Ahe

Ahe is a small atoll between Manihi and Rangiroa, just an overnight sail from Rangiroa. We waited for a weather window so that it wasn’t an uncomfortable long beat to windward. With no ideal conditions forecast, we settled for a period of no wind, meaning an overnight motor sail for 14 hours. We left the anchorage in Rangiroa at 15:14 and left the pass at 15:45. With a knot of outgoing tide we were through quickly and easily with flat(ish) water. One of the resident bottlenose dolphins came to say a bon voyage and we hoisted the main and were clear by 16:15. In this case Lesley said the anticipation of a rough and bouncy pass was worse than the main event!

The passage was relatively uneventful with no fish caught. However, there was a stunning night sky with shooting starts and some brilliant phosphorescence in the water. We did a four hour watch each and Derek on his second watch caught some rain showers that we had otherwise been able to dodge during the night. We arrived at the Passe Tiareroa into Ahe at 6:30am and it was such a flat and easy entry to the lagoon that he didn’t even bother to wake Lesley!

Ahe Map
Simple Ahe Map

Ahe is known for fishing and pearls. We were told that there are 25 pearl farms here and certainly there are hundreds of pearl buoys around the atoll. We headed up the western side of the lagoon to where our friends Russ and Lisa on Uproar were anchored. After settling in and buoying our anchor chain, a first for us. We caught up on sleep and when we woke Uproar had gone – was it something we said!

Ahe is approximately 14 by 17 miles at its widest parts, with a well marked channel along the west side. Supply boats come here once every two weeks. If our timing had been right we could have clambered aboard to buy fruit and veg directly from the ship. The two restaurants we went to, get their supplies delivered directly from the ship to their beach! Before GPS this atoll was the mid stopping point between the Marquesas and Tahiti, since it is on the northern edge, and navigating through the middle of the Tuamotus at night prior to GPS was dangerous. Now it seems that not many yachts venture here. We were told that there were less than 20 this year but that is more than last year.

We explored a small area of the atoll which still has the original trees that would have been growing here before the clearing and planting of coconut palms for copra production. You could imagine the whole atoll being covered in the trees and ferns that were in this small wooded area.

Trees
Original Forested Area

Pension Raita (www.chez-raita.com) has set up some tables and chairs here that can be used for having a BBQ ashore. Great to be able to sit and watch the small black tip reef shark pups swimming around in the shallows. On the way back we found what seemed to be a cleaning station for the sharks with approximately eight sharks of varying sizes swimming circles in a small shallow reef area. They all had a shoal of tiny yellow fish around their mouths.

Dinghy
Dinghy quietly at rest by the Beach

The next day, we headed across the lagoon to two private mooring buoys off another pension to join Lisa and Russ from Uproar. It transpired that they had moved when the wind dropped as they were starting to swing towards the reef and it became uncomfortably shallow.

The distance across the lagoon is only about 10 miles but it is riddled with the pinnacle shaped bommies, shallow reefs and pearl farm buoys. We kept a sharp look out for the buoys but even when we located and watched them it was imperative to have Lesley standing at the bow. There was never just one buoy. If you spotted one there were more, slightly submerged and strung together, presumably holding the ropes for oysters. They were a ghostly green below the surface so not easily seen. We backed off several to try and go around the last one in the chain but did manage to get over one line with the drive in neutral and drifting along very slowly under our momentum.

Lodge
Watching the boats from Cocoperle Lodge

The small resort, Cocoperle Lodge run by Frank and his wife Francine was delightful and we had a very nice dinner with their guests and Uproar. They let us know about various areas of the atoll to explore and could not have been more friendly.

Decorations
Christmas Decorations Ahe Style

We spent several days on their mooring buoy in light winds and explored by dinghy from there, visiting a small pool area called the La Source where the sea breaks over at high tides, some coral gardens and some pink sand bars.

We walked on the outside of the reef for about 30 minutes from Pension Chez Raita to try and find the turtle nesting site. We think we located a small area of sand where they could haul ashore without going over the rim of the reef but there was little evidence to support that they were currently nesting at night. It was a great walk for shell collecting though and we also arranged to come back the next evening for dinner.

Shells
Collecting Shells!

Raita and her family were most welcoming and even prepared chicken for Derek instead of the fish menu of oysters and grouper that the rest of us had! We were entertained by the family singing and playing local instruments.

The Band
The Band!

Both restaurants were good, and different to each other but both were excellent hosts and made for wonderful evenings, a real treat from the hot galley onboard.

We have learnt some Polynesian phrases as we are always greeted when ashore with friendly smiles and ‘Ia oraana’ Meaning, good day or hello.

Thank you is MAURURO
Goodbye is I – NANA
Please is EE (EH-EH)
Lots of love is TE AROHA IARAHI
How is it going is EAHA TE HURU
Very well, thank you is MAITAI ROA, MAURURU
Cheers – Mauruuru

In true cruisers style we shared meals, stories, knowledge and CPN charts and films! Lesley also gave Derek a haircut and trimmed Lisa’s long curly hair, which was a first for her.

We discovered a Gecko on board. Really not sure how he got there unless a bird dropped him on deck. Lisa named him Gaylord the Gecko! Apparently it’s Norman French origin meaning joyful or high spirited. Well so long as he eats a good number of mosquitos he can stay.

Gaylord
Gaylord checking out the boat

We had also had a worrying night on the mooring buoy when the wind changed direction. We were very close to the pinnacle of a bommie that just clipped the rudder on one occasion. We watched it for over an hour by torch light as we swung like a pendulum across it. Luckily the wind died a bit and shifted slightly, the tide came up a bit, so that we could get some sleep.

The next day we said good bye to Uproar; they were leaving to get to another atoll to meet a friend flying in for Christmas. She was also bringing with her a new control panel for our solar panels which had broken. So actually ‘au revoie’ until later. We decided to move to the village and explore an area we had been told about near there, travelling across the atoll, again dodging shallows and pearl buoys. To add to the tension the light was poor because of a slowly approaching squall. We were accompanied by the sound of distant thunder and just as we made the sanctuary of the marked channel the heavens opened.

We circled the protected area between the reef and the concrete wharf by the village called Tenukupara, but didn’t find a big enough area for Ocean Blue between the bommies and coral to anchor there. We picked a patch further out away from the village and channel.

From here it was a 2 mile dinghy ride to an area in the south east corner of the atoll where there is a lagoon, within a lagoon. There is a reef separating another deep water area. This was interesting as the colours were more green than blue with shades from turquoise to emerald with an interesting lime coloured band. We think it was mostly influenced by depth but probably also the reflection and type of bottom substance.

In the evening 15 or so canoeists were out paddling around in their priorgs or Vaa a’s and two of the men invited us to go and see their pearls if we were interested the following morning. After breakfast we went ashore to the building that had been indicated and spent a lovely time learning about the pearl seeding and harvest. Luckily for us one of the ladies spoke perfect English having been educated in the USA as her mother was from Seattle and her father Tahitian.

They have young oysters here that they sell to neighbouring atoll pearl farms as well as growing their own pearls. We saw the small ball of shell that they use to insert into the oyster, which is approx. 4mm in size. This is used to stimulate the oyster which coats it with nacre to form a pearl. They are inserted when the oyster is between nine months to a year and not harvested from the pearl for up to another 2 years. The baby oysters have to be lifted and taken off the fine netting that they start life on and transferred to long rope, approximately 100 per rope hang into the depth. When they are inserting the seed and making the transfer they can deal with 1000 oysters a day. The plastic tassels that we had seen on the beach are used to deter the sharks, turtles and rays from eating the oysters.

We looked through the different grades of pearls to make a selection for potentially buying but would have to wait until the men folk were back to negotiate a price. Each bag was marked with the workers name so they can keep track of who has been working on which rope of oysters and can monitor which techniques for inserting the seeds produces the better pearls. We also saw the very small natural pearls that are created by the oyster if no seed is retained. They are very small irregular chips by comparison. Lesley also learnt how to look after and clean pearls.

A fun morning and as we left we were given mangos, a pineapple and an avocado! We waited for the negotiation. After the days work had been completed the men came by Ocean Blue and we followed them ashore. As well as buying pearls we were also given a large bowl of fresh oysters. That was Lesley’s dinner sorted!

The pearl house
The Pearl House

We had wanted to go to the pearl house run by Patrick, but the area and dock looked unlikely for our boat and having bought from the village we felt we had probably done our pearl shopping, for the moment. We did anchor near the pass to wait for an incoming current and to snorkel the pass. Wow, it was worth the short wait, beautifully clear water and a stunning collecting of fish. A coral carpet, massive groupers and a sleeping shark. We timed our departure for an overnight sail to Fakarava to arrive at slack water for the pass there. However, it took us an hour and a half to get the anchor up, going backwards and forwards to unthread the 80 metres of chain from around the rocky bottom. The last 30 metres wouldn’t budge with this technique so Derek had to don his diving gear and go down to see what the problem was. The tip of the Rocna anchor had wedged itself into a small hole in the lava rock. Derek moved it a metre to sand and finned to the surface with a 3 min stop.

Back on board and showered again we were able to weigh the anchor without any further problems and got going. Our timing was good and Lesley steered Ocean Blue through the pass making it her first passage through an atoll at the helm.

Rangiroa

Rangiroa is the largest atoll in the Tuamotus and one of the largest in the world. Approximately 43 NM long and 18 NM wide. The 240 islets string together in the ocean for more than 110 miles (177 km), completely encircling a deep lagoon

Several scuba diving operators will take you to dive the pass. Whales, manta rays, and sharks have been seen, as well as the resident pod of dolphins that stay here.

Picasso Fish

We took to regularly snorkelling off the motu Nuhi Nuhi by the Tiputa pass, known as the ‘aquarium’, which had an abundance of fish and colourful coral. There are also some informative markers there, under the water about the reef and fish!

Butterfly Fish

There are two main villages of Avatoru and Tiputa which offer several magasins (shops), selling pretty much everything you need for the day to day simple life are restocked twice a week when the supply ship has unloaded. There are also churches, craft centres, local restaurants(snack bars) and even a boulangerie.

The strong winds and torrential rain limited exploration for a few days. Work and boat jobs continued though, a rain canopy for the aft hatch so we can still keep it open at night and get some ventilation through our cabin was made, the wind scoop fixed, cookies cooked, software written and training courses updated!

The tour boats also come to the Blue Lagoon

With calmer weather we took a day trip to the blue lagoon. This is an area on the western side of the atoll where the shallows are a nursery for black tip reef sharks and the shallow water is gin clear.

Never far from a shark here!

With prevailing winds from the East and the Blue Lagoon on the West, you need unusual weather to make a stay there comfortable, since the chop builds and makes anchoring uncomfortable and potentially dangerous, especially at this time of year where we have frequent squalls with wind coming from many different directions. We took friends, Frank and Sophie from Anastasia for the day trip, leaving at 8 and returning by 5 to motor across the atoll in the well marked channel. A great day out and well worth the visit.

Beautiful clear shallow water

Our dinghy is our transport between the boat and the shore, or the boat and any other adventures we undertake. In most places we anchor every destination is reasonable distance away. Sometimes just a few hundred metres but often much further, sometimes a few miles. Recently the dinghy outboard motor has been playing up.

Miles of coastline to explore – but we need the dinghy

Modern fuels in most parts of the world are made with more and more ethanol content every year. Whilst there are some good environmental arguments for adding ethanol to petrol, it also has some nasty side effects, including eating fuel hoses, seals and other rubber stuff that were manufactured prior to the high ethanol content being used. Ethanol is also hygroscopic, whereas petrol is hydrophobic, or in simple terms Ethanol absorbs water and petrol repels it.

Therefore in the humid marine environments we live in, we get a lot more water in the fuel than is good for the engine. We use additives to minimise it, but after leaving the outboard for a while, invariably the water from the fuel will have caused some crud to form in the carburettor meaning the engine doesn’t want to idle and a quick stripdown and clean of the carburettor jets is needed. It is so frequent that Derek can do this now in less than 10 minutes!

Giant Clams abound the reefs

However the latest failures of the engine perplexed Derek for a good few weeks. The engine seemed to be running rich, using loads of fuel and cutting out at high revs. Even more strange was that the oil level rose and overflowed the dipstick! After sleeping on the problem, Derek identified it as a fuel pump problem. The rubber diaphragm had perished and the fuel was being pumped straight into the engine crankcase rather than the carburettor – not ideal!

That gave us a problem. We carry many many spares on board but not a fuel pump. There are virtually no chandleries or engine supplies in the atolls and an email to the Mercury dealer back in Tahiti got a quick answer stating it will be one to two months before they can obtain a new pump for us. Then we must organise it to be shipped to wherever we are somehow.

That’s a long time to wait and not go ashore or go and visit anything. Later that evening Derek proclaims:

‘Why do we need a pump anyway? We only need a pump if the petrol storage is lower than the carburettor. Gravity should do the job otherwise, that doesn’t break!’

The next morning, the pump was bypassed, the fuel can raised high and the starter chord pulled. Its not ideal, it does require a little use of the hand priming pump in the fuel line from time to time, but the engine runs, and we can at least get around until the new pump arrives. We have ordered one from the UK to be sent to Tahiti by DHL and then we will somehow hopefully get it sent on to wherever we are. Times like this make us eternally grateful to family back in the UK who can assist with shipping etc.

With the dinghy operational again, on Saturday we went ashore early, to get bread for breakfast and found a bustle of activity. There were small market stalls with clothes and fishing gear as well as dried snacks and general stores. The supply boat was also selling fresh fruit and vegetables directly on the quay. We purchased, mangoes, oranges, carrots and tomatoes but there were also cucumbers, limes, potatoes, onions and cabbage. The fridge was refilled!

With the wind forecast to drop and the arrival of a large cruise ship on Sunday, we decided to sail across the lagoon to the southeast corner for a few days away from the relative bustle of the village and a potential influx of tourists (its all relative!).

The area is called Tevare, Sables Rose and is famed for its pink sand. We had a light wind of 8-12 knots and had a glorious sail most of the way, before reverting to the engine for the last hour picking a somewhat torturous route through the bommies to the beautifully calm sheltered spot where we dropped anchor. Charts are somewhat lacking, within many of the atolls so Derek had his first go at producing a satellite image chart (something we had got used to using in the San Blas), so we tested its accuracy for bommies – very useful it was too, clearly showing all the shallow bommies that we encountered.

Anchored at Le Sables Rose

We stayed here for several days exploring the environment and enjoying the peace and quiet. Nature was close by, with the small bommie behind us being a nursery for juvenile fish. The flats to the pink sand banks had numerous black tip reef sharks and we saw eels and rays whilst walking through the shallows.

Pink sands of Le Sables Rose

On another excursion we we took the dinghy as far as we could, waded through a soft bottom to get to the coral shore and followed the cairns to reach the outer Pacific shore. This gave us a very clear appreciation of the dramatic underwater coastline. We stood just metres from the reef edge in the crashing waves, and could see that less than 30 metres away the reef dropped off to depth of thousands of kilometres almost vertically.

The edge of the reef

There are a few dwellings along the shore where the inhabitants produce copra and collect shells to sell. We were told that they didn’t live there permanently, just stayed to do the work then returned to the villages. The upshot of this is that there was virtually no light pollution at night. When the skies cleared all we could see was a myriad of stars in a perfectly black sky. We saw stars and constellations that we haven’t been able to see for quite a while.

We read in one of the guides that there was a tiny Motu (Nao Nao) about halfway back towards the village anchorage that had good diving, so we took the opportunity to stop off there on the way back and enjoyed a lovely shallow dive with a great array of colourful fish. This was followed by a clean of the hull before returning to the anchorage as dusk fell and the light faded.

Snorkeling the reefs

Knowing we would be leaving soon, we planned a quick shop for fresh bread, vegetables and fruit but found the shop had delayed its opening for a special event.  They were launching the European lottery ticket sales!  Free nibbles, ice cream and local dancing. Plus we could get our shopping!

Local Polynesian girls dance to celebrate the shop’s start of selling lottery tickets!

And today we move on. Rangiroa grew on us as we stayed here. Due to its size, the anchorages can be rather exposed. If the wind picks up and has any south in it, the main village anchorage gets lumpy but then there are other places to anchor on the southern side. However its not a short hop across the atoll and does require good light.

Rangiroa does has a lot to offer the cruiser.  The local hotel we anchored off (The Kia Ora) is welcoming and when we emailed them to ask, they were happy for us to drink at the bar and watch the Polynesian entertainment. There is even some wine production here and a tasting tour at the Dominique Auroy Estate which is nestled within a coconut grove. It produces three grape varieties.  We didn’t explore this but we saw the wines for sale in the local magasin.

We have enjoyed our time here but look forward to the next atoll, which if the wind is as forecast will be the much smaller Ahe, just an overnight sail away.