Monday, June 4, 2012
Tahanea
As with most passages in the Tuamotus, our sail from Raroia to the
deserted atoll of Tahanea required careful planning in order to exit and
enter the reef passes when currents were manageable and the sun high
enough in the sky to allow us to see shallow areas in the water. The 140
mile distance between the atolls meant an overnight passage, but also
having to keep our speed in check so as not to arrive too early. With
brisk trade winds pushing us swiftly along, even under reduced sail, we
found ourselves approaching Tahanea several hours too early and were
forced to heave to (stall the boat by pointing it into the wind with jib
and mainsail tightly sheeted on opposite sides) in order to kill some
time. When the time came, entering the pass was without drama and we were
soon in the protected waters of the lagoon approaching a small group of
anchored cruising boats. We had been communicating by radio with new
friends Mark and Vicki, on the vessel "Southern Cross", who were already
there and anxious to share with us what they had discovered about diving
Tahanea's three reef passes. While we maneuvered in the anchorage
scouting the bottom through the crystal-clear water, for a sandy patch to
drop "Blue Rodeo's" anchor, an ominous dark cloud moved overhead and
proceeded to dump rain on us with such intensity that it seemed we'd be
drowned from above. The word torrential comes to mind when searching for
adjectives to describe the deluge. With the rain came wind gusts in
excess of thirty knots and reduced visibility down to as few hundred
yards. We had no choice but to use our motor to hold our position, with
bow into the wind, while waiting for the squall to pass. Fortunately,
within minutes, the small, but intense, storm moved-on and we were able to
drop our anchor.
The anchorage at Tahanea, like many in the Tuamotus, has a sandy bottom
with scattered, jagged coral heads known as "bommies" rising up from the
sea floor. Anchoring in these areas requires special techniques to avoid
damaging the live coral and to prevent entangling them with a boat's
anchor chain in such a way that raising the anchor becomes impossible. As
we paid-out our anchor chain, we tied three of our inflated, vinyl, dock
fenders to it at intervals so as to sufficiently buoy it up from the
bottom and, hopefully, keep it from snagging on the coral. As we finished
the anchoring exercise, Mark and Vicki returned from a snorkeling
excursion and told us what they had learned about the diving at Tahanea.
Before long, we began to feel like "old friends" and plans were made to
SCUBA dive one of the reef passes with them the next day. As we settled-
in for the evening, we finally had a chance to survey our beautiful
surroundings. The anchorage, at the edge of a huge lagoon, features water
of swimming pool-clarity and patches of colorful coral that, in some
places, rise to surface level. It is exactly the tropical paradise that
we had, for years, been dreaming about.
Our dive the next day required that we take our dinghy about a mile and a
half to one of the three reef passes where we hoped to drift with the
incoming tide from outside the atoll back into the lagoon. With four of
us and all of our SCUBA gear crammed into our dinghy, we pounded through
the wind-driven choppy water to our dive site taking copious amounts of
water over our bow, nearly swamping the small rubber boat. Fortunately,
both wind and water were a comfortable 85 degrees so the incoming water
was mostly a nuisance. Prior to our dive, we went ashore at the ruins of
a tiny village for some exploration and were greeted by a friendly cat
that was the motu's only resident. Although craving some human attention,
the cat appeared healthy enough and was, no doubt subsisting on sea
creatures, bird eggs, mice or rats and rain water. Vicki knew that the
cat was on the small island and brought along some powdered milk and
mixed-up a batch for it to drink. The grateful animal happily lapped it
up. With Anne's soft heart for animals, she had a difficult time leaving
the cat alone and hoped aloud that some cruising sailor wanting a pet
might soon rescue it.
Over the next several days we would enjoy several fine dives seeing a
multitude of colorful and interesting, tropical, reef fish, Barracuda,
dolphins and dozens of sharks. On one reef pass dive with friends Don and
Deb from the vessel "Buena Vista", we had a bit of an adventure when,
after enjoying a peaceful drift across a spectacular reef, we found
ourselves in a current that pulled us away from the reef into deeper
water. Fortunately, Mark was tethered to our dinghy during the dive by a
long line which kept it nearby when we surfaced. The current though had
swept us away from the protection of land and into choppy water where we
had to remove our gear, climb back aboard and motor slowly back into the
lagoon. We were thankful that our dinghy was of a sea-worthy design and
powered by a reliable motor. Afterward, we vowed that next time we would
go to even greater lengths to assess the timing of slack tide and current
when diving in the passes.
Several more days were spent at Tahanea snorkeling, exploring the motus
and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. We wished that we could stay at
anchor there for a month or more but, with so much more to see and being
limited by the time limits of our visa, we were soon forced to move on.
Such are just some of the bitter-sweet challenges of cruising the South
Pacific.
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Hi Anne and Mark,
ReplyDeleteLove how descriptive your blogs are, it's almost like traveling with you!!! Keep them coming, and have fun!!!! Ron and Peter say hi!
Hugs,
Kareen
Hola buddies,
ReplyDeleteWe miss you but are travelling with you with your blogs. today we are leaving Quepos and going to Drake Bay to catch up with Adam and Cindi.
Love you guys
Howard and Lynn