This post is meant to get you caught up with our 5-month
tour of the Tuamotus Archipelago. There will be no philosophizing, reflecting,
or dreaming. It will, hopefully, be a dazzling description of how time flies in
paradise! Our last post took you to the small, beautiful atoll of Amanu in the
SE of the archipelago. We left Amanu in the early hours of Tuesday, May 16,
2023 and headed for Raroia (about 160nm to the NE). We shared an anchorage with
our friends on Susimi and visited the famous Thor Heyerdahl Kontiki Memorial
(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki_expedition
if you’d like to find out more). We stayed only 2 nights in Raroia because we
wanted to catch up with friends that were all headed to Tahanea. So on Friday,
May 19, 2023, we set sail at sunrise. We encountered a very sloppy sea state
and motor-sailed the 142nm to Tahanea. The relearned lesson from this passage:
schedule does NOT trump weather. We spent 9 wonderful days in Tahanea where we
snorkeled the passes, had beach fires with friends, played Bocce Ball, and
savored the refreshing, crystal clear water of this uninhabited atoll.
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| Kontiki Memorial - Raroia |
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| Kiki (center) and friends selling us fresh lobster |
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Raroia
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| Jeff drift snorkeling the pass in Tahanea |
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| Michelle drift snorkeling the pass in Tahanea |
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| Beach fun with friends - SE Tahanea |
From Tahanea, we enjoyed a splendid overnight sail to the
charming atoll of Kauehi, 62nm NE of Tahanea. Highlights here included music on
the beach with a local, potluck dinner with boat friends and a local family, a
spontaneous bike ride, and a “heavenly” church service with angelic singing. We
also used the opportunity to test out our new dive gear near a motu in the
middle of the lagoon. We also enjoyed fresh produce from a small garden
owned/operated by the family with whom we had a potluck.
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| Potluck dinner with a local family and our boat friends |
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Off to church
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After a fun-filled week in Kauehi, we basked in the beauty
of another amazing 34nm sail to Rotoava village in the NE of Fakarava atoll. We
spent 5 glorious weeks in Fakarava where we windsurfed, windfoiled, had beach
fires, paddleboarded, celebrated 4th of July with our sailor
friends, rode bikes, and logged 15 dives with the “wall of sharks” (literally
hundreds) at the South Pass. We were lucky enough to witness the annual marbled
grouper spawning that occurs at this very spot on the first full moon following
the southern hemisphere’s winter solstice. Although we enjoyed every minute of
our time in Fakarava, we were itching to leave after spending so much time in
that beautiful lagoon.
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| Jeff having a jam session with friends |
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| Bike riding in Fakarava |
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| Dinner with our new Norwegian friends - Fakarava |
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| Michelle windsurfing in Hirifa, Fakarava |
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| Wall of sharks |
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| Clown fish in a sea anemone |
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| Shark above us |
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| Marbled Grouper |
On July 12, 2023, we bagged another great sail (this one a
little “sporty”) to the small atoll of Aratika where we met up with a few
sailing friends. We enjoyed the low-key celebration of Heiva, a Polynesian
cultural celebration, with traditional singing, dancing, and even a beauty
pageant where they crown a Mr. and Mrs. Aratika. We spent 5 days in Aratika
when a beautiful weather window presented itself for the overnight 89nm sail to
Ahe, an even smaller atoll. We anchored just off the south village in Ahe where
it felt like a small, confined fishbowl. We enjoyed a day dinghying to the pass
and Kamaoka Pearl Farm before getting caught in some weather that made the ride
back quite exciting! We had hoped to visit the only remaining old growth forest
in the Tuamotus but, alas, time and weather did not allow that.
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| Aratika |
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| Heiva in Aratika |
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| Heiva in Aratika |
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| Children of Ahe swimming out to greet us |
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| Storm brewing in Ahe |
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| Oyster farming in Ahe |
Our next stop in the Tuamotus was Rangiroa. We dove with
dolphins at Tiputa pass, visited with our Norwegian friends, had a beautiful
sail to Motu Faama on the south side, snorkeled, and rode bikes. Unfortunately,
Jeff had a crown break during our visit to Motu Faama which resulted in his
making the first of three visits to Tahiti for a repair. After 2 fun-filled
weeks in Rangiroa, we found a good weather window to sail the 54nm to Tikehau.
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| Dinner with our Norwegian friends on their boat |
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| Our own private motu on S Side of Rangiroa |
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| Awesome formations in Faama, Rangiroa |
Tikehau is the westernmost atoll that we visited. It is
memorable for so many reasons but our highlights here were the incredible pass
diving, achieving our Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification, riding bikes,
and making good friends - Xavier and Laetitia. Xavier was our dive instructor;
he was incredibly patient and knowledgeable. His wife is the nurse on Tikehau
so we had an immediate connection. We were invited to their home where we
shared good food, good wine, and good conversation. We also celebrated our 17th
wedding anniversary in this beautiful atoll!
On August 19th, we were presented with another
promising weather window for passage south to Toau. We arrived at twilight to
Anse Amyot, the north “false” pass where there are incredibly good and
well-maintained moorings. There is no village there but we spent time walking
the shoreline, snorkeling, and visiting with friends, old and new. After a
quick week in Anse Amyot, we set sail for Fakarava. Thankfully the sail was
short because the sea state was sloppy. We arrived back in Fakarava where we
dove the north pass and had a few more dives at the south pass. We began
searching for a suitable weather window to start heading back to the Marquesas
for cyclone season. We found what we thought was going to be a good weather
window to sail for Raroia but the forecast did not pan out with variable winds
and sloppy seas. We ended up changing course and headed SE to Makemo to regroup
and wait for weather for the 4-day sail back to the Marquesas.
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| Sunset in S. Pass Fakarava |
In Makemo, we snorkeled, walked on the motus, did a beach
clean-up, saw a baby humpback breaching with mama close by, experienced squally
and unpredictable weather, and readied ourselves for the voyage back to the
Marquesas. What appeared to be a good weather window arrived on September 29th.
Forecasts can be unreliable and sometimes you simply have to “bear off” and run
with the storm.
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| Beach clean-up in Makemo (please consider your impact on the environment) |
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| Flat anchorage in Makemo |
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| Old structure in Makemo |
Stay tuned next time for passage details to the Marquesas
and how we’ve spent the 5 months since arriving back in the Marquesas.
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