We’ve had a fabulous first week aboard Agility. The trip started with a little drama (no good trip wouldn’t, would it, Deb?) involving Sydney and Jesse’s lost bags with a bunch of gear for the boat that Alex and I tracked down during our layover at LAX. But overall, our flights were smooth and we had time to grab a glass of wine and some snacks during our layover.
When we got to Tahiti with our seven bags, we were greeted with leis and boarded the new Agility for the first time. The boat is beautiful–very similar to the original Agility but a bit more compact. The six of us have been able to sail and sleep very comfortably, and I’ve actually been really happy in the hammock style top bunk in the third stateroom. So far, our most difficult night of sleep was on our overnight crossing from Moorea to Ra’iatea. Alex always gets a little sea sick at the beginning of sailing trips and this trip was no exception. Mom and Dad took care of all of the overnight shifts, though Alex and I are hoping to help out a bit when we go on our longer crossing from Bora Bora to Suarrow.
Two big highlights for us have been the snorkeling and the ATV trip. The water here is perfect. The visibility is excellent, even from on board, and the water feels so clean and is just the right temperature. We’ve snorkeled at each anchorage, and already seen a ton of beautiful fish, sharks, rays, and coral. At one anchorage we were near a bunch of underwater tikis, and I saw a huge group of tropical fish babies. They were the size of my pinky fingernail. There are a lot of butterflyfish, angelfish, and dascyllus. On another snorkeling trip, we swam with and fed about 15 stingrays and even more black-tipped sharks. One of my favorite fish that I keep seeing is a whitebanded trigger fish.
The ATV trip we took on Moorea was also incredible. It’s hard to say what is more beautiful–under the water or on land. On the ATV trip, we were able to go to two different lookout points–Bellevedere and Magic Mountain. We went to a marmalade shop and tried all of their flavors. We brought home pineapple vanilla and gardenia flower marmalade and have been eating them with cheese and yogurt. Syd, Alex, and I had never used an ATV before, and we had a ton of fun driving up the dirt roads on the sides of the mountains. We visited a bunch of sites where the Mel Gibson movie Mutiny on the Bounty was filmed.
Last night and this morning were a little stormy, we’re hoping things will clear up soon so that we can stick to our plans for today. Right now, mom is reading a book called Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones about an island in French Polynesia while Alex listens to a book on tape from Kathy and Jerry’s collection that they had us bring for mom and dad. The others are sleeping soundly :).
