JOURNEYS THROUGH THE STUNNING TUOMOTUS ISLANDS
Raroia, Fakarava, Toau, Rangiora, Tikehau, July & August 2016
Tahaena & Makemo, October-November 2016
Click Link to: Tahaena Photo Gallery
Passage Journal: July 23,2017 Leaving Nuku Hiva heading for Raroia Atholl
We are careening along hard on the wind at 8.4+/-kn toward the Tuomotus. We hadn’t really expected the wind to be so much from the south, so even with only 20-25kn of wind the ride is heeled over and rather rough going to move around any. We’re close to 100 miles along the way and keeping up a bit over our expected average. Although it was stormy leaving Nuka Hiva, once we left the island, the sky cleared and we had a lovely moonlit night. Lots of stars, no traffic, all in all a good night.
July 24 day 2 of 4 (11-27.81S/140-56.96W)
We continue to move along at a good clip. Perhaps our winds are a bit influenced by the weather north of the equator, hard to know. I think that I’ll request a weather grib that spans a bit of both hemispheres just to see what’s going on up there. We met a boat about 4 weeks ago that was heading north to Alaska from Nuka Hiva, I hope they are well past that storm and safely on their way. The refrigeration has gone off again, so we’ll be learning to live without cold anything after that which is frozen fully thaws. I’ll need to get creative with rice, lentils and canned stuff. John has worked really hard to try and get it functioning, but it looks like we need a major overhaul of the system, something which cannot be done until we get to Papeete. Not wanting to spoil our time together with Jodie any more than we have already, we’re going to continue cruising the islands until she leaves for Australia. Otherwise, all is well.
July 24 (13-01.35S / 141-28.25W)
It’s nice to see the sun up after a night filled with squalls of strong winds and seas crashing over the boat. Needless to say it was not restful for anyone and quite damp. On the positive side, we are still moving along at a good clip despite a reef in the mainsail, a reef in the headsail (if it’s even used) and the staysail. We averaged speeds of 8-9kn with the headsail, but the load became to great during the squalls, so we’ve taken that in and are on a smoother 6-7kn of speed. All of us are anxious to arrive, drop anchor next to white sand beaches in clear water and jumping overboard:) Then eating lots of great food. Not much food prep going on this time, it’s exhausting enough just to make a cup of tea with the boat bucking and heeled over. All is well on this new day.
July 25, 2016 ARRIVED RAROIA! (15-24.43S /142-15.25W)
We arrived at last after a rather arduous journey hard on the wind shipping lots of water and being thrown around the boat. Jodie immediately felt better as soon as we made it through the pass into the idyllic lagoon of Raroia Atoll. 
It took about another hour of navigating around coral heads, including having to divert our planned course to avoid a bunch of buoys and nets from the pearl farm before dropping our anchor. We’re bobbing away in turquoise water looking eastward over several islets of various sizes and vegetation, all strung together with white sandy beaches creating multiple shades of blue water. In the distance beyond is the open ocean crashing up against the surrounding reef. 
It’s picturesque – the quintessential South Pacific atoll location. Best of all, the boat is finally flat calm held in place with a steady eastern breeze. Surprisingly the water is much cooler down here (about 10 degrees further south from the Marquesas) and even the air seems more refreshing.
We’ve enjoyed lots of swimming, snorkeling and beach combing. Jodie went out for a 1 1/2 hour swim this morning dragging our inflatable kayak tied to her waist so she could paddle across the deeper, scary bits, and just for security if any sharks got too curious. There isn’t the ability to run or bike at this atoll, although she’ll be able to do that at a couple of the others…for now her exercise is meditation, yoga and swimming:) Because the freezer is mostly belly-up, we are busy trying to eat as much food as possible. We enjoyed huge steaks the first night, lots of fancy cheeses yesterday and a big dinner of curried chicken, a sausage and French Toast with strawberries for breakfast, lentil soup and ground beef nachos for lunch, with plans of hamburger steak for dinner….John is able to keep the freezer at refrigerator temperature so that’s giving us a bit more time to consume! We’re going to go out in a bit, far from our boat, and feed the sharks that lovely tuna I’d accumulated, which isn’t keeping well without the freezer. Should be interesting!??! I guess we’ll have to catch some fish for our future meals. We plan to stay here tonight and maybe move on in a day or two. The next atoll is about 85 miles, so an overnight trip. Jodie is very happy to just linger a bit longer here:) As I type, she is breaking open and preparing a coconut. 
We’ve had a busy day with some long swims/snorkels, beach/island exploration and even making some sourdough bread. We just returned from visiting the island where there is a memorial for the Kon Tiki expedition lead by Tor Hyerdal in 1947 – their raft went aground on this atoll and only about 1/2 a mile from where we are anchored. 
We found a bit of the wreckage while snorkeling this morning:) It’s happy hour now, so as soon as Jodie is out of the shower, we’ll relax for the evening.
Yesterday we visited a tiny clump of coconut trees on the edge of the atholl, surrounded by white sand and tourquoise water. The visit was guided by our hand held GPS which declared that this particular islet was the one that Thor Hyerdedall set foot on after his epic journey in his papyrus raft from Easter Island in 1947.
I say set foot on because he first had to wreck the raft on the colossal raging surf on the windward side of this atoll and walk half a mile over the exposed reef whose effect on salt soaked skin is like broken glass. I would say that last half mile was much more dangerous than the 2000 miles he traveled by sea. But it was here that the stout Promagnon appearing Norwegian first made a footprint in the sand and so his great grandson came and collected some coral, bound then into a small plinth with local sand and placed a brass plaque that commemorates his great hero. What an idyllic setting to be remembered. I remember how much our own Dad enjoyed Hyerdall’s book ‘Kontiki Expedition’ and how it inspired a post was generation to think again of great adventures. Of course that was 10 years before they landed a man on the mood. As for us, we set our compass on simpler achievements an will leave today to hop to the adjoining atoll 75 miles away to explore the next minor conquest and claim it for the Queen.
July 30, 2017 At sea again. After going across the atoll into town and anchoring out so Jodie could have a run, we made our way out through the pass with the setting sun and are now making a night passage to the atoll of Makemo. We hope to arrive in about 7:30am. Will keep you posted! All is well on Raynad.
July 31, 2017 2am – After waiting 6 hours for favorable wind/weather and tide conditions to enter Makemo, we’ve had to give it up. Too many squalls combined with wind against tide and poor charts. Sad, but we’ll move on toward Fakarava.
We had a fast and nail-biting outgoing passage our of Raroia last night and then were on our way at a quicker than expected speed toward Makemo. Although we’d encountered several squalls during the night, at about 3am they became a bit more cyclonic and caused havoc with our sails! A bit of wee hour excitement, but eventually we got it all down and motored the remaining few miles toward our waiting point to enter the lagoon. Unfortunately, the squalls have not stopped. Just when we think it might be clearing, another blanket of black heads our direction. With unpredictable winds, very disturbed water, dark gray skies and seas, we could not safely make it through the pass during the slack tide and so have now missed our opportunity. Currents in this pass can exceed 8kn so it’s worth being patient. We’re now hove-to offshore and waiting to see what happens over the next few hours. Not the ideal we had imagined when we left last night and had our sights set on dropping anchor off the town so Jodie could run on their roads and then making our way across the lagoon to the reportedly beautiful sandy beaches on the far southeast corner of the lagoon. Now we just wait. If it looks good at the next slackening tide, we will enter and stay here. Otherwise, we will head toward Fakarava which is one of the largest atolls in the group.
FAKARAVA ATOLL
At last we have arrived at Fakarava Atoll and are safely anchored on the southern end, just inside the pass at Tukirimaraerae. We finally gave up on a weather/tide window to safely enter Makimo Atoll – the entrance continued to be obscured by squally gray and wild looking seas – so we chose to carry on overnight for another 135 miles. A night filled with more squalls, rain and shifty winds, although occasionally we’d get a lovely glimpse of the starlit sky behind it all. Mostly just absolutely blackness; Capt John had us navigating with the radar. Entering the pass was a unique experience because we not only had to navigate the channel, but avoid all of the dive operators and their divers in the water! This south pass is supposed to be one of the best drift dives in the Tuomotus – we’ll likely check that out tomorrow:) For now, we’ve indulged with a French toast breakfast and are settling into cups of tea, reading and of course naps. This is the second largest atoll of the group, about 35 miles long and even has a road along about 15+ miles of that. So Jodie will also get a chance to do some training on her bike and running once we move north a bit so she can access the south end. I’m already starting a list of provisions for her to carry back on some of her ventures to town at the far north end of the atoll.
Pink Sand Beaches: 16-31.27S / 145-28.39W
Yes, the weather has improved and the waters are a beautiful turquoise against white and pink sand beaches:) John and Jodie took the dingy over to the little dive shop shack at the south pass to inquire about drift diving. They were fully booked, but came up with a time for us on Aug 3 for $70 per dive (special “boaties” price.) When the weather cleared yesterday afternoon, we moved the boat over to an area of islets and pink sand beaches where we are now anchored amongst massive amounts of coral patches – a hair raising experience for Jodie to navigate us through. Dropped the anchor and two reef sharks immediately came over and started circling our boat! It’s beautifully clear water so we’ll do lots of snorkeling and swimming today. Should be very relaxing.
After a stormy couple of days offshore, we have totally appreciated the paradise found here in Fakarava. 
As soon as the squalls cleared, we moved our boat over to be amongst the coral and pink/white sandy islets. As I dropped the anchor, our first shark swam by and by the time we finished setting it, we had three sharks circling around!
They were like dogs coming for their dinner!?!? Having initially been planning to dive off the boat and swim to shore, Jodie had a change of heart and instead set to inflating our kayak:)
That completed, she set off paddling until reaching more shallow waters and then swam for over an hour dragging the kayak behind her (sort of like a security blanket.) The black tip sharks continue to visit our boat. There are also some nurse sharks lurking about amongst the coral. We’ve done lots of snorkeling, even drift snorkeling and beach combing. Most stunning are the many blue lipped clams. Jodie and I managed to boat hook down four coconuts yesterday evening which she macheted open for our “happy hour” drinks. She is now off on yet another kayak expedition. It’s nice that she has a bit of freedom from the old farts.
We’re scheduled for a drift dive through the south pass tomorrow – should be exciting!
INCREDIBLE SOUTH PASS SCUBA!! Lots of sharks!!
We had an amazing day diving yesterday with some strong currents and masses of sharks! The pass had valley sections like wide alleyways with layer upon layer of mostly black tip reef sharks stacked up and just hovering, semi-comatose with their noses into the currents. It reminded me of early morning, sleepy commuters just sort of swaying with the motion of the train. Jodie thought is was like a traffic jam of cars all waiting for the petrol station, although maybe the description of thugs just hanging out and waiting for a fight was more applicable!?!? We would hang on to the coral at the edge of the valley and gaze across the dark blue alleyway filled with sharks. Just in one lookout we “counted” 300 sharks. We literally saw over 500 sharks on just the first 50 minute dive. Apparently because they are night feeders, the sharks “rest” this way. We are told the same area at night is crazy, frenzied chaos – no night diving for me thank you! There were also some nurse sharks down on the sands, some beautiful Eagle Rays, lots of stunning tropical fish and large corals. This was a great dive both relaxing and exciting. The second dive was much more challenging as we had waited too long for the other divers to finish their lunch and so were late dropping into the ocean waters where the current was both strong and fast. It was a battle to get down to depth and over to where we needed to be without getting swept away from the group. Again, we saw the incredible stacked up rows with huge numbers of sharks, lots more colorful and impressive coral, but we also spent too much effort and at times anxiety navigating back and forth across the valleys and various currents. I’m glad that we really took advantage of the opportunity to dive, however, we would likely have been happy to stop after the first dive. The massive line up or volume of sharks was truly impressive and not something seen in other places. John and I were quite tired and happy to relax back at the boat, Jodie became restless and took off for an early evening kayak adventure. We all enjoyed a lovely, calm night with clear dark skies filled with stars. Jodie challenged John on his knowledge of the constellations and eventually she even chose to sleep out under stars swinging in a hammock:) This morning we made our way further west in the lagoon so we are now anchored midway on the north side near a small and friendly pension with easy access to the 15 mile sand/coral road where Jodie can try and catch up on workouts. No more rest for her!! Another beautiful day in paradise – All is well on Raynad.
August 5, 2017 -Fakarava Lagoon west of Tonae (16-13.54S / 145-33.51W)
We’ll be staying at this anchorage for at least 3 nights to try and give Jodie some serious shore time for her training. She’s really barely keeping fit enough to even consider this big Half IronMan that is coming up in one month! The road here is coral/sand and goes from where we are along the atoll toward town and the airport which is about 15 miles, so she can get a 30 mile bike ride in and more if she wants to turn around and go back!! I’m planning to motivate her a bit with a shopping list:) We are both dressed to go ashore and get some exercise this morning. The winds have picked up (we had gloriously calm weather for a couple of days – the day we dove the lagoon was mirror flat) and we’re getting some rain squalls. I’ll run for about 30-40mins – she’ll do something more. The family at the little pension has said that we can store the bike in their shed, so that’ll be nice to only have to haul it once in the dingy. They also have a small dock that makes our landings much drier. After exercising, we will enjoy cups of tea and reading:)
August 8 – Anse Amyot west side Toau Atoll (15-48.21S/146-09.09W)
Just made it into the moorage at sunset. Picked up a buoy and have listened to the wind howling all night. Our boat computer keeps dying on us, so we had to navigate with a small Aser laptop yesterday. Worked fine, but we only have intermittent access to this email. We’ll eventually end up in Papeete and John will work on fixing this problem plus the refrigeration. Just so you know. At times, we may not be able to communicate via winlink. We are fine and nicely tied to a buoy on the Toau Atoll, Anse Amyot lagoon on the west side. This is called the “False Pass” as you can enter the little private lagoon which does not have an outlet into the main lagoon. Kind of an inlet in the reef which is supposed to have great scuba diving and snorkeling. It was a rather high pressure passage yesterday because we just had lots of stuff going on and ended up leaving a bit late after picking up Jodie in town after she’d already ridden the bike into town hoping to do another dive (didn’t work out), rode back to the resort where she found us missing so she had to ride back to town (the hand held radio wasn’t strong enough to communicate) so she ended up with a 66km+ bike ride, one way against 25-35kn winds! We arrived at Toau after sailing a 42nm passage having to average over 7kn speed to make it before dark and arrived just after sunset, picked up the buoy with minimal light and lots of wind (25-35kn)-fortunately the old guy who lives here came out in his skiff and helped us pick it up. Lovely place to be, calm and flat boat with the winds howling through the rigging above. Great to be here:)
RANGIORA
TIKEHAU
TAHAENA during the October nesting season: