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Anse Amyot, Toau

The wind continued to stay subdued and we all had a hot, sweaty and restless night. In the end I got up at 2am and completed all the stuff I needed to do on the internet. I only managed to upload a few photos – those from the festival in Hiva Oa. You can find them by clicking on the ‘Recently Updated’ category on this page somewhere. I managed a little more sleep before 6am when John and I went ashore for bread.

With nothing left but to run the morning SSB net (it was my turn) we readied the boat so we could set off once this was done.

With no wind we were motoring across flat water. As we approached the cut the water went from clear to crystal clear. It looked as though we were in shallow water when we were in fact in 70 feet. We were helped towards the cut by a one knot surface current which switched suddenly to two knots against us for a short period before disappearing all together.

The motoring to Toau was fairly uneventful. The genset cut out once with an overheating error which I resolved by repositioning the duct that extracts the hot air from the genset compartment. We had one bite on the trolling lines but nothing was caught.

Anse Amyot is a very shallow cut on the north side of Toau. It is too shallow to pass through but there is an accessible (from the outside) small lagoon with some moorings. The currents in the pass are negligible so, we understand, the snorkeling and diving is excellent without the problems of currents. As we approached we hailed Soggy Paws who we knew was there and asked which mooring was closest to good snorkeling as it’s always nice to go from the back of the boat. They gave us good advice and soon we were safely tied up to a ball. On the way in, Whiskers overheard us on the radio and contacted us. They had just left not knowing we were arriving. A missed opportunity but I’m sure we’ll catch up in the Society Islands.

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John and Patricia from Whoosh were soon over to say hello which was nice. They gave us the low down of the anchorage. We then went ashore to the ‘cruisers lounge’ where folks congregate and said hello to some old and new friends.

Our plan is to slow down (we’ll try – honest) and stay here for four nights before heading off to Tahiti in time to pick up our sail, fill our propane and sort out immigration for John before joining the rally/rendezvous which kicks off on the 18th and heads over to Moorea on the 19th.

Fakarava Village

There was little wind to speak of yesterday and once underway we were reluctant to stop so we made it all the way to the village. No surprise but there were quite a few boats in the anchorage of which we recognised most.

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We were soon connected to the internet and struggling through the slowness of it all to get a few things done. Two of the key tasks were to book Ben’s flight to join us (now set for July 13th) and Sam’s flight to South Africa to visit his family there.

Later we went ashore to have a look around. We bumped into Jackie from Jackster who was on a similar mission to ourselves. We found Gunther who provides free visits to his pearl farm and set up a trip for the next day (this afternoon). We then visited the dive shop and set up a dive for this morning on the incoming current at the northern pass.

We parted company with Jackie and headed down the main drag (such that it was) and visited the three stores along the way picking up some rather overheated croissants left over and some raisin bread. Outside one of the stores we met Brian and Jodon from El Regallo who we’d known from the radion. It was nice to meet and get to know them. Soon we were back aboard internetting again before settling down to sleep.

This morning I was ashore at 6am to pick up fresh baguettes and croissant for breakfast. Shortly before 8am John and I dinghied to the dive shop for our dive – Helen wanting to pass on this one as it was a little technical. We met the Jacksters there as well as John and Ian from Sea Mist along with some others who we didn’t know. It didn’t take long to get out to the dive site 5nm away in their powered RIB. We were separated into groups of 4 with a dive master with each group. Our group went second. We were dropped into the water and had to head down fairly quickly lest we be swept beyond our target in the strong currents.

Our first stop at around 110ft was on the rising reef. Here we saw thousands of fish and hundreds of sharks all milling around each in their own place in the food chain starting with the small life being swept up over the reef by the current. We soon hand to handed over to coral to a spot about 90ft deep where we waited another 10 minutes before letting go. We were swept over the reef and through some canyons for around 10 minutes before arriving at a dip in the reef called Ali Baba where sharks and fish took refuge from the current. The other two divers in our group were running low on air and needed extra from the dive master. Presumably they’d not been able to relax in the deep part of the dive and used up too much air.

Forty minutes into the dive it was time to rise and take a 5 minute safety stop to allow some of the nitrogen to fizz off. After that we were on the surface being picked up by the RIB. A great dive.

Back ashore it was back to internetting, this time ordering parts to be sent to Ben to bring to the boat in a months time.

This afternoon we went back ashore to visit the pearl farm. We didn’t get the full show as the technicians were out in the lagoon fixing things but we were shown an oyster being opened and a black pearl within. We also had explained the whole pearl making process which was pretty interesting. The end of the trip, inevitably, was where we could buy some pearls. Helen found one she liked and John bought a few.

That’s about it. The wind has been non-existant today and the lagoon consequently flat. From others I understand the forecast for the next few days is about the same. We’ll stay here until our online work is done and then head to Toau even if we have to motor.

In the meantime I’ve put together our tracks of our big crossing and our stay in the Marquesas. You’ll have to zoom out to see the bigger crossing.


View 2010 Marquesas in a larger map

With any minutes left I’ll try and uploading some more pictures.

Tiketite

After the morning’s radio activities we invited Tim and Ruth over from Kamaya. They’d expressed interest in seeing some of John’s photos so John had set up a slide show of some of those that he’d prepared. They were impressed with what they saw. After they left we readied the boat and headed north.

The wind was on our nose and as we were in a narrow channel we motor sailed. Half way to our destination, only 7.5 nm to the north, the genset cut out with a fuel feed issue. It’s been a while since I changed the fuel filters and this was probably the cause. The channel we were in had just turned slightly and the wind had picked up enough for us to tack our way up the channel sailing very close to the wind to keep the boat speed down as we had coral heads to negotiate.

We made our desired spot tucked in behind where the atoll would give us shelter from the northerly wind and swell. On our chart it is named Tiketite. We had hoped to have the spot to ourselves but there was one other boat there, presumably looking for similar shelter.

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We arrived in time for lunch. Afterwards, John and I went snorkeling. We’d learned that green parrot fish were good and safe to eat so I hoped to find some of them. As soon as I was in the water with my spear gun I saw a group of small ones so I spent a while following them around. They were quite shy so I never got close enough to shoot. I did see a black tipped reef shark swimming around so our combined presence was the probable cause for the fishes nervousness.

We then took the dinghy over to the nearby low water and waded over to the ocean. We wanted to suss the area out as we had plans to go lobster hunting in the evening. There were a few reef sharks swimming around in a foot of water including one large one which got spooked by John, headed right at me before veering off towards the deeper inland water. It was quite a sight seeing a 4-5 foot shark going full pelt through a foot of water.

Back near the dinghy we swam around in the shallow water. I saw some more parrots and shot one although the spear bounced off it’s scaly side. I followed the group of fish a little further and eventually found the shot fish lying on it’s side having taken quite a bruising. I nudged it and it managed to swim off to a crevice where it hid its head leaving its tail sticking out. I shot it again through the tail this time successfully. Realizing the sharks may now be interested I made it back to the dinghy quickly.

Back on the boat I had a go at cleaning and filleting the parrot fish. It really was too small and would only feed one even if I could successfully fillet it. In the end I used it’s flesh on a large hook which I hand lined over the stern of the boat. Before long I’d caught an emperor sweet lips fish of a decent size which we brought aboard. I gutted it and John filleted it. I hooked another but that one got away. We knew these fish were edible and safe as they were part of our fare when we had the meal together at Manihi’s a few days earlier.

After cleaning the gore from the back deck I now turned my attention to the fuel line. I removed the primary filter and it was indeed full of dirt so I switched it out. Later we ran the genset for the washing machine and all was fine. I also decided to do an inventory of my filters and genset spares. I’d forgotten how many spares I’d bought and we still have more than enough to go for a few years. The thinking being that if we really get some bad fuel and have to replace filters every ten hours, we can still get somewhere to clean up and restock.

We had the emperor sweet lips fish for dinner – fried in seasoned flour – with pasta. Quite delicious. None of us really had the energy to go lobstering so we settled for watching the final Bourne movie.

Today we’ll head further up the coast looking for a spot we fancy spending another night in. It’s possible we’ll make it all the way to the town at the north east corner. The wind is still from the north. We had hoped to be able to sail all the way up the channel which is normally the case in the prevailing ENE winds but the weather right now is all a bit of a mess.

Weather

Our heavenly break at the southern anchorage was broken by poor weather which had developed over night. We had expected the winds to shift to the north but we were hoping they would die down to. We got the wind shift but the winds remained firm. This meant we were receiving the chop picked up as the wind traversed the interior of the lagoon that were being compounded by the currents in the area which, until then, had been the source of such delight. Our main reason for staying at the southern cut was to go diving and we figured that the northerly winds against an incoming current may cause problems for us.

So we made the decision to up anchor and move east for the protection of the atoll which curved around there. We were in no rush though. I visited Imagine to wish them Happy Anniversary and to help out a couple of things on their computer. While I was there, John dove on our anchor/chain to assess the extent to which we were wrapped up in the coral heads.

Back on the boat we made ready to leave. We held back to allow a squall to pass over. Once it was we headed off. We were wrapped around one coral head but we knew this in advance so getting off was straight forward. As it turned out we were one of the last boats to leave the anchorage as practically everyone else had come to the same conclusion and had either headed off east or north to the village at the other end of the atoll.

We had planned to have the folks from Renova over for the evening. They were a young couple with a couple of relatives aboard who we first met in the Galapagos and bumped into a few times since and always meant to get to know. They had moved with the pack that had gone to the eastern corner so we moved near to them so they didn’t have far to go in the evening.

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The eastern anchorage was much calmer from the one we’d left so we settled down for lunch. After a rest we headed out to a nearby marker for a snorkel. After the rich area we had just left this snorkel was incredibly tame and a little boring. We tried to find a coral head we’d seen on the way in but from the reduced height of the dinghy we were not successful. Before returning to the boat we landed the dinghy on the beach and walked to the shallow area to the south of us. The shallow area was filled with smallish brown sea cucumbers/slugs looking like something less than pleasant. Wading through the area was tricky to say the least.

In the evening we had Naomi, John, Amy and Strawn from Renova over for nibbles and drinks. As ever, the time was good.

We won’t be going back to the southern anchorage as time is limited. Our intentions are to take about three days to make our way up the inside of the atoll to the village/town at the north end where there’s internet, a pearl farm to visit, some excellent diving and some small commerce.

Diving with sharks

We’re doing this a lot these days. Around 10am a few of us met aboard Bamboozle who had dived here three times so far so we could learn of their experience. There are essentially two dives that can be done in the pass. The first, on the incoming tide, starts at a buoy outside the pass and drifts in. The second starts in the channel on an outflow, drifts out at the bottom then drifts back on a surface counter flow.

We decided to snorkel the counter flow around midday and dive the incoming flow around 3:30pm shortly after slack water. Both times we got to see lots of fish and, of course for here, sharks. Stuart on Imagine assisted as surface cover on the second dive so we had a way to retrieve dinghies and for safety.

Today a few of us will dive the counter flow with Helen acting as surface cover.

That’s about it. This will probably be our last day here. From tomorrow we’ll start to make our way north inside the lagoon stopping a couple of times in different places.