369: South Huahine: Rare Ocean Phenomenon, Boat Fixes & New Cruiser Friends

We are just so thankful for people like this who watch our videos and then say hey can we bring you some. In this episode we're anchored in beautiful South Kauahini, taking in the scenery, witnessing a rare natural phenomenon, replacing our boom vang, and meeting new friends who are just beginning their cruising journey. Oh these are the days we love where it's absolutely dead calm. Look at the reflection in the water. It's so beautiful. We've got about 35 feet under us and look how clear it is this morning. You can see everything. The vis is incredible. Our morning line. Yeah this is going to be a great day. I cannot wait to put the drone up. The south anchorage of Kauahini is a favorite among cruisers for its quiet beauty and perfect blend of protection and wild open scenery. Sheltered by a fringe of reef backed by lush green hills, the water glows in layers of turquoise and deep blue, shifting with the sun as if painted. Despite feeling wonderfully remote, it offers easy shore access and a handful of delicious local restaurants that make lingering over a sunset meal effortless. With reliable moorings, gentle breezes, and snorkeling right off the stern, it's the kind of place where time slows down and you understand why South Kauahini is so beloved. The sun is setting. We just got out of the water, but the reason we were in the water so late is because of those. These are Gymnodorus dorids and they are all over the shelf between our boat and that boat. I have never seen hundreds of any kind of nudibranch, plus I don't know what happened. It was like someone dumped the most amazing aquarium in the water today. There was a baby frogfish, there was a snake eel, there were blennies, and we saw things that I have not seen at all since we've been in French Polynesia. It was an absolutely incredible three hours underwater just under our boat. I can't even believe it. And hopefully tomorrow we'll get to get back in the water and see them. By the end of the day, a lot of them had buried themselves in the sand. Many of them were actually in the water column and they were just flying. A much faster way of getting from wherever they came from to wherever they're going. So it was just a whole variety of things happening underwater. It was absolutely amazing. I can't even believe we saw all that we did. What you probably don't know about me is that I've always been fascinated by invertebrates and specifically nudibranchs, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be possible to find them under our keels. So for the next week I spent endless hours each day watching a phenomenon unfold. What I learned was that every so often puts on a rare show. A mass gathering on the sand where hundreds, even thousands, appear almost overnight. It's not random. It's a synchronized breeding event triggered by the perfect mix of temperature, food, and timing. For a brief window they mate, lay delicate spirals of eggs, and glide across the sand floor before disappearing as suddenly as they arrived. The Gymnodorus is part of the nudibranch family and a fascinating predator. They are often called the butterflies of the sea. They look so delicate but don't be fooled. Nudibranchs are carnivorous, curious, and full of surprises. With more than 3,000 species around the world, their colors and shapes are so extreme they almost seem unreal. Like all nudibranchs, this one wears its gills in the open. That feathery plume on its back is its breathing system, constantly filtering oxygen from the water. Up front, the two small antennae, called rhinophores, act as its navigation tools. They sense chemicals in the water and help it find food, mates, and even danger. They're so sensitive that they can detect a meal from meters away. Look closely and you'll notice that its body is almost translucent. You can see hints of its organs through the skin, a mix of beauty and mystery. Those bright orange spots scattered across its body, well those are a warning sign that says don't eat me. Many nudibranchs are toxic or simply taste terrible thanks to the chemicals they absorb from their prey. Speaking of prey, Gymnodorus solanica is a specialist hunter. It eats other sea slugs and sometimes even smaller nudibranchs, including its own species. Watching it glide across the sand, you'd never expect such a tiny predator to be dubbed Gymnodorus rex. Watch how it moves. On the sand, it ripples forward using a muscular foot almost like a miniature conveyor belt but lift it into the water column and everything changes. It drifts weightlessly, swaying in the current, almost dancing, still searching, and always hunting. And when two Gymnodorus meet, things get interesting. Nudibranchs are simultaneous hermaphrodites, which means that each one is both male and female. They circle each other, align head to tail, and exchange genetic material. It's slow, deliberate, and surprisingly elegant. No fights, no drama, just cooperation, resulting in both participants being able to lay eggs. Of course, nature doesn't always make it easy. Sometimes the sand shifts, waves roll in, or currents tug at them, and the pair can end up tumbling, wobbling, or stretching in odd directions. They don't always look comfortable, and the ritual can become a clumsy, chaotic dance. But somehow, despite the bumps and flips, they stay connected and complete the delicate exchange that allows both to lay eggs. After mating, the egg-laying ritual begins. A long ribbon of eggs is carefully curled into a tight spiral or looping pattern on the sand, coral, or anything in the sand like the back of a hermit crab. Thousands of eggs, arranged like an underwater strand of orange pearls, decorate the sand floor. Once their eggs are laid, the nudie moves on, and the next generation is left to develop on its own. While they do not have a long lifespan, just a few months to a year, their existence is fast and vivid. Hunt, drift, mate, lay thousands of eggs, and then disappear. This is why being a witness to this rare seven-day event was even more mind-blowing, and it's certainly something we will never forget. This is a unique one for sure. Normally, when we have people coming to stay with us on Blown Away, they are so kind. They bring suitcases for us. Well, this is a unique situation because Michael, the person who brought this suitcase, our brand new boom bang, our marine grease and aluminum polish, he is not staying with us. He's actually on his own 50-foot leopard over there. They just came in tonight after spending a month here in French Polynesia, and isn't it incredible? They just happen to be coming to the same anchorage where we are, and we have just picked this up off of his boat. We are just so thankful for people like this who watch our videos and then say, hey, can we bring you some? They're the best mules ever. Thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you. We're so grateful. Santa Claus. It's Christmas. Let's open it, see what's in there. We can't even remember what we ordered. That's how long it's been. Oh, yeah. Oh, Christmas. Oh, yes. Oh, my gosh. I forgot all about this. Fantastic. Amazing. I think that's it. Perfect. It's the little things that you can't get here, but that you love that when someone's coming from the States and they bring this stuff, it just, I don't know, it's like having home on board. Perfect. Perfect for my birthday. Yay. Wow. These days of no wind are just incredible. Beautiful. You can see down to 40 feet here. Everything is clear. The reflection of the clouds on the surface of the water. Just beautiful. And we're going to take advantage of this lack of wind to replace our boom vang. Our boom vang, as we have shown you before, has a couple of very big splits in this piece here. The tube is actually okay. We'll probably just keep that tube. But here, there are definitely some big issues. Brown has put some Tefgel on it just to maintain it until we got the new one. We have the new one thanks to our friend Mike and Arena. We're going to try and replace it now. Hopefully, we don't run into any problems. Should be straightforward, but boat projects are boat projects. So we're going to get going on that before the sun comes up too much. We have purchased this brand new boom vang from Jospars. This is actually not a boom vang. It's a compression tube. On a racing boat, you would have lines connected to this so that the boom vang could actually control the height of the boom. We do not have that because we are not a racing boat. So we don't need all of the bells and whistles that racing boats have. Compression tube just really is there to keep the boom from falling. Take out the cotter pins first. This is one piece of rigging that doesn't require any adjustments or tensioning. Perfect. Last part, cotter pin. We probably are going to have to lift the boom to get this on. All right, Brian's got a lift. Oh, perfect. Okay, put the thing in. One sec, one sec. Okay, I got it. All right. Good job, babe. That might have been the easiest rigging job we've ever done. Perfect. We're really fortunate here. We have Arena and Mike on board. They are the angels who have brought the suitcase full of things from the United States. One of which is our new boom vang. So we're really grateful for them. And we're finally getting to meet them, which is fantastic. I'm a big star. Make sure to hit the like button, the subscribe button if you want to see more of Arena. Our friends that brought a suitcase of stuff for us and also our boom vang invited us to their charter boat tonight for sundowners and dinner. We've had a huge lunch, so we're just going to go for some sundowners, but very sweet of them to include us. They are on a Leopard 50, so always fun to go to a bigger boat.