Column-Logbook for the Algemeen Dagblad
June 16, 2011
Translation for Zeilmeisje Laura Dekker on Facebook
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Each week in her column-logbook for the Algemeen Dagblad Laura Dekker will relate her journey around the world aboard her sailboat Guppy on her attempt to become the world's youngest circumnavigator.
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The rays just ate from my hand


I am a little bit tired today. Yesterday I spent an enjoyable evening aboard a neighboring boat and it was so nice that I stayed up late. I have been at anchor in Moorea Bay (Tahitian for yellow lizard) for two days now. It is only a few hours of sailing from Tahiti but it is quite a different place. Moorea is about the size of Texel island [in the Dutch Wadden Sea], but it is mountainous being volcanic of origin. There is only one road going around the island so there are not street names, and there are only 16,000 people or so living here. There is a beautiful resort with cottages built on stilts over the sea but it would seem that not many tourists know about it even though they could spend a wonderful time here. Yesterday I went to a place where stingrays and black tip reef sharks gather. They just swim around you and I hand fed the rays, some 1.5 meters long, but I stayed away from the sharks. After that I went to visit a gigantic yacht that is anchored. It has a whirlpool on the stern deck, but more importantly to me, they also have a sailmaker’s sewing machine and so I could make repairs to my mainsail. It now looks fine again and it can be fitted back on Guppy. I have no idea how long I will stay here or even what I'm going to do today yet. I'll just see what shows up, but for sure I will go for a dive here. It is said that Moorea is one of the most beautiful diving places in the world with its crystal clear waters. At first sailing the transparent waters was scary to me even with my depth gauge because it felt like the sea bottom was too close which almost gave me a heart attack at times. But there also is a good side to having clear waters like that...it is easy to see if something with lots of teeth is swimming after you, hahaha...

Sincerely, Laura