French Polynesia « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Weather

by KC2RIY, on June 7th, 2010 (Renova, Tuamotus)

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

by KC2RIY, on June 6th, 2010 (Bamboozle, Imagine, Tuamotus)

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.

Snorkeling, snorkeling, snorkeling

by KC2RIY, on June 5th, 2010 (Anthem, Imagine, Jackster, Tuamotus)

During the potluck dinner (our first night here) I had learned that the guy who owns the resort hosting us was making dinner the following night. I knew from talking to a few others that there was interest for this so before the evening was over I talked potential numbers with Manihi the guy that owns/built/runs the place. He had four booked and could do a maximum of sixteen.

First thing after the net I dinghied round to a few of our friends in the anchorage and, including the Jacksters and Anthem who were on their way here, soon had the numbers.

Next John and I went snorkeling in the pass. This was during the outgoing tide and we tried our best to keep to areas where the flow through the channel was minimized. However there were times when we would be caught in a strong current and zip off. We always had one of us hanging onto the dinghy painter all the way through which was our lifeline in case of trouble. The snorkel was fantastic as we saw a great number of sharks including, at one point, about 15-20 all at once. In hindsight we should have had a radio aboard and have a buddy boat with us in case our outboard failed.

Before lunch I spent some time on Imagine helping them out with a software install falling back on skills developed in my past life.

Not long after lunch we were back out snorkeling. As the tide turned and the current started flowing back in practically everyone was out there dinghying out to the cut and drifting back in. For our friends who had arrived the previous day this was their first experience and they were amazed.

After a few drifts we were back on the boat waiting for Jackster and Anthem who were about to arrive. I’d convinced them they had to get in the water on arrival and get one thrill before the light fell. We helped dinghy them out into the cut for a drift in the now quite strong current. They were thrilled.

We now only had about an hour before our scheduled start of evening festivities. We all arrived at Manihi’s red roofed establishment around 5:30 for a meal scheduled to start at 7pm. Manihi had been out fishing to catch the meal earlier that day (what a life) and his wife had prepared it. When it all arrived, nearer to 8pm, we were amazed by the quality of the presentation and even more amazed by the taste of the food. All sixteen of us sat around a grand table set amongst a tiki style great hall. A fantastic time was had by all.

Fakarava South

by KC2RIY, on June 4th, 2010 (A Cappella, Bamboozle, Imagine, Sea Mist, Tuamotus)

Hmmm. While I write the boring bit about the journey over here I’m going to have to drum up the right words to describe this place. You’re not going to like it. Really. It’s just too nice here. I’ve used words like paradise before but now I realize I was wrong.

The wind was largely on our side as we made the passage from Kauehi to the southern entrance to Fakarava. We were on good time to make the low tide predictions. Imagine and Sea Mist pulled ahead of us in their performance boats while we and A Cappella fell a little way back of the little pack of four boats that had coincidentally decided to make this particularly trip at this time. On an open radio channel Sea Mist made inquires into the tidal flows through the cut, in particular to find when the slack tide was in relation to low water. Over in Kauehi slack followed low water by around an hour or so. We expected the same here. It turned out slack preceded low water by an hour. Oops. This meant we weren’t going to make slack water. We’d heard the pass here was trickier than that at Kauehi and our whole trip plan was based around making slack. (If you haven’t figured it out by now, slack water is the half hour or so between when the water flows in and out of a cut and vice versa – related to the tides in some complex fashion)

So we decided to boost our speed a little by turning some of our stored electrons into a little extra speed. After a while the wind dropped so we increased thrust and turned on the genset a little earlier than we planned so that we would be pretty well charged up when we entered the cut.

Along the way we had learned that a pot luck was being planned at a shore side guest house. We really wanted to get some time in the water on arrival so Helen cooked up a pot of chili while on the move so that all we had to do was reheat it shortly before we needed to go ashore.

As we approached the cut we dropped sails and pointed in. At that moment we were clipped by a nearby squall and the light quality dropped significantly so I turned out and waited five minutes. I turned in before the visibility completely improved but I was certain we’d have full light by the time we were in the cut.

As we went through we found we had three knots of current assisting us through the cut. Our charts were good and the information we received from those passing through ahead of us made us confident we have no issues. As we popped through the pass our excitement mounted as the water was crystal clear and we could already see the sea life and coral beneath us. To our right was the ‘town’ which was just a collection of shore side picture postcard thatched huts, some out over the water conforming to the best imaginations of what French Polynesia would be. Without looking like being some extortionately expensive resort for the mega-wealthy.

We made our way around to the anchorage, found a spot and dropped our anchor making fast first time.

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While the boat settled we readied the dinghy and threw our snorkel gear in. The boat wasn’t shifting so we were off to enjoy the snorkeling while we still had reasonably light. We dinghied back towards the pass out into the ocean, this time going inside of the reef which we had earlier gone around. The current remained strong so we donned our gear before reaching our drop off point. Once ready we motored the final distance, cut the engine, pulled it up and jumped into another universe. Swimming was pointless. We were flying along at three knots in around 20 feet of water over acres of living coral, countless fish, sharks and rays. John and I took turns holding onto the dinghy painter while the other dove down close to the coral flying over it feeling like superman. It was out of this world. It’s hard to describe the feeling being unencumbered by scuba gear, inches away from endless coral with such amazing life all around. When we had drifted close to the anchorage we all agreed to do it again. This time we went further into the main pass. It was deeper here and had less coral but soon we were back into the thick of it. Amazing. After two drifts we have had nowhere near enough of this. We want more.

Back on the boat we emailed two boats in the same anchorage as Jackster (they are mad divers) over in Kauehi to let them know that it was stunning here. We knew they would easily trade their time there for here.

Back at the boat we had a little time to rest before the 5pm pot luck. This was being (incredibly) graciously hosted by a Polynesian local who had built the most divine little home/guest house by the water. There we met old friends and new. All of our little party of four boats crossing that day were there. We met Jamie and Lucy from Bamboozle who we’d briefly met (and instantly liked) in Grenada and vowed then to meet somewhere in the Pacific (and what a place we met up !!!!!)

It is said that hell is other people and sometimes, sadly, that can be true. Last night I can only say the opposite is true, heaven is other people.

We’re going to stay here for a while. Time to let the anchor set.

Kauehi Village

by KC2RIY, on June 3rd, 2010 (A Cappella, Bristol Rose, Fine Gold, Imagine, Jackster, Lilith, Sea Mist, Tuamotus)

We waited for the morning net to finish before leaving the southern side of the atoll bound for the village on the north east side. We’d agreed to go along with Fine Gold so we could double up on spotting coral heads. Collectively, the three of us didn’t manage a good job as we struck one that was one inch less deep than our port keel. Shortly after that moment a squall came down on us cutting surface visibility to zero so we pointed into wind and motored along at less than one knot to wait it out.

Once the weather cleared we were back under way this time creeping along at three knots gradually increasing the speed as the visibility improved. Once we reached the track of our way into the southern area we turned and followed it back knowing we had a clear passage but still keeping a close eye on things until we hit the marked channel. On arrival at the anchorage outside the village we took three attempts to anchor as we were not happy with our positioning on the first two tries but once settled in we were fine.

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We took lunch and rested for a bit. John went off snorkeling with the Bristol Roses who were in the anchorage while Helen & I went ashore. We met a few of the locals around the village who were all smiles and Bonjours which made us feel good being there. They had a pretty church with some unique (to us) decorations made of shells. We also spent some time with a chap who was making jewelry out of oyster shells which looked quite pretty although none were finished and ready for sale.

The town was small and we were done fairly quickly. We pleased a few children by the shore by handing them sweets/candy/bon bons we had in our pockets. Soon we were back aboard Dignity preparing for the evening. We’d promised to entertain Lileth sometime and as they had the same Vancouver 27 as Lileth, we invited Fine Gold over to dinner too. We heard from Jackster on the VHF and learned they’d taken a pounding on their passage from the Marquesas experiencing Force 10 winds at times and Force 8 for extended periods. While reporting themselves as chipper, they’d taken some damage and we felt they could do with some care and attention so we invited them too.

So we ended up with dinner for nine. We can just squeeze this number round our table which is nice. We had a great evening all together and we were glad to be able to introduce Fine Gold and Lileth as you don’t see too many 27 footers out here and they had much to share.

Looking at the tide predictions for the next few days we realized that Thursday/Friday this week were the last two days for a while where we had an afternoon slack tide into Fakarava with enough time to find a spot to anchor while it would be light. Beyond Friday we’d have to do an overnight passage to Fakarava and make a morning slack tide which is less attractive. Fakarava has a lot going for it so we decided to head out this morning. Slack tide was just before 9am but we decided to make the cut around 7:30am against the tide to buy us more time to reach the cut at the south end of Fakarava. We shared our thoughts with others and we ended up leading four other boats out of the anchorage and the pass this morning relaying information about our experience. Transiting the cut away from slack tide was again pretty easy. We encountered a 1.5 knot counter current while staying close to the shore. We experienced a minimum depth of 13ft which we reported to the vessels behind us and those approaching from the outside. The vessels that were uncomfortable with the depth went through a little more to the center saw 3 knot counter currents but all were well.

We are now en route to the southern end of Fakarava. The winds are light but progress is good. Four of the vessels (us, Sea Mist, Imagine and A Cappella) are on their way to the southern end while Bristol Rose are on their way to the north cut where they hope to meet up with Whiskers before they head north.

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