Apataki, part deux

Apataki has officially made the Namaste "best of" list! This atoll is simply amazing.
We sailed to the southeast corner on Wednesday morning and caught a nice blue jack mackerel on the way. The fish was okay, made better by panko bread crumbs one night, and shitake mushrooms, soy and ginger the next.
We anchored up off the motu Totoro. Before the anchor even hit the bottom, a local family sped over in their boat to let us know we could moor for free in front their pearl farm. They recently opened up a storage boat yard on their property and invited us to check out all their property. We were excited to learn about this new place to possibly haul Namaste.
Our visit was timed perfectly to witness the pearl harvest firsthand. Alfred and his son Tony showed us how they open the oysters and pop out the black treasures within the shells. He had a bowl full from the day's work. He said prices recently increased and he received a buyers call to begin the extraction.
On Thursday, we swam a good distance to a nearby reef and snorkeled. Then paddleboarding and kiteboarding in the afternoon.
The Lau family invited us over for dinner and we joined them at their seaside paradise. It was quite a group - two french cruisers, one with their daughter, and the family, Pauline, Alfred and their son Tony. Pauline speaks great English, but it was an international affair. Jean Pierre leaned over at one point and said he doesn't speak English, but he speaks Spanish. It took me a moment to switch gears, and then we had great conversation. Meanwhile the rest of the table was chatting away in French, English and Tahitian! It was an amazing experience to say the least.
We feasted on two different phenomenal dishes - octopus in a vinegar-pickled sauce with mustard greens and cabbage, and asian-inspired oysters. Divine! We also partook in Tony's special French rum he brought back from a recent trip to Nice. It was strong, we drank a lot, we'll leave it at that!
Their hospitality was overwhelming and we had an awesome evening. It's been quite a while since Chris and I have socialized and it was fantastic to share an evening with great new friends.
We went to Apataki's big town the next day, Niutahi, and walked around to take pictures. This morning we dove outside the pass. It was beautiful with 150-feet of visibility and literally thousands of fish, everything from tiny yellow tangs to big yellowtail tuna.
We sailed over to the northwest corner this afternoon and went underwater exploring again outside the Tehere pass. We spotted a huge ship's anchor a few feet from where we happened to drop ours - wonder what the story is behind that! There were giant Napolean, Moorish idols, parrotfish, and countless others. It was a rainbow of color, size, and shape. The only thing missing has been the sharks. Not sure where they're hiding, but I'm sure we'll find them sooner or later.
We're sharing the anchorage with a 160+ foot mega-yacht sailboat named Georgia. Their 40-foot sportfishing boat pulled in this evening. Life must be rough :)
We hope to be able to time a drift dive into the pass tomorrow. More to come...