How word-of-mouth shapes passage planning between atolls

Choosing the next destination in the Tuamotus is often a social, spontaneous process rather than a planned itinerary. Lauren Landers Sailing describes how the next atoll came up: a friend named Martin mentioned it a couple of days earlier, then while leaving the grocery store one morning, she and Josh ran into a boat they had briefly crossed paths with in Panama. Asking the usual 'where are you going?' questions, that crew named the same place and spoke so highly of it that Lauren took it as a sign. The group is heading to an atoll none of them have visited before, and Lauren has a 50-mile motor ahead with no wind, which she welcomes: 'What better day to motor than when there's no wind.' She also notes that even with a month left in the Tuamotus, she already feels almost rushed, eager to explore something new.