. And now it’s ours. At low tide.

So that was our day. Laid claim to an island, walked the beach. Made some bread.