After a week of fairly windy, rainy weather, it seemed to be settling down so both Mariposa and ourselves decided to head on over to the next atoll of Fakarava which is the second largest in the Tuamotus.
Our six hour trip over was fabulous: perfect winds, flat seas and ideal gennaker (cruising chute) conditions. We entered the northern pass wondering if we'd have an episode anything like that of Kauehi but this one was very wide and, although we had several knots of current against us, conditions were fine and it wasn't anything to be concerned about. Once through the pass, we then made our way over to the village of Rotoava, very small but a bakery and the odd bit of
fresh fruit and veggies made it a wonderful stop.
Vagabondwas still there so we immediately all made plans to move down to the southern pass where we had been told that the coral reefs were excellent. The weather had turned fairly foul again with heavy seas even inside the atoll and the wind straight on the nose so it was decided to make the thirty miles into a two day trip by stopping at the half way anchorage for the night. Mariposa would follow in a couple of days.
How can thirty miles take so long? It took us every bit of one day to cover the 15 miles to the first anchorage. With the wind against us as well as having to dodge fishing buoys and coral reefs along the way, we literally dropped anchor as the sun was setting.
The next morning, we were to lift anchor and be on the move again after breakfast. Well, that plan was all good and fine except we couldn't get the anchor up. Of all our years cruising, this had only happened once before and that occasion was just a few weeks before. This time, we were truly stuck! Most of the time, Paul can free dive to check the anchor but, this time, we were
in eighteen metres, just a bit too deep for him to get down and still have enough air to free the tangle. He donned scuba gear but it still took the better part of two hours before we were finally free. Unfortunately, we now had a seriously damaged bow roller which was going to make anchoring a bit of a nightmare until we could get it replaced.
While we were still battling with our anchor, Vagabond was trying to make progress against the wind and getting nowhere. Otto was experiencing some real problems with his engine and he finally had to admit that they were never going to be able to fight the conditions so turned around to return Rotoava. Despite a perfectly good engine, we barely made more than two knots so again, it took us the entire day to do a mere 15 miles. We finally reached the anchorage at the
Tumakohua Pass in the late afternoon. Dropping anchor without a bow roller proved to be very awkward in those conditions so, again, we got the anchor stuck underneath a coral head. However, this time luck was on our side as, while trying to drop the anchor, we drifted onto a buoy which proved to be a very happy accident. Over the next few days, we freed and lifted the anchor manually then attached ourselves to the buoy. This made things incredibly easy when it
came time to leave.
July 11th, the day we were in the right place at the right time. A total eclipse of the sun was best sighted from guess where? The Tuamotus! Well, to be truthful, we should have been about 50 or 60 miles further south for 100% but WOW, we had an excellent sighting of about 95% and even been able to purchase special glasses in which to view it. It was such an eerie sensation when things got a funny shade of darkness in the middle of the morning. We tried to see if the fish had any strange reaction but we couldn't make out anything unusual.
The southern pass was amazing. If you timed things correctly with the currents, you could dinghy out the pass and slowly drift back in along the reef dragging the dinghy along behind. We managed to time it perfectly the first time, atrociously the second and pretty good from then on. The current took us right back to where Calypso was anchored giving us about two hours of fabulous underwater viewing. Each time, we experienced incredible fish life including
some which get a tad nerve wracking like sharks; black tipped, white tipped, lemon sharks and a few other large varieties. Most of the time the reef sharks are really not interested in you; but just occasionally when they've circled a few times too many, it becomes a little uncomfortable. Something one gets used to (sort of, perhaps; well, not really).
We've never seen so many huge grouper and Napoleon wrasse but possibly because the grouper family are prone to carry ciguatera (fish poisoning) in this area, they are not taken for food and don't seem the slightest nervous of divers. The coral formations were magnificent and, although we did have one scuba dive, some of the best trips were simply on snorkel.
It had been our plan to visit a couple more atolls within the group but the bow roller problem made this difficult. This spot was just so perfect for snorkelling that we couldn't imagine we'd find another location with such an ideal setup so we decided to spend the extra time where we were instead.
Mariposa, who had stayed back in Rotoava for better weather as well as to find a place to watch the World Cup final, had again joined us but poor Vagabond never made it, deciding that they'd better move on to Tahiti to try to sort out their engine problem. They really missed out on a beautiful spot. They also missed Paul's birthday. It started with a dive through the pass followed, that evening, by a wonderful surprise dinner party aboard Mariposa. They then left the following day in order to get their crewmembers to Tahiti to catch flights.
The weather turned completely around and was now windless, sunny and out of this world. The water was so clear that even at 12 metres depth, we could see from the deck as clearly as though we had our masks and snorkels on. Paul had to do a job up the mast and couldn't believe how clearly he could see the fish (and sharks) from way up there!
Time to move on. The weather was predicted to turn sour again and, as it would be a two day, two night trip over to Tahiti, we had to plan around that. It would be wise to get through the southern pass whilst things were still fairly placid and we'd also had our fill of heavy weather sailing for a while.
PHOTO GALLERY:
After a week of fairly windy, rainy weather, it seemed to be settling down so both Mariposa and ourselves decided to head on over to the next atoll of Fakarava which is the second largest in the Tuamotus.
Our six hour trip over was fabulous: perfect winds, flat seas and ideal gennaker (cruising chute) conditions. We entered the northern pass wondering if we'd have an episode anything like that of Kauehi but this one was very wide and, although we had several knots of current against us, conditions were fine and it wasn't anything to be concerned about. Once through the pass, we then made our way over to the village of Rotoava, very small but a bakery and the odd bit of
fresh fruit and veggies made it a wonderful stop.
Vagabondwas still there so we immediately all made plans to move down to the southern pass where we had been told that the coral reefs were excellent. The weather had turned fairly foul again with heavy seas even inside the atoll and the wind straight on the nose so it was decided to make the thirty miles into a two day trip by stopping at the half way anchorage for the night. Mariposa would follow in a couple of days.
How can thirty miles take so long? It took us every bit of one day to cover the 15 miles to the first anchorage. With the wind against us as well as having to dodge fishing buoys and coral reefs along the way, we literally dropped anchor as the sun was setting.
The next morning, we were to lift anchor and be on the move again after breakfast. Well, that plan was all good and fine except we couldn't get the anchor up. Of all our years cruising, this had only happened once before and that occasion was just a few weeks before. This time, we were truly stuck! Most of the time, Paul can free dive to check the anchor but, this time, we were
in eighteen metres, just a bit too deep for him to get down and still have enough air to free the tangle. He donned scuba gear but it still took the better part of two hours before we were finally free. Unfortunately, we now had a seriously damaged bow roller which was going to make anchoring a bit of a nightmare until we could get it replaced.
While we were still battling with our anchor, Vagabond was trying to make progress against the wind and getting nowhere. Otto was experiencing some real problems with his engine and he finally had to admit that they were never going to be able to fight the conditions so turned around to return Rotoava. Despite a perfectly good engine, we barely made more than two knots so again, it took us the entire day to do a mere 15 miles. We finally reached the anchorage at the
Tumakohua Pass in the late afternoon. Dropping anchor without a bow roller proved to be very awkward in those conditions so, again, we got the anchor stuck underneath a coral head. However, this time luck was on our side as, while trying to drop the anchor, we drifted onto a buoy which proved to be a very happy accident. Over the next few days, we freed and lifted the anchor manually then attached ourselves to the buoy. This made things incredibly easy when it
came time to leave.
July 11th, the day we were in the right place at the right time. A total eclipse of the sun was best sighted from guess where? The Tuamotus! Well, to be truthful, we should have been about 50 or 60 miles further south for 100% but WOW, we had an excellent sighting of about 95% and even been able to purchase special glasses in which to view it. It was such an eerie sensation when things got a funny shade of darkness in the middle of the morning. We tried to see if the fish had any strange reaction but we couldn't make out anything unusual.
The southern pass was amazing. If you timed things correctly with the currents, you could dinghy out the pass and slowly drift back in along the reef dragging the dinghy along behind. We managed to time it perfectly the first time, atrociously the second and pretty good from then on. The current took us right back to where Calypso was anchored giving us about two hours of fabulous underwater viewing. Each time, we experienced incredible fish life including
some which get a tad nerve wracking like sharks; black tipped, white tipped, lemon sharks and a few other large varieties. Most of the time the reef sharks are really not interested in you; but just occasionally when they've circled a few times too many, it becomes a little uncomfortable. Something one gets used to (sort of, perhaps; well, not really).
We've never seen so many huge grouper and Napoleon wrasse but possibly because the grouper family are prone to carry ciguatera (fish poisoning) in this area, they are not taken for food and don't seem the slightest nervous of divers. The coral formations were magnificent and, although we did have one scuba dive, some of the best trips were simply on snorkel.
It had been our plan to visit a couple more atolls within the group but the bow roller problem made this difficult. This spot was just so perfect for snorkelling that we couldn't imagine we'd find another location with such an ideal setup so we decided to spend the extra time where we were instead.
Mariposa, who had stayed back in Rotoava for better weather as well as to find a place to watch the World Cup final, had again joined us but poor Vagabond never made it, deciding that they'd better move on to Tahiti to try to sort out their engine problem. They really missed out on a beautiful spot. They also missed Paul's birthday. It started with a dive through the pass followed, that evening, by a wonderful surprise dinner party aboard Mariposa. They then left the following day in order to get their crewmembers to Tahiti to catch flights.
The weather turned completely around and was now windless, sunny and out of this world. The water was so clear that even at 12 metres depth, we could see from the deck as clearly as though we had our masks and snorkels on. Paul had to do a job up the mast and couldn't believe how clearly he could see the fish (and sharks) from way up there!
Time to move on. The weather was predicted to turn sour again and, as it would be a two day, two night trip over to Tahiti, we had to plan around that. It would be wise to get through the southern pass whilst things were still fairly placid and we'd also had our fill of heavy weather sailing for a while.
PHOTO GALLERY:
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