Made it to Manihi Atoll

Hello All,
We made it here this morning at 10 a.m. Friday April 23, we had to slow the boat down a bit to get here at slack water to make it through the pass. When we got here I came in but didn't see any boats around, the wind was blowing 25 so most of the lagoon had big wind waves. I really didn't know where I was going so I turned around and went back out so I could look at a chart or something. On our way out a man on a wharf was waving a VHF radio in his hand. I called back and he said welcome and come on in and follow the markers to the north, he said it is well marked, I said okay I will check it out. So we came back in and over a bar that made me a little nervous and so we headed north following the channel markers. I was beating against the wind and the waves, it was terrible. After an hour and a half we finally made it all the way till we got to the last channel marker and found no place to anchor, it was all exposed. On the way back I figured I would head around to the south side and see if I could find something there. That's when Tobias spotted a few sailboats over on that side. They were up against the palm trees for wind protection. So we made it over there and we saw Steve and Trish on Curious. They have been here a few days exploring around. We got anchored up and realized that we were dragging over coral. We tried to get the anchor back so we could find a new place to try and every ones Atoll nightmare, the chain had wrapped around a coral head and we were stuck. We messed with it for a bit and then took a break. Steve came by to ask how everything went on the crossing and then I told him we were stuck. He offered to go get his dive gear to go get the chain off but I told him we would try again. We messed with it some more and it finally broke free. We moved to a better place, so I thought, the anchor is not dragging but it feels like the chain wrapped around another coral head. I will keep an eye on it and see if it doesn't come loose with us bobbing around. To make a good day even better, I checked the oil before we came in here and I found more sea water in the oil. This time I didn't start it first, so I just pumped the oil out and put new in. I will be making a call to the marine outfit Monday and see what they can tell me. This is driving me crazy. The wind is suppose to blow up to 35 knots the next few days so we will hang out here till it lets up a little.
It's getting late and I am really tired so I will talk to you guys soon


PEACE