Azyu - The Leeward Islands ot The Children's Archipelago

Who: Jean-Marie, Gaëlle, Coline and Erell
Where: French Polynesia
Multihull: Nautitech 475
Blog: http://azyucroisiere.com

We were not alone. A flotilla of family boats had morphed together. As soon as we woke up, the VHF was crackling. On Halloween, dressed up as pirates rather than witches, the fifteen or so sailors set off at sunset to attack all the boats at anchor. «Trick or treat? Trick or treat? « they shouted from their dinghies. It was nice to see that all the crews, who seemed rather amused, joined in the fun, dismantling their craft and looking for any old sweets that might have been forgotten, or failing that, packets of chips. Maneuvered by their youthful skippers, the dinghies went back and forth from one boat to the next. Others went by paddleboard. The teenagers got their introductions to wake-boarding or kitesurfing. Some of the youngest tried swimming with a towed boat. Taking it in turns, the parents pulled the little ones in the dinghies, as they wanted their fun too. As the flotilla anchored in front of the small island of Taha’a, the filming of the latest episode of Koh Lanta (a hugely popular French TV show) was taking place in the lagoon: In spite of the jealously guarded secrecy, rumors were rife about this reality show where everything seemed to be rigged! Everyone had their own crazy anecdote to tell! But for us, Taha’a, was just all about our friends. And a double birthday party on a motu was transformed into Koh Lanta Junior, with a whole range of challenges prepared in advance: musical cocos (when the song stops, you sit down... on a coconut), Siamese relay (not easy to gallop with a ball stuck between two heads), running, swimming or even a quiz about the capitals of Europe. The young candidates played, and the adults filmed and photographed as if they were going to sell the broadcasting rights to the highest bidder! It was cool, it was happy. By evening, the time had just flown by. A sleepover was organized on the most comfortable trampoline of the flotilla, an ultra soft king size bed. And so what if there was a bit of rain. The youngest slept so deeply that some of them just carried on sleeping under the raindrops!