Moorea

Cook's Bay on the island of Moorea is one of my favorite places so far. It's got a small grocery store at the head of the bay, lots of places to go ashore and explore, massive spired cliff walls rising from both sides and a beautiful hilly valley rolling up from behind the grocery store. The spires catch clouds on their tips like my dog Sugar's white fur used to get left behind on the brambles she walked through. It is far less inhabited here than Tahiti, diesel fumes don't fill the air like in the anchorage there. The water is quiet and deep and the bay is uncrowded.

It's been one week since Brian's butt cheek pile-drived into the reef at Vairao. It has a dramatic bruise the size of a medium orange, solid Concord Grape colored, and still swollen. His skeleton is still sorting itself out as new aches radiate from the spine area. But he's back to only Ibuprofen and no more Vicodin. Still no surfing for a few more days, though.

My family is all in Grant's Pass, Oregon camping along the river without me. This is a difficult thing. I still feel the loss of on-going family visits and friends' lives going on without me. On the other hand, in 5 months, we'll return to Santa Cruz to rejoin that life for a while. I'm sure I'll miss the cruising life when I get home. So, we're trying to relish these last few months of exploration, knowing that we will most likely never come this way again. I'm thankful to have family and friends to miss, and thankful to have islands still ahead to see, islanders still to meet.

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