The Aquila visited the Gambier Islands yesterday, picking up our helicopter pilots and two of our scientists/project managers. Though we made it through with no issues, the channel into Mangareva is quite scary for a big boat like us. The channel is actually just a maze through the coral heads, and in places we had less than ten feet on each side and six feet of water under the bottom! The locals were awesome, although not many people spoke english, everyone was very helpful and courteous. It seemed like almost every kid on the island came down to the dock for a tour of the boat and a picture next to the helicopters. Most of the kids were learning english in school and each one remembered a couple of different phrases so when i said something there was normally at least one person in the group that understood it and translated for the rest of the group. Good thing we all know how to talk with our hands! We left mangareva at 1530 yesterday afternoon headed for pitcairn, a 36 hour trip
Our plan is to arrive early tomorrow morning, then probably head out in the afternoon again. At pitcairn we will pick up four more passengers, two observers that will stay on board and two that will be camping on henderson island.