In the morning I ran the net we started which has attracted quite a few boats now. We heard from a few more of our friends and it seems more and more people are heading this way. We’d heard that the most popular destination for cruisers was Ahe so we chose to come down here because it was a little different and there is a nice wide pass. Perhaps this has attracted everyone else. The more we hear of other boats on their passage from the Marquesas to the Tuamotus the more we think we had a pretty good passage with minimal squalls.
John spent a lot of the morning snorkeling the local area taking pictures while Helen and I relaxed and read. Shortly before midday all three of us dinghies over to a coral head we’d passed on the way in just under two miles away. We had no idea what to expect. We carefully laid the anchor on the coral head as the water dropped to 70ft within a few feet. I went in first to make sure the dinghy anchor could not damage the coral before signaling for Helen and John to enter the water.
The coral head was amazing. It was about 20 feet wide and rose practically vertically from the lagoon floor 70-80 feet below. Made out of coral growth it was largely solid but in many places it looked like a honeycomb with voids within and gaps through which we could look. In and around the towering coral head there were plenty of fish of many varieties. Feeling quite comfortable free diving down to 30-40 feet and hanging around a while I decided to go for the bottom. I made it to what looked like the shallowest part before immediately turning for the surface. It wasn’t too bad in the end. I measure the depth at that point with our portable depth sounder and found it to be 60ft so that represents my personal record to date.
Getting back to the boat was a little less fun. It had been bouncy going out to the coral head. Coming back we were into the wind and waves. Everytime we hit a wave we would be sprayed, sometimes heavily. Helen and John were able to put their backs to it but I had to see where we were going. In the end I put on my face mask to see and my snorkel to stop water going in my mouth when I breathed. We also had to take the dinghy drain plug out all the way to stop the dinghy filling with water.
Back on the boat we dried off and had lunch. More reading and relaxing for us. Later, John went snorkeling again and Helen and I swam over to the next motu and walked around that. It was not a lot different than the one we’re behind. The reef on the inside looked a little more interesting so we may try that out today. On the swim way over I lost my sunglasses which were in my pocket. I was a bit annoyed by this. On the way back I swam back trying my best to follow the route over. Fortunately black sunglasses stand out on white coral sand a long way off in this lovely clear water so I was able to find and retrieve them.
After dinner John and I went out lobstering. We have heard that a few nights after full moon the lobsters come out onto the shallow reefs and we can pick them up with our hands. We’ve also heard that this is true every night. Well not last night. We did see plenty of iridescent blue needle fish which allowed us to get close. I managed to catch three of them in my gloved hand but let each one go. I also caught a little white fish the same way. But no lobsters.
We’ll probably stay here one more day before heading over to the town tomorrow and then on to Fakarava where we may meet up with Whiskers who we know are over there.
Side note. While writing this a nasty squall came over including a flash of lightening followed by thunder a second later. That was enough to encourage us to put all the laptops and handheld GPS into the microwave. We are glad we’re at anchor and not at sea during these nastier squalls.
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