Tag Archives: Tuamotu Atolls

Fakarava

Fakarava south 10/8 -12/8 2016

Time 10 h 40 min., NM 51.2, SOG 4.3 kn avg,. 6.9 kn max., TWA 128, TWS 13.0 kn avg. 6.9 kn max.

Anchor up and out of the pass 6:30 and set main and jib. Nice sailing so time for Lars to do a haircut on Maria and BCD diving vest service. At 16h local time we sail into the south pass of Fakarava atoll. With help from Aislado we got a mooring on a very beautiful place. Sharks and other fish are swimming around Alexandra and the reef with corals and a lot of fish is close bye.

Next day we take the dingy to the Tetamanu diving centre and Tetamanu village close to the south pass and Lars make an appointment to dive next morning with Marc. We had a nice walk around the island were you can see ruins of buildings from times were more people lived in Tetamanu. In the afternoon we took a short ride with the dingy to the reef and swam around there looking at black tipped reef sharks and a lot of colorful fish in different sizes. Also beautiful corals were here.

Next morning Lars sailed down in the dingy to the diving centre and got a nice dive with Marc and others through the pass, drifting with the incoming current. There were hundreds of black tipped sharks there. They dived on 20 meres depth and drifted about 30 minutes to reach the diving centre.

See dive video at our Youtube channel Diving in the Fakarava south pass

Back on Alexandra, 8:30, we released the mooring-boy and sailed towards Fakarava North.

Fakarava north 12/8 – 17/8 2016

Time 4 h 53 min., NM 28.5, SOG 4.7 kn avg,. 5.9 kn max., TWA 144, TWS 11.4 kn avg. 16.5 kn max.

We sat main and jib and went for sail the whole day. There were problems with the motor so it should not be used until when dropping the anchor. Every other lateral or cardinal marks were missing so taking the coral passage we had to be awake. We took the passage for not to come close to the pearl farmers installations. We were passing several resorts so there were a lot to look at. Getting to the north pass we so a lot of boats there that we new and it was so nice. Also moving to a mooring boy later on made our stay here much better. Finding WiFi, water and food were most important because we could not make water when the gen-set was not working and also not turning on the fridge and freezer so we had to buy fresh food every day. Filtered rainwater we could get from a big cistern in the harbor. Shopping in Rotoava village was difficult because there were closet on Sunday. Monday was also closed because it was a religious holiday. We visited Fakarava Yacht-service several times and got WiFi, laundry and filling up with gas,. The pink café was popular for WiFi and lunch for us sailors. One restaurant was open only Friday, Saturday and Sunday and there we got good food and nice companies. Also invited to sun-downer on the beautiful New Zealand Yacht Exit Strategy.

We herd that, at the resort, we could swim with Nurse-sharks and at the second trial we so several sharks on very close distance. Thanks to Terry and Cindy.

Tahanea

Tahanea – Toamotu Archipelago 6/8-9/8 2016

The 6/8 at 7 o’clock in the morning, on slack time, we sail out threw the reef at Raroia north pass and 7:18 we sat the main and sailed, the 143 NM, towards the atoll Tahanea. Very nice sailing because we finally could sail downwind. There are time for bred baking and reading during the day and in the evening we had a beautiful new moon and several planets like Jupiter to look at. The next day we should sail in, threw the pass, at 13 h and had problems getting the speed down, for not to come to early. We ended up with a half furled in stay-sail and arrived just on time, to go threw the pass, in an easy way.

Tahanea is a beautiful atoll with only to houses were people leave when they collect nuts and fruits and a lot of coral reef with fish. Around Alexandra, on anchor, you can and see sharks swimming.

We took the dingy to the shore and snorkel´d. There were fresh corals, a lot of nice coloured fish and our first black tipped shark.

The catamaran “BigFish” was on anchor too and we got advice, from he captain Richard, of a mechanic in Papeete.

We had also a visit from Andreas, from the boat Mellifera, that we first met in Fatu Hiva and we decided to go snorkelling with the ingoing tide and so we did that afternoon. Lars had the dingy tied around his hip and the GoPro in the hand so he got some nice film. It was beautiful with a lot of healthy corals and fish, especially a big Mantarey.

Raroia

Raroia Toamotu Archipelago 3/8-6/8 2016

We had a nice view to the village from the anchorage and took the dingy in to visit a couple of times. We saw the young locals coming in with fish and a group of young boys learning to play on the ancient Polynesia´n drum. The day after an aircraft landed and al of the older children left the island for to go to school in Makemo or Papeete, now when the summer holiday was over. Unfortunately Lars had to use a lot of his time on the Westebeeke generator that did not want to start. Al filters and oil were changed but still it did not run. So now we save on water and hope to manage until we come to Papeete. There we can get three new dysse instead of the once we have and hope that the problem is solved.