Our router has now given us a new waypoint (somewhere to aim for), which is much further north of the rhumb line. This is needed because there is a weather system developing to the north west of us which will travel across our route around the 12/13 January and we need to be behind it (to the north) to remain comfortable. In addition the forecast lack of wind has become a reality. So we are now traveling much more slowly and not directly towards New Zealand – bugger! In reality we knew this was likely to happen, but it is still a little frustrating. The plus side is that is now quite calm and flat – even the washing machine was on this afternoon. Everything is working well on board and we are both fit and well. We are in regular contact with the other two boats and although we are a bit more spread out now its good to know there are other vessels in the vicinity – we haven’t seen anything or anyone else since we lost sight of the other boats shortly after leaving Maupihaa.
DTG 1210NM
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Our router has now given us a new waypoint (somewhere to aim for), which is much further north of the rhumb line. This is needed because there is a weather system developing to the north west of us which will travel across our route around the 12/13 January and we need to be behind it (to the north) to remain comfortable. In addition the forecast lack of wind has become a reality. So we are now traveling much more slowly and not directly towards New Zealand – bugger! In reality we knew this was likely to happen, but it is still a little frustrating. The plus side is that is now quite calm and flat – even the washing machine was on this afternoon. Everything is working well on board and we are both fit and well. We are in regular contact with the other two boats and although we are a bit more spread out now its good to know there are other vessels in the vicinity – we haven’t seen anything or anyone else since we lost sight of the other boats shortly after leaving Maupihaa.
DTG 1210NM
————————————————-
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The last few days have been all about sailing fast and passing through a ‘trough’. We have had bright sunshine, reasonable but dropping breeze and then more squalls. Approaching the trough we were advised we would see a ‘squall line’ then it would be not such nice sunny weather. It was obvious as we approached. The sky went from pure deep blue to a horizon full of dark grey clouds! The squalls were as expected and once into the trough it was a bit dull and the wind started to drop. We have been advised by the router that as we come out the other side it will be time to ‘burn some diesel’.
DTG 1357NM
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The last few days have been all about sailing fast and passing through a ‘trough’. We have had bright sunshine, reasonable but dropping breeze and then more squalls. Approaching the trough we were advised we would see a ‘squall line’ then it would be not such nice sunny weather. It was obvious as we approached. The sky went from pure deep blue to a horizon full of dark grey clouds! The squalls were as expected and once into the trough it was a bit dull and the wind started to drop. We have been advised by the router that as we come out the other side it will be time to ‘burn some diesel’.
DTG 1357NM
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After an aborted start, we have made some good progress. An hour after leaving Maupihaa one of the boats that left with us had some technical problems so we both returned to the calm waters of the atoll to resolve them. It was one of those all to common situations on boats where one problem occurred then almost simultaneously a second occured completely unrelated. We returned for the first, discovered the second fixed that and set out a second time four or five hours later.
The first few days have been fast and pleasant, except for the frequent squalls that came past us often tipping down loads of rain and causing the wind to change direction rapidly and increase; we saw winds of 35 – 37 kts in several squalls meaning we needed to be alert to sail trimming. Squalls don’t generally last long – often just a few minutes, sometimes half an hour, then its back to normal.
We have settled into a fairly flexible watch pattern and are both getting enough rest.
DTG 1679NM
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After an aborted start, we have made some good progress. An hour after leaving Maupihaa one of the boats that left with us had some technical problems so we both returned to the calm waters of the atoll to resolve them. It was one of those all to common situations on boats where one problem occurred then almost simultaneously a second occured completely unrelated. We returned for the first, discovered the second fixed that and set out a second time four or five hours later.
The first few days have been fast and pleasant, except for the frequent squalls that came past us often tipping down loads of rain and causing the wind to change direction rapidly and increase; we saw winds of 35 – 37 kts in several squalls meaning we needed to be alert to sail trimming. Squalls don’t generally last long – often just a few minutes, sometimes half an hour, then its back to normal.
We have settled into a fairly flexible watch pattern and are both getting enough rest.
DTG 1679NM
————————————————-
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If there was anywhere in the word to be ‘stuck’ during the Covid crisis, French Polynesia was probably the best. Throughout our entire stay the locals have been lovely, welcoming and they have made us feel very much at home. The climate is fantastic year round, the diving and snorkelling amazing and the area so large there is always plenty new to see.
The only two downsides of FP from our point of view is even without Covid, its a pain to travel between the UK/South Africa and FP and communication can be an issue. Many of the atolls don’t even have cell coverage, so trying to run a business from here is challenging to say the least.
We have been in FP for nearly two years – far longer than we ever intended but finally it is time to move on. We have been lucky enough to obtain an exemption to enter New Zealand – there are various criteria that have to be met but we now have our visas so are on our way. In many ways the timing is not ideal. We are in the middle of cyclone season so the 2100 mile journey (minimum) to New Zealand has to be timed and routed extremely carefully to keep us safe and for that reason we are using a professional weather router.
In anticipation of leaving we have moved to the most western atoll Maupihaa and have spent a stunning couple of days over New Year relaxing and preparing for departure. Maupihaa is extremely remote – they get a supply ship on average once a year so we had to provision and refuel in Raiatea before heading out to Maupihaa.
Although it is cyclone season, it is also summer in New Zealand so if we can avoid the cyclones we are likely to encounter some better weather in the second half of the trip than we would normally encounter if we did the trip outside cyclone season, but that means we are likely to do a lot of motoring so fuel is likely to be critical. Luckily we carry a lot of it, but even so like the other boats we we were buying up diesel cans and filling them at the dock in Raiatea to give us extra ‘reserve capacity’.
Having been waiting for about a week we have been given the green light to leave. There are two other boats departing with us – we all travel at different speeds so each will have their own routing as we head west.
So its goodbye French Polynesia and hello to two to three weeks of ocean sailing. Our routing is initially just north of the great circle route between Maupihaa and Opua, New Zealand, but that is likely to get revised regularly as the weather patterns evolve. It is going to be an interesting trip, and rather sad passing by many places that we had expected to stop at on this passage, but due to Covid we are not allowed to stop anywhere until we arrive in Opua.
DTG 2100NM
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If there was anywhere in the word to be ‘stuck’ during the Covid crisis, French Polynesia was probably the best. Throughout our entire stay the locals have been lovely, welcoming and they have made us feel very much at home. The climate is fantastic year round, the diving and snorkelling amazing and the area so large there is always plenty new to see.
The only two downsides of FP from our point of view is even without Covid, its a pain to travel between the UK/South Africa and FP and communication can be an issue. Many of the atolls don’t even have cell coverage, so trying to run a business from here is challenging to say the least.
We have been in FP for nearly two years – far longer than we ever intended but finally it is time to move on. We have been lucky enough to obtain an exemption to enter New Zealand – there are various criteria that have to be met but we now have our visas so are on our way. In many ways the timing is not ideal. We are in the middle of cyclone season so the 2100 mile journey (minimum) to New Zealand has to be timed and routed extremely carefully to keep us safe and for that reason we are using a professional weather router.
In anticipation of leaving we have moved to the most western atoll Maupihaa and have spent a stunning couple of days over New Year relaxing and preparing for departure. Maupihaa is extremely remote – they get a supply ship on average once a year so we had to provision and refuel in Raiatea before heading out to Maupihaa.
Although it is cyclone season, it is also summer in New Zealand so if we can avoid the cyclones we are likely to encounter some better weather in the second half of the trip than we would normally encounter if we did the trip outside cyclone season, but that means we are likely to do a lot of motoring so fuel is likely to be critical. Luckily we carry a lot of it, but even so like the other boats we we were buying up diesel cans and filling them at the dock in Raiatea to give us extra ‘reserve capacity’.
Having been waiting for about a week we have been given the green light to leave. There are two other boats departing with us – we all travel at different speeds so each will have their own routing as we head west.
So its goodbye French Polynesia and hello to two to three weeks of ocean sailing. Our routing is initially just north of the great circle route between Maupihaa and Opua, New Zealand, but that is likely to get revised regularly as the weather patterns evolve. It is going to be an interesting trip, and rather sad passing by many places that we had expected to stop at on this passage, but due to Covid we are not allowed to stop anywhere until we arrive in Opua.
DTG 2100NM
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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.
Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Raroia after 2 days 9 hours at sea. We entered the Atoll and crossed to the Eastern side for the most peaceful night we have enjoyed for many weeks. No ocean rollers and almost no chop. What a pleasure.
As for the scenery – simply stunning. The water is a clear blue, becoming turquoise as it shallows and the palm trees gentle sway in the trades on the islets. We can see why the guidebooks call these the ‘Islands of Paradise’. When we get some real internet we will post pictures from the Marquesas and here.
