THE TUAMOTUS

It was fantastic to be making passage again although, as is often the case out here, the forecasts are not always very accurate and on this occasion the wind that was promised did not materialise and we had to motor over half of the way to the Tuamotu’s. Thank goodness we had ferried all that fuel from the dock in Hiva Oa! It took four days to travel the five hundred and forty miles to our first atoll, so we had plenty of time to relax and read up on the marvels and perils of the Tuamotus.

In stark contrast to the Marquesas these low lying coral atolls are millions of years old. There are seventy eight in total, although only thirty are inhabited and they extend one thousand miles in a North West / South East direction. Surrounded by coral reefs with internal lagoons and bordered by motus, small islands covered in palm trees, you enter them through a pass. Due to the currents and turbulence in these passages it is essential to enter at slack water which adds to the navigational timings and  issues. In addition there are numerous coral heads, or Bommies as they are known in this part of the world, in the anchorages which must be avoided to prevent the anchor chain getting wrapped around them. We decided our first atoll would be Kauehi as it has a relatively wide and deep pass.

We arrived at slack water at eighty thirty in the morning and were relieved to find the entrance relatively easy to pass.  Motoring across the lagoon to the anchorage in the South East corner we were nervously scanning the bottom for bommies. They were not easy to spot in the early morning sunlight but we had no choice as we had had to enter the lagoon at slack tide. Arriving in the recommended anchorage we found it covered in them and it took us a little while to find a suitable spot. However on the plus side we had arrived in tropical paradise! Crystal blue waters, small motus with sandy beaches covered in hundreds of tall palm trees swaying in the breeze,  each separated by water which flowed in and out over the surrounding reef with the tides. And only one other boat in sight. 

We ventured ashore to walk around one of the motus and discovered that the sand was in fact derived from  pink coral and was extremely hard on the feet.  We made a circumnavigation nevertheless and then had to get the tweezers out to extract bits of corral from our feet. The snorkelling was excellent with beautiful coloured fish swimming between and around the coral bommies, and the few black tipped sharks added to the ambiance, once it became apparent that they were not very interested in us. We stayed in the bay for five nights making the most of the beautiful location and balmy seas. We were joined by a solo Belgian sailor Michael on his rather tired boat Genesis. We had him over for dinner and a jolly evening was had, it never ceases to amaze us how many interesting and different people we meet on our journey with fascinating life stories to tell. Then Mark and Isabel on Jolly Dogs, hot on our heels from our first meeting in Daniels bay, arrived and drinks turned into a late dinner and another firm friendship made.

On our last night the wind picked up and the anchorage got quite uncomfortable due to the fetch across the lagoon. We had been warned this could be a problem. Before leaving Kauehi we motored up to to the small village of Tearavero and dropped our anchor next to a British boat Brunos Girl with Claudia and Philip onboard. Their outboard wasn’t working so Andrew gave them a lift ashore, long story short we ended up bartering three beers for a can of petrol. We had been told that we needed to learn how to float our anchor to avoid the bommies , venturing ashore in search of some suitable floats we bartered another can for two large orange fishing floats, with which the skipper was most thrilled. Walking to the other side of the atoll, in search of some old rope on the shore line we found plenty along with an enormous amount of plastic and discarded fishing gear, it was very upsetting to see.

We went for a wander around the village to get a feel of the place. The land is made up of stony coral so it is not easy to grow fruit or vegetables. We did find evidence of Pearl farming and of course copra farming. We found a couple of small shops and managed to buy some bread and the usual onions that seem to be available everywhere. We left the anchorage around sun down to ensure we went through the pass at slack water although this time it was much more bumpy. Then we set sail for Tahanea where the snorkelling was supposed to be spectacular.

Arriving in the morning in time to enter the pass we anchored just to the right of the entrance, not nearly so pretty as our last stop but easy for our intended snorkel drift the next day. We had been led to believe it would be spectacular with lots of fish and sharks, but we were a little hesitant as to how this was all going to work out. We set off at slack water and I jumped out of the dinghy in the middle of the pass, snorkel gear on, heart thumping as I am terrified of sharks. I stuck my head in the water and there wasn’t even a fish in sight! After an hour or so of swimming around with the painter tied around our wrists we gave it up for a bad job. We did however have the most memorable snorkel in the lagoon in very shallow crystal blue waters in full sunlight so that the colours of the fish were magnificent. It was like being in a tropical fish tank with fairy lights and the fish were not at all frightened of us and just carried about their business as usual.

We had intended to stay for a few days but the weather forecast looked bad, so after one night we left setting sail for the larger Fakarava, overnighting again as we needed to be at the South pass by nine o’clock in the morning. We arrived several hours early as it is difficult to time these journeys. You don’t want to go slowly incase you miss the slot and have to wait out a tide. We ended up heaving to for a couple of hours in any case and luckily the pass was relatively easy although a little nerve racking once inside as you have to go through more reef with a very shallow  depth. Sadly a boat hit this reef a few weeks after we had been there and was totalled.

Entering the anchorage it was time to try out floating our anchor with our new fishing floats. The idea is to attach the first float at one and a half times the depth and the second one half way from there to the boat.  They will then float the chain off the bottom of the sea bed and prevent it from wrapping around the bommies and hopefully put an end to the fear of loosing your anchor when you can’t  unwrap it in deep water. All sounds good in theory but we didn’t have any clips to attach the rope to the chain so it took us a while to tie them on. However it worked and we now have acquired another boating skill, together with two large floats to fit into our already over stuffed lazerette.

Venturing ashore we wondered around the Old village of Tetamanu which had been wiped out by a hurricane many years before. Now the site of a diving school with a hotel attached we also found to our great delight a Pizza restaurant, of sorts. The owner would only make a minimum of six pizza’s  so we needn’t to find some dinner companions. This we duly did with Harry and his crew from Itsara and we all set upon the food with much gusto! 

The next day we decided to try a drift dive in the Southern pass, more confident this time having quizzed many fellow sailors on where to go and what to do. We slipped into the water in our snorkelling gear, dinghy painter wrapped around both of our wrists and let the tide take us back into the lagoon. This time we were not disappointed with the views below us, lots of beautiful fish and about a hundred black tipped and grey sharks. They were quite a sight to behold but once again they were not at all interested in us and I felt happy as I had the dinghy with me so could get out of the water quickly if necessary. The icing on the cake were the two spotted leopard rays that came to have a look at us and show off their summersaults, just magical! Definitely one of our best experiences to date.

Motoring to the North East corner of the atoll we entered the  bay of Hirifia and were welcomed  by Howard, last seen in Hiva Oa, who not only showed us where to anchor but signed us up for the Pig Roast that evening that most of the bay were going to. Arriving onshore for sun downers we were welcomed by the lovely Lisa who runs the restaurant with her husband. Kisses all round she was quite a character, larger than life in more ways than one and just fabulous! We split into tables for boys and girls which made a nice change to have just female company for a couple of hours and the food was delicious! They soon ran out of beer though and had no other drinks for sale, however Lisa stole some of her husbands rum and gave it to the girls table! Just my type of girl!

There is a long running discussion between Andrew and myself over the pros and cons of a Catamaran over the good ship Hullabaloo. Finally I decreed that he could have a Catamaran with his second wife. As we had been about to leave the Southern pass that morning we had spotted a young girl single handing one and I pointed out his second wife to him, an excellent choice as she came with her own boat. At dinner that evening I was sitting next to Adrienne who runs the kite surfing school in the bay and I suddenly realised it was the second wife! Lubricated with illicit rum I told her about her future marriage plans but she pointed out her first husband sitting across the room. A blonde kite surfing dude, I had to go and tell Andrew that, lovely as he is, we were going to have to look again...

We did however sign up for a Free Diving course with Adrienne and duly met her on the beach a couple of days later. The first hour was spent practising Yoga and meditation and learning how to hold our breath whilst lying on the sand. Andrew had always refused to do Yoga in the past viewing it as female past time, however he loved it. We then entered the water and took it in turns to try holding our breath face down whilst our instructress held our shoulders and whispered soothing words into our ears. I was hopeless but Andrew, funnily enough, managed an impressive two minutes. The next day she came to the boat and we practised free diving down a rope which again I was useless at and himself less impressive now he was no longer having his brow soothed! However a great experience and one which I am sure will come in useful, if we practise a little harder.

We remained in Hirifia Bay for five days in all and during that time an English boat that we recognised from the Solent came in. The mighty fine Water Music turned out to have a fun crew in the form of Stephen, Grace, Gabriel and Brian and we duly invited them onboard for drinks. Rather embarrassingly we had to ask them to bring rum as stocks were low. The situation was so bad that one of the drinks I offered was a Tuamotu Pimms, with fizzy water rather than lemonade and no mint!! Imagine!!  We had such a great time with them that we all had dinner together in Lisa’s the next night and arranged to meet up in Thaiti for the rendezvous, a sailing regatta organised by the Pacific Puddlejump.

It was clearly time to re provision and the supply ship was due in town so we headed that way and dropped hook in Rotoava in the North of the atoll. Going ashore we found a supermarket that we could swop our case of empty beer bottles in for some new ones and met a very friendly Dutch couple who told us where to go the next day for provisions. We also found a bar serving Galettes and wine in proper glasses with Wi-fi, so we went to bed happy.

In the morning the supply ship arrived a couple of hours late but we hastened to the grocery store anyway as we didn’t want to miss the fresh vegetables which we had been told would go quickly. Two and a half hours later my skipper had decided he didn’t like vegetables and just wanted to go home. Finally they started to appear in dribs and drabs and he sprang into action, standing at the table they were being put down onto he exercised his expertise gained from many years of standing at  bars and no one else stood a chance until he had what he wanted. It was genius to watch and then he insisted we run for the only till in the shop before the last goods came out so that we didn’t have to queue there as well. We had dinner with Mark and Isabel that night and the poor thing was there for four hours. The first time having Andrew out shopping with me has been a plus point!

We then went back to the beer shop with another empty crate and found all the vegetables we had bought in abundance with no queue. They didn’t have any avocados though so at least our wait had been worth while, well that was my opinion anyway. We also met the Danish couple again, who unfortunately were also outside the shop when we went in to replenish our third crate after lunch. The weather was chopping up and the anchorage was a bit bumpy so we headed south to the anchorage of Uta Kaiga where we could buy Wi-fi from the yacht services for the price of a soda. We had a fun evening with those Jolly Dogs on our first evening and had Claudia and Philip onboard for drinks on our last one.

We loved the Tuamotu’s and would have liked to have had more time there but the weather was turning sour and we had to get to Thaiti for the rendezvous. We had taken several pamplemouse with us from the Marquesas to give to the poor people of the Tuamotu’s who had no fresh produce. We didn’t find any so I bartered them with Grace for a new pair of reading glasses and Adrienne for fixing a new anode onto our prop. To be fair we only visited three atolls and we would not have been able to get into the more remote ones being constricted by our draught. We left the North Pass in grey skies, lots of squirrels around, next stop Thaiti and a new generator.....